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6 Jul 2004 : Column WA71
Written Answers
Tuesday, 6 July 2004.
Questions for Written Answer
Lord Jopling asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Ministry of Defence and the Northern Ireland Office will explain why they currently have 26 and 30 House of Lords Written Questions respectively awaiting reply of the 85 such Questions which have lain unanswered for over 21 days, when the standard period for replies is 14 days. [HL3319]
The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): All government departments endeavour to answer Questions for Written Answer within the 14 day deadline. I regret, however, that it has taken so long to answer these Questions.
The majority of the overdue Ministry of Defence questions relate to operations in Iraq and in many instances this has meant contacting personnel there to obtain details to be able to answer them. Clearly personnel on operations are subject to operational pressure which can result in delays in obtaining the information required.
A number of the Northern Ireland Office questions have required co-ordination between several parts of the Northern Ireland Office and the 11 departments of the Northern Ireland Administration which has occasionally resulted in the deadline not being met.
I can assure the noble Lord that officials in both departments are working hard to provide the necessary information and ensure that the outstanding Questions are answered as soon as possible.
Lord Avebury asked the Leader of the House:
Whether she will take steps to ensure that Ministers date the copies of Written Answers which are sent to Members. [HL3492]
Baroness Amos: My office has written to all government departments requesting that, wherever possible, Answers to Written Questions are dated.
Millennium Development Goals
Baroness Gale asked Her Majesty's Government:
What assessment they have made of the relationship between the millennium development target to eliminate gender disparity in education and similar targets for halving the proportion of people without safe water or basic sanitation. [HL3491]
Baroness Amos: DfID's assessment of this relationship is twofold. First, access to basic facilities such as school toilets, safe drinking water, clean surroundings and information on hygiene all improve the quality of the school environment and influence
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better learning. This is important in terms of the overall goal of achieving universal education and eliminating gender disparity in education. Basic sanitation for girls in particular can lead to a lower dropout rate for girls, especially at puberty. For example, in Bangladesh, a school sanitation and hygiene education programme reported to increase girls' attendance rates by 11 per cent.
Secondly, the opportunity costs of parents sending girls to school are substantially reduced when households have ready access to safe drinking water and girls are no longer required to collect water from distant water pumps.
As part of its support for the peace process in Sudan, DfID has provided approximately £2 million to assist UNICEF's education programmes in the conflict-affected areas of the country, providing books and materials to over 2,000 primary schools and supporting the construction of water and sanitation facilities where these were priorities.
Terrorism: Interrogation of Suspects
Baroness Williams of Crosby asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they have sent any British citizens suspected as terrorists to other countries for interrogation. [HL3242]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Under the terms of the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003, foreign jurisdictions are able to seek mutual legal assistance from the UK. This usually means collecting evidence (as opposed to intelligence which is handled on a police-to-police basis) for use in criminal proceedings or investigations.
Individuals who have been charged with a criminal offence or have already been convicted of one in a different country may be extradited to another country provided all criteria are met.
British citizens suspected as terrorists are not sent to other countries for interrogation purposes.
Since 11 September 2001, no one has been extradited for terrorist-related activities.
Emergency Services: Sirens
Lord Thomas of Swynnerton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will devise an alarm for the use of the police, fire brigades and the ambulance service, which is less noisy than the present one. [HL3456]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The police and other emergency services need to alert other motorists and pedestrians to their presence if they are to provide fast response times and to do so safely. Much work has previously been undertaken to identify the most effective means for doing this. The sirens now in use
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are designed to operate in such a way as to attract the attention of pedestrians, to be heard by motorists in different situations and to indicate the direction from which the vehicle is approaching. They are often supplemented by the use of alternate flashing headlights. We have no current plans for further work in this area.
Gulf War 1990–91: Vaccines
Lord Clement-Jones asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Warner on 12 May (WA 45–46), whether any part of the Gulf veterans' illnesses research will provide information on potential adverse consequences of the Ministry of Defence's decision to plan the timing of the anthrax immunisations of troops involved in the 1990–91 Gulf conflict differently from that in the marketing authorisation and to give fewer immunisations than were recommended. [HL3069]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach): Detailed information about the schedule of anthrax vaccinations offered to protect United Kingdom Forces during the 1990–91 Gulf conflict is contained in the paper Implementation of the Immunisation Programme against Biological Warfare Agents for UK Forces during the Gulf Conflict 1990/1991, a copy of which is in the Library of the House. The paper makes clear that the timing of the third anthrax vaccine dose was varied, and that the main immunisation programme was suspended before the point at which a fourth dose would have been due. There is no formal record of consultation between the Ministry of Defence and the manufacturer and supplier, the then Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR), Porton Down about these variations. There is no association between failing to complete a course of immunisation and adverse health effects, other than possible failure to achieve full protection.
Information about the vaccine schedule associated with the core study of the MoD's vaccines interaction research programme was given in my Written Answers of 6 November (Official Report, col. WA 140) and 18 November 2003 (Official Report, col. WA 280). The schedule includes anthrax vaccinations at 0, 3, and 7 weeks.
Gulf War 1990–91: Destruction of Chemical Weapons
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration they are giving to the implications for British troops deployed to the 1990–91 Gulf conflict of the United States Accounting Office's new findings, published on 6 June, on the number of coalition troops potentially exposed to chemical warfare agents,
- including sarin and cyclosarin, from fallout from the destruction of the Iraqi chemical arms bunker at Khamisiyah in southern Iraq in March 1991; and whether they will revise their estimate of the number of British troops who could have been affected. [HL3183]
Lord Bach: The Ministry of Defence is currently reviewing the General Accounting Office report, and the Department of Defense/CIA responses to it. It is intended that the MoD will be publishing its own assessment of the destruction of chemical warfare rockets at Khamisiyah this autumn.
Geneva Conventions: UK Interrogators
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Bach on 23 June (WA 126), whether they are aware of any occasions when members of the British Armed Forces or other United Kingdom personnel have used interrogation techniques involving physical or mental coercion contrary to international human rights and humanitarian law. [HL3457]
Lord Bach: United Kingdom interrogators are specifically instructed that individuals being questioned must be treated at all times in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. We are not aware of any incidents in which UK interrogators are alleged to have used coercion techniques that are banned by the conventions during current operations.
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