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The number of long-term absence cases has fallen from eight staff members in April to May 2006 to three members of staff at present. All staff have been made aware of the new absence triggers which prompt early consideration/action. These are being closely monitored and issued by the human resources department within the NITB.
Northern Ireland: Voluntary Ambulance Services
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have any proposals to recognise the work of the voluntary ambulance services throughout the civil unrest in Northern Ireland.[HL7829]
The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): No.
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Official Documents: Twelvetrees Crescent Warehouse
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
What files were lost by the Big Lottery Fund in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London, in July; what impact these losses will have on the fund; whether any work or projects will be delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire; and what costs were incurred.[HL7906]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Big Lottery Fund lost 1,196 boxes of files in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent. Files held in archive were closed grant files, rejected application forms and audited finance documents with no ongoing business need. They were being stored in off-site archives for the Big Lottery Fund's retention periods. The only impact that has been identified is that they will be unable to respond to freedom of information requests for documents that were destroyed. The Big Lottery Fund believes that enough information is held electronically that the impact of the loss of these files will be minimal. There is no indication that any projects will be delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire as only closed or rejected grant files are stored offsite. It is estimated that no costs will be incurred.
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
What files were lost by the Medical Research Council in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London in July; what impact these losses will have on the council; whether any work or projects will be delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire; and what costs were incurred.[HL7908]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): On 12 July 2006, a fire occurred at the Iron Mountain storage facility at Twelvetrees Crescent in London. The Medical Research Council (MRC) head office and a number of MRC units use Iron Mountain to store inactive files and material off-site. Twelvetrees Crescent is one of a number of Iron Mountain's storage facilities used by the MRC and only a fairly small proportion of the MRC's records were stored there.
The MRC lost records that had been created at its head office, the MRC prion unit, and the MRC national survey of health and development (NSHD). The head office records were a mixture of policy, administration, grant and transaction files. The records from the MRC prion unit contained the results of scientific research work conducted at a biological services facility that was closed down several years ago. The MRC NSHD material consisted of all the paper copies of information collected in 1989, paper copies from seven of the
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Some of the head office records were of relatively short-term significance: these would have been routinely destroyed in future by applying internal records management procedures. Others would have been kept for longer periods and their loss now is an inconvenience to the business: it will be necessary to reconstruct some information (such as formal correspondence trails for a number of patent files) from other sources. A smaller number of records were of archival value and would have been transferred to the National Archives.
The impact on the MRC prion unit of the loss of scientific research records is currently uncertain. Access has been lost to the MRC NSHD original questionnaires, although the primary data collected had been digitised. Consequently, new data cannot now be created from original sources and qualitative data cannot now be used.
No specific project has currently been delayed or abandoned. However, for the MRC NSHD, two existing projects may be restricted by the loss of original material.
MRC head office administrative costs have amounted to approximately £5,000, and the cost of reconstructing correspondence trails and other paperwork is estimated at a further several thousand pounds.
Neither the MRC prion unit or the NSHD have incurred direct financial costs.
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
What files were lost by the Millennium Commission in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London, in July; what impact these losses will have on the commission; whether any work or projects will be affected, delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire; and what costs were incurred.[HL7950]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Millennium Commission lost 509 of some 2,000 boxes of files at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent. The losses included documents that had been prepared for the National Archive and these have had to be reproduced, with associated additional staff costs. However, copies of all these documents exist in the commission's offices and this work is at hand.
The commission holds files in archives for three main purposes: to address statutory requirements for record retention; to address a potential business need related to the monitoring of lottery-funded assets and to reduce office costs by optimising storage. It is not possible to assess the impact of the loss of these records until a particular scenario arises which requires access to records that have been destroyed. Some of the records lost in the fire were scheduled for destruction at the end of the commission's life, currently expected before the end of 2006.
None of the commission's other work or construction projects has been affected or delayed by these losses.
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Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
What files were lost by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in the fire at the paper records warehouse in Twelvetrees Crescent, London, in July; what impact these losses will have on the department; whether any work or projects will be affected, delayed or abandoned as a result of the fire; and what costs were incurred.[HL7955]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): The fire at Iron Mountain's “Cody 5” facility in east London had virtually no impact upon Defra's record. Only 12 files were destroyed, which were of a purely administrative nature, with little ongoing business value. No projects were cancelled or otherwise interrupted. The department has incurred no additional costs.
Official Travel: Bilderberg Conference
Lord Stoddart of Swindon asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 24 October (WA 231), whether they will now answer the original Question asked by the Lord Stoddart of Swindon (HL7569) concerning attendance of Ministers at the Bilderberg Conference in Ottawa between 8 and 11 June.[HL7949]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Details of any Cabinet Ministers attending the conference in an official capacity will be published in the annual list of Cabinet Ministers’ overseas travel for 2006-07, which will be published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year. The overall cost of all ministerial travel during 2006-07 will be published at the same time. Information on other Ministers' travel is not collected centrally.
Organophosphates
The Duke of Montrose asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many studies on the effects of organophosphates they are currently funding; and whether these studies have identified any aspects which require further investigation.[HL7979]
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) currently has one research project looking into whether there is a link between exposure to pesticides residues including organophosphate residues in the diet and gastrointestinal effects in children (project PS2612).
