| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Water Supply
Lord Pearson of Rannoch asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- How much money
has been spent since 1972 on water infrastructure and supply in the
United Kingdom.
[HL6800]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Ofwat is the economic regulator for the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales. It collects information on companies’ financial expenditure and publishes this information annually in its report “Financial performance and expenditure of the water companies in England and Wales”.
The table below shows expenditure on water infrastructure from the earliest year that figures are available (inflated to 2004-05 prices). This expenditure is for the water service only.
Carers: Credits
Baroness Hollis of Heigham asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- How many
additional men and women would qualify for a national insurance credit
by (a) 2010; (b) 2020; and (c) 2030 as carers of more than 20
hours per week for people on (i) incapacity benefit; (ii) lower rates
of disability living allowance; (iii) income support disability
premiums; (iv) any other disability benefit; and (v) all disability
benefits; and how many additional years of national insurance credit
would be gained as a result by carers, by median quintiles; and at what
additional gross and net cost; and [HL
6695]
- If
carers of more than 20 hours per week were eligible for up to five
years’ worth of backdated credits for caring responsibilities
incurred before 2010 for a person on (a) middle and higher rate
disability living allowance, and (b) on any other disability benefit,
what additional number and percentage of men and women would gain; how
many would be eligible for a full basic state pension in (i) 2010; (ii)
2020; and (iii) 2030; and what would be the gross and net costs.
[HL
6696]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The information is not available in the format requested.
The White Paper
Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system (Cm 6841)
includes proposals to ensure more carers are able to build up better
state
25 July 2006 : Column WA284
We have proposed to link the new carer's credit to those caring for someone in receipt of specified disability benefits. We estimate that around 70,000 people a year could gain a credit for BSP from this proposal, and over half of these will be women. The new credit should also mean around 110,000 more women and 50,000 more men will be accruing entitlement to S2P.
We estimate that this may leave around 60,000 people in 2010 who report themselves to be caring for 20 hours or more who may not be accruing BSP through paid contributions or credits, including the new carer's credit. The equivalent figure for S2P is around 180,000 people. It is not possible to break down these figures further by the individual benefits received by the person being cared for.
The potential costs of awarding these extra people a credit for BSP and S2P build up slowly over time. They could reach some £200 million in 2030, over and above expenditure on the current system.
With existing data sources, it is difficult reliably to estimate the intensity of care that someone in receipt of a disability benefit such as incapacity benefit or the disability premium in income support, may be receiving from a particular carer. It is also unclear what care needs, if any, those in receipt of these benefits might have.
For the purposes of estimating the cost of the new carer's credit in the White Paper, it was assumed that all those in receipt of the middle or higher rate care component of AA/DLA, or CAA, would have a carer providing more than 20 hours’ care per week. Although this is not a precondition for the receipt of those benefits, entitlement provides a clear indication that the recipient has a significant level of care needs.
As with any reform, the timing of change to the state pension system involves striking a balance: to achieve fair outcomes for tomorrow's pensioners, while ensuring that the transition from the current arrangements is affordable, avoids complexity and is delivered successfully. Backdating the carers credit to make it available on the basis of self certification for past periods of caring activity would not be feasible; to do so would be intrusive and forfeit any checks and balances in the scheme.
It is
not possible to make accurate estimates. However, assuming that all
those eligible for the proposed carer’s credit from 2010 were
automatically
25 July 2006 : Column WA285
- 1.
Source: Family Resources Survey 2003-04 and 2004-05, with DWP
forecasting assumptions for population changes. Costs: DWP estimates,
2006 prices.
- 2.
Numbers of people are rounded to the nearest 10,000. Estimated costs
are rounded to the nearest £100
million.
- 3. Costs
presented refer to the estimated additional expenditure required over
and above estimated expenditure on the White Paper reform proposal.
They are net of offsetting savings in expenditure on income-related
benefits.
- 4. Costs
presented are likely to be overestimates, since they assume that all
people eligible for the carer's credit need to use this credit to
enhance their state pension record. However for BSP, there has been an
adjustment made for the reduction of qualifying
years.
