| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
15 Nov 2004 : Column 1076W—continued
Departmental Staff
Tim Loughton: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many people in his Department earn more than a whole-time equivalent salary of £57,485 per year. [195331]
Mr. Lammy: I refer the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 11 November 2004, Official Report, column 856W.
Legal Aid
Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total cost of legal aid was in each of the last 10 years. [197648]
Mr. Lammy: Net legal aid expenditure in the United Kingdom (England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) over the last ten years was:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | 1,443 |
| 1995–96 | 1,542 |
| 1996–97 | 1,636 |
| 1997–98 | 1,691 |
| 1998–99 | 1,783 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,706 |
| 2000–01 | 1,823 |
| 2001–02 | 1,886 |
| 2002–03 | 2,089 |
| 2003–04 | 2,282 |
Note:
These figures are in cash.
Press Releases
Pete Wishart: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many press releases have been issued by his Department in each month of 2004; and if he will make a statement. [195458]
Mr. Lammy:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend, the Minister for the Cabinet Office on the 11 November 2004, Official Report, column 857W.
15 Nov 2004 : Column 1077W
TV Licences (Search Warrants)
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what standard of evidence is required for a magistrates court to issue a search warrant relating to television licensing under section 366 of the Communications Act 2003. [197834]
Mr. Leslie:
A search warrant to allow authorised officials to enter a person's home or vehicle is issued by a Justice of the Peace on the basis of written information and where necessary verbal information provided to the court on oath. This written information must disclose reasonable grounds that an offence is being or has been committed under section 363 of the Communications Act 2003. The court also needs to be satisfied that the European Convention on Human Rights has been met.
15 Nov 2004 : Column 1078W
The issue of a search warrant is a judicial decision made on a case by case basis on information presented to the court under oath. Justices of the Peace have discretion to grant or refuse the application.
Witness Intimidation
Mr. Allen: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many persons were convicted of offences of intimidation or harming of witnesses in each year since 2001; and how many of those received a custodial sentence. [193613]
Paul Goggins [holding answer 26 October 2004]: I have been asked to reply.
Statistics of persons (a) convicted and (b) given a custodial sentence for offences of intimidation or harming of witnesses are contained in the table.
Statistics for 2003 will be published in November.
(37) These data are on the principal offence basis.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Employment Rights
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to bring forward legislation to establish employment rights for migrant workers. [197685]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Migrant workers, working legally in the UK, have access to the same employment rights as equivalent indigenous workers.
Oil rigs
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the oil rigs which fall under UK jurisdiction; which police authority is responsible for each; and if she will make a statement. [194224]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Oil drilling rigs are active on the UK continental shelf (UKCS)—but by their nature are mobile. In addition to the drilling rigs there were 268 production installations in the UKCS as of October 2004. A full list is available and updated regularly on my Department's Oil and Gas website, www.og.dti.gov.uk. A copy has also been placed in the Library of the House. For the purposes of oil and gas activities all of these platforms and installations fall under UK jurisdiction. In the interests of security, the policing arrangements for the UK's offshore installations are not disclosed.
Binge Drinking
Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about the amendment of competition legislation to allow binge drinking to be curbed by the imposition of minimum alcohol prices. [197559]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
In the context of inter-departmental discussions about tackling problems associated with excessive alcohol consumption, the Home Office has consulted the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) at both official and Ministerial level about competition law issues, including whether agreements on minimum prices for alcoholic drinks could be excluded from
15 Nov 2004 : Column 1079W
prohibition under Chapter One of the Competition Act 1998. DTI has received no separate representations on this issue.
ECGD (Anti-corruption)
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which companies (a) she, (b) her Ministers, (c) her Department's staff and (d) Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD) staff have met since January to discuss the anti-corruption procedures brought into force by the ECGD on 1 May; and on how many occasions meetings have been held in each case. [195937]
Mr. Alexander [holding answer 8 November 2004]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 27 October 2004, Official Report, column 1241W. During the period in question representatives of BAES and Rolls-Royce were present at six such meetings; Airbus were present at five.
EU Presidency (Greece)
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the Greek presidency of the EU (a) the Committee for the implementation of projects, actions and measures for the interoperability of trans-European networks for the interchange of data between administration and (b) the Standing Committee for veterinary medicinal products met; when and where each meeting took place; which UK Government expert was present at each meeting; what (i) technical and (ii) financial issues were raised by the UK Government expert at each meeting; what recommendations the Committee produced during that period; what actions were (A) proposed and (B) taken by (1) the EU and (2) the UK Government as a result of the Committee's recommendations; and if she will make a statement. [194345]
Mr. Bradshaw: I have been asked to reply.
The first committee referred to appears to relate to the European Commission's Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) programme, to which the Department has no direct input. This programme funds projects allowing Member State Governments to exchange data electronically in specified policy areas as required by European legislation and develops infrastructure to allow this. The Telematics between Administrations Committee (TAG) is the management committee for IDA. Advice for the TAG is prepared by the Working Group for Horizontal Actions and Measures, which meets on average six times each year and is not a decision-making body. The UK is represented by officials from the e-Government Unit, formerly the Office of the e-Envoy. As IDA is a Commission programme, the rotating Council Presidency bears no relevance to IDA work. Minutes are taken by the Commission's IDA unit within DG Enterprise. However, my Department has long been a key beneficiary of IDA projects and user of IDA services as EU member states are required to share information with each other relating to agricultural issues such as animal medicines and diseases.
15 Nov 2004 : Column 1080W
The Standing Committee on Veterinary Medicinal Products for the Adaptation to Technical Progress on the Removal of Technical Barriers to Trade in the Veterinary Medicinal Products Sector is a regulatory committee and does not, therefore, make recommendations. It met three times during the Greek Presidency. Meetings were held in Brussels on 10 February 2003, 3 April 2003 and 9 April 2003 and were attended by officials from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate.
At the meeting on 10 February a proposed increase to the fees charged by the European Medicines Evaluation Agency for work related to European marketing authorisations was considered and approved. A Commission proposal to add entries to Annex III of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2377/90, establishing maximum residue limits (MRLs) for three hormonal substances was considered. The UK argued that setting MRLs was not an appropriate way of controlling illicit use of the hormones but, in the circumstances, could accept the proposed entries for the synthetic hormones flugestone acetate and norgestomet as a one-off decision. However, the UK argued that it could not accept the proposed entry for progesterone as the proposal was not based on sound science and the proposed limit was below the level that could occur naturally. The Commission withdrew the proposal for progesterone. The proposals for flugestone acetate and norgestomet were approved and entries were subsequently added to Annex III to the Regulation.
The meeting of 3 April considered two proposed Commission Regulations intended to revoke and replace two Regulations setting out procedures for variations to marketing authorisations for veterinary medicinal products issued under the European centralised and decentralised authorisation procedures respectively. The UK argued for several textual amendments to the proposed Regulations, most of which were accepted. The Regulations, as modified, were approved by the Committee and were published in the Official Journal on 27 June 2003 as Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1084/2003 and No. 1085/2003. They took effect on 1 October 2003.
The meeting of 9 April considered a Commission proposal that member states should suspend all national marketing authorisations for veterinary medicinal products in the EU containing benzathine penicillin. This issue was triggered following suspension action by the UK because of safety concerns about residues of the substance at injection sites in food-producing animals. The UK supported the Commission proposal, which was approved by the Committee.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |