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Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Department for Transport’s guidelines on flights which may be given dispensations from the night restrictions define VIPs as senior members of the Royal Family, UK Government Ministers and Service Chiefs of Staff, senior members
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Of the seven flights granted dispensations, four were for official overseas visits by the Prime Minister. The other three were granted for flights by the French President, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs and the US Secretary of State on official visits to the UK. In all cases, Heathrow was either the final airport destination or departure point.
Viscount Waverley asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 17 July (WA180-81), what constitutes an emergency in relation to waivers to land at Heathrow Airport before 6 am; and what was the emergency for each of the flights given a waiver to land prior to 6 am in the period January to June 2008. [HL5178]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: An emergency is defined as a flight where there is an immediate danger to life or health, whether human or animal. Such flights are excluded automatically from night restrictions irrespective of the type of aircraft involved.
Viscount Waverley asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 17 July (WA 180-81), what has been the estimated cost to the Exchequer of public officials servicing flights that have been granted a waiver to land at Heathrow Airport prior to 6 am during the period January to June 2008. [HL5179]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: This is part of the normal work of officials so no additional costs arise from the consideration of dispensations requests by the Department for Transport.
Benefits: Disability Living Allowance
Lord Morris of Manchester asked Her Majesty's Government:
What contact the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions had with the chief executive officer of the royal national institute for the blind on 21 July about the eligibility of blind people for the higher rate mobility component of the disability living allowance; and what assurances he gave. [HL5154]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): Over the last two years Ministers, including the Secretary of State, have had discussions with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) about whether there is scope to extend the higher rate mobility component of disability living allowance to more people with severe visual impairments. While we understand the force of the arguments put forward by the RNIB, and support its aim of assisting visually impaired people to return to or remain in work, we cannot agree
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Part of the strategy announced in the Green Paper published on 21 July, No OneWritten Off—Reforming Welfare to Reward Responsibility (Cm 7363), is the proposal to double the Access to Work budget to help greater numbers of disabled people return to and remain in work. Currently, around one in four customers of Access to Work is a person with a visual impairment. The additional funding we are proposing will ensure that more disabled people, including people with a visual impairment, are provided with the opportunity to support themselves and their families through paid work.
Children: UNCRC Observations
Baroness Walmsley asked Her Majesty's Government:
How they plan to disseminate the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child’s concluding observations to (a) children, (b) parents, (c) the children's workforce, and (d) within government; and [HL5094]
How they will ensure information is disseminated on the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's concluding observations to children in institutional settings, including custody; and what steps they will take to ensure information is disseminated in an accessible language and format for disabled children; and [HL5095]
How they plan to engage non-governmental organisations working for children's rights in formulating a response to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's concluding observations; and [HL5096]
How much they have spent on disseminating information about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to (a) children, (b) parents, (c) the children's workforce, and (d) within government, in each of the last five years; and [HL5097]
How much funding they have provided to non-governmental organisations working for children's rights to promote the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, in each of the last five years. [HL5098]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): The UK Government will seek appropriate dialogues with a range of partners and organisations when considering the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child's concluding observations, including children and young people. This process includes a seminar on 29 July 2008 that the Department for Children, Schools and Families is jointly hosting with UNICEF UK and Get Ready for Geneva. The seminar will look at the
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It would be at disproportionate cost to disaggregate the full funding spent on activities related to UNCRC over the past five years. However, in England, funding for events, communications and publications solely on UNCRC in 2006-07 was a total of £107,397, and in 2007-08 it was £61,839. There are a wide range of other participatory activities funded by the Government which will have related to UNCRC, but we are not able to disaggregate these to set out the precise spend on the convention.
In addition, the Government have, through the children, young people and families grant programme, provided £181,000 in 2007-08 and £178,000 in 2008-09 to UNICEF UK for an expansion and independent evaluation of its Rights Respecting Schools Award scheme. A further £162,000 has been awarded to UNICEF UK through the grant for 2009-10. The department also provided the British Institute of Human Rights with £24,912 to expand the “Right Hear, Right Now” key stage 3 human rights teaching resource to include specific lesson plans for understanding and applying the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The resource was formally launched in July 2008.
