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Public Spending
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their short- and medium-term public spending objectives. [HL4827]
The Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Myners): Chapter 6 of Budget 2009 sets out the Government's short-term and medium-term public spending objectives, consistent with its fiscal policy objectives:
in the short-term to support the economy through the downturn, providing temporary and targeted support to the individuals and businesses most affected by the global economic shocks; andin the medium-term to continue to improve and invest in key public service priorities, while also ensuring a sustainable path for the public finances.Railways: Crossrail
Question
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Government remain fully committed to Crossrail. The Crossrail core agreements, which were signed in December 2008, set out robust governance arrangements to ensure that the project is delivered within the timelines agreed by the Department for Transport and Transport for London-the joint sponsors for the project.
Crossrail is now into the delivery phase and the Prime Minister launched the start of works in May 2009 at Canary Wharf Crossrail Station. Works have also begun at Tottenham Court Road and the land acquisition programme has been underway since late 2008.
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Railways: East Coast Mainline
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will allow sufficient time to evaluate whether or not the nationalisation of the East Coast railway franchise is in the public interest. [HL4950]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): Assuming that a state company takes on responsibility for the East Coast railway franchise later this year, it is the Government's intention that the franchise be managed in the public sector for at least a year.
In due course, I expect to invite bids from private sector companies for a new franchise. However, those bids will be subject to a full value for money assessment, and no franchise will be awarded to a private operator which does not offer good value for money.
Railways: East Midland Trains
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to run more through services from Lincoln to London from December 2010. [HL4817]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): East Midlands Trains run one service daily between Lincoln and London and there are no plans to increase this frequency.
National Express East Coast has secured track access rights to operate a service every two hours, and was expected to implement that service subject to resolution of outstanding timetabling issues.
The Department for Transport intends to implement this service in December 2010 subject to resolution of timetable issues and acceptability of the business plan.
Work has now started to develop proposals for the specification of the replacement franchise. This will include looking at service patterns and destinations. The draft specification will be consulted on with stakeholders, including passenger groups, parliamentarians and the Scottish Executive.
Railways: Franchises
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for allowing the publicly owned company which will take over the East Coast Main Line franchise from National Express East Coast to bid, as the existing operator, in the tendering process for a new East Coast franchise operator from the end of 2010. [HL4837]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Railways Act 1993 (as amended in 2000 and 2005) precludes public sector bodies from being a franchisee.
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Roads: Speed Humps
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to outlaw speed humps on public highways which cannot be traversed at 15 mph or less without risking hidden damage to the vehicle or its tyres, or harm to vehicle occupants (including ambulance patients) and motorcyclists. [HL4927]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): Local highway authorities already have powers to place and remove road humps on their roads where appropriate.
The Highways (Road Humps) Regulations 1999 set out the permissible dimensions for road humps. Road humps must be a maximum of 100mm in height, although the department recommends local authorities consider using road humps 75mm in height to ensure those vehicles with low suspensions do not suffer from grounding.
There are no plans to amend these regulations to reduce the maximum permissible height of road humps.
Serious Organised Crime Agency
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many new cases in Northern Ireland the Serious Organised Crime Agency has investigated since its creation. [HL4696]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): SOCA operational activity is often multi-faceted with concurrent activity across the UK and internationally, these figures are therefore not available on a regional basis.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the Serious Organised Crime Agency has (a) claimed from criminal activity, and (b) cost to operate, since its creation. [HL4697]
Lord West of Spithead: The Serious Organised Crime Agency's overall resource budget for all its activities in its first three years of operation was £1.2 billion. Since its inception, SOCA has denied criminals access to £460 million worldwide.
Asset recovery is one of the many tools that SOCA utilises to prevent organised criminals causing harm to UK citizens. The main aim of asset recovery in an organised crime context is to deny to criminals the resources that they need to operate and to make organised crime less attractive and less lucrative.
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Shipping: Registration
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make registration of ships on the British register conditional on reasonable facilities being provided for crews to keep in touch with their families during long sea voyages. [HL4857]
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Government have no plans to introduce such a condition.
The UK ship register is one of the best performing flags in the major port state control regimes with a reputation for maintaining the highest international standards.
Vehicles: Automatic Plate Recognition
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made on whether the increased use of automatic number plate recognition surveillance by police forces is justified in terms of human rights and costs. [HL4695]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) is used by police forces for intelligence-led policing and investigative purposes. It is a very effective operational policing tool which allows the police to target known offenders and independent studies have evidenced its success.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has published detailed advice to police forces about the use of ANPR technology. This advice was drafted in consultation with the Information Commissioner's Office and aims to ensure that ANPR is used in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1984 and 1998), Human Rights Act (1998), Freedom of Information Act (2000) and Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (2000).
As the National ANPR Data Centre is in the final stages of being developed and tested, the advice is being updated, and ACPO and the National Policing Improvement Agency are currently working with the Information Commissioner's Office to ensure that human rights are appropriately balanced with proportionate collection, use and retention of ANPR data.
Visas
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are considering changing the visa system in order to attract Chinese tourists in possession of a Schengen visa. [HL4739]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The UK does not take part in the visa and border control aspects of Schengen because doing so would not allow us to have a system to count and track people in and out of the UK, to maintain our exported border controls in France and Belgium and our juxtaposed controls, and to retain our flexibility in introducing visa regimes (as we would be tied to the common visa list).
As a consequence, those in possession of a Schengen visa wishing to travel to the UK must satisfy the requirements and conditions of entry to the UK and would need a visa in line with our standard procedures, including the payment of a fee.
Worker Registration Scheme
Question
Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to continue the Worker Registration Scheme for migrants from the European Union. [HL4606]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Government announced on 8 April 2009 that the Worker Registration Scheme will continue. The scheme will be reviewed again in April 2010.
Yarl's Wood: Hunger Strike
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is or has recently been a hunger strike at Yarl's Wood Detention Centre; and, if so, how many people took part. [HL4820]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): There have been no hunger strikes at Yarl's Wood IRC recently.
A small number of individuals at the centre recently pressurised families to avoid taking their meals in the canteen, which was subsequently reported in certain parts of the media as a hunger-strike. At its height, a total of 54 individuals failed to take their meals in the canteen.
Zimbabwe
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the state of agriculture in Zimbabwe; and what research they will use in considering possible support for future programmes involving agricultural rehabilitation, resettlement and land reform in Zimbabwe. [HL4597]
Lord Brett: Recent UN reporting-by the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Food Programme-suggests that this year's maize harvest, Zimbabwe's main crop, will have more than doubled from last year's record low. This improvement is largely
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Our support will continue to be based on information provided by a range of food and nutritional assessments,
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