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19 Jun 2007 : Column WA25
19 Jun 2007 : Column WA25
19 Jun 2007 : Column WA25
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Airports: Heathrow
Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:
What targets they set for the British Airports Authority in respect of the time taken for passengers to pass through security control at each terminal of London Heathrow Airport. [HL4266]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for the economic regulation of Heathrow Airport. The current performance standard, set by the CAA, is that passengers should queue for less than 10 minutes on 95 per cent of the occasions when the queue is measured.
Allotments
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
What progress has been made on the commitment made in the Living Places: Cleaner, Greener, Safer report by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in October 2002 to improve information on allotments by updating the 1996 survey. [HL4216]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): We commissioned the University of Derby in February 2004 to undertake an update of the 1996 English allotment survey. The survey was expanded to cover community gardens and city farms. Fieldwork was carried out between March 2004 and mid-June 2005. A summary of the key findings was published on 28 September 2006. Additionally, we are developing a green space database to provide a more comprehensive information base on green spaces, including allotments.
Border and Immigration Agency
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What training about the cultural norms and practices that apply in the countries from which most asylum applicants come is given to interviewers and interpreters working for the Border and Immigration Agency. [HL3993]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Cultural norms and practices are a theme that is considered and discussed throughout the formal training programme for case owners in regional managed asylum teams and caseworkers in the case resolution directorate, and are more specifically aired during the interviewing skills training that takes place for up to five days. In advance of each interview, case owners and
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Interpreters engaged by the Border and Immigration Agency are freelance. They are expected to attend one or two days’ training provided by the Institute of Linguists. The training covers the role of public service interpreter and the standards expected by the Border and Immigration Agency.
Botswana: Indigenous Peoples
The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
How they are assisting the Government of Botswana to implement the recent High Court decision in favour of the indigenous people of the Kalahari reserve; when they will ratify International Labour Organisation Convention 169, concerning indigenous and tribal peoples in independent countries; and what assessment they have made of the role of British companies in Botswana in relation to this convention. [HL4271]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): We are encouraging the Government of Botswana to take an inclusive approach to finding a sustainable solution to the future use of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve through dialogue and negotiation with the San (Bushmen). My right honourable friend the Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs (Ian McCartney) raised the issue at the highest level during his visit to Botswana in early June.
The UK position with regard to the 1989 International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention on indigenous and tribal peoples (ILO 169) was set out in a 1989 White Paper (Command Paper 1078, Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries). As the White Paper noted, ILO 169 was essentially an update of the 1957 ILO Convention 107. The White Paper explained that Convention 107 could not be applied in the UK as there were no indigenous, tribal or semi-tribal people there, and so had not been ratified by the UK. Copies of the 1989 White Paper are available in the Library of the House. We have therefore made no assessment of the role of British companies in Botswana in relation to Convention 169.
British Citizenship
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Baroness Scotland of Asthal on 17 May 2006 (WA 37) on British citizenship, why no information about Nepalese citizenship law has yet been incorporated into the nationality instructions; and when they intend to do so. [HL4209]
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The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Instructions to nationality staff could not be issued until the Nepalese position regarding dual nationality had been clarified. This has now been done and the instructions will shortly be issued on the Border and Immigration Agency website.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, having regard to Chapter 6.3 of the Home Office nationality instructions, a British overseas citizen who makes a British citizenship application using Form EM is automatically considered for eligibility to be registered as a British citizen under the criteria applicable to Form B(OS). [HL4222]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Guidance to this effect is contained in Chapter 6.4.6 of the instructions, which may be accessed on the Border and Immigration Agency's website at www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/nichapter6/. A copy of the instructions will also be placed in the House Library.
Children: Breastfeeding
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in view of the assurances given in October 2006 by the Immigration Minister, Mr Liam Byrne, they will ask the Children's Commissioner to carry out an independent inquiry into the circumstances in which a breastfeeding mother was separated from her infant while detained in Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre. [HL3978]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The Home Office’s Immigration Minister has instructed the children’s champion for the Border and Immigration Agency to investigate the circumstances of the separation of a breastfeeding mother from her baby and to make recommendations. A copy of those recommendations, and the agreed action to implement them, will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Lord Avebury asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will develop new procedures and safeguards to ensure that police forces and social services officers of local authorities review the detention of breastfeeding mothers to ensure that they are reunited with their infants immediately when it is ascertained that no danger would arise to the welfare of the infant. [HL3980]
Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Detention at a police station is an operational matter for the chief officer of the force concerned and decisions around the detention of a detainee are considered on an individual basis based on the circumstances of the case and in compliance with statutory requirements. Social services are independent agencies. Social services will always seek
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Children: Disappearances
Lord Eames asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many children of non-United Kingdom citizens have been reported missing while visiting the United Kingdom; and [HL4201]
How many cases of children of non-British citizens reported missing while visiting the United Kingdom have resulted in the safe recovery of such children. [HL4215]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The Home Office does not collect data on the number of children of non-United Kingdom citizens reported as missing. Information on missing persons reported to the police is collected on the police national computer (PNC) and in the Police National Missing Persons Bureau (PNMPB), which holds the descriptive information relating to missing persons and circumstances of disappearance, investigative considerations, person making the report and next of kin. The PNMPB also prepares quarterly statistics including missing males/females under 14, between 14 and 17, and aged 18 and over, but these are not broken down by nationality.
Crime: Honour Killings
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many deaths or murders in the United Kingdom have been linked to issues of family honour in each of the last three years. [HL4171]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Estimates on the number of honour crimes are not available from the recorded crime statistics.
Crime: Vehicle Registration
Lord Sheikh asked Her Majesty's Government:
What measures are being taken to charge individuals who use stolen or false car registration plates to avoid paying congestion charges, parking fines and other traffic penalties. [HL4290]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: If an individual uses false registration plates to avoid paying charges or penalties, potentially there would be an offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice. It is also an offence under the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001 to fail to display the correct registration mark on a vehicle. It is likely that the police force involved would consult the Crown Prosecution Service about whether to prosecute and for which offence in any given case.
19 Jun 2007 : Column WA29
Embryology
Lord Alton of Liverpool asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many human embryos have been created each year since the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1991; and how many cloned human embryos have been created since 2001. [HL4212]
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Information on the number of embryos created is shown in the table:
| Total number of embryos created 1991 to 2004 (1) | ||
| Year (calendar) | Embryos created as part of treatment cycles | Embryos created in non-treatment cycles (2) |
No data are held by the department, nor are data routinely collected by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, on the number of embryos created using cell nuclear replacement (cloning) as part of a research project.
(1) 2004 is the most recent year for which information is available.
(2) These are in vitro fertilisation cycles that, although started, did not progress to embryo transfer as part of that cycle of treatment. These embryos may have been used in a patient's later frozen treatment cycles or for embryo donation. No data are held for the years 1991 to 1998.
Source: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
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