| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Written Answers
Thursday, 20th December 2001.
Omagh Victims' Legal Action Group Letter
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether the Home Secretary received a plea from relations of those murdered in the Real IRA bombing of Omagh in August 1998 asking that any new anti-terrorism legislation should ensure that the Real IRA associates can no longer fund-raise in the United Kingdom; and if so, what was his response. [HL1801]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Rooker): Consultation on the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act 1998 and the Terrorism Act 2000 received a number of responses. None was directly concerned with fundraising by the Real IRA and its associates. However, my right honourable friend the Home Secretary has recently received a letter from the Omagh Victims' Legal Action Group on broadly similar issues which is receiving his urgent attention.
House of Lords Membership
Baroness Blatch asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether it is planned to appoint any life Peers ahead of the proposed reform of the House of Lords and whether further Peers are expected to be appointed on the recommendation of the House of Lords Appointments Commission ahead of the reforms. [HL1951]
The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg): The membership of the House of Lords, including that of non-party political Peers, is kept under ongoing review.
Freedom of Information Act Training
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What arrangements have been made for the training of Ministers and civil servants to give effect to the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and what is the timetable for the training programme between now and January 2005. [HL1996]
The Lord Chancellor: The Centre for Management and Policy Studies in the Cabinet Office has arranged a seminar for Ministers on the implications of the Freedom of Information Act for 29 January 2002. Following on from this seminar, starting on 4 February, Michael Wills MP, a Parliamentary Secretary in the Lord Chancellor's Department, will be leading a series of road-shows around the country to raise awareness of the Act at a strategic level in public authorities. Members of the Advisory Group
on Implementation will also be involved in the events, as will senior officials in the Lord Chancellor's Department.These sessions will run until the end of April 2002. Details of dates and locations will be advertised in January. A further series of events will be held in the autumn of next year to address the need for more in-depth information and training on freedom of information.
Each public authority is responsible for training its own officials and will be influenced by departmental needs and the recommendations of the interdepartmental officials groups and the Advisory Group on Implementation. Officials in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Division in my department (formerly the Home Office) regularly undertake awareness-raising seminars in a wide range of departments, including the Cabinet Office, the Home Office, the Department of Health, the Office of National Statistics, and the Northern Ireland Civil Service, as well as in my department. These officials have also participated in courses at the Civil Service College, the Local Government Group at the Law Society and conferences arranged by other organisations.
Further details on culture change, training and awareness, including departmental case studies, appear in my report to Parliament on the implementation of the Act of 29 November 2001.
Third Paris Airport: Somme Battlefield
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What consultation the French Government had with them and with ex-service organisations in the United Kingdom prior to announcing the decision to build a third Paris airport on a Somme battlefield where British war graves are sited; and what action they have taken or are considering taking.[HL1460]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach): The French Government have made no representations to Her Majesty's Government about a proposed new airport for Paris. At this stage the matter is entirely the responsibility of the French authorities. However, following media speculation about the possibility that First World War cemeteries containing some British and Commonwealth casualties may be affected if the project goes ahead, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which is responsible for the maintenance of the graves, has written to the French Ministry of the Interior seeking further clarification of the proposals. It has drawn attention to the concern expressed in the UK and has asked to be kept informed of any developments.
Export Credits and Credit Guarantees
The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What progress has been made by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Party on Export Credits and Credit Guarantees; and what specific conclusions they have reached on environmental review and impact assessment.[HL1709]
The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean): At the November 2001 meeting in Paris of the OECD Working Party on Export Credits and Credit Guarantees an informal and voluntary agreement to raise environmental standards for capital goods exports was reached between 24 of the 26 OECD export credit agencies (ECAs). The USA and Turkey—for different reasons—were unable to support the agreement. The agreement's provisions will be implemented with effect from 1 January 2002.
The UK played a leading role in securing this agreement, to be known as Common Approaches on the Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits (The Agreement on Common Approaches), which has for the first time created a level playing field in terms of environmental impact analysis in the field of capital goods exports.
The main points of the agreement are:
- An obligation for ECAs to screen all applications for support of projects and project related capital goods in order to identify and review those which may have an adverse environmental impact (including resettlement, indigenous or vulnerable groups and cultural heritage).
- Procedures under which ECAs would classify projects according to their sensitivity to help ensure a thorough environmental review, including a full environmental impact appraisal for sensitive sectors and locations before decisions are taken.
- An obligation to compare or benchmark the projects against international standards such as those contained in the guidelines of the World Bank Group. Projects that did not comply with these standards would need to be fully justified. In addition ECAs would need to explain any departures from international standards through reporting and transparency procedures.
- Obligations to encourage the dissemination of information relating to environmental impacts, subject to national legal provisions on public disclosure.
- Robust reporting provisions which will assist in a review of the recommendation no later than the end of 2003 with the aim of "enhancing it in the light of experience".
- We shall continue to work towards an agreement which all parties can support.
Export Credits and the Environment: US Decision
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government
- What reasons were given by the United States when it decided not to join the 24 other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries who reached agreement on Common Approaches to the Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits.[HL1865]
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: At the November 2001 meeting of the OECD's Export Credit Group, the United States was unable to agree to support the recommendation on Common Approaches to the Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits, principally because it did not explicitly require that:
- 1. All Export Credit Agency (ECA) supported projects comply with the more stringent of the host country standards or the environmental standards of the World Bank Group; or that
- 2. ECAs make public environmental impact information relating to projects being reviewed by ECAs before the ECA reaches its decision on supporting a project.
This agreement sets clear guidelines on the use of international standards as benchmarks. For a number of reasons, however, including legal constraints in some countries, it encourages rather than makes mandatory the advance public disclosure of environmental impact information.
The agreement on common approaches is a significant beginning and we hope that the coming months will see our US colleagues in a position to join the agreement and take part in its review and development.
Barnoness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What percentage of officially supported export credits in the world market are those of the United States.[HL1866]
Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: This information is only held by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the basis of statistical returns made confidentially by OECD countries which are members of the Working Party on Export Credits. We are not at liberty to disclose this information.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |