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25 Oct 2006 : Column 1910W—continued
Sudan
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps are being taken by her Department to meet the recommendations made by the International Crisis Group in its report “Getting the UN into Darfur” (a) to apply targeted sanctions to National Congress Party (NCP), (b) to authorise a forensic accounting firm to investigate the offshore accounts and assets of the NCP and their affiliated businesses, (c) to consider sanctions against the petroleum sector in Sudan and (d) to begin planning to enforce a no-fly zone over Darfur. [95069]
Dr. Howells: We welcome the publication of the International Crisis Group report. It is a constructive input into international efforts to solve the crisis in Darfur.
The UK believes that this appalling conflict is best addressed through sustained international pressure, including sanctions where appropriate. We fully back the UN sanctions currently in force—arms embargo on the Darfur region, travel ban and assets freeze against named individuals. All countries are required to implement the sanctions, including ensuring that financial institutions freeze any assets of listed individuals. We also strongly supported UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1591 which established a panel of experts to review the Darfur situation and submit recommendations on further sanctions to the Sanctions Committee. The panel reported at the end of September. We are considering with our UN Security Council partners whether further sanctions on any of the parties to the conflict will help solve it. Our priority is to press all parties to implement the Darfur Peace Agreement. A UN peacekeeping force, as foreseen in UNSCR 1706, is best placed to prevent further conflict. We are working at the UN to establish this force. We are, with our partners, pressing the government of Sudan to agree to it. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development conveyed this message directly to President Bashir in Khartoum on 16 October.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will assess the military situation in Darfur. [96176]
Dr. Howells: The military situation in Darfur remains critical. There has been renewed fighting between Sudanese Government forces and the non-signatories to the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) since late August, in contravention of UN Security Council resolution 1591. This fighting has had a disastrous impact on delivery of much-needed humanitarian assistance. Over 50,000 people have been displaced since the fighting began. Some 1.9 million people are displaced in Darfur and 3.6 million need assistance to meet their basic needs. There has been a major increase in rape and gender-based violence. Many humanitarian organisations are considering pulling out altogether because of the security risk. Cross-border attacks from Darfur into Eastern Chad are also continuing, with Eastern Chad now host to some 200,000 refugees from Darfur. The UK utterly condemns this fighting and stresses urgently the need for all parties to end military attacks.
A lasting solution to the Darfur conflict requires the end of military operations, the resumption of political dialogue in order to fully implement the DPA, and the deployment of a UN force. In co-ordination with UN, EU, African Union, Arab League and other partners the UK is working to achieve these aims. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development set out our objectives directly to President Bashir during his visit to Sudan on 16 October.
Tibet
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has received on the recent killings of Tibetan refugees by Chinese soldiers; and what representations she has made to the UN High Commission for Refugees on this matter. [96872]
Mr. McCartney: To date, we have received a small number of letters from members of the public, including one from The Office of Tibet, asking us to raise the incident with the Chinese authorities. While we have not made representations to the UN High Commissioner on Refugees on this matter, we are working both bilaterally and with the EU to seek an urgent and transparent investigation by the Chinese government. The EU raised the incident with the Chinese government at the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue, last week.
Minister for Women
Ministerial Visits
David Simpson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality on how many occasions she has visited (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland in the last 12 months. [94954]
Meg Munn: In the last 12 months, as Deputy Minister for Women and Equality, I have made one visit to Scotland and one visit to Wales. All ministerial visits are conducted in accordance with the “Ministerial Code” and “Travel by Ministers”.
Work and Pensions
Benefits
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of households in Great Britain has claimed some form of state benefit in the last 12 months. [94285]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available.
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many European Economic Area nationals resident in the UK received jobseeker’s allowance for (a) less than three months, (b) between three and six months and (c) longer than six months between 2000 and 2005; [95991]
(2) how many nationals of countries in the European Economic Area have made a claim for (a) pension credit, (b) jobseeker’s allowance and (c) income support in each year since 2000; and how many were awarded each benefit in each year. [95993]
Mr. Plaskitt: The information is not available.
Carers
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what plans he has to increase the financial support available to carers; [94045]
(2) if he will take steps to remove the gainfully employed rule preventing carers from earning more than £84 per week while claiming carer’s allowance of £46.95 per week. [94053]
Mrs. McGuire: Depending on their personal circumstances, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits. Those who are not gainfully employed and provide regular and substantial care of at least 35 hours a week for a severely disabled person receiving attendance allowance or the equivalent rates of the disability living allowance care component or constant attendance allowance can be entitled to carer’s allowance. If they have a low income, they can also be entitled to the carer premium in the income-related benefits or the carer’s additional amount in pension credit.
