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Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many United Nations Relief and Works Agency personnel have been killed and wounded since September 2000.[HL1996]
Baroness Crawley: Between 28 September 2000 and 9 December 2002 six UNRWA personnel have been killed. Of these, two were working at the time they were killed. Thirty-eight UNRWA personnel have been wounded.
Israeli Incursions: UNRWA Representations
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether Israel will be obliged to compensate the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for damage done by military action to schools, clinics, hospitals, etc.[HL1997]
Baroness Crawley: UNRWA, together with the international community more widely, has made repeated representations to the Government of Israel about damage caused during Israeli incursions. UNRWA and the international community have reserved the right to seek compensation.
Family Law Reforms
Baroness Gould of Potternewton asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What progress has been made in introducing the package of reforms designed to tighten court rules and importing some of the conclusions from the surveys of the good practice guidelines produced by the Children Act sub-committee of the Lord Chancellor's advisory board on family law.[HL1902]
The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The department and the President of the Family Division's Adoption Committee are considering the stakeholder responses and efficiency gains following implementation of the guidelines. A full analysis of the data collected is expected to be completed this spring. A decision will be made in relation to the extent of incorporation of these guidelines into future rules of court.
SEN
Lord Rix asked Her Majesty's Government:
- To assist statementing and meeting special educational needs, whether they will commend to local education authorities the Oxfordshire Local Education Authority approach to monitoring support for children with special educational needs.[HL1953]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): We are always pleased to hear about interesting arrangements for monitoring the support of children with special educational needs, and I am grateful to the noble Lord for bringing Oxfordshire's work to our attention. It is, however, ultimately up to individual authorities to develop their own systems for monitoring the effectiveness of the support provided for children with special educational needs in their areas in the light of local needs and circumstances. They may of course want to approach other successful authorities for information and advice in doing so. The Government welcome and encourage the sharing of practice in this way, rather than commending one particular approach as a model, given differing local circumstances.
Guidance on approaches to the distribution of resources for meeting the needs of children with special educational needs is given in The Distribution of Resources to Support Inclusion, which was published by the Department for Education and Skills in November 2001. The network of 11 special educational needs regional partnerships brings together local education authorities, health and social services and voluntary agencies to share knowledge and expertise. The partnerships have focused on effective practice on monitoring and accountability for
SEN. Monitoring and accountability will also be developed further as part of the special educational needs action programme, to be published later this year.Listed Buildings: Access
Lord Tebbit asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will seek to ensure that there is maintained an up-to-date register showing the extent of access for disabled persons to listed buildings offering public access in London.[HL2045]
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone): There are currently no plans to establish a register of this type. English Heritage is, however, conducting access audits of its directly managed properties.
Gifts to Ministers of the Crown
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will publish a list of gifts given to Ministers of the Crown during their period in public office; and, if not, why not; and[HL1971]
Whether the report in the Guardian on 3 March was correct in stating that attempts have been made by the Prime Minister's advisers to persuade the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration to change the findings in her draft report on the public disclosure of gifts made to Ministers of the Crown; and, if not, what is the true position.[HL1972]
The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston): The Prime Minister has today published a list of gifts received by Ministers. The list provides details of gifts received since June 2001 valued at more than £140. Copies of the list have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
It is standard practice for there to be a dialogue between departments and the ombudsman about draft reports. A meeting was held between the permanent secretaries in the Cabinet Office and the Lord Chancellor's Department and the ombudsman as part of this process. It was not an attempt to change the ombudsman's finding. The final decision on what is in the report is for the ombudsman.
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