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25 Apr 2008 : Column WA323



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Written Answers

Friday 25 April 2008

Airports: Heathrow

Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The current benchmarks of 45 minutes for non-EEA nationals and 25 minutes for EEA nationals are the current national standards against which all of our ports and airports can measure performance.

Our priority at Heathrow is to maintain border security by checking all arriving passengers.

We monitor our staffing levels carefully and deploy staff to ensure maximum possible coverage of the arrivals control.

Aviation: Flight Stacking

Baroness Scott of Needham Market asked Her Majesty's Government:

Lord Bassam of Brighton: Airspace planning and regulation is the responsibility of the independent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The process for making changes to airspace is governed by the CAA's airspace change process. Under this process it is for airspace change sponsors to develop and consult on proposals. Detailed guidance is given on what impacts are to be taken into account, how they should be measured and who should be consulted. Informed by the consultation, the sponsor submits the proposal to the CAA's Directorate of Airspace Policy for assessment against regulatory requirements. In determining whether to accept or reject a proposal, the CAA's process reflects the Secretary of State's directions and guidance to the CAA on the exercise of its statutory duties and environmental objectives.



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British Citizenship

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The fee for naturalisation is £655 including an £80 ceremony fee. Spouses or civil partners applying jointly pay a combined fee of £735 including £160 ceremony fees.

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty's Government:

Lord West of Spithead: The requested information is available only from January 2004, and is shown on the attached table.

The information has been provided from local management information and is not a national statistic. As such it should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change.

Intake from people living in N. Ireland for Naturalisation of the British Nationality Act 1981
Year 2004ResidenceCase TypeIntake

2004

N Ireland

Naturalisation

175

2005

N Ireland

Naturalisation

310

2006

N Ireland

Naturalisation

250

2007

N Ireland

Naturalisation

485

Total

1220

EU: Flag and Anthem

Lord Pearson of Rannoch asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): The EU flag and anthem have no legal status in UK or EU law.

The EU flag originated on 25 October 1955 when the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly took the unanimous decision to adopt a flag as its emblem. The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers adopted it as the European flag on 8 December 1955.

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In 1985, the European flag was adopted as the official emblem of the then European Communities by the heads of state and government. EU institutions have been using it since 1986.

Similarly, the Council of Europe adopted Beethoven's Ode to Joy as its anthem in 1972. It was adopted by the Heads of State or government of the then European Communities as the official anthem in 1985.

Flags

Lord Tebbit asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): The EU flag has no legal status in UK or EU law.

The EU flag originated on 25 October 1955 when the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly took the unanimous decision to adopt a flag as its emblem. The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers adopted it as the European flag on 8 December 1955. In 1985, the European flag was adopted as the official emblem of the then European Communities by heads of state and government. EU institutions have been using it since 1986.

Immigration: Georgia

Lord Campbell-Savours asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): This information is not available from visa records at our embassy in Tbilisi. However, I am advised that entry clearance staff at the embassy recall three occasions in the past three years when an entry clearance decision has been reviewed and an explanatory statement despatched to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) without a notice of appeal having been received. The AIT is responsible for ensuring that overseas posts receive appeal documents.

Lord Campbell-Savours: asked Her Majesty’s Government:



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Lord West of Spithead: The number of formal complaints received in the past three years about the handling of visa applications at our embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia are as follows:

2005—5;2006—1; and 2007—5.

Lord Campbell-Savours asked Her Majesty's Government:

Lord West of Spithead: The three entry clearance officers at our embassy in Tbilisi were appointed/arrived at post on the following dates:

the deputy head of Mission: 1 September 2007;

the third secretary: 6 March 2006; and

the support officer: 20 August 2007

Lord Campbell-Savours asked Her Majesty's Government:

Lord West of Spithead: I regret that Lord Malloch-Brown's Written Answer of the 4 March (WA1 69) contained a factual error. One of the three entry clearance officers at our embassy in Tbilisi, the third secretary, has in fact been at post for approximately two years not three. Otherwise the information given was correct.

Entry clearance officers and other UK based staff are normally posted to our missions overseas for a period of three years.

Iraq and Iran: Territorial Waters

Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): If two coastal states cannot agree on a boundary between their territorial seas then they may have an option to go to a dispute settlement mechanism, such as the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, or arbitration.



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Race Relations

Lord Ouseley asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): In February this year, the Government made a renewed commitment to build community cohesion, as part of our response to the Commission on Integration and Cohesion's report. Community cohesion is about much more than preventing violence—it is part of building sustainable active and empowered communities. Central to this is the principle that cohesion must be understood and built locally by local authorities and the local partnerships which they lead. Central government's role is to set the national framework within which local authorities and their partners operate. We are working with EHRC in developing our policies and approach. We are providing both funding and support to do this: £50 million over the next three years and a cohesion delivery framework in the summer.

The findings of the MORI poll of just 1,000 people contrast sharply with those of the citizenship survey of 10,000 people. The citizenship survey found that 81 per cent of people feel that individuals from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area and that 83 per cent of people agree that people in their local area respect ethnic differences, an increase from 79 per cent in 2003. In its final report, published in June 2007, the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, also found that cohesion rates only fell below 60 per cent in 10 out of 387 areas in England.

We work routinely with local authorities and the police to assess where local tensions may arise and we encourage local areas to do the same. We will shortly be publishing guidance for local areas on tension monitoring and contingency planning.



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The coverage of immigration and race relations stories by the media is a matter for the relevant regulatory bodies or the courts, not the Government. The Government strongly believe that a press free from state intervention is fundamental to democracy.


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