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Police: Northern Ireland
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Whether they propose to amend the law on powers of arrest in Northern Ireland, in line with Section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 in England and Wales; and, if so, when. [HL 7001]
Lord Rooker: The draft Police and Criminal Evidence (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 contains proposals aimed at bringing police powers in Northern Ireland more into line with that currently available to police officers in England and Wales. This includes the new powers of arrest introduced in England and Wales by Section 110 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
Subject to consideration of responses received as part of the public consultation exercise on the draft order, these proposals will be brought before Parliament later this year.
Post Offices
Lord Mason of Barnsley asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What support exists to enable elderly persons to access post office services in rural areas. [HL7195]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): The Government recognise the important role played by sub-post offices in local communities and made available £450 million (£150 million a year) for the three years 2003-04 to 2005-06 to help maintain the rural post office network. We have now made available a further £300 million to extend financial support until April 2008.
Lord Mason of Barnsley asked Her Majesty’s Government:
How many post offices and sub post offices have closed in each of the past five years; and how many of these were in designated rural areas. [HL7194]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Question the noble Lord has asked relates to operational matters for which Post Office Ltd is directly responsible. Post Office Ltd has provided the following figures relating to the number of post office closures:
| Details to end financial year | Closures in Year | ||
| Total | Urban | Rural | |
Prisoners: Foreign Nationals
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many foreign nationals who have completed their prison sentences are currently being held in immigration detention facilities. [HL5953]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): As of 10 June 2006, 450 detainees were accommodated within immigration removal centres who are recorded as having previously served a term of imprisonment. This figure is based on provisional management information and may be subject to change.
EU: Shareholders’ Rights
Lord Harrison asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What steps they will take to promote shareholders’ rights and democracy within the European Union, in particular the principle of “one share, one vote”; and what further steps they will take to protect non-resident shareholders who hold European equity in a member state in which they are not resident. [HL7157]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): The European Commission has consulted on the possibility of action on shareholder democracy in its current review of its May 2003 company law and corporate governance action plan. The Government have supported the proposal for a full study into the issue of “one share, one vote”.
Sustainable Development
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What steps they have taken to influence consumption patterns, including use of disposable products, since the publication of Securing the Future—UK Government sustainable development strategy. [HL6954]
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The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): One of the commitments in Securing the Future is the publication of an action plan to develop the Government’s policies for sustainable consumption and production (SCP) as set out in the strategy document. We are actively working on this.
An important input to this is the sustainable consumption round-table’s recent report, which recommends ways in which government and business can enable people to exercise more sustainable consumption choices. The report is available at www.sd-commission.orq.uk/publications/downloads/I Will If You Will.pdf.
Closely linked with this is the agenda for raising the standard of environmental performance across a range of consumer products, also set out in Securing the Future. We are currently developing an approach towards a cross-section of the most significant product areas (an approach described by the sustainable consumption round-table as “product road-maps”), which will be an integral part of the overall SCP action plan.
Timber
Lord Eden of Winton asked Her Majesty’s Government:
From which countries illegally felled timber is imported into the United Kingdom; what, in each case, is its value; and what action they are taking to stop that trade. [HL7109]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): We are unable to give a value to the timber imports identified as illegally felled that enter the UK as timber imports are not identified as legal or illegal at ports of entry.
The UK Government take the trade in illegally felled timber very seriously and are taking a range of actions to address it. The EU Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation adopted last year enables member states to enter into partnership agreements with developing countries and provide them with assistance to tackle illegal logging. This assistance will include a licensing system designed to identify products as legal and license them for export to the EU. It will be reinforced by powers for HM Customs to take a range of actions relating to unlicensed products from partner countries; this will allow member states to prohibit the import of illegal timber from those countries into the EU for the first time.
The UK Government recognise that government purchasing policies can also send a strong signal to the market and timber suppliers. Since 2000, the UK Government have committed central departments to seek to procure products made from timber that has been legally harvested and grown in a sustainably managed forest or plantation.
