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Lord Ahmed asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Amos: The Department for International Development (DFID) is currently supporting in excess of 70 projects, implemented through British non-governmental organisations, in Pakistan and India. It would be difficult to delineate in the way requested because we are not funding any projects specific to Kashmir. We will place a list of these organisations in the Library of the House.
Lord Palmer asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): The County of Gwent and the Lieutenancies of Berwickshire, Lanarkshire and the Western Isles are currently without Lord Lieutenants. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister endeavours to submit names to Her Majesty the Queen in a timely fashion to avoid any interregnum. Delays can arise for a variety of reasons such as the death of a Lord Lieutenant or a resignation on grounds of ill-health.
Lord Palmer asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: There is no statutory requirement in respect of a Lord Lieutenant's residence. Given the nature of a Lord Lieutenant's duties, it would be unlikely for a Lord Lieutenant to be appointed who did not have a residence in, or in very close proximity to, the Lieutenancy in question.
Lord Palmer asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The former Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire, Major General Sir John Swinton, retired on 21 April on reaching 75. Work on the process of identifying a successor is well in hand. On this occasion staff changes in the Office of the Secretary of Commissions for Scotland regrettably contributed to the delay in the process.
Lord Patten asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The Ministerial Network has met twice under its new remit, on January 31 and May 15 2000.
At the first meeting my right honourable friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office agreed a future work programme to chase progress on the implementation of previous social exclusion reports with ministerial colleagues. At the second meeting the Network discussed follow-up implementation of action from the SEU report on school exclusions and truancy.
My right honourable friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office now plans to hold three further meetings. These will take place in June and July, to follow up implementation of action from the SEU reports on rough sleepers, teenage pregnancy and 16-18 year olds not in education, employment or training.
My right honourable friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office will report progress on implementation across all these areas to the Prime Minister once the meetings have taken place.
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The "LOVEBUG" virus is not a PINGSTORM attack, but what is in Internet parlance a "worm".
Government departments were advised of appropriate countermeasures promptly and the effect on their operations was small.
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Each Government department is responsible for its own security and they are not required to respond individually to the Cabinet Office. However departments are encouraged to report in confidence all IT security incidents, including virus infections under the Unified Incident Reporting and Alert Scheme (UNIRAS), which is co-ordinated by the National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre (NISCC).
Although some departments and agencies have yet to make their report to UNIRAS, initial returns suggest that the virus affected in the region of one-third. The actual effect on these departments' computer systems was limited, with the main impact being on the availability of e-mail systems. There were almost no reports of damage to the integrity of systems nor were computer networks delivering critical functions significantly affected.
Lord Currie of Marylebone asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg): I welcome Sir Jeffery Bowman's recommendation. It has been 43 years since the last thorough review of tribunals. The number of tribunals has grown greatly since then. There has also been a fundamental change in the nature of, and pressures on, their work. I have therefore decided that there should be a wide-ranging, independent review of tribunals.
Its terms of reference will be:
Lord Shore of Stepney asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: As I set out in my Answer on 20 April, the Chancellor of the Exchequer meets regularly with other Ministers in the Economic and Finance Council of Ministers (ECOFIN), and a wide range of economic and financial issues are discussed.
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