Written Answers
Tuesday 10 June 2014
Animal Experiments
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many experiments were carried out on animals in the United Kingdom each year from 1997 to 2014. [HL41]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach) (Con): The following table contains information on the number of procedures undertaken for the years 1997 to 2012.
The Home Office expects to publish, for Great Britain, 2013 statistics on 10 July 2014 and 2014 statistics in summer/autumn 2015.
The publication of 2013 and 2014 statistics for Northern Ireland is a matter for the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety in Northern Ireland (DHSSPSNI), which separately publishes Northern Irish statistics.
| Table 1 Number of scientific procedures carried out on animals in Great Britain and Northern Ireland between 1997 and 2012 | |||
| Year | Great Britain | Northern Ireland | Total UK |
Source: Home Office and DHSSPSNI
Credit Unions
Question
Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the progress of the Credit Union Expansion Project.[HL112]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud) (Con): The DWP Credit Union Expansion Project contract began in May 2013. Around 80 credit unions are currently participating in the project. ABCUL has started delivering the Automated
Loan and decision tool to participating credit unions and feedback is that the tool is ensuring loan decisions are faster, consistent and more efficient to deliver. Procurement of an IT banking platform is also being progressed but much remains to be done particularly on achieving sufficient growth for Credit Unions, and DWP continue to support and monitor the project closely.
Cybercrime
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are considering with the United States authorities and other countries to counter cyber virus crime and extortion.[HL30]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach) (Con): The National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime, which the National Crime Agency (NCA) published in May this year, makes clear that the threat from organised crime groups using cyber tools to commit fraud and online attacks is an increasing risk. This Government has taken significant action to transform the way the UK responds to the cyber threat, including cyber crime, underpinned by £860m additional investment between 2011/12 and 2015/16.
The UK is working closely with US authorities and with a wide range of other countries to tackle the problem of cyber crime and the associated problem of extortion. The recent international operation between the NCA, the FBI and 9 other countries to disrupt the communications used by criminals to connect with computers that are infected with malicious software (‘malware’) known as GameOverZeus and Cryptolocker illustrates the level of international cooperation that the NCA undertakes. This included close coordination in delivering protective security advice through GetSafeOnline and Cyber Streetwise.
We are also working overseas to help increase the capability and capacity of other countries to tackle cyber crime, through support for improved legislative arrangements, such as the implementation of the principles of the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crime and the development of capacity internationally to tackle cyber crime.
Diplomatic Service
Question
Asked by Lord Patel of Blackburn
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the proportion of Muslims in senior positions in British diplomatic missions abroad.[HL24]
The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi) (Con): The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion for all its employees. The FCO’s
management information system shows that, out of the 246 Senior Management positions overseas, 80 members of staff have declared their religion. Of these, three are Muslim, which corresponds to 3.75% of those who declared and 1.22% of the overall total.
All FCO UK based staff are asked to provide diversity information about their ethnicity, disability status, sexual orientation and religion or belief. Supplying this data is voluntary. The FCO is working to improve diversity declaration rates by staff, including for religion and belief, and as part of this effort a three month campaign titled “Why Should I Tell You” was run between November 2013 and January 2014 to encourage staff to provide their diversity information. Over this period declaration rates for religion and belief increased from 31 to 35%.
The FCO launched the Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) Campaign in Summer 2013 aimed at the recruitment, progression and development of BME staff. The campaign aims to improve young people’s understanding of the organisation and to encourage more applications to our fast stream, particularly from BME communities. It also includes a leadership programme for high performing BME staff to prepare them for senior management and other targeted career development courses, mentoring and coaching. The initial results have been very encouraging.
The FCO publishes an annual Equality Report which provides information about the diversity and makeup of our staff, as required by the Equality Act 2010. The 2014 report can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-and-equality-report-2014.
Forced Marriage
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 6 May (WA 359), whether they intend to make it an offence for a British subject to be taken from the United Kingdom to be forced into marriage outside their jurisdiction.[HL18]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach) (Con): The Coalition Government has passed legislation to make the act of forcing someone to marry a criminal offence, by means of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. The legislation comes into force on 16 June 2014.
The extra-territorial provision in this legislation means that if the prohibited acts take place outside the UK by, or to, a UK national, or a person habitually resident in England or Wales, it will be an offence under domestic law and triable in the courts of England and Wales.
Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust
Question
Asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the cost of the special administration process in relation to Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust. [HL27]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe) (Con): The appointment of Trust Special Administrators (TSAs) to Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust in April 2013 was made by Monitor. The TSAs’ final proposals were accepted by Monitor in January 2014, and by the Secretary of State in February 2014.
In an announcement on 13 March 2014, Monitor stated that the costs of the process to date had been £7,250,000, with an additional £250,000 incurred by the team of administrators in expenses.
Following the Secretary of State’s acceptance of the proposals, the TSAs have remained in post to continue with the day to day management of the Trust and to work on implementing the proposals.
In the announcement Monitor anticipated that the overall cost of the TSA contract for the lifetime of the project would be between £12 million and £15 million.
Monitor’s announcement can be found on its website at:
www.gov.uk/government/news/mid-staffs-monitor-announces-next-steps
Pakistan
Question
Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent stonings in Pakistan; and what steps they will take to ensure that the values set out in the Commonwealth Charter are being upheld in that country.[HL47]
The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi) (Con): The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), made a statement on 29 May urging the Government of Pakistan to do all in its power to eradicate honour killings and calling on the Pakistani authorities to investigate fully the murder of Farzana Parveen. We continue to urge the Pakistan government to bring the perpetrators to justice. I am pleased that Prime Minister Sharif condemned the murder and immediately demanded action.
Pakistan is included as a “country of concern” in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Annual Human Rights Report and we regularly raise the subject of human rights for all Pakistan’s citizens with the Pakistani government. We continue to encourage Pakistan and all Commonwealth countries to uphold the values as set out in the Commonwealth Charter signed in 2012.
Parades: Northern Ireland
Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have held talks with the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Justice Minister about the forthcoming parading season in Northern Ireland; when any such meetings occurred; and who was present at those meetings. [HL89]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Wales Office (Baroness Randerson) (LD): The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland met the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the Chair of the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland and the Minister for Justice for Northern Ireland on Wednesday, 14 May 2014.
Also in attendance at this meeting were senior officials from the Northern Ireland Office and Department of Justice along with members of the PSNI Service Executive Team and the Secretariat of the Parades Commission.
This meeting provided participants with an opportunity to exchange general views on the parading season in Northern Ireland. No decisions were taken at this meeting and there were no discussions about operational matters relating to specific parades.
Religious Freedom
Questions
Asked by The Lord Bishop of Coventry
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of the resources for projects under the Human Rights and Democracy Programme were allocated to the area of freedom of religion and belief in 2013.[HL9]
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many applications they received for funding under the Human Rights and Democracy Programme in 2013 for work associated with freedom of religion or belief.[HL10]
To ask Her Majesty’s Government for how many projects they provided funding under the Human Rights and Democracy Programme in 2013 for work associated with freedom of religion and belief. [HL11]
The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi) (Con): In the 2013-14 financial year the Human Rights and Democracy Programme (HRDP) received 218 proposals for funding. Seventeen of these proposals were for work associated with Freedom of Religion and Belief (FORB), representing 7.8% of proposals received. Six projects were ultimately funded, to the value of £214,029. This represents 3.3% of the total resource available.
The programme is keen to see more good quality project bids on this theme in future bidding rounds, and have actively encouraged more quality bids for the 2014-15 financial year.