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6 Dec 2011 : Column WA139



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA139

Written Answers

Tuesday 6 December 2011

Abusive Language

Question

Asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass

The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Henley): There is no specific offence of swearing at a police officer or other public servant, nor is there a specific crime of swearing in public. However, Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 makes it an offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress by that.

The High Court found in the recent case of Harvey v the DPP that there was no evidence that those who heard the swear words in that particular case were in fact harassed, alarmed or distressed. It does not follow that such words are incapable of causing harassment, alarm or distress.

The Equality Act 2010 covers only harassment where the unwanted conduct is related to a particular protected characteristic-for example, age, race or sex-whereas the sort of behaviour that the noble Lord refers to in this question concerns the issue of swearing at public servants. The Government do not therefore intend to publish any guidance on this issue under the Equality Act.

The Government have launched a consultation on police powers for public order and are seeking views from the public and partners on the use of powers under Section 5.

Armed Forces: Postage

Question

Asked by Lord Rogan

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Astor of Hever): As part of the deployed welfare package which supports the welfare

6 Dec 2011 : Column WA140

of Armed Forces personnel on specified operations and supporting ships, a free letter service is provided to and from the UK in the form of publicly funded forces' air letters or "blueys". This ensures that service personnel, particularly those deployed at forward operating bases, can keep in touch with their families and friends.

Armed Forces personnel may decide to send letters through the forces' Post Office, rather than utilise the "bluey" service, but this is a matter of personal choice. In such cases, domestic internal UK mail postal rates, rather than standard international rates, apply.

Assisted Dying

Question

Asked by Baroness Jay of Paddington

The Advocate-General for Scotland (Lord Wallace of Tankerness): Cases of assisted suicide are recorded centrally by CPS headquarters and have been available since December 2008. These records show the following:

from 1 April 2009 to November 2011, 50 cases received from the police have been recorded as "assisted suicide and euthanasia";of these 50 cases, 31 of them were not proceeded with by the CPS while five were withdrawn by the police. Our records do not break these cases down between those not proceeded with where there was insufficient evidence and those in which a prosecution was not needed in the public interest;although some of the cases referred by the police are initially recorded as "assisted suicide and euthanasia" cases, it may be that suspects in such cases are charged with offences other than encouraging or assisting suicide, for example murder or manslaughter; andour records show that there has been one assisted suicide case that reached a first hearing in the magistrates' court in 2009-10. This case resulted in a conviction after a guilty plea.

These figures are made public when requested in the interests of transparency. The Director of Public Prosecutions ensures that, where appropriate, detailed reasons explaining decisions whether or not to charge a case of assisted suicide are published on the CPS website at www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_releases/.

Autumn Statement

Question

Asked by Lord Walton of Detchant

Earl Attlee: The Highways Agency major road schemes identified as part of the growth review on 29 November 2011 are all able to be accelerated to start construction and make significant progress in the next three years, and will therefore make the earliest possible contribution to stimulating economic growth.

No major road schemes in the north-east are able to be accelerated for early delivery in this spending review period.

In 2006 the interim Regional Transport Board for the North East recommended that the Al Adderstone to Belford and Al Morpeth to Felton schemes were not funding priorities for the period up to 2016. As such the Highways Agency ceased to work on the development of these schemes and they were therefore not in a position to be selected as part of the growth review.

Banks: Lending

Questions

Asked by Lord Myners

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Bank of England's Trends in Lending measures net lending, comprising gross drawn lending and repayments. Net lending is negative because repayments exceed drawn lending. It is entirely appropriate that Project Merlin targets gross committed lending. While banks cannot control the rate at which businesses choose to repay debt and draw down facilities, they can ensure that sufficient credit is available to businesses when businesses decide that they need it.

