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Lord Moynihan asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What assessment has been made of the impact of the charging arrangements by national governing bodies of sport on the use of facilities that form part of the English Institute of Sport.[HL2178]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The costs of elite governing body use of the English Institute of Sport sites are met through governing bodies' world class performance plans and a lottery-funded facility hire programme. This ensures that governing bodies have autonomy in deciding the most suitable location for their athletes to train and facility owners have confirmation that there will be funding available to cover their overheads. Facility owners have to apply to Sport England to access the facility hire budget and each application is assessed to ensure maximum benefits are derived from the funding. In addition Sport England monitors the grants to measure their effectiveness on an ongoing basis for the duration of the grant period. The programme is in its infancy, but the early indications are that governing bodies are gaining sufficient access to sites and facility owners are able to meet their requirements effectively as there is sufficient funding in place to cover their costs.
Financial Incentives: Tax Liability
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What is the policy and practice of the Inland Revenue regarding the deduction from liablity to tax of financial incentives paid to United Kingdom companies or individuals to foreign governments or foreign corporations, or their officers, employees or agents, to encourage them to enter into commercial contracts or other profitable arrangements with United Kingdom firms.[HL2180)
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: Section 577A of the Taxes Act 1988 provides that, when computing taxable profits, a business is not allowed relief for expenditure incurred on illegal payments. A financial incentive paid by a company or an individual to a third party for business purposes will not be deductible if the
making of that payment constitutes a criminal offence in the UK, or would do so if the payment were made in the UK. The Inland Revenue's policy and practice is to apply the legislation as intended. raOlympic Games 2012: London Bid
Lord Jopling asked Her Majesty's Government:
- From where the funds will be found to finance the bid for London to host the 2012 Olympic Games in the event of the bid failing.[HL2304]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The memorandum of understanding between the Government and the Mayor of London, presented to Parliament in June 2003 as Command Paper CM 5867, states that "DCMS and the London Development Agency propose to contribute to the costs of the bid organisation and associated planning in equal shares to July 2005 to a combined limit of £30 million." London 2012 is also seeking private sector funds to support the bid.
Lord Jopling asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether consideration has been given to London residents receiving preferential access to tickets for the 2012 Olympic Games in the event of a successful bid for London to stage the event.[HL2305]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: There are no plans for London residents to benefit from a preferential ticketing policy. However, a number of events such as the marathon, road cycling and triathlon are likely to be able to accommodate large numbers of local people watching free of charge. shirley
Lord Jopling asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What would happen if the estimated cost of £2.375 billion required to stage the 2012 Olympic Games, in the event of a succcessful bid, overran; and whether the Government would cover the deficit.[HL2308]
Lord McIntosh of Haringey: The up to £2.375 billion funding package described in the memorandum of understanding between the Government and the Mayor of London published in June 2003 makes allowance for the potential public sector contribution to support the staging of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is in addition to private sector sources of funding such as sponsorship and television rights. Beyond this, the Government, as stated in the memorandum of understanding and reiterated in a departmental minute presented to Parliament on 2 December 2003, have given a commitment to be the ultimate guarantor for the Games. On current contingency plans, the Goverment would expect to discharge this responsibility, should it arise, in a sharing arrangement to be agreed as appropriate with the Mayor of London and for their part seeking additional National Lottery funding. These expectations will be further reviewed in summer 2005.
European Directives: Transposition Notes
Lord Stoddart of Swindon asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How members of the public, or litigants in United Kingdom courts, can obtain particulars of any Act of Parliament or any part thereof arising from a directive of the European Community and Union, together with references thereto; and what are the likely costs of doing so.[HL2074]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Transposition notes are currently produced to accompany legislation that requires transposition into UK law, except where it can be demonstrated that the resources required to produce a transposition note are significantly greater than can be justified by the resulting added benefit to the reader. They set out how the main elements of a directive have been, or will be transposed into UK law. They are available in print from departments and should also be accessible via departmental websites. The full text of UK legislation which transposes EU directives into UK law can currently be accessed at no charge using the search engine on the HMSOnline website (www.hmso.gov.uk), where entry of details of the directive will provide a link to the legislation which transposes the directive into UK law. This can be, however, a cumbersome arrangement for users and Her Majesty's Stationery Office, as part of its plans for the future development of Legislationonline later this year, plans to deliver an improved facility for users where they will be able to link directly from the full text of the UK legislation to the full text of the directive as published on the Europa website.
Special Advisers
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they will publish information on the main areas of work delegated by Ministers to each special adviser, identifying the main areas of departmental policy with which each special adviser is concerned.[HL2080]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the main areas of work to be undertaken by special advisers. A copy of the code of conduct is in the Library of the House. In addition, in their response to the ninth report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, the Government agreed that where a special adviser has a particular expertise or works mainly in a particular area of the department's work this will be indicated in the annual statement to Parliament on the numbers and pay bands of special advisers by department and the overall salary cost. The list for 2003–04 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the current financial year.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- (a) Whether special advisers are recruited on the basis of criteria and procedures laid down by individual Ministers, or whether the criteria and procedures are agreed by Ministers collectively; and (b) what are the criteria and procedures which have been used by Ministers (whether individually or collectively) in recruiting their special advisers.[HL2081]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Since their inception in the early 1970s, it has been the nature of special adviser appointments that they should be outside the rules of fair and open competition as they are personal appointments made by the Minister at his or her request to meet particular needs. For these positions, Ministers seek a combination of political and personal commitment, relevant expertise and personal trust and confidence. It is because of this combination of qualities required for the job that the Civil Service order in council and the Civil Service Commissioners' recruitment rules recognise that it is necessary to exempt such posts from the normal Civil Service recruitment rules. simone
Parliamentary Ombudsman
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How the annual number of complaints received by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration compares with the annual number of complaints received by parliamentary ombudsmen in other European and Commonwealth countries, taking into account population sizes in those countries; and[HL2181]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 17 March (WA 55), whether they are aware of any country which restricts access to a parliamentary ombudsman to members of that Parliament.[HL2183]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Information on the number of complaints received by the Parliamentary Ombudsman is set out in her annual report.
Information on the number of complaints received by parliamentary ombudsmen in other countries is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, I have written to the noble Lord offering him a factual background briefing from the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration on the handling of complaints by equivalent ombudsman schemes in other countries. I understand that France operates a similar scheme to that operated in this country in terms of access to the ombudsman.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 17 March (WA 55), whether they have identified any objections in principle to the creation of a right of direct access by members of the public to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration for complaints of maladministration by government departments; and, if so, what are the objections; and[HL2182]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 17 March (WA 55), what is the justification for preventing Members of the House of Lords referring complaints by members of the public to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration; and[HL2184]
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bassam of Brighton on 17 March (WA 55), how long ago they considered the case for introducing legislation to create a direct right of access by members of the public to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.[HL2185]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Under the terms of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967, complaints to the Parliamentary Ombudsman must be made through a Member of the House of Commons. The review of the public sector ombudsmen in England, published in 2000, considered the case for introducing legislation to create a direct right of access by members of the public to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. As my Answer of 17 March made clear, discussions with the Ombudsman on this issue are continuing.
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