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Written Answers
Wednesday, 6th March 2002.
[The first Written Answer should have been printed in the Official Report of Tuesday, 5th March.]
Payments to Witnesses and Pre-trial Publicity
Lord Hoyle asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they intend to publish a consultation paper on proposals to amend the law on payments to witnesses and pre-trial publicity.[HL3146]
The Lord Chancellor (Lord Irvine of Lairg): I have today issued a consultation paper seeking views on the detail of the legislation the Government intend to introduce to outlaw payments to witnesses. The legislation proposed is that it should be a criminal offence to make, or agree to make, or to receive, a payment to a witness or potential witness in criminal proceedings for his or her story with a view to publication.
Also, following the abandonment of the first trial of R v Woodgate and others, the Government intend to amend Section 19 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 to empower the court to order a third party to pay costs incurred as a result of his or her unnecessary or improper act. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Marriage and Relationship Support
Lord Radice asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What grants they intend to make towards marriage and relationship support in the financial year 2002–2003.[HL3187]
The Lord Chancellor: During the next financial year (2002–2003), my department will spend £5 million on marriage and relationship support, an increase of £0.5 million on the funding for the financial year 2001–2002.
This is the first financial year in which the marriage and relationship support fund has been allocated using the new grant programme launched in September 2001. The new programme introduced openly published criteria, which have been used to evaluate all applications received for this round of allocations. The aim of the department is that the marriage and relationship support grant should be targeted on improving existing service delivery, as well as developing research, innovative projects and the dissemination of better links and good practice among a wider and more diverse range of service providers than in previous years.
The funding has been allocated as set out in the tables below:
| Core Funding | Funding Allocated (£) |
| Parentline Plus | 62,000 |
| Relate | 2,104,000 |
| Marriage Care | 300,000 |
| Family Welfare Association | 30,000 |
| One Plus One | 242,000 |
| London Marriage Guidance Council | 103,000 |
| Tavistock Marital Studies Institute | 464,000 |
| Jewish Marriage Council | 44,000 |
| Asian Family Counselling Service | 50,000 |
| 2as 1 | 150,000 |
| Totnes Family Partnership | 58,000 |
| Somerset Family Partnership | 50,000 |
| Family Matters York | 50,000 |
| The Lesbian and Gay Foundation | 48,000 |
| Muslim Women's Helpline | 20,000 |
| The Salvation Army | 40,000 |
| Aquila Care Trust | 88,000 |
| Project for Advocacy, Counselling and Education | 46,000 |
| Basic For Life | 34,000 |
| The Cogwheel Trust | 4,000 |
| Poole Community Family Trust | 50,000 |
| CFP Guildford | 40,000 |
| Bristol Community Family Trust | 50,000 |
| Totals | 4,139,000 |
| Research & Development Funding | Project Title | Amount allocated (£) |
| University of Exeter, School of Psychology | Money management and marital commitment in new couples: An evaluation of the efficacy of the FOCCUS Inventory | 43,000 |
| Relate | Accessibility (follow-on bid) | 32,000 |
| Relate | Domestic Violence (follow-on bid) | 40,000 |
| Care For the Family | Asian Family Matters | 19,000 |
| Relate | Quality Assurance (follow-on bid) | 30,000 |
| 2as 1 | Development & Adaptation of Relate Training Material | 66,000 |
| London Marriage Guidance Council | Community Development | 71,000 |
| The Minster Centre | Aracas Project (domestic violence) | 72,000 |
| Tavistock Marital Studies Institute | Brief Psychotherapy | 32,000 |
| 2as 1 | Partnership project (Relate)—Awareness campaign to promote MARS to the Black African & Afro-Caribbean communities | 120,000 |
| Sussex Family Mediation Service | One Stop Shop | 26,000 |
| The Church of England | Marriage Preparation and Support in the South East | 54,000 |
| Brook in Birmingham | Counselling for Young couples | 39,000 |
| Marriage Care | Emotional Literacy: Foundations for a Good Life: Phase 2 | 30,000 |
| The Richmond Centre | Videos are Valuable | 38,000 |
| One Plus One | Investigation of Use & Value of Helpline Services | 39,000 |
| One Plus One | Investigation of Relationship Support | 46,000 |
| Jewish Marriage Council | Starting Marriage on the Right Foot | 40,000 |
| Talking Matters (moved from core to R&D) | Infrastructure for Marriage Preparation in the Orthodox Jewish Community | 24,000 |
| Total | 861,000 |
Curling: Lottery Funding
Baroness Anelay of St Johns asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What lottery funds were made available in 2000 and in 2001 to develop the sport of curling in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.[HL2923]
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone): The lottery funds made available in the financial years 2000–01 and 2001–02 to the sport of curling in Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland were:
| 2000–01 | 2001–02 | |
| Sports Council for Northern Ireland | £0 | £0 |
| Sports Council for Wales | £0 | £0 |
| Sport England | £0 | £0 |
| sportscotland | £83,212 | £263,243 |
| UK Sport | £0 | £0 |
| Total | £83,212 | £263,243 |
Defence Exports
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bach on 7 February (WA 109), whether they agree with the conclusion of a study by two academic economists and two Ministry of Defence economists into the economic costs and benefits of a 50 per cent reduction in defence exports (published on 11 December 2001), that such a reduction "would result in the loss of nearly 49,000 jobs in the defence sector . . . offset by the creation over a five-year period of around 67,000 new jobs in non-defence employment".[HL2914]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach): As set out in my reply to the noble Lord on 7 February, the Government
broadly agree with the overall findings of this independent study. One of its individual conclusions, that some 49,000 jobs would be lost as a result of a 50 per cent reduction in defence exports, represents the best estimate presently available but, as the report notes, the method of estimating the number of jobs supported by defence exports is under review. The figure of 67,000 for the number of offsetting jobs that might be created is heavily dependent on the assumptions adopted by the authors in this study. It should be noted that the authors estimate that it would take five years for these jobs to be created and these would be less skilled, paying on average only about 70 per cent of the pay of the defence jobs lost. There is a substantial cost associated with this transition. The losses to defence workers were estimated at between £735 million and £1,260 million, compared with gains to other workers from the offsetting jobs created of only between £445 million and £695 million.Seat Belts
Lord Janner of Braunstone asked Her Majesty's Government:
- By what methods they are currently seeking information to estimate the number of front seat occupants of vehicles injured in Great Britain as a result of being hit by unbelted rear seat passengers; and when they expect that information to become available. [HL2930]
The Minister of State, Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): We have commissioned TRL Ltd to examine data in its fatal accident database (derived from police accident reports) and from the Co-operative Crash Injury Study to assess the number of front seat occupant deaths which could be attributed to a rear seat passenger not wearing a restraint. We have also asked them, as part of this work, to review the recently published Japanese study on this topic and to advise on its relevance to the British situation. A report is expected during May and I will write to my noble friend when we have it.
Local Bus Services
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they expect to reach a conclusion on the raising of the existing de minimis levels for the variation of local bus subsidy arrangements where it is not necessary to seek competitive tender. [HL2931]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: We have recently consulted local authorities and the bus industry on a proposal to increase substantially the de minimis limits. We are considering the responses to this before making final decisions and expect to bring forward regulations amending the limits shortly.
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
- When they expect to reach a conclusion on the issue of extension to 10 years of the maximum duration of competitive tenders for local bus services. [HL2932]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: We have recently consulted local authorities and the bus industry on increasing the maximum contract length for tendered bus service contracts to 10 years. We are now considering the scope for bringing forward this change in the light of the views expressed. Any changes in this regard would require an amendment to Section 90(1) of the 1985 Transport Act.
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