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Surname | Forename | Associated Person Body |
To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding has been provided to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission since 1 January 2008, against what business cases, and when. [HL4047]
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: As stated in my Answer to the noble Lord of 30 March (Official Report, cols. WA 199-200), the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's annual expenditure is published each year in its annual report and accounts, copies of which are placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The Northern Ireland Office provides funding to the commission each financial year, which is a period of 12 months ending on 31 March. The commission's final expenditure in 2007-08 was £1.672 million and £1.744 million in 2008-09. The budget allocation for 2009-10 has been agreed at £1.657 million, based on consideration of the commission's draft business plan and discussion of the justification for the proposed spend. These figures include cash and non-cash payments.
Allocation of funding is reviewed with the commission during in-year monitoring rounds and regularly throughout the financial year.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will ask Network Rail how many significant engineering proposals to improve the running of the railway network have been made in the past three years; and how many of those have (a) been adopted, and (b) not been adopted. [HL4323]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): This is an operational matter for Network Rail as the owner and operator of the national rail network. The noble Lord should contact Network Rail's chief executive at the following address for a response to his questions: Iain Coucher, Chief Executive, Network Rail, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9AG.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to discuss re-opening old railway lines with Network Rail and the train operating companies. [HL4379]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Government are prepared to discuss reopening of a specific railway line where a local authority or passenger transport executive or region considers that this might be the best way of addressing local or regional issues. We have no plans to discuss with Network Rail or train operators the subject of reopening of lines generally.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the public subsidy to the rail network in (a) 1990, (b) 1995, (c) 2000, and (d) 2005. [HL4326]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): Details of historic public subsidy for the railway is published by the Office of Rail Regulation in National Rail Trends. Copies of this document are available in the Library of the House.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will inquire into why Network Rail is installing an obsolete signalling system on the Cambrian line. [HL4324]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Cambrian line is being fitted with a state of the art in-cab signalling system, the European rail traffic management system (ERTMS), which is fully compliant with European legislation on railway interoperability.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have undertaken any research into whether the tabular valuation mechanism has speeded up the removal of reactor animals. [HL4236]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Davies of Oldham): The Government have not undertaken any research into whether the tabular valuation
22 Jun 2009 : Column WA261
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the enterprise champion, Sir Alan Sugar, will be advising the Government on the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill. [HL4154]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness Morgan of Drefelin): The enterprise champion has not been asked to advise on any specific Bill. He is expected to provide advice to government on ways to ensure small firms and entrepreneurs make the most of the real help available from government and other organisations.
To ask Her Majesty's Government what response they have received from United Kingdom farmers to the new legal obligations to avoid pollution of lakes, ponds and rivers on their property. [HL4083]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Davies of Oldham): We are in touch with a range of stakeholders, including farming representatives and others, regarding a variety of issues affecting water quality and the measures we propose in order to tackle them.
Farming organisations are fully inputting into a range of consultations that are currently being undertaken.
Asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff
To ask Her Majesty's Government when officials first raised the European working time directive's impact upon (a) training, and (b) service provision, with the Secretary of State for Health. [HL4199]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The impact of the European working time directive on training and service provision has been a regular feature of advice from officials to the relevant Secretary of State since the directive was first introduced by the European Commission in November 1993.
Asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans the Department of Health has made should full compliance with the European working time directive not be achieved in August. [HL4200]
Lord Darzi of Denham: Trusts are being supported to implement the working time directive for their junior doctors in training and many have already done so. The aim is that the maximum number of services, consistent with patient safety, are supported to achieve compliance.
In January the Secretary of State for Health notified the European Commission of concerns that a number of hospital services delivering 24-hour immediate patient care, some supra-specialist services, and small, remote and rural units may need more time to achieve full compliance with the requirement for an average 48-hour working week. The notification set out the Government's intention to take up the option of a limited derogation under Article 17(5) of the European working time directive for services identified as needing more time. Derogation would allow services to plan for up to a 52-hour average week, up to August 2011 (exceptionally until 2012). This flexibility represents good National Health Service management.
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