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13 Jan 2009 : Column 567W

EEDA

EMDA

Royal National Lifeboat Institution

Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will make it his policy to exempt the Royal National Lifeboat Institution from payment of radio licence fees; and if he will make a statement. [240291]

Mr. McFadden: RNLI pay Ofcom an annual licence fee for their use of VHF radios. As RNLI is a charity whose object is the safety of human life in an emergency, it currently receives a 50 per cent. reduction to its licence fee and there are no plans to remove or reduce this discount.

The Government commissioned Professor Martin Cave to conduct an independent audit of radio spectrum holdings. All the recommendations were accepted by the Government including the agreed Government policy that users should pay market rates to use spectrum, to incentivise more efficient use of spectrum that is an increasingly scarce resource.

Ofcom is now implementing this policy and is considering the response received to their consultation document “Applying spectrum pricing to the Maritime and Aeronautical sectors”. This allowed those affected the opportunity to give their views to Ofcom on the proposals and any additional cost burdens.

During the consultation, concerns were expressed about the potential impact of the proposals on the licence fees to be paid by RNLI . As clarification, Ofcom have stated that under their proposals it is possible that RNLI’s spectrum fees may actually fall compared to the current level.

Ofcom are now considering all the responses received to their consultation and undertaking an impact assessment about the effects of the proposals. This should include the impact on charities such as RNLI. Ofcom have said they will carry out a further consultation before any changes to VHF licence fees are introduced.


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Unfair Practices: Credit

John Battle: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many cases of unfair credit relationships have been brought in county courts since the implementation of the Consumer Credit Act 2006; and if he will make a statement. [245429]

Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.

Her Majesty's Courts Service does not collect data on actions commenced under particular Acts. Instead data are collected on the basis of the type of remedy sought, for example, specified/unspecified money claims or possession. Therefore I am unable to provide the information requested.

The Consumer Credit Act 2006 amends the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The 1974 Act set out the framework for regulating consumer credit supply and the hire of goods in the United Kingdom. In addition, the Act regulates the supply of credit and hiring of goods to individuals where the credit provided or payments for hire do not exceed a specified limit (currently £25,000). The Act further imposes a system of trading controls through regulation of both general business activities of traders that constitute the consumer credit and hire industry and controlling methods of seeking business. Control over agreements is done through the regulation of individual consumer credit or consumer hire agreements.

The aim of the Government's reform of the 1974 Act was to give further protection to consumers in addition to creating a fairer and more competitive credit market.

Treasury

Christmas Bonus: Children

Mr. Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the one-off payment of £70 for children with disabilities, announced in the Pre-Budget Statement of 24 November 2008, Official Report, column 503, what estimate he has made of the number of disabled children eligible for the payment; and what estimate he has made of the total cost to the Treasury of these payments. [243884]

Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.

Around 300,000 disabled children are expected to be eligible for the Christmas bonus this financial year. We expect the total cost of the payments to this group, including the £60 extra payment on top of the regular £10 Christmas bonus, to be around £20 million.

Derbyshire Offshore: Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander

Sir John Butterfill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether the Financial Services Authority insisted that the Derbyshire Building Society consult its depositors in respect of the sale of its Isle of Man subsidiary to Landsbanki; [246800]

(2) whether the Financial Services Authority insisted that existing depositors should have the right to withdraw their deposits as a condition of the sale of the Derbyshire Building Society's Isle of Man subsidiary to Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander. [246801]


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Ian Pearson: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on 26 November 2008, Official Report, column 1902W.

Economic Situation: EU Action

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of the EU Economic Recovery Plan agreed on 12 December 2008; and if he will make a statement. [245915]

Ian Pearson: The Government welcomes the Commission's European Economic Recovery Plan.

Part of the Plan is to increase the overall EC budget by €5 billion in 2010 and 2011. The UK’s current pre-abatement financing share of the EC budget is 15.8 per cent.

Peacekeeping Operations: Afghanistan

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost has been of the British operations in Afghanistan in each year since 2001; and what the anticipated costs are for each of the next five years. [245484]

Yvette Cooper: Details of the costs of military operations, including in Afghanistan, are published annually in the Ministry of Defence's annual report and accounts and in the Department’s parliamentary supply estimates.

Forecasts of operational costs in future years are not published

Portman Building Society: Landsbanki

Sir John Butterfill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) whether the Financial Services Authority insisted that the Portman Building Society consult its depositors in respect of the sale of its Guernsey subsidiary to Landsbanki; [246796]

(2) whether the Financial Services Authority insisted that existing depositors should have the right to withdraw their deposits as a condition of the sale of the Portman Building Society's Guernsey subsidiary to Landsbanki; [246797]

(3) what measures the Financial Services Authority took to safeguard depositors in the Portman Building Society's Guernsey subsidiary. [246798]

Ian Pearson: Portman Building Society (“Portman”) did not sell its Guernsey deposit taking subsidiary (Portman Channel Islands Ltd.) to Landsbanki.

Portman sold this subsidiary in April 2007 to the Scarborough Building Society which renamed the company Scarborough Channel Islands Ltd. Scarborough Building Society continues to own this subsidiary.

Public Sector: Pensions

Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the affordability of public sector pension schemes; and if he will make a statement. [245817]


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Yvette Cooper: The Treasury receives a wide range of representations from various sources on different aspects of public sector pension schemes. The latest Government projections, published in the Long Term Public Finance Report (LTPFR) alongside the March 08 Budget, show that expenditure on public service pensions should remain a relatively small and sustainable fraction of GDP.

Tax Havens: Research

Mr. Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what recent estimate he has made of the likely cost of the research to explore customer experiences of the Offshore Disclosure Facility; [245836]

(2) what recent estimate he has made of the likely cost of each consultant interview under the research to explore customer experiences of the Offshore Disclosure Facility; [245837]

(3) how many customers are to be interviewed as part of the research to explore customer experiences of the Offshore Disclosure Facility; [245838]

(4) what the purpose of the research to explore customer experiences of the Offshore Disclosure Facility is; and if he will make a statement. [245839]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 12 January 200 9 ]: HMRC are not proceeding with this research study. A review of the proposed study has suggested that it is unlikely to meet its aims.

The Offshore Disclosure Facility in 2007 led to the collection of £400 million.

Work and Pensions

Carers’ Benefits

Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many (a) carers and (b) carers providing more than (i) 20 hours and (ii) 35 hours per week of care are receiving incapacity benefit; and if he will make a statement; [246752]

(2) how many (a) carers and (b) carers providing more than (i) 20 hours and (ii) 35 hours per week of care who are receiving incapacity benefit also have underlying entitlement to carer's allowance; and if he will make a statement; [246753]

Jonathan Shaw: It is estimated that the number of adult carers in receipt of incapacity benefit is 200,000. Of these it is estimated that 100,000 provide more than 20 hours of care per week.

Sample sizes are too small to yield reliable results for the number of adult carers in receipt of incapacity benefit providing more than 35 hours of care per week.

The information required to determine underlying entitlement for carer's allowance is not collected.


13 Jan 2009 : Column 571W

Crimes of Violence

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many reported assaults there were on staff of (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department's agencies in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [245452]

Jonathan Shaw: DWP takes the safety of its staff seriously. In 2006 we undertook a review of our unacceptable customer behaviour procedures and introduced a “zero tolerance” approach, encouraging staff to report all incidents however minor.

The Department serves over 20 million customers. Every working day we interview over 45,000 customers as we help them prepare for work, we visit 3,000 people in their own home and answer over 300,000 telephone calls to our help lines.

The following table provides the information requested for DWP reported assaults broken down to show each of the Department's Agencies. Traditionally, DWP collect and report assault data by financial year rather than calendar year. The information is broken down into three distinct types of assault: actual, attempted and verbal (abuse and threats).

April 2005 to March 2006
DWP by business Actual Attempted Verbal Total

Jobcentre Plus

399

1,134

8,820

10,353

The Pensions Service

0

0

29

29

Disability and Carers Service

0

0

43

43

Child Support Agency

0

0

1

1

DWP Total

399

1,134

8,893

10,426


April 2006 to March 2007
DWP by business Actual Attempted Verbal Total

Jobcentre Plus

583

1,017

12,640

14,240

The Pensions Service

1

0

29

30

Disability and Carers Service

0

0

1

1

Child Support Agency

0

0

8

8

DWP total

584

1,107

12,678

14,279


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