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6 Mar 2007 : Column 1829W—continued
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which states have made representations to the UK Government on compliance with obligations under the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proloferation Treaty; what concerns were expressed; and what response was provided. [125708]
Dr. Howells: No formal representations with respect to non-compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have been made directly to the UK by another state party to the treaty.
Issues of non-compliance with nuclear safeguards agreements are dealt with by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. During the 37 years since the NPT came into force there have been many discussions by the IAEA Board of Governors on potential cases of non-compliance with safeguards. Recent discussions have centred on Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The IAEA Board of Governors found Iran in non-compliance with its NPT-required safeguards agreement on 24 September 2005. The board expressed concerns about Iran's many failures and breaches of its obligations to comply with its safeguards agreement, and its history of concealment of nuclear activities. The board urged Iran to implement transparency measures, to suspend enrichment-related activity, to reconsider construction of a heavy water research reactor, and to ratify and implement the additional protocol. Iran has yet to comply fully with these measures, and was referred to the UN Security Council for further consideration in March 2006. UN Security Council Resolutions 1696 and 1737 set out the international community's requirements for Iran build confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme.
The UK has never been accused of non-compliance with its safeguards agreements with the agency or with its NPT obligations.
Alan Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if she will seek legal opinion on whether the proposals to replace the
Trident nuclear weapons system is compatible with article 1 of the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. [125733]
Dr. Howells: As noted in the ministerial code, the fact and substance of legal advice to the Government remains confidential. This enables Government to obtain frank and full legal advice in confidence.
Timor-Leste
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to her answer of 19 February 2007, Official Report, column 21W, on Timor-Leste, when she expects the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation report to be discussed by the Timor-Leste Parliament; and if she will make a statement. [125258]
Mr. McCartney: It is for the government of Timor-Leste to decide how to handle the report within their Parliament. Nevertheless, in welcoming the report and recommendations of the then UN Secretary-General on justice and reconciliation in Timor-Leste, we have made clear our view that the demand for justice and accountability for the serious crimes committed in 1999 remains a fundamental issue in the lives of many Timorese.
Wales
Hazardous Substances
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what investigations are taking place into Monsanto and its alleged illegal dumping of toxic waste; and which organisations are undertaking those investigations. [124450]
Mr. Hain: The Environment Agency Wales and the local authority, Rhondda Cynon Taff county borough council, have been working in partnership with the local health board, the national health service in Wales and the Food Standards Agency to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the issue at Brofiscin quarry. Monsanto, Solutia Inc.—the parent company of Solutia UK—are co-operating with the Environment Agency in their investigations under part IIa of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
While the Environment Agency in Wales’ investigations have confirmed pollution of deep groundwater and intermittent pollution of surface waters, they have found no detectable risk to drinking supplies. It will be publishing its latest report on this matter shortly in the spring, which will bring together all monitoring results taken to date and provide an interpretation of what is happening on site.
Assessment of what appropriate remedial action is necessary is currently ongoing. Investigations into identifying the “appropriate persons” responsible for the cost of these remedial works are also still ongoing.
Electoral Commission Committee
Absent Voting: Fraud
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what estimate the Electoral Commission has made of the number of people prevented from voting in a polling station due to postal vote fraud in the 2006 local elections. [123947]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it has made no such estimate because there is currently no central record of allegations of postal voting malpractice, or of investigations and prosecutions.
The Commission is arranging with Returning Officers, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to collate information on electoral malpractice centrally to enable statistics to be compiled.
Absent Voting: Personation
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission whether the Electoral Commission collects information from local authority returning officers on (a) irregularities with postal votes and (b) personation. [123892]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it has not hitherto collected such information from local authority returning officers. However, starting this summer, the Commission intends to gather information from returning officers and the police on electoral malpractice at least twice a year. It will report on any trends or patterns the data disclose.
Departments: Databases
Mr. Clegg: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what databases are controlled by the Electoral Commission; and what percentage of the data in each database is estimated to be inaccurate or out of date. [124046]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission is statutorily required to maintain records of the registered details and statutory income (including loans) and expenditure returns of political parties, third parties, permitted participants and regulated persons. The Commission informs me that it carries out thorough checks on income and expenditure returns to identify and correct inaccuracies.
In addition the Commission controls a number of administrative databases with contact details of its stakeholders. The Commission believes that the data in these databases are generally accurate and up to date.
Elections: Fraud
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what the Electoral Commission’s definition is of election fraud. [123893]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it defines electoral fraud as any of the offences specified by the Representation of the People Acts. These include offences related to voting or registration, such as personation, bribery, multiple voting, violating the secrecy of the ballot, undue influence and false statements on registration. They also include several other types of offence including those relating to imprints on publications, campaign behaviour and spending limits for candidates’ expenses.
Elections: Local Government
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission pursuant to his answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 792W, on political party expenditure, whether the Electoral Commission has made any estimate of the amount spent by candidates in (a) the local government elections of May 2006 and (b) previous local elections. [123900]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it does not make estimates of the amount spent by candidates in local government elections. Candidates and their election agents must submit returns of their election expenses to the returning officer, who then makes them available for public inspection. The Commission discharges its statutory duty to monitor compliance with the controls on spending by local government candidates in England and Wales by reviewing samples of returns.
