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Biometric Readers
The Earl of Northesk asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why there is a difference between the regulatory impact assessment on the Asylum and Immigration Bill which estimated the cost of installing iris scan biometric passport readers in 47 major airports and ports at £25,000 to £27,000 each, as compared with the current working assumption in the regulatory impact assessment on the Identity Cards Bill that "the cost of card readers would fall within a range of £250 to £270". [HL819]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Estimates in the partial regulatory impact assessment (RIA), published with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill entitled "Checking biometric data on arrival" were £3,000 to 5,000 for passport readers and £3,000 to £5,000 for visa readers. Estimates for biometric readers published in the RIA with the ID Cards Bill were £250 to £750. Costs for biometric readers at border control will differ from those used to read ID cards as the technologies within ID cards and some biometric documents presented at border control are different. Document readers at the border must be able to read all types of biometric documents issued by countries and all types of biometric identifiers. They also need to anticipate documents and biometric identifiers that may be introduced in the future.
British Citizenship
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether (a) a British subject under the British Nationality Act 1981, other than by connection to the Republic of Ireland, or (b) a British protected person who acquires by registration Overseas Citizenship of India would automatically lose the status as a British subject or British protected person as a consequence; and [HL729]
Whether an otherwise stateless British overseas citizen, British subject under the British Nationality Act 1981 or British protected person who acquires overseas citizenship of India would automatically cease to have an entitlement to register as a British citizen under Section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981. [HL730]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: If a British subject under the British Nationality Act 1981, other than by connection to the Republic of Ireland, or a British protected person acquired India overseas citizenship they would automatically lose their status as a British subject or British protected person. Any British national holding Indian overseas citizenship would be ineligible for registration under Section 4B since they could not meet the requirements of Section 4B(2)(b) of
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the British Nationality Act 1981 to hold no other citizenship or nationality.
Cabinet Office: Communication Professionals
Baroness Wilcox asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many press officers and other communication professionals were employed both full time and part time by the Cabinet Office in each of the past eight years. [HL600]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The information requested is shown in the table. The information provided is for as at 1 April each year. The figures include support staff, as it is not possible separately to identify job roles from the available records.
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Note 1: The Press Office figure for 2000 includes press officers specifically employed to manage the genetically modified foods communications unit which operated from the Cabinet Office between July 1999 to March/April 2000.
Note 2: Communication Group now provides a central communications resource for the majority of Cabinet Office management units. Some units still maintain their own communication resource, and more did so prior to 2004. It is not possible to provide details for the staff working on communications outside of the main units without incurring disproportionate costs.
Note 3: The functions of Government Communications and its predecessor GICS have changed significantly over this period. This is reflected in the variations in staff numbers.
Note 4: From 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2005, the Government News Network (GNN) was part of the Cabinet Office. It is now managed once again by COI. GNN provides a service across the whole of government.
Cabinet Office: Staff
Baroness Wilcox asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many individuals were employed full-time by the Cabinet Office in each of the past eight years. [HL598]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The number of individuals employed by the Cabinet Office in each of the past eight years is shown in the table.
Source: Cabinet Office, Personnel Statistics
Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.
1. Data collected by the Office for National Statistics as part of the new quarterly public sector employment statistics.
Staff numbers will have been affected by machinery of government changes over the period in question. Reasons for change in numbers can be found on the Civil Service Statistics website at www.civilservice.gov.uk/management–information/statistical–information/statistics/departmental–changes/index.asp.
Common Agricultural Policy: Rural Development Support
Baroness Byford asked Her Majesty's Government:
What percentage of rural development support from the common agricultural policy they estimate will be taken up by schemes targeted at (a) countryside stewardship; (b) hill farming; (c) forestry and woodland; (d) organic crops; (e) energy crops; and (f) project support for the rural development process from 1 January 2007 onwards. [HL854]
Lord Bach: The planned expenditure available to farmers and other beneficiaries under EU co-financed rural development schemes in 2006 is set out in the England Rural Development Programme for 2000–06, as amended following the introduction of environmental stewardship. Full programme documentation, including expenditure tables, is available from the Defra website.
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If the noble Baroness would like information on expenditure under the rural development programmes for 2007–13, that will depend on decisions yet to be taken on:
funds allocated to the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development under the negotiations on the future financing of the EU;
the share of that funding allocated to the United Kingdom and, within the UK total, to England;
the extent to which the UK is permitted to make transfers from subsidy payments to rural development schemes ("modulation"); and
The share of rural development support allocated to individual measures under the Rural Development Regulation will depend in part on the overall total of expenditure available, and in part on ministerial decisions following a consultation later this year on how the rural development regulation is to be implemented in England. Some parameters have, however, already been set: the draft Rural Development Regulation on which political agreement was reached at the Agriculture Council meeting on 20 and 21 June establishes minimum percentages for the contribution from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development to each of three priority areas: improving competitiveness of farming and forestry (10 per cent), environment and land management (25 per cent), diversification and broader rural development (10 per cent) and leader (5 per cent).
It is likely that the great majority of funding in England will be allocated to agri-environment schemes and to other measures covered by the environment and land management axis (which includes the measures listed at points (a) to (b), by the noble Baroness).
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