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6 Mar 2008 : Column 2686W—continued
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the level of value added tax payable by bingo clubs; and if he will make a statement. [191571]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Ministers and officials have had discussions with Treasury about a range of gambling issues.
Olympics
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what progress she has made in the zero-based budget review of expenditure for which she is responsible under the Comprehensive Spending Review. [191483]
Tessa Jowell: On 10 December 2007 the Government announced the result of work undertaken to ensure that the budget for the Games is fully aligned with scope, programme and risks; and confirmed that the findings of this work validated the ODA Budget, and the overall funding package of £9.325 billion that was announced in March 2007, which is consistent with the CSR settlement.
Details of progress across the Olympic programme, and funding for the Games, can be found in the first Annual Report on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, published on 22 January 2008. I will make further reports to Parliament on a six monthly basis.
Ministerial Duties: Paymaster General
Robert Neill: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what functions she has carried out in her capacity as Paymaster General. [191662]
Tessa Jowell: My ministerial functions are set out in the List of Ministerial Responsibilities, which is available for reference in the Libraries of the House.
Wales
A55: Accidents
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many personal injury accidents there were on the A55 in Wales in each of the last five years; and how many involved at least one heavy goods vehicle in each year. [190565]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The data regarding personal injury accidents on the A55 in Wales are contained in the table. Although these figures encouragingly show a downward trend, the number of accidents in 2006 is still very regrettable.
| Personal injury accidents on A55 between Holyhead and Wales/England boundary | ||
| Total | 3.5t + | |
Departmental Older Workers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people over the age of 55 have been recruited by his Department in each of the last three years. [191523]
Mr. Paul Murphy: In line with anti-age discrimination legislation and good practice, the Wales Office does not ask candidates to provide their age or date of birth when applying for jobs, because of this it is not possible to separate those staff from the others recruited.
Hazardous Substances: Waste Disposal
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when his Department was informed of (a) the dumping of toxic waste and (b) the leaching of toxins into groundwater at Brofiscin Quarry; what steps have been taken to (i) remove the waste and (ii) prevent further leaching; and if he will make a statement. [191180]
Mr. Paul Murphy: All records relating to the former Welsh Office on this issue have been transferred to the Welsh Assembly Government. However, I understand the Welsh Office was aware of the contamination in 1975 from a report prepared by the Water Pollution Research Laboratory on behalf of the then Department for the Environment. The Welsh Office was also referred to in earlier publications concerning Brofiscin. In addition, the Welsh Office carried out a survey into contaminated land in Wales, including Brofiscin quarry in 1988.
The Environment Agency has been liaising with the Welsh Assembly Government and local authority in respect of Brofiscin Quarry since the implementation of Part 2A Contaminated Land legislation in 2001 in Wales. The site was determined as contaminated land in March 2005 by the local authority. The Environment Agency is currently conducting a remedial options appraisal in accordance with the relevant legislation and statutory guidance.
Northern Ireland
Elections: Proof of Identity
Mr. Shepherd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what representations he has received from electors who have been refused a ballot paper at an election in Northern Ireland since 2002 because of their inability to provide a required form of identification [190072]
Mr. Woodward: I have received no representations to this effect. The hon. Member may wish to be aware that the Government will shortly lay draft regulations before the House which will extend the types of photographic ID accepted at polling stations in Northern Ireland to include the Translink Blind Person and War Disabled SmartPasses; and remove the requirement that ID must be current. We hope that this will reduce the number of people who find they are unable to exercise their vote on polling day as a result of bringing to the polling station ID which has recently expired or is not acceptable as proof of identity.
Mr. Shepherd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the effect on voter turnout of the need for electors to provide a proof of identification at polling stations in Northern Ireland since 2002. [190071]
Mr. Woodward: I have considered the information available on this subject in various reports prepared by the Electoral Commission and have been pleased to note that this important counter-fraud measure appears not to have had a significant adverse effect on the numbers voting in Northern Ireland.
Departmental Plants
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on pot plants in each of the last five years. [192064]
Mr. Woodward: The Northern Ireland Office does not hold a budget for expenditure exclusive to pot plants. To produce this information could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Any expenditure that is incurred is in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Departmental Translation Services
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much was spent on translation services by his Department, associated agencies and non-departmental public bodies in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, (c) 2005-06, (d) 2006-07 and (e) to date in 2007-08. [187993] [Official Report, 30 April 2008, Vol. 475, c. 5MC.]
