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PRIME MINISTER

British Olympic Hockey Team

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Prime Minister how many members of the British Olympic hockey team of 1988 have received honours. [177726]

The Prime Minister: Three members of the British Olympic hockey team of 1988 have received honours. The captain, Richard Dodds, received the OBE in 1989. Sean Kerly received an MBE in 1993 and Stephen Martin received an MBE in 1994.

Iraq

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Prime Minister what role the British Government will play in helping the Iraqi people to establish security and policing institutions. [176558]

The Prime Minister: The UK has made a significant contribution to the establishment of the Iraqi security forces and as Iraqi capacity and command capability builds, responsibility for security will be progressively handed over.

Over 100 British police officers are involved in training, mentoring and advisory roles with the Iraqi Police Service in Baghdad, across the south of Iraq and at the Jordan International Police Training Academy.

The UK has also made a significant contribution to efforts to establish the new Iraqi armed forces through mentoring and training within the Iraqi armed forces, the Iraqi Ministry of Defence and the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team. The UK is also leading the
 
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effort to establish a new Iraqi Coastal Defence Force based out of Umm Qasr to be fully operational by 1 October 2004.

UK forces in Multi National Division (South-East) have raised, trained and equipped five battalions of the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) which are now operational, with a sixth battalion in training.

Post 30 June, the UK will continue to assist in an advisory, training and mentoring role across all areas of Security Sector Reform including the armed forces and the Iraqi Police Service to ensure continued progression in Security Sector Reform.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Prime Minister whether a Harm Test was carried out by the Openness Team on the policy of citing exemptions 2 and 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information in not providing information in answer to questions 174254 to 174256, 174258 to 174261, 174311 to 174313 and 174315. [177991]

The Prime Minister: The exemptions were applied on the basis set out in the answers I gave to the hon. Member on 25 May.

Water Action Plan

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Prime Minister what progress in relation to the Water Action Plan agreed at last year's G8 summit in Evian he expects to report at the forthcoming Sea Island summit, with particular reference to the commitment to making political priorities of (a) safe drinking water and (b) basic sanitation. [177483]

The Prime Minister: The UK agreed a Water Action Plan in March 2004 which supports the implementation of the G8 Water Action Plan to deliver safe drinking water and better sanitation.

We are supporting countries who are committed to making safe drinking water and basic sanitation a priority through international programmes such as the Global Water Partnership and the EU Water Initiative and through our bilateral aid budget, spending overall around £90 million each year on programmes to improve access to water and sanitation in developing countries.

NORTHERN IRELAND

CCTV

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the levels of criminal activity in areas of Northern Ireland that are now covered by CCTV compared to the levels before that coverage commenced. [176630]

Mr. Spellar: There are currently 19 town centre CCTV systems installed across Northern Ireland for the purposes of tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. In addition some 32 CCTV cameras have been installed at interface areas in Belfast to deal with incidents of public disorder.
 
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The former Police Authority for Northern Ireland who handled the allocation of funding for most of the town centre schemes in Northern Ireland required each individual scheme to arrange an evaluation of their performance in the two years after the CCTV system became operational. All evaluations received to date, indicate that in the areas where CCTV was in operation, crime was reduced or, the rate of increase was slower than other areas and the level of detection of crime increased. In some areas the level of reported crime increased as the cameras witnessed crimes not normally reported, though this was usually combined with an increase in detection.

Wider research from other parts of the UK has established that CCTV is an effective crime reduction tool, particularly where it is used in conjunction with other crime reduction initiatives.

The network of CCTV cameras at interface locations in North and East Belfast has proved very effective not only in terms of effecting non-confrontational arrests but also in allowing police to deploy resources in a better informed manner. Accordingly, the cameras have helped maintain a relative calm at interface locations.

Electoral Office

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what funding has been made available, and from what sources, to the Electoral Office for the production and distribution of Electoral Identity Cards. [176961]

Mr. Spellar: The funding, made available by the Northern Ireland Office, for the production and distribution of the Electoral Identity Card is as follows:
£ million

	Budget	Spend
2002–03	1.78	1.16
2003–04	l	0.83
Total	2.78	1.99

The spend to date in the current financial year—2004–05—is £41,000. The budget is £100,000.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps the Electoral Office is taking to ensure that those in residential care in Northern Ireland are not disenfranchised through the omission of their names from the electoral register. [176969]

Mr. Spellar: This issue is an operational matter and is, therefore, the responsibility of the Chief Electoral Officer. He will be writing to the hon. Lady in due course.

A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

Fisheries

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much of the £1.5 million set aside for the Cod Recovery Programme Transitional Aid (Tie-Up) Scheme 2004 has been allocated to vessel owners in Northern Ireland; what amount has been set aside for appeals; what the timescale is for those appeals; and who has been appointed to hear them. [176988]

 
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Mr. Pearson: To date the total amount allocated to vessel owners under the Temporary Cessation (Tie-up) Scheme has been £1,228,729.37. No funding provision has been made for appeals. A four-stage appeals procedure, including final appeal to an independent panel appointed by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, is available. Appeals will be progressed as promptly as possible, taking account of the circumstances of the particular case.

Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many vessel owners have accepted grants under the terms of the Northern Ireland Fishing Vessel Decommissioning Scheme 2003; how many have been offered grants under the terms of this scheme and refused that offer; and how many have been offered grants under the terms of this scheme and declined but have subsequently been successful in an application for transitional aid during Cod Closure in 2004. [176989]

Mr. Pearson: The information is as follows:
Fishing Vessel Decommissioning Scheme 2003

	Number
Owners accepting offers of grant under scheme	19
Owners refusing offers of grant under scheme	11
Owners refusing offers of grant under scheme who have been successful under the2004 transitional aid scheme	8

Health Services

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate he has made of expenditure resulting from litter, in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by council area. [176849]

Angela Smith: This information is not collected centrally. The Chief Executive of the Environment and Heritage Service has asked district councils to provide the information requested. It is expected that it will take several weeks to gather this information and I shall write to the hon. Lady once it is collated. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

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