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4 Mar 2009 : Column WA164

International Whaling Commission

Questions

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): No, these suggestions were produced by the chairs of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and the so-called Small Working Group (SWG) on their own initiative. Under the terms of the process agreed by the IWC for considering its future, the meetings and proceedings of the SWG and its subgroups are confidential, and not open to representatives of civil society. Civil society will, however, have an opportunity to comment and question the chairs' suggestions at the intersessional meeting of the IWC which will take place in Rome from 9 to 11 March.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Under the terms of Article VIII of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling, Japan's lethal research takes of minke whales in the Southern Ocean and of minke, Bryde's, sei and sperm whales in the North Pacific are, regrettably, quite legal. Any decision by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to set quotas for North Pacific whale species (whether for highly localised use by the people of coastal communities in Japan who have a tradition of whaling, or for wider commercial use) would require to be framed as amendments to the schedule to the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling, and could be brought into force only by a three-quarter majority vote of those present and voting at a recognised meeting of the IWC. The intersessional IWC meeting which will take place in Rome from 9 to 11 March has no power to make such decisions.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The right of any contracting Government to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to issue special permits and to conduct lethal research whaling is enshrined in Article VIII of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW). The chairs' suggestions do not include any proposal to amend Article VIII. The extent to which current so-called scientific whaling may or may not be curtailed as a result of pursuing any of the options advanced in the chairs' paper will depend on the willingness of those Governments currently pursuing such operations to scale them back voluntarily, in exchange for other possible concessions. There would be no legal recourse for the IWC if such voluntary action were ever discontinued.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: No. Trade matters are within the competence of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and outside that of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: At the intersessional meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Rome in March, the UK delegation will seek to explore whether any of the options suggested by the chairs in their paper could possibly be viable, viability being considered against the requirements that they are achievable and would guarantee in the long term a significant reduction in the number of whales hunted and killed. At the annual meeting in Madeira, the UK would not support the adoption of any measure which it considered prejudicial to the conservation of whales.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft



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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Save through an amendment to Article VIII of the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling (which would probably require the convening of a formal diplomatic conference to adopt it and subsequent ratification by all parties to bring it into effect), the International Whaling Commission has no power to alter the legal status of whaling under special permit. The UK could agree to the legalisation of other forms of whaling only if it was convinced that by doing so it would bring about a significant improvement of whale conservation in the long term.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The options included in the chairs' suggestions on the future of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) are not sufficiently clear to enable a definitive evaluation of them to be made. At the intersessional meeting of the IWC, the UK will seek to probe their meaning and determine whether there is any likelihood that they could subsequently be framed as amendments to the schedule to the International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling which could command support. In so far as options are worked up into amendments (which will not be up for consideration until the annual meeting of the IWC in June), the UK will certainly urge those EU member states which are also members of the IWC to oppose and vote against any measures, the adoption of which would not guarantee a significant improvement in the conservation status of whales in the long term.

NHS: Cleanliness

Question

Asked by Baroness Tonge

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Standards of cleanliness in the National Health Service are measured against The National Specifications for Cleanliness in the NHS: AFramework for Setting and Measuring Performance Outcomes, first published in 2001 (a copy of which has already been placed in the Library) and the Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) annual inspection programme introduced in 2000. This latter programme includes an assessment of ward kitchens. The Healthcare Commission monitors cleanliness by means of its national in-patient surveys and annual

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health check. It also carries out specialist inspections against the Health Act 2006 code of practice which include an assessment of cleanliness. By all these measures, hospital cleanliness has improved in every year since measurements began in 2000.

No specific assessment has been made of the relative standards of cleanliness as detailed in the question. Production kitchens will be the subject of separate requirements under local environmental provisions.

NHS: Infected Linen

Questions

Asked by Baroness Tonge

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The document Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 01-04 The Management of Used and Infected Linen in the Healthcare Sector does not currently exist and therefore there is no revision taking place. The current guidance associated with this area is HSG (95) 18—Hospital Laundry Arrangements for Used and Infected Linen.

The department is currently producing HTM 01-04: Decontamination of Laundry and Infected Linen (working title) as part of the suite of HTM documents that provide guidance on decontamination in the healthcare sector. HTM 01-04 is intended to provide a replacement for HSG (95) 18—Hospital Laundry Arrangements for Used and Infected Linen and provide a more complete guidance package on uniform and laundry decontamination to assist with the reduction of risks associated with healthcare-associated infections.

HTM 01-04 is being produced with the assistance of a wide cross-section of stakeholders who have been engaged in a formal steering group with departmental officials and the technical authors for the document.

The steering group is actively involved in contributing evidence and in the review of the draft guidance material. The steering group membership includes a broad range of industry representatives including, among others, the Textile Services Association and Sunlight Services Group as representatives of industry.

The approach and structure used within this guidance has been changed following consultation with the steering group members. The changes are intended to ensure that the guidance is equally usable and useful

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for both large and small laundry service providers. Improvements have also been made to aspects of the guidance concerned with laundry sorting and management at hospital ward level.

The department has commissioned additional research on the removal of Clostridium difficile spores from laundry. The results of this research will, if necessary, shape aspects of the guidance.

Department practice requires that the draft guidance be subject to peer review before final publication can take place. The department intends to publish HTM 01-04, subject to a successful peer review, during the autumn of 2009.

NHS: Nurses

Question

Asked by Baroness Tonge

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): It is the responsibility of each National Health Service trust to develop and maintain its own policies in relation to the provision of changing facilities for staff. A trust's chief executive has the responsibility for ensuring that nurses have enough suitable clothing and equipment to carry out their work effectively and to make any other supporting arrangements that may be necessary.

In order to support and advise trusts in the review and maintenance of such local policies, the department's Working Group on Uniforms and Laundry put together an evidence base on the wearing and laundering of uniforms outlining the existing legal requirements and current research findings. This document, Uniforms and Workwear: Evidence Base for Developing Local Policy, was published in September 2007 and a copy has already been placed in the Library. Copies can also be obtained via the department's website at www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH078433.

Petitions

Questions

Asked by Lord Greaves

The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Adonis): The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.



4 Mar 2009 : Column WA169

Asked by Lord Greaves

Lord Adonis: All petitions are received by the department's staff and brought to the attention of the responsible Minister. There is no formal process to respond to petitions.

Public Bodies

Questions

Asked by Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay

Lord Patel of Bradford: This information is not held centrally. The annual public bodies report provides information on the number of women serving on the boards of non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), NHS bodies and national public corporations. This information is broken down by department. The Commissioner for Public Appointments's annual report provides information on the total number of women appointed and reappointed to the boards of executive NDPBs during the financial year. Copies of Public Bodies and of the commissioner's annual reports are available from the Libraries of the House. A copy of the commissioner's latest annual report is available from her website at www.publicappointments commissioner.org.

Questions for Written Answer: Unanswered Questions

Question

Asked by Lord Tebbit

The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon): A response was sent to Lord Corbett of Castle Vale on 3 March 2009 (Official Report, col. WA141) by my right honourable friend Baroness Taylor of Bolton, and to Lord Hylton on 11 February 2009 (Official Report, col. WA 196) by my right honourable friend Lord Davies of Oldham.

Railways: North-west

Question

Asked by Lord Greaves

The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Lord Adonis): Department for Transport officials have had a meeting with Blackburn with Darwen Council, Lancashire County Council, Burnley Borough Council and Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) to explain the process for taking the project forward. A further meeting is to take place in mid-March, along with Network Rail, and officials will attend future meetings as necessary when requested by the promoters.

It would be for Lancashire County Council and Burnley Borough Council to act as promoters for this project as a new service would primarily benefit their area.

The new service would run to Manchester via Rochdale and these places are within the GMPTE area, but outside the Pennine Lancashire area.

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