Mr. Woodward: The following amounts were spent by the Northern Ireland Office, its associated agencies and non-departmental bodies including the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Probation Board for Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Prison Service on translation services:
(a) 2003-04: £415,024.17
(b) 2004-05: £484,535.29
(c) 2005-06: £1,214,706.93
(d) 2006-07: £912,123.00
(e) to date in 2007-08: the return has not been completed for this period yet but as soon as the figures become available we shall provide the hon. Member with this information.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department further to the Prime Minister’s comments on tackling binge drinking at her press conference on 28 January 2008, what additional powers are planned for local authorities to tackle excessive drinking in town centres. [183778]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 1 February 2008]: In her speech of 6 February 2008, the Home Secretary made it clear that the Home Office will consider whether the existing laws on the confiscation of alcohol from young people are adequate. The Home Secretary also said that she will consider changing the law if necessary, to make it clear that drinking in public by those people under the age of 18 is unacceptable.
Additionally, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said in his statement of 4 March 2008, that the offence of persistently selling alcohol to children would be changed from ‘three strikes’ to ‘two strikes’ in three months. The Government will legislate to increase the maximum fine for not obeying an instruction to stop drinking in a designated public place from £500 to £2500. Other issues which may not require legislation include making it easier for the Police to disperse antisocial drinkers and we will extend the alcohol arrest referral pilots so that under 18s may also benefit from a brief intervention from a trained worker.
Animal Experiments
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her response is to recommendation 17 of the Animal Procedures Committee’s 2005 report on the “Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals”. [191166]
Meg Hillier: We will shortly be reviewing our response to all of the recommendations in this Animal Procedures Committee report, including recommendation 17, and will aim to publish our further conclusions when we publish the “Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals 2007”.
Canvey Island
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions access to Canvey Island via the (a) A130 and (b) Fleet Road was temporarily closed by the police in each of the last 10 years. [191789]
Mr. Coaker [ h olding answer 4 March 2008] : The Information is not collected centrally or recorded by Essex police. Essex police recognise the impact of any closure to strategic roads and will always seek to divert traffic and/or re-open the road as quickly as possible. They need, however, to balance this against the priorities of dealing with incidents and any resulting criminal investigation.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the average time taken for the police to respond to an emergency call on Canvey Island when the A130 access road is blocked. [191799]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 5 March 2008]: This information is not collected centrally and is not recorded by Essex police.
Domestic Violence: Homicide
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were killed by their partner or ex-partner in each of the last 10 years; how many of these victims had previously contacted the police regarding their partner or ex-partner; how many of the perpetrators had previously been charged with an offence relating to domestic violence; and how many of the perpetrators were on bail when the offence took place. [187894]
Mr. Coaker: Available data from the Homicide Index relate to offences currently recorded as homicides in England and Wales as at 12 November 2007. Latest analysis is published in “Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2006/07” (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 03/08), which can be found at:
The number and percentage of homicide victims by relationship of victim to principal suspect are shown in table 1.05.
The additional requested information cannot be provided as it has not been collected by the Home Office.
Identity Cards: Contracts
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department to which external companies and agencies her Department has awarded contracts for the identity cards programme. [180254]
Meg Hillier: Since the merger of the Home Office Identity Cards Programme and the UK Passport Service to create the Identity and Passport Service in April 2006, projects to deliver enhancements to passports, identity cards and other improvements have been necessarily combined.
Much of the work conducted by Identity and Passport Service cannot be categorised, both financially and operationally, as contributing towards either the introduction of passports with facial images and fingerprints or identity cards alone. Consequently it is not possible to identify which external companies and agencies have been awarded contracts solely for the identity cards programme.
Offensive Weapons: Children
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate her Department has made of the numbers of children who carry knives. [180121]
Mr. Coaker:
The Home Office funded the 2005 Offending, Crime and Justice survey, which was a household survey of people aged between 10 and 25 years. National level findings of this survey, which included questions on the carrying and use of knives, are published. The latest published figures indicate that 4 per cent. of young people aged between 10 and 17
years had carried a knife in the previous 12 months. The results from the 2005 survey can be found on the Home Office website at:
Passports: Glasgow
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many passport requests were received by mail at the Glasgow Passport Office (a) in the latest year for which figures are available and (b) in each of the previous five years. [187572]
Meg Hillier: The requested information is given in the table.
| Glasgow | Postal applications received |
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage change there has been in the Glasgow Passport Office's workload in the last 12 months. [187577]
Meg Hillier: The requested information is given in the table.
| Glasgow Passport Office | |
| Intake | |
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