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At the international level, the UK is also working with other major timber-consuming countries. Most recently, this has included following up G8 commitments to tackle illegal logging made at the G8 environment and development ministerial in 2005, and establishing a joint working group on forestry with China.
Tropical Rainforests
Lord Eden of Winton asked Her Majesty’s Government:
What is their estimate of the rate at which the world's rainforests are being depleted; and what is their assessment of the impact this will have on worldwide climatic conditions. [HL7107]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations 2005 statistics, global deforestation, mainly due to conversion of forests to agricultural land, continues at a rate of 13 million hectares per year. At the same time, forest planting and natural expansion of forests have reduced the net loss of forest area. The net global change in forest area in the period 2000-2005 is estimated at -7.3 million hectares per year (an area about the size of Panama or Sierra Leone), down from -8.9 million hectares per year in the period 1990-2000.
Estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that tropical deforestation is currently responsible for about 20 per cent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Only approximately one-twentieth of this is offset by reforestation in temperate regions. Tropical forests act as a significant carbon sink, helping to limit the rate of rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide to less than 50 per cent of the rate of emissions. Removal of rainforests weakens this buffering and exposes us more to the effect of our emissions. An accelerated rise of carbon dioxide from both an increased source and a weakened sink implies an accelerated rate of global warming.
Rainforest destruction also affects climate through changes in other greenhouse gases, organic soot particles and through processes such as water recycling, which have local and global impacts. For example, rainforest loss can increase the concentration of ozone, another greenhouse gas.
Aerosols are released by burning forests and can modify temperature and local rainfall regimes. Rainforests recycle rain water back to the atmosphere, which maintains their own moist climate and also affects neighbouring regions; deforestation can modify atmospheric circulation and rainfall across the globe.
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Water Supply: Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty’s Government:
How much water in total and per occupant in cubic metres was consumed in the headquarters of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in each of the past 10 years. [HL7044]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The total water consumption for DCMS's headquarters building, 2-4 Cockspur Street, London, is shown below. Data on water consumption for the years prior to 2002-03 are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Consumption per occupant cannot be provided as DCMS was one of three occupants of the building.
| Financial year | Consumption, Cubic Metres |
Afghanistan: Counter-Narcotics
Lord Blaker asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Further to the Written Statement by the noble Lord, Lord Triesman, on 13 July (WS 52), on what alternative livelihoods Pillar 6 in the national drugs control strategy of Afghanistan, supported by Department for International Development funding, is to be focused. [HL7105]
The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): DfID leads the British Government’s efforts to develop alternative livelihoods to opium production in support of Pillar 6 of the national drugs control strategy of Afghanistan. DfID will contribute £130 million to these efforts between 2005 and 2008. A proportion of this funding is specifically targeted on improving agricultural opportunities for farmers. This work ranges from funding research to help identify, test and implement new crops and technologies through to improvements in health and husbandry for livestock.
At the same time as developing agricultural opportunities, DfID also supports the Government of Afghanistan’s national programmes that are helping to increase access to credit and improve infrastructure for farmers to transport their produce to market. Progress is being made, but it is gradual and will take many years. However, evidence from other countries demonstrates that where the population does not have access to legal livelihood opportunities efforts to reduce opium cultivation, as part of a broader strategy, are not sustainable.
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Assisted Area Status
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Which 30 wards in England have the lowest workplace-based gross value added per capita; and how many fall within the designations for assisted area status. [HL6919]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): Estimates of gross value added per capita are not available at ward level. The lowest geographical level for which estimates are available is NUTS (nomenclature of units for territorial statistics) level 3. In England, this is equivalent to counties or groups of unitary authorities.
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Which areas of England have received assisted area status; and what criteria they used in the designation. [HL6917]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Government have taken the current assisted areas map (2000-06) as the baseline for developing the new map. They propose the following indicators to prioritise areas to receive assisted areas status:
adult skills at level 2 and above;
manufacturing share of employment.
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