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12 Mar 2009 : Column WA265
Written Answers
Thursday 12 March 2009
Afghanistan
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government following the comments of the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, on 2 March that the military war in Afghanistan cannot be won, what assessment they have made of the likelihood of success in that campaign; and what assessment they have made of the likelihood of failure resulting in Al Qaeda re-establishing training camps there. [HL1923]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): Enduring success in Afghanistan cannot be achieved by military means alone. This is why the international community is working with the democratically elected Afghan Government to deliver the security, governance and development necessary to suppress the insurgency and ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a haven for international terrorists.
The reality is that we are making progress but it will take time and patience to achieve our objectives.
Afghanistan: Military Equipment
Questions
Asked by Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Answers by Lord Tunnicliffe on 11 February (Official Report, House of Lords, cols. 114—15) on the funding of military equipment intended for Afghanistan, whether the net costs of operations are met from the contingency reserve. [HL1912]
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Answers by Lord Tunnicliffe on 11 February (Official Report, House of Lords, cols. 114—15) on the funding of military equipment intended for Afghanistan, what is their definition of the net costs of the war being met from the reserves. [HL1913]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): The Ministry of Defence claims from the reserve the net additional costs of military operations which it incurs. The costs that the department would have incurred regardless of the operation taking place, such as salaries, are not included. Net figures can also take account of savings from activities that have not occurred because of the operation such as the cancellation of a training exercise.
Asked by Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Answers by Lord Tunnicliffe on 11 February (Official Report, House of Lords, cols. 114—15) on the funding
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To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Answers by Lord Tunnicliffe on 11 February (Official Report, House of Lords, cols. 114—15) on the funding of military equipment intended for Afghanistan, whether, when the use of helicopters, aircraft and military vehicles is increased as a result of conflict, they will consider using the contingency reserve to meet the cost of replacing such equipment; and whether they do so at present. [HL1915]
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: While on current operations, all equipment costs that result from a level of activity that is higher than that programmed in the core budget are funded by the reserve.
Asked by Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Answers by Lord Tunnicliffe on 11 February (Official Report, House of Lords, cols. 114—15) on the funding of military equipment intended for Afghanistan, whether they provide the armed forces with the necessary equipment to successfully fulfil their mission in Afghanistan. [HL1916]
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: We have an impressive, well-equipped force in Afghanistan. The quality and versatility of the equipment we issue to our troops is far higher than it has ever been and we are continually working to improve it.
Asked by Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether military equipment intended for Afghanistan is insured; and, if so, whether the cost of insuring such equipment is borne by them or the contractors or by anyone else. [HL1935]
Baroness Taylor of Bolton: Military equipment intended for Afghanistan is not insured by the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Defence, like other government departments, does not purchase commercial insurance, but instead covers its own liabilities from current expenditure. However, the standard policy for any military materiel being carried by civilian contractor to an operational theatre is that the Ministry of Defence requires the contractor to take out insurance against loss, and in these circumstances the contractor would be responsible for the financial loss. For stages of the journey where the contractor finds that the risks are uninsurable, the financial loss would be recovered from the contingency fund.
Armed Forces: Defence Deficit
Questions
Asked by Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they propose to reduce the “defence deficit” of up to £20 billion identified in a recent report by the UK National Defence Association. [HL1937]
12 Mar 2009 : Column WA267
To ask Her Majesty's Government what additional resources they propose to allocate to provide Her Majesty's Armed Forces with all the necessary up-to-date equipment. [HL1938]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton):The Comprehensive Spending Review announced in July 2007 gave the MoD an average annual increase, in real terms, of 1.5 per cent for the period of the settlement. We undertake routine planning rounds that allocate resources in line with defence priorities and the defence budget, including equipping people on, and training for, operations but also ensuring that we provide the necessary core capabilities for our forces over the longer term.
Outside the core defence budget, the costs of urgent operational requirements (UORs) are met by the reserve. More than £4.2 billion has been approved on emerging UORs for Iraq and Afghanistan since operations began. Furthermore, the Secretary of State for Defence announced on 29 October 2008 more than £700 million for an extra 700 vehicles, including a protected mobility package, further to improve the safety and protection of our troops on operations in Afghanistan. As well as the protected mobility package, we have also agreed with the Treasury an estimate of a further £635 million in 2009-10 for other UORs.
Climate Change: Population
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 12 February (WA 220) concerning population control, why the answer referred to an online site instead of including the information in the Official Report; and, in what circumstances they answer in that way. [HL1826]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Department for International Development's paper on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights is 25 pages and we have checked with Hansard and it has confirmed that it is too long to appear in the Official Report. It can be accessed at www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/sexualreprohealthrights.pdf.
Drugs: Cocaine
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they will implement following the assassination of Guinea-Bissau's President Vieira to seek to prevent that country from acting as a transit route for cocaine from Colombia to the United Kingdom. [HL1924]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Government are monitoring the situation in Guinea-Bissau. It is too early to judge whether the assassination of President Vieira will make any difference to the already established position of Guinea-Bissau and other West African countries as transit points for cocaine trafficking to Europe.
The Government will seek to continue the close bilateral engagement to which they are already committed with the Government of Guinea Bissau on combating drug trafficking.
They will also continue to pursue energetically with European Union partners the commitments made in the conclusions of the Justice and Home Affairs Council of 27 November 2008 ref 15936/08.
Energy: Carbon Emissions
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the relative contribution of carbon emissions reductions, mitigation and coping measures, and geo-engineering projects in tackling the potential and actual effects of global warming. [HL1012]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The UK supports the EU's view that to avoid potentially dangerous climate change, greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced globally by more than 50 per cent by 2050 in order to limit the rise in global average temperature to 2°C. Some climate change is nevertheless unavoidable, partly due to previous emissions, and so adaptation will also be needed to address this. These two responses to climate change are complementary and are widely accepted as necessary by the scientific community as indicated, for example, in the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Geo-engineering projects, in which the climate system would be manipulated to counter warming from greenhouse gases, have been proposed as alternative responses to climate change. However, such approaches are rather speculative and unproven. They may not achieve what they intend and would not tackle the causes of climate change. They may also carry significant environmental risks and suffer from disadvantages such as high cost, limited practicality, unproven technologies and lack of political acceptability. Geo-engineering approaches are thus not seen at present as a viable alternative to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is important, however, to keep such options under review as some might ultimately have a role to play in helping to ameliorate climate change, particularly if emissions reductions are not achieved quickly enough or climate change turns out to be worse than projected.
12 Mar 2009 : Column WA269
Energy: Cooking Oils
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they will take to ensure that used cooking oils are classed as a fuel product. [HL1446]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Government have made funding available to enable the Environment Agency to develop an end-of-waste protocol for waste cooking oils. Waste cooking oil which is treated to the standards set out in the protocol is accepted by the agency to have been fully recovered and to have ceased to be waste. The protocol applies to the production of biodiesel for use in automotive engines.
The question of whether waste cooking oil has been fully recovered so that it ceases to be waste before it is used as fuel in other circumstances is one that must be determined on the facts of each case and taking into account relevant case law on the definition of waste. In England and Wales, it rests with the Environment Agency to take decisions on the classification of substances as waste.
Energy: Electricity Storage
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current state of United Kingdom electricity storage; and what effect the recent spell of bad weather had on such storage. [HL1526]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The UK has no electricity storage facilities. The UK does have hydro-electricity generators that utilise pumped storage (whereby water is pumped to an upper reservoir at periods of low demand to be released to generate electricity at periods of high demand). Pumped storage generation therefore offers a critical short-term back-up facility during periods of intense demand on the national grid system.
We are not aware that the recent spell of bad weather has had any appreciable effect on pumped storage.
Energy: Nuclear Power
Question
Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the national planning policy statement on nuclear power will be delayed until 2010; and, if so, why. [HL1394]
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The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): It remains our intention to consult on a draft nuclear national policy statement later this year, but this process and parliamentary scrutiny means it will not be designated until 2010.
Energy: Nuclear Power Stations
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the earliest date by which it is likely that a new nuclear power station will have been built in the United Kingdom. [HL1244]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): We are making progress on our facilitative actions with the estimate of having new nuclear power stations generating electricity from around 2018.
Energy: Offshore Drilling
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have for offshore drilling off the coast of north-west England. [HL1873]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The exploitation of the UK's oil and gas resource, including drilling, is carried out by companies under licences issued by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change under the Petroleum Act 1998. Drilling and other specific activities are subject to a further requirement for individual consent. Her Majesty's Government do not carry out any such drilling.
Thirty production licences presently cover areas in the Irish Sea. P099, P153, P251, P261, P287, P543, P547, P706, P710, P791, P865, P1032, P1033, P1475, P1476, P1477, P1478, P1479, P1480, P1481, P1482, P1483, P1545, P1546, P1547, P1548, P1549, P1550, P1551 and P1568.
Currently there are no production licences in respect of any area adjacent to the coast of Northern Ireland.
A map showing all current UK production licences can be viewed on my department's oil and gas website at www.og.berr.gov.uk/information/bb_updates/maps/Infrast_Off.pdf.
All exploration licences permit exploration (but not including deep drilling) anywhere on the UK continental shelf and in the UK's territorial waters, outside those areas covered by production licences at the time.
12 Mar 2009 : Column WA271
Energy: Oil and Gas
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what licences are valid for the exploration for oil and gas around the coast of Northern Ireland and the Irish Sea. [HL1851]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The exploitation of the UK's oil and gas resource, including drilling, is carried out by companies under licences issued by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change under the Petroleum Act 1998. Drilling and other specific activities are subject to a further requirement for individual consent. Her Majesty's Government do not carry out any such drilling.
Thirty production licences presently cover areas in the Irish Sea. P099, P153, P251, P261, P287, P543, P547, P706, P710, P791, P865, P1032, P1033, P1475, P1476, P1477, P1478, P1479, P1480, P1481, P1482, P1483, P1545, P1546, P1547, P1548, P1549, P1550, P1551 and P1568.
Currently there are no production licences in respect of any area adjacent to the coast of Northern Ireland.
A map showing all current UK production licences can be viewed on my department's oil and gas website at www.og.berr.gov.uk/information/bb_updates/maps/Infrast_Off.pdf.
All exploration licences permit exploration (but not including deep drilling) anywhere on the UK continental shelf and in the UK's territorial waters, outside those areas covered by production licences at the time.
Energy: Wind Farms
Question
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