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29 Jun 2010 : Column WA259



29 Jun 2010 : Column WA260

Being in charge of a motor vehicle while having a breath, urine or blood alcohol concentration in excess of the prescribed limit

Being in charge of a motor vehicle and failing to provide a specimen for a laboratory test or two specimens for analysis of breath if at the relevant time driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle

Failing without reasonable excuse to provide a specimen of breath for a preliminary test

Failing to allow specimen of blood to be subjected to laboratory test

Driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle whilst unfair through drink or drugs (impairment)-drink

Driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle whilst unfit through drink or drugs (impairment)-drugs

Being in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle whilst unfit to drive through drink or drugs (impairment)-drink

Being in charge of a mechanically propelled vehicle whilst unfit to drive through drink or drugs (impairment)-drugs

Source: Justice Statistics - Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice

Ref: PQ(JSAS) HL624 HL625 (22/06/2010)

These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system

These data have been taken from the Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings database. These data are presented on the principal offence basis. Where an offender has been sentenced for more than one offence the principal offence is the one for which the heaviest sentence was imposed. Where the same sentence has been imposed for two or more offences the principal offence is the one for which the statutory maximum is most severe

Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates' court for April, July, and August 2008.

Data only include those prosecuted and sentenced for drink driving and exclude those prosecuted and sentenced for causing death by driving under the Road Traffic Act 1988 added by Road Traffic Act 1991 and amended by Criminal Justice Act 2003

Following the introduction of the LIBRA case management system defendants at magistrates' courts can be recorded as "sex not stated" and have therefore been excluded from these data

Crime: Perjury

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for perjury, England and Wales 2006 to 2008 (latest available), are shown in the table.

Charging data are not collected centrally and prosecutions data are given in lieu.

Court proceedings data for 2009 are planned for publication in October 2010.

Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts and found guilty at all courts for perjury, England and Wales 2006 to 2008(1)(2)(3)
200620072008

Proceeded against

109

122

83

Found guilty

91

91

82

(1) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

(3) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates' court for April, July, and August 2008.

Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services in the Ministry of Justice

Crime: Women

Question

Asked by Lord Dholakia

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): The Ministry of Justice has provided over £10 million until March 2011 to established, voluntary sector providers to develop women's community projects that tackle the complex and underlying causes of their offending. The projects form a key part of our approach to reducing the number of women in prison who do not pose a risk to the public through providing effective community sentences that meet the different needs of women and reduce reoffending. Directors of Offender Management working with probation are taking the lead role in sustaining successful activity through joint local commissioning and partnership arrangements. It should be noted that the projects are not simply reliant on DOM's funding and many now draw upon a range of statutory and charitable sources.

Department for International Development: Budget

Question

Asked by Lord Ashcroft



29 Jun 2010 : Column WA261

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Government's coalition agreement makes it clear that deficit reduction, and securing the economic recovery, is the most urgent issue facing Britain. However, this Government believe that even in these difficult economic times, the UK has a moral responsibility to help the poorest people in the world. It is also very much in our national self-interest to ensure that our development budget does something about the difficult conflict-ridden and unstable areas in the developing world. The UK will therefore honour the commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on official development assistance (ODA).

The Department for International Development will be expected to achieve significant efficiency savings and these will be recycled to ensure the best value in the UK's ODA spend. The Secretary of State for International Development recently announced that he would redirect £100 million from projects that are low priority or that are not performing, to programmes that have a better success rate in improving the lives of the world's poor.

Energy: Nuclear Power

Question

Asked by Lord Vinson

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): It is of course a commercial decision for those in the private sector to decide whether or not to invest in the nuclear supply chain, including in the manufacture of key components, in order to take advantage of the opportunities provided by new nuclear power in the UK and around the world.

The Government's role is to encourage private investment in the nuclear industry in the UK through removing unnecessary barriers to new nuclear and by implementing the four facilitative actions on planning, regulatory justification, generic design assessment and on waste and decommissioning finance.

Energy companies have already announced plans to build 16GW of new nuclear in the UK which represents a significant opportunity for UK companies. And the size of the global nuclear market is significant and growing.

This is why we remain committed to the development of strong and competitive UK supply chain and are supporting industry through skills development, apprentice schemes, market information, the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the Manufacturing Advisory Service, support to help export promotion, nuclear R&D and the National Nuclear Laboratory.



