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Question

Asked by Baroness Hanham

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The situation in Calais has been the subject of discussion between Ministers at several bilateral meetings. There is also regular contact between officials on the provision of services to illegal migrants in northern France. The opening and administration of shelters remains a matter for the French authorities. Alongside the French authorities, we remain firmly opposed to any accommodation centre that would attract illegal immigrants and the traffickers who prey on them.

Immigration: Heathrow Airport

Question

Asked by Baroness Hanham

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The IMB annual report highlighted 11 main issues of concern about the management and operation of the short-term holding facilities at Heathrow Airport. All of these issues have been addressed or are in the process of being so by the UK Border Agency or Group Four Securicor (G4S), who manage the facilities under contract to the agency.

23 Feb 2009 : Column WA20

Outstanding issues will be addressed by the opening in spring 2009 of the new facility at Heathrow Airport to replace Queen's Building.

The IMB is kept informed of actions taken through regular meetings with the agency’s detention services directorate.

Joint Economic Commission

Question

Asked by Lord Greaves

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The Joint Economic Commission (JEC) is set up on a time limited basis to meet as often as required to:

assess and monitor the performance of the NW economy;agree actions to address the challenges facing the region and to ensure that the north-west economy emerges from the current downturn stronger than before; andenable the regional Minister to ensure that decisions of the National Economic Council (NEC) can be implemented and that information on impacts in the NW can be fed back to the NEC.

It is jointly chaired by the regional Minister, the right honourable Beverley Hughes MP and the chair of the NWDA, Bryan Gray. Membership comprises representation from:

Government Office for the North West;

4NW;

Voluntary Sector North West;

NW Learning and Skills Council;

Homes and Communities Agency;

NHS NW;

Job Centre Plus NW;

Highways Agency;

NW TUC;

North West Business Leadership Team;

NW Confederation of British Industry;

Private Sector Partners;

Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce;

Federation of Small Businesses;

Environment Agency; and

NWUA.

Members were appointed from key regional stakeholders to ensure that public, private and third sectors were all represented.

The secretariat is provided jointly by Government Office North West and the North West Development

23 Feb 2009 : Column WA21

Agency. There is no budget attached to the commission. Member organisations cover the costs of agreed actions and the Government Office for the North West covers costs attached to the meetings.

Local Authorities: London Snowfall

Question

Asked by Lord Smith of Leigh

The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Adonis): It is for the Mayor of London to review the performance of Transport for London during the recent snowfall and to look at its relationship with London's boroughs over their response to clearing the road network of snow. Beyond this the London Regional Resilience Forum, on which the Mayor is the deputy chair, will be considering the extent to which lessons can be learnt from the response to the recent snow in London.

Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill [HL]

Question

Asked by Baroness Hamwee

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): A team of four policy officials and two lawyers worked full-time preparing the Bill from July 2008 until introduction in December. The cost of this team for this period is estimated at £108,000. In addition, a significant number of officials have been involved on a range of policy issues, including specialists as part of their regular job functions. Cost estimates for their time are not estimated or collected.

Local Involvement Networks

Question

Asked by Baroness Gould of Potternewton

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Local involvement networks (LINks) have been established to seek and capture the views and experiences of all

23 Feb 2009 : Column WA22

members of the community about their local health and social care services. There is no single way in which LINks go about this; they need to employ a variety of methods to allow as many different people as possible to get involved and have their say in ways that suit them. The Government have, however, emphasised to LINks the importance of actively engaging with people who have traditionally felt excluded and/or have found it difficult to make their voice heard.

Ministry of Defence: Sale of Accommodation

Question

Asked by Lord Wallace of Saltaire

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): The Ministry of Defence plans to vacate the old War Office building by the end of 2010, and for it to become fully surplus to requirements by 2013. Options for the building's future are currently being developed, and will include potential commercial sale and public sector re-use.

NHS: Patient Records

Question

Asked by Lord Steinberg

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): £2.3 billion was the budget agreed under the Comprehensive Spending Review for the first three years of a programme that was always expected to take at least 10 years to deliver in full. In its latest report on the programme, published on 16 May 2008, the National Audit Office made it clear that there have been no cost increases on the original contracts and that the increase in the eventual total cost from an estimated £12.4 billion in 2006 to £12.7 billions in 2008 was attributable to the procurement of additional systems and services. Of this total, some £3.5 billion has been spent to date, as suppliers are paid only when systems have been successfully deployed and are working satisfactorily.

NHS: Revenue Allocations

Questions

Asked by Lord Taylor of Holbeach

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The Written Statement on 26 January (WS 2-5) included revised weighted capitation target figures per weighted head for primary care trusts (PCTs). The revision was required because of an administrative error in the preparation of the Answer to a Parliamentary Question on 12 January (Official Report, col. 178W). It was not due to the completion of the review of the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation. PCT allocations for 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011 based on the new weighted capitation formula recommended by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation were announced on 8 December (WS 34-44).

The weighted capitation formula determines PCTs' target allocations based on the weighted needs of each PCT'S population. Weighted needs reflect the need for healthcare due to age and additional need over and above that due to age. The measure weighted capitation target per weighted head gives a very similar figure for each PCT to the average for England. This is because each PCT's weighted need is included in both their weighted target and weighted population. The alternative measure of weighted capitation target per unweighted head gives a wider range across PCTs, reflecting PCTs' populations' relative needs for healthcare services.

North West Regional Strategy

Question

Asked by Lord Greaves

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The Regional Strategy (RS2010) branding, RS 2010 logo and RS2010 guidelines were produced in-house by NWDA marketing staff. All costs for producing this piece of work came from within existing staff budgets (no additional staff were employed for this work).

No part of this work was commissioned elsewhere and therefore no extra costs were incurred internally or externally to produce the 2010 logo, branding or guidance.



23 Feb 2009 : Column WA24

Northern Ireland Office: Events

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Shaun Woodward) regularly attends a wide range of private and public events and meetings in Northern Ireland consistent with the role of Secretary of State following devolution.

Northern Ireland Parades Commission

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: I refer the noble Lord to the Answer I gave on 29 January 2009 (Official Report, col. WA 78), which makes clear that, where questions are of an operational nature, noble Lords will be referred to the public body concerned.

Palace of Westminster: Post

Question

Asked by Lord Norton of Louth

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): In total, 4,135,144 items of post were received by the Houses of Parliament in 2008. The House of Lords received an estimated 15 per cent of this number, or approximately 620,271 items. These figures do not include parcels, courier items or internal mail.

Places of Religious Worship

Questions

Asked by Baroness Warsi



23 Feb 2009 : Column WA25

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): There are currently 24,883 places of meeting for religious worship which have been registered by the Registrar General for the solemnisation of marriages under Section 41 of the Marriage Act 1949. This number is broken down by denomination as follows:

Roman Catholic

3291

Methodist

6265

Congregationalist

1240

Baptist

3060

United Reformed Church

1566

Calvinistic Methodist

1052

Brethren

737

Salvation Army

721

Unitarian

159

Jehovah's Witnesses

832

Other Christian bodies

4348

Muslim

186

Sikh

163

Other

1263

“Other Christian bodies” includes those who describe themselves as Christian but do not designate themselves further. Examples of “Other” include Assemblies of God, Latter Day Saints, Seventh Day Adventist, Greek Orthodox and Pentecostal.

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