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19 Jan 2010 : Column WA236
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Barbara Follett, on 9 December 2009 (Official Report, Commons, col. 390W), what was the average purchase price, excluding value added tax, of a 500 sheet ream of white A4 80 gsm photocopier paper paid by (a) the NHS Purchasing Supply Agency, and (b) the Department of Health, in the latest period for which figures are available. [HL1034]
Baroness Thornton: The department is committed to the Government's sustainable procurement agenda and uses 100 per cent recycled A4 80 gsm photocopier paper at a current average price, excluding value added tax, of a 500 sheet ream in 2009 of:
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Barbara Follett, on 9 December 2009 (Official Report, Commons, col. 390W), what was the average purchase price, excluding value added tax, of a 500 sheet ream of white A4 80 gsm photocopier paper paid by the Scotland Office in the latest period for which figures are available. [HL1173]
The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Davidson of Glen Clova): During financial year 2008-09, the photocopier paper purchased by the Scotland Office was purchased at an average cost of £1.84 per ream of 500 sheets, excluding value added tax.
Gross Domestic Product
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of United Kingdom gross domestic product was represented by manufacturing in 1990 and in 2009. [HL1071]
Baroness Crawley: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director-General for Office for National Statistics, to Lord Jones, dated January 2010.
As Director-General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was represented by manufacturing in 1990 and 2009. (HL1071)
When assessing industry percentages to total production it is more appropriate to assess against total gross value added (GVA) as opposed to GDP.
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In current (nominal) price terms for the calendar year 1990 total manufacturing is estimated to have made up 22.5 per cent of total GVA. For 2008 (the latest complete year currently published), total manufacturing is estimated to have made up 12.3 per cent of total GVA.
Health: Contaminated Blood Products
Questions
Asked by Lord Morris of Manchester
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Thornton on 5 January (WA 41-2), between which officials in the Republic of Ireland's Department of Health and Children and the Department of Health in Her Majesty's Government the information in the answer was agreed; whether at any stage any minister in Her Majesty's Government or of the government of the Republic of Ireland was involved in the matter; and what attention was given to the status of the expert group, which was not a tribunal, and its remit, limited to hepatitis C infection caused by anti D. [HL1133]
Baroness Thornton: No Ministers in either Her Majesty's Government or in Ireland were involved in the exchange of information between officials as these related to factual matters. In this instance, the correspondence was between the blood policy team in the Department of Health and the Blood and Tissue Policy Unit in the Irish Department of Health and Children.
The expert group in Ireland was established by the Minister for Health in 1994. Its terms of reference were:
"To examine and report to the Minister for Health on the following matters:
- all the circumstances surrounding the infection of the anti-D immunoglobulin product manufactured by the Blood Transfusion Board; and
- the systems and standards in place for donor selection, the manufacturing process and use of the anti-D immunoglobulin produced by the Blood Transfusion Board.
To make recommendations to the Minister for Health on the above matters and on any other matters relating to the Blood Transfusion Board which the Group consider necessary".
Asked by Lord Morris of Manchester
To ask Her Majesty's Government what part Crown Immunity played in protecting the Blood Products Laboratory from legal proceedings for failing to comply with the Medicines Act 1968 to the hurt of haemophilia patients treated with contaminated NHS blood and blood products. [HL1134]
Baroness Thornton: Crown immunity gave no protection from civil legal proceedings. Some affected individuals who had acquired HIV infection through their treatment with blood products did bring a civil action in 1990, which was settled out of court.
19 Jan 2010 : Column WA238
Immigration: Yarl's Wood
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what basis parliamentarians may be refused entry to Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre. [HL1023]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The Detention Centre Rules 2001 allow the Secretary of State to manage visits to immigration removal centres. Requests from parliamentarians to visit any centre are therefore directed for consideration to the Home Secretary and to the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration. We receive many such requests and are normally able to comply.
Kazakhstan
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will support the holding of a summit rather than a ministerial meeting at the end of the 2010 Kazakhstan chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe; or by when they will make that decision. [HL990]
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead): At the 2009 Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council in Athens, member states noted Kazakhstan's proposal for an OSCE summit in 2010. Ministers pointed out that such a high-level meeting would require adequate preparation in terms of substance and modalities.
The OSCE will decide to hold a summit when there is a consensus on what the substance would be. Progress in the OSCE's discussions on the future of European security, otherwise known as the "Corfu process", will be an important consideration.
Legislation
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government which Acts of Parliament have been subject to post-legislative review in pursuance of the policy to review Acts three to five years after enactment.[HL1176]
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon): The first post-legislative review Command Paper was published in December 2008 on the Electoral Registration (Northern Ireland) Act 2005 (Cm 7504) and the second in June 2009 on the Railways Act 2005 (Cm 7660). Three further papers are due to be published by the end of February 2010.
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Command Papers on other Acts passed in 2005 are being developed and will be published by the Summer Recess in 2010, unless the department has negotiated an extension with the relevant departmental select committee of the House of Commons. Subsequent Acts will publish reviews within three to five years of Royal Assent.
In March 2008, the Cabinet Office produced detailed guidance for departments on post-legislative scrutiny (available on the Cabinet Office website). A system has also been put in place to ensure that all departments are working on producing Command Papers for Select Committees on the implementation of each Act.
Life Expectancy
Question
Asked by Lord Selkirk of Douglas
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average life expectancy in England for (a) men, and (b) women in each year from 1979 to 2009; and
19 Jan 2010 : Column WA240
Baroness Crawley: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Dennis Roberts, Director, Surveys and Administrative Sources, Office for National Statistics, to Lord Selkirk, dated January 2010.
The director for the Office for National Statistics has been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary Question concerning the average life expectancy in the UK constituent countries since 1979. 1 am replying in his absence. (HL1310)
The attached table provides the period expectation of life at birth for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for each year (where available) from 1979 to 2009 for males and females. The period expectation of life at birth is the average number of years a person would live, if he or she experienced the particular country's age-specific mortality rates for that time period throughout his or her life.
| Period Expectation of Life at birth, UK constituent countries, 1979-2009 | ||||||||
| Year | Males | Females | ||||||
| England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
* These life expectancy figures are based on the national interim life tables (NILT) for all years apart from those marked with one asterisk. As figures are not available from the NILTs for these years the life expectancy estimates are based on a single year's data rather than three years.
** National interim life tables are not available and so life expectancy figures based on assumed rates of mortality from the 2008-based National Population Projections have been used.
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