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Baroness Anelay of St Johns asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many community amateur sports clubs responded to the consultation document Promoting Sport in the Community; how many of those respondents answered the question posed as to whether they agreed with the Government's assessment that the Charity Commission's proposals which now include "healthy recreation" as a charitable activity meant that the Inland Revenue tax breaks were no longer needed; and how many of those clubs which gave an answer replied "No".[HL3606]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Over 2,400 responses have been received to the Promoting Sport in the Community consultation document. Decisions will be made as part of the normal Budget process, with regard to the range of responses received. A summary of responses will be made publicly available at the time of any announcement.

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Defence Budget: VAT

Lord Freeman asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether any VAT is paid on procuring defence equipment by the Defence Procurement Agency; and, if so, whether it is refunded to the defence budget.[HL3616]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: VAT is payable on procuring some defence equipment. In common with other government departments, the Ministry of Defence can recover some of the VAT it incurs under Section 41(3) of the VAT Act 1994. VAT which cannot be so recovered is taken into account when the budget for the Ministry of Defence is agreed.

Parliamentary Questions

Baroness Gale asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they intend to raise the advisory cost limit of £550 for answering Parliamentary Questions for Written Answer.[HL3691]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The advisory cost limit was last increased on 20 May 2000 and is to be further increased to £600 from today.

The purpose and application of the advisory cost limit remains unchanged. It is intended to act as a threshold for disproportionate cost Parliamentary Questions (PQs). Any written PQ where the marginal cost of preparing the Answer is considered likely to exceed the threshold may be refused in whole or in part on the grounds of disproportionate cost. Alternatively, the Minister may decide that the PQ is to be answered irrespective of cost. There is no advisory limit for oral PQs.

The advisory limit continues to be based on eight times the average marginal cost for written PQs, which is now £75, rounded down to the nearest £50 for convenience of application.

Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is their current estimate of the average cost of answering (a) a Parliamentary Question for Written Answer; and (b) an oral Parliamentary Question. [HL3692]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: As at April 2001, the average cost of answering a written Parliamentary Question and an oral Parliamentary Question was £129 and £299 respectively.

Register of Friendly Societies

Lord Freyberg asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the policy of the Registry of Friendly Societies on reducing its heritage assets following the introduction of resource accounting and budgeting. [HL3673]

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Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The Registry of Friendly Societies (RFS) ceased to exist on 1 April 2002.

European Union: Forthcoming Council Business

Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the forthcoming business in the Council of the European Union for April, and what are the major European Union events for the period between 30 April and September 2002.[HL3694]

The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean): See the following list. April 2002 5–6—Brussels—Luxembourg—Migrations Council (ASEM Informal) 8—Luxembourg—Fisheries Council 13–14—Luxembourg—ECOFIN (Ministerial Informal) 15–16—Luxembourg—General Affairs Council 22–23—Valencia—Euromed Conference 22–23—Luxembourg—Agriculture Council 25–26—Luxembourg—Justice and Home Affairs Council 27–30—Luxembourg—Agriculture Council (Ministerial Informal)

The following are the principal events in the EU between 1 May and September 2002 (certain relevant events are also included: the list is based on the information available at the date of issue.)

Date	Location	Event
May 2002
2	Washington	EU/US Summit
3–4	Brussels	Tourism Council (Ministerial Informal)
6	Brussels	Eurogroup (Evening)
7	Brussels	ECOFIN
8	Madrid	EU/Canada Summit
9		Europe Day
13	Brussels	General Affairs Council and Defence Ministers meeting
17–18	Madrid	EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit
21	Brussels	Internal Market, Consumers and Tourism Council
23	Brussels	Culture and Audio-visual Council
24–26	Brussels	Environment Council (Ministerial Informal)
27–28	Brussels	Agriculture Council
30	Brussels	Development Council
30	Brussels	Education and Youth Council
31–1	Brussels	Transport Council (Ministerial Informal)
June 2002
3	Brussels	Employment and Social Affairs Council
3	Brussels	Eurogroup (Evening)
4	Luxembourg	ECOFIN
6–8	Brussels	Foreign Affairs Council (ASEM Ministers)
6–7	Brussels	Industry and Energy Council
10–11	Brussels	General Affairs Council
10–11	Brussels	Agriculture Council
11	Brussels	Fisheries Council
13–14	Brussels	Justice and Home Affairs Council
17–18	Brussels	Transport and Telecoms Council
17–18	Brussels	General Affairs Council
21–22	Seville	European Council
24	Brussels	General Affairs Council (Evening)
24–25	Brussels	Environment Council
25	Luxembourg	ECOFIN
26	Brussels	Health Council
July 2002
6	Copenhagen	ASEM Ministers for Finance
12	Brussels	ECOFIN
12–13	Kolding	Meeting of Employment and Social Policy Ministers (Informal)
15–16	Brussels	Agriculture Council
19	Brussels	Budget Meeting
19–21	Arhus	Environment Ministers meeting (Informal)
22–23	Brussels	General Affairs Council
August 2002
31–1	Elsinore	Gymnich (Ministerial Informal)
September 2002
6	Brussels	ASEM Economic Ministers Meetings
6–8	Copenhagen	ECOFIN (Ministerial Informal)
8–10	Nyborg	Agriculture Council (Ministerial Informal)
12–13	Copenhagen	Justice and Home Affairs Council (Ministerial Informal)
22–23	Copenhagen	ASEM Meeting
23–24	Brussels	Agriculture Council
26	Brussels	Internal Market, Consumer Affairs and Tourism Council
27	Tent	ACP-EU Ministers Meeting
30	Brussels	General Affairs Council
30	Brussels	Research Council

11 Apr 2002 : Column WA119

International Criminal Court

Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:

When the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court will enter into force.[HL3695]

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: This is an historic day for international justice and for the human rights of every citizen of the world. Today, at the United Nations in New York, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Ireland, Mongolia, Romania and Slovakia deposited their instruments of ratification to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. These ratifications bring to 63 the number of states to have committed themselves to this landmark convention, and therefore activates the statute, which will enter into force on 1 July 2002.

The ICC will try those individuals accused of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, irrespective of their rank or position. In future, tyrants will know that their actions are not beyond the reach of international justice. The victims

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of their crimes will, for the first time, be able to look forward to the prospect of real justice. The culture of impunity, which has shrouded human rights violations for too long, will be over.

This Government have always been enthusiastic supporters of the court. It is our belief that the global rule of law is stronger than the local rule of tyrants. We played a major part in drafting the statute and worked hard to secure the passage of the International Criminal Court Act through this Parliament and the Scottish Parliament to enable us to be among the first 60 states to ratify.

The ICC will be a permanent court acting as a permanent deterrent for all potential tyrants. In time, this will be the law which transcends borders and embodies global values. As ever with all institutions of the law, its practice will be as important as its founding principles. We are committed to ensuring that it does its job fairly and impartially. We hope shortly to nominate a British candidate to be one of the judges of the court.

Cefn Croes

The Lord Bishop of Hereford asked Her Majesty's Government:

What calculations they have made of the likely loss of income from tourism in mid-Wales if the proposed wind turbine power station at Cefn Croes were to be built. [HL3588]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): None. There is no concrete evidence that wind turbine power stations discourage tourism; on the contrary, in some cases, they become an attraction in their own right.

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