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Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will publish their response to the Report of the Evaluation Group to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the European Court of Human Rights, of 27th September.[HL1480]
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: HMG welcome the Evaluation Group's report and agree with its contention that immediate action is required to protect the Court's effectiveness. We are therefore pleased that many of the report's recommendations, in particular those about Court processes, are already being acted upon. As for those requiring action by the governments of Council of Europe member states, HMG are currently carrying out an internal and external consultation process before finalising their position on these recommendations.
We recognise the thoroughness of the internal auditor's contribution to the report and are content to accept this as a basis for planning.
The report does not seek responses by individual member states. We are already addressing the report's recommendations collectively with our Council of Europe partners through the Committee of Ministers. Work has been allocated to various specialist groups within the Council of Europe in which the UK is playing a full part. Once our national consultation process is complete, we will make our conclusions known to interested parties in good time for the report back to the Council of Europe Ministerial in November 2002.
Animal Disease Prevention: UK Veterinary Services
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What action they took following the warning from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations on 22 September 2000 that Xwithout
- effective veterinary service animal disease could spread globally"; and[HL1538]
Whether they believe the staff and resources in the United Kingdom veterinary service concerned with disease prevention were adequate to respond to the situation highlighted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.[HL1539]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty): FAO press release 00/54 quoted a senior FOA animal health expert who said that veterinary surveillance systems and services are vital to detect these [transboundary animal] diseases early enough and to prepare contingency plans to contain those outbreaks. The United Kingdom is fortunate to be served by a professional and effective State Veterinary Service. Before the outbreak there was a contingency plan for foot and mouth disease (and other animal diseases). The plan was submitted to the European Union in 1993 and has been updated as necessary since then.
It has to be recognised that the size and scale of the foot and mouth outbreak is unprecedented. The question of how well the outbreak was handled is one which the independent inquiry chaired by Dr Iain Anderson will wish to consider.
Energy Crops
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Whitty on 16 November (WA 108), why it has taken over 12 months to spend or commit only one-seventieth of the £30 million allocated in October 2000 to the Energy Crops Scheme.[HL1567]
Lord Whitty: Energy Crops Scheme applicants must show that they have a prospective market for their crop and the low level of expenditure reflects slower than expected progress with biomass-fuelled projects supported under the non-fossil fuel obligation. The Government have now allocated over £70 million of funding for market development and we are working closely with government departments and other bodies to develop opportunities in power generation, combined heat and power and heat applications. We expect this to lead to a significant increase in uptake.
DEFRA: Devon Foot and Mouth Inquiry
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Why the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs did not give evidence to the Devon foot and mouth inquiry.[HL1588]
Lord Whitty: DEFRA co-operated with the Devon County Council inquiry.
To minimise additional burdens on staff actively engaged in fighting the disease, the department responded to a number of questions in writing.
Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000: Appeals Inspectors
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Who they are engaging to conduct appeals in relation to the provisional maps issued under Section 11 of Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; whether the appeals inspectors will be engaged part-time or full-time on this work; how many inspectors they expect will be engaged in this work; and what provisions they are making for appropriate training.[HL1632]
Lord Whitty: The administration of appeals under Part I of the Act will be undertaken by the Planning Inspectorate whose inspectors will be appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to determine appeals, unless the Secretary of State chooses to do so herself. Posts as access inspectors will be offered on both a full-time and part-time basis. At this stage we do not know how many appeals under Section 11 there wil be but we estimate that around 50 inspectors will be needed initially. These are working assumptions and may be amended in the light of experience. All inspectors will receive full training but the details have yet to be finalised.
Special Advisers
Lord Patten asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will list the names of all those that they have appointed since May 1997 to ad hoc posts or positions bearing the names of XAdvocate", XAdviser", XChampion", XEnvoy", XTsar" and similar titles; whether or not in each case they are paid, and, if they are, stating the amounts paid; and to whom they are accountable. [HL753]
The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston): At 26 November, Ministers had appointed the the following special advisers:
| The Prime Minister(1) | Jonathan Powell |
| Alastair Campbell | |
| Sally Morgan | |
| Hilary Coffman | |
| Peter Hyman | |
| Geoff Norris | |
| Roger Liddle | |
| Andrew Adonis | |
| Katie Kay | |
| Derek Scott | |
| David Bradshaw | |
| Kate Garvey | |
| Catherine Rimmer | |
| Liz Lloyd | |
| Carl Shoben | |
| Chris McShane | |
| Simon Stevens | |
| Ed Richards | |
| Carey Oppenheim | |
| Fiona Millar | |
| Phil Bassett | |
| Justin Russell | |
| Alasdair McGowan | |
| Joanna Nadin | |
| Patrick Diamond | |
| Sarah Hunter | |
| Chief Whip (Commons) | Sue Jackson |
| Fiona Gordon | |
| Chief Whip (Lords) | Margaret Ounsley |
| Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport | Bill Bush Ruth Mackenzie |
| Secretary of State for Defence | Richard Taylor Andrew Hood |
| Deputy Prime Minister and First Secretary of State | Joan Hammell Ian McKenzie Anna Healy—p/t Paul Hackett—p/t |
| Secretary of State for Education and Skills | Will Cavendish Chris Boffey |
| Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Sheila Watson Nicci Collins |
| Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | Ed Owen Michael Williams |
| Secretary of State for Health | Darren Murphy |
| Paul Corrigan | |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department(2) | Sophie Linden—p/t Nick Pearce Katherine Raymond Huw Evans |
| Leader of the House of Lords | Matthew Seward |
| Deborah Lincoln | |
| Lord Chancellor | Garry Hart |
| Secretary of State for International Development | David Mepham Susannah Cox |
| Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | Richard Olszewski Steve Bates |
| President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons | Greg Power Meg Russell |
| Secretary of State for Scotland | Nick Comfort |
| George McGregor | |
| Secretary of State for Trade and Industry | Jim Godfrey Roger Sharp—p/t and unpaid Kitty Ussher |
| Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions | Jo Moore–p/t Dan Corry Michael Dugher |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer 3 | Ed Balls Chief Economic Adviser Ian Austin |
| Ed Miliband | |
| Chief Secretary | Nicola Murphy |
| Spencer Livermore | |
| Secretary of State for Wales | Andrew Bold |
| Adrian McMenaman | |
| Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | Andre Maugham Kieran Simpson |
(1) In addition Pat McFadden has been appointed as a special adviser on a short-term contract in the Coalition Information Centre in Islamabad.
(2) In addition, Keith Hellawell has been appointed, on special adviser terms, in an advisory role on international drug issues. (3) In addition, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has appointed Paul Gregg, Maeve Sherlock, Shriti Vadera, Chris Wales and Stewart Wood to the Council of Economic Advisers on Special Adviser terms. With the exception of one special adviser, all of the above are paid appointments. Under exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, details of individual salaries are not disclosed in order to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned. The Prime Minister has appointed independent advisers to work with the new Forward Strategy Unit (FSU). These roles are unpaid. Those appointed are:
- Arnab Banerji—Chief Investment Office of F&C Management Ltd.;
- Nick Lovegrove—Partner at McKinsey's;
- Penny Hughes—formerly President of Coca Cola Great Britain and Ireland, currently non-executive director of Vodafone plc and Trinity Mirror plc;
- Adair Turner—Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch.
In addition, Ministers have appointed the following unpaid advisers:
| Chancellor of the Exchequer: | Sue Nye |
| Leader of the Commons and President of the Council: | David Mathieson |
As far as I am aware, the only civil servant with a title of the names described is Andrew Pinder, who is the e-envoy.
All the appointees listed above are accountable to Ministers for their decisions and actions.
On public appointments, Ewen Cameron, chairman of the Countryside Agency, also acts as Rural Advocate. He is not paid for the latter appointment. Up-to-date information on appointments to non-departmental public bodies will shortly be available in the annual public bodies publication. For details of appointments made to task forces, review groups and other ad hoc advisory groups, I refer the noble Lord to the Answers given to the House on 20 November (Official Report, col. WA 137).
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