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No cases went unfunded due to a lack of resources.

National Identity Register

Questions

Asked by Lord Bates

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and other Ministers in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have National Identity Cards; and, if so, on what dates they were enrolled on the National Identity Register. [HL1774]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and other Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office have National Identity Cards; and, if so, on what dates they were enrolled on the National Identity Register. [HL1775]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Leader of the House of Lords has a National Identity Card; and, if so, on what date she was enrolled on the National Identity Register. [HL1776]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Minister for the Cabinet Office has a National Identity Card; and, if so, on what date she was enrolled on the National Identity Register. [HL1777]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Scotland and other Ministers in the Scotland Office have National Identity Cards; and, if so, on what dates they were enrolled on the National Identity Register. [HL1778]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State for Wales and other Ministers in the Wales Office have National Identity Cards; and, if so, on what dates they were enrolled on the National Identity Register. [HL1779]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): I refer the noble Lord to the Answer of 22 February 2010 (WA235).

24 Feb 2010 : Column WA307

Northern Ireland Office: Pay Review

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Northern Ireland Office last carried out an equal pay review; and whether they will place a copy of that review in the Library of the House. [HL838]

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) completed an equal pay review in April 2009.

The NIO will place a copy of the review in the Library of the House.

Northern Ireland Office: Taxis

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much officials of the Northern Ireland Office claimed on expenses for the use of taxis in December 2009. [HL1931]

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: Officials of the Northern Ireland Office claimed £1,650.02 on expenses for the use of taxis in December 2009. This total relates to claims processed during December 2009.

Northern Ireland: Bill of Rights

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the publicity material recently issued by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission to secure implementation of its advice on a Bill of Rights is accurate in stating that the Bill of Rights Forum recommended a Bill of Rights. [HL1761]

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The NI Human Rights Commission recently published newspaper inserts explaining its advice to Government on a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. The publicity material stated that the forum recommended that a Bill of Rights,

"is needed to provide strong legal protection for human rights for all the people of Northern Ireland; should be in accordance with universal human rights standards, reflecting the particular circumstances... must be effective, realistic and implementable; must address the needs of the poorest and most marginalised... should be aspirational and look to the future".

This refers to the five principles agreed by the Bill of Rights Forum at its second meeting on 4 April 2007. The full quotation can be found at page 7 of the Bill of Rights Forum report. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and can be found at www.billofrightsforum.org.

24 Feb 2010 : Column WA308

Olympic Games 2012

Question

Asked by Lord Patten

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the system of void sealing and certifying construction work on the 2012 Olympic Park to reduce the risks from concealed devices is subject to independent verification; and whether such precautions are being carried out at all other venues involved in the Games where construction work has commenced or will commence before 2012. [HL1814]

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is committed to delivering a safe and secure Olympic Park and venues for the London 2012 Games. Within the venues and infrastructure that the ODA is delivering, potential voids have been identified during the design stage and, where possible, designed out. The ODA also has in place a void certification procedure and certifying regime which have been established in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police. All contractors are required to adhere to this policy, which also includes an independent assessment and verification.

Based upon the principles of the ODA's approach, LOCOG is developing a void certification policy for the temporary venues it is responsible for. Furthermore, LOCOG-in partnership with law enforcement agencies-aims to implement these same principles during overlay development at existing venues in order to minimise the search requirement immediately prior to the Games.

Public Houses

Question

Asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to the Institute for Public Policy Research report, The social value of community pubs; and whether they plan to introduce a new class of business rate relief for centres of community life, as recommended by the report. [HL1984]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): The Institute for Public Policy Research report, published in March 2009, raised a number of points about community pubs. Many of these points were subsequently covered in the Government's official response to the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group Community Pub Inquiry published in May 2009.

Railways: Franchises

Question

Asked by Lord Bradshaw

To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the annual subsidy and premium payments which have been made to rail franchise holders since April 2009. [HL2175]

24 Feb 2010 : Column WA309

The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Department for Transport routinely publishes details of contracted base franchise payments and receipts for individual franchises when they are let. Details are set out on our website at www.dft.gov.uk.

Since April 2009, a number of train operating companies have been receiving revenue support payments, as per the franchise agreements. These payments have yet to be finalised for this financial year and are commercially sensitive.

Railways: West Coast Main Line

Question

Asked by Lord Bradshaw

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much subsidy, if any, has been paid to the operator of the West Coast Main Line franchise since 2005. [HL2176]

The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Department for Transport routinely publishes details of contracted base franchise payments and receipts for individual franchise when they are let. Details for the west coast main line franchise is set out on our website and can be found at http://www. dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/westcoastfranchiseagreement.

Schools: Foreign Languages

Question

Asked by Baroness Coussins

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of schools in the state sector have (a) set a benchmark of between 50 per cent and 90 per cent of pupils who should continue to study a foreign language until the end of Key Stage 4, (b) set a benchmark of below 50 per cent, (c) set no benchmark at all, and (d) complied with the benchmark they set; and of those who complied, how many were in the 50 to 90 per cent category. [HL1744]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness

24 Feb 2010 : Column WA310

Morgan of Drefelin): According to a survey of a representative sample of maintained schools conducted by CILT, the National Centre for Languages, as part of the Language Trends survey 2009, the answers are as follows, expressed as proportions of the number of schools where language learning is optional at key stage 4: (a) 11.6 per cent, (b) 4.4 per cent, (c) 83.5 per cent. For (d), of those who had set a benchmark, 30 per cent reported an entry level for languages GCSEs equal to or greater than their benchmark, and of that group, 75 per cent were in the 50 to 90 per cent category.

Twenty-four per cent of maintained schools in the survey reported that languages were compulsory in their school.

Travel: Fraudulent Documents

Question

Asked by Baroness Warsi

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people were (a) arrested, and (b) convicted for travelling using fraudulent documents in the past 12 months. [HL1908]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): The arrests collection held by the Home Office covers arrests for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only, broken down at a main offence group level, covering categories such as violence against the person and robbery.

From these centrally reported data it is not possible to separately identify specific offences from within these offence groups.

Statistics on persons proceeded against for offences under the Immigration Acts 1971 to 2006 in England and Wales by offence description are provided by the Ministry of Justice and are published annually. Information for 2004 to 2008 has been published in table 3.4 of the Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom-2008 publication which are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html.

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