It is encouraging that the Project Merlin third quarter results show that the banks have loaned over £157 billion to UK businesses-11 per cent above their implied target. While the banks have also loaned 10 per cent more to small and medium-sized enterprises than they

6 Dec 2011 : Column WA142

did at this time in 2010, the Government are clear that the banks must do more to meet their commitment for the full year.

There are strong global economic headwinds. In recognition of these, the Autumn Statement launched a package of credit easing measures of up to £21 billion, with scope to increase the scale of this package in future, if necessary. The package comprises a national loan guarantee scheme of up to £20 billion of guarantees for bank funding to lower the cost of lending to smaller businesses, subject to state aid approval and a new Business Finance Partnership, initially of £1 billion, to deliver additional finance to mid-sized businesses through non-bank lending channels. This fits in with the Government's objective of getting credit flowing to business.

Climate Change

Question

Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): The Government will assess the success of the climate change summit in Durban after it has concluded on 9 December.

Elections: Non-British Citizens

Question

Asked by Lord Ashcroft

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): All British, Republic of Ireland and qualifying Commonwealth citizens are entitled to register to vote in UK parliamentary elections, local elections, and European elections assuming that all of the other registration criteria are also met. For the purposes of registering to vote, a qualifying Commonwealth citizen is an individual who either does not need leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom, or who does need such leave and has it.

Citizens of Commonwealth countries retain their voting rights even if their country has withdrawn or is suspended from the Commonwealth organisation. Therefore eligible citizens of Zimbabwe and Fiji, resident in the United Kingdom, would be entitled to vote in United Kingdom elections.



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Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Question

Asked by Lord Willoughby de Broke

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): The comprehensive review of the feed-in tariffs scheme will consider all aspects of the scheme including the level of support for each of the technologies supported. The first phase of the review, which was launched on 31 October, proposed changes to tariffs for solar photovoltaic (PV) installations.

The second phase of the review will consider the level of support for the non-PV technologies together with administration and wider issues within the scheme. We intend to publish a consultation on phase 2 of the review around the end of the year.

Energy: Green Deal

Question

Asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): Our approach to the green deal has been to establish a clear regulatory framework which will support the development of a private sector market in the provision and financing of energy efficiency measures. The interest rate for green deals will therefore be determined by the private sector market.

Energy: Wind Turbines

Question

Asked by Lord Browne of Belmont

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): DECC collects data on the installed capacity of any wind farms consented, but not the numbers of wind turbines within these consented projects. The tables below show the numbers of consented wind farms in England and Wales, with their total installed capacity, from (1) January 2008 to May 2010 and (2) May 2010 to the present1.



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA144

Wind farms consented from 1 January 2008 to 4 May 2010
TechnologyTotal number of sitesTotal installed capacity (MW)

Onshore wind

103

1035.9

Offshore wind

6

1877.8

Total

109

2913.7

Wind farms consented from 5 May 2010 to the present
TechnologyTotal number of sitesTotal installed capacity (MW)

Onshore wind

50

395.6

Offshore wind

1

230.0

Total

51

625.6

EU: Creditworthiness

Question

Asked by Lord Myners

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): Government Ministers regularly receive advice and briefing from officials on matters relating to the international economic situation and outlook.

Government Departments: Procurement

Question

Asked by Lord Prescott

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Marland): I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my honourable friend the Minister of State for Climate Change to my honourable friend the Member for Dover on 20 October 2011 (Official Report, col. 1115W).

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was created in October 2008 as a merger of elements of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). For 2008-09, details of DECC's GPC information was held as a mixture of electronic and paper records by both BIS and Defra, depending on which department cardholders previously worked for.



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA145

Paper records have been archived and would need to be retrieved and scrutinised to identify transactions relating to DECC. Since December 2009, DECC has held all GPC information electronically. Before this data can be released, transaction details have to be checked to ensure that they do not contain any classified or personal details. This would mean reviewing over 12,000 lines of data which would incur disproportionate costs to locate and analyse records.

