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Lord Stoddart of Swindon asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Who attended the events that were part of the "Your Britain, Your Europe" roadshow; and how the participants and audiences were chosen.[HL759]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: During the roadshow my honourable friend the Minister of State for Europe met people from all walks of life, including business leaders, academics, school-children, students, MPs and MEPs. Those who joined the various events had an interest in Europe.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office DEL
Baroness Massey of Darwen asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether there are any proposals to amend the Foreign and Commonwealth Office departmental expenditure limit and running costs limit for 1999-2000.[HL884]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate for Class VII, Vote 1, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office departmental expenditure limit for 1999-2000 will be increased by £5,157,000 from £1,171,240,000 to £1,176,397,000 and the running cost limit has been decreased by £32,614,000 from £530,968,000 to £498,354,000. The increase is the net effect of:
- (i) a decrease of £5,326,000 in respect of an adjustment for overseas price movements;
- (ii) a decrease in the running cost limit of £1,011,000 in respect of the cash limit breach for financial year 1998-99;
- (iii) an increase of £2,000,000 in both capital expenditure and appropriations-in-aid for FCO estates rationalisation;
- (iv) a net decrease in the running costs limit of £5,238,000 and an increase in capital of £5,238,000 in respect of the reclassification of certain items of current and capital expenditure in line with the FCO's resource accounting policies;
- (v) a transfer of £600,000 from the Home Office (Class IV, Vote 1) in respect of certain overseas drugs assistance programmes;
- (vi) a transfer of £56,000 to the Home Office (Class IV, Vote 2) in respect of the Human Rights Project Fund;
- (vii) a transfer of £100,000 from the Ministry of Defence (Class VI, Vote 1) in respect of its contribution to the grant-in-aid to the Atlantic Council of the UK;
- (viii) a transfer of £750,000 to the Cabinet Office (Class XVII, Vote 2) for capital expenditure;
- (ix) an increase in both the running cost limit and in appropriations-in-aid of £25,000 in respect of sales into wider markets;
- (x) an increase in running cost receipts of £24,675,000 and an increase in running cost expenditure of £500,000 in respect of increased receipts from other government departments;
- (xi) The Supplementary Estimate is also sought for additional provision of £40,070,000 on Section B for UK contributions to United Nations missions in the former Yugoslavia (includes UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) and the former Soviet Union, United Nations Special Commission on Iraq, United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission, United Nations Mission for the Referendum on Western Sahara, United Nations Police Mission in Haiti, United Nations Mission in East Timor, United
- Nations Observer Mission in Angola, United Nations Peacekeeping Operation in Central African Republic, United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone, United Nations Observer Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the European Community Monitoring Mission and Western European Union Police Mission in Albania. This is partially offset by an increase of £4,800,000 in appropriations-in-aid in respect of non-baseline peacekeeping;
- (xii) The Supplementary Estimate is also required to note an increase of £505,000 in Section D in respect of an adjustment for overseas price movements for the British Council.
The increase will be offset by a transfer from another departmental expenditure limit (DfID) and a charge on the DEL reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.
Act of Union of 1801: Bicentenary
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have to celebrate the bicentenary of the creation of the United Kingdom through the 1801 Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland.[HL742]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: None.
National Savings
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will now update the £10,000 limit set in July 1969 on national savings ordinary accounts to take account of inflation; and, if not, why not.[HL769]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: We have no plans to increase the limit on the ordinary account.
Police: Time Lost through Sickness and Injuries
Lord Hardy of Wath asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the proportion of time lost because of (a) injuries sustained on duty and (b) sickness in each of the police forces in England during the last 12-month period for which statistics are available.[HL779]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton): Information is not held centrally in the form requested. The table shows:
- (i) the number of police working days lost in each force in 1998-99 due to injuries sustained by police officers as a result of assaults;
- (ii) the percentage of working days lost in that year due to injuries sustained by police officers as a result of assaults;
- (iii) the number of police working days lost in each force in that year due to sickness; and
- (iv) the percentage of police working days lost in that year due to sickness.
