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Vol. 742 No. 89

Tuesday 8 January 2013

PA R L I A M E N T A RY D E B A T E S (HANSARD)

HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT O R D E R O F BU S I N E S S Death of a Member: Lord Rees-Mogg Announcement Leader of the House Questions Airports: Capacity Housing: New Homes Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2012 Economy: Effect of US “Fiscal Cliff ” Solution Ibrahim Magag: Disappearance Private Notice Question NHS: South London Healthcare Trust Private Notice Question Public Service Pensions Bill Order of Consideration Motion Growth and Infrastructure Bill Second Reading Armed Forces: Future Size Question for Short Debate Grand Committee Public Bodies (Abolition of British Shipbuilders) Order 2013 Public Bodies (Abolition of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal) Order 2013 Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2012 Considered in Grand Committee Sri Lanka Question for Short Debate Written Statements Written Answers For column numbers see back page

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HER MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT PRINCIPAL OFFICERS OF STATE THE CABINET PRIME MINISTER, FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE—The Rt. Hon. David Cameron, MP DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND LORD PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL—The Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg, MP FIRST SECRETARY OF STATE AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS—The Rt. Hon. William Hague, MP CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER—The Rt. Hon. George Osborne, MP CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY—The Rt. Hon. Danny Alexander, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT—The Rt. Hon. Theresa May, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE—The Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS AND PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE—The Rt. Hon. Vince Cable, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WORK AND PENSIONS—The Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, MP LORD CHANCELLOR AND SECRETARY OF STATE FOR JUSTICE—The Rt. Hon. Chris Grayling, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATION—The Rt. Hon. Michael Gove, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT—The Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH—The Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS—The Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT—The Rt. Hon. Justine Greening, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SCOTLAND—The Rt. Hon. Michael Moore, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE—The Rt. Hon. Edward Davey, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT—The Rt. Hon. Patrick McLoughlin, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN AND EQUALITIES—The Rt. Hon. Maria Miller, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND—The Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers, MP SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WALES—The Rt. Hon. David Jones, MP LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS AND CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER—Lord Hill of Oareford, CBE DEPARTMENTS OF STATE AND MINISTERS Business, Innovation and Skills— SECRETARY OF STATE AND PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE—The Rt. Hon. Vince Cable, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt. Hon. David Willetts, MP The Rt. Hon. Michael Fallon, MP Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Lord Marland Jo Swinson, MP Matthew Hancock, MP Cabinet Office— MINISTER FOR THE CABINET OFFICE AND PAYMASTER-GENERAL—The Rt. Hon. Francis Maude, MP MINISTER FOR GOVERNMENT POLICY—The Rt. Hon. Oliver Letwin, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. David Laws, MP PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES— Nick Hurd, MP Chloe Smith, MP Communities and Local Government— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles, MP SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Baroness Warsi MINISTER OF STATE—Mark Prisk, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Nick Boles, MP The Rt. Hon. Don Foster, MP Brandon Lewis, MP Baroness Hanham, CBE

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Culture, Media and Sport— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Maria Miller, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Hugh Robertson, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Ed Vaizey, MP Helen Grant, MP Jo Swinson, MP Defence— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond, MP MINISTEROF STATE (MINISTER FOR THE ARMED FORCES)—The Rt. Hon. Andrew Robathan, MP MINISTEROF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Mark Francois, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Dr Andrew Murrison, MP Philip Dunne, MP Lord Astor of Hever, DL Education— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Michael Gove, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. David Laws, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Matthew Hancock, MP Edward Timpson, MP Elizabeth Truss, MP Energy and Climate Change— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Edward Davey, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt. Hon. Gregory Barker, MP John Hayes, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—Baroness Verma Environment, Food and Rural Affairs— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Owen Paterson, MP MINISTER OF STATE—David Heath, CBE, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Richard Benyon, MP Lord De Mauley, TD Foreign and Commonwealth Office— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. William Hague, MP SENIOR MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Baroness Warsi MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt. Hon. David Lidington, MP The Rt. Hon. Hugo Swire, MP Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Mark Simmonds, MP Alistair Burt, MP Health— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt, MP MINISTER OF STATE—Norman Lamb, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Anna Soubry, MP Daniel Poulter, MP Earl Howe

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Home Office— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Theresa May, MP MINISTER OF STATE (MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION)—Mark Harper, MP MINISTER OF STATE (MINISTER FOR POLICING AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE)—The Rt. Hon. Damian Green, MP MINISTER OF STATE—Jeremy Browne, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— James Brokenshire, MP Lord Taylor of Holbeach International Development— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Justine Greening, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Alan Duncan, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—Lynne Featherstone, MP Justice— LORD CHANCELLOR AND SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Chris Grayling, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— The Rt. Hon. Lord McNally The Rt. Hon. Damian Green, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Helen Grant, MP Jeremy Wright, MP Law Officers— ATTORNEY-GENERAL—The Rt. Hon. Dominic Grieve, QC, MP SOLICITOR-GENERAL—Oliver Heald, MP ADVOCATE-GENERAL FOR SCOTLAND—The Rt. Hon. Lord Wallace of Tankerness, QC Leader of the House of Commons— LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AND LORD PRIVY SEAL—The Rt. Hon. Andrew Lansley, CBE, MP PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY—Rt. Hon. Tom Brake, MP Leader of the House of Lords— LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS AND CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER—Lord Hill of Oareford, CBE DEPUTY LEADER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS—The Rt. Hon. Lord McNally Northern Ireland— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers, MP MINISTER OF STATE—Mike Penning, MP Privy Council Office— DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND LORD PRESIDENT OF

THE

COUNCIL—The Rt. Hon. Nick Clegg, MP

Scotland Office— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Michael Moore, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. David Mundell, MP Transport— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Patrick McLoughlin, MP MINISTER OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Simon Burns, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARIES OF STATE— Norman Baker, MP Stephen Hammond, MP Treasury— PRIME MINISTER, FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY AND MINISTER FOR THE CIVIL SERVICE—The Rt. Hon. David Cameron, MP CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER—The Rt. Hon. George Osborne, MP CHIEF SECRETARY—The Rt. Hon. Danny Alexander, MP FINANCIAL SECRETARY—Rt. Hon. Greg Clark, MP EXCHEQUER SECRETARY—David Gauke, MP ECONOMIC SECRETARY—Sajid Javid, MP COMMERCIAL SECRETARY—Lord Deighton PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY (CHIEF WHIP)—The Rt. Hon. Sir George Young, MP

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LORDS COMMISSIONERS (GOVERNMENT WHIPS)— Rt Hon Desmond Swayne, MP Anne Milton, MP Stephen Crabb, MP David Evennett, MP Robert Goodwill, MP Mark Lancaster, MP ASSISTANT GOVERNMENT WHIPS— Greg Hands, MP Karen Bradley, MP Jo Johnson, MP Nicky Morgan, MP Robert Syms, MP Mark Hunter, MP Jenny Willott MP Wales Office— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. David Jones, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—Stephen Crabb, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—Baroness Randerson Work and Pensions— SECRETARY OF STATE—The Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith, MP MINISTERS OF STATE— Mark Hoban, MP Steve Webb, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE—Esther McVey, MP PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE (MINISTER FOR WELFARE REFORM)—Lord Freud Ministers without Portfolio— The Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke, QC, MP The Rt. Hon. Grant Shapps, MP Her Majesty’s Household— LORD CHAMBERLAIN—The Rt. Hon. Earl Peel, GCVO LORD STEWARD—The Earl of Dalhousie MASTER OF THE HORSE—Lord Vestey, KCVO LORDS IN WAITING— Viscount Brookeborough Lord Faringdon TREASURER (DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP)—The Rt. Hon. John Randall, MP COMPTROLLER (DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP)—The Rt. Hon. Alistair Carmichael, MP VICE-CHAMBERLAIN (DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP)—The Rt. Hon. Greg Knight, MP Government Whips, House of Lords— CAPTAIN OF THE HONOURABLE CORPS OF GENTLEMEN-AT-ARMS (CHIEF WHIP)—The Rt. Hon. Baroness Anelay of St Johns, DBE CAPTAIN OF THE QUEEN’S BODYGUARD OF THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD (DEPUTY CHIEF WHIP)—Lord Newby, OBE BARONESSES IN WAITING— Baroness Garden of Frognal Baroness Northover Baroness Stowell of Beeston LORDS IN WAITING— Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Earl Attlee Lord Gardiner of Kimble The Rt. Hon. Lord Wallace of Saltaire Viscount Younger of Leckie

HOUSE OF LORDS PRINCIPAL OFFICE HOLDERS AND SENIOR STAFF LORD SPEAKER—The Rt. Hon. Baroness D’Souza, CMG CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES—The Lord Sewel, CBE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES—The Lord Boswell of Aynho CLERK OF THE PARLIAMENTS—D. R. Beamish, LL.M CLERK ASSISTANT—E. C. Ollard READING CLERK AND CLERK OF THE OVERSEAS OFFICE—R. H. Walters, D.Phil GENTLEMAN USHER OF THE BLACK ROD AND SERJEANT-AT-ARMS—Lieutenant General David Leakey, CMG, CBE COMMISSIONER FOR STANDARDS—P. R. Kernaghan, CBE, QPM COUNSEL TO THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES—A. Roberts; M. Thomas; P. Milledge REGISTRAR OF LORDS’ INTERESTS—B. P. Keith CLERK OF COMMITTEES—Dr F. P. Tudor LEGAL ADVISER TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE—M. R. Hunt DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION SERVICES AND LIBRARIAN—Dr E. Hallam Smith DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES—C. V. Woodall FINANCE DIRECTOR—A. Makower DIRECTOR OF PARLIAMENTARY ICT SERVICE—Mrs J. Miller DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES—T. V. Mohan CLERK OF LEGISLATION—S. P. Burton PRINCIPAL CLERK OF SELECT COMMITTEES—J. Vaughan

8 January 2013

THE

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) IN THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIFTY-FIFTH PARLIAMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND COMMENCING ON THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MAY IN THE FIFTY-NINTH YEAR OF THE REIGN OF

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II FIFTH SERIES

VOLUME DCCXLII SIXTH VOLUME OF SESSION 2012-13

House of Lords Tuesday, 8 January 2013. 2.30 pm Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Derby.

Death of a Member: Lord Rees-Mogg Announcement 2.36 pm The Lord Speaker (Baroness D’Souza): My Lords, I regret to inform the House of the death of the noble Lord, Lord Rees-Mogg, on 29 December. On behalf of the House, I extend our condolences to the noble Lord’s family and friends.

Leader of the House 2.37 pm Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: My Lords, in leading the tributes to the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, I am able to be the first to welcome formally as his successor the noble Lord, Lord Hill of Oareford. The noble Lord, Lord Hill, is already very well regarded and liked by this House, and I both welcome his very imaginative appointment and look forward to working with him closely in the future, but he has a very hard act to follow. The departure from the Front Bench of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, is a moment of great significance for this House. We shall all miss him, and especially so at great occasions, such as Prorogation, through the clerk not having to read out his full name, as that will mean that the Prorogation ceremony will be a good deal shorter. A former Member of this House, Lord Wilson of Rievaulx—Harold Wilson as was—once very acutely observed that, “A week is a long time in politics”. Having done 25 years on the Conservative Front Bench, I calculate that the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, has done

1,300 weeks in politics, which is a very long time indeed. In that time, the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, has covered the ground. He entered government in 1988, appointed by the now noble Baroness, Lady Thatcher, as a junior Whip in the old Department of Trade and Industry. There, as I understand it, he met a very young researcher from the Conservative Research Department called David Cameron, a contact which has clearly stood him in very good stead. Indeed, if my memory serves me correctly, when, after the inconclusive result of the 2010 general election, David Cameron entered a room full of journalists to make his, “big, open and comprehensive offer”,

to the Liberal Democrats, slipping into the room beside him—the only person to do so—was the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde. So when the Prime Minister yesterday said in response to the resignation of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, that to him personally he had always been a, “staunch friend and wise counsel”,

I suspect that was the heartfelt truth. I am less confident about just how comfortable the noble Lord has been with the results of that big, open and comprehensive offer—that is, the coalition. When it was put to him on “Channel 4 News” last night that he had been reported as saying he despaired that the coalition had broken down in the House of Lords he didn’t quite knock the story down completely when he replied: “I’m sure that at times … over the … last 18 months I might well have said that.”

Of course, one of the most difficult issues that he has had to deal with since coming into government again in the coalition has been House of Lords reform, and in particular the exciting and very well thoughtthrough proposals from his now ex-Cabinet colleague, the Deputy Prime Minister. Tom Strathclyde is, of course, a natural House of Lords reformer. He has shown nothing but utter loyalty to the Government’s now-abandoned proposals for an all or mainly elected House of Lords. We on these Benches of course completely believed him, and saw no signs at all of one

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Leader of the House

[LORDS]

[BARONESS ROYALL OF BLAISDON] of the biggest political winks in parliamentary history. All I would report is the view of one Member of this House from his own Benches who said, this morning, about the noble Lord and Lords reform: “There were times when Tom’s tongue was so far in his cheek that it was almost coming out of his ear”. As another of the noble Lord’s colleagues, the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, once so brilliantly put it: they might very well say that, but we on this side of the House could not possibly comment. The noble Lord has had a long and highly distinguished political career. Indeed, he was Leader of the Opposition in your Lordships’ House for an astonishing 14 years, serving four leaders of his party in the Commons from 1998 to 2010 among the total of six Tory leaders he has served under. As Leader of the Opposition now, I both admire and am staggered by his tenacity, which was signalled very early on in his political career when in 1983 he bravely stood in the Conservative interest as an MEP candidate in Merseyside East. As natural a Scouser as he is a Lords reformer, sadly the noble Lord did not succeed on that occasion, although I am sure the European yearnings which that effort clearly showed will place him naturally in line with his mentor, the Prime Minister, when he makes his long-awaited speech on Europe. Both as Leader of the Opposition and leader of his own party in Government, the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, has always been a highly capable political operator, a straight dealer and a man of his word. Even so there have been difficult times, of course, but it really cannot have been part of the coalition’s plan for this House, with the coalition’s huge inbuilt political majority, that we on these Benches and others would defeat the Government 59 times so far since May 2010. If on occasion this has led the noble Lord to be pretty robust in his dealings with the House, his own wit and charm, and sometimes pretty old-fashioned bluster, have more than got him through. I would say that the noble Lord has always been personally warm and friendly to me in our private dealings, even when texting to inform me that the following day’s business has been pulled. I thank him now for his judgment, his trust, his confidences and his counsel. Among the most difficult times we have seen in recent years were the issues we faced over allowances and Peers’ conduct. As leaders throughout that difficult period, we both worked hard to make sure that there was not the slenderest of cigarette papers between us in the service of the House. He played a particularly important role at a decisive moment in getting the new allowances arrangements agreed. It is true that some of the noble Lord’s strongest fans have not always been found among some of my colleagues on these Benches, especially when he has picked individuals up personally on points in the Chamber. However, politics can be a rough old trade and there can be no doubt that the noble Lord has served his beloved Conservative Party and, in his public duties, the people of this country well and loyally. In particular, I know that noble Lords will want it said that he has served this House well and loyally. The noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, will be greatly missed and from these Benches we thank him for all he has

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done. We wish him well in his future life beyond Front-Bench politics and we look forward to his maintaining strong and deep connections with your Lordships’ House from a different perspective to his extraordinary contribution from the Front Bench during a quarter of a century of dedicated service. TheMinisterof State,Ministryof Justice(LordMcNally): My Lords, when Talleyrand died and Metternich received a telegram saying, “Talleyrand is dead”, he pondered and thought, “Now what does he mean by this?”. There has been something of a similar reaction to the resignation of my noble friend. After his 14 years as a leader in this House and 25 years on the Front Bench, our great media have had to speculate on why he is going. There was even an outrageous suggestion in some of the papers that he could no longer tolerate working with the Liberal Democrats. As my noble friends will confirm, there have been no more harmonious meetings than when Tom Strathclyde has come to give the Liberal Democrats one of his regular pep talks. Indeed, if he were so minded, I would be able to persuade two or three of my friends to make way for him here on our Benches. The noble Baroness, Lady Royall, mentioned the name. What is in a name? Certainly not much for the William Hickey column of the Daily Express, which says that “Charlie Strathclyde” has departed as the leader. One would have thought that it would get the name right. I had to face—as the noble Baroness said—the annual humiliation at Prorogation when the clerk would read out Thomas Galloway Dunlop du Roy de Blicquy Strathclyde and Tom McNally. At one time I thought of adding Plantagenet just to give it a bit of class. 2.45 pm The truth is that we have worked closely together for the past eight years but only yesterday I discovered in one of the cuttings that he is a master of the ancient Chinese board-game, Go. I immediately wanted to find what Go was. It is a game of tactics, the grand masters of which are able to think up to 40 moves ahead, even in complicated positions. Instantly, I realised that Tom had been playing Go with me for the past three years. The Leader of the House has two tasks: one, as the noble Baroness indicated, is to be the leader of his party and to get government business through as a business manager; the second is to be the guardian of the interests of individual Members and the House as a whole. I believe that the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, has fulfilled that second role with consummate skill. He steps down with thanks, respect and, I believe, the affection of the whole House. All that I can say to the noble Lord, Lord Hill, is: the best of luck. Lord Laming: My Lords, on behalf of my colleagues in the Cross-Bench group, I, too, wish to be associated with the warm and very well earned tributes that have been paid already to the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde. Although still relatively young—in my terms, very young—he has given many years of his life to being an outstanding public servant.

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Leader of the House

[8 JANUARY 2013]

During the years when he was the Leader of this House he always aimed to act in the best interests of the whole House and his many talents and energy were much admired. My colleagues and I very much hope that the House will continue to have the benefit of his vast experience and wisdom. The noble Lord very much respected the position of the Cross-Bench group, and, as has been said by the noble Lord, Lord McNally, he very much valued the individual contributions of its Members. He also supported the position of the Convenor and well understood that role in treading carefully—sometimes ever so carefully—between the different party political interests in the House. On a personal note I very much enjoyed the regular meetings that I had with him and I will always be grateful for the generous support and encouragement that he readily gave. I wish him well. Finally, I also take the opportunity to welcome to this important role the noble Lord, Lord Hill of Oareford. The House rightly has a great regard for him and personally, I have valued enormously my contact with him, especially in safeguarding children and young people. On behalf of the Cross-Bench group I welcome him to his new responsibilities and look forward to working with him. The Lord Bishop of Derby: My Lords, I speak briefly to associate those of us on these Benches with the generous, worthy and well earned words for the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde. On these Benches, we are transient. We come and go because, as noble Lords know, we observe a retirement age. By contrast, the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, is just like a part of the furniture. He is an institution and has been here throughout the time that virtually all of us on these Benches have been here, so it will be a big change for us. My colleagues have been very keen to say how much we appreciate his support, wisdom and guidance for the Lords Spiritual to enable our contribution to the work of the House. Speaking personally, I marvel sometimes when he has to stand at that Box and deal with some rather difficult things coming across the Chamber. I always admire the fact that he is calm, has a twinkle in his eye and generally responds with buckets of common sense. That seems to be a very good way of leading a House and creating the right kind of atmosphere and frame for us. We also extend our welcome to the noble Lord, Lord Hill. To be honest, on these Benches we have mixed feelings. He has done a wonderful job as Education Minister and has been a great friend to the Church and the Lords Spiritual. In many ways we are very sad to see him leave that post. He has done outstanding work, and I have always admired the way he can stand at the Dispatch Box and, without really referring to his notes, be able to answer the questions and be very astute and quick-thinking on his feet. That is a remarkable gift and one that we look forward to him exercising in his new role. We welcome the noble Lord, Lord Hill, and say thank you very much indeed to the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, for his help, support and guidance. Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market: My Lords, I rise to pay tribute and give warm thanks to my noble friend on behalf of the Association of Conservative Peers for all that he has achieved for this House and

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our party during his long and distinguished career to date. Those of us who have served in government and on opposition Front Benches for a number of years are fully aware of the all-consuming and unremitting pressures and strains that that service brings—and, like other noble Lords, I think I have done my bit. However, we can only marvel at the unbroken record of my noble friend over 25 years as a Minister in many departments, as Deputy Speaker, Deputy Chairman of Committees—briefly—and as a member of shadow Cabinets and Cabinets. Few in either House can rival my noble friend’s record and it is entirely understandable that he should now wish to find time for another life and to pursue the many other interests that have inevitably languished during those years. The House has changed much since 1999, both in its role and value. It is perhaps true to say that, in earlier years, its contribution was sometimes underestimated among the higher reaches in the other place. That is no longer true today, and my noble friend has played a notable part in bringing that about and in developing our House’s modern role in today’s world. Many of us have discovered that behind the jovial exterior and merry manner lie a shrewd brain, an immense capacity for work and a devotion to the tasks in hand. I will give one example of the latter. No one should underestimate the difficulty of repeating a Statement made by the Prime Minister in the other place following a European Council or other high-level international meeting, at which he was not present and where decisions were inevitably sometimes made in the middle of the night. After possibly only one or two hours’ briefing at the most, my noble friend would have to cover a vast range of issues on which it would be easy to drop a brick; yet he always carried out that role with aplomb. All that experience and understanding of the House and its modern role was brought to bear, in my view, with the skill and subtlety with which he has handled the issue of Lords reform. As Leader of the House, my noble friend has shown devotion to this place above party politics. As leader of the Conservative Party in the Lords, he has always worked closely with colleagues in the ACP in developing policies, and his door has always been open to us. We welcome our colleague, the noble Lord, Lord Hill, as a very worthy successor, and we thank the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, warmly and extend every best wish for success and happiness in whatever avenues he now wishes to pursue. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Hill of Oareford): My Lords— Noble Lords: Hear, hear. Lord Hill of Oareford: I wholeheartedly support the sentiments that have been expressed across the House about my noble friend Lord Strathclyde. Some play has already been made about his name. My noble friend Lord McNally may feel short-changed with a surname like McNally. I say to him, “Try the surname Hill”. This afternoon’s tributes are a testament to the great dedication that my noble friend showed to this House in his remarkable quarter-century of service on the Front Bench.

