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13 Jan 2009 : Column 566W—continued
The refurbishment of the Bridlington Spa Complex was completed early 2008 and discussions are continuing with regard to the redevelopment of the Marina.
Cleethorpes Renaissance Programme: work has been completed on the Lakeside Arena and is in the process of commissioning a strategic development framework for the whole of Cleethorpes.
Hornsea has been prioritised as part of the Rural Enterprise Programme and the RDA is working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Hornsea Town Council to develop an area specific investment plan.
Contributed £6 million in Kings Lynn to a £23 million programme to support the comprehensive redevelopment of 50ha of Brownfield land for a mixed use development scheme. Project involves the construction of new link road, associated infrastructure, new homes and integration with the town.
In Great Yarmouth, ongoing support for construction of breakwaters and associated maritime access works to form a new outer harbour for Great Yarmouth providing roll-on/roll-off facilities for freight and passenger services and general cargo handling;
In Lowestoft, 1st East provided core funding for regeneration plans for the waterfront areas of the town;
Ipswich Waterfront supporting a scheme to upgrade and bring back into fuller public use the dockside roadways which lie within the conservation area and are not part of the public highway.
In Southend, supporting the Renaissance Southend programme by co-funding the town centre Area Action Plan (AAP) and the seafront AAP as part of the Local Development Framework process.
Allocated £2 million, under the LEADER approach element of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), to the East Lindsay coastal action zone and is working with Boston Borough and South Holland District Councils to develop their RDPE programme;
Provided capital funding to public realm work in Mablethorpe; and
Working with the owners of Fantasy Island theme park at Skegness on their continued development plans.
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.
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]
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]
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.
Notes:
1. The Family Resources Survey is a nationally representative sample of approximately 26,000 households.
2. Data for 2006-07 were collected between April 2006 and March 2007.
3. In the Family Resources Survey carers are defined as 'people involved in the provision of any regular service or help to someone in or outside their household who is sick, disabled or elderly'.
4. 35 hours is the minimum hours of care that need to be supplied for a single individual to qualify for Carer's Allowance.
5. The figures are based on a sample of households which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the Family Resources Survey to Government Office Region populations by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-response error.
6. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100,000.
Source:
Family Resources Survey 2006-07
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 |
| April 2006 to March 2007 | ||||
| DWP by business | Actual | Attempted | Verbal | Total |
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