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Written Answers
Monday, 22nd June 1998.
Fine Enforcement
Lord Kennet asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How much more it would cost the taxpayer to hire enough police to enforce the payment of fines than to pay private firms to do it.[HL 2245]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn): It would not be possible to make a meaningful estimate of such costs. A review of police tasks in 1995 recommended that responsibility for the execution of warrants, such as those for non-payment of fines, should be transferred from the police to the Magistrates' Courts as this was not core policing work. Legislative changes are necessary to ensure that the courts have the necessary powers to execute such warrants. Such changes are under consideration by my noble and learned friend the Lord Chancellor.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will be able to announce before the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1998 their decision on ratification of the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[HL2276]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Government announced on 3 July 1997 that they intended to review the United Kingdom's position under various international instruments. This includes whether to accept the right of individuals to submit complaints to the United Nations Human Rights Committee under the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This review is under way and we expect it to be completed by the end of the year.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will be able to announce before the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1998 their decision on ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[HL2277]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Government have been considering the United Kingdom's position on the Second Optional Protocol as part of our general review on various international human rights instruments. The
review is expected to be completed by the end of the year. This work will now also be informed by the recent decision to ratify Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will be able to announce before the fiftieth Anniversary of the Signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1998 their decision on ratification of the Sixth Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[HL2278]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: There is not a Sixth Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Question may be intended to refer to Protocol 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Government have undertaken to ratify that Protocol.
The rights contained in Protocol 6 to the European Convention on Human Rights have been added to the Convention rights contained in the Human Rights Bill [H.L.]. My right honourable friend the Home Secretary is now considering what needs to be done to enable the United Kingdom to ratify the Protocol.
Association of Chief Police Officers
Lord Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Answer by the Lord Williams of Mostyn on 8 June (H.L. Deb., col. 686), where in the Association of Chief Police Officers accounts for 1996-97 there is a reference to the Government's contribution to the organisation of £458,000; and[HL2243]
In relation to their contribution to the Association of Chief Police Officers of £458,000, what is the split between salaries and administration expenses.[HL2244]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The 1996-97 accounts of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) related to a period before the association became a private company limited by guarantee and before it was in receipt of funding from police authorities. The contribution by the Government to ACPO of £458,000 is managed by the Home Office, which pays invoices for approved expenditure incurred by ACPO, and consequently has not been included in the accounts. From 1998-99 the accounts will be presented in the Companies House format and the Home Office contribution will be included in the accounts.
The Government contribute £458,000 towards the salaries and administrative costs of ACPO. The apportionment of this sum between the two types of costs is a matter for the internal management of the association.
Anglo-American Drug Alert Collaboration: EpiPen
Lord Onslow of Woking asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What arrangements there are for co-operation between the Medicines Control Agency and the United States Food and Drugs Administration for the exchange of urgent information on health hazard evaluation, with particular reference to the recall of faulty EpiPen equipment, which was initiated in the United States on 8 May, and only promulgated in
the United Kingdom as a "caution in use" warning on
27 May.[HL2300]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Baroness Jay of Paddington): It is the duty of the United Kingdom product licence holder to report to the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) any product defect which may warrant a recall or restriction of supply. Informal arrangements exist between the MCA and the United States Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for the effective exchange of information on such products. In the case of US manufactured EpiPen auto injectors, the UK licence holder informed the MCA on 13 May that product from affected batches had been distributed in the UK. In this case, the FDA did not communicate with the MCA because the US manufacturer, and therefore the FDA, was not immediately aware that any of the defective product was on the market in the UK. This was because Denmark is the importing EC member state for this product before onward distribution to, among others, the UK. The MCA initiated discussions with the FDA and the US manufacturer and subsequently issued a Drug Alert/"Caution in Use" message on 21 May. This was upgraded to a Drug Alert/"Recall within 48 hours" message on 29 May, when replacement stocks of EpiPen became available.
NHS Night Time Care
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What monitoring takes place of the quality of night time care, including adequacy of staffing, for patients in hospital; whether they are satisfied with the current provision; and at how many NHS hospitals are they so satisfied.[HL2256]
Baroness Jay of Paddington: At present there are no national standards set for night time care or for night time staffing levels. It is for local trusts to determine what monitoring takes place of the quality of night time care and what staffing levels are appropriate.
We will shortly be publishing details of our proposals to support improvements in the quality of National Health Service care, 24 hours a day.
Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988: Retirement Benefits Schemes
The Earl of Buckinghamshire asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is their estimate of the number respectively of men and women with current earnings exceeding £87,600 per annum who before 1 June 1989 became, and currently remain, members of a retirement benefits scheme which came into existence before
14 March 1989 and is approved under Sections 590 or 591 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988, or of a relevant statutory scheme within the meaning of Section 611A of that Act and which came into existence before 14 March 1989, and who before
1 June 1989 had become members of that scheme; and [HL2247]
What is their estimate of the number respectively of men and women with current earnings exceeding £87,600 per annum who either after 1 June 1989 became, and currently remain, members of a retirement benefits scheme which is approved under Sections 590 or 591 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988, or of a relevant statutory scheme within the meaning of Section 611A of that Act, or who joined such a scheme which came into existence on or after 14 March 1989, and in either case is also a member of a funded unapproved retirement benefits scheme (FURBS).[HL2248]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The information requested is not available centrally. Only the trustees of individual occupational schemes would be able to provide it.
Working Families Tax Credit
Lord Beaumont of Whitley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What steps they propose to take to help the 200,000 people who, according to their publication The Working Families Tax Credit and work incentives (RF 57372), still face an effective marginal tax rate of 80 per cent.[HL2198]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The WFTC will reduce marginal tax rates for over half a million families. The number of families facing marginal deduction rates of 80 per cent. or more will fall from 300,000 to 200,000 and those facing marginal deduction rates of 90 per cent. or more will fall from 130,000 to only 20,000. The Government will continue to keep the number facing high marginal deduction rates under review and work to reduce numbers further where this is practicable.
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