Funding to key partners in Scotland who undertake activities on UNCRC is as follows:
| Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights | Article 12 in Scotland | Children's Parliament | |
Children's Commissioner
Baroness Morris of Bolton asked Her Majesty's Government:
How they will engage the children’s commissioners in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in formulating their response to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's concluding observations. [HL5082]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): Ministers and officials have a regular dialogue with their respective commissioners on a broad range of issues and this has included formal consultation with the four UK children's commissioners during the preparation of the UK Government's consolidated third and fourth reports to the UN Committee on the
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Economy
Lord Steinberg asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government last published forecasts for the UK and world economies in the Financial Statement and Budget Report 2008 (HC 388) on 12 March. They will update these forecasts in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report in the autumn as normal.
Government: Refurbishment of Buildings
Lord Howarth of Newport asked Her Majesty's Government:
What has been the total public expenditure on (a) procurement of buildings and (b) refurbishment of buildings by central government departments, other public sector bodies, bodies contracted to the public sector and local government in each year since 1997-98; and what are the planned totals for these areas of public expenditure for each of the years covered by the latest Comprehensive Spending Review. [HL5180]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Information on public sector expenditure is not available centrally at this level of detail, so could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
However, total public sector expenditure on fixed assets (net of sales) is published in table 5.3 of Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses, the latest edition of which is available in both the Library of the House and online at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/economic_data_and_tools/finance_spending_statistics/pes_publications/pespub_pesa08.cfm.
Additional detail is available in departmental resource accounts.
Inflation
Lord Steinberg asked Her Majesty’s Government:
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government last published forecasts for inflation in the UK and G7 group of economies in the Financial Statement and BudgetReport 2008 (HC 388). They will update these forecasts in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report in the autumn as normal.
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Justice: Children and Young People
The Earl of Listowel asked Her Majesty's Government:
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): A final report of findings, conclusions and recommendations of the independent review into child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) will be published in autumn 2008. A response to the final report will be published simultaneously or as soon as possible after the final report.
The independent review of CAMHS is investigating how mainstream, universal, targeted and specialist services can play a more effective role in promoting the emotional well-being and mental health of children and young people and their families. The review will look at what practical solutions those developing policy and delivering, managing and commissioning services can use to address current challenges and deliver better outcomes for children and young people with mental health problems, and how these solutions can be monitored.
An interim report of the independent review of CAMHS will be published at the end of July. The main aim of the interim report is to present the key themes that have emerged from the evidence gathered since the launch of the review in December 2007 for comment before final recommendations are made.
Pay Settlements
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass asked Her Majesty’s Government:
How they intend to ensure that low earners such as municipal refuse collectors do not, during the current economic circumstances, have imposed on them low percentage wage settlements in contrast to bonus-earning and high-salaried surgeons. [HL5114]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Government pay policy is that pay awards should reflect the need to recruit, retain and motivate the workforce, be affordable, provide value for money for the taxpayer and be consistent with achievement of the Government’s inflation target. This means that pay awards should be considered on a workforce-by-workforce basis based on the evidence.
Qualifications
Lord Lucas asked Her Majesty's Government:
What data they have on the "reasonable adjustments" made under the arrangements described in paragraph 14 of the criteria for the accreditation of external qualifications, published in 2004. [HL5145]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): Ofqual, the regulator of external qualifications in England, collects data on reasonable adjustments. The data are published annually in the Performance of Awarding Bodies for General Qualifications report, which is available online at http://www.ofqual.gov.uk/476.aspx.
Railways: Rolling Stock
Lord Bradshaw asked Her Majesty's Government:
Why they have not placed orders for 317 of the 1,300 new vehicles promised in the High Level Output Statement, in the light of the fact that most train operating companies are reported as being short of rolling stock to meet current passenger demands. [HL5187]
Lord Bassam of Brighton: In January 2008, the Department for Transport published a Rolling Stock Plan setting out in more detail how additional capacity would be delivered. The plan set out emerging thinking on how 1,300 additional vehicles, whether new or cascaded, might be deployed by the train operators. The plan also noted that, wherever possible, train operators would lead on rolling stock procurement.
Since the summer of last year, train operators have placed orders for 317 new railway carriages.
The department continues to work very closely with train operators to deliver the remaining vehicles.
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