| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Football Managers: Salaries
Lord Tebbit asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the level of salaries of football managers is having any adverse effect upon the economy; the level of inflation; interest rates and the interests of football spectators.[HL3590]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Pay in all sectors and at all levels must be related to what the economy can afford. Prospects for sustainable growth with low
inflation depend on responsible wage behaviour in both the private and public sectors, and this applies as much to football managers as anyone else.Taxation of Savings: Proposed EU Directive
Lord Tebbit asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Answer by the Lord McIntosh of Haringey on 5 October (H.L. Deb., cols. 161-163), whether a directive concerning the proposed withholding tax agreed unanimously by the Council of Ministers can be rendered invalid within the United Kingdom jurisdiction by a failure of Parliament to pass the legislation required to embody that legislation into the law of the United Kingdom.[HL3591]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: If a directive is unanimously adopted by the Council of Ministers, all member states are obliged to implement it, normally by means of national legislation. In the case of the taxation of savings directive, primary legislation would be required, and the government would not be able to take action to collect tax, for example, until such legislation was passed. A failure to implement a directive within the time allowed does not render that directive invalid. Once the date set for implementation has passed, the Commission (or another member state) could bring proceedings in the European Court of Justice for failure to implement the directive.
Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they will announce the conclusions of the Department of Health's review of the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme.[HL3562]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): The Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme is the responsibility of the Department of Social Security. Consideration is still being given to this complex and sensitive issue and an announcement will be made in due course.
Department of Health: Telephone Helpline Services
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What financial support the Department of Health gives to telephone helpline services other than NHS Direct; and whether they will state the amount of support in each case.[HL3561]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Hayman): Information showing the current level of the Department
of Health's financial support for individual telephone helpline services is shown in the table.| Helpline | Estimated 1998-99 Department of Health Contribution £000 |
| Allergy Helpline | 13(1) |
| Backpain Helpline | 15 |
| Blood Donor Telephone Service | 350 |
| Butchers Helpline | 12 |
| CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) | 250 |
| Childline | 163 |
| Churches Child Protection Advisory Service | 26.5 |
| Contraceptive Education Service | 754 |
| Drinkline (alcohol) | 208 |
| Elder Abuse Response Line | 75.5 |
| Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths helpline | 4.5 |
| Health Information Service | 0(2) |
| Infertility Evening Counselling Service | 12 |
| Jessop Centre: CJD Helpline | 14 |
| Kidscape | 30 |
| National Aids Helpline | |
| National Drugs Helpline | 1,569 |
| National Asthma Helpline | 15(3) |
| National Association for Premenstrual Syndrome Helpline | 14.5 |
| NHS Estates Information Centre | 30 |
| NHS Responseline | 52 |
| Health Literature Line | |
| Organ Donation Literature Line | 130 |
| Parentline | 25 |
| Parkinson's Disease Society (drug information helpline) | 15 |
| Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Association (telephone counselling) | 8 |
| Quitline (smoking) | 700 |
| Sexwise (teenage conceptions) | 800 |
| Welfare Food Advice and Fraud Line | 0(4) |
| Winter Warmth Line | 100 |
| Women's Aid Federation (England) National Helpline | 49 |
(1)Represents the total funding of British Allergy Foundation. This includes helpline costs.
(2)Funded by Health authorities.
(3)Represents the total funding of the National Asthma Campaign. This includes helpline costs.
(4) Operated by Department of Health staff.
Baroness Goudie asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn): We hope to do so in the second quarter of next year.
The Data Protection Act 1998 received Royal Assent on 16 July, but substantial subordinate legislation will also be needed. We issued two consultation papers about this in August. There were more than 100 responses, which we are currently considering. We will announce a firm target date for implementation as soon as we can.
Meanwhile, users of automated personal data must continue to comply with the present Data Protection Act 1984. This includes registering new processing operations and applying for renewals when existing registrations expire.
When the new Act comes into force processing operations which were already under way by 23 October 1998 will become subject to the transitional regime, which for automated data will end on 23 October 2001.
New processing operations which had begun on or after 24 October this year will become subject to the new regime as soon as it is brought into force. The Data Protection Registrar has sent me a copy of the introductory guide to the Act which she has just issued and which covers these matters. I shall place a copy in the Library of the House.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Haslar is already a discrete centre for Immigration Service detainees, with the exception of a very small number of specially selected prisoners who are there to provide domestic services. Further "designation" as an Immigration Act detention centre would not make any appreciable difference to the services provided at Haslar.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Home Office and Prison Service staff are reminded through formal instructions, guidance and other promotional material of the need to comply with legislation, including the Computer Misuse Act, relating to the use of computer systems. Departmental systems are required to have security operating procedures setting out for the users what may and may not be done with the system.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: This is a matter for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. He tells me that the Metropolitan Police have made an ex-gratia payment of £440 to replace the locks of a door at the Kurdish Community Centre. They are currently considering a claim by the centre for a number of other items.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Prison Service Instructions were introduced in January 1997. The cost of printing instructions and any accompanying Prison Service orders during the financial year 1997-98 is estimated to have been £155,000. Costs are not available for previous years.
Prison Service Instructions are mainly distributed with other documents through the service's internal systems and the cost cannot be separately identified.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: As I announced in response to a Question from the noble Lord Kirkhill on 12 May 1998 (WA 123), the Country Information and Policy Unit will revise and update its assessments (which were published from May onwards) periodically: approximately every six months, depending on the reported circumstances in the country concerned. The first revisions of the assessments are in preparation and will be placed on the website as soon as possible. They will include a revised version of the assessment on Sierra Leone.
When they expect to bring the Data Protection Act 1998 into force.[HL3570]
Whether they will consider designating Haslar as an Immigration Act detention centre.[HL3478]
What Government steps they have taken to ensure that Home Office and Prison Service personnel do not commit breaches of the Computer Misuse Act 1990.[HL3539]
What compensation they will offer the Kurdish Community Centre for the losses they have suffered as a result of a police search of their premises on 20 November and the subsequent investigation which lasted until 20 October without any charges being proffered against the centre.[HL3558]
What is the annual cost of printing and distributing Prison Service Instructions.[HL3559]
Why, given that they have declared their intention of updating the Country Assessments published by the Country Information and Policy Unit of the Home Office Asylum and Appeals Policy Directorate every six months, the assessment on Sierra Leone on the Home Office Website has not been updated since October 1997.[HL3580]
Next Section
Back to Table of Contents
Lords Hansard Home Page