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Written Answers
Monday, 8th March 1999.
Security Cameras
The Marquess of Ailesbury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether a security camera which requires a tape has other appreciable running costs apart from the costs of the tape.[HL1338]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn): The running costs associated with security cameras will be determined by the operational requirement for the cameras. In addition to routine maintenance and repair and a power supply, security cameras may require a range of additional facilities which will have implications for running costs. Examples include infra-red lighting systems for night vision, cabling or other transmission systems to transmit the signal in either analogue or digital form to a monitoring station and facilities to record and retrieve images. Signal transmission and monitoring tend to be major components of running costs for most closed circuit television systems.
Genetically Modified Animals
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many genetically modified animals have been produced in the United Kingdom each year since 1995; whether records are kept of these animals; how many of the animals contain human genetic code; and what steps they are taking to ensure that labelling of products containing cross-species human genetic material are labelled accordingly.[HL1307]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The production and breeding of genetically modified animals in the United Kingdom falls within the definition of a regulated procedure under the terms of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and must, therefore, be authorised by a project licence issued under the terms of Section 5 of that Act. Project licence holders must keep detailed records of procedures performed and animals produced.
Project licence holders are required to submit annually to the Home Office specified details of all animals used in regulated procedures. This information is collated and published each year. Since the definition of a regulated procedure includes the production of genetically modified animals, these figures must (subject to the caveats set out below) equate to the number of genetically modified animals produced in the United Kingdom.
The relevant annual statistics for both Great Britain and Northern Ireland show that the total numbers of genetically modified animals used in scientific procedures in each year since 1995 are as given in
column (a) below. Figures for 1998 are currently being collated.The figures in column (a) below do not include harmful mutants but they do include genetically modified animals imported into the United Kingdom. Column (b) gives estimates of the numbers of imported, genetically modified animals used in scientific procedures in the United Kingdom. Exact figures cannot be given as licence holders are required only to submit details of the source for those animals listed in Schedule 2 to the 1986 Act.
| Year | (a) | (b) |
| 1997 | 355,396 | 5,000 |
| 1996 | 303,850 | 7,600 |
| 1995 | 215,308 | 5,500 |
It is also possible that genetically modified animals produced in one year but used in other scientific procedures the following year will be included in the statistics for the year in which they were used rather than the year in which they were bred.
Records of whether the animals contain human genetic code are not kept centrally but do form part of the records to be kept by individual project licence holders.
I will have to write to the noble Lord regarding the issue of labelling. I will need to consult with those departments responsible for the labelling of different types of products.
Lord Barnett asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Royal Commission on the Constitution took the view that it was not practicable to define an area of domestic affairs in which the autonomy of the Channel Islands and Isle of Man should be absolute (Cmnd 5460, paragraph 1499). Any exercise of the United Kingdom's paramount powers would be considered in the light of paragraphs 1499 to 1513 as a whole; the relevance of particular passages would depend upon the specific circumstances obtaining.
The Earl of Haddington asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Scottish Prison Service has not commissioned research into the availability of disinfecting tablets. Disinfecting tablets for prisoners have been available in Scottish prisons since December 1993. Prior to January 1997, disinfecting tablets were purchased locally, and no central records are available. After that date, the numbers purchased centrally were:
A pilot scheme has been operating between July 1998 and February 1999 at 11 selected prisons and is the subject of an evaluation by an independent academic team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In the course of the pilot, approximately 285,000 tablets were purchased.
Disinfecting tablets are not available in prisons in Northern Ireland.
The active ingredient in the disinfecting tablets issued in prisons in Scotland and in England and Wales is sodium di-chloroisocyanurate, used as a solution by
There are no dispensing records as disinfecting tablets are not a pharmaceutical product requiring a prescription.
Lord McNair asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: No. A foreign national may be excluded from the United Kingdom if his presence here is deemed not to be conducive to the public good, as being in the interests of national security or of the relations between the United Kingdom and any other country or for other reasons of a political nature. My right honourable friend the Home Secretary is not at present aware of any information to suggest that he should exercise his personal power to exclude Mr. Idris from the United Kingdom.
The Earl of Haddington asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Williams of Mostyn: Information is not readily available in the form requested. The information given in the tables has been collected from a number of databases held centrally based on returns from prison establishments. The tables show new cases reported for each year. Figures are not available for Scotland as these are not held centrally.
(1) Total of known HIV+ inmates at 31 March.
(2) Total number of HIV tests which were positive.
Information on cases of acute hepatitis A is no longer collected.
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Williams of Mostyn on 17 February (WA 78), under which specific paragraph between paragraphs 1497 and 1513 of Cmnd 5460 they would be justified
in implementing anti-tax avoidance measures in relation to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man; and whether the last sentence of paragraph 1513 would apply in such circumstances; and whether they would have "the right in the last resort to legislate for the Islands".[HL1301]
Whether they will place in the Library of the House copies of all reports and research which have been commissioned for or by them into the availability of sterilising tablets for prisoners in Scottish prisons; how many tablets, of what dosage and chemical make up, have been issued in each of the last nine years to each of Her Majesty's prisons; and whether they will also place in the Library copies of each prison authority's dispensing records.[HL1272]
January to March 1997178,944 tablets
April 1997 to March 1998683,520 tablets
April 1998 to February 1999807,936 tablets
Disinfecting tablets were introduced in Prison Service establishments in England and Wales for a brief period in 1995 but were withdrawn following safety concerns. Disinfecting tablets were reintroduced on a limited pilot basis in 1998.
Whether they intend to ban Mr. Salah Idris from the United Kingdom.[HL1318]
How many cases of (a) HIV; (b) AIDS; and
(c) each type of hepatitis have been detected in how many inmates in each prison in the United Kingdom in each of the last 10 years.[HL1273]
1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98
Acute Hepatitis A 31 11 13 14 21 19 15 7 9 --
Acute Hepatitis B 105 56 22 22 37 53 66 67 46 98
Chronic Hepatitis B 242 134 161 91 90 93 109 135 115 148
Acute Hepatitis C -- -- -- -- -- -- 102 214 135 103
Chronic Hepatitis C -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 329 625 813
HIV -- -- -- (1)49 (1)57 (1)56 (1)70 (2)62 (2)123 (2)177
AIDS -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 13
1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99
Hepatitis B 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Hepatitis C 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 3
HIV 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0
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