I can confirm, however, that details of GPC expenditure transactions over £500 for the period December 2009 to March 2011 have already been deposited in the Libraries of the House.

Since April 2011, transactions over £500 are available via and published on the DECC website and at data.gov.uk.

Higher Education: Overseas Students

Question

Asked by Lord Clement-Jones

Baroness Verma: The student record contains information not just on enrolment but also on progress through the year such as drop out information and qualifications attained at the end of the year. As students can still be active until the academic year closes at the end of August, the deadline for submission of data is the end of October, two months after the close of the academic year. From this point, HESA completes extensive data processing and quality assurance in order to compile a UK-wide data set. HESA then works closely with BIS and the devolved Administrations to construct a Statistical First Release HE Enrolments and Qualifications Obtained at HE Institutions in the UK, which is published in early January. As a national statistic, the production and release must comply with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, so this date would represent the earliest point at which HESA statistics on recruitment of overseas students could be made available under the current framework.

In August 2011, UCAS published some 2011-12 accepted applicant figures which included domicile information: this provided a preliminary picture of the full-time undergraduate entry population. The figures are available on the UCAS website as follows: http://www.ucas.ac.uklabout_us/rnedia_enquiries/media_releases/2011/app_statsll/appsta250811 (Table 2).

UCAS will publish final acceptance figures for 2011-12 in December 2011.

Israel and Palestine: West Bank

Question

Asked by Lord Hylton



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA146

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: We remain concerned about increasing incidents of settler violence. According to the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, settler attacks have increased by 40 per cent in 2011 and by over 165 per cent compared to 2009. We welcome the stated commitment of the Israelis to bring perpetrators of settler violence to justice.

Our ambassador to Tel Aviv raised our concerns most recently with the Israeli Defence Force on 17 November 2011 and encouraged the Israelis to bring the perpetrators to justice. Staff at our embassy discussed settler violence with the Israeli police and the Ministry of Justice in October. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my honourable friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Mr Burt), regularly issues statements on issues relating to settlements, including price-tag attacks, most recently on 3 October 2011.

We are continuing to work with our European Union partners to raise issues relating to settlements and to monitor the situation closely.

Legislation

Questions

Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): This information is not centrally held and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Henley): The information requested is shown in the following table.



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA147

Home Office Uncommenced Legislation 2005-10
ActProvisions not yet in force

Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009

Sections 39-41, 52, Schedule Part 3

Coroners and Justice Act 2009

Section 117

Counter-Terrorism Act 2008

Sections 1-18A, 22-27 Schedule 9 Part 1

Crime and Security Act 2010

Sections 6 (partially), 8-32, 34-45, 55, 56

Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008

Sections 130-137

Equality Act 2010

Sections 1-3

Section 14

Sections 28-31(partially)

Section 36(1)(d)

Section 36(5) and (6)

Section 38(8) (partially)

Section 78

Section 98 (partially)

Sections 100-105 (partially)

Section 106

Section 107 (partially)

Section 160

Section 161 (partially)

Sections 162-164

Section 165 (partially)

Section 167 (partially)

Section 186 (partially)

Section 191(partially)

Section 196 (partially)

Section 197

Sections 198-201

Section 211 (partially)

Schedules 2-4 (partially)

Schedule 13 (partially)

Schedule 16 (partially)

Schedule 20

Schedules 22-23 (partially)

Schedule 26 (partially)

Schedule 27 (partially)

Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006

Sections 12-13, 44, 50(3)(b) and (6), Schedule 1, paragraph 11

Policing and Crime Act 2009

Sections 21 (in Northern Ireland), 52-60, 63, 65-66, 82, section 84 (partially), 85-87, 89-90, 92-96, 102 Schedule 2 (in Northern Ireland)

Police and Justice Act 2006

Sections 14, 34, 42, 43 (1), Schedule 13, paragraphs 4 and 5, Schedules 14 and 15 (partially)

Serious Crime Act 2007

Sections 91, 92 (partially), Schedule 13, paragraph 7, Schedule 14 (partially)

Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

Sections 114(9), 117 (3), 117 (4) (b), 162(3), Schedule 17 Part 2

UK Borders Act 2007

Sections 32-38 (partially), 57

Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006

Sections 1-14 (partially), 61, Schedule 5 (partially)

London Overground: Line Extensions

Question

Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Earl Attlee: The London Overground rail network is specified and funded by the Mayor of London. The network will be completed by the opening of the extension from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction which is due to take place in December 2012.