Leader of the House

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[LORDS]

[LORD HILL OF OAREFORD] My noble friend was a gifted and agile Leader of the Opposition for almost 12 years, before rightly taking his place as an outstanding Leader of this House, working over that time with five different Leaders of the party opposite. Indeed, he led the Conservative Benches for longer than any Peer, save for two distinguished Marquises of Salisbury and the Duke of Wellington. That is not bad company for a Conservative Leader of the House to keep. Both in opposition and office, during a long period of time in which the House faced change unprecedented in generations, his immense experience and knowledge of—and, I may add, loyalty to—this House have been to the huge benefit of us all. That was given recognition yesterday when the Prime Minister recommended the appointment of the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, to the Order of the Companions of Honour, an appointment which brings distinction and due recognition to the work he has done here and as a Minister over so many years. As a relative newcomer to the House, I am certainly in his debt for the guidance and support he has given me since May 2010. It is rather disconcerting to stand here at the Dispatch Box today without the benefit of his occasional instruction, delivered in a forceful stage whisper from the direction of my right elbow. Since the general election, my noble friend has steered the House with great skill through some unusual and testing times, with the establishment of a coalition Government for the first time since the Second World War. It is not just the Government for whom he has worked tirelessly, but the whole House, whose interests I know he has always guarded at every opportunity. It is therefore a tremendous privilege to follow my noble friend in serving this House and these Benches as Leader. I have enormous respect for the work of this House, for its role in our constitutional arrangements and for our traditions and courtesies—which, like my predecessors, I hope to be able to help uphold. My noble friend Lord Strathclyde leaves a large hole on our Front Bench, as well as perhaps a little more space for the rest of us. To succeed him as Leader of this House is therefore an honour that I view rather nervously, but I take great encouragement from the generous remarks that noble Lords have been kind enough to make this afternoon.

Airports: Capacity Question 2.57 pm Asked by Lord Spicer To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the average percentage of total capacity used at London’s commercial airports over the past six months. Earl Attlee: My Lords, between May and October 2012 there were 525,000 commercial air transport movements at the five largest commercial London airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton and London City. These air transport movements used around 86% of the available runway capacity.

Airports: Capacity

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Lord Spicer: My Lords, why are we allowing the London airport system to run out of capacity? Earl Attlee: My Lords, we are not. We have set up the South East Airports Task Force to look at short-term measures to gain some capacity at Heathrow. In the rather longer term, we have the aviation policy framework, which we are committed to publishing in March 2013. Finally, we have set up the Airports Commission, headed up by Sir Howard Davies. Lord Clinton-Davis: Is it not likely that non-British airports will heartily welcome the Government’s unpardonable delay in selecting an international hub airport, whether at Heathrow or elsewhere? What does the Minister say about that? Earl Attlee: My Lords, this problem was not unforeseeable. It has been coming for many years, including when noble Lords opposite were in government. We need to get a consensus and find a lasting solution that will survive a change in Governments. Lord Bradshaw: I hope that the noble Earl will ponder the following: a great deal of the heat in the debate about air capacity is caused by the bidding war that has broken out between various airports and airlines. Will the noble Earl ensure that the Davies commission will, to the best of its ability, be governed by the fact that we should create extra capacity only when a real need is demonstrated? Earl Attlee: My Lords, I am confident that the Airports Commission, headed up by Sir Howard, will consider all relevant matters. Lord Soley: The Minister will know my opinion on this but I put it to him very strongly that just about everyone in business has been saying that delaying this infrastructure project is crucially bad for the British economy. It is the delay that is causing the problem. If the Government picked up the previous Government’s policy and continued with it we would not be in this situation now. That would not cost a single penny of public money. Please, please move on this for the sake of the British economy, investment and jobs. Earl Attlee: My Lords, it is important for businesses to put their own submissions in to the Airports Commission, as I think the noble Lord has already done himself. Lord Elton: My Lords, institutions can scarcely run at 100% capacity, any more than you can have 100% full employment. There has to be some slack in the system. How long does my noble friend think that the 14% capacity that he says is now available will last? What steps are being taken to meet the moment when it is full? Earl Attlee: My Lords, DfT aviation demand forecasts suggest that with no new runway Gatwick Airport could become full from around 2018 and Stansted

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Airports: Capacity

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Housing: New Homes

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from around 2030. That is why we have set up the Airports Commission to advise us on viable options for solving this problem.

complex and that there is a great deal of capacity with the potential for much better utilisation already in London?

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe: My Lords, to come back to the original Question, there is a 14% underuse capacity in the five major London and south-east airports. What plans do the Government have to utilise that capacity, given the failing to direct daily flights to some of the major economies around the world and new developing economies? What can be done immediately and what will the Government do?

Earl Attlee: I agree with my noble friend that if you use bigger aircraft you can get more passengers through Heathrow for the same number of flights.

Earl Attlee: My Lords, it is important to understand that we are very well connected by Heathrow Airport. It is connected to the rest of the world better than most other places in Europe. Lord Glenarthur: My Lords, my noble friend’s Question referred specifically to commercial airports, but not far from Heathrow lies Northolt—principally a Royal Air Force airport but used for some other domestic and international semi-commercial flights. What problems and constraints exist in the further use or development of Northolt to add value to what otherwise would be part of the same hub of London airports?

Lord Faulkner of Worcester: My Lords, what proportion of the capacity at Heathrow do the Government estimate will be released if their plans to build High Speed 2—initially to Birmingham and then to Manchester and Leeds—are fulfilled? Is it not the case that when high-speed railways are built on the continent, domestic aviation diminishes and as a result there is spare capacity at airports? Earl Attlee: The noble Lord makes an important point, but it will not solve our underlying problem that we will still eventually run out of capacity at the London airports.

Housing: New Homes Question 3.06 pm

Earl Attlee: My Lords, I understand that there are some difficulties with the runway orientation of Northolt airfield. I am sure that that is a factor that the Airports Commission will take into consideration. Lord Davies of Oldham: My Lords, in his opening response the noble Earl referred to the fact that a consensus was necessary to make progress over the considerable period of time needed to expand airport capacity. Although he quoted 86% for the south-east airports, we know that Heathrow is at over 99% utilisation and has no scope at all for development. The Opposition have offered to the Government for more than a year now the opportunity to establish a consensus by joint talks. Could the noble Earl at least persuade his ministerial colleagues that these should take place, and that they would be aided by a somewhat earlier timetable for the commission’s report? Why is it having to report after the general election when the urgency of the situation is apparent to everyone? Earl Attlee: The noble Lord makes a strong point. The Airports Commission will report with its initial findings by the end of the year. I would be delighted to talk to the noble Lord privately when we get that initial report. But it takes time to do the job properly. Baroness Kramer: My Lords, I wonder if the Minister might remind the House that capacity at Heathrow is for 90 million passengers per year. Currently it has only 70 million passengers a year, because airlines are using small aircraft in order to keep their slots alive and are developing most of their flights within the UK and near continent, not for the long distance routes. Will he explain to the House that capacity is far more

Asked By Lord Sheldon To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to build more homes in the south-east of England. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department forCommunitiesandLocalGovernment(BaronessHanham): The Government do not set down Whitehall housing targets for the south-east of England or any other part of the country. It is for elected local councils to determine where development should and should not go, and how best to meet housing need through their local plans. Lord Sheldon: I take notice of the points that the noble Baroness has put forward, but Britain has been building fewer homes in London. In 2011, 18,000 new homes were completed. More houses are needed and they have to be built to meet the requirements. Baroness Hanham: My Lords, nobody will disagree that we need more housing. I have said that many times in this Chamber. Everybody knows that we have an underhousing situation in this country for our population. Therefore, there is great pressure from my department to ensure that housing targets are built up. However, it is for local authorities to decide where that housing goes and how much they need in their local area. A great number of houses are in the pipeline, due to be built. Baroness Gardner of Parkes: My Lords, will the Minister confirm that she is willing to support the approval of the financial scheme of guarantee to help

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Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment

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[BARONESS GARDNER OF PARKES] small builders who desperately need the work and who could provide many homes for the people who are so badly in need of them?

Baroness Hanham: My Lords, the encouragement for small businesses is there. Our position is already to help small businesses. Of course, some small businesses, although not necessarily building a big number of houses, are making a major contribution. Lord Higgins: My Lords, does my noble friend agree that in carrying out housing programmes it is very important to take into account two recent developments? First, following the Olympics, housing programmes should not infringe on sports grounds and, indeed, should make greater provision for sporting facilities. Secondly, steps should be taken to ensure that housing does not take place in areas that are liable to flooding. Baroness Hanham: My Lords, again, local authorities and their local plans need to take account of both those matters. It is certainly true that we hope to see the preservation of playing fields, and that the legacy of the Olympics is to be encouraged—exactly the point that my noble friend has made. Of course, it does not make sense, as we have seen recently, to build on flood plains if it is not necessary. However, that is a matter for local authorities’ judgment in terms of the amount of housing they need and where they need to put it. Lord Kinnock: Is it not clear that the cap on housing benefit means that very large numbers of people now working and living in central London will not, in the course of this year, be able to live near their place of work? Does that not make it a matter of emergency for the Government to undertake a building programme that will mean that affordable housing is available to the people who serve this great city in both the public and private sectors in all capacities? Is it not a dreadful reality that the combination of the cap on housing benefit and the paucity of affordable housing in the public and private sectors will be monstrous in its effects on lower-paid people in this city? Baroness Hanham: My Lords, it is also monstrous that we are left in the financial situation that we are. That is one reason why the welfare budget has had to be looked at over the past few years. There is also little evidence, except in one or two of the major boroughs, that people are having to move out of London to find housing as a result of the housing benefit situation. We are pushing very hard for the building of affordable housing in the light of whatever local authorities believe they need.

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Baroness Hanham: My Lords, the Government have a number of projects that have just come into being to support the bringing back into use of empty homes. Yes, they are a waste and it is essential that long-term empty homes—because some are not empty for long-term reasons—are brought back into use. The Government have this year already committed £160 million. That will bring 10,700 empty homes back into use. There is £100 million for affordable housing, including £70 million of funding for 95 projects, which will bring more than 5,600 properties back into use across the country. My noble friend commented on the south-east but, as I explained, that is across the country. Lord McKenzie of Luton: My Lords, a recent study by BNP Paribas looked at the extent to which local authorities were changing their housing targets from the regional spatial strategy levels. It found that local authorities in the south-east and the south-west were making the biggest cuts. For the south-east, this amounted to around an 18% reduction. Does the Minister think that that position is satisfactory? Baroness Hanham: My Lords, I go back to what I said to begin: it is now for local authorities to decide on their housing need against the overall housing position. The noble Lord talks again about the south-east, but the south-east has many local authorities, which are making decisions on housing as we speak. Baroness Wall of New Barnet: My Lords, I am sure that the noble Baroness is aware of construction jobs that are not being fulfilled in the present climate. Although the Government’s approach to unemployment and apprenticeships is one that everyone endorses and supports, is it not possible for that to be re-enacted in a vigorous and real way to ensure that people in apprenticeships in the construction industry have the opportunity to test their skills in building in the south-east, as housing is important for everyone? Baroness Hanham: My Lords, apprenticeships are of course allied to companies in the housebuilding business. We very much hope that any apprenticeship taken up in the construction industry will go on to ensure that that person has a full-time job as long as the companies are able to build, which they are.

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2012 Question 3.13 pm

Baroness Maddock: My Lords, does the Minister agree that bringing homes that have been empty long-term back into use can make a useful contribution to housing supply? What scope does she think that there is in the south-east for that, and what are the Government doing to help communities that want to bring long-term empty homes back into use?

Asked by Lord Bach To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have in respect of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2012, which the House of Lords declined to approve on 3 December.

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TheMinisterof State,Ministryof Justice(LordMcNally): My Lords, as I made clear before the House voted on 3 December, if the fatal Motion was carried, the LASPO Act would not provide legal aid in the cases specified in the rejected statutory instrument. That remains the case. Lord Bach: Does the Minister understand that that Answer is entirely unsatisfactory and does no credit to the Government? This House declined to accept the order because it represented a breach of a government undertaking given to another place to get the legal aid Bill through and because what it offered was too mean. Why are the Government taking absolutely no notice of the will of this House of Parliament? Are they not behaving more like a spoilt child than a mature, responsible Government, protecting the legal rights of some of the poorest citizens under their care, including many with disabilities?


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Opposition to think carefully. If fatal Motions are going to be used in this way, they have great repercussions, not least on our relationship with the other place. Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames: My Lords, can the Minister confirm that legal aid remains available for advice on appeal from the First-tier Tribunal to the Upper Tribunal in welfare cases? Can he also confirm that where there is a point of law on which an appellant has a reasonable prospect of success, legal aid is and will remain available for the preparation and presentation of an appeal to the Upper Tribunal? Lord McNally: Yes, that is case. It is also worth making the point that some of the noises from the other side make it sound as though the Government have been totally unfeeling and refusing to listen. Noble Lords: Hear, hear.

Lord McNally: I think that the noble Lord got all his soundbites in there. Noble Lords: Oh. Lord McNally: Well, we have had heard it over two years and both Houses have come to decisions on the LASPO Bill. As regards fatal Motions, I can speak from experience. I was part of engineering a fatal Motion on the casino Bill. That fatal Motion was carried by the House. The Government of the day did nothing further on the casino matter. If I may coin a phrase, as it says on the tin, fatal Motions mean what they say. Lord Pannick: Given that the House rejected as inadequate the limited concession on legal aid in First-tier Tribunals, is it not truly perverse for the Government to respond by withdrawing even that? Lord McNally: The Government have not withdrawn that concession. This House passed a fatal Motion meaning that that concession was no longer part of the Bill. That was the decision of the House. If I may so in the presence of the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, and of all those who voted for it, I made that very clear to the House before the vote. Lord Howarth of Newport: Instead of continuing to sulk, would it not be proper for the Government to bring forward another order, in which they honour the commitment rightly given to Parliament by the previous Lord Chancellor? Lord McNally: I notice that the noble Lord, Lord Bach, again alleged that that commitment was made. It was not made by the previous Lord Chancellor. The commitment was to examine the case for the First-tier Tribunals. As I have reported back to the House on numerous occasions, the decision was that in the circumstances it was far too expensive. It would be nice to have fatal Motions as yet another round in the legislation process, but I ask the House and the Official

Lord McNally: Well, it is worth reminding noble Lords that when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill was published the initial idea was that legal aid was not required in any welfare benefit cases, other than for judicial review or for a small number cases based on the Equality Act 2010. Throughout the course of the LASPO Bill the Government were urged to rethink their position on removing legal aid for onward appeals to the Upper Tribunal, which had to be on a point of law. The Government listened to these concerns and offered concessions during the passage of the Bill to bring into the scope of legal aid advice and assistance for welfare benefit appeals on a point of law in the Upper Tribunal, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, and representation for the welfare benefit appeals in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. These were concessions in which my noble friends played a considerable part in achieving. The idea of an unlistening and unfeeling Government is simply not true. If the House forces through fatal Motions, it must take the consequences. Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Does the noble Lord not understand that the initial position put forward in the LASPO Bill was totally untenable? That is why it was amended. Does he not also accept that after the House has spoken on this fatal Motion, the Government are obliged to listen—and by “listen” I mean do something in response? Lord McNally: The noble and learned Baroness suggests that the Government, as if in some game of poker, have to produce another offer in response to a fatal Motion. A fatal Motion is what it says—it is fatal. As I have pointed out, there was the example of the casino Bill in the previous Parliament. One of the reasons why successive Oppositions have thought long and hard about using fatal Motions is that they have implications about where and when the arguments and discussions about a Bill come to an end and how that relates to the relationship between the two Houses. Such Motions can be very toxic. I warned the House


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[LORD MCNALLY] and the noble Lord, Lord Bach, of that, but he pressed ahead. A fatal Motion was passed and it has been fatal.

Lord Grocott: My Lords, the Minister’s whole approach in answering questions today gives the House a great deal of explanation for why he sometimes finds it difficult to get Motions, including fatal Motions, through. He clearly misunderstands the procedure, which is as follows. Yes, an order can be defeated by a fatal Motion, but a Minister given to conciliatory thinking— something that apparently does not appeal to him—should then go to the opponents of the order and suggest to them various possibilities for ways in which an order could be put before the House and might then pass. Such negotiations may or may not be successful, but the Minister at least owes it to the House to tell us precisely what efforts he has made to ensure that an amended Motion can be put to the House that might command its support. Lord McNally: I am making no efforts to make such a proposal. The fatal Motion is fatal—that is the end. The noble Lord, Lord Bach, has gone around this track, but in a parliamentary process there must come a point when a Bill becomes an Act and a law is passed. If the Opposition’s plan, and it would be interesting to know this, is to use fatal Motions on a regular basis to try to keep alive issues that have been decided by both Houses through proper Bill procedures, then we are going into new territory. I am sorry but the House heard my warning and ignored it, and the Bill is now an Act.

Economy: Effect of US “Fiscal Cliff” Solution Question 3.22 pm Asked By Lord Barnett To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the “fiscal cliff ” solution in the United States on the United Kingdom economy. Lord Newby: My Lords, the Office for Budget Responsibility based its December 2012 forecasts for the UK economy on the assumption that fiscal policy would be tightened in the US by between 1% and 2% of US GDP. This is what is now happening. The Congressional Budget Office’s assessment of the American Taxpayer Relief Act, the measure agreed by Congress last week, is that it will produce a fiscal tightening of 1.7% of US GDP. Lord Barnett: Of course, my Lords, the cliff-edge solution did not solve any fundamental problem, any more than our fundamental problem in this country has been solved. That problem requires us to achieve sustainable growth. The Government are taking a few steps in that direction with their infrastructure plans but none of those will do anything now, and urgent action is needed now. Does the noble Lord accept that

Effect of US “Fiscal Cliff” Solution

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one way of doing that would be for the Government to find some modest capital, comparatively speaking, because companies are simply not willing to borrow, whether under guarantee or not? The Government will have to kick-start infrastructure if they want to see growth start. Does he agree that that would be a way forward? Lord Newby: My Lords, the noble Lord will recall that in the Pre-Budget Statement my right honourable friend the Chancellor announced another £5.5 billion of additional capital spending on roads, science infrastructure and schools, and that earlier in the autumn we passed an Act providing guarantees for £40 billion for infrastructure and another £10 billion for housing. The Government are making considerable efforts to increase the amount of infrastructure activity. Lord Peston: My Lords, as a life-long opponent of the death penalty, I might make an exception for whoever—I hope it was not an economist—invented the expression “fiscal cliff”. Do the Government accept the analysis that if the US goes more deeply into recession it will have devastating adverse effects on the whole of the European economy and no policy envisaged by this Government would be any use whatever? Lord Newby: I think the noble Lord slightly overstates it. The fiscal cliff—elegant or inelegant—has been avoided and the expectations and the forecast for the US are that it will see relatively modest, but substantive, growth in 2013. As the noble Lord will know, the latest employment figures in the US suggest that there has been a significant addition to the number of people employed. Therefore, the chances of the kind of meltdown in the US economy that he is worried about look extraordinarily remote. Baroness Kramer: My Lords, the US faces an even worse fiscal cliff in seven weeks. As the British Government are unlikely to have much impact on Republicans infused by the Tea Party, I suggest that it would be a better strategy for this Government to put their efforts into getting formal negotiations on EU/US trade in order to take away the technical barriers that the US is using at the moment to limit UK exports in pharmaceuticals, medical services and advanced electronics. That might be a more positive way forward. Lord Newby: My Lords, I completely agree with the noble Baroness. That is why the Prime Minister has set promoting a US/EU trade agreement as one of his top priorities for the G8, as well as moving forward on other trade agreements, such as that with Canada, which are already a long way down the pipeline. Lord Eatwell: My Lords, will the noble Lord consider answering the Question asked by my noble friend Lord Barnett? He asked what the assessment was of the impact of the fiscal cliff solution on the UK economy. As the noble Lord said, this had led to a 1.7% increase in the fiscal burden on GDP, and the debt ceiling debates in seven weeks’ time referred to by

Effect of US “Fiscal Cliff” Solution

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

the noble Baroness, Lady Kramer, may add further burdens to the US economy. Is this good or bad for Britain? Lord Newby: Whether it is good or bad for Britain, it is what is happening in the US. What I said in my original Answer was that the estimates, which were published by the ONS at the time of the Autumn Statement, were based on an assessment of what was likely to happen, which is exactly what has happened. The Bill passed last week is having an impact of 1.7% on US GDP. The ONS assumed that the Bill passed last week would have an impact of about 1.7% on US GDP. We factored that into our calculations and the growth forecast produced for this year will be unchanged because what has actually happened is what we thought was going to happen.

Arrangement of Business Announcement 3.28 pm Baroness Anelay of St Johns: My Lords, before my noble friends Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Howe repeat the Answers to the Urgent Questions asked earlier in the House of Commons, perhaps I may remind the House that we recently agreed a new trial procedure and this is the first occasion on which we are able to take advantage of it and see how it begins to run. My noble friend Lord Taylor will first repeat the Answer to the Urgent Question in full. At that point the Clerks will start the clock running for 10 minutes. During those 10 minutes, questions and answers will follow. We have anticipated that the first question is likely to come from the opposition Front Bench. It was decided that the usual channels, if they wished, could dispense with that but that has not happened today so I would expect the opposition Front Bench to come first. The rules that follow for questions and answers are the same as those for a Private Notice Question of this House.

Ibrahim Magag: Disappearance Private Notice Question 3.29 pm The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): My Lords, I will now repeat the Answer to an Urgent Question asked in the other place earlier today. The Answer, given by my right honourable friend the Home Secretary, is as follows: “On 26 December 2012, Ibrahim Magag, a Somaliborn British national who is subject to a terrorism prevention and investigation measure, failed to report for his overnight residence requirement. As I told the House yesterday, the police believe that he has absconded, and his whereabouts are currently unknown. On 31 December, at the request of the police, I asked the High Court to revoke the anonymity order that was in force in relation to Magag. The police

Ibrahim Magag: Disappearance

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subsequently issued a public appeal for information that might lead to his location and apprehension. The Government took steps to inform Parliament of this incident as soon as it was lawful and operationally possible to do so. The Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department spoke to the chairmen of the Home Affairs Select Committee and the Intelligence and Security Committee on 31 December. This was followed by letters to both committee chairmen, to the shadow Home Secretary and to you, Mr Speaker. Copies of those letters were placed in the Library of the House on the same day. The statements that the police issued on 31 December and on 2 January confirm that, at this time, Magag is not considered to represent a direct threat to the British public. The TPIM notice in this case was intended primarily to prevent fundraising and overseas travel. The Government do not believe that Magag’s disappearance is linked to any current terrorism planning in the UK. Nevertheless, we are of course taking this matter very seriously. The police are doing everything in their power to apprehend Magag as quickly as possible. Although I cannot give operational details, I can confirm that the police, the Security Service and other agencies are devoting significant resources to the search for Magag. Members of the public with any information relating to the search should contact the confidential police anti-terrorist hotline. Before the shadow Home Secretary stands up again, I would like to remind the House that this is not the first abscond of a terror suspect. In six years of control orders, there were seven absconds. Of those seven cases, six were never apprehended. Magag’s abscond is serious, and the authorities are doing everything they can to locate him. I will update the House when there are further developments as soon as it is possible to do so”.

3.32 pm Baroness Smith of Basildon: My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Answer to the Urgent Question. He will understand that it is of enormous concern that Ibrahim Magag, who is subject to a TPIM—a terrorism prevention and investigation measure—has been able to abscond, particularly when the judge who reviewed his previous control order said that, “it is too dangerous to permit him to be in London, even for a short period”.

The Minister referred to how many people had absconded under previous control orders, but the key issue was relocating those subject to an order. My understanding was that none absconded after they had been relocated. However, the Government took the decision to remove the power to relocate suspects when introducing TPIMs. Given that they allowed him to move back to London from the West Country, to where he had been relocated by the previous Government’s control order, can the Minister confirm whether that made it easier for him to abscond? Was he subject to any surveillance at the time? Finally, is it true that he absconded by hailing a black cab?

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Lord Taylor of Holbeach: I can confirm the latter point. The last time he was seen, he was reported as getting into a taxi. The noble Baroness misconstrues the nature of the TPIM system, which succeeds the control order system but is designed to provide proportionate supervision for people where evidence does not exist to secure a conviction. The only true way of dealing with terrorists is to find the evidence to convict them and to put them into prison; that is the only secure place that we can put them. That is a process of law for which we require evidence. TPIM is a mechanism whereby we can at least prevent the movement and control the location of individuals in the way that we have done. Lord Dholakia: My Lords, Parliament rightly put TPIMs at the heart of our intelligence, but in the case of Ibrahim Magag they obviously did not work. Is the Minister satisfied that the system, particularly the machinery and equipment available, is adequate for the operation? If not, what further improvements are necessary? Lord Taylor of Holbeach: We can, of course, always review the circumstances of this particular incident in the light of experience, but we know that the resources available to deal with people such as Magag are considerable, and that they have been designed to prevent things like this from happening. As I said, it is very difficult to prevent people from absconding. We know that it happened under the old regime; this is the first—unfortunate—case under a TPIM. Lord Reid of Cardowan: Does the Minister not understand that he misses the point? We all understand and accept that control orders and TPIMs are extraordinary measures. We understand that the ideal is to have a trial in a court of law with sufficient evidence. That is agreed. Nevertheless, the point is that, although control orders were inadequate—the Minister pointed to some absconding under them—the power to relocate was the biggest weapon in that inadequate arsenal. After the use of that no one, to my knowledge, absconded. However, the point is that the Government removed that one effective vehicle in the control orders when they brought in TPIMs. Will he now bear that in mind and at least assure the House that he will review the operations of TPIMs to see whether what I am saying is correct? Lord Taylor of Holbeach: I cannot accept what the noble Lord says, but I accept that he speaks from considerable experience in this area. Governments would be very foolish not to learn from experience. However, there is no evidence to suggest that the fact that Magag was here in London particularly assisted his absconding on this occasion. I accept, as the noble Lord said, that incidents like this should be reviewed, and they will be. Lord Laming: Will the Minister say what lessons have been learnt from this experience, and what steps have been taken to ensure that further lessons will be acted upon?


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Lord Taylor of Holbeach: I hope that I have just given the noble Lord an indication of the way we think about these matters. It is too soon to say whether lessons can be learnt. The most important thing is to ascertain the whereabouts of this person and to apprehend him. Lord Carlile of Berriew: Will the Minister accept that the fact that Mr Magag did not abscond while subject to a judicially approved relocation order, and that he absconded when that was removed, is in itself clear evidence of the poor decision to remove relocation orders? Will he also acknowledge that nobody absconded while subject to a relocation order, and that there were no absconds at all during the last four and a half years of control orders? Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Again, the noble Lord speaks with a great deal of experience on this issue. I note the point that he makes, but I have given my answer and I hope that noble Lords will accept it. Lord West of Spithead: My Lords, when I took over as Minister for Security we pushed hard to allow people to be moved out of the places where they were causing so much trouble, and from that moment not a single person absconded. Quite clearly, therefore, the fact that these people are not moved has an impact. Is it not true that TPIMs also take up more effort from the agencies and Security Service as well? Although none of us liked control orders, they were a way of ensuring the safety and security of our nation, particularly with those movement orders. I am afraid that the TPIMs, having removed those movement orders, put people at risk. Lord Taylor of Holbeach: I believe that I have given the noble Lord the answer, which I have given before. Of course, we will learn from this experience, but there are no current plans to reintroduce controls over movement. Lord Lloyd of Berwick: Will the Minister inform the House how many individuals are currently subject to TPIM orders, and how many of those individuals have been made subject to such orders on the grounds, if I have followed the noble Lord correctly, that they have been raising finance for foreign terrorists? Lord Taylor of Holbeach: I can inform the House that 10 people are subject to TPIMs. I cannot give the grounds for any of those orders having been made. Lord Dubs: The Minister said that this was an instance where there was not enough evidence to take the person to court. Perhaps I may say to the Minister, if we were to use intercept evidence, would we not be able to bring all these people to court? Is it not time for the Government to move forward on working out a system whereby intercept evidence could be used in these cases?

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The noble Lord moves the argument on considerably. We will have an opportunity to discuss all sorts of elements. Intercept is not communications data, but such data have been discussed in pre-legislative scrutiny by both Houses. Therefore, these matters are under consideration. Lord Harris of Haringey: When introducing the legislation that brought about TPIMs, the noble Lord’s predecessor assured the House that not only would extra surveillance resources be made available to the police and the Security Service but also that extra technological measures would be taken to ensure that individuals did not abscond. Perhaps the noble Lord will tell us whether the technological measures were the cause of failure in this instance and, if so, whether the technology that has been purchased has given value for money. Lord Taylor of Holbeach: I am not in a position to give an answer to that. I am sure that the noble Lord will understand why. Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I have listened with great care because I have great respect for the Minister, but I do not hear a single argument in favour of getting rid of relocation. Will the Minister tell me what that argument is? Lord Taylor of Holbeach: When it was introduced to the House, the legislation did not provide for relocation as being a proportionate measure to be taken in such cases. It was debated by Parliament and the provision was made. Therefore, that provision currently does not exist in TPIMs. Baroness Falkner of Margravine: Does my noble friend agree that the Joint Committee on Human Rights, of which several Members of the opposition Benches were members, examined control orders extensively in 2009. It recommended wholeheartedly that relocation to distant places away from family and support systems was no different from house arrest and was deeply disproportionate. The Joint Committee on Human Rights said that, in terms. Lord Taylor of Holbeach: I have given the view of the Government that it is important to establish proportionality in all these cases, which is why TPIMs are constructed as they are.

NHS: South London Healthcare Trust Private Notice Question 3.42 pm TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): My Lords, I shall now repeat as a statement the Answer given by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health in another place earlier today to an Urgent Question on the report of the trust special administrator to South London Healthcare NHS Trust. The statement is as follows:

NHS: South London Healthcare Trust

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“I have today published the final report of the trust special administrator to South London Healthcare NHS Trust and laid it before Parliament. I received the report yesterday and must now consider it carefully. I am under a statutory duty to take a decision by 1 February on how best to secure a sustainable future for services provided by the trust. The trust administrator began his appointment on 16 July. He published his draft report on 29 October, and undertook a consultation on his draft recommendations between 2 November and 13 December. More than 27,000 full consultation documents and 104,000 summary documents were distributed during the trust special administrator’s consultation, sent to 2,000 locations across south-east London, including hospital sites, GP surgeries, libraries and town halls. A dedicated website was established to support the consultation, the TSA team arranged or attended more than 100 events or meetings and the consultation generated more than 8,200 responses. I understand the concerns of honourable Members and, indeed, the people living in the areas affected by these proposals, especially the people of Lewisham. They have a right to expect the highest-quality NHS care, and I have a duty to ensure that they receive it. However, they will understand that it would not be appropriate for me to give a view now on the report’s recommendations, only one day after receiving the report. To do so would be pre-emptive, and would prejudice my duty to consider the recommendations with care and reach a decision that is in the best interests of the people of south-east London. However, I have made it clear that any solution would need to satisfy the four tests outlined by the Prime Minister and my right honourable predecessor with respect to any major reconfigurations. The changes must have support from GP commissioners; the public, patients and local authorities must have been genuinely engaged in the process; the recommendations must be underpinned by a clear clinical evidence base; and the changes must give patients a choice of good-quality providers. The challenges facing South London Healthcare NHS Trust are complex and long-standing, but to fail to address them is to penalise other parts of the NHS from which resources must be taken to finance the biggest deficit anywhere in the NHS. To date, it has not proved possible to ensure that South London Healthcare NHS Trust is able to secure a sustainable future for its services within its existing configuration and organisational form. In appointing a trust special administrator to the trust, the Government’s priority was to ensure that patients continue to receive high-quality, sustainable NHS services. I will consider the special administrator’s report with that objective in mind”. My Lords, that concludes the statement. 3.45 pm Baroness Wheeler: I thank the Minister for repeating the Answer to the Urgent Question. We commend the work of the trust special administrator and support a number of the recommendations developed from previous reviews. However, it is difficult to understand how the Government consider this report to constitute the full

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[BARONESS WHEELER] strategic review of the sustainability of services across south-east London that is required. The TSA has overstepped its remit under the Health Act 2009 by including service changes to Lewisham hospital; and the parallel work by King’s Health Partners on reconfiguration under three other south-east London trusts has yet to be completed. Can the Minister explain why the rules on making changes to hospitals have been changed to allow back-door reconfigurations in this way without proper scrutiny and consultation? What public consultation will there be on the King’s Health Partners report? Can he reassure the people of Lewisham that they will have their full consultation rights to challenge the closure of their A&E services and the other major changes being proposed?

Earl Howe: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness and I understand the concerns that she has raised. The first question she asked me was whether I considered the trust special administrator to have overstepped his remit. The clear advice that we have received is that no part of the NHS can exist in a vacuum. The independent trust special administrator is responsible for developing recommendations to deal with the severe failings at South London Healthcare Trust based on local discussions and consultation. I hope that the statement I read out gave the House a flavour of how extensive those consultations have been. His recommendations must secure high-quality care for local people in a financially sustainable way. However, as I have mentioned, each NHS trust is part of a complex, wider health system, and it is quite clearly the view of the administrator in this case that it is not possible to find a solution without considering the possible impact on other hospitals in the areas. That conclusion is one that my right honourable friend will have to consider very carefully, but Ministers have received clear advice that it is within the powers of the administrator to make recommendations about necessary changes to other local providers if they are a necessary and consequential part of finding a long-term solution to securing high-quality services for patients at that trust. I emphasise that I do not in any way wish to pre-empt the decision that my right honourable friend has to take within 20 working days. However, he will have to consider advice on the clinical, legal and financial aspects of the administrator’s recommendations and I have no doubt that concerns raised by the noble Baroness will be central to his consideration. Lord Warner: My Lords, I declare an interest as the former chairman of the provider agency in the London SHA area who grappled with some of these problems in south-east London which, to the best of my knowledge, have been around for at least 20 years. I congratulate the TSA on the work that he has done in trying to resolve this. Could the Minister explain a little more about the involvement of Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital and King’s College Hospital? The TSA is to be congratulated on involving them much more than has been the case in the past in finding solutions in this


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area because the failure of those two powerful hospitals to get involved in sorting out the mess in south-east London has bedevilled earlier solutions. Earl Howe: My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, who I know well appreciates the scale of the problem with which the administrator was grappling. This trust was losing more than £1 million a week. That is not a sustainable position in the current NHS, or even when times were rosier as regards the financial settlement. It is important for me not to say anything that will pre-empt my right honourable friend’s conclusion, but I am aware, from the press release issued today by the trust special administrator, that, as the noble Lord rightly says, the wider health economy has been taken into consideration, including the role of Guy’s and King’s College Hospital, in a number of areas, including, in particular, in emergency care and in obstetrician-led maternity care. I would commend to the noble Lord a summary of the recommendations, which is on the department’s website today. I hope he will find that helpful in giving him a sense of the breadth of the administrator’s purview. Baroness Donaghy: Is the Minister aware of the extreme anxiety among the population in Lewisham about the possible future closure of the A&E department in Lewisham? The population of 250,000 is estimated to rise to 300,000 in a very few years’ time as a result of a huge increase in the birth rate. There are very deep social needs and there is no doubt whatever that there is unanimity among the professionals and the population about the importance of maintaining that hospital. Is the Minister also concerned that one report that was produced, which was supposedly a clinical report, in fact turned out to be written by the communications department? Is he satisfied that the process has been a fair one and that there has not been a prejudgment in the consultation exercise? Earl Howe: My Lords, all questions of process must be for my right honourable friend to consider, including that one. I emphasise the Government’s approach to reconfiguration decisions. When the Government came into office, we took a very clear decision about four tests that needed to be applied to any sustainable reconfiguration within the NHS: the changes, whatever they were, had to command support from GP commissioners—that is to say, the clinical community; the public must be engaged in the process; the recommendations must be clinically sustainable and sound; and, as the statement mentioned, they must leave patients with a clear choice of good-quality providers. Those safeguards were not there before, but they are there now and my right honourable friend will be looking at those tests when he considers not just the matter of Lewisham but the totality of the administrator’s recommendations. Baroness Jolly: My Lords, today it is the South London Healthcare Trust, and there is anxiety abroad that tomorrow it could well be another trust. Can the Minister tell the House how many trusts are in the “at risk” box today and what role is being played by Monitor and others in these cases?


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Earl Howe: My Lords, it is important to stress to my noble friend that a trust will be put into special administration only when all other options have been exhausted. I think that the noble Lord, Lord Warner, is aware that that was the situation we faced in this instance. Where possible, NHS providers will be supported to return to sustainability in both the clinical and financial sense. Our priority is to do what is best to ensure that patients receive high-quality care and special administration is a last resort. However, as my noble friend knows, a number of trusts are facing financial challenges. The department is working with Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority to oversee the performance of those trusts. I would just say that while some organisations are in difficulties, currently there are absolutely no firm plans to trigger the regime for any other trusts at all. Baroness Wall of New Barnet: My Lords, I am sure that the noble Earl recognises the experience I have had as chairman of the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust, which went through a similar exercise that took many years. First, however, I want to associate myself with the comments made by my noble friend Lord Warner, and I support the action that has been taken. I recognise what my noble friend said about the concerns of the local community, but that will always be the case. However, what is most important is to make the decision and secure the support of outlying hospitals. My own trust is working towards a partnership with the Royal Free Hospital, although we are not there yet. The move could have been considered much earlier, which would have prevented a lot of pain and heartache for many people. My advice and plea is to stick with what is being done. That did not happen for Barnet and Chase Farm. As noble Lords know, a number of holds were put on what we were doing that made things worse for the community and for the staff. They almost ensured that the services we were providing were harder to deliver. Earl Howe: As ever, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her perspective from the front line. I think it was with that in mind that the previous Government drew up the legislation which my right honourable friend now has to abide by, in that there is now a very tight timescale of 20 working days for him to take a decision. That is not a long time but it is indicative of the need for urgency in arriving at the right solution. The TSA has done his work and we must now judge whether the recommendations are the right ones.

Public Service Pensions Bill Order of Consideration Motion 3.57 pm Moved By Earl Attlee That it be an instruction to the Committee of the Whole House to which the Public Service Pensions Bill has been committed that they consider the Bill in the following order:

Growth and Infrastructure Bill

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Clause 1, Schedule 1, Clause 2, Schedule 2, Clause 3, Schedule 3, Clauses 4 to 15, Schedule 4, Clause 16, Schedule 5, Clause 17, Schedule 6, Clause 18, Schedule 7, Clauses 19 to 24, Schedule 8, Clauses 25 and 26, Schedule 9, Clauses 27 and 28, Schedule 10, Clauses 29 and 30, Schedule 11, Clauses 31 to 38. Motion agreed.

Growth and Infrastructure Bill Second Reading 3.58 pm Moved By Baroness Hanham That the Bill be read a second time. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department forCommunitiesandLocalGovernment(BaronessHanham): My Lords, this Bill is primarily a deregulatory measure in support of the Government’s decisive actions to put the country’s economy back on a stable footing and to restore growth. The challenges we face mean that we must constantly keep in mind what more needs to be done to encourage innovation and economic growth, to create more jobs and to tackle anything which acts as a barrier to this happening. That is why the Bill focuses on reforms that will boost Britain’s infrastructure, get rid of unnecessary bureaucracy and ensure that our planning system operates effectively. It brings forward provisions that will remove constraints on economic development caused by the planning system, help to unlock land for housing growth to ensure that sufficient housing can be built for future needs, speed up the essential delivery of superfast broadband—country-wide, but particularly in rural areas—remove barriers and delay to major infrastructure projects, introduce measures to support business directly by providing certainty on business rates, and introduce a new employment status. Turning to these themes in the Bill itself, perhaps I may start by addressing Clauses 1 and 6 on planning and housing. Despite the improvement in housebuilding starts across England, which were 29% higher in 2011 compared to 2009, and the publication of a comprehensive housing strategy, there is far more to do to provide homes to meet Britain’s demographic needs and to help generate local economic growth. Following the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework there is now a more positive and inclusive planning system. The framework remains at the centre of our planning policy and the measures within the Bill are all aimed at simplifying and improving the locally led planning system so that it works effectively for local communities and businesses. Most councils are already dealing with planning applications efficiently; the approval rate is at a 10-year high of 88%. However, a small number of local planning authorities make unnecessarily slow decisions. They consistently fail to meet the statutory time limits within which councils should process major applications, as agreed by Parliament. Others see a relatively high proportion of their decisions to refuse applications overturned at appeal. That is a particular issue with major schemes, given the relatively high cost of preparing

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[BARONESS HANHAM] them and their importance for growth. Clause 1 therefore provides an incentive for poorly performing councils to improve and an alternative route for developers if they do not. However, as the Planning Minister has made clear in the other place, we fully intend that these provisions will be applicable only to a small number of planning authorities and we would be delighted if it were not necessary for any local authority to be designated under this clause, with all local authorities making sound and timely decisions on applications. Turning to Clause 6, the need for housing—particularly, affordable housing—remains high. The Government are committed to unlocking stalled sites where previously negotiated affordable housing obligations are unviable because they are currently economically unrealistic. Clause 6 presents an opportunity to stimulate housing growth and will be a vital component in the drive to get more affordable housing built. Stalled sites mean that there is no local growth, community benefit, or new or affordable housing. Across the country there are 1,400 stalled sites, with the capacity for 75,000 homes. Clause 6 will enable developers to challenge the local authority on the affordable housing elements of its Section 106 requirements in a fast-track decisionmaking process. It presents a real opportunity to ensure that consents are viable and realistic. Furthermore, it addresses the reluctance of some local authorities to renegotiate currently unrealistic affordable housing requirements, agreed in different market conditions. We recognise, of course, that many local authorities have already opened such negotiations, but not all have. As well as the measures in Clauses 1 and 6, the Bill makes a number of other changes, through Clauses 2 to 5 and Clauses 7 and 9, which will make the planning process simpler while retaining important safeguards. Clause 2 expands inspectors’ powers to award and recover costs at planning appeals. Clause 3 corrects a legislative anomaly to enable the Secretary of State to award costs between the parties when a compulsory purchase inquiry is cancelled and when a party does not appear at an inquiry that is held. Clause 4 will help to ensure that best use is made of existing buildings and brownfield land by making changes to existing powers to grant permitted development rights. Clause 5 will ensure that information requests made by local authorities are genuinely related to planning and the nature and scale of the development proposed. Clause 7 will make it easier for local authorities to choose, if they wish, to dispose of surplus land held for planning purposes, which will help to get more brownfield land back into productive use. Clause 9 will allow mineral planning authorities in England greater discretion as to whether and when to undertake a periodic review of the mineral provisions. I turn now to Clause 8, which I left out in addressing the first nine clauses. Because of its critical importance to the United Kingdom’s long-term economic future, the Government’s ambition is for this country to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015. Clause 8 is particularly important as it will potentially help to give over 4 million more people access to fixed superfast broadband, particularly those in rural and hard-to-reach areas of the country.


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Let me be clear that it is not our intention to use the Clause 8 power to remove prior approval requirements for mobile masts. We intend to use it for fixed infrastructure: cabinets and poles only. The clause makes no distinction between fixed and mobile infrastructure because of EU regulatory requirements for the communications sector. Article 8(1) of the framework directive requires technology neutrality so far as the primary implementing legislation is concerned. However, the requirement for neutrality does not apply to secondary legislation, and therefore the consultation we will publish later this month on the changes that we will bring forward through secondary legislation will make clear that we propose to use Clause 8 for fixed infrastructure—cabinets and poles—and not mobile masts. In the 1980s, deregulation led to the modern communications industry we enjoy today, through the abolition of special TV licences for satellite dishes and the introduction of permitted development rights for those dishes. The Bill seeks to provide the same impetus to the rollout of 21st-century superfast broadband technology. Clauses 10 to 16 take forward a number of recommendations from the Penfold review to remove overlapping development consent regimes, where multiple permissions from different government agencies are required on top of planning permission. However, I shall focus today on the proposed reforms to the system for registering town and village greens in England, which will harmonise with the democratically accountable planning system. The changes will prevent green applications being used to stop or delay planned development. Another aim is to reduce the financial burden and red tape for local authorities and landowners. For the avoidance of doubt, the reforms will not affect existing registered town and village greens, which will continue to be given strong protection. We have also set out a new local green space designation to give special protection to local green areas, including recreational land, which local people can affect through local and neighbourhood plans. We have set out in the National Planning Policy Framework how local people can use the designation, together with important safeguards for existing open spaces. Clause 13 introduces landowner statements. Landowners will be able to deposit with the commons registration authority statements which bring to an end any use of their land up to that point as being “as of right”, which is one of the criteria for registering land as a town or village green. This mechanism will allow landowners to tolerate any recreational use of their land without fear that the land could be registered as a town or village green. Clause 14 covers interaction with the planning system. This is achieved through making changes to the Commons Act 2006 which will prevent green applications being made where planning permission has been granted or where a planning application has been publicised and the decision is still to be made. Equally importantly, the changes will prevent town and village green applications for land identified for potential development in local and neighbourhood plans, including draft plans.

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Clause 15 amends existing fee-making powers for applications to amend the registers of common land and town and village greens under Part 1 of the Commons Act 2006. The purpose is to provide greater flexibility and targeting of fees, in particular to allow them to be levied by different bodies where more than one authority is involved in determining an application. Clauses 17 to 24 include a number of measures to support the development of the infrastructure that is vital to economic growth. Clauses 17 to 20 have the potential to unlock thousands of new jobs and millions of pounds of new investment in energy projects, and Clauses 21 to 24 will remove delays that can hold back major infrastructure projects. Ofgem’s proposed £160 million gas network innovation competition, specifically the funding mechanism, is currently being delayed because of regulatory ambiguity in the Gas Act. Clause 17 puts beyond doubt Ofgem’s ability to put in place conditions allowing the gas network innovation competition to proceed. Clauses 18 and 19 enable holders of Section 36 Electricity Act 1989 consents for power-generating stations to have them varied to take account of significant technology and design changes without the need to make a new application under the Planning Act. Clause 20 provides legislative clarity on the requirements for development consents relevant under the pre-Planning Act regime. Clause 21 makes clear our commitment to expand and improve the one-stop shop approach for non-planning consents for national major infrastructure projects, while ensuring that interested and affected parties continue to be consulted on proposals. In line with the deregulatory theme of the Bill, Clause 21 and some parts of Clauses 22 and 23 remove the need for a number of additional certificates and consents to be issued separately and allow for the relevant issues to be covered during the development consent order process, which will provide savings to business. Clauses 22 and 23 update existing legislation on the special parliamentary procedure to ensure that nationally significant major infrastructure projects are brought forward as quickly as possible. The Bill makes changes that will reduce the number of circumstances in which the special parliamentary procedure is triggered. It will also address inconsistencies between different pieces of legislation to limit consideration under the special parliamentary procedure to the compulsory acquisition of special land. This responds to a joint report in 2012 on special parliamentary procedure by the Chairman of Ways and Means and the Chairman of Committees, which urged the Government, “to rectify these anomalies as a matter of priority”,

and to a commitment made by the Government to reform special parliamentary procedure for nationally significant infrastructure projects at the earliest opportunity. It is vitally important to the health of the United Kingdom economy that the development of projects of national significance that are needed should go ahead with the minimum of delay. But the speed with which large-scale major applications are determined is falling: the number of cases taking more than 52 weeks to decide has increased from 8% to 13%. Clause 24


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therefore includes a measure to broaden the scope of the nationally significant infrastructure planning regime so that developers of business and commercial schemes can choose whether to apply to the local council for planning permission or to request to use the infrastructure regime. Clauses 25 and 26 concern business rates. As well as measures to streamline planning and boost investment in housing and infrastructure, the Bill includes measures to support business directly. Clause 25 provides certainty by postponing the revaluation of business rates from 2015 to 2017. Tax stability is vital to businesses looking to grow and to help improve the economy. Postponing revaluation in England from 2015 will avoid sharp changes and unexpected increases in business rate bills over the next five years. As business rates are linked to inflation, there will be no real-terms increase. This reform will provide certainty for business to plan and invest, supporting local economic growth. Independent initial estimates published in full by the Valuation Office Agency suggest that 800,000 premises would have seen a real-terms increase in their rates at a 2015 revaluation. As local government finance is a devolved matter, Clause 26 provides the Welsh Assembly Government with the power to make a similar postponement if they so choose. Finally, Clause 27 sets out a new employment status of employee shareholder, which will give both companies and people more options. Simon Walker from the Institute of Directors said: “This scheme has the potential to reduce the employment law burden on companies and make employees better off at the same time”.

Stuart Rose, a former chief executive of Marks & Spencer, said: “This is a win-win for entrepreneurs and employers in small and medium-sized companies that need a flexible dedicated workforce focused on growth”.

Of course, it is important that existing employees are not coerced into this new employment status. That is why the clause adds a new unfair dismissal right and a right not to suffer a detriment if an existing employee turns down the offer of an employee shareholder contract. The new status will have all the rights associated with employees, including discrimination rights, except for certain unfair dismissal rights, rights to statutory redundancy pay and certain statutory rights to request flexible working and time to train. Employee shareholders will be required to give 16 weeks’ notice of their intention to return from maternity, adoption or additional parental leave. Importantly, employee shareholders will be given shares in the company of at least £2,000, with the gains made on the first £50,000 of shares exempt from capital gains tax. This new employment status is about increasing choice and flexibility in the employment relationship. This Bill brings together a range of measures that will simplify the planning system, boost investment in housing and infrastructure, and help businesses and growth. I commend it to the House.

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4.15 pm Lord Adonis: My Lords, I thank the Minister for explaining the Bill. We look forward to working with her as we scrutinise it in detail. I am fortunate to be supported on the Front Bench by my noble friends Lord McKenzie of Luton and Lord Tunnicliffe. The Bill does a few worthwhile things, including removing restrictions on the disposal of land for less than best consideration, some of the energy provisions and allowing the stopping up or diverting of highways and public paths to run alongside the planning process. However, the meat of the Bill is less appetising. Its unifying theme is not growth but weakening local government. That contradicts not only the coalition’s own previous policy of localism but the excellent report on growth by the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine. He condemned what he called the “drift to centralism” as an impediment to local economic regeneration and said that, “as Whitehall has taken more powers so its distrust of local decision makers has increased. At the first sign of trouble, further powers are wrested back to the centre. At the same time—and I would say as a result—the involvement of local business people in the governance of their communities has dwindled, and their energy and innovation has been lost”.

Yet what does the Bill do but precisely what the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, criticised? On the unsubstantiated claim that local authorities are not giving enough planning consents quickly enough, it wrests power back to the centre, authorising Ministers to suspend local planning authorities entirely for the first time since the modern planning system was established after the Second World War. It does this in the very first clause of the Bill, whose opening words are: “A relevant application that would otherwise have to be made to the local planning authority may (if the applicant so chooses) be made instead to the Secretary of State”.

That is the antithesis of localism and the report by the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine. The suspension of local democracy in the Bill is only supposed to be in cases of failure, but it is no surprise that the Government are finding it hard to define failure. When attempting to give the House of Commons a concrete example of a failing local planning authority, the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, cited Hackney. He then had to correct this to Haringey, and apologised unreservedly to Hackney. No doubt the confusion was caused by Hackney and Haringey both beginning with the letters “Ha” and ending in “ey”. I hear that Mansfield and Macclesfield, not to mention Hertfordshire and Herefordshire, are eyeing each other warily and sending maps to CLG with their locations, spelling and other vital statistics clearly distinguished. The criteria for failure are not set out in the Bill but are at ministerial discretion and are being consulted upon separately. When she replies, perhaps the noble Baroness could tell us how many local planning authorities would be liable for suspension under the latest draft of the criteria, as they keep changing, and which ones are liable for suspension. I note that in respect of the speed of deciding major planning applications, which is one of the criteria for failure, the three slowest local authorities in the country are Kensington and Chelsea, Torbay and North Norfolk. I particularly look forward to the views of the noble Baroness on the competence of Kensington and Chelsea.


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On the national situation, in 2011-12, councils approved 87% of applications, which as the noble Baroness herself said is a 10-year high, with 82% decided within eight weeks and 93% decided within 13 weeks. This is not a plausible argument for failure and developers can already appeal to the Planning Inspectorate on grounds of non-determination in the required time under Section 78(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. To be fair, I suspect that in her heart of hearts, as a distinguished former local authority leader, the noble Baroness does not actually want the power to suspend local planning authorities, but she has been told by the Chancellor that an example has to be made, in Admiral Byng fashion, of some supposedly obstructive councils, so she has got to find a few to shoot at dawn “pour encourager les autres”. Localism and local government have strong supporters in all parts of the House, and I hope we can work constructively to get a better balance between local democracy and Whitehall control in this Bill. The same applies in respect of its other anti-local provisions. There is concern at the restrictions on the designation of village greens and town greens in Clauses 13 and 14. My right honourable friend Hilary Benn describes this as a “positively Kafkaesque” proposal, in that under the Bill the moment a planning application is published, citizens are banned from seeking to register a green. As he puts it: “Since the first that most people will hear of an application is when it is published, this seems to be a pretty clever way of stopping people exercising their rights, unless they happen to be mind readers”.—[Official Report, Commons, 5/12/12; col. 617.]

Also of concern are the wide powers to take planning applications away from local communities in Clause 24, which significantly extends the lists set out in the Planning Act 2008 by including business and commercial projects. Clause 8 overrides the requirement to preserve the beauty of national parks in the siting of masts and overhead cables, which appears entirely unrelated to the imperative to extend broadband which the national parks strongly support. I welcome the assurances of the noble Baroness about that in her speech and I hope that they meet this point. I will study her words with care. There is a good deal of concern about Clause 6, which sets aside affordable housing requirements through the Section 106 process. This appears to be another straightforward case of Treasury knee-jerkism. It is obviously vital that housing developments in areas of need are economically viable; but no case has been made that Section 106 is holding things back, whereas without Section 106 there is a real danger that fewer mixed communities will be created and there will be less affordable housing. Asked about Section 106, the National Housing Federation said: “No evidence has been provided to suggest that planning obligations are routinely stalling development.″

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said: “We are not convinced that Section 106 obligations are necessarily the key sticking point”.

When the planning Minister was asked by the Commons Select Committee, he could give no statistics on the number of developments being held up by Section 106 difficulties. He suggested that there were

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some 1,200 sites and 75,000 homes being stalled, based on something called the Glenigan database. The noble Baroness has just referred to 1,400 sites rather than 1,200. These numbers clearly vary depending on the Minister. When asked to publish the Glenigan database, the planning Minister said he could not do so because it was commercially sensitive. When asked the straight question of how many were stalled because of Section 106 requirements, he replied: “It is very difficult to say”.

Perhaps the noble Baroness could tell us when she replies. If she cannot, surely Parliament should not be giving her the power to override local democracy on cause unseen. This is not a minor matter. Thousands of affordable homes are provided each year under Section 106 agreements. I should add that the Local Government Association estimates that 400,000 homes have planning permission but are yet to be built, which points to much wider economic factors at play than the planning system. So much for planning and local democracy. The other critical concern about the Bill relates to Clause 27. This is the so-called shares-for-rights scheme. The House will recall the origins of this idea: Adrian Beecroft’s controversial plan to abolish employment rights in respect of unfair dismissal, even as the period of qualification for such rights was in many cases being doubled from one year to two years. The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, vetoed the original Beecroft plan, saying: “Britain is already got a very flexible, cooperative labour force. We don’t need to scare the wits out of workers with threats to dismiss them. It’s completely the wrong approach”.

We on these Benches, and, I suspect, most of our friends on the Lib Dem Benches entirely agree with those sentiments. The trouble is that Vince changed his mind, or had his mind changed for him. At the instigation of the Chancellor, the Beecroft proposal reappeared, tied to the allocation of shares, in Clause 27. Clause 27 is Beecroft by the back door. It creates so-called employee shareholders, who have been given shares worth between £2,000 and £50,000 on the day of issue, who will have no rights to statutory redundancy pay, no rights to request flexible working, no rights to request time off to train and no rights to claim unfair dismissal. It is important to separate the issues of employment rights and wider share ownership in this regard. We strongly support wider share ownership among employees and many of the detailed and well considered proposals to that effect in the Nuttall report, published only six months ago. However, that is entirely different to trading shares for basic rights in what is generally an unequal employment relationship, which is the very reason why employment rights exist in the first place and why they have been built up by Governments of all parties for more than a century. There is nothing well considered about this sharesfor-rights plan. On the contrary, it makes the back of the envelope look like Magna Carta. The proposal was announced on 8 October. The consultation started on 18 October. It was completed on 9 November. All of that was happening while the House of Commons


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was approving the very plans supposedly being consulted on. The consultation demonstrated almost universal criticism and lack of support, but the Government proceeded anyway and, a mere two months later, your Lordships are now all that stand between the back of the envelope and the law of the land. A host of critical issues about shares for rights was not addressed properly in the House of Commons and need to be addressed by your Lordships. First, what protection will there be against people being forced to take up no-rights jobs? As the noble Baroness just stated, in the Commons, the Government agreed to statutory protection in respect of existing employees, but what about new employees? In particular, what about those on benefits who stand to have their benefits withdrawn if they do not take up no-rights jobs? The employment Minister, Michael Fallon, only exacerbated those concerns in the House of Commons. He refused to accept a Lib Dem amendment to give protection to benefits claimants from having to take no-rights jobs. On the contrary, he said: “The Government believe that jobseeker’s allowance claimants must actively seek and be available for work … it is right that employee-shareholder jobs should be as much a part of that consideration as any other”. —[Official Report, Commons, 17/12/12; col. 649.]

He said that, in such cases, the unemployed person should “normally accept the offer”. Let me stress that. In the view of the Government, jobseekers should normally accept jobs with no rights when offered. The only concession that the Minister made was that if some of the withdrawn rights were “appropriate”—for example, the right to request flexible working could well be crucial for a parent with young children—that could be taken into account in deciding whether benefits should be docked in cases where a no-rights job was declined. Michael Fallon went on to say that the DWP’s decision-makers’ guidance would be amended accordingly. Can I ask the noble Baroness if she will circulate the new DWP guidance before we consider this matter in Committee? Far from meeting concerns about compulsion to accept no-rights jobs, the Government are parading compulsion as positively desirable. Paul Callaghan, a partner in the respected legal firm Taylor Wessing, said that these shares-for-rights contracts, “will be optional to the extent that eating and drinking is optional”.

Secondly, in respect of employees facing redundancy or dismissal there is the obvious point that without existing rights those who are aggrieved will be encouraged to migrate to claims of discrimination, which are generally far more onerous and time-consuming when they come to tribunals. This is not just because discrimination claims will be the only avenue open to the aggrieved, having lost their other rights. To make another obvious point it will often be true that discrimination is involved since it is purely rational that an employer would seek to dismiss, or make redundant, first those who have no rights to compensation—in other words to discriminate against them unfairly. Thirdly, what about tax avoidance? These shares-forrights contracts will go up to £50,000 worth of shares, as the noble Baroness said. The Government say that they will get favourable tax treatment, although they still have not given the details. They expect us to pass

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[LORD ADONIS] Clause 27 into law without knowing what the precise tax treatment of these shares will be, unless the noble Baroness can enlighten us when she replies. The Institute for Fiscal Studies describes Clause 27 as a “billion-pound lollipop” for tax avoiders which looks as if it will foster a whole new avoidance industry, “just as government ministers are falling over themselves to condemn such behaviour”.

When she replies can the noble Baroness give me her estimate of the likely cost in lost tax revenue of these new employee shares? In my entire time in Government and in the House I have never seen such unanimous opposition to a proposal from those whom it is intended to benefit, namely companies themselves. Justin King, the chief executive of Sainsbury’s, who was on the Prime Minister’s business advisory group, says that the policy is, “not what we should be doing”.

He went on: “What do you think the population at large will think of businesses that want to trade employment rights for money?

He continued: “Our agenda ... should be making employing people easier and less costly”.

Only five of 219 consultation responses welcomed the proposal. The Law Society says that it will be likely to create more red tape not less. It will raise substantial risks of costly litigation and it will create serious potential claims of discrimination. The proposal is not even welcomed by the Employee Ownership Association, which says of Clause 27: “There is no need to dilute the rights of workers in order to grow employee ownership”.

We have our work cut out on this Bill. Local democracy, affordable housing and the rights of employees at work are not small matters. They go to the heart of our society and our economy. Moreover, none of them is an impediment to growth. To get growth we need vibrant local leadership, more affordable housing, and self-confident, not fearful, companies and employees. Alas, this Bill weakens all three. 4.32 pm Lord Tope: My Lords, I declare my interest as a councillor on a London borough council, which is also a local planning authority. I thank the Minister for the careful and thorough way in which she introduced the Bill. It sounded as if she might be choking on one or two statements that she made, but I think that is much more to do with the state of her throat than anything that is in the Bill. Listening to the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, I was reminded, not for the first time in the past couple of years, of something that was said to me by a Conservative local government leader when I first became a councillor nearly 40 years ago. He said to me that there were really only two parties. As a Liberal I thought that I knew what was coming. In fact he said that they were the central government party and the local government party. The more we have these debates in your Lordships’ House on the Bills that come forward from a Government committed to localism, the more I am reminded of


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that Conservative councillor’s statement. In some of his comments, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, also reminded me of it. I take some comfort, though, from the way in which Ministers in the other place showed a willingness to listen to, and sometimes also to hear, reasonable arguments that were put to them and to agree to amend the Bill accordingly, or at least to provide welcome reassurances as to the Government’s intentions. I have no doubt that this listening and hearing approach will continue in this House, as it always does with the Minister, and I welcome again the constructive approach that the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, has promised us from the opposition Benches. I feel sure, therefore, that by the time we get to Third Reading we will be able to say positively that the Bill will do some good rather than that it will do little harm, which I fear is probably the reality at the moment. I think that we all share at least some of the objectives of the Bill. For instance, we all wish to achieve sustainable growth and we all want more new homes, particularly affordable ones. We may start to differ on how and where to achieve these objectives, but the overall objectives are shared. At the least, therefore, we should start by welcoming a Bill that seeks to achieve them and commit ourselves to making it better able to do so. Clause 1 of the Bill concerns the planning system. It seems to assume that the major inhibitor to growth is the planning system and local planning authorities generally. There is absolutely no evidence to support that contention. If we are to legislate for what I believe is such a draconian measure, were it to be implemented, then we need to have from the Government the evidence that tells us that it is necessary. I do not believe that that evidence is there. Indeed, Ministers have implicitly accepted that by saying that they expect, as well as that they hope, that these provisions will never actually be used. That is all very well when we have such a benevolent Government and a Secretary of State so demonstratively well disposed to local government, but when this is set in legislation it is there for all time, and it is conceivable that one day there may be a Government and a Secretary of State who are less benevolently disposed and are able to use these provisions in a less constructive way. We need to be aware of that. I understand very well why no Government would want to set the criteria for designation in primary legislation; they need to be flexible and to be able to respond to changing circumstances. However, I hope that the Government will understand that others, local planning authorities in particular, need to see some safeguards in the criteria to be used for designation—if that is to happen—for the future when that less benevolent Secretary of State may be in office. I hope, though, that we will look not only at what is in the Bill that could be improved or even removed, but at what is not yet in the Bill that could make a significant improvement in achieving its objectives. To me, the most obvious absence is the biggest cause of the failure of growth, particularly in the housing sector. I refer to access to finance, whether for SMEs or, more particularly in this context, for purchasers. For instance, between 2007 and 2011 gross mortgage lending dropped

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by 61%, the number of mortgages fell by 50% and the average deposit for a first-time buyer doubled. The Bill does little or nothing to address this issue. I hope that we will be able to address that important omission before the Bill leaves this House. There are some interesting proposals from the Community Investment Coalition that seek to achieve this and which fit very well with a localist agenda. The CIC argues, and I agree, that to deliver a real impact the Bill needs to focus on providing local areas with the tools to hold financial services providers to account in order to improve access to credit on fair terms for both households and businesses. I turn to some of the other provisions of the Bill, starting again with Clause 1, on which I am sure we will spend much time in Committee. On first reading it is hard to understand how this could have come from a Government who only a year or so ago promoted a Localism Act. In the other place, as I said previously, Ministers have gone to considerable lengths to put this proposal into a more welcome, or at least less unwelcome, context and to stress that they expect it to be rarely, if ever, used. Indeed, I would expect that any sensible developer would never want to use it, except in the most extreme circumstances. One of the many failings is that it seems to put speed before quality—speed of decision-making before the quality of the decisions being made and the decisionmaking process. I know we will discuss more fully how we are going to balance that. Most of us would agree that we need both—a fast but above all a good quality decision-making process. I look forward to the answer to the question from the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, on how many local planning authorities will be caught under the current proposed criteria. My understanding is that it is none at all. If that is the case I wonder why Clause 1 of the Bill is thought to be necessary.


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that a local planning authority is on the danger list, and will that be sufficient to enable it to improve itself and to seek help from its peers to be able to do so? Finally, on Clause 1, the Mayor of London is proposing that if any London local planning authority is designated the mayor rather than the Planning Inspectorate should be able to call in and consider appropriate planning applications. I have made clear my concerns about designation, but I can see some merit in that power going to an elected and accountable body that will at least have some knowledge and experience of local circumstances. I am sure we will consider that further in Committee. I turn now to Clause 6, reflecting the modification or discharge of affordable housing requirements in Section 106 agreements. Again, we must recognise that the norm is that this happens already. All over the country local authorities are renegotiating Section 106 agreements with developers. It does not need legislation or friendly advice from a benevolent central government to enable that to happen. Of course those negotiations are hard. The developer, quite rightly, wants to get the best financial return and the local planning authority, equally rightly, wants the best for the local community, particularly with respect to much-needed affordable housing. Those negotiations take place. They are sometimes difficult and protracted but more often than not agreement is reached. Again, the Minister has said that some local authorities refuse to negotiate. I hope she can quantify that even if she does not wish—or is not even able—to name them now. The Local Government Association in its survey said that only 2% of local authorities are unwilling to negotiate. Before we legislate for that 2% we need to understand better whether that is just because they are very difficult and very awkward or whether there is some local reason or circumstance in a particular Section 106 agreement that brings that about.

Times have moved on considerably. These days most local planning authorities understand the needs of developers. They understand that developers need to make their schemes financially viable and developers understand the role of the local planning authority, not least in representing the interests of its local community. Of course there are conflicts and frustrations in reconciling these interests—there are hard negotiations and so there should be—but most of that is done before the planning application is ever submitted. Certainly that is the case if it is done properly. I hope we will all recognise that, as so often, we are legislating to deal with a small minority of the worst, rather than any representation of the norm, and that, as usual, we are doing nothing to reward excellence or to help the best to be better.

It is very important that this provision is not seen either as any real or implied reduction in the Government’s commitment to the provision of more affordable housing, nor as an easy get-out clause for reluctant developers. We must also be assured that the Planning Inspectorate, if it is to be the arbiter, will be equipped for the task being given to it—although I question whether this is the most effective use of scarce resources. Again, I am sure that we will spend some time on this in Committee when we will be seeking reassurance and safeguards on these points. Again, we may wish to consider whether the Mayor of London has some role in this, as at least an elected and accountable body as distinct from an unelected and unaccountable one based some distance from many local authorities.

Of course, we accept that some planning authorities are not doing as well as they could or should. I know that the Minister—who I know well as a fellow former London borough council leader—will readily agree with me that designation must really be a very last resort and that a far better approach would be to provide help and support to enable those authorities to improve themselves. Perhaps she will say a little bit about the Government’s intentions in this regard. For instance, how much warning will the Government give

My colleagues speaking from the Liberal Democrat Benches in this debate will raise other concerns about the Bill. In particular, my noble friend Lady Brinton will speak about those provisions relating to rural broadband and to employee ownership. I will leave that to her. I have just two further short questions for the Minister. Clause 24 would bring business and commercial projects within the Planning Act 2008 regime. Although I understand that this does not include retail or housing projects, can the Minister say how

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[LORD TOPE] and by whom such projects will be defined as being of national significance, and what additional power this clause gives that does not already exist? My final point concerns Clause 25 and the postponement of the business rate revaluation. The Minister has told us how many potential losers—I suppose we could call them that—there would be under such a revaluation. I wonder how many winners there might be. Presumably it is a lesser number, which is one of the reasons why we are doing this. In any revaluation, some are losers and some are winners; there is a balance in that. I also wonder whether the Minister can tell us what effect, if any, this will have on the localisation of the business rate that starts shortly. I end as I began by saying that on these Benches we will work constructively with all sides of the House to try to make this Bill even better so that it meets the objectives which are stated in its title, and which we all share.

4.47 pm Baroness Valentine: I declare that I am chief executive of London First, a not-for-profit membership organisation that seeks to make London the best city in the world in which to do business. I am also a board member of Peabody housing trust. Wearing both hats, I have a strong interest in the efficacy of the planning system. Too often, planning is seen by both those seeking approval for schemes and those charged with considering them as a confrontational process, in which one side wins and the other loses. This ignores the fact that good-quality new developments benefit both the developer and the local economy. As investment in infrastructure is a key to economic growth, I am also keen to see a constructive approach being taken to other areas such as utilities, on which I will touch later. In forming my views on the Bill I had useful conversations with the Department for Communities and Local Government, with the Greater London Authority and with local authorities, as well as with developers and utilities. From those discussions, it is clear to me that the Bill contains some very welcome measures. In particular, I welcome the proposals that enable the Planning Inspectorate to step in where the local authority has a track record of consistently poor performance in the speed or quality of its decisions. In London, of course, the mayor has a specific responsibility for strategic planning, supported by a well respected team with established relationships with all relevant stakeholders. It seems that, as the noble Lord, Lord Tope, suggested, it would make sense for London referrals to be made to the Greater London Authority, allowing the Planning Inspectorate to focus on areas of the country without such arrangements. This would surely be in keeping with the spirit of the localism agenda. However, no matter where it is used, this is a significant power, so we should be careful about how we designate an authority as “poorly performing”. In its consultation on the relevant criteria, the DCLG suggests a focus on the speed with which decisions are taken on major planning applications and the proportion of decisions that are subsequently


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overturned on appeal. These are important metrics but they miss two further sources of delay: on minor applications and on the discharge of planning conditions. Minor applications such as changing the frontage of a small shop may appear to be relatively trivial, but the cumulative economic impact of delays can be significant. The risk is that short-staffed local authorities will prioritise major applications at the expense of processing minor ones. That, surely, cannot be the Government’s intention. Likewise, there is no point in having a speedy resolution of the planning application if it is followed by procrastination over the discharging of planning conditions. I urge the Government seriously to consider these two important further metrics. I now turn to the difficult economic climate in which development has taken place over the past few years. There is often a considerable delay between an application being approved and the first shovel in the earth, during which time market circumstances can change. In such instances, local authorities have the ability to modify Section 106 agreements in order to make sure that the development they want goes ahead. However, a recent Local Government Association survey has shown that only one-third of respondents did so over the past two years, despite the deterioration in the economic climate. This lack of action has led to the stalling of perfectly good schemes, which have taken affordable housing and other amenities with them and have also contributed to the dire situation in the construction industry. I therefore welcome the provisions in the Bill which recognise the need for planning to take more account of changing market conditions and which allow for the renegotiation of planning requirements to make schemes viable. In London I would advocate the mayor having the power to call in major schemes where the local authority has been notified of a Section 106 modification. This would ensure that London’s strategic needs are taken into account while maintaining democratic accountability in the capital, consistent with localism. Similarly, the Government need to ensure that the cumulative burden of the various levies that planning authorities can impose do not prevent development. This is a particular issue around the new Community Infrastructure Levy in London, because both the mayor and the boroughs can impose their own separate charge. A safeguard is needed so that this double-dipping does not stop growth. The mayor has proposed that he should have the power to ensure that any proposed borough levy is consistent with the growth objectives in the London Plan. I would support such a measure. This power should apply to planning applications not only for buildings but also for other strategic infrastructure such as power supplies. I urge the Government to include energy infrastructure on the list of new developments that should be referred to the mayor where they are of strategic importance to London as a whole, rather than to only one borough. Unblocking planning obstacles is, however, only part of the equation. A recurrent concern is that energy infrastructure struggles to keep up with demand. For example, as Land Securities Group has found in its major development around Victoria station, developers often find that connecting new buildings to the grid is expensive and slow because existing infrastructure is

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already operating at capacity. At the root of this problem is a regulatory framework that discourages the distribution company from investing ahead of need. Imagine if every time you bought an electrical item you had to wait for a new power socket to be installed at home before you could use it. In effect, this is the problem that developers face. The difficulty of getting connected to the power supply is considered by many to be one of the top three risks when bringing forward schemes. The regulator, Ofgem, should address this, so that the distribution company can build more infrastructure in areas of intense business activity such as central London, in anticipation of high demand. This way, new development would be able to “plug in and play” rather than suffer sometimes years of delay. Staying with infrastructure, I welcome Clause 8, which is intended to support the rollout of high-speed fibre broadband. In the 21st century, provision of broadband is as vital as access to water and power for both businesses and homes. It is good to see that such things are recognised as essential infrastructure and that their contribution to growth is acknowledged. Finally, I will recommend a structural change that would cost the Government nothing but which could have an enormous impact on the efficiency of the planning process: that is, giving local authorities the freedom to charge businesses the real costs of considering planning applications. At the moment, local authorities charge fees according to a government schedule rather than to the costs they incur. This means that at times of acute financial stress, authorities cut their planning resources. This is one major reason why some authorities are poor performers. Poor and variable advice from inexperienced officers can add substantial delays and costs. Most developers would prefer fees to be structured in a way that guarantees clear and consistent guidance rather than suffer the greater cost of a poor process. We should allow more flexibility to provide authorities with the resources commensurate with the task at hand. In conclusion, I commented earlier that investment in infrastructure was a contributor to growth. In naming this the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, rather than the other way around, the Government might be accused of putting the titular cart before the horse—but I can live with that if the outcome is a thoughtfully integrated approach to planning that enables the two objectives to be met. I believe that the amendments that I suggested would support such an approach and help give the planning process a key role in delivering economic recovery, rather than being a bureaucratic and inflexible brake. I urge the Government to consider them. 4.55 pm Lord Monks: My Lords, this Bill has an ambitious title. To the new reader, coming to it fresh, the title might give the impression that it has ambitious contents; that it is on the verge of giving effect to the Heseltine large-scale urgent initiatives call, which he made so well recently in this House on the basis of his report; that there would be a call for a renaissance of municipal values in the spirit of Joe Chamberlain and other Victorian civic leaders; and perhaps that there would be evangelising for employee share-ownership, and worker


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engagement and involvement, on a significant scale to shake up British boardrooms and to change some of the bad habits that exist. However, if one looks at the Bill, frankly, there is none of that. As my noble friend Lord Adonis pointed out, there are no echoes of the impressive Heseltine report and no big ideas reflecting the way in which he approached the problems of growth and infrastructure. Instead, the two most prominent measures are to cut local authority planning powers—unfairly, in my view, blaming them for blocking growth—and to threaten workers’ rights with an implausible proposal to trade shares for rights. In my view, the Bill rather offends the Trade Descriptions Act. The Prime Minister is rather keen on the Ronseal advert, is he not? But the Bill does not do what it says on the tin. I will leave others to deal with the local government aspects. The noble Lord, Lord Tope, has made an effective start on chipping away at that pillar of the Bill. I shall concentrate my fire on shares for rights and what that might mean. First, I find it unethical that you can trade a statutory right for something in your contract in that way. Perhaps the Minister would tell us whether there is a precedent for this in British law; namely, that having a right is somehow a bargaining chip and something that you can buy and sell. I believe that it must be dismissed as a serious attempt to develop employee ownership: it is more a trashing of workers’ rights. From the list that the Minister read out, if this legislation goes through, the proposals that will have the biggest effect are those relating to redundancy. I shall draw attention to that point. However, the objections generally are many and various. First, is this proposal really optional? Clearly, it will not be optional for new starters. If an employer says, “There is a job here and it has the status of an employee shareholder—take it or leave it”, the individual will have to operate within that framework. For the existing employee—clearly, I recognise what has been done in the other place about the new unfair dismissal right—there will still be plenty of scope for pressure to be applied to individuals, short of dismissal, to fit in with the employee-shareholder concept. I do not think that any employer, even the few who would be interested in this provision, will be particularly comfortable with having two categories of worker—those who are employee shareholders and others who are regular, standard employees. I shall come to one of the problems that that might create for an employer. There are questions about how the shares would be valued. When would entitlements become due? Do you lose statutory rights under employment law the minute that you sign the contract? When do you get the money? When do you get rights to the shares? When does the £2,000 kick in? The share side of the equation is fuzzy and there is a lot of scope for the employer. The loss of rights, on the other hand, is absolutely crystal clear. How do you redeem the shares and what do you get from them? Does the employer decide? In the debate in the other place, the Minister said that it could be left to the good sense of the employer and the employee to work out something that is acceptable. As my noble friend Lord Adonis

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[LORD MONKS] said, that is not an equal relationship, particularly if someone tries to cash in their shares when the company is in some difficulty. Do the shares confer any rights such as full voting rights and representation in the boardroom, which are common in employee-ownership companies? Let us be clear: around 50% of new firms in this country fold within five years. Is there not a danger that an employee shareholder will find himself or herself with no right to redundancy pay and a bunch of worthless shares? In those circumstances, he or she will be more vulnerable than the standard employee, who will be entitled to redundancy pay. The employee shareholder will possibly be entitled to absolutely nothing. The employer will find it cheaper to get shot of employee shareholders. I believe that most employers will not touch this provision with a bargepole. The Front Benches in this debate have mentioned different employers’ opinions and I will not repeat them. Those employers who have been critical and have damned the proposals with the faintest of faint praise make up by far the majority. It is not as though employee rights are extensive in this country. Only the United States and Canada offer less protection for the individual employee. The OECD ranks us third in having the most “flexible” labour market, whereby workers can be dismissed most easily. Let us also be clear that rights are being whittled down in other legislation that is before the House, has recently been carried through or is proposed—the latest being a consultation on reduction of the redundancy period. The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill is being considered in Committee tomorrow and will already curb employee rights. I guess, however, that although most employers will not touch the proposals, some will—not least to explore some of the tax advantages that might apply and to do so in a way that will seek to minimise any real dilution of ownership from their embracing and welcoming groups of employees. If you are going to do employee ownership, the lesson that we have learnt over the years is that it is the companies that really believe in it and want it that make a success of it. The John Lewis approach does not come through coercion or taking rights away from individuals who might at some stage need them. Employers who go down this particular route should be warned that the processes will be complex. For example, as regards maternity rights, one will need to check exactly who is a parent, how many children they have and all the rest of it. I was talking to my wife about this and we agreed that we are in the market to sell our parental rights, having long since disposed of any further use for them, and many Members of this House would be in the same position. With any powers of reflection, employers would also need to look at their own reputation and that of their brand, which would be at risk if they went down this route. I believe that the scheme will be a lot more trouble to them than it is worth.

I say to those Liberal Democrats who rightly criticised the Beecroft no-fault provisions that this, as my noble friend Lord Adonis said, is a different way of introducing


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no-fault dismissal. However, I go a little further: it is no-fault dismissal with no compensation. At least Mr Beecroft proposed some compensation and did not go as far as this provision. In May, the Deputy Prime Minister launched the Nuttall report on employee ownership. In our view, it proposed a sensible way forward and did not include this turkey that we are debating today. So the Government are not entitled to claim the support of Nuttall. The noble Baroness did not do so today, but others certainly have. I very much hope—it may be a vain hope—that the Government will reflect on the Bill and be prepared to put it to one side to await the response to the Heseltine report. The reports more or less call for the same things and the Bill pollutes the terrain over which the Heseltine exercise ranged so impressively. This messy, ill judged Bill, with a misleading, grandiose title, is not the way to start and not the way to organise a proper response to a serious piece of work. In the spirit of “all being in it together”, one nationism or whatever, in all corners of this House, it would be very wise to wait for the government response to an initiative which is, at present, attracting wide support from all quarters, and which will get behind genuinely ambitious proposals on growth and infrastructure, rather than taking this unworthy route of trashing workers’ rights. 5.06 pm Baroness Brinton: My Lords, as my colleague and noble friend Lord Tope said, I shall speak principally to Clauses 8 and 27. I want to focus on the importance of rural growth and not just on the issue that I know concerns some people: of large telephone masts going up in areas of outstanding natural beauty. I am grateful to the Minister for making it clear that the Bill excludes that. I start by declaring a past interest. I helped St John’s College, Cambridge to set up its innovation park in north Cambridge 20 years ago and I was a director of the St John’s Innovation Centre until 2010, working with entrepreneurs as they spun ideas out of Cambridge University. I was also deputy chair of the East of England Development Agency until 2005. The Cambridge phenomenon spread out from Cambridge’s central areas 100 years ago when engineering support companies such as Cambridge Instruments set up in Milton, one of the necklace villages, to provide instruments and other essential products and telemetry for the Cavendish Laboratory and the engineering department to start to use. The phenomenon I shall talk about is not just one of the most recent 10 or 20 years of high-tech growth. Sixty years ago, Trinity College built the first science park on green land, housing some of the new era of spin-outs from the university, including Cambridge Consultants and many others. Since then, spin-outs and sons and daughters of spin-outs have set up further and further away from the centre of Cambridge because a small medieval city cannot cope with large industrial growth in its centre. In the late 1980s, it became clear that the area around Cambridge was struggling with the problems of rapid growth, including rapid increases in commercial and residential property prices, shortages of qualified staff to work in the area and an infrastructure struggling to

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cope with a large influx of new residents who needed schools and other services. Some of the new small companies decided to move further out into the fens. Did noble Lords know that, in the 1990s, Ely was a hot spot for high-tech veterinary research products? Software companies have moved further out to places such as Chatteris. While perhaps one does not think of a fen village or town in that way, these companies have done it because they needed lower costs in order to recruit staff and, frankly, to house them. As IT connections have become more important the lack of broadband—let alone high-speed broadband —has become a serious issue for companies in rural areas. In the past it was not used universally but now all businesses rely on broadband for their effective running, even those we think of as being low-tech. Some friends of mine run a pig farm out on the Norfolk fens; even they use computers and broadband for communications, orders, correspondence and results from veterinary testing—and for access to government advice, which can often be accessed only via the internet now. All of this is done via the superhighway. There has been a serious market failure in providing high-speed broadband in rural areas. Businesses in the fens of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and in the Suffolk coastal areas all suffer from the lack of this fundamental tool that urban and suburban organisations take for granted, even if it is not as fast as they want. Clause 8 opens the door to removing the first hurdle faced by broadband suppliers by easing the planning regulations. However, as I have mentioned, it sensibly insists on taking account of areas of natural beauty, and I am grateful to the Minister for making it absolutely clear that Clause 8 will not mean easy access for telephone companies to put masts up everywhere. However, I should say that even I missed a mast in Norfolk which I realised later was actually a very tall Scots pine; they can be quite discreet. Growth in our economy is vital to the future of UK plc; it is not just a city issue and therefore cannot be restricted to city and urban areas. However, all Governments tend to focus on urban areas. I believe that our rural areas will be key to sustaining and revitalising our villages and the countryside around them, as well as providing real income for the country. I move on to Clause 27 on employee shareholders. The more conversations I have with Ministers and others about this clause, the more bemused I become. First, let us look at the general principles behind it: certain companies will want to offer ownership to employees in return for those employees giving up some or perhaps all their employment rights. These include redundancy pay, rights to training or flexible working, and parental leave. Three members of my immediate family are already employee owners: one in the food retail sector and two in high-tech leading-edge companies, one of whom has had his shares for more than 30 years. When discussing this clause with them and with senior and junior staff in a number of other companies, it emerged that every single person, from directors and managers to new recruits, said that a reduction in employment rights absolutely counteracts the benefits of owning shares because it demotivates the staff. Even senior directors have said this.


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The Government argue that not all companies will want to use this mechanism and claim that small, often start-up high-tech companies are the likely beneficiaries. These are exactly the companies I have been talking to. My own experience in small high-tech businesses in the east of England and Cambridge, and my discussions with the owners of those firms, show the exact opposite. They know that they have to motivate their staff first. That is vital in the early days as specialist companies face product development costs with no sales and often have anxious funders looking over their shoulders. They are worried enough about the future of their organisations. Let us take another illustration, that of a firm that has been going reasonably well in Cambridge for some time and in which virtually all the staff hold shares. It hit problems during the recession before this one. There was a staff discussion about how to help their company through those tough times, and the staff gave the company a series of loans over the two to three-year period it took to keep it going. Some of the staff in that organisation have said that if the company had taken away their rights, there would have been no motivation for them to say, “We want to save this company”. That is an example of good entrepreneurial spirit—a company where managers and staff work together. I have two outstanding queries about this clause, one of which has already been alluded to by the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, and raised by my honourable friend Andrew Stunell in another place. It concerns the whole issue of a JSA recipient being offered a job with reduced rights in return for shares when entering a company. It cannot be right to penalise an individual who chooses not to take a job with reduced rights. I know enough people who have been made redundant from one, two or even more jobs who go into something asking, “Why would I give up any of the few remaining rights that I have?”. I want the DWP guidance to be absolutely explicit and statutory. If we do not get that guidance before Committee, I may well table an amendment to ensure that we see something. I am also concerned about the information that employees will have about the size and nature of their shareholding. They must have access to independent legal advice, which should be paid for by the company and should set out clearly the likely path. Shares do not just go up and down; they are often diluted out of sight in rounds two and three of funding. Employees need to understand that they are taking a substantial risk not just in giving up rights but by having shares at all. Sadly, not all our companies succeed; they certainly do not always see growth. Of those that do, employees often find that a shareholding that looked quite attractive at even 1% in the early days is very small by the time the company is worth anything realistic at all. Overall, my view is that this clause will not be used. All the consultation responses that I hear say that it will wither on the vine, but the two items that I have outlined will, I believe, provide some protection and cover some of the points that the noble Lords, Lord Monks and Lord Adonis, made about rogue employers trying to use it. I, too, support the Nuttall report and the Deputy Prime Minister’s promotion of it earlier.

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[LORDS]

[BARONESS BRINTON] I believe that it is a more effective way forward by giving employees the right, which my party has long believed in, to share in the benefits of growth of the company. Any company that grows helps UK plc, and is that not what we are all here for?

5.16 pm Baroness Whitaker: My Lords, I shall focus mainly on two areas of this disparate Bill: those dealing with affordable housing and the preservation of our national landscape. Outside those, my noble friends Lord Adonis and Lord Monks, and the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, have spoken eloquently about the folly and injustice of enabling businesses to buy the rights of their workpeople, which will have a particular impact on the position of women. To subordinate rights to a contract is a backward step indeed and I hope that there will be amendments to redress this. Turning to my main concerns, the Bill’s provisions for renegotiating the proportion of affordable housing agreed under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are also a real step back from the excellent achievement of mixed housing developments, of which I have seen many successful examples. They spell ruin for the encouragement of sufficient, much needed new housing for the countless hardworking people whose pay does not cover market prices. Will the Minister say how enough new houses for people who are not rich can be assured? Of course, we desperately need growth and investment in infrastructure, but this Bill does not address the key issue in housing development, which is, of course, the bellwether of increased growth. The fact is that people cannot afford to buy and banks will not lend. House prices are rising at three times the rate of wages. The Homes and Communities Agency wrote to my honourable friend Clive Betts MP, chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, to say that it was, “not aware of any current issues relating to section 106 agreement on the very small number due to start on site this … year”.

I reiterate my noble friend’s question to the Minister: how many of the Government’s claimed hundreds of thousands of stalled sites have Section 106 as the cause? Certainly, another cause seems to be the reluctance of local communities to accept more housing. Here I can do no better than to quote Liberal Democrat councillor Adrian Dobinson, who in a letter in last Friday’s Guardian said that, “people will allow modern housing ... if building design of our age is considered building design as good as the period buildings found in villages, instead of awful little boxes demanded by planners and weak-kneed architects unprepared to stand up to them”.

What can the Government do about that? I turn to the landscape. The powers in Clause 8 which seek to remove essential protection for our national parks are aimed at speeding up the introduction of faster broadband, facilitating tall poles, cabinets and overhead lines, as the Minister explained. A very large number of serious and representative organisations have asked us to remove this provision. I declare an interest as president of the South Downs Society, the co-ordinating NGO for that area.


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The introduction of faster broadband for the countryside is very important, and I fully understand the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, but it is absolutely not necessary to do this at the expense of the potential desecration of our most cherished landscapes. The limited time allowed in the Bill for getting new structures up will be a further disincentive to a careful process for managing our irreplaceable beautiful landscapes. I am not aware of any evidence that it is the planning process in protected landscapes which is holding back the advance of broadband. Will the Minister please give the House examples, if any exist, in the national parks? As it happens, the national parks authorities are already active in ensuring that the relevant infrastructure is installed in a way which minimises visual impact. I could cite Northumberland, the Peak District, Exmoor, my own South Downs and many others. It is of course quite true that there have been delays in rolling out superfast broadband in our countryside, but not because of the planning system. Receiving state aid clearance from the European Union was the main culprit: £530 million of expenditure on broadband has only just been approved, covering perhaps half of the local broadband plans, which would enable 90% of the people in the UK to access superfast broadband. Does the noble Baroness agree? These provisions go against paragraph 115 of the Government’s own National Planning Policy Framework and defy the intention of the great National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949: to conserve and enhance our most important landscapes. I am sure the noble Baroness does not want to play any part in imperilling our natural heritage, which is already so vulnerable, or deprive future generations of the immeasurable benefits of the national parks’ beauty. I look forward to her response. 5.22 pm Baroness Eaton: My Lords, I begin by declaring an interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I have also represented the council ward of Bingley Rural in West Yorkshire since 1986. I rise to speak with some unease, since I take no real pleasure in criticising any government legislation. I am a strong supporter of the coalition’s endeavours to correct our economic situation and return us to a safe financial footing, and I firmly believe that the Government are making great strides in that direction. However, sadly, I see this legislation as a step in the wrong direction, which will not deliver its main objective of widespread economic growth but rather move us dangerously on a narrow winding path away from the golden road of localism down which we have, to date, made much progress. My main concern is that the Bill focuses on something which is not proving itself to be a barrier: the planning system. We have heard from the Minister and the noble Lords, Lord Adonis and Lord Tope, of the 10-year record success rate for planning applications and the fact that 87% of planning applications were approved in 2011-12. People will note the 87%, but we all need to recognise that some planning applications jolly well deserve to be refused.

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We have heard also that there is a building backlog of some 400,000 new homes across the country, all of which have planning permission but are waiting to be built by developers. I hope my noble friend the Minister will agree that such evidence indicates that the only recently introduced National Planning Policy Framework, which she and her ministerial colleagues should be complimented on introducing, is starting to do its job of delivering sustainable development. Would it not be better to allow the NPPF to bed in before we once again redraw the lines around the planning system? Why is it always local government that is blamed for delays—and all the ills—when there is no evidence for this, as we have heard already from the noble Lord, Lord Tope? With regard to democratic accountability, my successor at the LGA, Councillor Sir Merrick Cockell, made the point very well when he described the legislation as, “a blow to local democracy”.

This Bill takes authority away from locally elected representatives and gives it instead to a national, unelected quango, the Planning Inspectorate, based in Bristol. I fail to see how the inspectorate can appreciate the local individualities that impact upon planning and the built environment of, say, Bradford—or any other authority—better than the local council. Can the Minister indicate how much additional resource the inspectorate will be given and why the funding is not devolved instead to the local level to properly resource those planning authorities that are struggling or, according to the Government, deemed to be failing? Surely this could address the Government’s concerns. There is a very real threat that the Bill will be counterproductive, since the removal of local decisionmaking risks denting public trust. This could mean that some communities will be increasingly reluctant to accept new development. I would welcome the Minister’s thoughts on this threat, since the last thing we want from the legislation is increased delays. The criteria for measuring performance under the Bill are also counterproductive as they focus on time taken to assess applications and the number of approvals given. Such a focus on blunt targets could result in rushed decisions and, perversely, more rejected applications. There are a number of questions about how the new system can work; for instance, how would an authority regain its decision-making powers once they have been taken away? I would welcome my noble friend’s thoughts on how any council can demonstrate improvement of its performance if it is no longer dealing with planning applications. I support the link in Clause 8 between fast broadband access and economic growth. Indeed, we are now in a world where the latter is simply not possible without the former. We will all be aware, I am sure, of the concerns raised by campaign groups that the proposals could open the floodgates to broadband infrastructure boxes popping up across the countryside—not just the masts but the large boxes—in a very unregulated fashion. Moreover, this clause applies to all telecoms infrastructure, not just broadband. Perhaps my noble friend can explain how it will be limited to the declared policy.


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I would welcome my noble friend’s views on how an assurance can be provided on this matter, what evidence exists to support the clause, and how local planning authorities will maintain control over the placement of infrastructure in order to reflect the wishes of the local residents and the businesses they represent. The issue of broadband boxes obviously links to the wider debate on permitted development. I offer my support for the points made earlier by my noble friend Lord Tope and the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton. This Bill presents a welcome opportunity to empower local areas to drive economic growth but, as currently drafted, it will miss that opportunity. To really have any impact, it must look to address the real barriers to growth and much needed housebuilding, such as access to finance to both build and buy. One way to do this would be through the removal of the housing borrowing cap currently imposed on councils. I read with interest a report published last month by a group of organisations including the National Federation of ALMOs and the Local Government Association. This research demonstrates that removing the borrowing cap could deliver 60,000 homes over the next five years and increase UK GDP by 0.6%. That is the sort of proposal that we need within the Bill, one that will have a tangible impact on a real economic barrier. I hope my noble friend will be pleased to hear that my final point is a positive one. I welcome the inclusion of clauses within the Bill on the town and village green registration system, specifically ensuring that discussions about the future of sites take place primarily through the democratically accountable planning system. Traditional and genuine greens are vital elements of sustainable and vibrant communities. I am pleased that these clauses will not endanger such sites. I understand that the Home Builders Federation, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Local Government Association, the British Property Federation, the National Farmers’ Union and many other organisations all support the clauses, which I hope will survive the scrutiny of this House. I hope that the Minister is able to respond to some of my concerns. It is the role of this Chamber to offer an honest assessment of the measures put before us. I am sure that, across the House, we can improve the Bill in the way that we need to.

5.30 pm Lord Rooker: My Lords, I have nothing to declare other than a spell as a planning Minister and the fact that I was never a local authority councillor. I think the Bill is very depressing. It is a bit like the situation over the past decade, when we have had an annual immigration Bill from the Home Office. “Immigration still rising? Get another Bill. It carries on rising? Get another Bill”. We are on the verge now of almost an annual planning Bill. “Less building and infrastructure? Get another planning Bill”. That seems to be the treadmill. This is probably the third planning Bill since I relinquished the responsibilities that I held briefly at one time. From that point of view, I am very depressed about it.

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[LORDS]

[LORD ROOKER] I do not think that any planning Bill in the past two decades advanced the cause of sustainable development or growth. That is my broad-brush answer. Have all the planning Bills had good intentions to modernise the system? You are too right that they have: every single one of them had that intention. Have the attempts to use the planning system for social engineering to create genuine mixed communities really worked? I have to say, honestly and in a broad-brush answer: no. Have all Ministers had good intentions to foster good design, respect local communities and work in partnership with local government? The answer is yes, all Ministers have been in that position. Did we obtain the Docklands development in London—with the tens of thousands of jobs that have been created in the past 30 years there—and create Brindleyplace slap bang in the middle of Birmingham, with the thousands of jobs there, or the new towns, by the aforementioned approach? No, we did not. The system did not work and failed the country. Will this Bill deliver these objectives? I do not think that it stands a chance. I watched the Planning Minister the other night on “Newsnight”. I was reminded of one of my own speeches in this House as a Minister as he recited just how little of the land of England is developed. It is some 11% or 12% maximum. He used the same facts I did, probably briefed by the same officials as briefed me. It is a disgrace that, as far as I can see, he has not had support from senior government colleagues in his bald approach to putting the case for growth and extra building in a way that identifies the fact that we are not concreting over the countryside. By the way, I do not equate this Bill with the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine. I might have made a mistake about this but I did not see the connection between the two. The noble Lord rightly asserts that local—or, more accurately, city—regions ought to be the bedrock. He does not talk about local authorities in that sense but about the city regions. The boundaries there are impossible to make out. If you look from above, from a helicopter, you do not see the boundary. That is his approach. This Bill does not deliver his approach. I do not think that it purports to. I do not think you can allow the decisions to be made locally, with communities operating as super-parish councils. That is the reality. We are in a serious mess both on housing and infrastructure in this country. We have it locked in. I am not saying that there is nothing happening but we are getting less and less, and no one can see a way out of that. I do not think the status quo will work, but if we leave it to the present system the status quo will win every time. We will get less growth and will come back with another planning Bill. If there is to be progress, decisions have to be made for the greater good of society and not of particular local communities. I do not wish to fall out with the LGA but its briefing talks about democratically accountable, locally elected councillors. First, those councillors follow the Whip and, secondly, the ward councillors cannot vote on the issues relating to their wards anyway.

Lord Greaves: Not true.


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Lord Rooker: It also said that communities are likely to be increasingly reluctant to accept new developments in their areas. So what? If it is for the greater good of society, why should a local community resident already there have the final say? I cannot accept that people own their local community in that sense. I remember many years ago there was a major park area in my big, urban constituency—a constituency of only 16 square miles but with a population of 100,000. The world famous Birchfield Harriers had to have a new stadium. They were in a terrible location with the way the roads were joined. It was suggested that the ideal place was in the park because we could also go for the Commonwealth Games. On the other hand, people who lived round the park said, “This is our back garden: you cannot build on that”. If it had been left at that level, the stadium that brought massive benefits to the city of Birmingham and UK athletics would never have been built. You have to look and elevate consideration above the level of localism. It caused me great pain at the time to get those representations from constituents. I think the Minister said in the “Newsnight” interview that if we have only about 12% built on, an extra 2% to 3% of the land of England would solve our problems. Of course, the press can take that up and say that it would be like a city the size of A, B or C, and that can be made to frighten people. But that is a tiny percentage of the land-mass of England. The one area where we have to be really radical is on brownfield sites. We debated the guidelines in this House some time ago—I think it was in October 2011. I raised then that there was a major problem about the lack of serious attention paid to brownfield. More radical measures are called for rather than the tinkering in this Bill. I do not wish to nitpick through particular clauses of the Bill. It wants something radical: a line from the Severn to the Wash, and north of that for five years brownfield sites need no planning permission or obligations—nothing. Let the developers go. All the facts quoted are correct about planning authorities doing this, that and the other. The thing that is missing is confidence. You will not fix that by nitpicking around the changes in the Bill. That is my view. There has to be development in the south-east, so south of that line, with brownfield sites of less than five hectares, again, there should be no need for planning permission. Sites of more than five hectares probably need it. New towns, Docklands and Brindleyplace were built without planning permission, but we have building regulation controls and all those things that have to take place. That is fine. I would not object to a density directive but the barriers have to come off for a decent specified period—as I said, for about five years. At all costs, we have to protect the national parks. I declare an interest; for 25 years I have had a timeshare home in one of the national parks. That does not mean that there cannot be new jobs installed there, or that we cannot reuse former agricultural buildings and existing properties. There are barriers to that now, where planners think they can decide whether someone doing some work in the countryside—perhaps they have diversified—should have a pitched or sloping roof. It is preposterous that a planning official should

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make decisions like that about someone wanting to make a modest investment for some work they are doing, maybe to encourage diversification. But that actually happens. To a lesser extent, we have to protect the areas of outstanding natural beauty. They cover a large part of the country, but not that much. The green belt is a collar around the urban areas. A lot of it is rubbish land, but it is there as a collar to stop the urban sprawl. The previous Labour Government left more green belt than they inherited, but we allowed incursions into the green belt because we could replace it with thousands of hectares elsewhere. You can do that. There does not seem to be a plan in the department. The approach is laissez-faire; “We’re in charge” and “Leave it all to local government”. But it does not have the wherewithal to do it in my view. That is not the level at which decisions should be taken. There are brownfield sites in existence today where the Chancellor or somebody should do a masterstroke. If the developers cannot conclude development in the next couple of years on a brownfeld site where planning permission is granted, lift the obligations now. That would generate confidence. More brownfield sites are being created. I do not accept the argument that we are running out of it. There are thousands of hectares. If we concentrate on that we will protect cities and the green belt. I was very proud—and so was my noble friend Lord Prescott—to operate the policy we inherited from the noble Lord, Lord Deben. I saw examples of it the other day in the middle of Cambridge. I remembered a particular development at the site that crossed our desks at the time. It regenerated the centre of the city. It protected building on green fields. Builders love green fields—no doubt about it. They love flat green fields. In fact, most of those are called flood plains. They should be required to carry the insurance of such developments. This would even up the cost of the remediation of brownfield sites. It has been made too easy for them to get away with it. I do not propose to cover other points. I just want to make the point that the Bill is not radical enough and will not work. In two years’ time we will be back again, wondering why we have not generated growth both for housing and for infrastructure. 5.42 pm Baroness Parminter: My Lords, before the new National Planning Policy Framework has even bedded in, and only six months after the Localism Act—as the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, well said—the Government have been seduced by the siren voices blaming planning as the obstacle to growth. As the noble Lord, Lord Tope, said, they have ignored the reality that it is financial restraint, borrowing difficulties and, critically, consumer confidence that are holding back development. But planning is the convenient whipping boy, and the one thing the Government can easily be seen to be doing something about. While I support the Government’s vigour in doing all they can to support appropriate growth and infrastructure, that growth must contribute towards delivering sustainable development—a term I did not find in the Bill. As Liberal Democrats have long


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argued, local people should have a say in shaping their communities and environment. As it stands, this Bill falls short in several areas of securing that. Two areas that I—along with fellow Peers—will highlight are Clauses 8 and 24. The purpose of Clause 8 is to facilitate superfast broadband. It is a laudable aim but one which needs to ensure that what is special and valuable about our most treasured landscapes is not lost—special and valuable not only to our personal sense of well-being when we enjoy the magnificence of the scenery, the tranquillity of the environment and the overwhelming sense of awe that such areas inspire, but valuable economically given the significant tourism revenue that national parks and AONBs generate precisely because of their unique beauty and wild nature. This clause is a sledgehammer to crack a nut—and one where the existing nutcracker does not even seem to be broken. While there have been planning problems in some areas—I cite the borough of Kensington and Chelsea as the most prominent of those—there is no evidence of any planning problems in national parks with facilitating broadband delivery. I echo the comments of fellow Peers that it would be good to hear from the Minister during the progress of the Bill what evidence there is that planning in national parks creates a problem with facilitating broadband delivery. It is a sledgehammer which creates a precedent by allowing the key purposes of protected landscapes to be overridden for the first time since their creation more than 60 years ago. It is also a sledgehammer because primary legislation cannot be technology-specific. Like the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, I was pleased to hear the Minister rule out mobile phone masts through secondary legislation. What I have not heard from the Government—or in any of the briefings that we have had—are the number of new poles and overhead broadband lines that could stomp across our most cherished landscapes if this legislation goes through. The Government anticipate 72,000 new broadband cabinets to deliver superfast broadband services to 90% of the UK. That is their stated aim. Surely this House should be asking the Government to confirm during the process of this Bill how many poles and lines could be needed if the requirement for underground telecommunications apparatus in national parks and AONBs is removed and the final decision about siting is given to operators— and, indeed, what impacts such a move would have on the arrangements that Ofgem have put in place with electricity providers for underground power lines in sensitive landscape areas. Clause 24 allows decisions of major local importance to be removed from local authorities. If the intent is to fast-track decisions, again, the Government will need to show the House the evidence that a significant number of large-scale, major applications are not being met within 12 months—something their own figures seem to refute. How realistic is it that the major infrastructure planning regime will speed things up in the absence of national planning policy statements that set the policy framework for decisions and thus guide the Planning Inspectorate?

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[LORDS]

[BARONESS PARMINTER] More than this, this clause flies in the face of the commitment the Government gave during the debates on the then Localism Bill, which was enshrined in the resulting Act that the local plan was sovereign and that decision-making should be devolved to the lowest possible appropriate level. The Minister in this House said on Report that, “our reforms achieve their objective of putting the local plan and the views of the local community at the heart of the system” —[Official Report, 17/10/11; col.140.]

It comes before measures we fought hard to win during the passage of the Localism Bill have been introduced that would help smooth the path of contentious local applications. I am talking about pre-application scrutiny for departure applications. It comes as no surprise that it is proposed that gas extraction projects should fall under these new procedures. Gas will play a part in meeting the energy requirements of the UK as we transition to a low-carbon economy; but we are not America. We are a densely populated country. Local communities in the north-west have the right to a say in the siting of energy infrastructure. If the Government want to argue that fracking has more than a very limited future in ensuring UK energy security consistent with our climate change obligations— and, as such, that the new infrastructure is nationally significant—they should first introduce a national planning policy statement which we can debate in this House. I am sure that the Minister is as pleased as I am to look forward over the coming weeks to replaying some of the debates we had, which resulted in the hard-won policy approach to sustainable development set out in the final NPPF. Growth may be this Government’s byword, but we should not be afraid to say that what makes this country—and in particular our countryside —so special is equally worth protecting. 5.47 pm Lord Whitty: My Lords, as has been said already by several noble Lords, most notably the noble Lord, Lord Tope, and the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, the Bill seems to be based on some fairly substantial fallacies, the first of which is that the principal reason for the lack of investment in infrastructure and housing in this country is the planning system. The second and related fallacy is that the planning performance of local authorities would somehow be seriously improved if there was an ever-present threat of central government taking it over. I would dispute both fallacies. There is probably a third fallacy in the Bill, relating specifically to housing—namely, that we would get more affordable housing if the one mechanism that has delivered more affordable housing in recent years was diluted and reversed. The failure of investment in this country is due to much wider things than are tackled in the Bill. A serious lack of confidence on the part of private sector investment in the medium-term prospects of our economy is the central reason why we are not getting enough investment. That goes back to the Government’s economic strategy. There is a parallel lack of confidence in the regulatory framework within which those investment decisions are taken, sector by sector, to do with retaining


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a degree of stability and not being beset by uncertainty and indecision in government. There are different examples in housing and in renewable energy—indeed, energy of any sort—where investment has been seriously held up by that uncertainty. Moreover, the Government themselves are not investing. A disproportionate amount of the cuts in public expenditure—whatever the arguments about the total—have fallen on the capital programme, both in direct investment by state institutions and in partnership with the private sector. As a result, there have been serious cutbacks not only in social housing, which I shall come to, but in schools, road building, flood defences and other forms of local authority investment. There is more on the cards. When the Government themselves are not investing and are not encouraging partnership with the private sector in those areas, that discourages investment in general. In the face of that, there has been no serious intellectual development, let alone implementation, of novel forms of mobilisation of private sector money in infrastructure development. That is true even in areas where an economic return is pretty well guaranteed, such as housing or various parts of energy and transport, let alone where there is no direct income stream against it and where the private sector, in conjunction with the Treasury, ought to be working hard to find motivation for private finance, for example, into flood defences or road building. There was a slight hint of that in the coalition announcement this week, but I hope that the Government can go a bit further. There is a serious need for a new approach and new thinking on infrastructure investment by the Government. None of that is in the Bill. Nor, for example, is there any reflection of what I understood to be the Chancellor’s serious intention to get together with private institutional funders to put their money into infrastructure investment. We heard a lot a few months ago about his discussion with pension funds, for example. What has that come to? It does not appear that the Government have been able to motivate serious investment in our infrastructure from the private sector—and that in an era when corporate coffers are quite full and large sums of money are resting with institutional investors. That is a failure not of the planning system, local government or the business rate system; it is a failure of central government. As my noble friend Lord Adonis said, the Bill is also odd in that it is the antithesis of what we thought was the Government’s intention in relation to local government; it is the antithesis of the ethos of localism. I am not saying that there are not some measures in the Bill that may be a bit of help. It is a hotchpotch of a Bill and not everything about it is wrong, but the overall impact will be nugatory in raising the overall level of investment. I shall say a quick word about housing, and I declare my interest as chair of Housing Voice, which campaigns for affordable housing. There is a crisis in all aspects of the housing market but, particularly, as the noble Baroness admitted during Question Time today, in affordable housing in all sectors—whether social housing, mortgages and owner-occupied housing or in the private rented sector.

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One of the few measures that has delivered more affordable housing has been the intervention of Section 106 in planning agreements with developers. The Bill implies that many such agreements can be made null and void. There is no need for that. As has been said, local authorities can already renegotiate their Section 106 arrangements in relation to housing. The provisions that suggest that the Government will lean on local authorities to dilute them further moves in the wrong direction, and I will strongly oppose that part of the Bill. However, that is only one element of the apparent centralisation of the Bill. The first four clauses introduce a greater degree of centralisation than we have yet seen, which totally contradicts the Localism Act, which we have just passed. So does Clause 24. I slightly part company with my noble friend Lord Rooker on this. I do not think that local authorities have performed their planning function absolutely ideally. I think that aspects could be reformed and that some degree of change in the structure of local authorities would facilitate that. However, I do not believe that the man in Whitehall or, indeed, the man in Bristol—I slightly object to the disparaging reference to Bristol by the noble Baroness—knows best. We need clearer national direction, but the logic of the Localism Act, as I understood it, was that local authorities would be given clearer responsibility for meeting the housing needs and delivering economic development in their area, in conjunction with neighbouring authorities, and that they would be given commensurate powers to get on with the job. If local authorities generally were put in that position, we would see serious investment in commercial and economic enterprise and in housing of all sorts. Unfortunately, the Government do not trust local authorities to do that. They are not prepared to give them the powers; they are not even prepared to give them the responsibility without the powers in any clear way. The Bill, and certain other Bills that have been passed recently, clearly allow central government to override and take over those powers from local authorities. That is a step in the wrong direction. The Government are becoming increasingly Napoleonic in their ambitions in this area and, unfortunately, do not quite have in their strategic approach the generalship that Napoleon demonstrated. I have three other quick points; I am running out of time. The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, rightly said that the Government need to be aware of the environmental issues. I do not entirely go along with some of the environmental and countryside bodies that objected to the national planning framework in its initial form, but the Government need to take seriously their concerns about sustainability in the Bill. I am prepared to support the delay in the review of the business rate, provided that the Government assure us that the time taken by that review will allow us to look at the full effect of business rates and how they are implemented on investment decisions across the board—in other words, that it is not simply a delay but a reassessment. Finally, on employee shareholdings, as I would expect, my noble friend Lord Monks has made the case, as have others. Some time ago, in Question Time,


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I asked the noble Lord, Lord Marland, how this would work: are you prepared to sell a few rights for a few shares, more important rights for more shares, or whether you have a job lot and all shares are bought out at a given time? This ought not to be a trading issue. People ought not to be asked to give up their rights for shares. That is completely different from all previous forms of employee share-ownership and undermines all the good work in that area and in the mutual area. The lesson today, in the context of the Bill, is that that procedure—that way of getting Beecroft in by the back door—has absolutely nothing to do with growth or investment. Clause 27 should be deleted from the Bill as rapidly as possible. 5.58 pm Baroness Young of Old Scone: My Lords, I declare an interest as president or vice-president of a number of conservation and environment NGOs. I ask the Minister’s forgiveness because I am mystified by the Bill. As many noble Lords have said, it seems to be at odds with a whole range of commitments that I thought the coalition much cherished, particularly localism. It also seems to be a bit of a knee-jerk Bill. It was not included in the Queen’s Speech. It has been cobbled together with indecent haste and little consultation. As many noble Lords have said, it does little to promote growth but puts at risk the protection of our environment. It is also a bit of a windmill-tilting Bill, because it perpetuates the myth that planning is responsible for holding back growth, rather than focusing on the significant issue of the lack of finance for investment and the difficulty that people have in borrowing. The noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, pointed out that planning is not the real barrier to growth and that a considerable number of building schemes with planning applications already approved are not being built at the moment as a result of constraints other than the planning system. Indeed, the hit rate of planning applications being approved by local government is commendably high. What we are seeing in this Bill is a set of proposals that do not do the business in terms of growth but put at risk that important natural capital that we have and undermine future prosperity. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, I am a great fan of the planning system. It is one of the jewels in the crown of democracy in this country. It allows informed decisions to be made between competing interests on a local basis in the interests of the public. Anything that knocks that is to be resisted. It is not as if the Government have not already made some pretty clear statements recently about their position on the planning system. For example, the planning system was recognised in the Government’s natural environment White Paper, which was published only in June 2011, as being a vital underpinning of the protection and restoration of a healthy functioning natural environment. That in itself was recognised as being the underpinning of a prosperous and sustainable economy. I am mystified that the Bill follows so soon after the planning reforms introduced by the Localism Act and the National Planning Policy Framework in 2012. The National Planning Policy Framework negotiation was

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[BARONESS YOUNG OF OLD SCONE] accompanied by much sweat and tears. It seems a shame that we are not allowing it a bit of time to prove its worth. Why was planning law not got right then, when all these statements of government policy and legislation were going through the full panoply of consultation and in-depth parliamentary scrutiny? Why is the coalition coming back for another go, which is so sadly at odds with its recently promoted policies? During the coalition mid-term review yesterday I was waiting for an admission that something was wrong in the planning system. There was a lot about what has been got right, but the mid-term review did not say yesterday, “By the way, we screwed up the planning system changes and now we need to sort them out”. What are the changes proposed in the Bill that are out of tune with recently approved legislation or policy? Noble Lords have spoken at length about Clause 1 and the designation of poorly performing planning authorities. That is a retrograde step. It centralises power in the hands of the Secretary of State. It breaks trust with local communities and runs the risk of important decisions being made out of the local strategic setting and without access to local information. The criteria for designation seem to say “Never mind the quality, feel the speed” and could put pressure on local authorities to make swift and potentially poor decisions to avoid losing their planning powers. The provision in Clause 5 to limit the power to require information for planning applications seems unnecessary. Local authorities need the right information to make an informed decision and the noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, was clear about the need for expertise and clarity at a local level if good planning decisions are going to result. A limitation on the power to require information could result in delays if information is not available or in challenges to information requests, which again could prolong negotiations. The National Planning Policy Framework has only recently established a clear policy on information requirements and, as I said before, should be given a chance to prove its worth. In Clause 8 the electronic communications code issue underlines the importance of improving broadband in rural areas. I live in a village where it is possible to stream the BBC iPlayer only after midnight because of competition for band width. It is only recently that paragraph 115 of the National Planning Policy Framework stressed the responsibility of planning authorities to give greater weight to conserving landscape and scenic beauty in national parks, the Broads and areas of outstanding national beauty. The Bill’s provisions appear to go against that recently settled paragraph.

I worry that this could be a precedent for removing the greater weight duty in other ways and for opening up an avenue for removing other protections in the future. The reality of knee-jerk legislation is that the knee can jerk in some other random direction in the future. Apart from that this is a pretty evidence-free zone. There is no evidence that the additional protection afforded to designated landscapes has acted as a barrier to rural growth or has delayed broadband rollout. The noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, rightly pointed out


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that the national park authorities have been pretty proactive in minimising visual impact over the past five years in broadband applications. The registration of town or village greens provision in Clauses 13 and 14 seems to be another “tilting at windmills” element of the Bill. It appears to have been introduced to prevent the registration of a town or village green as a ploy for stopping development. There are fewer than 200 applications each year to register a green. In 2010 there were only 134. A tiny proportion of those could be regarded as vexatious. Potentially we are having a massive piece of legislation to prevent a small number of vexatious applications. It does not seem to be proportionate. In Clause 24, the inclusion of major business or commercial projects in the major infrastructure planning regime is another erosion of the principle of localism and could risk that decisions are taken centrally out of the local context, uninformed by local expertise and knowledge, and certainly not as part of a local process informed by local democracy. The local strategic approach, which stresses the value of landscape-level land use decisions, was emphasised in the Government’s natural environment White Paper as fundamental. This would offend that principle. The types of development expected to fall within the procedure have recently been set out in the government consultation. As other noble Lords have pointed out, these include minerals and gas-extraction projects. It is not clear how fast-tracking onshore gas and oil extraction could be decided validly in the absence of national planning policy on this issue. This must raise major questions about the Government’s real commitment to climate change policy. I shall say nothing on Clause 27 about creating a new employee shareholder employment status other than that I agree with every single syllable that the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, said on that. We have a Bill that was introduced at speed, without consultation and with very brief opportunities for engagement. I hesitate to characterise the Secretary of State as Don Quixote, but you could say that this is a Bill that tilts at windmills that do not exist, given that there is little or no evidence that these planning issues are the true obstacles to growth and infrastructure. It is a Bill that flies in the face of policies and legislation that are barely dried ink on the paper. The combination of these features makes this bad legislation. I hope that the Minister, for whom I have huge respect, having worked with her in Kensington and Chelsea, will use the passage of the Bill to tell us in the House what the real evidence is for these measures. If she is unable to give us real evidence, I hope that she will drop or amend these proposals. 6.08 pm Baroness Wheatcroft: My Lords, I will restrict my remarks to Clause 27, which has nothing to do with planning, but is an attempt to foster growth. As we have heard, it creates a new class of employee shareholders. The concept of turning workers into shareholders is not new. At one extreme is the John Lewis Partnership version, in which a business is entirely owned by its staff. There is plenty of evidence that the model works.

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The latest Christmas trading figures show John Lewis to have been one of the stars of the season. There are several other companies, from booksellers to jam-makers, that now follow that model. However, there are many other versions of employee shareholders. There are SIPs, CSOPs, SAYE schemes and EMI schemes. Indeed, there are so many versions of employee shareholder schemes and tax benefits that evolve around them, and so complicated are the rules surrounding them, that last year the Office of Tax Simplification decided that it had to try to bring some logic to bear on them. This year there will be legislation to tidy up the tax regime relating to these schemes. But just as these complications are being ironed out, this legislation brings us a new category of employee shareholder—the one who opts to give up most of an employee’s rights in return for stock. I think that I understand the thinking that may have given rise to this idea. It is a wish to do away with the antiquated us-and-them attitude that still colours the difference between management and labour in some businesses. It is an effort to remove the threat of industrial tribunals and potential redundancy payments, which certainly hangs over young businesses and makes them feel unduly as if their hands have been tied behind their back. It is an effort to engender the spirit of the John Lewis Partnership in its go-getting newbusiness way, the sort of thing that will bring us the growth that we need. Yet we need to look more carefully at what the clause is trying to do and whether it will have the desired effect. As it is currently drafted, a gift of shares with a minimum value of just £2,000 would be sufficient to buy out a package of employment rights. Imagine, if you will, a worker with family responsibilities bounding home to tell his partner that he has signed away any rights to redundancy for a package of shares that, if he is lucky, may be worth something one day but could eventually be worthless. I am reminded of that Tom Lehrer song where he bumps into Walter Raleigh, who is trying to explain to him about tobacco. “What?”, he says; “You do what?”. If someone goes home and announces that they have sold their rights for a few shares, that is the sort of response that they might get—“What?”. We need to look again at this proposal. First, if companies wish to take advantage of this new employee status, it should be an annual commitment between employer and employee. Agreeing an annual payment of shares in lieu of employment rights may enable workers to build meaningful stakes in businesses, but that cannot be a one-off transaction, a small payment to buy—potentially—many years of servitude. Secondly, it is wrong to make part of the deal sacrificing the right to demand training. If the aim of this measure is to get everyone working towards the same end, surely an acceptance of the desirability of training is key. We need our businesses to be skilled; we need the workforce all to be aiming to be the best at the job, constantly adding to their abilities and skills, not signing away their rights to more training but, on the contrary, begging for more and more, and prepared to give their time to learn.


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The object of this clause should not be to create a new underclass of employee shareholder but to generate a wider concept of ownership. It should be truly voluntary. I have listened to the qualms raised by the noble Lords, Lord Adonis and Lord Monks, and the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, but I hope and trust that my noble friend will put their minds, and mine, at rest. This provision must not be allowed to be a bullies’ charter. It would fail in its ultimate aim if it were allowed to be used that way, inflicted on an unwilling workforce. There should be no compunction on those on jobseeker’s allowance to accept an employee/ owner job. I hope that many of those would like the idea of ownership and be tempted to take that job, but we should not force them to do so. We need to find a way to make the employee/owner option an attractive one, so while some rights are sacrificed, others should be conferred—perhaps membership of a works council, for instance. I do not like to see legislation wasted, but in its current form Clause 27 runs the risk of dying on the vine. Yet there is no need for that. With some effort, the clause could be turned into a worthwhile extra weapon for employers to use to help them build businesses with a loyal, dedicated workforce that saw itself as on the same side. We need to look again at Clause 27. As it is, it will not achieve anything. However, I hope that the Minister will see it as a beginning rather than an end. 6.15 pm Lord Morris of Handsworth: My Lords, I trust that the House will understand if I limit my contribution to the provisions of Clause 27. As noble Lords have already heard, many in this House had hoped and indeed anticipated that the Bill would have been informed by the recent report, No Stone Unturned, authored by the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, and recently debated in this House. That report was built upon his experience, coupled with intellectual rigour. Sadly, however, what we have instead are some of the remnants of the Beecroft utterances, which are part of the package being incrementally introduced through primary legislation and the regulatory framework and which demonstrate that the Government’s real agenda is to change the balance of the workplace relationship. In fact, the introduction to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website, on the subject of employment tribunal changes, could not be any clearer: it says that they will make it easier for business to take on staff and improve the process when staff have to be let go. So now we know what the Government’s real industrial agenda is: there is nothing about increasing the skills level, training and retraining opportunities, investing in adult apprenticeships for those who missed first training opportunities, or meaningful partnership, as the Minister recently outlined. There is nothing about consultation, how decisions are made or the prospects for the future development of the enterprises. At Second Reading of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, I said: “You do not boost recovery by making it easier to fire workers. You boost recovery by making it easier to hire workers”.—[Official Report, 14/11/12; col. 1585.]

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[LORD MORRIS OF HANDSWORTH] I stand by that statement. You do not build a stable workforce by taking away workers’ rights, something that the Government seem not to understand. The Government do not understand that in the workplace rights and responsibilities go hand in hand. Workers cannot be expected to discharge responsibility if they feel devowed of their rights. What is at risk in Clause 27 is very clear but the real difficulty is that we pay a heavy price for Clause 27. It undermines the fundamental rights on which good industrial working practices are built. Instead of stimulating growth, this Bill, along with other packages introduced under the veil of growth, is a hidden charter which provides for hiring and firing. It is not unreasonable to pause here and ask, “How did we get here?”. I read in no manifesto, or indeed in the coalition agreement, that a Bill would be coming forward that contained the provisions of Clause 27. We got here because the Government will listen only to those who agree with their strategy and philosophy. They will listen only to the IoD and the CBI. Indeed, the recent publication from the IoD sets out a 10-point charter for so-called reform and control of the trade unions. In some instances I am not sure whether the IoD publication draws its source from Clause 27 or Clause 27 draws its source from the IoD publication. If you read one, save yourself some time—you do not have to read the other. The noble Lord, Lord Adonis, dealt superbly with the issues around consultation. All I want to add is that the 21 days allowed for consultation on a matter of fundamental importance in terms of Britain’s future growth and infrastructure development is an affront to democracy. No wonder only 184 responses were received—out of those, only two individuals and one business stated that they would be minded to take up the options under Clause 27. These proposals are without support, not from the usual suspects but from business and professional groups as well as legal practitioners and professional commentators including the Employee Ownership Association, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and, as we have heard, the Law Society. The Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Fawcett Society have both expressed concerns that the employee shareholder proposal will encourage discrimination because it is likely to affect women in the workplace disproportionately. Women are more likely to be employed part time, to be carers, to need parental leave and to be pressured into accepting lower status even before accepting a job offer. If the Government are really serious about wanting women to return to the labour market, they are not going about it in the right way. Clause 27 takes away the support that working women badly need such as training, flexible working and parental support.

Where is the evidence for the Government’s claim that this Bill is necessary? Many who work in industry and understand how it operates see this Bill not as an asset but as a potential liability. In his report the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, stresses the need for local enterprise partnerships to be the engine for delivering growth and infrastructure development for the future. The


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architects of this Bill see the primary solution to Britain’s industrial malaise as simply attacking workers’ rights. That has been tried before and it failed. Will the Minister inform the House whether all employees would be eligible for these shares? Will there be a qualification period towards entitlement and, if so, at what point would the employees lose their rights? Will there be equality between full and part-time employees? What happens when the company gets taken over? What happens if the company goes into liquidation? You lose your shares and your employment rights. The reality is that you have to consult, and be open and engaging. I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, that I was an employee shareholder in a company for which I worked for more than 18 years. I did not have to give up my statutory employment rights; I was never asked to give up any rights whatever. That company was successful and still is. I am a firm supporter of credible employee shareholder ownership and of the principles advocated by the Nuttall review but I doubt whether the proposals for selling workers’ rights for a few shares are credible, moral or fair. 6.27 pm Lord Greaves: My Lords, it is a pleasure as usual to follow the noble Lord, Lord Morris of Handsworth. It is becoming a habit that I get put down to follow him and, as usual, I agree with what he has just said, which fits in, as far as Clause 27 is concerned, very neatly with what has been said by a number of noble Lords around the House speaking from different perspectives— the noble Lord, Lord Monks, my noble friends Lady Brinton and Lady Wheatcroft. I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft for the thought that only in the House of Lords could someone quote Tom Lehrer and expect everyone present to understand the reference and remember the song. This is a very unsatisfactory Bill. It is interesting that, apart from the Minister’s introduction, it has not had a huge amount of enthusiastic support around the House. I call it an “odds and sods” Bill. Perhaps that is too rude for the House of Lords. In the old days, before Governments labelled Bills with soundbites and slogans such as “growth”, and actually said what they were, it would have been called the Planning (Miscellaneous Provisions and One or Two Other Things) Bill, which is exactly what it is. I get very frustrated by it. Following the noble Baroness introducing Tom Lehrer, I wondered what I should do to remove my frustrations and thought that perhaps going shooting pigeons in the park might at least take some of them away. However, there are lots of enthusiasts for nature conservation, and even pigeons, around here who might chase me if I tried to do that so I will forget that thought. I should like to apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Rooker—I am sorry he has just gone—for heckling him when he was speaking, which is a most un-Lordly thing to do but just shows the frustrations over this Bill. He was adamant that ward councillors cannot deal with planning applications in their own wards.

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I must live in a different universe from him because in December I was at a planning committee—a development control committee—at which not only was there a big planning application for housing in my ward but I moved the resolution that the committee then passed unanimously. So the world is not as the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, thinks. Thinking of local government, I declare my interests in full—a habit I have as a local councillor, where the rules seem to be stricter than in your Lordships’ House. I am a vice-president of the LGA. As I have already said, I am an active member of Pendle Borough Council; I am “portfolio holder for planning policy”, whatever that may mean. I am an active member of committees on and a patron of the British Mountaineering Council. I am a member and patron of the Friends of the Lake District, and a member and vice-president of the Open Spaces Society. At least I know have those on record for the rest of the Bill. I am concerned about Bills such as this, which seem to be the result of a circular that goes around to different departments saying, “We are putting this general Bill about growth and infrastructure forward. Have you anything lying around that you might like to put into it?”. There are two or three Bills of this nature going around at the moment. They can lead to unintended consequences and unexpected outcomes. The departments put forward what I might call one-off wheezes which have not been properly thought through in the context of the legislation of which they are part. There is no underlying structure or philosophy about it; they are just put forward and can have unintended consequences. The outcomes of the Bill might be like that. They can also, if we are not careful, undermine the basic principles and structures that lie behind legislation, areas of government and government policy. We see that in this Bill. We see it in the planning system. We spent a huge amount of time discussing the passage of the Localism Act 2011; many noble Lords in the Chamber today were involved in it. Whatever many of us thought about the outcomes—some very good, some perhaps not so good—they were nevertheless based on the philosophy of how the planning system should work. Now we are putting it into practice to see if it will work. However, what we have here is ad hoc, hotchpotch messing about with bits of the planning system, some of which seems to completely contradict the philosophy behind the Localism Act. We have changes to planning rules and regulations proposed for national parks, removing requirements on the Secretary of State to have special regard to conservation and the environment in national parks, done on an ad hoc basis. If the Government want to change the way national parks work to make them more growth-based, perhaps they should change the philosophy and the ideas behind it and let us have a national parks Bill under which we can discuss that properly across the board. Some of us would be very unhappy about it but we could nevertheless discuss it. Bringing one-off measures such as this forward, which may then be cited as a precedent—“We did that for that and it was not too disastrous, so we can do it for that and a bit more”—is not the way to get coherent legislation.


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The proposals for town and village greens suffer from the same problem. There are clearly problems in some places. It is ludicrous that somebody can apply to register a town or village green on a piece of land which already has housing built on it. The whole procedure for registering town and village greens is, in my view, too legalistic and overbureaucratic. However, just bringing forward a one-off proposal which seems to solve a small-scale problem is not how to make quite significant changes to the whole regime set out in the Commons Act 2006. It is not the way to do legislation. Noble Lords have referred to Clause 1 and the way in which naughty or inefficient councils might be designated so that people then have the option to make planning applications direct. Quite apart from the principle behind this, with which many of us are obviously not happy, all sorts of practical problems will arise which we have to look into very carefully in Committee. The local authority will need to keep a planning department because some planning applications will go to it, so presumably that department will get less cost-effective and efficient. We have not been given any proper figures on the cost to government of boosting the Planning Inspectorate. There is the question, for example, of pre-application discussions with applicants. Who will do those? Will it be the local planning authority? Will it be the Planning Inspectorate? Who will be responsible for that? Will it be the local planning authority up to some stage, and then, when people say, “Oh, we are not getting very far with that lot”, will it move to the Planning Inspectorate? Perhaps everything will have to start again. Where the local planning authority has to do work, on behalf of the Planning Inspectorate or otherwise because the application has gone there in the first place, will it be reimbursed for that? Where will the planning applications fee go? It all seems to be a very messy sledgehammer to crack a nut, with lots of unintended compromises. If nothing else, we in the House of Lords have to probe properly the workability of it all, in the way that the House is very often so good at. On Clause 8, on electronic communications, I am concerned about why these large cabinets are required and why the electronics industry, which is miniaturising everything at such a huge rate, still needs these cabinets which are the size of a big wardrobe. That kind of practical thing, in addition to all the other important points that have been made, must be sorted out. On town and villages, under Clauses 13 and 14, there is a perfectly acceptable way of doing exactly what the Government want without driving a coach and horses though the very principle of the Commons Act and the registration of greens. There is a lot of misunderstanding about greens. They are not a planning designation. It is not a matter of deciding whether it is a good idea or not, it is a matter of fact. It originally came from prescriptive common-law rights acquired over time, which were first codified in the Commons Registration Act of 1965, and then most recently in the Commons Act 2006, of which some have a blessed memory. If we are to disrupt that whole system, we should do it very carefully. On the other hand, the Government said that they wanted to align the

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[LORD GREAVES] commons registration system with the planning system where there were planning proposals. That is absolutely sensible. It can be done, and a consequence may be that the town and village greens registration system can be made more efficient. However, the way in which it is being done in the Bill abolishes people’s rights, rather than aligning them with the planning system. I will certainly be making proposals in Committee that I hope the Government will at least consider and discuss sensibly. I look forward to the Committee, along with everybody else.

6.37 pm Lord Smith of Leigh: My Lords, I should have liked to welcome a Bill that encourages growth and improves infrastructure. The country certainly needs it. However, this Bill is largely a missed opportunity. Before I start, I need to declare my interests as well. I am leader of Wigan Council and chairman of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. I remind London-based colleagues that theirs is not the only conurbation with a form of governance; we have one in Manchester. I am also a vice-president of the LGA. Like other Members, I think that the evidence that the economy is being held up by the planning system is just not there. The Minister has not really added to our understanding of that. We are not holding back growth with an inadequate planning system. In fact, in housing, as the Minister herself said, there have been a large number of approvals in recent years. People have said that there are over 400,000 outstanding planning applications, so clearly there is an opportunity in the system to build homes if people want to take it. However, they are not being taken up, largely because of funding issues and the weaknesses in the housing market. In most parts of the country, economic uncertainties and the changes to mortgage funding have certainly fundamentally altered the demand for housing. Developers are uncertain and, assuming that they can find funding, they are unlikely to start building new homes which are likely to go unsold. Contrasting with the Government’s view on the need to stimulate growth is the recent report, which many Members have already mentioned, of the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, No Stone Unturned. He believes in a localist approach, not the centrist approach which the Bill seems to be. He wants to identify public funding and allocate it to infrastructure projects, making sure that local and central government have arrangements that can achieve growth. I should like to make some more detailed comments on Clauses 1, 6 and 25. The most worrying aspect of Clause 1 is its undermining of local accountability. Any major development will have a significant impact on local communities. Local authorities are best able to understand the impact of this effect and to make sure that it can be considered—and where possible they can achieve some degree of mitigation. No inspector, wherever they come from, will have that level of understanding of a local area. They will come in and go out, but the local planning authority has to live with the consequences of its decisions in the future. We are, in fact, undermining localism.