Ambassadors
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- Whether those
who are appointed as United Kingdom ambassadors have visited England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to familiarise themselves with the
local cultures and economic and political climates before taking up
their
posts.[HL7055]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): Heads of mission have specific briefing programmes before they take up their appointments that cover in detail all aspects of their responsibilities to represent all parts of the United Kingdom.
British Council: Overseas Students
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- Whether the
British Council is giving priority to bringing students and scholars to
the United Kingdom from Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon and to supporting
exchanges with those countries.
[HL7145]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): A central part of the British Council’s remit is to encourage overseas students to come to the UK. It does this through activities such as the promotion of UK education. Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon are priority areas for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Council. The British Council also supports exchanges, particularly among young people. It does this through initiatives such as Connecting Futures, which aims to increase understanding between young people in the UK and countries with significant Muslim populations.
25 July 2006 : Column WA286
Government Departments: Special Advisers
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- Further to the
Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 10 July (WA
89), how many assistants currently support special advisers to
Ministers in the Department for Work and Pensions; and what is the
nature of their services.
[HL7015]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Two civil servants assist the special advisers in DWP. These staff are employed to provide support of a non-political nature in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.
Israel and Palestine: Gaza
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- Whether they
will make representations to the Government of Israel to open the Rafah
crossing point sufficiently to allow inhabitants of Gaza, now stranded
in Egypt, to return home.
[HL7034]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): The Rafah crossing point opened on 18 July to allow people to pass from Egypt into Gaza. It is important that both parties implement the 15 November 2005 agreement on movement and access. We will continue to make representations about this.
Turks and Caicos Islands
Lord Jones asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- What discussions
have taken place about granting more self-government to the people of
the Turks and Caicos Islands.
[HL6963]
The
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(Lord Triesman): As part of the constitutional
review process for the overseas territories, the Government have had
in-depth discussions with representatives of the Turks and Caicos
Islands. In October 2005, agreement was reached with the Turks and
Caicos Islands Government on the main principles of a new and
modernised constitution. A public consultation process on the text of
the draft constitution based on these principles showed broad support
for the document in the territory. The Turks and Caicos Islands
Legislative Council passed a resolution endorsing the draft on 28 June.
On 19 July, Her Majesty the Queen made an Order in Council adopting the
new constitution. The new constitution
25 July 2006 : Column WA287
Israel and Palestine: Compensation
Lord Dykes asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- Whether they
will include in their diplomatic efforts to secure a cessation of
Middle East military actions on all sides the case for the parties to
the conflict paying compensation for loss of life and injuries to
civilians, as well as war damage for buildings.
[HL7080]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): At the G8 summit in St Petersburg on 16 July, G8 leaders outlined the conditions leading to a cessation of violence in the region that will be sustainable and lay the foundation for a more permanent solution. This requires:
the return of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza and Lebanon unharmed;
an end to the shelling of Israeli territory;
an end to Israeli military operations and the early withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza;
and the release of the arrested Palestinian Ministers and parliamentarians.
The framework for resolving these disputes is already established by international consensus. We have no plans to seek to include the payment of compensation as a further condition.
25 July 2006 : Column WA288
Israel and Palestine: Gaza
Lord Dykes asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- Why they were
unable to support the proposal of the Government of France at the G8
summit in St. Petersburg that Israel should agree to an immediate
ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon at the same time as Hamas and Hezbollah
stop their
actions.[HL7040]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): As my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said during his press conference with the UN Secretary-General on 17 July in St. Petersburg:
- “It is
obviously a very critical situation and the most immediate priority is
to create the conditions in which a cessation of violence can happen.
But this is a very, very serious situation indeed and it is going to be
vital that we use every single effort that we possibly can to make sure
over the next few days that we put in place those conditions that can
actually allow us to have that cessation of
violence”.
Lottery Grants
Lord Fearn asked Her Majesty’s Government:
- Which coastal
resorts in England and Wales have received heritage lottery grants in
each of the years 2003-05.
[HL6634]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded the following grants to English coastal resorts (as defined by the British Resorts Association) and Welsh coastal resorts in each of the years 2003-05.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |