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11 Dec 2008 : Column 269W—continued
Prostitution
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of prostitute-soliciting in Northern Ireland in each of the last two years; and how many of these were (i) UK citizens, (ii) EU foreign nationals and (iii) non-EU foreign nationals. [240565]
Paul Goggins: In 2005 and 2006 (the latest years for which data are available), there were no prosecutions or convictions for prostitute-soliciting in Northern Ireland.
Data are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of brothel-keeping in Northern Ireland in each of the last two years; and how many of these were (i) UK citizens, (ii) EU foreign nationals and (iii) non-EU foreign nationals. [240566]
Paul Goggins: In 2005, three persons were prosecuted and convicted for brothel-keeping in Northern Ireland, all of whom had addresses in the UK; in 2006 (the latest year for which data are available), there were no prosecutions or convictions for this offence.
Data are collated on the principal offence rule; so only the most serious offence with which an offender is charged is included.
There have been a number of recent raids on brothels in Northern Ireland, specifically when PSNI have been concerned that victims of human trafficking might be involved.
Prime Minister
Economic and Monetary Union
Mr. Hague: To ask the Prime Minister (1) when he (a) last met the President of the European Commission and (b) spoke to the President of the European Commission; and whether he discussed Britain's prospective membership of the euro on either occasion. [241494]
(2) whether it is the Government's long-term policy objective to take the UK into the euro zone; [242302]
(3) when the Cabinet last discussed the possibility of the UK's membership of the euro. [242303]
The Prime Minister: I last met the President of the European Commission on Monday 8 December. I discussed a wide range of issues with the President. I refer the right hon. Member to the press conference I held with President Barroso and President Sarkozy on Monday 8 December. A transcript is available on the No. 10 website:
In addition, I refer the right hon. Member to the press briefing given by my Spokesman on 9 December. A transcript of this is available on the No. 10 website:
A copy of both transcripts has been placed in the Library of the House.
Leader of the House
Departmental Disabled Staff
Mr. Harper: To ask the Leader of the House what conclusions her Office has reached in fulfilment of its duty under section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice of the disability equality duty. [240994]
Chris Bryant: Progress on equality issues in the Leader's Office is reported in the Cabinet Office's Single Equality Scheme. Copies, which run to 115 pages, are available in the Libraries of the House and on the Cabinet Office website at:
Departmental Internet
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Leader of the House with reference to the answer of 4 November 2008, Official Report, columns 336-7W, on Government departments: information and communications technology, which IP addresses are used by (a) her Office and (b) computers in (i) her private office, (ii) the offices of its communications officials and (iii) the offices of her special advisers. [241967]
Chris Bryant: In accordance with standard good information security practice and to help defend against electronic attack, my office does not publish internal IP addresses for its corporate IT systems. When accessing external services such as internet websites, the IP addresses of all the computers on my office's internal IT system are hidden behind the following IP addresses which are publicly available—195.92.40.49 and 62.25.106.209.
Departmental Official Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Leader of the House what records her Department maintains of its expenditure on (a) official hospitality and (b) the amount of money spent on alcohol for official hospitality. [240670]
Chris Bryant: Expenditure on (a) official hospitality and (b) alcohol is recorded on the Cabinet Office Resource Accounting System.
Members: Allowances
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Leader of the House if she will list the hon. Members who used the communications allowance to fund the publication of a Parliamentary Report in the 2007-08 Session. [241790]
Chris Bryant: In 2007-08 financial year, 601 hon. Members claimed for costs against the Communications Allowance and the average amount spent was £7,870.
The Department of Resources, who are responsible for administering the Communications Allowance, does not record information on the House financial system that distinguishes between monies spent on parliamentary reports and other eligible, non-capital, items.
Energy and Climate Change
Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has held discussions on possible regulation of the liquefied petroleum gas market. [241692]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has not held any discussions on possible regulation of the liquefied petroleum gas market. However, the Competition Commission (CC) has recently conducted an investigation
into suppliers of bulk LPG for domestic use and the relationships they have with their customers. It published its report on 29 June 2006. Subsequently, the CC made the first of two orders to remedy, mitigate and prevent detrimental effects on customers so far as they have resulted from, or may be expected to result from, the adverse effect on competition specified in the report. From 13 April 2009 the first order will apply to all suppliers of bulk LPG for domestic use. A second order which will apply to all suppliers of bulk LPG for domestic use on metered estates is currently the subject of consultation and is expected to be published in early 2009.
Power Stations: Kingsnorth
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department has taken to determine whether the proposed Kingsnorth power station would deliver an absolute increase in energy efficiency; what assessment he has made of the energy efficiency of (a) Kingsnorth and (b) existing plant; and what estimate he has made of the change in levels of carbon dioxide emissions which would result from the (i) construction and (ii) operation of the power station. [241883]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made no such assessments or estimates.
E.ON estimate that the proposed Kingsnorth super-critical boilers could attain an efficiency of around 47 per cent. against 37 per cent. efficiency from the existing Kingsnorth sub-critical boilers.
E.ON also estimate that the proposed Kingsnorth station could emit 8.6 MtCO2 per year, based on maximum assumptions of 0.717 MtCO2 per TWh of electricity and an estimated output of 12 TWH per year (cf 9.85 TWh achieved by the existing station in 2006). But actual output will depend on many factors, including the relative price of fossil fuels, the price of carbon, and whether, and if so when, any carbon abatement technology is fitted.
Scotland
Departmental Disabled Staff
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what conclusions his Department has reached in fulfilment of its duty under section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice of the disability equality duty. [240978]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office is covered by Disability Equality Scheme introduced by the Ministry of Justice. This scheme provides plans setting out how they will carry out the Disability Equality Duty, monitor, and report on progress. Section 3.111 of the statutory code of practice states that public authorities must, on an annual basis, publish a report containing a summary of:
The steps it has taken to fulfil its disability equality duty (the action plan); what has the authority done over the past year to eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity and is it meeting its targets
The results of the information gathering which it has carried out—what evidence has been obtained and what does it indicate
What the authority has done with the information gathered—what actions will be taken as a result of what the information indicates
The scheme, associated action plans and first yearly review is available at:
Departmental Internet
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland with reference to the answer of 4 November 2008, Official Report, columns 336-7W, on Government departments: information and communications technology, which IP addresses are used by (a) his Department and (b) computers in the offices of its (i) Ministers, (ii) communications officials and (iii) special advisers. [241960]
Ann McKechin: To help defend against electronic attack, it is standard good information security practice for corporate IT systems, not to publish internal IP addresses. When accessing internet websites, the IP addresses of all of the computers on the internal office IT system are hidden behind the following IP addresses which are publicly available—195.92.40.49 and 62.25.106.209. These IP addresses are shared with other Government Departments that use the Government Secure Intranet.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his Department spent on Ministerial hospitality in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07 and (d) 2007-08, expressed in current prices. [241124]
Ann McKechin: The Scotland Office spend on ministerial hospitality in the four years in question was as follows:
| £ | |
The events continue to be popular with MPs of all parties with relevant Scottish constituencies taking the opportunity to engage with important stakeholders and groups in Scotland.
Whisky
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment the Government has made of the value of the Scotch whisky industry to the Scottish economy. [240738]
Ann McKechin: Scotch Whisky exports are worth £2.8 billion to the Scottish, and UK, economy each year. In addition, the Scotch Whisky industry generates £800 million of salaries in Scotland and £700 million is spent on local goods and services in Scotland.
International Development
Development Aid: Disabled
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make extra funding available to assist people with disabilities in the developing world. [242035]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) recognises disability as a key development issue and for this reason we have already been looking for opportunities to increase our support to disability issues.
DFID recently committed £868,000 to the new Disability Rights Fund which is a unique and innovative grant-making mechanism designed to provide funding directly to disabled people's organisations (DPOs) in the global south and eastern Europe/former Soviet Union. DFID is one of five international donors currently contributing to the fund which has just made its first round of grants to 33 DPOs across Africa and Asia.
In recognition of the fact that more data on disability are urgently needed DFID recently committed £2.2 million to a five-year cross-cutting disability research programme to begin in January 2009. This will increase the amount of robust data available which more clearly demonstrate the links between disability and poverty in developing countries. It will work closely with research currently being carried out by the Southern Africa Federation of Disabled People's Research Project (£2.2 million) which has been running since 2007. This five-year project which has been designed and run by disabled people in the region, has already started to produce evidence of the kinds of barriers disabled people face when trying to access basic services like health and education.
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Protection
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many home visits a child considered to be at (a) low risk and (b) high risk received from an allocated health visitor in the first two years following assessment in each London borough between 9 September 2008 and the latest date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement; [241911]
Ann Keen: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not held centrally.
Departmental Official Hospitality
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what records his Department maintains of its expenditure on (a) official hospitality and (b) alcohol for official hospitality. [240477]
Ed Balls: DCSF is unable to identify separately the costs of alcohol from those of official hospitality as such expenditure is claimed and recorded under the general heading above.
My Department's policy on hospitality, including that on alcohol, is in accordance with the principles of Treasury guidance in “Managing Public Money” and the handbook on “Regularity, Propriety and Value for Money”.
(a) Hospitality expenditure is limited to occasions when official business can best be transacted in that way. Personal entertainment is usually restricted to where senior managers (Deputy Director or above) are acting as host, and expenditure must be approved in advance by a Director or Executive Board member and recorded using the above category.
(b) The following guidance is issued by my Department to staff on the provision of alcohol.
There is a general principle that alcohol should not be provided at public expense and never when only civil servants are present.
It is accepted that there are some events, whose primary purpose is for non-civil servants, where not providing alcohol could be seen as unusual or cause embarrassment. It is done with due regard to value for money, any provision being modest and proportionate, and requires a senior manager's approval.
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