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21 Jun 2006 : Column 1912W—continued
(1) The household waste recycling rate is the sum of Best Value Performance Indicators 82 a and b
Water Framework Directive
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether members of the Consumer Council for Water will contribute to the introduction of the Water Framework Directive via membership of river basin district liaison panels. [74449]
Ian Pearson: Defra’s consultation report on River Basin Planning Guidance, published in December 2005, makes clear that the river basin district liaison panels will include representatives from all relevant sectors, including those representing sections of the public affected by the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. The Environment Agency, as competent authority for implementation of the Water Framework Directive in England, has decided that there will be Consumer Council for Water representatives on all the river basin district liaison panels.
Water Poverty
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on developing a joint approach to overcoming water poverty. [78930]
Ian Pearson: I have had no specific discussions with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland about this issue. However, I am aware of the approach to water affordability being taken in Northern Ireland, in particular the new affordability tariff. This is being introduced in response to particular circumstances which do not apply in England and Wales. Northern Ireland has a public sector water service while in England and Wales the industry has been fully privatised since 1989. A parallel cannot be drawn between the positions in Northern Ireland and England.
Whaling
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent representations he has made to (a) Japan, (b) Norway and (c) Iceland on their policy on whaling. [70423]
Mr. Bradshaw: With colleagues from 16 other countries led by Brazil, HM ambassador in Tokyo delivered a demarche to the Government of Japan on 16 January, protesting in the strongest terms on Japan’s plans to expand its so-called “scientific” whaling activities. The UK Government, in common with those of a majority of International Whaling Commission (IWC) members, has regularly criticised Japanese scientific whaling programmes in both the North Pacific (JARPN) and the Southern ocean (JARPA) as being of little scientific value and urged Japan to terminate them forthwith.
On 20 April the British Charge d'Affaires in Oslo on behalf of the UK and 11 other countries delivered a demarche to the Norwegian Government, urging it to stop its commercial whaling programme. We continue to press Norway to desist from commercial whaling, which we believe to be contrary to the spirit of the International Whaling Commission moratorium.
We also persist with our strong opposition to Iceland’s continuing “scientific whaling” programme and made our objections very clear with regard to Icelandic whaling at the last annual IWC meeting in Korea, and at a recent meeting with the Icelandic Fisheries Ministers.
Culture, Media and Sport
Regional Casinos
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she plans to recommend changes to the shortlist drawn up by the Casino Advisory Panel for the regional casino licence that will be granted under the Gambling Act 2005. [79011]
Mr. Caborn: No. Ministers will not be involved in the work and decision making of the Panel, which is independent from Government.
The Casino Advisory Panel will make its recommendations on the local authority areas for the 17 new casinos permitted under the Gambling Act 2005 to the Secretary of State by the end of 2006.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what meetings she has had with hon. Members in the constituencies which submitted proposals for a regional casino to the Casino Advisory Panel; and what issues were discussed at each meeting. [79012]
Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met the hon. Member for Coventry, South (Mr. Cunningham) and the hon. Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Robinson) on 5 June.
The Secretary of State explained that the Panel was independent from Government and that any representations by Coventry should be made to the Panel, not Ministers.
House of Commons Commission
Business Rates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, how much the Palace of Westminster has paid in business rates in each year since 1997-98. [78414]
Nick Harvey: The sums paid by the House of Commons in business rates for the Palace of Westminster in each year from 1997-98 were as follows:
| Rates paid( 1) (£) | Revised rates( 2) (£) | |
| (1) Prior to 2000-01 Contributions in Lieu of Rates, (CILOR), applied to the Palace of Westminster as Crown land. (2 )For the rates period from 2000-01 to 2004-05 the valuation was successfully appealed, resulting in a reduced rating valuation and a subsequent rebate as shown as the revised rates figure. | ||
Work and Pensions
Age Positive Week
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the costs of Age Positive Week were, broken down by main budget heading. [70110]
James Purnell: Information that is available is in the following table.
| Age positive week 2006 | |
| Cost (£) | |
| Notes: 1. Age Positive Week is part of DWP's activity to raise awareness of issues around our extending working life and age diversity agenda. The activities for the Week will have been complemented by ongoing PR activity and these costs are included above. 2. Cost of the events include refreshments, speakers, event management, and other associated costs. 3. All costs are exclusive of VAT | |
Allowances Rules
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the potential cost of ceasing to offset carer’s allowance against bereavement allowance. [75489]
Mr. Plaskitt [holding answer 7 June 2006]: The estimated annual cost of ceasing to offset carer’s allowance against bereavement allowance in the overlapping benefit rules would be around £3 million, although that figure does not take account of bereaved people who currently decline to claim carer’s allowance but who would be induced to do so by a change in legislation.
Benefit Fraud
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost of fraud in (a) income support, (b) jobseeker's allowance, (c) pension credit and (d) housing benefit in each of the last five years. [73255]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is in the following tables:
| April to March each year | Housing benefit (HB) fraud overpayments |
| Notes: 1. These figures are made up of reviews of around 85 per cent of HB expenditure (used for measuring performance against the relevant PSA target to reduce fraud and error in HB) combined with more approximate estimates of error in the remaining 15 per cent. of expenditure. Further details are available in the relevant National Statistics reports. 2. The reports are available online at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fraud_hb/fraud_hb.asp Source: National Statistics reports. | |
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of fraudulent claims for benefits were identified in each of the last five years; how many involved identity fraud; and if he will make a statement. [73915]
Mr. Plaskitt: Information is not available on the number of cases of identity fraud. The available information is in the following table.
| Cases where incorrect payment identified by a benefit fraud investigation | |
| Effective cases | |
| Notes: 1. The information available is based on the number of “effective cases”, which includes all cases where a change of benefit entitlement is identified as a result of a fraud investigation. 2. Effective cases are a total of benefit fraud cases plus Instrument of Payment fraud cases for all years. 3. Figures exclude General Matching Service. Source: Fraud information by Sector (FiBS) | |
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