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The above estimates are gross costs and do not reflect income from fees and charges. Currently the costs of passport production are met from fee income. The future development of a fee strategy will set the parameters for income and thus the net costs of providing passports and identity cards.

Influenza Pandemic

Question

Asked by Baroness Neville-Jones

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Since March 2008, when the national security strategy was published, the following key milestones have been delivered.

Stockpiles of antivirals to cover 50 per cent of the population have been ordered and are now in place. Contracts have been signed for the development of the Flu Line which will ensure rapid deployment of antivirals to patients. Orders have been placed to increase the United Kingdom antiviral stockpile from 33.5 million to about 50 million, which would be enough to cover 80 per cent. of the population.



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On 14 May, the Government announced the signing of agreements with vaccine manufacturers for up to 90 million doses of a pre-pandemic vaccine based on the current H1N1 strain. The agreements could provide enough vaccine to protect the most vulnerable groups in our population before a pandemic is likely to arrive.

We are on course to have sufficient antibiotic stocks to cover 31 per cent of the UK population (19.6 million courses) by the end of September 2009, with the stockpile reaching over 10 per cent. (6.3 million courses) by the end of May 2009.

We have placed orders for 226 million additional facemasks and 34 million additional respirators, to be delivered over time, for the use of frontline health and social care staff.

Significantly enhanced local planning is in place. Every National Health Service trust and local resilience forum (LRF) in England has validated pandemic specific plans in place. All LRF plans are available in the public domain, and can be accessed on the internet at www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience/pandemicflu/plans/regional_plans.aspx.

A suite of guidance documents have been published to aid planners in their preparations for an influenza pandemic. Most notably, guidance has been published on the management of excess deaths, school closures, the local response, the health response, infection control, the judicial system and a checklist to aid businesses in pandemic planning. These are available on the UK resilience website at www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/ukresilience/ pandemicflu/guidance.aspx.

The Government launched their pandemic preparedness international strategy in November 2008. This strategy is the first of its kind and sets priorities for the UK Government's work with international organisations over the next three to five years. A copy has already been placed in the Library.

Influenza Pandemic: Flu Line

Question

Asked by Baroness Neville-Jones

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The “Flu Line” was proposed in the National framework for responding to an influenza pandemic published in November 2007. The department’s 2008-09 business plan also announced the intention to have the Flu Line in place by winter 2008. Copies of these documents have already been placed in the Library.

In signing off this innovative system, the approvers had to be rigorous in their scrutiny to ensure that the system would be both practicable and offer value for money to the United Kingdom taxpayer, which led to some delays in signing the contract with British Telecom (BT).



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The contract for the development of the system was signed with BT in December 2008.

We had expected the initial build of the system to be completed in May 2009, with the system accessible for this autumn. Despite the current swine flu outbreak, we are still working towards the system being available in the autumn.

We are also continuing to work with BT and NHS Direct in developing an interim solution, the cost of which is not yet finalised.

Internet: Security

Question

Asked by Baroness Neville-Jones

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Internet Watch Foundation is a self-regulatory organisation, independent of government. It receives no funding from the Home Office or wider government.

The foundation's remit is to minimise the availability of child abuse imagery hosted worldwide, criminally obscene content hosted in the UK and incitement to racial hatred content hosted in the UK. Material violating terrorism legislation does not fall into the remit, which the foundation does not currently intend to expand and over which the Home Office has no influence. The foundation's website does, however, direct members of the public to the police's anti-terrorist hotline to report terrorist material.

Home Office officials have met representatives from the foundation to discuss lessons learnt from the foundation's experiences, particularly its excellent work to decrease significantly the amount of child abuse imagery hosted in the UK. Home Office officials are using this information in their on-going work to consider methods to restrict the amount of unlawful violent extremist and terrorist material hosted in the UK.

Iraq: Reconstruction and Development

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton



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Lord Tunnicliffe: The benefits of the United Kingdom's development assistance to Iraq include:

successful conclusion of 190 projects to reconstruct healthcare facilities and 400 projects to reconstruct education facilities;repair of 5,000 leaky water pipes, laying 200 km of pipes and clearing 7,000 septic tanks and 40 km of drains;refurbishment of Basra pumping station and a major reverse osmosis plant, enabling 1 million people to access clean water;connecting 65,000 households to electricity for the first time, and providing a further 240,000 households with an improved supply;building the capacity of Basra Provincial Council which has now managed over 800 development projects worth over $650 million since 2006; anddelivery of £180 million in humanitarian assistance to 4.8 million people displaced in Iraq and the region, enabling them to receive food, water, shelter medical care and protection.

