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Written Answers
Tuesday, 25th June 2002.
Public Honours
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they consider references to the British Empire in public honours to be appropriate in the post-imperial age. [HL4706]
The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn): The Government recognise that some people think the name anachronistic but the order itself is generally regarded with affection by a great many people.
Copyright Libraries
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Where are the recognised copyright libraries; and which of them they consider to be appropriate to serve Northern Ireland. [HL4714]
Lord Williams of Mostyn: There are six recognised copyright libraries. These are the British Library, the Bodleian Library (Oxford), the University Library (Cambridge), the National Library of Scotland, the National Library of Wales and the Library of Trinity College in Dublin.
Which is most convenient to users in Northern Ireland will depend on particular circumstances. In 1997 the then Department of National Heritage, Scottish Office, Welsh Office and Department of Education for Northern Ireland issued a joint consultation paper on legal deposit which included questions relating to the use of legal deposit material in Northern Ireland. The responses revealed almost no demand for a separate legal deposit library in Northern Ireland.
Special Advisers
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What were (a) the mean average and (b) the median average gross salary for special advisers (1) within each of the special adviser pay bands and (2) overall for (i) 1998–99, (ii) 1999–2000, (iii) 2000–01 and (iv) 2001–02. [HL3426]
The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston): The information requested for the relevant years is:
| 1 December 1998 | 1 April 1999 | 1 April 2000 | 1 April 2001 | |
| (£) | (£) | (£) | (£) | |
| Median of Band A | 32,300 | 35,795 | 35,501 | 36,566 |
| Mean of Band A | 32,241 | 33,463 | 35,834 | 37,458 |
| Median of Band B | 48,100 | 45,283 | 48,024 | 49,465 |
| Mean of Band B | 47,302 | 46,513 | 48,461 | 53,149 |
| Median of Band C | 63,000 | 66,306 | 66,642 | 71,910 |
| Mean of Band C | 64,778 | 67,885 | 68,489 | 72,074 |
| Overall Median | 41,350 | 46,671 | 48,024 | 47,994 |
| Overall Mean | 43,717 | 49,014 | 50,167 | 52,397 |
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the answer by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 2 July 1999 (HC Deb, cols. 283–84), whether they will provide the information given in that answer in respect of the number of special advisers in each pay band, broken down by department, for (a) 2000-01 and (b) 2001-02.[HL3428]
Lord Macdonald of Tradeston: The Government have already announced the introduction of a new pay system for special advisers from June 2001 based on individual job evaluation. Information on the outcome of this review will be provided once the process of job evaluation is complete. The figures for 1 April 2000 and 1 April 2001 are as follows:
| Department | 1 April 2001 | 1 April 2002 | ||||
| A | B | C | A | B | C | |
| No. 10(1) | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 8 |
| Agriculture, Fisheries and Food | 2 | – | – | 2 | – | – |
| Cabinet Office(2) | – | 2 | 1 | – | 2 | 1 |
| Chief Whip's Office | 1 | 2 | – | 1 | 2 | – |
| Culture, Media and Sport | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | – | 1 |
| Defence | – | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
| Education and Employment(3) | 3 | 1 | – | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Environment, Transport and the Regions(4) | – | 4 | 1 | – | 4 | 1 |
| Foreign and Commonwealth Office | – | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 |
| Health | – | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 |
| Home Office | – | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
| International Development | 2 | – | – | 2 | – | – |
| Leader of the House of Lords | – | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
| Lord Chancellor's Department | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 |
| Northern Ireland Office | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | – |
| President of the Council | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| Scotland Office | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| Social Security | – | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 |
| Trade and Industry(5) | – | 2 | – | – | 2 | – |
| HM Treasury(6) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Wales Office | 2 | – | – | 1 | 1 | – |
(1) Plus Jonathan Powell and Alastair Campbell who were paid outside the structure.
(2) Plus Keith Hellawell who was paid outside the pay structure.
(3) Includes two part-time posts.
(4) Includes one part-time post in April 2001 and two part-time posts in April 2000.
(5) Includes one part-time post.
(6) Plus five members of the Council of Economic Advisers (one in band A and four in band C of which one is part-time) in April 2001 and plus three members of the Council of Economic Advisers (one in band A and two in band C of which one is part-time).
Lord Fearn asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Macdonald of Tradeston: Her Majesty's Goverment are committed to continuously improving maritime safety. The approach adopted for personal watercraft safety is to pursue a programme of education rather than regulation. Along with national sporting bodies, manufacturers, local authorities and other water safety organisations, they are conducting an ongoing safety campaign to encourage the users of personal water craft (including jet skis) and other powered craft to get better training to make them aware of their responsibilities to other water users. Foremost is a code of conduct for non-regulated pleasure vessels, produced as a series of waterproof pocket-sized cards, which is publicised at national events such as boat shows and is freely available to members of the public.
Lord Fearn asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much nuclear waste is transported on average by air over (1) Merseyside and (2) Lancashire each year.[HL4767]
Lord Macdonald of Tradeston: Information of this nature is not held centrally.
Baroness Serota asked Her Majesty's Government:
Lord Macdonald of Tradeston: The Prime Minister has revised the composition of Cabinet committees in the light of the recent machinery of government changes, and has also established three new committees: a sub-committee, CJS(IT), on information technology in the criminal justice system; MISC20 on social and economic aspects of migration; and MISC21 on the Government's response to parliamentary modernisation. MISC16, having fulfilled its specific remit to review the practice on tackling illegal working and policy on managed migration, has been wound up. These issues will now be taken forward by MISC20. The full list of committees, their terms of reference and their membership has been placed in the Library of the House and will shortly be available on the Cabinet Office website (www.cabinet-office.gov.uk).
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone): The Radio Authority is currently supporting a variety of training through the Access Radio pilot project. The information is shown in the table:
It is in the process of establishing a Skillset Cymru which will directly support courses in Wales in both English and the Welsh language.
In Scotland, education and training in Gaelic in the audio-visual sector is provided at tertiary level at Sabhal Mor Ostaig on Skye where vocationally oriented HNC and HND courses are offered.
What further safety consultation, if any, they intend to bring forward regarding jet ski water sport.[HL4687]
How much nuclear waste is transported on average through (1) Merseyside and (2) Lancashire each year; and[HL4766]
What is the current membership of each Cabinet committee.[HL4897]
Whether they are currently promoting training for the development of minority language based television, radio and film programmes; if so, how the training scheme was made available; what languages are benefiting; and to what extent. [HL4735]
Skillset, the Sector Skills Council for the audio-visual industries for the UK, provides training for television and film. Skillset is jointly funded by the DFES and industry.
Radio Station Language(s) benefiting Training
All FM Urdu, Bangla and Hindi (possibly also Vietnamese, Cantonese and Somali) Volunteers receive informal training and mentoring. Radio production trainees to receive formal training.
Awaz FM Urdu and Punjabi Volunteers receive training in radio presentation, production and adminstration skills.
Bradford Community Broadcasting Urdu, Punjabi, Italian, Ukrainian (possibly also Gujarati, Farsi, Bengali and Polish) Local volunteers receive a range of radio training courses.
Desi Radio Punjabi Training courses involve up to ten trainees at a time.
Radio Faza Urdu and Punjabi with some Hindi, Bengali, Mirpuri, Gujarati and Arabic languages. Basic training on use of equipment etc. as well as some structured training.
South Radio (pilot has not yet commenced) Bangladeshi, Syletti, Hebrew, Yiddish, Kurdish and Turkish The group hopes to provide training for programme contributors.
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