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Every installer who has carried out work under the £300 rebate scheme will be sent an invoice for the £50 administrative charge.
Answers received between Monday 10 August and Monday 17 August 2009
Counterterrorism
Question
Asked by Baroness Neville-Jones
To ask Her Majesty's Government what unclassified internal and external reports have been commissioned by the Home Office on the work of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism since its inception. [HL5117]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): There are a number of unclassified documents that describe the work of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. These include the Home Office departmental annual report and material on the Home Office website.
The work of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism is also set out in detail in the unclassified CONTEST strategy, which was published on 24 March 2009. The strategy is available on the Home Office website and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
DNA Database
Question
Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick
To ask Her Majesty's Government why they propose to continue to retain DNA profiles of those arrested but not convicted in relation to serious, violent, or terrorist offences. [HL5223]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The consultation paper Keeping the Right People on the DNA Database published on 7 May 2009 sets out the retention periods proposed by the Government for consideration in compliance with the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of S and Marker. The research within that report indicates the propensity of some of those arrested and not convicted to offend in the future.
We have concluded that a retention period of six years for most offences is reasonable with a longer period of 12 years for serious sexual, violent or terrorist-related offences. As the consultation paper indicates, we believe that a longer retention period for the serious offences recognises the serious consequences of such offences and the implications of a missed detection.
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Extremism
Question
Asked by Baroness Neville-Jones
To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact the Home Office assesses the United Kingdom's foreign policy to have on levels of violent extremism within the United Kingdom. [HL5121]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): I recognise that individual reactions to UK foreign policies, such as military involvement overseas, can be a factor in radicalisation and that violent extremists exploit this when recruiting others to their cause. But we also know that radicalisation occurs for a wide range of complex and personal reasons. The aim of the Government will continue to be to prevent radicalisation at home and abroad.
Interception of Communications
Question
Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the Interception Modernisation Programme and the Mastering the Internet programme will interact operationally and financially. [HL5312]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Home Office and GCHQ work closely together. It is long-standing government policy not to comment further on intelligence matters.
Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to intercept the content of internet communications; and, if so, what methods they are considering. [HL5313]
Lord West of Spithead: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 makes provision for the lawful interception of communications, which includes content of internet communications. A range of technologies is used to ensure that effect can be given to warrants for lawful interception.
Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer
To ask Her Majesty's Government what costs the Interception Modernisation Programme will entail for communications service providers; and whether they will provide financial assistance to help meet those costs. [HL5314]
Lord West of Spithead: Current legislation-the Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 (Statutory Instrument 2009/859)-provides that the Secretary of State may, subject to prior agreement, reimburse any expenses incurred by a public communications provider in complying with the regulations for retention of communications data.
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The Government's consultation paper Protecting the Public in a Changing Communications Environment, published in April, outlined high-level initial estimates of the cost of the options considered as part of the Interception Modernisation Programme. These were in the range of up to £2 billion over a 10-year period. The Government have actively sought the views of business on the options and how to minimise their impact on business consistent with better regulation commitments.
National Security Strategy
Question
Asked by Lord Harris of Haringey
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration was given to the threat to the critical national infrastructure of a high-intensity electromagnetic pulse, produced by malign intent or as a result of solar activity, in preparing the National Security Strategy. [HL4906]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Government's updated National Security Strategy takes into account the threat posed to UK interests, including the critical national infrastructure, by the full range of "threat actors", a definition that includes natural hazards, as well as individuals or organisations with malign intent. The associated Cyber Security Strategy of the United Kingdom, published alongside and reflected in the National Security Strategy update, considers a number of methods of cyber attack, including those that generate high levels of power that can damage or disrupt unprotected electronics.
In addition, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) provides advice on electronic or cyber protective security measures to the businesses and organisations that comprise the UK's critical national infrastructure, including public utilities companies and banks. CPNI also runs a CERT service which responds to reported attacks on private sector networks.
Passports: Interviews
Question
Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the cost to date of remote passport personal interviews. [HL5308]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The operational cost of the video interview service has been £53,707 to the end of June 2009.
Terrorism
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report and the number of right-wing extremist groups in Europe. [HL5110]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Government are committed to tackling extremism whatever form it takes. The police will use a full range of information and intelligence, including the EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report, to inform their strategy to tackle right-wing extremism.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they take account of the colour, ethnicity or religion of suspects when deciding whether to prosecute them for crimes relating to terrorism. [HL5113]
Lord West of Spithead: Her Majesty's Government do not take decisions whether or not to prosecute an individual. This is a matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service, which do so on the basis of the evidence available to them relating to an offence. The chief consideration is the evidence of criminal activity. Colour, ethnicity and religion are not factors taken into account when considering whether to prosecute.
