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National Lottery: Endowments
Lord Freyberg asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether it would be an appropriate use of National Lottery endowment funds to use them to replace proposed entry charges to national museums.
Lord Inglewood: Applicants for National Lottery grants may apply for an endowment where such an application meets the eligibility criteria of the individual independent distributing bodies.
The National Heritage Bill, when enacted, will allow the trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, who administer the Heritage Lottery Fund, to provide financial assistance for projects aimed at securing, displaying or improving access to heritage items and encouraging enjoyment of them. It will therefore allow them to consider assisting projects which would secure reduced admission charges.
It will be for the trustees to exercise their discretion as to how they should use their new powers, taking into account the directions issued to them by the Secretary of State for National Heritage. These currently state that lottery funds may be distributed in the form of an endowment where such costs are associated with a lottery-funded capital project, and in such cases where the project would not otherwise be completed because no other finance for such costs is available.
Electronic Monitoring Trials: Costs
Lord Harris of Greenwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What was the cost of electronic monitoring trials in the three court areas between July 1995 and mid-July 1996 and how much of this was non-recurring initial expenditure; and
What was the cost of electronic monitoring trials in the three court areas between July 1995 and the present; and
What is the estimated cost of electronic monitoring trials in the three court areas between July 1995 and March 1997.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Blatch): The cost of the first 12 months of the trials was £1.8 million. The estimated costs to date are £2.4 million and to the end of March 1997 are £3 million. It will be possible to produce a firm assessment of which costs were non-recurring when the full evaluation of the first 12 months of the trials has been completed.
Electronic Monitoring Trial Areas: Court Order Statistics
Lord Harris of Greenwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many probation orders, community service orders and combination orders were made in the three areas involved in the electronic monitoring trials between mid-July 1995 and the present.
Baroness Blatch: Provisional information from the three probation areas of Berkshire, Norfolk and Greater Manchester for mid-July 1995 to mid-July 1996 is as follows:
- probation orders: 4,600
- community service orders: 4,600
- combination orders: 1,600
- total of these three orders: 10,800
Northern Ireland: Centralised Prisoner Database
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to Baroness Blatch's Answer of 29th January 1996 (WA 99), what progress has been made in the consideration of options for the development of computer systems to provide a centralised computer register of all persons detained in Her Majesty's penal establishments in Northern Ireland and when they expect to announce plans for the introduction of such a register.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Baroness Denton of Wakefield): Responsibility for subject of the question has been delegated to the Northern Ireland Prison Service under its Chief Executive, Mr. Alan Shannon. I have asked him to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter to Lord Marlesford from the Director of Finance and Estate Management, Northern Ireland Prison Service, Mr. L. O'Reilly, dated 27th November 1996.
In the absence of our Chief Executive, Mr. Alan Shannon, I have been asked to reply to the parliamentary Question you tabled seeking information on progress in considering options for the development of a central register of inmates detained in Her Majesty's penal establishments in Northern Ireland.
Each prison in Northern Ireland maintains a computerised record of a range of information about its prisoner population. A limited centralised prisoner information database, manually updated from regular returns made by each prison, is maintained at Northern Ireland Prison Service Headquarters.
At the beginning of October 1996, a number of staff from the Northern Ireland Prison Service visited the Scottish Prison service to review the Scottish Prisons
Information Network (SPIN), which provides an integrated central register of inmates detained in prisons in Scotland. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate whether this system might provide a model from which an improved inmates information system could be developed in Northern Ireland. Our general conclusion was the Scottish system did provide a framework for an improved system in Northern Ireland.We are now considering a timetable for the development and implementation of a new inmates information system, based on the Scottish model. We have not yet set a firm target date for implementation, as this will depend on the availability of resources to provide the replacement for the present systems.
Arms Exports from Third Countries: Control
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will introduce legislation to amend the system of licensing arms exports so that a person or company in the United Kingdom may arrange to export arms from a third country only if a licence is granted by the Department of Trade and Industry for this purpose, and whether they will consult with other
- states party to the Wassenaar Arrangement, with a view to extending notification of arms sales to cover supplies arranged by nationals of participating states from third countries.
The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Fraser of Carmyllie): In cases where the Security Council of the United Nations imposes an embargo on the sale of arms and military equipment, powers to control such items from a third country by a person or company in the UK already exist. Views were sought in the consultation document, Strategic Export Controls (Cm. 3349), presented to Parliament in July, on the extent to which any new legislation on strategic export controls should seek to control more generally trafficking in undesirable goods or the brokering of such deals by United Kingdom nationals or companies. The consultation closed at the end of October and the department is currently considering the responses and follow-up action to the consultation. Current procedures in relation to trafficking in arms are also being examined by the interdepartmental committee set up in response to the allegations that UK companies have been linked to the selling of arms to Rwandan extremists in Zaire. The committee's work in this area will contribute to the wider review of strategic export controls already under way. We have no plans to raise this issue with participating states in the Wassenaar Arrangement.
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