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Military Police: MP7
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
14 Mar 2005 : Column WA117- when they expect deliveries to be complete; how long they expect training in the use of this weapon to take; and when they expect all members of the military police to be equipped with this weapon and trained in its use. [HL1616]
Lord Bach: I assume the noble Lord is referring to the procurement of the Heckler and Koch MP7 personal defence weapon for the Ministry of Defence Police. Deliveries of the MP7 are scheduled to start in March 2005 and be completed during July 2005. Training in the use of this weapon takes between three to four days depending on the role of the individual officer. All members of the Ministry of Defence Police who require an MP7 will be equipped and trained by June 2006.
Chief of the Defence Staff
Lord Astor of Hever asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State, Ministry of Defence, Mr Adam Ingram, on 1 March (Official Report, Commons, col. 1141W), what criteria they will use in preparing the "short narrative . . . setting out how the Chief of Defence Staff has contributed to delivering the Government's objectives for defence over the past year". [HL1617]
Lord Bach: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence's short narrative will cover the Chief of Defence Staff's personal contribution to the delivery of military operational effectiveness and his management of the senior officers that report directly to him.
Council Tax
Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many properties in England are currently in each council tax band; and how many properties they estimate will be in each council tax band following the council tax revaluation with effect from 1 April 2007. [HL1425]
The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker): Numbers of properties in England in each council tax band as at 11 October 2004 are tabled below.
| Band | Number of properties on valuation lists as at 11 October 2004 (million) |
| A | 5.569 |
| B | 4.202 |
| C | 4.704 |
| D | 3.298 |
| E | 2.062 |
| F | 1.090 |
| G | 0.780 |
| H | 0.121 |
| Total | 21.825 |
The distribution of dwellings to bands after revaluation will depend on property values as at 1 April 2005 and on decisions yet to be taken on the number and values of council tax bands. The report of the independent inquiry into local government funding by Sir Michael Lyons which is due by the end of this year will inform the Government's decisions on council tax bands.
Millennium Dome
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their estimate of the total costs to public funds to date of maintaining the Millennium Dome (both gross and net) since its official closure; and what is the present weekly cost. [HL1540]
Lord Rooker: From July 2001, when English Partnerships took ownership of the Dome, to the end of December 2004, the total cost to English Partnerships of the management, maintenance and security of the Dome, including English Partnerships' staff costs, was £9.38 million gross, or £7.98 million net, after deduction of income of £1.4 million from interim events.
The average monthly cost over the six months from July to December 2004 was £163,000. This will significantly reduce further from January 2005, but final figures for January and February are not yet available.
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Baroness Ashton of Upholland on 24 February (WA 230), whether they regard the presumption that all information held by the Government should be available to the public applies to official ministerial diaries, subject only to the specific exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [HL1541]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): The Freedom of Information Act operates on the presumption that all information held by public authorities, including information held in official ministerial diaries, should be available, subject to the 23 exemptions of the Act.
General Election: Foreign Observers
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will invite, through the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe or the Council of Europe, foreign observers to observe any forthcoming British general election. [HL1578]
Baroness Ashton of Upholland: As a participating member of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, we would normally invite its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to send election observers to any elections held in the UK. I fully expect us to repeat our previous practice of doing so once the date for the next general election is announced.
Arts Funding
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they agree with the chair of the Arts Council, Sir Christopher Frayling, in his Royal Society lecture 2005, that "public subsidy of the arts in this country still lags behind our European counterparts by a very wide margin"; and, if not, what the relevant comparative data indicate about the current position. [HL1544]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey): There are no up to date comparative data available for public subsidy of the arts in European countries, given the different structures of national and regional government that exist.
We have increased national funding to the arts in real terms by 60 per cent. since 1998–99, from £199 million to £367 million in 2004–05.
Pensions
Baroness Greengross asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much it cost the National Insurance Fund to index the guaranteed minimum pension in each year from 1975 to 2004; and how much of this amount was spent in each year on (a) public service pensions, and (b) private sector pensions. [HL1552]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Hollis of Heigham): The indexation of members' guaranteed minimum pensions as required under the contracting-out legislation is the responsibility of contracted-out occupational pension schemes themselves, not the National Insurance Fund.
Equality Bill
Lord Lester of Herne Hill asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend the Equality Bill to be debated during the current parliamentary session. [HL1613]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): I am pleased to say that the Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on 2 March. It will be proceeded with in the normal way, in accordance with demands on the parliamentary
14 Mar 2005 : Column WA120
timetable. We hope that the Bill will be enacted with the minimum delay in order to bring greater equality, diversity and respect for human rights to benefit individuals and contribute to our goal of a fair, prosperous and cohesive society.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Lord Hylton asked Her Majesty's Government:
What effect the various methods so far employed in the United Kingdom to reduce sexually transmitted diseases have had; how the Government measure their impact, if any; and whether the increase in known cases indicates that the situation is out of control. [HL1477]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): Addressing the rise in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is at the heart of the Government's work on sexual health, boosted recently by an additional investment of £300 million over the next three years. The public health White Paper, Choosing Health, announced a new high profile media campaign, acceleration of the roll-out of the chlamydia screening programme across England by March 2007, a review of contraceptive and genitourinary medicine (GUM) services and investment to modernise and improve access, including a new maximum waiting time of 48 hours for GUM clinics by 2008.
To further strengthen delivery at local level, sexual health is being included in primary care trusts' local delivery plans for the first time. In addition there are recommended standards and good practice documents published by the Department of Health.
The Health Protection Agency collects data on waiting times for sexual health clinics, and ongoing surveillance data on STIs and HIV (published at www.hpa.org.uk). Data for 2003 show that the rate of increase for many STIs has slowed or decreased, for example gonorrhoea decreased by 4 per cent. Teenage conceptions have also decreased by 9.8 per cent since 1998.
Separate sexual health strategies are in place, or in development for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
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