| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
8 Feb 2006 : Column WA95
Written Answers
Wednesday, 8 February 2006.
Alcohol: Repeat Offenders
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
What role alcohol plays in high-volume repeat offending; and whether the priority given to alcohol problems in the Prison Service is satisfactory. [HL3618]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Research has not examined the link specifically between high-volume repeat offending and alcohol consumption. The National Offender Management Service has developed a comprehensive alcohol strategy for prisoners. Detoxification is available on reception in all local and remand prisons. Some prisons run alcohol awareness courses and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) run groups in around 50 per cent. of prisons. Additionally, general offending behaviour programmes address the underlying causal factors, which occur in alcohol-related crime.
Allotments: South Yorkshire
Lord Mason of Barnsley asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much land was available for allotments in south Yorkshire, particularly in Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley, in each of the past five years; and how much has been released over that time for agricultural or building purposes and planning and development. [HL3764]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Baroness Andrews): The Government do not collect information on the availability of allotment land on an annual basis. However, information on the number of statutory allotments was last collected as part of The English Allotment Survey 1997. This recorded a total of 374 hectares of statutory allotments in south Yorkshire. In the past five years approval has been given for the disposal of sites totalling 10 hectares in south Yorkshire.
Autism: Northern Ireland
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answers by the Lord Rooker on 8 June 2005 (WA 90), 14 June 2005 (WA 119) and 30 June 2005 (WA 43), whether education and library boards in Northern Ireland have put in place multidisciplinary diagnostic and assessment teams to diagnose children with autism spectrum disorder; and what added financial support has been made available to each board for this purpose in the past six months. [HL3226]
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Lord Rooker): The education and library boards (ELBs) have a statutory responsibility to identify and assess special educational needs. Responsibility for providing multidisciplinary assessment and diagnostic teams for children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) rests with the health and social services trusts (HSSTs). Educational psychologists and other educational professionals from the ELBs, however, contribute to the work of the HSSTs' diagnostic teams. No additional funding has been made available to each ELB specifically for this purpose in the past six months but funding of approximately £550k per annum has been provided since 2003–04 to establish a five board structure for a comprehensive ASD support programme.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they plan to introduce specific autism awareness training for classroom assistants in Northern Ireland. [HL3274]
Lord Rooker: In Northern Ireland, training for classroom assistants assigned to pupils with special educational needs is the responsibility of the education and library boards. All five education and library boards currently provide specific autism awareness training for schools and classroom assistants.
British Citizenship: Hong Kong and India
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 31 January (WA 24) on British Citizenship: Hong Kong and India, whether they will place in the Library of the House the text of the previous statements of the Indian Government confirming that (a) the provisions of Section 9(1) of India's Citizenship Act 1955 do not apply to minors; and (b) an Indian citizen minor who lawfully acquired British nationality by registration does not cease to be a citizen of India; and whether they will place in the Library of the House a copy of the Indian Minister of Home Affairs' answer to the Lok Sabha, dated 20 December 2005. [HL3805]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: As the noble Lord is aware, we sent a Note Verbale to the Indian authorities on 20 April 2005 seeking clarification of Indian citizenship laws. They have now responded and a copy of the reply has been placed in the Library of the House. The reply will necessitate certain changes to our policy. My honourable friend the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality has written to the noble Lord explaining how we will publicise these changes and the steps we will take to implement them. A copy of the reply given in the Lok Sabha has also been placed in the Library of the House.
8 Feb 2006 : Column WA97
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Baroness Hilton of Eggardon asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the anticipated cost savings from the proposed closure of four of the research establishments at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. [HL3675]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) has published a business plan for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) for consultation, containing its proposals for putting the finances of CEH on to a sustainable basis. I have asked the chief executive of NERC to write to the noble Baroness about these proposals.
Civil Service: Northern Ireland
Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether any of the Northern Ireland departments have proposals to relocate civil service jobs from the west of Northern Ireland to Belfast in the next few years. [HL3683]
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Lord Rooker): At present, the water service in the Department for Regional Development has two projects (i.e. accounts payable, and customer billing and contact) for which it proposes to move small numbers of posts from the west of Northern Ireland to Belfast. The precise numbers involved have not yet been determined but should not exceed 12 posts.*
*For the purpose of this reply, the west of Northern Ireland has been defined as the district council areas of Armagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Derry, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Limavady, Magherafelt, Omagh and Strabane.
Company Law: Operating and Financial Review
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why they abolished the operating and financial review reporting requirements for United Kingdom quoted companies. [HL3326]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): I refer the noble Lord to the Answer given by my honourable friend the Minister of State for Industry and the Regions in the other place on 1 February 2006 (Official Report, col. 550W).
8 Feb 2006 : Column WA98
Energy: Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum
Lord Jenkin of Roding asked Her Majesty's Government:
Which Ministers represented the United Kingdom at ministerial-level meetings of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum; and when the next such ministerial-level meeting will take place. [HL3754]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): To date there has been no UK ministerial representation at the two ministerial-level meetings of the CSLF. These have been covered by officials from the DTI. The date of the next ministerial-level meeting of the CSLF has not been decided.
Lord Jenkin of Roding asked Her Majesty's Government:
Who, if any, are the United Kingdom members of (a) the policy group, and (b) the technical group of the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum; and which, if any, are (i) nominees of the United Kingdom Government, and (ii) nominees of other United Kingdom bodies. [HL3755]
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: Official UK representatives on the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum are as follows:
government officials represent the UK on the policy group; they are: Brian Morris, DTI, head of the carbon abatement technologies unit; Jim Penman, DEFRA, Global Atmosphere Division; and
industry represents the UK on the technical group, they are:
Nick Otter OBE, Alstom Power plc, director of technology and external relations, Philip Sharman, PERA, consultant and adviser on carbon capture, hydrogen and fuel cells.
| Next Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |