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The Government support the directive and its broad objectives of ensuring safe supplements that are accurately labelled to facilitate consumer choice and of creating a level playing field for trade in these products throughout the European Union.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Overseas Territories Department
Question
Asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to relocate the Overseas Territories Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. [HL6013]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): There are no plans to relocate the Overseas Territories Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Gaza
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the £20 million pledged by them in March 2009 at Sharm el-Sheikh for relief and reconstruction in Gaza and economic development has been spent; and how much they have spent so far in 2009-10 in the West Bank and Gaza. [HL6008]
Lord Brett: The UK pledged £30 million at the Sharm el-Sheikh conference, of which £20 million was allocated for reconstruction and £10 million for early recovery. We are already funding a number of early recovery projects, such as cash for work schemes employing people to clear rubble and repair agricultural roads, and expect to spend the full £10 million allocated for this purpose by March 2010. However, due to restrictions on the entry of building materials into Gaza, the UK has not yet been able to spend any of the funding earmarked for reconstruction. We stand ready to provide support as soon as the situation improves, and continue to press the Israeli Government for improved access to Gaza for aid, aid workers and reconstruction materials.
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The UK has spent £16.9 million in the West Bank and Gaza so far this financial year, including £5.2 million in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and £10 million in support to the Palestinian Authority to enable it to provide essential public services. We have also provided nearly £20 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to provide support to Palestinian refugees, of which around half is allocated to Gaza and the West Bank.
Health: Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure (a) that herbal practitioners can continue to use a full range of herbal remedies after the Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive (2004/24/EC) is fully implemented in April 2011, and (b) that such practitioners continue to enjoy protection under Article 15 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. [HL6019]
Baroness Thornton: We are currently undertaking a consultation exercise on whether, and if so how, to regulate herbal practitioners. The consultation includes exploration of the link between the nature of such regulation and the possibility of regarding herbal practitioners as authorised healthcare professionals, within the terms of Article 5.1 of European directive 2001/83/EC. This is relevant to the feasibility of introducing a regulatory scheme under Article 5.1 permitting herbal practitioners in the United Kingdom to commission unlicensed herbal medicines manufactured by a third party to meet the special needs of individual patients. We will assess responses to this consultation before announcing proposals on the way forward. We will ensure that our proposals take account of the need to comply with Article 15 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
House of Lords: Fair Trade Goods
Question
To ask the Chairman of Committees further to the Written Answer on 19 January (WA 187), what is the present situation in relation to the sale of fair trade bananas by the House of Lords Refreshment Department. [HL6333]
The Chairman of Committees (Lord Brabazon of Tara): Fair trade bananas are specified as standard when placing orders with the nominated suppliers. In general, fair trade bananas are supplied but on the rare occasions when they are unavailable, an alternative is provided.
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Houses of Parliament: Surveillance of Members
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Wilson Doctrine prohibits surveillance of Members of either House of Parliament which is authorised by (a) a general certificate rather than a warrant, (b) the police using powers in Part III of the Police Act 1997, (c) the automatic number plate recognition database, and (d) a public authority using the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.[HL6123]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): I refer the noble Lord to the Answer given by the Prime Minister on 21 July 2009 in another place (Official Report, Commons, col. 1166W).
Human Rights
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, as a Guarantor Power, of the standards of human rights for Greek Cypriots living in the Northern Turkish Cypriot sector and for Turkish Cypriots living in the Southern Greek Cypriot sector; and whether the number of Turkish Cypriots resident in the Greek Cypriot sector has increased or fallen in the most recent year for which figures are available. [HL6140]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): The continued division of Cyprus has an impact on the ability of Cypriots from both communities to enjoy the full range of freedoms and rights.
The recent United Nations Report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the question of human rights in Cyprus (available at http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G09/117/09/PDF/G0911709.pdf?OpenElement) highlights a number of ongoing concerns. However, as that report concludes, the situation of human rights in Cyprus would be greatly improved by the achievement of a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus problem. It is on this that the UK will continue to focus its efforts.
The Government have no knowledge of changes in the population of the Turkish Cypriot community in the south of Cyprus. However, the Republic of Cyprus's most recent census, undertaken in 2001, can be found on the internet at the website address below at http://www.pio.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/A11/805CB6E0CF012914C2257122003F3A84/$file/MAIN%20RESULTS-EN.xls?OpenElement.
Immigration: Deportation
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Iraqi asylum applicants are being returned to Iraq; if so, why; and to what places. [HL6003]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Iraqi asylum seekers who are found not to need international protection and who have no legal basis of stay in the UK are expected to leave. We prefer that they do so voluntarily but where they do not, we will seek to enforce their removal.
Removal may be to any part of Iraq. Enforced removals have taken place to the Kurdish Regional Government controlled area of northern Iraq and to Baghdad.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the 43 persons deported on a flight in October to Baghdad were accepted by the Iraqi authorities and remained there; how many were rejected and brought back to England; and how many of those brought back were stateless or had insufficient documentation. [HL6004]
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the 43 persons deported on a flight to Baghdad in October were convicted criminals. [HL6005]
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Government of Iraq were informed in advance of their intention to deport 43 persons to Baghdad in October. [HL6006]
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the 43 persons deported on a flight to Baghdad in October were Arabs; and how many were Kurds. [HL6007]
Lord West of Spithead: The UK Border Agency recently arranged, in conjunction with the Iraqi authorities, the removal of 44 Iraqi nationals to Baghdad via a charter flight.
Of the 44 on the flight, 12 were foreign national prisoners subject to a deportation order, and the remaining 32 were subject to removal from the UK for other immigration offences. All those on the flight had an appropriate document to allow their entry into Iraq, as per agreements between the UK Government and the Iraq Government.
Upon arrival, 10 people were given permission to enter Iraq, while the remaining 34 were rejected and subsequently returned to the UK. The 10 who were accepted were a mixture of foreign national prisoners and other immigration offenders.
Of the 44 individuals on the flight, 29 were of Kurdish ethnicity and 15 of Arab ethnicity. All those removed were from outside the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) administered region of northern Iraq.
Immigration: Detainees
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have for (a) better medical care for detainees, and (b) improved reception for mobile telephones, at Yarl's Wood detention centre. [HL5898]
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The healthcare centre at Yarl's Wood is registered with the Care Quality Commission and works collaboratively with the local NHS services to provide appropriate care for the residents in the centre. Yarl's Wood constantly strives to improve the quality and access to healthcare for detainees and in August 2009 a new partnership board was established, chaired by Yarl's Wood Healthcare and attended by various NHS heads of services and other local authority stakeholders, including Bedford social services. This board works proactively to plan and deliver high quality healthcare services and to build partnerships between NHS and other sector's services.
Detainees within the centre have access to mobile phones and are able to obtain a reception on all networks. In addition to mobile phones all detainees are able to make and receive calls on one of the many landline phones located on each of the four residential units.
Internet: Illegal Material
Question
Asked by Lord Steel of Aikwood
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to enable Ofcom to examine and possibly control the use of the internet for illegal or immoral purposes. [HL6113]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Young of Norwood Green): The Government have no such plans. The general law applies online as it does offline.
My department is currently assessing the responses received to its consultation document issued on 16 June 2009 asking for views on the effect of any future legislation that might address illicit peer-to-peer file-sharing. The consultation closed on 30 October 2009.
Licensing: Live Music
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of the 5 per cent increase in venues with a live music permission, reported in the 2008-09 alcohol, entertainment and late-night refreshment licensing statistics published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 22 October, (a) is accounted for by applications from schools and councils licensing their own premises, including parks and streets, and (b) are premises that would not have needed such a permission before the Licensing Act 2003 came into effect. [HL6174]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not hold data on types of premises as, in general, the Licensing Act 2003 does not define these. No analysis of the kind described in part (b) of the question has been conducted.
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Migrant Workers: Bulgarians and Romanians
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answers by Lord West of Spithead on 5 October (WA 485) and by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon on 17 July (WA 216), why the numbers of applications for accession worker cards, sector-based schemes and the seasonal agriculture workers scheme approved for Bulgarians and Romanians since their accession to the European Union were not provided in the Answers.[HL6097]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Answers provided by Lord West of Spithead and Baroness Royall of Blaisdon stated that information relating to the number of accession worker cards issued to Romanian and Bulgarian nationals since their accession to the European Union is published in the Bulgarian and Romanian Accession Statistics.
These statistics are published quarterly and are available in the Libraries of the House. Information on sector-based scheme (SBS) and seasonal agricultural workers scheme (SAWS) applications are also in the annex of this document.
The numbers requested are contained within this document. The statistics can also be accessed on page 45 of the following document on the Home Office's website at http://www. homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/immiq209.pdf.
Since the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union in January 2007 the number of applications approved are as follows:
Sector-based schemes-3,325; and
Seasonal agricultural workers scheme-41,975.
National Archives
Question
Asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will make sufficient resources available to enable the National Archives to be open to the public on all working weekdays. [HL6240]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review in 2007, the National Archives' budgets were agreed for the financial years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11. The decision to close to the public on a Monday was undertaken by the National Archives' management in line with a series of other changes designed to achieve savings of 10 per cent. The purpose of these savings is to provide management with the resources to meet new demands. For example, the National Archives has been successful at generating wider interest in history, with large numbers of new
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Nauru and Tuvalu
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much was paid in aid over the past three years to (a) Nauru, and (b) Tuvalu. [HL5975]
Lord Brett: The UK Government did not provide any bilateral aid to either Nauru or Tuvalu in the three years 2006-07 to 2008-09.
Northern Cyprus
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the number of (a) United Kingdom citizens, and (b) German citizens, resident in Turkish Cyprus has increased during the past 10 years. [HL6088]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): The Government have not estimated the number of German citizens in Cyprus. We do not have precise figures for the number of British citizens resident in northern Cyprus but we estimate the figure to have increased over the past 10 years to around 10,000.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether flights from (a) the United Kingdom, (b) Germany, (c) Turkey, and (d) Azerbaijan, land at Ercan airport in Turkish Cyprus. [HL6089]
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: There are no direct flights to Ercan airport except from Turkey. Flights from third countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany or Azerbaijan land in Turkey before continuing to Ercan airport.
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether sea transport from (a) the United Kingdom, (b) Germany, (c) Turkey, (d) Syria, and (e) Lebanon, docks in Turkish Cyprus. [HL6090]
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: Sea transport from a variety of countries, including the UK, docks at ports in the north of Cyprus, although we do not hold any specific information about this. As the European Commission has confirmed, there is nothing in international law to prevent this.
To ask Her Majesty's Government which nations have offices or consulates located in Turkish Cyprus. [HL6091]
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