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA148

London Underground: Line Extensions

Questions

Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Earl Attlee: Any decision to extend the London Underground network would be for the mayor and Transport for London, who would also need to ensure funding was in place for such a scheme.

Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

Earl Attlee: Any decision to extend the London Underground network would be for the mayor and Transport for London, who would also need to ensure funding was in place for such a scheme. We have no record of this matter being discussed recently.

Northern Ireland Office: Consultants

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Lord Shutt of Greetland: Since 1 January 2011, the Northern Ireland Office has employed consultants on one occasion. In October 2011, and following a competitive tendering process, KPMG was appointed to carry out an economic appraisal of Hillsborough Castle. This will support delivery of one of the department's key strategic priorities which is to see Hillsborough Castle fully utilised in meeting the needs of the Royal Household, the NIO and the wider community in Northern Ireland, in a way that maximises value for taxpayers' money. The cost of this contract is £22,163.

Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2012

Question

Asked by Lord Patten



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Earl Attlee: The Department for Transport is working with Transport for London (TfL) which is leading on a programme of travel demand management. Transport networks in affected areas will be much busier during Games time. However, London will still be open for business. To keep the capital moving, we will need to achieve significant reductions in travel which is not related to the Olympics. TfL is engaging with business in order to encourage them to reduce non-essential work-related travel and to consider re-timing journeys or switching transport modes to avoid congestion hotspots during the Games. A wider strategy aimed directly at the public will be starting shortly.

Pensions

Question

Asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Deputy Prime Minister is no longer eligible to receive a pension from the European Commission.

Protection of Freedoms Bill

Question

Asked by Lord Browne of Belmont

The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Henley): The Government carefully studied the 2008 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of S & Marper, which found that the procedures permitting the indefinite retention in England, Wales and Northern Ireland of DNA from individuals who had never been convicted of an offence were unlawful.

Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Protection of Freedoms Bill gives effect to the court's judgment by dramatically reducing the circumstances and periods for which innocent persons' DNA and fingerprints will be retained in England and Wales. A full assessment of the compatibility of those proposals with the European Convention on Human Rights was produced by the Home Office and published on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-s/legislation/freedom-bill/human-rights-memorandum.



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA150

Decisions on the retention, use and destruction of biometric material taken in Northern Ireland for policing (non-counter-terrorism) purposes are within the transferred competence of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly.

Rome: British Embassies

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): The decision by the Republic of Ireland to close its embassy is a matter for the Irish Government. The United Kingdom intends to retain its embassies to both the Republic of Italy and to the Holy See, given the valuable work that both embassies undertake in pursuit of the Government's foreign policy objectives.

Schools: Lunches

Question

Asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): Since July 2010, new academies and free schools have not been required to comply with the nutritional standards for school food. They are required to provide lunches where there is demand and free school meals to all pupils who are eligible and wish to take up their entitlement. Academies that opened before July 2010 are required to comply with the nutritional standards.

We have no reason to believe that academies or free schools do not provide healthy, balanced meals that meet the current nutritional standards. In fact, the School Food Trust has advised that some of the best schools in terms of attitudes to food and meals are the academies. As part of the broader freedoms available to these schools, we trust the professionals to act in the best interests of their pupils.

The School Food Trust will be undertaking a qualitative study to look at the approach taken by academies to providing healthy school food for their pupils in 12 academies in January and February 2012.



