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Further Education: Funding

Question

Asked by Baroness Sharp of Guildford

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Young of Norwood Green): The Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (now Business Innovation and Skills) asked the chair of the Learning and Skills Council to commission an independent review of its further education capital programme. In doing so, Sir Andrew Foster was appointed.

Costs associated with the professional services provided by Sir Andrew Foster in respect of his review were met by the Learning and Skills Council. The Learning and Skills Council has confirmed that Sir Andrew Foster was paid a total of £33,457 for these services.

Health: Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Question

Asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch



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Baroness Thornton: The department is currently undertaking a consultation exercise on whether acupuncture, herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners should be regulated and if so how. Once the consultation period has ended, and the responses have been analysed, a decision on the way forward will then be made.

Home Office: Leaks

Question

Asked by Lord Dholakia

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary was placed in the Library of the other House by the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 12 October 2009. The recommendations are now being followed up.

Immigration: Detainees

Questions

Asked by Lord Hylton

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Persons detained in the UK Border Agency detention estate are seen by a nurse and a medical practitioner within 24 hours of arrival. Under Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules 2001, the medical practitioner is required to report to the onsite UKBA manager any detained person who he is concerned may have been the victim of torture. We expect clinicians to exercise their professional judgment on how they elicit such information, but Rule 35 does not explicitly require them to ask every detainee.

Systems are in place to ensure that any such reports are promptly brought to the attention of the caseworker to allow for a review of the detention.

Asked by Lord Hylton

Lord West of Spithead: The Detainee Escorting and Population Management Unit (DEPMU) is responsible for bed space management within the UK Border Agency's detention estate. The unit seeks to minimise movements within the estate in the interests of providing a settled regime and the efficient use of escorting resources.



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Guidance is available to staff on how to prioritise movements, where they have to take place, and is aimed at supporting our core operational business of enforcing removals and ensuring we make best use of the bed space.

Movement of detainees around the estate is required for operational reasons, most often to:

position detainees close to airports prior to removal;position detainees for court appearances;position detainees for hospital appointments;position detainees for embassy/documentation interviews;facilitate the movement of detainees to more secure locations for security/behavioural reasons; andensure bed space is fully utilised.

Lisbon Treaty

Question

Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): No. Parliament neither ratifies nor can it deratify a treaty.

NHS: Patient Care

Question

Asked by Lord Morris of Manchester

Baroness Thornton: We are extremely concerned about any instance of poor or neglectful care of patients, however small in number. The Chief Nursing Officer, Chris Beasley, among others, has said that where nurses are guilty of this they should not remain in the profession. We have a number of initiatives in place to improve and sustain high quality care of patients in hospital, including the essence of care benchmarking system which covers all aspects of fundamental care; the productive ward series which enables nurses to spend more time in direct patient care, and the confidence in caring programme, which helps front-line nurses improve their interaction with patients.

However, we realise that we need to be sure innovative programmes are having the desired effect and so we are presently developing a quality framework for nursing so that performance can be monitored, and failures to reach the required standard caught at the earliest opportunity.



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Northern Cyprus

Questions

Asked by Lord Kilclooney

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): HMG are not aware of the Turkish Cypriot authorities having facilitated visits to St Andreas Monastery in the Karpas Peninsular but nor are HMG aware of Greek Cypriots experiencing any problems visiting the monastery.

Asked by Lord Kilclooney

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: HMG welcome the establishment of a school for Greek Cypriot children in Rizokarpaso. HMG would support steps to further improve access to education for Greek Cypriot children living in the north.

Asked by Lord Kilclooney

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: By the end of September 2009, the Commission had contracted €133.9 million (52 per cent of the overall programme) and endorsed €45.5 million for payment (18 per cent of the programme). Tangible projects such as providing modern equipment to farmers, funding scholarships for students, improving traffic safety and replacing asbestos water pipes have already started and are making a real difference to the lives of ordinary Turkish Cypriots.

Asked by Lord Kilclooney

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: The EU has adopted a financial aid regulation and a green line trade regulation, in support of efforts to facilitate the reunification of Cyprus by encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community. The volume of cross green line trade, while still modest, is rising. The financial aid regulation is now delivering tangible projects which will benefit the Turkish Cypriot community.

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The UK continues to support efforts to bring Turkish Cypriots closer to Europe through further trade liberalisation.

Northern Ireland: Equality Commission

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: Individual commissioners are not appointed to represent particular sections of the community in Northern Ireland. The duty placed on the Secretary of State by Section 73(4) of the Northern Ireland Act is to "as far as practicable secure that the commissioners, as a group, are representative of the community in Northern Ireland".

It would not be appropriate to specify the community background of individual commissioners, which falls within the definition of personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998. Of the 16 commissioners, nine declared their background as that of the Protestant community, five declared their background as that of the Catholic community and two declared that they do not have a Protestant or Catholic community background. The latest available census statistics (2001) show that 53 per cent of people in Northern Ireland declared their background as that of the Protestant community, 44 per cent as that of the Catholic community and 3 per cent as neither community background.

All appointments were made following fair and open competition on the basis of merit and the Secretary of State is satisfied that all statutory obligations have been met, including the statutory duty to secure representativeness on the commission, as far as practicable.

Northern Ireland: Human Rights Commission

Questions

Asked by Lord Laird

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The 1998 Belfast agreement committed the Government to establish a Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), which was to be:



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The Northern Ireland Act 1998 required the Secretary of State to request the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to provide such advice to him and he has done so.

In the 2003 Joint Declaration, the Government noted the significant work undertaken by the NIHRC towards a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland, and stated that:

"At the conclusion of that process, and after consultation with the parties, the British Government are committed to bringing forward legislation at Westminster where required to give effect to rights supplementary to the ECHR to reflect particular circumstances of Northern Ireland".

The commission's advice was received on 10 December 2008 and the Government plan to consult publicly on their response to the advice as soon as possible.

Asked by Lord Laird

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: Under Section 69 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) has a wide-ranging remit, including keeping under review the effectiveness and adequacy of law and practice relating to the protection of human rights. The NIHRC is independent of government and is entitled to set its own programme of work, consistent with its statutory functions.

Olympic Games 2012: Funding

Questions

Asked by Lord Laird

Lord Davies of Oldham: In her Statement of 15 March 2007, the Minister for the Olympics announced a £9.325 billion public sector funding package for the Games. This will be provided between 2005-06 to 2013-14; pre-Games, during Games, and post-Games. The bulk of this funding will be spent pre-Games on the construction of venues and infrastructure; and will also provide facilities to develop athletes. During the Games, the funding will contribute to the provision of transport services and security. Post-Games the funding will provide for transformation of the venues and infrastructure for legacy use.

Chapter 20 of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) White Paper, published on 9 October 2007, announced total grant in aid (within the £9.325 billion) from Government of £1,559/£1,104/£1,050 million in

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2008-09 to 2010-11. The distribution of the remaining Exchequer contribution (within the £9.325 billion) for 2011-12 to 2013-14 will be confirmed in the next CSR. The balance of the funding requirement will be met, as announced in March 2007, by contributions from the Mayor of London (GLA and LDA); and from the Lottery.

Further details on the sources of funding, and details on spend incurred by the Olympic Delivery Authority to end June 2009, can be found in the July 2009 quarterly economic report on the Games (page 16).

The next quarterly economic report on the Games will be published later this month.

Asked by Lord Laird

Lord Davies of Oldham: The £9.325 billion public sector funding package for the Games will provide a unique opportunity to regenerate East London, including the boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Hackney and Greenwich. The Games will provide a legacy of world class sporting venues, new housing, community and leisure facilities, and 110 hectares of new parkland and waterways. The public sector funding package does not include any direct payments to the host boroughs listed above or any other London boroughs.

Olympic Games 2012: Temporary Venues

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Lord Davies of Oldham: The KPMG report was based on estimated figures to assess whether alternative venues were more cost-effective.

These estimates were commercially sensitive and redacted so as not to prejudice the Olympic Delivery Authority's and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games' discussions and negotiations on contracts that had not yet been awarded for the temporary venues.

People Trafficking

Question

Asked by Lord Condon



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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The UK has a comprehensive victim-centred strategy to combat trafficking, contained in the UK action plan on tackling human trafficking. The action plan was most recently updated on 19 October 2009. The update specifically details the progress that has been made over the past year, and outlines plans for the year ahead.

Notably, on 17 December 2008, the UK ratified the Council of Europe Convention against trafficking, and implemented it from 1 April 2009. This represents a milestone in our fight against trafficking. It improves provisions for victim protection and enforcement capabilities.


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