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The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) currently has five projects concerning the effects of organophosphates:
1. A case-controlled study of neuropsychological and psychiatric functioning in sheep farmers exposed to organophosphates (projects VM2126 and VM02302).2. A study of the effects of sheep dip pesticides on differentiating nerve cells (project VM02300).3. An investigation of susceptibility to long-term genotoxic effects of organophosphate exposure. (Project VM02301).4. A study of disabling neuro psychiatric disease in farmers exposed to organophosphates (project VM02115).5. A review of organophosphate-related health complaints (project VM0299).Full details of these projects are available for PSD Project PS2612 at www2.defra.gov.uk/research/project_data/More.asp?I=PS2612&M=KWS&V=ps 2612&SCOPE=0 and for VMD projects at www2. defra.gov.uk/research/project_data/Default.asp
The need for any further investigations will be reviewed in the light of the results from these various studies.
Plastic Bags
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): Defra provided funding for the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to carry out a pilot reusable bag campaign with retailers last autumn, aimed at reducing the consumption of plastic carrier bags by promoting the message of reuse to the public.
Following on from this, on 12 October, my honourable friend, the Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare, and Mr Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment and Rural Development at the Scottish Executive, met UK retailers and representatives from the devolved Administrations, to discuss a draft voluntary code of practice aimed at reducing the number of paper and plastic carrier bags distributed to consumers.
The Government and retailers have committed to work together to encourage the reuse and recycling of bags and agree targets for their reduction. It is hoped that as many retailers as possible will sign up to the code, and this will result in a significant change in consumer behaviour.
Pneumonia
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their response to the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organisation's report Pneumonia: The Forgotten Killer of Children.[HL7684]
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The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): The UK welcomes this report which aims to raise awareness about childhood deaths caused by pneumonia and the actions required to prevent it.
Pneumonia causes almost 20 per cent of under-five mortality worldwide, which is more than 2 million child deaths each year. This is more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
Effective actions, such as awareness in recognising the signs of the disease and subsequent treatment with antibiotics to reduce these deaths are available but reach fewer than 20 per cent of children in need. Scaling-up treatment coverage is possible and at a relatively low cost.
Child health is a priority for the UK but maternal, newborn and child health are linked and must be addressed together. There is global consensus that improving women's health and status is essential to reducing child mortality. This link is key to the UK's strategy in health.
However, there is no one single “quick win” to making progress to achieving millennium development goal 4—reducing child mortality. Global efforts to prevent child deaths increasingly recognise the need for a fully functioning health service. A central requirement to this is a long-term and significantly increased financial commitment to countries to enable governments to address systemic challenges, including the human resource crisis, as well as providing drugs and vaccines.
In 2005 at Gleneagles, the G8 and other donors pledged historic increases in their aid budgets to provide an extra $50 billion a year by 2010 with half of this going to Africa. In May this year, African heads of state set out their own plans to tackle AIDS, TB and Malaria and to improve basic health services. They called for the support of the international community, including long-term funding commitments, to help them plan for the long term. The UK is working with other donors to make sure they get this support.
DfID's own recent White Paper recognises this and we are committed to providing 50 per cent of our direct support to developing countries’ plans to improve basic services: education, health—including HIV and AIDS—water and sanitation and social protection.
DfID is a major supporter of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) which seeks to ensure that all children are vaccinated. We are also promoting an advance market commitment (AMC) to develop a pneumococcal vaccine suitable for developing countries.
DfID also contributes to the core work of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) (£19 million) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) (£12.5 million).
Prisoners: Release on Licence
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they and HM Prison Service are taking to prevent the recall to prison of persons on licence, for technical breaches of conditions, failures of tagging equipment or administrative errors.[HL7842]
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The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The period offenders spend on licence and subject to probation supervision is an integral part of their sentence. Conditions are placed on the offenders’ licence in order to assist the probation service in managing the risk they may present to the community. The expectation is that offenders will comply with all conditions. If they fail to do so, they will be liable to recall. There are no plans to remove this liability, which is essential for maintaining the integrity of the sentence and for public confidence.
In the few cases where it comes to light that an offender has been recalled as a result of defective electronic monitoring equipment or for other erroneous reasons, immediate steps are taken to re-release the offender.
Prisoners: Women
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What steps they and HM Prison Service are taking to prevent the imprisonment of women convicted of non-violent offences, especially those also suffering from addictions or mental illness.[HL7843]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts. The Government have, however, developed the women's offending reduction programme, which was launched in 2004 and which focuses on improving community based services and interventions to ensure they are appropriate for women and to support greater use of community sentences for those who do not need to be held in custody. The drugs intervention programme and the Department of Health's women's mental health strategy support this work by ensuring that drug and mental health services in the community are appropriate and effective for women offenders.
We are also investing £9.15 million in two projects to demonstrate how an integrated multi-agency approach in the community can be more effective at tackling the multiple needs of women offenders and avoid the use of custody. Baroness Jean Corston’s review of women with particular vulnerabilities in the criminal justice system is due to report to Ministers in December and may suggest further action that could be taken to prevent women with vulnerabilities ending up in prison.
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