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Non-warlike surplus stores are sold directly from the Banja Luka metal factory site and to determine if purchasers (often individuals) are from the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina or the Republika Srpska would incur disproportionate cost. Ministry of Defence policy is not to gift to commercial entities.
Nepal: Human Rights
The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they support the United Nations proposal for an independent, high-level Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Nepal as a means of addressing continuing human rights violations and of providing compensation for families affected. [HL668]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): If Nepal is to move forward it is important that impunity is tackled and that there must be an immediate end to widespread human rights violations. As such, we welcome the agreement of both sides to the establishment of a high-level Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It will be important that, following their commitment to setting up such a commission, both the Government and Maoists fully co-operate to allow comprehensive investigations of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity.
Until such a commission is actively investigating previous accusations of human rights violations, we will continue to provide robust political support to the efforts of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal to highlight previous allegations of human rights abuses by both sides.
Olympic Games 2012: British Team
Lord Luke asked Her Majesty's Government:
How much of the £100 million targeted sponsorship money UK Sport has raised for the preparation of the British team for the 2012 Olympic Games since this objective was announced during the 2006 Budget speech. [HL648]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government, supported by UK Sport, are currently exploring a number of options to raise £100 million from the private sector to help support our most talented athletes, and therefore no money has yet been raised.
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Passports
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to record the passport details of all persons departing from the United Kingdom; and, if so, when the facility to do so will be complete. [HL591]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): Intelligence-led targeted embarkation controls are currently in place at Heathrow and Gatwick to focus on identifying failed asylum seekers and other immigration offenders who are leaving the UK. Those identified as immigration offenders can be served with appropriate notices and their embarkation recorded in the event that they should seek to return to the UK. The e-Borders programme, scheduled to commence in 2008, will strengthen and modernise our border control and provide an electronic record of those entering and leaving the UK.
Police: Shared Intelligence System
Baroness Harris of Richmond asked Her Majesty's Government:
Given the history of problems faced when completing large-scale information technology projects, what consideration has been given to using off-the-shelf solutions to the problems raised in the Bichard inquiry. [HL256]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The IMPACT programme has made use of an existing application in the Criminal Records Bureau (i-PLX) in developing the IMPACT nominal index. For the next stage in the technology development the programme is building upon the Cross-Regional Information-Sharing Project (CRISP), which was already under development by a consortium of police forces. The Police National Database will be subject to a competitive procurement during which potential suppliers will be able to propose the use of off-the-shelf solutions where these meet the requirements.
Police: Single Non-emergency Number
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the costs incurred by each local partnership between police and local authorities that submitted proposals for wave 2 of the 101-single non-emergency number programme in developing and submitting those proposals, as estimated (a) by the Government, and (b) by each partnership; and [HL510]
Whether the costs incurred by each local partnership between police and local authorities in developing and submitting proposals for wave 2 of the 101-single non-emergency number programme have been, or will be, reimbursed; and, if so, on what basis.[HL511]
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The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): At the start of the single non-emergency number 101 programme wave 2 development phase, expressions of interest were submitted and funding agreements signed by prospective wave 2 partnerships on the basis that the Home Office would provide up to £100,000 of funding to support the preparation of delivery proposals in each partnership area, with the exceptions of London which would be allocated up to £400,000, Wales up to £200,000 and Leicestershire up to £40,000, reflecting the differing circumstances in these particular partnerships. The costs incurred by each partnership in the preparation of their delivery proposals will therefore be reimbursed accordingly.
Police: Speeding
Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many times police cars have been detected by speed cameras exceeding limits over the past five years; and what proportion resulted in (a) a prosecution; (b) a caution; or (c) no further action. [HL639]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): The information is not collected centrally in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Railways: Channel Tunnel Freight
Lord Marsh asked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the answer by Lord Davies of Oldham on 6 December (HL Deb, col. 1157) on the Channel Tunnel, whether they have anything further to add on the subject of Government support for Channel Tunnel rail freight. [HL895]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Under the terms of the Channel Tunnel rail usage contract (RUC) and in line with the access charge provisions of the first European rail package, we have agreed that the British Railways Board (BRB) should continue to bear the UK freight allocation of Eurotunnel's operational expenses charges payable under the terms of the rail usage contract, as these represent overhead infrastructure costs not directly incurred as a result of operating the railway service.
To enable BRB to do this, we have made changes to the UK arrangements whereby those rights and obligations of BRB previously delegated exclusively to English, Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWSI) are now delegated on a non-exclusive basis and apply to any international freight train operator.
For the first year these charges will equate to approximately £6.5 million.
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Railways: Manchester to Glasgow
Lord Greaves asked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the fastest, average and slowest journey times on through services between Manchester and Glasgow in the current railway timetable; and what the equivalent times will be when the services are taken over by Trans-Pennine Express. [HL789]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Existing train times can be found in the current National Rail timetable, which is publicly available. The timetable to apply when Trans-Pennine Express operates services between Manchester and Glasgow has yet to be finalised; journey times between Manchester Piccadilly and Glasgow Central of between three and a quarter and three and a half hours are expected.
Roads: A14
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the level of litter on the eastbound layby on the A14 adjacent to the M6 is satisfactory; and what steps they will take with a view to the cost-effectiveness of the contractors responsible. [HL827]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Under the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 code of practice on litter and refuse, sweeping and clearing the majority of the trunk road network is the responsibility of the district and borough councils through which they pass.
Litter clearance of the layby on the A14 trunk road eastbound, adjacent to the M6, is the responsibility of Harborough District Council.
Royal Air Force: Personnel Strength
Lord Garden asked Her Majesty's Government:
What factors caused the deficit in Royal Air Force personnel strength to increase from 350 to 2,720 over the six months to 1 October. [HL381]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): As announced in another place on 21 July 2004, (Official Report, col. 348) the trained strength of the Royal Air Force is being reduced to meet the 41,000 target by April 2008. This is being achieved through a balance of normal outflow, intake reductions and targeted redundancy. As a planned consequence of the strategy and the pace of the redundancy programme, the trained strength is falling faster than the reduction in requirement, which is resulting in a period of increased manning deficit. One significant contributing factor is that most of the 1,200 applicants selected for redundancy under tranche
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Royal Air Force: Redundancy Scheme
Lord Garden asked Her Majesty's Government:
How many Royal Air Force personnel, broken down by rank and specialisation, applied for redundancy under tranche 3 of the redundancy scheme; and how many will be allowed to leave under redundancy terms. [HL380]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): The tables below give the details of officers and ground trades personnel who applied and were selected under tranche 3 of the RAF redundancy scheme.
| Officers | |||
| Branch | Rank | Number of Applicants | Number Selected |
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