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Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given, in regard to the myplace project developing new facilities for young people, to entering into partnerships with little-used churches to create such facilities; and whether such partnerships could be more cost-effective and sustainable than building new premises. [HL6138]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness Morgan of Drefelin):myplace is delivering over £270 million of government capital investment in world class youth facilities driven by the active participation of young people and their views and needs. Through a competitive bidding process, myplace is funding both
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Climate Change
Question
Asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham
To ask Her Majesty's Government what research, plans or projects (a) have been completed, (b) are ongoing, or (c) are planned to mitigate the impact of climate change in (1) St Helena, (2) Ascension Island, (3) Tristan da Cunha, and (4) the Falkland Islands. [HL6010]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): Responsibility for mitigating climate change lies with the Territories' Governments.
(1) St Helena is taking steps towards reducing their carbon footprint through introducing wind power programmes.
(2) In 2010 Ascension Island will be looking to reduce their carbon footprint through wind power and gradually installing solar units in its housing. It also plans to install a carbon emission-monitoring facility.
(3) Tristan da Cunha plans to investigate renewable energy as an option for the island.
(4) There are a number of projects in the Falkland Islands looking at the impacts of climate change, focusing on sea level, vegetation and biodiversity. Plans are in place to continue such work. The Falkland Islands will continue their ambitious work on wind power programmes.
Common Agricultural Policy: Single Farm Payment
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial penalties have been imposed by the European Union authorities on the Rural Payments Agency in respect of their administration of the single farm payment scheme over each of the past five years; and from what source those penalty payments have been funded. [HL6163]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Davies of Oldham): To date, financial penalties of the order of £64 million for late payments and £5 million for a shortfall in cross-compliance inspections have been imposed in respect of the 2005 single payment
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Courts Service
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what number and proportion of criminal cases were heard in (a) the Crown Court, and (b) magistrates' courts, in Northern Ireland, England and Wales over the past three years. [HL6154]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): The Ministry of Justice gathers court hearing information for England and Wales, but not Northern Ireland. This information is available from the Northern Ireland Courts Service.
All criminal cases commence in the magistrates' court, the more serious are then committed or sent to the Crown Court for trial or sentence, or as appeals. In 2008, around 143,000 criminal cases were heard in the Crown Court and around 1,915,000 criminal cases were heard in magistrates' courts. Therefore, around 7 per cent of completed criminal cases heard took place in the Crown Court and 93 per cent occurred in magistrates' courts. Comparable statistics for completed criminal cases heard in the magistrates' courts for previous years are not available, as 2008 data were derived from a different data source from previous years.
Annual statistics on the number of criminal cases heard in both the Crown Court and magistrates' courts are published by the Ministry of Justice in the annual command paper Judicial and Court Statistics. The most recent edition, presenting statistics for 2008, was published in September 2009. Copies are available in the Library of the House and from the Ministry of Justice website at http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/ judicialandcourtstatistics.htm. Quarterly statistics are also published by the Ministry of Justice in the statistical bulletin Court Statistics Quarterly, which is also available on the Ministry's website.
Crime: Shootings and Stabbings
Question
Asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many deaths there were in (a) Greater London, and (b) Manchester, caused by (1) shootings, and (2) stabbings, in each of (i) 2005 to 2009, and (ii) 1995 to 1999. [HL6188]
Baroness Crawley: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, National Statistician, to Lord Maginnis of Drumglass, dated November 2009.
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many deaths there were in (a) Greater London, and (b) Manchester, caused by (1) shootings, and (2) stabbings, in each of (i) 2005 to 2009, and (ii) 1995 to 1999. (HL6188)
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Figures for deaths registered in 2009 are not yet available. To allow comparisons with the earlier 5-year period requested (1995 to 1999), figures for the most recent 5-year period available have been provided (2004 to 2008).
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The table below provides the number deaths in (a) London government office region, and (b) Manchester metropolitan borough, with an underlying cause of (1) firearm injury, and (2) cut/pierce injury, by intent, for the period (i) 2004-08 and (ii) 1995-99.
1 The causes of death of firearm and cut/pierce injury, by intent, were defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes for the years 1995 to 1999, and Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes for 2004 to 2008, as shown in Box 1 below.
2 Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.
3 Using government office region and local authority boundaries as of 2009.
4 Deaths registered pending the result of criminal proceedings (not involving transport accidents), are classified as "unspecified" mechanism and "undetermined" intent deaths. These deaths are not included in the table above, and many are subsequently reported as being homicides. Final homicide figures are therefore likely to be higher than those reported at initial death registration.
Cyprus
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government which European Union countries have been involved in joint military exercises with the armed forces of the Government of Cyprus in the Greek Cypriot part of the island. [HL6052]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): The Government have no knowledge of which countries have been involved in such military exercises.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many bodies of missing persons were found by the United Nations following the conflict in Cyprus in 1974; and whether those bodies were of both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. [HL6053]
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: The UN committee on missing persons reported that, as of 15 October 2009, the remains of 570 people had been exhumed from different burial sites across the island. Of these, the remains of 179 individuals had been identified and returned to their families, of which 135 were Greek Cypriots and 44 Turkish Cypriots.
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