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA151

Shipping: Tonnage

Question

Asked by Lord Prescott

Earl Attlee: The total tonnage of UK-registered ships in each of the years from 1990 to date is given in the following table:

UK-Registered Merchant Fleet, 1990 to date
At end:All Merchant Ships
million gross tons

1990

4.85

1991

4.56

1992

4.39

1993

4.41

1994

4.69

1995

4.90

1996

4.31

1997

3.82

1998

4.25

1999

4.45

2000

5.81

2001

6.11

2002

8.36

2003

10.89

2004

11.41

2005

12.02

2006

12.76

2007

13.87

2008

15.89

2009

17.46

2010

17.46

2011*

18.20

Transport: MoT Scheme

Questions

Asked by Lord Bradshaw

Earl Attlee: The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency publishes MoT test failure rate items in its effectiveness report. Emissions rates are grouped within the fuel and exhaust category. The table is as follows:



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA152

Class 3 & 4: Cars and light vans up to 3,000kg
Defect category2010-112009-102008-09
No. of tests failedNo. of tests failedNo. of tests failed

Body and structure

372,925

442,808

459,678

Brakes

2,850,211

3,360,130

3,268,823

Drivers view of the road

2,051,087

2,214,039

2,145,165

Fuel and exhaust

1,465,062

1,745,184

1,762,100

Lighting and signalling

4,954,573

5,469,979

5,286,300

Reg plates and vin

319,650

442,808

383,065

Road wheels

106,650

104,190

102,150

Seat belts

452,837

520,950

485,216

Steering

852,400

807,473

740,593

Suspension

3,169,861

3,490,368

3,243,286

Towbars

26,637

26,047

-

Tyres

2,130,999

2,344,277

2,349,467

Asked by Lord Bradshaw

Earl Attlee: Data on the levels of emissions from vehicles that have failed MoT tests have not been identified. However, research conducted by AEA Technology in 2005 suggested that the diesel car and van MoT emissions test was responsible for the following air pollutant emissions savings.

Pollutantktonnes saved

NOx

0.0192

PM10

0.1009

A 2001 research report by AEA suggested that the petrol car and van MoT emissions test was responsible for the following air pollutant emissions savings.

Pollutantktonnes saved

NOx

4.68

NMVOCs

Total

32

Benzene

1.88

1,3 Butadiene

0.33

CO

1,070

Transport: Public Subsidy

Question

Asked by Lord Bradley



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA153

Earl Attlee: Figures showing government support for the bus industry can be found on the Department for Transport's website, Table BUS0502a at: http://assets.dft.gov.uk/statistics/tables/bus0502.xls.

Figures for government support for the rail industry can be found in the annual National Rail trends publication, Table 6.2a, at: http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/nrt-yearbook-2010-11.pdf.

Copies of the relevant tables have been placed in the Library of the House.

UK Statistics Authority

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The UK Statistics Authority is independent of ministerial control. It is for the Office for National Statistics, overseen by the authority, to judge how to calculate and present the statistical information that is developed as a result of the surveys that it conducts.



6 Dec 2011 : Column WA154

Universities: Admissions

Question

Asked by Lord Browne of Belmont

Baroness Verma: The numbers of new students enrolled at United Kingdom (UK) universities in September 2011 are not available. The numbers of new (first year) students enrolled at UK higher education institutions are shown in the table by level of study and mode of study for the 2009-10 academic year as an alternative. Figures for the 2010-11 academic year will become available from January 2012. Further information on student numbers is available at this link to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) website: http://www.hesa.ac.uk/content/view/1897/239/.

First year student enrolments (1) on higher education courses by level of study and mode of study
UK higher education institutions
Academic year 2009-10
Level of study
Mode of studyUndergraduatePostgraduate

Full-time

516,480

200,915

Part-time

335,050

132,745

Total

851,530

333,660

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