As we look forward, the United Kingdom's most recent priority has been to help Iraq attract investment. To this end we have:

facilitated over 30 visits by international investors, leading to proposals worth over $10 billion;funded 1,000 small enterprises in southern Iraq to access credit to expand their businesses; andworked with the Ministry of Labour in Basra on a vocational training and employment programme for 500 young people.

Mental Health Hospitals

Questions

Asked by Earl Howe

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): National Health Service London commissioned an independent investigation in 2005 to investigate the care and treatment of patients PB and RL in Broadmoor Hospital and the circumstances of the fatal assault on RL by PB in 2004. It is for NHS London to decide when this investigation will be published.

Asked by Earl Howe

Lord Darzi of Denham: The Care Quality Commission has taken over responsibility for the Healthcare Commission's report on patient safety in West London Mental Health Trust. It is for the Care Quality Commission to decide when this report will be published.



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Asked by Earl Howe

Lord Darzi of Denham: West London Mental Health Trust has not been offered foundation trust equivalent status. A foundation trust equivalent organisation will be a National Health Service trust responsible for delivering high secure services which has been assessed as meeting the same standards as a foundation trust. It will be an equivalent organisation rather than a foundation trust because the trust provides high secure services, over which Ministers will retain oversight and powers of direction. The provision of high secure services legally prevents these organisations from becoming actual foundation trusts.

Before any trust can be granted this status, the trust will need to be approved by its strategic health authority to proceed to a rigorous assessment process. If it is then assessed as meeting the standards, a recommendation for approval will be made by an assessment panel to the Secretary of State for Health, who will make the final decision on whether it can become a foundation trust equivalent.

Asked by Earl Howe

Lord Darzi of Denham: There are rigorous, ongoing performance management arrangements which apply to all high-secure services, including Broadmoor Hospital. These are set out in the document A framework for the performance management of high security hospitals. A copy has been placed in the Library.

National Health Service London has specific performance management responsibilities in relation to Broadmoor. As part of these, it will continue to monitor safety and patient care, and will work with the department and the trust to ensure that all necessary steps are taken in relation to the findings of the investigation of care at Broadmoor, and the Healthcare Commission (now Care Quality Commission) report into patient safety at West London Mental Health Trust.

High-secure services, including performance management arrangements, are also subject to overview by the National Oversight Group which reports to Ministers, and services are also reviewed by the Care Quality Commission.



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Minimum Wage

Questions

Asked by Lord Hylton

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting (Lord Carter of Barnes): Most workers working legally in the UK are entitled to receive the national minimum wage. There are exemptions to the payment of the national minimum wage and one of these relates to workers who are not members of their employer's family but who live in his/her family home, share in the work and leisure activities of his/her household and are not charged for food or accommodation. This exemption is commonly known as the “people living and working within the family” exemption. Whether it applies to any particular foreign domestic worker will depend on individual circumstances.

Asked by Lord Hylton

Lord Carter of Barnes: This department has received one such complaint, which is currently being dealt with on our behalf by HM Revenue and Customs.

Asked by Lord Hylton

Lord Carter of Barnes: The national minimum wage helpline on 0845 6000 678 provides information about the national minimum wage to both employers and workers. Any workers who believe that they have not been paid in line with minimum wage requirements can contact the helpline for assistance and, if appropriate, make a complaint—anonymously, if they wish—against their employer. Workers also have the right make their own claim to an employment tribunal.

The Government are working with key stakeholders to consider whether private servants in diplomatic households should be able to change employer to work for someone outside of the mission at which they are employed.



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Muslim Organisations

Question

Asked by Baroness Warsi

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Baroness Andrews): The British Muslim Forum has received the following funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government in each of the past five years:

2004-05—£0;

2005-06—£0;

2006-07—£115,100;

2007-08—£194,200; and

2008-09—£0.

Dudley Muslim Association has received the following funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government in each of the past five years:

2004-05—£0;

2005-06—£0;

2006-07—£47,000;

2007-08—£29,500; and

2008-09—£0.

Neither of these two groups has received funding from any of the department's agencies or non-departmental public bodies during the past five years.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence

Question

Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): Primary care trusts are making good progress in commissioning fertility services. The expert group on commissioning National Health Service infertility provision, which we established in 2008, has identified that increasing awareness of the consequences of infertility, and

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developing the expertise of commissioners, will contribute to further progress in this area of health provision. The expert group is producing a commissioning guide to address these issues.

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