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IRA Arms Dumps
Lord Lamont of Lerwick asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether it is the case that the police in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom will take all possible steps using information from all sources to identify IRA arms dumps; and, where they are in another country, whether they will draw them to the attention of the authorities of that country.[HL3093]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The possession of paramilitary arms is a severe offence. Security forces continue to take steps to locate dumps and seize weapons. Cross-border security co-operation is good and there has been a large number of finds in recent months.
Departmental Cars
Lord Hoyle asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 28 June (WA82) on the type and make of cars used by the Department of Trade and Industry, whether the list includes cars supplied by the Government Car and Despatch Agency for the use of Ministers and senior officials.[HL3151]
The Minister for Science, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): Yes.
Business Closures
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many businesses failed in England and Wales during the first three months of this year; what change this represents compared with the same quarter in 1999; and whether the stock of 2.8 million full-time businesses is higher or lower than a decade ago.[HL3045]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: There were 11,070 insolvencies in England and Wales during the first three months of this year, a rise of 535, or 5 per cent, on the same quarter in 1999. Barclays Bank estimates that in total there were 108,000 business closures in England and Wales during the first three months of this year, a rise of 8,000, or 8 per cent, on the same quarter in 1999.
Barclays Bank estimates that there were 3.1 million full-time businesses in England and Wales at the start of 1990. At the start of this year there were 2.8 million, the highest level since 1993 and an increase of 154,000 since the start of 1997.
Emergency Calls: Police Response Times
The Duke of Montrose asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What were the best and worst and the worst average police response times to emergency calls in each of the 16 non-metropolitan police forces for each of the last five years.[HL3071]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton): Information on the average police response times to emergency calls is not collected centrally. However, each police force sets its own target response time and performance against this is measured by the Audit Commission, which publishes the data in the Council Services Compendium for England, The Local Authority Performance Indicators. The information for 1998-99 is set out in the table. This relates to all the police forces in England and Wales. Similar data, from 1993-94 onwards, can be found on the Audit Commission website, www.audit-commission.gov.uk/ac2/PIfirst.htm.
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