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8 Jun 2009 : Column WA115
8 Jun 2009 : Column WA115
8 Jun 2009 : Column WA115
Monday 8 June 2009
Alcohol
Question
Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many alcohol-related disturbances occurred on trains in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. [HL4061]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): This information is not held by the Department for Transport but by the British Transport Police who can be contacted at: British Transport Police, 25 Camden Road, London, NW1 9LN, e-mail: parliament@btp.pnn. police.uk.
Armed Forces: Aircraft
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many hours in aggregate have the C-17s operated by the Royal Air Force flown; how many are planned for 2009—10; when each of them is anticipated to reach the end of its flying life; and what plans they have for further acquisition of C-17s. [HL3797]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): Between the 1 May 2001, when the fleet first came into service, and 31 March 2009 the Royal Air Force's C-17 aircraft of which there are now six, have completed a total of 48,824 flying hours. Planned flying hours for 2009-10 are 7,847, however, the final figure of actual flying hours may differ. The planned out-of-service date for the fleet is 2031, and there are no plans currently to procure further aircraft.
Broadcasting: Political Balance
Question
Asked by Lord Roberts of Conwy
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures they have in place to ensure party political balance in broadcasting. [HL3905]
The Minister for Communications, Technology and Broadcasting (Lord Carter of Barnes): Responsibility for what is broadcast on television and radio rests with the broadcasters and the organisations that regulate broadcasting: the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the BBC Trust and the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority (S4C). These organisations are independent of Government and are responsible for safeguarding the public interest in broadcasting—they set out the rules and guidance with which broadcasters must comply.
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The BBC charter and agreement contain specific and detailed provisions on impartiality. A requirement has been placed on the BBC to treat controversial subjects with due accuracy and impartiality, both in the corporation's news services and in the more general field of programmes dealing with matters of public policy or industrial controversy.
Similarly, Ofcom's broadcasting code also contains principles to ensure news is reported with due accuracy and impartiality giving due weight to matters and avoiding undue prominence to the views and opinions of particular persons or bodies. This broadcasting code is available on Ofcom's website at www.ofcom.org.uk.
Civil Service: Performance Pay
Question
Asked by Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay
To ask Her Majesty's Government (a) what the total monetary value of Senior Civil Service non-consolidated performance pay awards was in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, (b) how many and what proportion of the Senior Civil Service staff in the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform received performance pay awards by SCS pay band, and (c) how those awards were distributed by pay band and award category, for each of the past five years for which data are available. [HL3365]
The Minister for Economic Competitiveness and Small Business (Baroness Vadera): The creation of BERR was announced in June 2007 in a machinery of government change and this was applied retrospectively to 1 April 2007. Non-consolidated non-pensionable performance awards are paid to staff in the Senior Civil Service (SCS) to reward delivery of business objectives and personal contributions to wider organisational goals. Performance awards are part of the pay system across the whole Senior Civil Service, and are used to reward high performance sustained throughout the year, based on judgments of how well an individual has performed relative to their peers. The performance-related pay scheme is designed to help drive high performance and support better public service delivery.
The size of the non-consolidated performance pay pot is based on recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
The Government have frozen the percentage of the pay bill available for SCS non-consolidated pay for 2009-10. These figures are not yet available.
The information available is shown in the tables below.
Table 1 Total monetary value of SCS non-consolidated performance pay
| FY in which award was paid | Percentage of the SCS pay bill (%) | Total Paid (£ million) | Total number of recipients | Proportion of SCS (%) |
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| FY 2007-08 | |||
| Pay band 1 | Pay band 2 | ||
| Performance Tranche | Total | Performance Tranche | Total |
| FY 2008-09 | |||
| Pay band 1 | Pay band 2 | ||
| Performance Tranche | Total | Performance Tranche | Total |
Cyprus: Property
Question
Asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made on the discussions between the British High Commission in Cyprus and the Government of Cyprus regarding the ability of United Kingdom citizens who have bought property in Cyprus to obtain title deeds, and the assurances made by the government of Cyprus to the British High Commissioner that it would introduce a bill to address that issue. [HL3803]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): Our High Commissioner in Cyprus discussed the question of title deeds with the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Cyprus on 27 April 2009. The Minister was fully aware of the problem of obtaining title deeds, an issue which also affects a large number of Cypriots. The Cyprus Government will introduce legislation to speed up the issuing of title deeds, but this legislation will only apply to future cases. The Minister expressed a willingness to meet representatives of interest groups about this issue.
Damian McBride
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether severance, redundancy or pay in lieu of notice is being arranged for Damian McBride; whether early commencement of pension or any enhancement is being considered; and whether he is to be replaced. [HL2970]
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon): Mr McBride resigned on 11 April. His resignation had immediate effect. He has not been paid severance, redundancy or pay in lieu of notice. Nor is there any early commencement of pension or enhanced terms. The Government are committed to publishing an annual list of special advisers. The next list will be published before the Summer Recess.
8 Jun 2009 : Column WA118
Energy: Electricity Generation
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of electricity consumed in England and Wales was produced by hydroelectric power in each of the past five years for which figures are available. [HL3825]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Data are available for the amount of hydro-electricity generated in England and Wales, as well as the amount of electricity consumed. This is shown in the table below. Data for both series are currently available for 2004 to 2007, with 2008 data for hydro-electricity available in September 2009, and for electricity consumption in December 2009. Also shown are data for UK hydro-electricity generation—data for 2008 available in July 2009.
Energy: Wind Generation
Questions
Asked by Lord Carlile of Berriew
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the forecast capacity of wind-powered electricity generators from Wales expected to be incorporated into the National Grid; and which individual proposals in which locations constitute that capacity. [HL3109]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change & Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Wales currently has 420MW of operational wind energy: 360MW onshore at various locations as well as 60MW offshore at North Hoyle. 90MW is under construction at Rhyl Flats and the 750MW Gwynt-y-Mor offshore project was consented in December 2008. These offshore wind farms are all situated off the north Wales coast.
The Government estimate that meeting our share of the EU 2020 target might require up to 14GW of onshore wind and up to 14GW of offshore wind generation—a proportion of which will be in Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government's 2008 Renewable Energy Route Map For Wales at wales.gov.uk/consultation/ desh/2008/renewable/routemape.pdf?lang=en stated that if all potential projects were to go ahead in full, wind farms within the TAN 8 http://wales.gov.uk/topics/ planning/policy/tans/tan8/?lang=en strategic search areas could produce up to 2,500MW of generation capacity.
8 Jun 2009 : Column WA119
We are currently aware of around 2,000MW of possible onshore wind energy projects in Wales at various stages in the planning system. These include the projects listed in the table below, which are with the Secretary of State for approval under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. In addition there will also be other current applications under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 which will be dealt with by the relevant local planning authorities in Wales.
| Applications for onshore wind farms in Wales under Section 36 | |||
| Application Date | Company/Location | Type of Project/Consent requested | Maximum Output |
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the contribution to the National Grid made by wind power during the coldest days between November 2008 and March 2009. [HL3408]
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Electricity supply data are not available on a daily basis. Data for electricity supplied by wind generation (major power producers only) to the public supply system for the months of November 2008 to February 2009 can be found in the table below. Data for March 2009 will be available on 28 May 2009.
| Electricity supplied by wind (major power producers only) (GWh) | Total electricity available from the public supply system (GWh) | Contribution of wind to the national grid (%) | |
Source: Energy Trends, table ET 5.4 wind, available at www.berr.gov.uk/enemy/statistics/source/electricity/page18527.html
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