| Assaults--Days lost | % of police working days lost to assault | Police days lost due to sick leave | % of police working days lost to sick | Average police strength | Total working days assuming 228 per officer based on average strength | |
| Avon and Somerset | 416 | 0.06 | 31,470 | 4.6 | 3,012 | 686,736 |
| Bedfordshire | 211 | 0.09 | 14,572 | 6.1 | 1,041 | 237,407 |
| Cambridgeshire | 412 | 0.14 | 15,393 | 5.3 | 1,295 | 295,260 |
| Cheshire | 331 | 0.07 | 28,452 | 6 | 2,111 | 481,308 |
| City of London | n/a | n/a | 10,449 | 5.9 | 790 | 180,120 |
| Cleveland | 285 | 0.08 | 17,486 | 5.4 | 1,471 | 335,388 |
| Cumbria | 129 | 0.05 | 11,732 | 4.5 | 1,160 | 264,480 |
| Derbyshire | 356 | 0.09 | 21,753 | 5.4 | 1,777 | 405,224 |
| Devon and Cornwall | 974 | 0.15 | 31,228 | 4.7 | 2,946 | 671,592 |
| Dorset | 198 | 0.07 | 12,967 | 4.4 | 1,303 | 297,084 |
| Durham | 258 | 0.07 | 15,974 | 4.4 | 1,552 | 353,856 |
| Dyfed-Powys | 198 | 0.08 | 9,966 | 4.3 | 1,044 | 238,032 |
| Essex | 760 | 0.11 | 38,748 | 5.9 | 2,936 | 669,408 |
| Gloucestershire | 312 | 0.12 | 12,964 | 5.1 | 1,113 | 253,764 |
| Greater Manchester | 1,803 | 0.11 | 97,682 | 6.3 | 6,913 | 1,576,164 |
| Gwent | 501 | 0.18 | 14,674 | 5.2 | 1,250 | 285,000 |
| Hampshire | 63 | 0.01 | 33,221 | 4.2 | 3,470 | 791,160 |
| Hertfordshire | 717 | 0.18 | 18,952 | 4.8 | 1,752 | 399,456 |
| Humberside | 332 | 0.07 | 17,142 | 3.8 | 2,021 | 460,788 |
| Kent | 306 | 0.04 | 36,500 | 5 | 3,269 | 745,332 |
| Lancashire | 1,127 | 0.15 | 39,188 | 5.3 | 3,331 | 759,468 |
| Leicestershire | 424 | 0.09 | 24,235 | 5.3 | 2,037 | 464,436 |
| Lincolnshire | 174 | 0.07 | 15,609 | 6 | 1,171 | 266,988 |
| Merseyside | 926 | 0.09 | 49,525 | 5.2 | 4,373 | 996,930 |
| Metropolitan Police | 6,324 | 0.10 | 289,791 | 4.9 | 26,566 | 6,057,048 |
| Norfolk | 202 | 0.06 | 16,333 | 5.1 | 1,426 | 325,128 |
| North Wales | 1,036 | 0.32 | 16,759 | 5.2 | 1,416 | 322,848 |
| North Yorkshire | 97 | 0.03 | 16,381 | 5.4 | 1,360 | 310,080 |
| Northamptonshire | 211 | 0.08 | 12,530 | 4.8 | 1,167 | 266,094 |
| Northumbria | 2,685 | 0.31 | 44,145 | 5 | 3,854 | 878,598 |
| Nottinghamshire | 748 | 0.15 | 31,128 | 6.1 | 2,248 | 512,544 |
| South Wales | 2,511 | 0.37 | 48,958 | 7.2 | 2,989 | 681,492 |
| South Yorkshire | 329 | 0.05 | 38,349 | 5.3 | 3,165 | 721,506 |
| Staffordshire | 441 | 0.08 | 28,418 | 5.6 | 2,279 | 519,498 |
| Suffolk | 30 | 0.01 | 11,668 | 4.3 | 1,195 | 272,460 |
| Surrey | 84 | 0.02 | 17,332 | 4.6 | 1,680 | 383,136 |
| Sussex | 514 | 0.08 | 31,918 | 4.9 | 2,962 | 675,336 |
| Thames Valley | 164 | 0.02 | 49,894 | 5.8 | 3,822 | 871,491 |
| Warwickshire | 163 | 0.08 | 12,495 | 6 | 925 | 210,786 |
| West Mercia | 438 | 0.09 | 22,796 | 5 | 2,033 | 463,524 |
| West Midlands | 3,326 | 0.20 | 88,341 | 5.3 | 7,250 | 1,653,000 |
| West Yorkshire | 3,210 | 0.28 | 59,911 | 5.3 | 5,053 | 1,152,084 |
| Wiltshire | 141 | 0.05 | 11,111 | 4.5 | 1,169 | 266,532 |
| England and Wales Total | 33,866 | 0.12 | 1,468,140 | 5.1 | 125,696 | 28,658,568 |
Immigration and Nationality Directorate Casework System
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the testing of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's casework system was
- completed as scheduled in November 1999; whether the piloting of the system to confirm that it is robust under normal operating conditions has been completed; whether they cleared the pre-1993 backlog by the end of 1999 as scheduled; how many of the 1993-95 cases remain to be cleared; and whether they are still confident that the White Paper
- target of deciding applications on average in two months by April 2001 will be met.[HL703]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Testing of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate casework programme information technology system is still continuing and is not now expected to be completed before Easter. We have almost cleared the backlog of pre-1993 cases: 240 remained at the end of December 1999. At the end of December some 10,975 of the 1993-95 cases were remaining.
We remain committed to meeting the two-month target for deciding all new asylum applications from April 2001.
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