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British Transport Police
Lord Faulkner of Worcester asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What responses they have received to the consultation paper Modernising the British Transport Police; and whether they will place copies of the responses in the Library of the House. [HL2687]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The period for reply to proposals outlined in the Government's consultation document Modernising the British Transport Police closed on 4 January 2002. Copies of all responses received by Friday 8 February will be placed in the Library of the House unless the respondent has requested that their reply remain confidential. The Government are currently considering all the responses and intend to publish a summary of them together with the Government's reply to the points raised in due course.
Transport Statistics
Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Why there is no peformance information on air travel, or usage or performance information on Heathrow Express services, in Transport Statistics: Bulletin of Public Transport Statistics: 2001 Edition when statistics on the usage and performance of public transport buses, metro and heavy rail are provided. [HL2729]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Information on airline punctuality at UK airports is produced by the Civil Aviation Authority. Summary data are published in table 7.2 of Transport Statistics Great Britain 2001, which is in the Library.
The Heathrow Express is not a rail franchise and is therefore not regulated by the Strategic Rail Authority. It is operated as part of the British Airports Authority Heathrow business and is not subject to the performance measures which apply to rail franchise holders. Patronage figures for Heathrow Express have been published in the BAA Annual Report. These show that passenger journeys increased from 4.4 million in 1999–2000 to 5 million in 2000–01.
Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will obtain and publish usage and performance information in respect of those public transport services not currently covered by Transport Statistics; and what would be the additional cost of doing this. [HL2730]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The range of transport statistics collected by the department has been determined by the needs of successive governments and external users. There is a requirement for the statistics to be reviewed regularly to ensure that the statistics being produced remain relevant and that the burden on data suppliers is not excessive.
Many government statistics have been designated by Ministers as National Statistics and are therefore subject to a programme of regular quality reviews. These reviews include consideration of the need for new statistical series. However, certain statistics—for example, those produced by government agencies such as the Civil Aviation Authority and the Strategic Rail Authority—are at present not included within the scope of national statistics. It therefore falls to these agencies to initiate any collection of new statistical series.
Morning-after Pill
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they agree with the report by the Scottish Council on Bioethics that there is a scarcity of independent research on the safety of the morning-after pill; and, if so, what action they intend to take to correct this.[HL2737]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): We do not agree with the conclusions reached in the report by the Scottish Council on Bioethics. Levonelle-2 containing levonorgestrel 0.75mg (the morning-after pill) is authorised in the United Kingdom as a prescription only medicine for emergency contraception within 72 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse or failure of a contraceptive method. This followed advice from the independent expert scientific advisory body, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM), which was satisfied as to the quality, safety and efficacy of the product in this indication. Substantial independent evidence reviewed by CSM included two World Health Organisation sponsored pivotal studies. One study involving approximately 2,000 women in 14 countries, including the UK, has been published in the Lancet (1998). The other, published in Human Reproduction (1993), involved 880 women. CSM has also considered evidence from a study of the effects of self-administering emergency contraception (New England Journal of Medicine, 1998). Copies are available in the Library.
There is considerable experience of worldwide use with levonorgestrel. It has been available in the UK in other contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy products for 30 years, although only more recently for emergency hormonal contraception. It has been used for emergency contraception in other parts of the world since the 1980s and between 9 million and 23 million women have taken it. No major safety issues have been identified.
The safety of all newly licensed medicines in the UK is monitored closely by the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) and CSM through the yellow card scheme. This was extended to community pharmacists in November 1999 in order to improve safety monitoring of over the counter medicines. The MCA continues to monitor the safety of levonorgestrel 0.75mg and will review any potential safety issues in the light of any new evidence which may emerge.
DCMS: Special Adviser for Hospitality
Baroness Anelay of St Johns asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When the term of secondment to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of Mr Stuart May, special adviser for hospitality, ended; and what are their plans for making a new appointment to this post.[HL2698]
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone): Stuart May's secondment to the DCMS ended on 31 December 2001.
We are currently seeking views from tourism and hospitality organisations on the industry adviser role and will consider various options in addition to a straight replacement, such as supporting an advisory panel of industry experts; commissioning research into industry issues; and funding a series of short-term, project-based attachments.
Golden Jubilee Celebrations
Lord Fearn asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they plan any public attractions of a permanent nature in London or Merseyside to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee.[HL2705]
Baroness Blackstone: The Government have no such plans. It is The Queen's wish that there should be no undue public expenditure on the Jubilee celebrations.
Northern Ireland: Human Rights
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Which organisations and individuals who have applied to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commisson for financial assistance to pursue a human rights issue have been refused financial assistance; and why they were refused. [HL2291]
The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn): This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. The chief commissioner has been asked to write to the noble Lord. A copy of his letter will be placed in the Library.
Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How the work of the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman in terms of quality, impartiality and public confidence is evaluated; who carries out such evaluation; and when. [HL2341]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Police Ombudsman's annual business plan published in July 2001 states that her office, "will work with the public, the police and Government in setting benchmarks and indicators for the performance of her Office as a corporate body". The ombudsman's office has suggested the following indicators as starting points:
- Percentage of complaints referred appropriately for informal resolution which leads to a satisfactory outcome in the view of the complainant.
- Percentage of complainants satisfied with how they have been dealt with by the Police
- Ombudsman, measured independently of the Police Ombudsman.
- Percentage of police officers satisfied with their treatment when under investigation by the office measured independently of the Police Ombudsman.
- Confidence of the public and the police in the police complaints system measured independently of the Police Ombudsman.
The ombudsman is required to make an annual report to Parliament through the Secretary of State on the discharge of the functions of her office, and the first report for the 17 months up to March 2002 is expected in June.
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What steps the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman is proposing to establish confidence in his office in Northern Ireland among both the police service and the general public. [HL2393]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: The Police Ombudsman has advised that her office has taken forward a number of initiatives aimed at the general public and the Police Service of Northern Ireland and designed to establish confidence in her Office. These are:
- (a) An information leaflet giving details of how to make a complaint against the police and how complaints are dealt with.
- (b) A programme of lectures and seminars for community and voluntary groups, schools, colleges and youth organisations and academic audiences. Staff also take part in training events for PSNI recruits.
- (c) An up-to-date website containing copies of each of the ombudsman's research reports and press releases.
- (d) Actively engaging with the police in developing working arrangements and relationships underpinning the role of the office.
- (e) A corporate statement with the vision of a police complaints service in which the public and the police have confidence and with objectives referring to the building of satisfaction and establishing a robust quality assurance process.
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