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Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether interception-based advertising that uses deep packet inspection is consistent with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. [HL2155]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The noble Baroness is referring to a form of targeted online advertising that uses this technology to deliver advertisements based upon the online behaviours of customers. It is not at all clear that targeted online advertising is interception, and if indeed it is interception, whether it is a breach of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). It may also be relevant to note that communications companies are able to intercept communications as a function of conducting their business. They might do this to stop unwanted email messages or potentially harmful viruses that would otherwise cripple our communications networks.
The Government provided for the offence of unlawful interception within RIPA and I am informed the Crown Prosecution Service is looking at one particular use of this technology and has yet to conclude whether or not there is a case to answer.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the Simmonds/Ferozuddin report Support to the Health Sector in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, dated 30 December 2008. [HL2343]
Lord Tunnicliffe: The report's recommendations and options are currently being considered by the UK provincial reconstruction team in Helmand.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they will give to the Environment Agency to increase the number of farmers attending the agency's courses on reducing soil pollution and salvaging contaminated land. [HL2596]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The Environment Agency does not have any specific courses on contaminated land and soil pollution for farmers.
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To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (a) anti-social behaviour orders, and (b) cautions, have been issued for behaviour on public transport, at bus shelters and in railway stations in each of the last five years; and how many of the anti-social behaviour orders included bans from those places. [HL2609]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Centrally collected information on anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued does not identify the specific location in which the behaviour took place. The prohibitions contained in an ASBO may specify a particular area or place where the defendant is forbidden to enter, but this information is not centrally collected. Data held by the Ministry of Justice on cautions do not identify the location of the offending behaviour resulting in the issuing of a caution, beyond the description provided in the statute under which the caution was issued.
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they classify the Army's manning and training margin and service children's education as administration costs. [HL1735]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): The MoDs cost of defence taxonomy comprises five high-level categories: force elements, equipment capability, estate and information systems, recruitment and training and administration costs. The Army manning and training margin (which comprises the costs of personnel who are performing individual training, or who are recuperating from operations, or are on statutory leave) and service childrens education are unique categories of expenditure which do not readily correspond to the main defence outputs in the cost of defence taxonomy. They therefore appear under the heading of administration costs. The department is continuing to develop the taxonomy so that it better reflects the totality of defence business.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many HM Court Service warrants more than 180 days old had not been returned to the courts by the bailiffs concerned, at the latest date for which the data are available. [HL2511]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): The private bailiff companies who are contracted to execute warrants on behalf of Her Majesty's Court Service currently hold 23,349 warrants which are over the 180-day execution period. These warrants are being held with the authorisation of the courts for the following reasons:
the private bailiff company can demonstrate sufficient evidence to show that they will be able to execute the warrant after the 180-day period;a payment plan has been agreed between the defaulter and the private bailiff company but full payment will only be received after the 180-day period;the warrant has been cancelled by the court but remains on the private bailiff company records awaiting the scheduled return time to the court; andthe private bailiff company is undertaking specific targeted operations to gather additional information on the warrant which could assist the court with further enforcement.To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend that all bailiffs should be certificated. [HL2512]
Lord Bach: The intention is that all bailiffs, with the exception of Crown employees, should be regulated not certificated. The Governments preferred option for this regulation is by way of Security Industry Authority (SIA) licence. The extended and enhanced certification process, contained in the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, will only be implemented if there is a significant time delay in the introduction of regulation by the SIA.
The interim measures announcement in the Written Ministerial Statement on 17 March 2009 will allow for tightening and improvement to the current court certification process and allow for more ready access to it. However, the requirement to undertake the certification process to act as a bailiff will not be extended. This will be a matter for full regulation.
To ask Her Majesty's Government with respect to Clause 46 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill (a) what steps they are taking to address the concerns of the Government of the Isle of Man; (b) whether it is their view that British citizens who are Manx should be subject to the same controls as citizens of the Republic of Ireland; and (c) whether the Isle of Man was included in the public consultation that took place on the Common Travel Area; and, if not, for what reason. [HL2044]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): We have made it clear that there will be no routine immigration controls on passengers travelling between the Crown dependencies and the United Kingdom, nor will we require passengers
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This differs from our intentions for air and sea routes between the Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom, where we propose to adopt more routine intelligence-led immigration controls and where passengers travelling on these routes will be required to carry a passport or national identity card.
Immigration controls on routes between the Crown dependencies and the UK (including the routes between the Isle of Man and the UK) were not included in the 24 July consultation paper or the accompanying partial impact assessment and there has been no specific public consultation on this regarding the Crown dependencies because we do not intend any significant change of practice on these routes.
There are regular working-level contacts with the insular immigration services and they have been involved throughout the policy development process. The draft legislation was passed to the Crown dependencies more formally, through the Ministry of Justice, in December 2008.
Further discussions with the Crown dependencies have resulted in an agreement with the Isle of Man to work towards a Memorandum of Understanding on the issue of Common Travel Area reform which will clearly set out the policy intentions of the United Kingdom in respect of this route and that the status of British citizens who are Manx will not be compromised.
We will continue to work closely with the Government of the Isle of Man as we progress with our reform of the Common Travel Area.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will calculate the premiums payable by the banks under the recently announced scheme by which the Government will guarantee loans made to companies with annual turnovers of less than £500 million. [HL932]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform & Cabinet Office (Baroness Vadera): The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is using a number of established risk-pricing methodologies developed and approved by ECGD and KPMG to calculate the premia payable by banks participating in the working capital scheme announced by the noble friend the Secretary of State on 14 January 2009.
Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the report Children talking to ChildLine about suicide, published by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which shows that the number of children calling ChildLine who are suicidal has tripled in the past five years. [HL2486]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness Morgan of Drefelin): We must all do everything possible to help the most vulnerable children in society, including those who feel suicidal, and to ensure that they receive the support they need. That is why the Government are investing £30 million to expand significantly the NSPCC's Helpline services. This will mean that more children can be given expert advice and counselling.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their purchasing of chocolate products favours those with Fairtrade certification; and whether they will encourage British cocoa manufacturers to follow the example of Cadbury plc by paying guaranteed minimum prices to cocoa producers. [HL2431]
Lord Tunnicliffe: The UK Government encourage their catering suppliers to offer products carrying Fairtrade or other ethical labels. The Department for International Development (DfID) and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) have developed guidance on fair trade in public procurement. The new guidance aims to maximise the use of fair trade and other ethically labelled products by government departments within strict EU procurement rules. The guidance is available on the OGC website at www.ogc.gov.uk/.
The UK Government welcome Cadbury's recent decision to move to Fairtrade certification for its Cadbury's Dairy Milk product. We hope that this will set a new standard for the chocolate industry. When appropriate opportunities arise we will encourage other companies to deepen their commitment to development including more widespread application of Fairtrade certification.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have forecast the effect of climate change on the centre of London over the next 50 years; and, if so, whether they will publish the findings. [HL2456]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): HM Government have funded development of the UK climate projections, which, based on the latest climate science, will provide data on what the future climate of the UK will look like up to 2099. The UK climate projections will provide information on a number of climatic variables, such as temperature, sea level rise and rainfall, at a resolution of 25km. They will therefore take account of regional variability and cover individual regions such as London. The UK climate projections are an update of the previous UKCIP02 climate scenarios.
We are aiming to launch the UK climate projections in early summer, when Parliament is in session.
Asked by Lord Wallace of Tankerness
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made by the Attorney-General and the Lord Advocate in drawing up the main considerations relevant to decisions to be made under Section 28 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008. [HL2611]
The Attorney-General (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The Lord Advocate and I propose to make a joint statement when Section 28 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 comes into force.
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Bach on 19 March (WA 7071), whether they will consider ending the practice of Northern Ireland magistrates deciding whether a case merits two counsel and introducing into Northern Ireland law a rule such as that in the Criminal Defence Service (General) (No. 2) Regulations 2001 setting out the circumstances in which more than one advocate may be allowed in criminal proceedings. [HL2523]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): The current statutory provisions which determine the level and number of legal representatives assigned to a defendant in criminal proceedings in Northern Ireland are being reviewed.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in respect of the duties described in rule 52.8(13) of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2005 (SI 2005/384), HM Courts Service ensures that there is compliance with the rule that the person charged with the
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): Her Majesty's Court Service receives regular written accounts from the companies contracted to execute warrants on their behalf as mandated within the contracts with these companies. These accounts detail, on an individual case basis, the amount of the fine collected and the fees and costs levied against the individual.
To ask Her Majesty's Government for the most recent period for which data is available, what percentage of executed warrants issued by the Greater London magistrates' courts have had written accounts of costs and charges submitted in line with rule 52.8(13) of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2005 (SI 2005/384); and what were the average, maximum and minimum amount of cost or charge under each category under which costs and charges are claimed. [HL2441]
Lord Bach: A written account of all costs and charges for executed warrants issued by the Greater London magistrates courts has been submitted by the company contracted to execute these warrants.
For the period 1 April 2008 to 28 February 2009 the average amount of cost or charge levied was £161.49, the minimum cost was zero (in cases where the fine amount only was paid and was a relatively small amount and a commercial decision was made by the company not to pursue the defaulter for the costs) and the maximum cost was £11,000.
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