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Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is a non-departmental public body working independently of Government and Ministers, within the statutory framework set out in Section 69 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. It is therefore appropriate that questions about the operation of the commission, including its provision of advice, are asked directly of the commission, and not through Ministers.

An arrangement has been made with the Chief Constable that questions that concern police operational matters should be forwarded directly to the PSNI by the Northern Ireland Office. This reflects the Chief Constable’s operational responsibility for policing matters within a policy framework set by the Government and the policing board.

Olympic Games 2012: Transport

Question

Asked by Lord Berkeley



18 Dec 2008 : Column WA75

The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Adonis): No decisions have yet been taken on which sections of the Olympic route network will have Olympic lanes.

Parliamentary ICT

Questions

Asked by Lord Marlesford

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): In this House, PICT would discuss any such request from the police with Black Rod, who would in turn consult the appropriate authorities. For requests concerning staff of the House of Lords, PICT would consult Black Rod.

Asked by Lord Marlesford

The Chairman of Committees: There have been two occasions when Parliamentary Police and Security have been asked to examine the internet records of a member of staff of the House: in November 2006 and June 2007. This was done with the approval and at the request of Blacks Rod's Office and the Head of Human Resources. No requests have been made concerning Members of the House.

Asked by Lord Marlesford

The Chairman of Committees: A number of trusted third parties are given access to the ICT system as part of their maintenance and support responsibilities. They are subject to confidentiality clauses in their contracts. No third party has been given access to systems for investigatory purposes. Security specialists are asked to examine the perimeter defences of the network from time to time as part of security audits.

Pensions

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): The latest available information on the estimated number of active members in occupational pension schemes is set out in the table below.

Numbers of active members of occupational pension schemes, by type of scheme and sector, for the year 2007 in UK

Public sector

Defined benefit schemes (millions)

5.2

Private sector

Defined benefit schemes (millions)

2.7

Private sector

Defined contribution schemes (millions)

0.9

In addition in 2007-08, there were 8.9 million members of personal and stakeholder pensions.

Total number of members of personal and stakeholder pensions for the year 2007-08 in UK

Personal pensions (millions)

7.1

Stakeholder pensions (millions)

1.8

Total (millions)

8.9

Note that an individual may be an active member of a number of different pension schemes simultaneously.

No assessment of the disparity in members' benefits between scheme types is available. The benefits a member receives are dependent on the individual scheme design, contribution level and investment performance. In the case of defined benefit schemes, it also depends on earnings and how long members stay in the scheme. Benefits therefore vary greatly between schemes of the same type. As a result, it is not appropriate to compare the disparity of benefits between scheme types.

Planning

Question

Asked by Lord Taylor of Holbeach



18 Dec 2008 : Column WA77

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The time taken to process the seven appeals mentioned in my previous reply has been due to a number of reasons. For two of the appeals, those relating to Smalldale Head Quarry and Pole Hole Quarry, the principal reason for delay was the need for appropriate EIA regulations to be in place. For the remaining five appeals, various other reasons, such as reviews under the Habitats Regulations, were more important factors.

The requirements of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) directive were first applied to the review of mineral planning permissions by regulations that came into effect on 15 November 2000. A voluntary procedure was put into place for those applications and appeals that were not caught by the 2000 regulations. In most cases mineral operators co-operated and new conditions were determined.

However, it eventually became apparent that in a small number of cases applications were being stalled because operators would not provide mineral planning authorities with the necessary environmental information. At the end of 2004 possible solutions to this problem were explored; and at the beginning of 2006 I agreed to enact a set of regulations that would apply the requirements of the EIA directive to outstanding applications and appeals not caught by the 2000 regulations.

The proposed regulations were subjected to wide and thorough consultation and careful legal scrutiny. In the event, appropriate and workable regulations proved to be very complex to draft, and despite the best efforts of all concerned it was not possible to enact them before July 2008.

Planning Infrastructure Commission

Question

Asked by Lord Hanningfield

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The impact assessment for the Planning Bill published in November 2007 estimated that the average annual cost of the Infrastructure Planning Commission will be about £9.3 million per annum. The salaries of the administrative staff were estimated to cost about £3.1 million per annum.

Police: Traffic Patrols

Question

Asked by Lord Dear



18 Dec 2008 : Column WA78

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The national roads policing strategy, agreed between the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Home Office and the Department for Transport, includes enhancing public confidence and reassurance by patrolling the roads as one of its five main focuses. Implementation of the strategy is a commitment in the National Community Safety Plan 2008-11 and Ministers regularly emphasise the importance of effective roads policing in correspondence, speeches and meetings with the police. Deployment of resources remains an operational matter for individual chief officers.

Prisoners: Compensation

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The agency has recovered amounts from the (NIPS) on 17 occasions in the last five years.

The Compensation Agency is automatically advised of any compensation claim received by the Northern Ireland Prison Service from a prisoner or ex-prisoner. Where the agency has paid compensation to the prisoner’s victim, the agency recovers this from the compensation that would otherwise be paid to the prisoner or ex-prisoner. Legal proceedings are not required to effect this recovery.

Prisoners: Transfers

Question

Asked by Lord Howie of Troon

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): I am afraid that I am unable to identify the project to which the noble Lord refers. If the noble Lord would care to write to me with further details I will provide him with a written reply.



18 Dec 2008 : Column WA79

Revenue and Customs: Staff

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Lord Davies of Oldham: HM Revenue and Customs was created on 18 April 2005. The first staff-in-post figures for the merged department were produced for midnight on 30 April 2005 when the numbers were 104,696 headcount (97,046 full-time equivalent).

The staff-in-post figures for HMRC on 30 November/1 December 2008 were 89,682 headcount (82,062 FTE.) The difference was, therefore, 15,014 headcount (14,984 FTE) less than directly after the merger.

The number of permanent staff recruited is published in Civil Service Staffing Statistics. The figures show 6,070 in 2005-06 and 1,370 in 2006-07. Internal departmental equivalent figures show 2,115 in 2007-08 and 4,319 in 2008-09 to date.

HMRC does not keep records on the basis of posts and the number of posts abolished is therefore unavailable.

Scotland: Public Money

Question

Asked by Lord Jopling

Lord Davies of Oldham: The noble Lord's Question again seeks to compare two unrelated matters: the population of Scotland; and the support made available to two banks which operate throughout the United Kingdom and in many other countries.

Figures on the Scottish population are published by the Office for National Statistics.

In the past month the Treasury invested £19.97 billion in RBS on 1 December, under the Government's recapitalisation scheme. No money was invested in HBOS in the past month.

Both banks were named among the eight initial eligible institutions for the credit guarantee scheme. The allocations for individual banks under the scheme are confidential.



18 Dec 2008 : Column WA80

Taxation

Question

Asked by Lord Campbell-Savours

Lord Davies of Oldham: In March 2008 HMRC released details of some analysis from 2005 that attempted to derive estimates of the direct tax gap at the start of the decade—see www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/direct-tax-gaps.pdf. This included a very broad-brush estimate of the tax gap associated with the use of offshore accounts. For conditions in 2002-03, the annual loss of tax through evasion using offshore accounts was estimated to be between £80 million and £140 million for the Isle of Man and between £60 million and £90 million for Guernsey.


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