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Terrorism: Artistic Projects

Lord Laird asked Her Majesty’s Government:

Whether public funding is given to artistic projects which celebrate terrorists in the process of committing suicide. [HL4598]

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport funds Arts Council England to invest in the arts. The Arts Council operates at arm’s length from Government, and decisions relating to which arts organisations and projects to support are entirely for it.

Arts Council England makes funding decisions based on quality and meeting its corporate objectives. The Arts Council does not discriminate on the grounds of religion, sexual orientation, race or disability, and each application is judged on its own merit.

Terrorism: Suspect U

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the technical error said to have caused the Ministry of Justice to give the media the address of terrorist suspect U after his release from custody on bail, in breach of an anonymity order by the Court of Appeal. [HL4711]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The bail order for terrorist suspect U was released to the media with consent from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission judge. Before releasing the bail order, administrative staff removed the personal details—namely, terrorist suspect U's name and bail address—from the electronically stored document. The software used for the document, Microsoft Word, has a facility for tracking changes made to documents. While the final document that was sent to the media was a clean copy, recipients

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were able to access the previously deleted information by utilising this tracked changes facility. However, despite this, the reporting restrictions issued by the judge at the same time as the bail order still applied and prevented this information being published.

The Tribunals Service has now produced guidance for staff to prevent this technical error happening again.

Vaccination and Immunisation

Earl Howe asked Her Majesty's Government:

How the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (a) assess and (b) report the impact on National Health Service resources of their guidance for non-routine immunisations. [HL4723]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Darzi of Denham): The role of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is to advise the United Kingdom Secretaries of State on matters relating to communicable diseases, preventable and potentially preventable through immunisation. The Department of Health for England (and equivalent departments in the devolved Administrations) communicate with the National Health Service regarding JCVI recommendations.

Visas

Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many visas were issued to citizens of the Russian Federation in each of the years 2002 to 2007; and how many have been issued in each month of 2008. [HL4728]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The total number of visas issued to citizens of the Russian Federation in each of the calendar years 2004 to 2007 are as follows (reliable data are not available for prior years):

2004—122,615;2005—140,118;2006—157,357; and2007—159,720.

The total numbers of visas issued to citizens of the Russian Federation in each of the months January to June 2008 are as follows:

January 6,898;

February 10,045;

March 9,204;

April 12,374;

May 18,702; and

June 17,945.

Source: Central Reference System, 9 July 2008.

Please note these data are unpublished and should be strictly treated as provisional. The published annual entry clearance statistics do not specifically show the total number of visas issued to Russian nationals.

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Workers Registration Scheme

Lord Roberts of Llandudno asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will allow those joining the workers registration scheme to defer paying the fee of £65 until they are earning. [HL4644]

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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The fee to join the workers registration scheme is £90. Regulation 8(1) of the Accession Regulations 2004 states that “an application for a registration certificate authorising an accession state worker requiring registration to work for an employer may only be made by an applicant who is working for that employer at the date of the application”. Applications should only be made by applicants who are in work and earning.

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