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NATO: Strategic Concept
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether NATO's new strategic concept will be available before NATO enlargement is presented for ratification to NATO governments and parliaments.
Lord Gilbert: Recommendations based on the forthcoming examination of NATO's strategic concept will be presented to NATO heads of state and government when they next meet in Washington in 1999. By that time it is expected that the process of ratifying the protocols relating to the accession to NATO of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland will have been completed.
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What strategic concept for NATO has been guiding the assessment of the military and financial implications of NATO enlargement.[HL100]
Lord Gilbert: NATO's approach to enlargement has been guided by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty and by current NATO decisions and policies including the 1991 strategic concept.
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether NATO's strategic concept is being reviewed; if so by whom, and guided by what criteria; and whether a wider range of expert and experienced advisers will be consulted than was the case with the original NATO enlargement document.[HL99]
Lord Gilbert: As directed by NATO heads of state and government at Madrid last July, NATO defence and foreign ministers at their meetings last December agreed terms of reference for an examination, and update as necessary, of NATO's strategic concept to:
(i) ensure that the strategic concept is fully consistent with NATO's new security situation and challenges;
(ii) confirm the allies' commitment to the core function of alliance collective defence and the indispensable transatlantic link; (iii) preserve those aspects of the strategic concept that are consistent with the existing and foreseeable strategic environment and other NATO decisions and declarations since 1991; (iv) take account of the changes in the European security environment since 1991; and (v) take into account the internal and external adaptation of the alliance and its assumption of new roles and missions, including all relevant ministerial decisions since 1991, while recognising that the process of transformation is an ongoing one and that the alliance must be prepared to meet the risks and challenges of the future. NATO's policy co-ordination group will begin work, taking into account advice from the NATO military authorities and other relevant NATO bodies, later this year for presentation to NATO heads of state and government when they next meet in Washington in 1999.
Drunken Pedestrians
Lord Strathcarron asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether drunken pedestrians are included in the drink driving accident statistics.[HL46]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Baroness Hayman): Drunken pedestrians are not normally included in the drink driving accident statistics. They would only feature if the accident in which they were involved was one in which one or more of the drivers or riders of motor vehicles involved refused to give a breath test specimen or failed either:
(i) a breath test by registering over 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath, or
(ii) a blood test by registering more than 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
Some information about the blood alcohol levels of pedestrians killed in road accidents is however available from data supplied to the department of coroners in England and Wales and procurators fiscal in Scotland. The following table shows the percentage of pedestrian fatalities above given blood alcohol levels for a sample of 353 of the 897 adult pedestrians who died in road accidents in 1995. It is not known whether there is any bias in the selection of this sample.
| Blood alcohol level (mg/100ml) | Percentage of pedestrian fatalities over this level |
| 9 | 40 |
| 50 | 33 |
| 80 | 31 |
| 100 | 30 |
| 150 | 25 |
| 200 | 16 |
N.I. Public Service Alliance: Dispute
Lord Alderdice asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they are satisfied that the Labour Relations Agency in Northern Ireland has followed agreed procedures in attempting to resolve its current dispute with the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance.[HL54]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Lord Dubs): The appropriate procedure to be invoked has itself been a dimension of this dispute. Management is seeking discussions with staff representatives on how, in such circumstances, all the issues in the dispute can be independently adjudicated.
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