Party Political Broadcasts
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission pursuant to his answer of 15 January 2007, Official Report, column 792W, on political party expenditure, what (a) research the Electoral Commission has (i) undertaken and (ii) commissioned on and (b) estimates the Commission has made of the value of free party political and election broadcasts. [123901]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission’s 2004 report “The Funding of Political Parties” noted that the availability of free airtime to political parties at the time of elections and at other key events in the political calendar is, in effect, an indirect subsidy of their activities. The Commission informs me that it has not conducted research into, or made any estimate of, the value of such free airtime to political parties.
Political Parties: Finance
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what estimate the Electoral Commission has made of expenditure by political parties through the vehicles of local constituency associations who are not required to provide annual statements of accounts as accounting units. [123945]
Peter Viggers:
The Electoral Commission informs me that it periodically requests details of the expenditure incurred by political parties’ accounting
units. The purpose of these requests is to ensure that the Commission receives annual statements of accounts from all accounting units with annual income or expenditure above £25,000. When this exercise was carried out in 2004, 1,283 accounting units that were not required to submit annual statements of accounts, from 14 parties, reported total expenditure of just under £4.2 million in their financial years ending in 2003. A similar exercise is being carried out by the Commission in respect of financial years ending in 2006.
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission how much the Electoral Commission has spent on focus groups on public attitudes to political finance reform; and which polling organisations were commissioned. [123946]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that in November 2003 it commissioned Cragg Ross Dawson, at a cost of £30,000, to conduct focus groups to explore awareness of, and attitudes towards, party funding arrangements and potential changes to the current system. This work was in support of the Commission’s 2004 report “The Funding of Political Parties”. In July 2006, it commissioned Ipsos Mori to run, at a cost of £158,000, a programme of in-depth workshops into public attitudes into party funding. This work was to inform current policy discussion in this area, and in particular Sir Hayden Phillips’ review of the funding of political parties.
UKIP: Finance
Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission if the Electoral Commission will conduct an investigation into reports of missing donations in the accounts of the UK Independence Party; and if he will make a statement. [123944]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission announced on 22 February that it is launching a full review of the United Kingdom Independence Party’s systems for dealing with its financial affairs and meeting statutory reporting requirements.
Transport
Railways
11. Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to reduce overcrowding on the railways. [125122]
Mr. Tom Harris: We recognise that, because of continuing growth, the passenger carrying capacity of the network, especially in peak periods, remains an issue in many areas.
We will continue to take steps to increase the capacity of the railways through the franchising process and through the High Level Output Specification and the longer term strategy framework, both of which will be published this summer.
14. Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the targets for railway punctuality and reliability (a) between Holyhead and Euston and (b) across the UK have been met. [125126]
Mr. Tom Harris: The targets for railway punctuality and reliability have been met and exceeded both for the Virgin West Coast franchise, that serves the Holyhead to Euston route, and across the rail network in Great Britain as a whole.
16. Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to encourage improvements in railway timetabling to improve access to connecting services. [125128]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Department encourages improvements in railway timetabling and connections by specifying appropriate base timetable requirements in new franchises. Train operators and Network Rail are responsible for working together to plan timetables which provide good connections.
Airports
12. Mr. Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions Ministers have had since Christmas 2006 with the British Airports Authority on passenger congestion at London's airports. [125124]
Gillian Merron: The Secretary of State regularly meets the chief executive of BAA and since Christmas 2006 has discussed with him a range of issues relevant to BAA airports. These include the development of Heathrow and Stansted airports and security at BAA airports.
13. Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent measures he has taken to improve airport security. [125125]
Gillian Merron: Following the August security alert a number of new aviation security measures were implemented at UK airports. Some of these measures are apparent to passengers, notably the controls on liquids and the limit on the number and maximum size of cabin bags. Other new measures are not visible to passengers, and the hon. Member will understand that on security grounds it would not be appropriate for those to be disclosed.
Road Safety
15. Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress has been made towards meeting the 2010 road safety targets. [125127]
Dr. Ladyman: In 2005 there were 32,155 people killed or seriously injured in accidents reported to the police in Great Britain, 33 per cent. below the 1994-98 baseline average. We are on course to achieve the 2010 target of a 40 per cent. reduction. There were 3,472 children reported to be killed or seriously injured in 2005, 49 per cent. below the baseline average, against a 2010 target of 50 per cent. The target to reduce the slight casualty rate by 10 per cent. was met in 2002.
A45: Wellingborough
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will bring forward plans to improve the section of the A45 that passes through Wellingborough constituency. [125287]
Dr. Ladyman: We have accepted the advice of the East Midlands Regional Assembly that any major improvements along the A45, such as grade-separating the junctions at A45/A509 Wilby Way and A45/A6 Chowns Mill, are not transport investment priorities for the east midlands in the period to 2015-16.
However, I have given approval to an upgraded layout for the A45 Wilby Way roundabout which is to be built later this year at a cost of £1.3 million from the Community Infrastructure Funding budget. In addition, as a condition of planning consent, mitigation measures are to be carried out by the developer at junctions along the A45 impacted by the 3,100 housing unit Wellingborough East development. Many of these junctions are within the Wellingborough constituency.
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