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Lord Peston asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Hayman): Copies of the formal government response have today been placed in the House of Commons Library. A copy of the government response is being sent to all those who responded to the report.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Baroness Hayman: Consideration of the noble Lord's request has raised a number of complex legal issues which we regret have taken a considerable amount of time to resolve. As soon as we have done so we will write to him and place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.
Lord Stallard asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton): My honourable friend the Minister of State at the Home Office (Mr Charles Clarke) wrote to Viscountess Runciman, chairman of this inquiry, today enclosing a memorandum setting out the Government's response. He has written in similar terms to the Home Affairs Committee, which had also sought the Government's views on the report. A copy of the response has been placed in the Library. We understand that the Home Affairs Committee has decided to publish this response today as its second special report HC 226 and this is available on www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/hmafhome.htm
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston): We expect to consult in the spring on draft revised traffic signs regulations. These will include detailed provisions to standardise and specify the significance of bus stop clearway signs and markings in national regulations, instead of allowing local variations in traffic regulation orders made by individual traffic authorities. Further progress will depend on the responses to consultation, but we hope to publish the revised regulations and guidance by the end of this year.
Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Whitty): We estimate that anything up to 2 million homes were marketed in England and Wales last year, and that a home condition report (HCR) will cost, on average, around £280. This would suggest the total cost of HCRs would be £560 million. But this does not represent a potential cost saving for sellers if HCRs were omitted from the pack because:
Lord Peston asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Whitty: We have today appointed Tony Holland as the Chair of the new independent Standards Board for England.
We will tomorrow publish a consultation paper on the model code of conduct for members and a response to last year's consultation exercise on the general principles of conduct.
Copies of both documents will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Lord Lipsey asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister for Science, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): A company cannot avoid its contractual and statutory obligations to make redundancy payments to former employees by virtue of having been sold to another company.
Employees' contractual and statutory entitlements are unaffected when a business is sold through a share transfer, as the identities and rights and obligations of the parties to the contract are unchanged. However, in the event of termination of employees' contracts by reason of an employer's insolvency, certain statutory entitlements may be paid from the National Insurance Fund.
Lord Rea asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg): My right honourable friend the Home Secretary, my noble and learned friend the Attorney General and I have today published jointly an annual report for the criminal justice system in England and Wales for 1999-2000.
The Annual Report is a formal report back on the first Criminal Justice System Strategic and Business Plan, which was published in March 1999.
Copies of the report have been placed in the Library.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The Government expect to be in a position to extend the Sixth Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights to the Overseas Territories when capital punishment has been abolished in Gibraltar for piracy and in the Turks and Caicos Islands for treason and piracy. The Government are pursuing this question with the authorities of those territories with a view to reaching conclusions as soon as possible.
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