29 Jun 2010 : Column WA262

Energy: Nuclear Waste Disposal

Questions

Asked by Lord Judd

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): In 2008, communities were invited to express an interest in entering discussions with Government about a siting process for a geological disposal facility for higher activity radioactive waste.

To date, three expressions of interest have been received (Copeland Borough Council, Cumbria County Council and Allerdale Borough Council) for the areas of Copeland and Allerdale. The authorities and local stakeholders are working together in partnership and recently requested the commencement of the British Geological Survey high-level, subsurface unsuitability test. This process will be desk-based, using existing data, and will not identify sites that could definitely host a facility but will screen out areas that can easily be identified now as unsuitable for geological reasons, using a small set of basic geological criteria that were subject to public consultation in 2007. At further stages of the process increasingly detailed assessments will be made of potential sites.

The British Geological Survey's report is expected to be made available to the West Cumbria Managing Radioactive Waste Safely (MRWS) Partnership in the autumn. Further information about the West Cumbria MRWS Partnership can be found at (www. westcumbriamrws.org.uk).

Asked by Lord Judd

Lord Marland: Government are undertaking a stepwise process for implementing geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste based on the recommendations of the independent Committee on Radioactive Waste Management. This process is based on voluntarism and partnership with local communities with the first stage being local communities expressing an interest in entering discussions with Government about the siting process.

Following an expression of interest the second stage in the process is the completion of a high-level, subsurface unsuitability test by the British Geological Survey to exclude those areas that can easily be identified now as unsuitable to host a facility for geological reasons. This unsuitability test is currently being undertaken for the Allerdale and Copeland Boroughs of West Cumbria using a small set of basic geological criteria that were subject to public consultation in 2007.



29 Jun 2010 : Column WA263

In its input to the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management's original deliberations between 2003-06, the British Geological Survey set out that it was confident that geological conditions suitable for the disposal of radioactive waste could be found in a significant proportion of the UK.

Energy: Renewables

Question

Asked by Lord Vinson

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): The Government are committed to improving the transparency of energy bills and improving information to consumers to help them understand and control their energy costs.

Currently, environmental and social programmes and subsidies, including but not limited to support for renewables, account for 8 per cent of the average domestic electricity bill and 3 per cent of the average domestic gas bill.

There are currently no requirements for energy suppliers to put information on subsidies on energy bills. Ofgem has produced readily available factsheets explaining energy bills which give a breakdown of the costs that make up consumer bills. Some suppliers have chosen to include example cost breakdowns on bills to improve transparency and we would strongly encourage this.

Energy: Wind Generation

Question

Asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): Since 6 May there have been no discussions between local government representatives and Ministers from my department about increasing the amount of onshore wind energy in the United Kingdom. However DECC officials meet regularly with local government representatives to discuss issues concerning onshore wind deployment.

Financial Services Regulation

Questions

Asked by Lord Myners



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The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Chancellor meets the Governor of the Bank of England regularly to discuss a range of policy and operational issues (including issues related to regulatory reform). Discussions between the Governor and Court of the Bank of England are a matter for the Bank of England.

Asked by Lord Myners

Lord Sassoon: Each authority under the reformed financial regulation architecture will have the power to levy the financial services industry in order to fund their activities, as is the case with the Financial Services Authority.

Fishing: Common Fisheries Policy

Question

Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Henley): We need to move on from the current centralised common fisheries policy (CFP) that attempts to micromanage fishermen's daily activities. In negotiations on the reform of the CFP, the UK will press for radical change that provides for serious devolution of decision-making, and simplification, to improve fisheries management. While it may be appropriate for genuinely strategic decisions to be taken at EU level, because many fish stocks are shared between various member states, more responsibility for implementation can, and should, be devolved to member states.

Government Departments: Expenditure Cuts

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): It will be for departments to determine the exact workforce implications, including redeployments, in line with their overall budget reductions.



29 Jun 2010 : Column WA265

By acting now, we have reduced the risk of adverse market conditions, which would mean higher interest rates for all, stifle recovery and make the challenges ahead even harder.

The Government are committed to protecting jobs and supporting job creation; the policies upon which the coalition has agreed will support workers and firms through the economic recovery.

House of Lords: Members

Question

Asked by Lord Selsdon

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: This information is not held centrally. Information on board membership and remuneration is published in individual bodies' annual reports and accounts. In addition, Peers must comply with the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords which includes the registration of any remunerated employment.


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