The effect of the carer’s allowance earnings limit is that carers are treated as gainfully employed only where their earnings, net of income tax, national insurance contributions, half of any contributions towards an occupational or personal pension and allowances for the cost of care for a child or the disabled person while the carer is at work, are more than the national insurance lower earnings limit. This means that it is possible for a carer to have gross earnings well in excess of the earnings limit and still be eligible for carer’s allowance. Together with carer’s allowance, the carer premium and carer’s additional amount, the earnings limit is increased each year to take account of movements in prices.
We have no plans to change these arrangements.
Disability Living Allowance
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will introduce a technology component to the disability living allowance to contribute towards the cost of buying special equipment relating to specific disabilities. [96965]
Mrs. McGuire: No. Disability living allowance provides a non-contributory, non-income-related and tax-free contribution towards the disability-related extra costs of severely disabled people. Entitlement is based on the need for personal care and/or walking difficulties because people with those needs and/or difficulties are most likely to have disability-related extra costs. The amounts paid are not based on the costs of specific items and recipients are free to spend the benefit according to their own priorities and requirements—including helping to pay for or maintain special equipment.
MED 5 Sickness Certificate
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason the validity of a MED 5 sickness certificate is limited to a year for people who are eligible for it due to learning disabilities. [92048]
Mrs. McGuire: There are no different rules relating to the validity of medical certificates that apply solely to people with learning disabilities.
The MED 5 certificate is a ‘special statement’ given by a doctor, where they have not seen their patient, and based on the report of another doctor, for example a hospital doctor. The rules governing the provision of a MED 5 certificate do not allow it to be issued for a period of more than one month.
However, a MED 3 certificate, the ‘usual statement’ can be given for longer periods; after the first six months, this includes ‘until further notice’.
Personal Debt
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of people (a) declaring bankruptcy and (b) entering individual voluntary agreements as a result of delays in receiving benefits; and if he will make a statement. [96992]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.
The Insolvency Service publish quarterly statistics of bankruptcy orders and IVAs, available here: http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/otherinformation/statistics/insolv.htm. These statistics are not currently available broken down into the main reasons leading to the insolvency. Bankruptcy Orders (only) will be analysed by broad causes of failure for new cases from October 2006, but these will not be detailed enough to identify “delays in receiving benefit” separately within the broader category of “loss/significant reduction of income”.
There is currently no such information available centrally for individual voluntary arrangements.
Right to Work
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends to bring forward amendments to regulation 9 of the Social Security (Crediting and Treatment of Contributions and National Insurance Numbers) Regulations 2001 to make explicit the evidence which must be produced to demonstrate that the right to work condition has been satisfied. [90471]
Mr. Plaskitt: A “right to work” condition has already been introduced into the Jobcentre Plus national insurance number allocation and decision making process for employment-related applications. This condition was implemented in July, and guidance issued to all Jobcentre Plus staff detailing the evidence requirements needed to satisfy this condition.
Changes to regulation 9 of the Social Security (Crediting and Treatment of Contributions and National Insurance Numbers) Regulations 2001 will be laid before Parliament in November 2006.
Education and Skills
Citizenship Education
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to improve the teaching of citizenship in those schools where a weakness in such teaching has been identified. [95894]
Jim Knight:
Schools are expected to address their weaknesses following self evaluation and Ofsted reports. To support this, we funded the production of a self evaluation tool for both primary and secondary schools. Additionally, 200 initial teacher training places in citizenship education are being made available each year and the DfES has published a CPD handbook and is funding 1200 citizenship continuing professional development (CPD) places over the next two years to enable citizenship
teachers to broaden and deepen their subject knowledge. We continue to support the Association of Citizenship Teachers and work with a range of organisations to provide resources and support for teachers.
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many citizenship specialist trained teachers are employed in each of the local education authorities in England. [94898]
Jim Knight: Information on the number of citizenship specialist trained teachers in service is not available at local authority level.
The following table provides the number of teachers teaching by subject, including citizenship, in maintained secondary schools and the highest post A-level qualification held in the subject taught. The information is from 2002, the latest available.
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