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Consumer Safety

Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Sainsbury of Turville on 25 March (HL3356), whether they

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will now consider collating statistics on the number of prosecutions and convictions under the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1998 annually; and what is the earliest date after 31 March 2003 by which they expect it to be practicable for the Department of Trade and Industry to publish statistics for the five-year period ending on that date. [HL3536]

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The department has no plans to collate statistics on safety enforcement more frequently than at present. The department expects to publish the next five-year report by November 2003.

Ricability Report

Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:

What consideration they have given to the Ricability report commissioned by Age Concern on the sales practices used by some companies in selling aids and appliances to elderly and disabled people; whether the Office of Fair Trading or the Department of Trade and Industry will meet Age Concern to discuss the report; and what arrangements exist for liaising with the British Healthcare Trades Association on its work to improve ethical behaviour in the industry. [HL3705]

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The Department of Trade and Industry is considering the Ricability report. A letter has been sent to Age Concern offering a meeting with my honourable friend the Minister for Competition, Consumers and Markets, Melanie Johnson.

School Attendance

Lord Ouseley asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are considering withdrawing benefits from families whose children are out of school because of the failure of the local education authority to provide a school place for attendance. [HL4232]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): The Government are considering a number of measures to combat truancy. We are therefore looking at ways of ensuring parents meet their responsibilities in bringing up their children.

Defence Capabilities Initiative

Lord Hardy of Wath asked Her Majesty's Government:

What steps are being taken to ensure that the arrangements which are to be made to replace the European Defence Capabilities Initiative are adequately monitored.[HL4123]

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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach): The United Kingdom is working closely with Allies and NATO staffs to develop a capabilities improvements programme to build upon NATO's Defence Capabilities Initiative at the Prague summit in November. We expect the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Reykjavik on 14 to 15 May, and of Defence Ministers in June, to give major impetus to this work.

Army Training: Track Mileage

Earl Attlee asked Her Majesty's Government:

What track mileage provision has been agreed between the Army's Land Command and the Defence Logistics Organisation, or HQ Quartermaster General, for this training year and each of the preceding six years for: (a) the FV 430 range of vehicles; (b) the CVR(T) range of vehicles; (c) Warrior armoured Infantry fighting vehicles and variants; (d) Challenger 1 and 2 MBTs and variants; (e) Chieftain armoured engineer variants; and (f) Combat engineer tractor; and[HL4125]

What track mileage provision has been agreed between the Army Training and Recruiting Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation, or HQ Quartermaster General, for this training year and each of the preceding six years for: (a) the FV 430 range of vehicles; (b) the CVR(T) range of vehicles; (c) Warrior armoured Infantry fighting vehicles and variants; (d) Challenger 1 and 2 MBTs and variants; (e) Chieftain armoured engineer variants; and (f) Combat engineer tractor; and[HL4126]

What track mileage provision has been agreed for use at the British Army's BATUS training area in Canada for this training year and each of the preceding six years for: (a) the FV 430 range of vehicles; (b) the CVR(T) range of vehicles; (c) Warrior armoured Infantry fighting vehicles and variants; (d) Challenger 1 and 2 MBTs and variants; (e) Chieftain armoured engineer variants; and (f) Combat engineer tractor.[HL4127]

Lord Bach: The agreed annual track mileage provisions for the FV 430, CVR(T), Warrior, Challenger 1 and 2 MBT and Chieftain vehicle types for Land Command (including BATUS) and ATRA for the periods financial year 2000–01 to financial year 2001–02 and financial year 2002–03 (provisional) are shown in table 1. Table 2 gives the agreed annual provision for the same period for the Combat Engineer Tractor as this is recorded in hours rather than miles. The Land Command and ATRA allocations are not centrally recorded for the period financial year 1997–98 to financial year 1999–2000 so the consolidated annual allocations are shown in tables 3 and 4. Data for earlier years are no longer available.

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Table 1

		Annual Track Allocation (Miles) By Year
Area	Vehicle Type	2002–03 (provisional)	2001–02	2000–01
LAND (Incl BATUS)	FV 430 variants	375,000	522,370	654,000
	CVR(T) variants (inc Stormer)	646,813	763,850	1,023,100
	Warrior	357,305	437,726	425,659
	Challenger 1	Nil	Nil	6,214
	Challenger 2 (inc CRARRV)	144,786	220,069	18,766
	Chieftain variants	21,500	40,500	50,000
ATRA	FV 430 variants	40,791	63,701	68,954
	CVR(T) variants (inc Stormer)	52,780	62,751	60,287
	Warrior	35,281	26,180	26,837
	Challenger 1	Nil	Nil	5,454
	Challenger 2 (inc CRARRV)	34,552	29,571	33,341
	Chieftain variants	14,105	11,040	16,525

Table 2

		Annual Allocation (Hours) By Year
Area	Vehicle Type	2002–03 (provisional)	2001–02	2000–01
LAND (Incl BATUS)	Combat Engineer Tractor	7,500	10,500	14,000
ATRA	Combat Engineer Tractor	2,568	2,562	1,762

Table 3

	Consolidated Annual Track Allocation (Miles) By Year
Vehicle Type	1999–2000	1998–99	1997–98
FV 430 Variants	658,684	658,684	908,238
CVR (1) Variants	1,516,000	1,516,000	2,040,500
Warrior Variants	410,124	410,124	727,038
Challenger 1 Variants	136,087	190,148	262,517
Challenger 2 Variants	139,194	57,790	49,404
Chieftain Variants	47,405	70,167	80,942

Table 4

	Consolidated Annual Track Allocation (Hours) By Year
Vehicle Type	1999–2000	1998–99	1997–98
Combat Engineer Tractor	13,500	13,462	19,264

Armed Forces Pensions: Payment Methods

Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:

What evidence there is of possible fraud in the payment of Armed Forces pensions through the Post Office; and[HL4172]

Whether they consider that paying Armed Forces pensions by voucher rather than through the Post Office will reduce the risk of fraud.[HL4173]

Lord Bach: The risk of fraud in the use of the payable order book for the payment of Armed Forces pensions arose from the fact that payable orders were exchanged for cash, and each book contained nine months-worth of pension payments. There have been

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occasions where payable orders continued to be cashed after a pensioner's death or following the theft of a book.

The payment of pensioners by way of a voucher, or indeed the other alternative method of payment via a bankers automated clearing system transfer, will reduce considerably the scope for such fraud to occur. Unlike the payable order book method of payment, a voucher cannot be exchanged for cash, but has to be paid into a bank account. Each voucher is individually identifiable via an accounting system that can detect the bank account to which a voucher has been paid. As vouchers are forwarded to the pensioner either weekly or monthly, the period during which any potential fraud may take place, should they be lost or stolen, is also reduced. Pensioners may continue to draw cash from Post Offices subject to having an account with certain banks.

Public Guardianship Office

Baroness Greengross asked Her Majesty's Government:

What additional income is expected by the Public Guardianship Office in 2002–03 and 2003–04 arising from the changes to fees for (a) enduring powers of attorney and (b) receivers.[HL4075]

The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The additional income arising from changes to enduring power of attorney fees is estimated to be £1.9 million in 2002–03 and £2 million in 2003–04, although it is estimated that up to £0.3 million of the overall income from enduring power of attorney fees may be remitted in each year. The additional income from changes to receivership fees is estimated to be £2.3 million in

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2002–03 and £3.1 million in 2003–04, although it is estimated that around £1.5 million of overall receivership income will be remitted through the public subsidy for receivership of last resort cases and remission of other fees.

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