Answers received between Monday 17 August and Monday 24 August 2009
Asylum Seekers
Question
Asked by The Lord Bishop of Ripon and Leeds
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust's report Still Destitute and its conclusion that the new asylum model is not working. [HL5217]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The UK Border Agency will reply to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and respond substantively to the conclusions and recommendations made in its report Still Destitute in autumn of this year.
Children: UN Convention
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements they have made to allocate responsibility for co-ordinating and evaluating the application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child across the United Kingdom, including locally and in the devolved administrations, to a single and accountable government authority. [HL5171]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness Morgan of Drefelin): As state party, the Westminster Government remain responsible for overall co-ordination of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) across the UK.
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We do this in a way that recognises that much of the convention falls within the jurisdiction of the devolved Administrations. The Government have therefore adopted a "four nations" approach to the implementation of the UNCRC to ensure a flexible response to the unique circumstances within each country, while maintaining the state party's commitment to the convention.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has a team leading on the co-ordination and implementation of the UNCRC across the UK. The team works closely with officials in the devolved Administrations, which enables them to have an overview of the key areas of progress being made across the whole of the UK to implement the convention.
Officials also have regular discussions with key stakeholders including NGOs across the UK to monitor the progress made in the implementation of the convention.
Coroners: Northern Ireland
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time between deaths and related coroners' proceedings in Northern Ireland. [HL5346]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach):In the period from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 the coroner reported 3,436 deaths to the registrar. The average time between these deaths and the report to the registrar was:
deaths not requiring post-mortem or inquest: (1,780 reported deaths (52 per cent)) - less than one week;deaths requiring post-mortem but no inquest: (1,448 reported deaths (42 per cent)) - 28 weeks, and deaths requiring inquest: (208 reported deaths (6 per cent)) - 108 weeks.To ask Her Majesty's Government how many coroners' inquest verdicts have been outstanding in Northern Ireland for (a) one year, (b) two years, and (c) three years. [HL5347]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): At 22 July 2009 there were 109 inquests outstanding.
5 Oct 2009 : Column WA424
Energy: Meters
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 15 July, what are smart grids; how those benefit the consumer; how smart meters will function; whether consumer prices will rise by six per cent or eight per cent per annum for electricity, gas and oil, or by eight per cent in real terms between now and 2020; what world prices for oil and gas lie behind those forecasts; how many wave and tidal power experimental test projects they expect there will be; and over what period. [HL5166]
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): A smart grid is an electricity network that can intelligently integrate the actions of all users connected to it in order to maximise efficiency in delivery of sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies. The potential benefits of a smart grid are set out in more detail in the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan laid before the House on 13 July. The use of smart meters gives consumers better information and control on energy usage, helping people to manage their energy demand and bills. The rollout of smart meters will be an important step towards development of a smart grid.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) published a consultation document on 11 May covering a range of issues to be addressed in deciding how smart meters should be rolled out, including the minimum functionality which should be required of smart meters and possible delivery models.
The Government estimate that the additional impact in 2020 of policies in the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan1 (p.96), relative to today, is £76, which is equivalent to approximately a 6 per cent increase to current average household energy bills.
The transition plan estimates that the additional impact in 2020 of all climate change policies, relative to today, is £92 which is equivalent to approximately 8 per cent of current average household energy bills.
Bill impacts are dealt with in more detail in the analytical annexe to the transition plan (http:// decc.gov. uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans plan.aspx).
These estimates of the effects on bills are in 2009 prices, therefore all the increases are in real terms.
DECC publishes crude oil, wholesale gas and coal price assumptions for the period till 2030, which are used in the department's analytical work, where relevant. The updated set of future wholesale price assumptions
5 Oct 2009 : Column WA425
The bill effect figures are based on the scenario 2 oil price assumptions, namely $80/barrel of oil in 2020.
The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan and UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy2 (published in parallel) outline a commitment to invest up to £60 million in UK marine energy infrastructure and technology demonstration. We expect that a variety of devices will be tested using the new infrastructure, and that a number of companies will benefit from the proving fund.
1http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/publications/lc_trans_plan/lc_trans_plan.aspx
2 http://interactive.bis.gov.uk/lowcarbon/publications/
Government Initiatives: Advertising
Question
Asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester
To ask Her Majesty's Government which initiatives of the Home Office or its agencies have been advertised in each of the last five years; how much was spent in each case; and which were carried out via the Central Office of Information. [HL5333]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The attached table outlines Home Office and its agencies spend on advertising in each of the last five years, broken down by campaign area. All were carried out via the Central Office of Information.
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