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Effectively, the clause intends to create a blacklist of planning authorities that cannot be trusted with major applications. We need to understand more about how this will work. It is a significant change to local authorities. While we might not want to see criteria put on the face of the Bill, we need to understand more about which criteria will be used and how they will be applied. The Government have mentioned the words “timeless” and “quality”, but how will that be judged—on a one-yearly, two-yearly or five-yearly basis? Clearly, if an authority has a very complex, major application in one particular year, it may distort the results, which could result in their being put on the blacklist. I am also intrigued to know how, if an authority has got on such a blacklist, it can get off it. How can it get off a blacklist if it is not dealing with major planning applications? How can it prove that it has now reformed itself and can deal with it? That is an important issue. The Government also have a blind faith in the Planning Inspectorate’s ability to do the job better. It certainly does not seem to have the capacity to do it at the moment. In my experience of it dealing with planning decisions, it is not very timely, it is very expensive, and it does not always come to the right decision. I could quote many examples of that and I am sure that noble Lords could also do the same. Under Clause 6, local authorities may seek Section 106 agreements so that they are able, when they approve major applications, to get the developer to attempt to mitigate some of the impacts on local communities. Affordable housing is the most important part of these obligations. It enables local authorities to start doing something about what I believe is a very urgent problem and one which was not tackled enough by the previous Government and is not being tackled enough by the present Government. Section 106 agreements were beginning to start to show an increase in that and I would be very concerned if that was not the case. My authority renegotiates Section 106 agreements if we feel that it is necessary to do so. However, we do it on a case-by-case basis because we recognise that economic circumstances have changed. I feel that Clause 6 might give an opportunity for unscrupulous developers—I am sure that people do not know any of those but there may be one or two around—who will overpromise what they will deliver in order to get a planning permission and then not deliver it by seeking to have it undermined under this clause. The key to this is to determine the economic viability of a particular scheme. It is a very complicated deal. If developers have overpaid for a piece of land, is that not their responsibility? They made that judgment. We seem to be providing them with insurance. They can offer what they want for land and they will somehow get away with it because they will be able to renegotiate a Section 106 agreement. I am concerned that we are saying that if we are to give powers to the Secretary of State, then this will come under the Planning Inspectorate. Determining the economic viability of particular schemes is not the skill of the Planning Inspectorate. I have tried my best to understand the Government’s objectives in Clause 25 with regard to deferring the revaluation of business rates. In her opening statement,

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the Minister referred to the need to give certainty to business. However, that is not a neutral act. We provide businesses with this certainty, but in fact we keep the unfairness, which is that businesses that have been badly affected by the economic changes from five years ago will not have revaluation at the moment. This will have a significant impact on certain parts of the economy. As I began to look at what I would say in today’s debate I became more aware of the amazing feeling in the property sector against this clause. One property company has an online petition to try to stop this clause going through, and many others are complaining against it. Coming from the north, what concerns me, as Members might understand, is the regional differentiation that this will create. The economic performance of this country over the past five years has been different in different parts of the country. If we perpetuate the current level of business rate in the future, then we simply perpetuate that unfairness going forward. Of course, this is in favour of London and the south-east. It will also impact differently on different sectors of the economy, not all of which have performed well. Much of the concern that I read about is for the retail sector. We have clearly seen today that the impact over Christmas has perhaps not been what the retail trade would have wanted. We have seen the closures of major retail companies over the past few months. Anywhere you go, in all parts of the country, you see in many town centres the blight of boarded-up shops and the consequences of that on shopping in towns. What will this do if we then keep the high level of business rates for the retail sector for those town centres that need some stimulus? The Government are right that some sectors will benefit from the change, one of which will be caravan parks. With all respect to the Government, I do not feel that our economic future is dependent on a successful caravan park sector. We need to stimulate more important parts of the economy. I am also concerned that once we stop what has been an agreed five-yearly review of business rates, when it comes to 2017 the government of the day may think, “Oh my goodness, this is going to be more difficult. It’s more turbulent than it would have been some years ago. We’ll put it off again. We don’t want to cause turbulence”. What is my belief about that? We have a system of council tax where the properties are valued as though we were back in 1991. No Government have had the courage to revalue council tax valuations since 1991. We are simply frightened of doing it. We are now fossilising the business rates as though we are back in 2012.

both in the short term and in the long term, providing the power that stimulated Boeing and other companies to provide all those bombers that were needed during the Second World War. I would like to think, but I do not believe, that this Bill will provide such a stimulation for a piece of infrastructure in the north-west of England that would create jobs both in the short term and in the long term. However, I am an optimist, and I hope that we can improve the Bill so that it lives up to its name.

Following the inspiration of the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, I also thought about a song. Looking around the House, I see that noble Lords are mainly of my generation. Do noble Lords remember from their youth the song “The Grand Coulee Dam”? When I was a lad I did not understand that. Who would write a song about a dam? However, when I grew up I understood the importance of the “Grand Coulee Dam” as part of Roosevelt’s New Deal programme and the impact that it had on the north-west of America

The second was,

6.49 pm Lord Teverson: My Lords, I, too, declare my interests. I am a member of a unitary local authority, Cornwall Council. I am a substitute member of the planning committee. Because I am a substitute, I thank goodness that I do not often have to attend in terms of that particular function, but I went through all the training and did all of that. I also have a role which in some ways is on the other side: I chair a commercial development company with interests in the south-west, which applies for a number of planning permissions to do with commercial development. Something that particularly struck me about the timing of this Bill is that, although it seems a long time ago—in politics I guess it is—it was only in March last year that the National Planning Policy Framework was decided, and the Minister delivered it and made a Statement. I will come back to that Statement. It was a mere 10 months ago that we completely revolutionised the planning system. I was very iffy about what would come out of it and was one of the many people who, when the Government started to move into consultation, thought that we would have rip-roaring development; that the sustainable part of development would be forgotten; and that the Government, for good reasons in many ways but with a bad effect, would not pay a lot of attention to the consultation. However, my cynicism was absolutely wrong. The Government came out with an extremely good and balanced planning foundation that set a course that I think will be successful for the future. It was well balanced, and it took away the sclerotic planning system and all the different policies and recommendations that local government departments had at the time. It was also absolutely clear where government planning policy was going. I took the opportunity of reading the right honourable Greg Clark’s Statement to the House of Commons. He was very good in outlining what the reforms were about. There were three fundamental objectives. The first was, “to put unprecedented power in the hands of communities to shape the places in which they will live”. “to support growth better to give the next generation the chance that our generation has had to have a decent home, and to allow the jobs to be created on which our prosperity depends”.

That is very much what this Bill is supposed to be about, but we will have to see whether it achieves that. The third objective was, “to ensure that the places we cherish—our countryside, towns and cities—are bequeathed to the next generation in a better condition than they are in now”.

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[LORD TEVERSON] That time dimension incorporates an understanding that planning is not just about now, or about economic growth now, but about sustainability for the future in terms of the environment and about long-term environmental viability. Greg Clark continued with what to me is the key sentence. He said: “A decade of regional spatial strategies, top-down targets and national planning policy guidance that has swelled beyond reason— over 1,000 pages across 44 documents—has led to communities seeing planning as something done to them, rather than by them”.—[Official Report, Commons, 27/3/12; col. 1337.]

I think, “Hallelujah, that is absolutely right”. I have been involved in European-level politics, national politics and local government politics. That is exactly how it is: local government feels that it is done to it rather than by it. That is why this Bill really disappoints me in terms of what I see as the Government somehow, after only 10 months, losing confidence in that very clear vision that they had at the time—and that I hope that they still have. It seems that they have somehow shifted into reverse gear. I will not go through the clauses in detail because noble Lords have done so already. Clause 1 enables the Secretary of State to take over the planning functions of failed authorities and to delegate upwards to the Planning Inspectorate. As regards the information requirements, again I come back to the National Planning Policy Framework document. Paragraph 193 states: “Local planning authorities should publish a list of their information requirements for applications, which should be proportionate to the nature and scale of development proposals and reviewed on a frequent basis. Local planning authorities should only request supporting information that is relevant, necessary and material to the application in question”.

I do not think that anyone could disagree with that; yet somehow we are trying to redefine that in this Bill when we have already cleared out past policy and made it very clear. My local authority is very aware that if Section 106 agreements do not work or are not working, they should be up for review. I take absolutely the instance that what that should not do—but what it risks doing—is, as has just been said, make the bad deals done by developers in the past somehow too big to fail. The moral hazard issue comes back there. In terms of Clause 24, I find it very concerning in that here we are dealing with the major infrastructure planning regime that we went through in the 2008 Act under the previous Government. Perhaps unlike some of my Liberal Democrat colleagues, I strongly believe that some national projects—perhaps on energy or transport—did not fit well into local planning and that there needed to be an alternative approach. I get very concerned when that now could apply to commercial and industrial developments, which by their nature have a local basis. I believe that there are a number of dangers here. In terms of planning at the local authority level, we should decide that if it is broken we should not put another infrastructure above it but should fix the problem where it is at the moment. In particular, we should give the National Planning Policy Framework time to work. Where are we at the moment? As far as I


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am aware, we have not had even one neighbourhood plan agreed. Yet we have that balance between local communities being able to produce their own plans and having to make sure that they do not opt out of all the obligations of a community but have to tie up with the broader local plan, which I think is the right balance. We have not given it time to be implemented. As to bad planning decisions and whether they are made by the national inspectorate or are outside the community’s control, we are stuck with them for decades once we have made them. That, too, is an issue we have to remember. The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, mentioned the proportion of land that is industrialised or developed at the moment, which is relatively low. On one point I particularly agreed with him: even in rural areas—the NPPF does this—we have to be aware that there is proper development. I believe that the NPPF already does that. I suggest to the Government that an area they really want to look at is something like vexatious judicial reviews on planning, which can happen through very rich, narrow interest groups that are trying to stop community developments. Perhaps the three-month limit should be reduced. The main thing that I will say is that I am a complete convert to the Government’s planning policy. I just wish that this Bill would conform to their own views on planning for the future. 6.57 pm Viscount Hanworth: My Lords, I have a completely different take on the National Planning Policy Framework from the previous speaker. Our present—perhaps I should say pre-existing—planning system had its inception in the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, which was enacted by the post-war Labour Government. But planning in the UK has had a far longer history. The 1947 Act was inspired, in large measure, by such advocates of town and country planning as Octavia Hill, Henrietta and Samuel Barnett, and Ebenezer Howard, but the line of descent extends back at least to the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen. The history of planning is closely aligned with that of the socialist movement. However, that has not prevented some in the Conservative Party honouring the early protagonists of planning. In a recent speech, delivered at the annual conference of the Town and Country Planning Association, Planning Minister Nick Boles extolled the virtues of this long tradition. He described the planning system as a means by which villages, parishes and other neighbourhoods can take control of their future and decide for themselves how and where development should take place. Here there was surely an allusion to the Conservatives’ localism agenda. Of course, this is not the principal virtue of our planning system. Our planning system is a means by which the conflicting interests of diverse parties on a national, regional and local level can be reconciled in an orderly manner within a rational framework and in a way that might help to preserve or enhance our urban and rural environments. Notwithstanding the acknowledgements of the Planning Minister, it is undoubtedly true that in the perception of many Conservative politicians the planning

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system is tainted by socialism and is therefore the object of much thoughtless criticism. The planning system’s careful provisions and restraints are characterised as so much red tape to be cut through, to release debris that can be swept away vigorously. The Government’s National Planning Policy Framework, which is a precursor to the planning and innovation Bill, is a product of this Conservative mentality and gives a good indication of the equivocation and confusion to which that mentality can give rise. A boast that was proclaimed by the previous Conservative Planning Minister, Greg Clark, in his introduction to the document issued in March 2012 by the Department for Communities and Local Government, is that the National Planning Policy Framework has replaced more than 1,000 pages of guidance and regulations with 50 pages, written simply and clearly, that are aimed at allowing people and communities to participate in the business of planning. In the main, the nostrums of the National Planning Policy Framework are unexceptional, and some are even laudable in a manner that befits a Government who, at the outset, declared their intention to be the greenest Administration ever. On the strength of the text, it might seem that the Conservatives have absorbed the ethos of town and country planning and that they are intent on making it their own. However, the words of the document are an utter deception. Its real import is contained in a mere two pages of an annexe, which lists the 44 planning documents that are replaced by the new planning framework. The two pages are evidence of an extraordinary act of vandalism. A set of sophisticated and carefully crafted documents, which have provided policy guidance in many specific circumstances and have been developed and refined over the past 25 years, have been tossed into the rubbish bin, to be replaced by 50 pages of vacuous pieties. The atavistic attitudes of the Conservatives have come to the fore in the Bill that we are considering, which is remarkable for the way in which it represents the Conservative mythologies regarding the planning system. The Bill proposes to promote investment in infrastructure projects and reduce delays in the planning system. Under the proposals, many infrastructure projects will be referred to the Secretary of State rather than to local planning authorities, supposedly in order to expedite the progress of those projects. This extraordinary and high-handed measure will give arbitrary and exorbitant powers to the Minister and represents a complete reversal of the Government’s localisation agenda. In a manner that is reminiscent of the Government’s attack on supposed benefit scroungers, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, is proposing to target recalcitrant councils and planning authorities with special measures. However, when challenged to name any such authorities or to declare the criteria against which they might be judged, he has not been forthcoming. No evidence has been provided to show that the planning process is imposing costs or delays on private developers that are not justified by the protection of the public interest.


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Merrick Cockell, the Conservative chairman of the Local Government Association, has recently demolished the idea that planning regulations are inhibiting the building of houses. As we have heard, Cockell pointed to the fact that 400,000 plots across England and Wales already have planning permission, which is enough to last for three years at the current rate of construction. He has indicated that the problem lies not in the planning process but in financing. Developers cannot borrow money to start building homes, and potential homeowners cannot get mortgages. Nor are the developers willing to proceed before they can see a prospect of increasing house prices. The Bill will also allow planning obligations relating to affordable housing, established under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to be renegotiated and, in effect, suspended, with the aim of making development more profitable to construction companies. It is extraordinary to be contemplating such a measure at a time when we need affordable housing in a way that has never been more acute. One is reminded of the fact that, in a previous period of prolonged economic distress, the 1930s, local authorities were actively encouraged by central government to provide affordable housing on a large scale, in the form of so-called council houses. A policy of this sort is something that the present Government are unable to contemplate. Of course, housing is not the only concern of the Bill. Many national projects such as airports, power stations and railways are to be taken into account. In this connection, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, is on record as expressing his regret that we cannot proceed in the manner of China, which is to ride roughshod over all interests that might be adversely affected by such projects. However, it is not on account of unconquerable opposition that this country is failing to proceed with the major projects that are necessary for the revival and maintenance of its prosperity. In every one of these connections, it is the Government’s failure of political will that is at fault. The Government are fearful of the effect on their electoral prospects that the pursuit of such projects might have. Surely it is only by reconciling conflicting interests via a vigorous planning system, involving proper compensation of disadvantaged parties, that such major infrastructure projects can be pursued to the advantage of all of us. 7.05 pm Lord Best: My Lords, I declare my interests as president of the Local Government Association, which represents local planning authorities, and as chair of the Hanover Housing Association, which seeks planning consent for numerous housing projects for older people. In terms of the Bill’s main policy objective—to promote economic growth and remove barriers to development of infrastructure and new housing—I must express my full support. In particular, I greatly welcome the Government’s ambition to secure more housebuilding at this time when the output of new homes is at its lowest level since the early 1920s, despite a far higher population today that is living far longer. This pathetic level of housebuilding is creating

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[LORD BEST] enormous strains on the lives of almost all those in their 20s and 30s who wish to leave their parental home. I strongly commend the robust stance of the Minister for Planning, Nick Boles. With backing from all parts of the coalition Government, this Minister is prepared to speak out for the generation which the rest of us seem determined to condemn to paying huge proportions of their income in rents or, for those few who can raise large deposits in mortgage payments, to commuting long distances to match a home that they can afford with a job that they can secure, or to living in severely overcrowded conditions or even experiencing homelessness.

The Bill seeks to ensure that inhibitions on housing providers—housing associations and housebuilders—do not perpetuate the huge shortfalls between the number of new households formed each year, which is around 250,000, and the number of new homes built each year, which is less than 125,000. It is essential to address this vast gap between supply and demand that is accumulating year by year and creating a national housing deficit that will take even longer to eradicate than the nation’s financial deficit. I feel particularly warmly towards a Minister who is prepared to take a stand on the need for more new homes because I know that this is not a road to electoral popularity. His robust stance is desperately needed, but it always meets entrenched vocal opposition. I appreciated the way that Charles Moore, previously editor of the Daily Telegraph, summarised this recently in the Spectator, with special reference to rural areas. He said: “Only in Britain—only, actually, in England—do people believe they are doing country life a good turn by refusing to build houses for the next generation to inhabit. It is a more powerful attack on rural culture and the rural poor than were the Highland Clearances”.

Almost no one votes for new housebuilding in their area, let alone for new roads or other infrastructure. Over recent decades, I have had dealings with virtually all the relevant Housing and Planning Ministers, including the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, of course. They have usually been keen to see housing shortages reduced but have been overwhelmed by opposition to development. During Ministers’ tenure, which is seldom more than a couple of years, there is time to become unpopular by taking a pro-development line but not time enough to see any meaningful results. The problem therefore passes to the next Minister and the accumulating housing deficit grows larger. I congratulate the Government and the leadership of their Planning Minister on giving this problem a high priority and on trying to ensure that the current output of new homes is not exacerbated by bureaucratic barriers and defects in the planning system. Do I believe that easing planning delays or reducing demands by planners will lead inexorably to a return to housebuilding levels equivalent to the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, or even the 1930s? No, it will take more than a few tweaks to planning to make real progress, but I greatly welcome the Government’s new can-do, must-do approach to reducing the housing deficit.


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Turning to points of detail in the Bill, perhaps I could briefly put down some markers—positive and negative—on matters that I hope we will debate when the Bill moves into Committee. First, there are concerns throughout local government about the Government’s fall-back provisions to bypass those local planning authorities that are deemed to be failing in their duties. We will need to look at those measures with very great care, as several other noble Lords have said. Secondly, there is the welcome measure to prevent abuses of the town and village green legislation. That will get my full support, having experienced at first hand the frustrations, expense and delays of ridiculous applications for so-called village greens; for example, for one of about 50 acres on the edge of York. Thirdly, I was pleased to see the measures for easing inhibitions on selling land at below market value, which will be important. Fourthly, there are the proposals for modifying or removing the requirements for affordable housing, agreed between local planning authorities and housebuilders. I am unable to help the Government on that. These Section 106 agreements have been hugely valuable in achieving much needed rented and sharedownership homes, almost always with ownership and management being transferred to a housing association. They mean that so-called social housing is provided within mixed-tenure developments, not in segregated, separated ghettos just for those on the very lowest incomes. The cost of those obligations on housebuilders has been reflected in the price that those builders negotiate with landowners, and communities have benefited by obtaining more affordable homes without the public subsidy that would otherwise be needed. Local planning authorities should not lightly give up the benefits that they have secured through those extremely important Section 106 agreements. Of course, housebuilders would like to increase their profitability by being let off commitments that they have made. Perhaps foolishly, they paid over the odds for sites, speculating on further price rises that never happened. Now they want to be bailed out for the mistakes that they made. How galling would it be for more prudent developers to see those who outbid them for sites being rewarded for their gamble by being let off the obligations to which they had signed up? However, in some cases prices have fallen significantly, as in Northern Ireland, although the Section 106 agreements do not apply there. It would be better for the wider community to forego the benefits of some affordable housing in return for keeping some housebuilding going. Local authorities have shown themselves willing to act flexibly in these cases and the LGA has provided lots of examples of councils being sympathetic and sensible, not that authorities should make such concessions too readily. A number of major housebuilders have seen much improved profits of late; indeed, house prices have risen in London and elsewhere. Developers may not be holding back on building on the sites with planning consent—there are 440,000 homes on those sites—for reasons related to Section 106 agreements. Rather, they are waiting for confidence to return to the market with, once again, buyers clamouring to buy.

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Meanwhile, undeveloped sites remain valuable. They fortify balance sheets and convince shareholders of the housebuilder’s worth. Holding land—hoarding land, as some would say—can be good business. The worst outcome from the Bill’s measure on easing planning obligations for affordable housing would be to encourage developers to sit on their hands and await an easing of requirements so that when market pressures are so extreme that they can sell everything they build easily, profits will be magnified. Any deals must clearly involve a requirement on the developer to get building immediately. Obviously that part of the Bill can be only about the past—about deals done in better times— and the signal should not go out that there will be any reduction in the obligations on housebuilders to include proper levels of affordable housing in all new developments in future. Councils must not be sent into negotiations and renegotiations of Section 106 agreements with their hands tied and with what is, I hope, a false expectation hanging over them that the Government will support less affordable housing in the months and years ahead. However, I note that the Planning Minister has already announced an important change; namely, to exclude so-called exception sites in rural areas from this provision. This amendment was raised by the housing expert and former Housing and Planning Minister, Nick Raynsford, in the other place and it bodes well that, despite political differences, the Government have taken this on board. I hope that there will also be the opportunity in Committee to consider other measures not yet in the Bill that could help to achieve the much needed increase in housebuilding which so many of us desire; for example, allowing a local authority to borrow prudentially and raising the cap for borrowing for the housing revenue account to support development—no doubt in partnership with housing associations and housebuilders could stimulate a great deal of new construction, as the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, and others have advocated. In removing blockages I would also like to see the removal of the need for a local, potentially wrecking, referendum where a neighbourhood plan has been agreed by the county council, the district council, the parish council, an independent assessor and more. In Second Reading terms, I welcome the intentions of the Bill and applaud Ministers’ willingness to confront the national housing deficit. Important improvements to the Bill must emerge from our deliberations. Our Minister, the noble Baroness, helped us to make so many worthwhile changes to the Localism Bill and I am sure that we will be able to do the same this time.

me, led by many colleagues on these Benches and by my noble friend Lord Adonis. However, I shall concentrate on one part of the Bill, the planning of major projects, which comes under the “good but not enough” category. In her opening remarks, the Minister said that the intention of the Bill was to reduce the delays to major projects, which I fully support. I declare an interest as chairman of the Rail Freight Group. That is a laudable intention. The noble Lord, Lord Teverson, spoke enthusiastically about how the recent changes to the planning system had helped a lot. I submit that cost, time and delay for such projects are still very real problems. They reflect rather badly compared with the processes that appear to take place in some other member states, such as France, Germany and others, which were summarised in a report by Infrastructure UK a year or two ago as well as in the McNulty report on the railways. I start with the planning Acts, which established a new regime for authorising nationally significant infrastructure projects. That regime was intended to provide a unified and more efficient decision-making process for the important projects that we are talking about. I welcome that. Early experience has shown that things are going reasonably well but that more improvements need to be made, particularly as regards an efficient and unified consents process and in moving towards a sort of one-stop shop for developers. Some amendments have been proposed to the Bill but I suggest that one or two more are necessary and desirable to further reduce all the things, such as delays, costs, uncertainty, that affect developers. The one-stop shop idea is good but it has subsequently been changed so that the final decision on projects is taken by Ministers rather than the Infrastructure Planning Commission. This introduces yet another problem, which is that of timing. The IPC, or the PINS project which follows on from it, is supposed to take a maximum of one year, which is perfectly reasonable. However, there are two problems. The first is what happens pre-application and the second is the time taken for a ministerial decision at the end. At the moment, the pre-application process seems to leave the applicant for a development consent order rather on his own. There have been one or two examples recently of applications being rejected due to the lack of involving the transport or planning authorities, so there is an argument for saying that it might be useful if the Planning Inspectorate and the examining inspectors had more involvement in and control over programme management, in a case oversight role, at the pre-application stage. I hope we could look at that further in Committee.

7.16 pm Lord Berkeley: My Lords, listening to the many excellent contributions to this Second Reading debate, I thought I would read again the Long Title of the Bill. I see how it can cover a multitude of different subjects. If I were feeling a little wicked, I could think of an enormous number of amendments to table on any conceivable subject that would probably be allowed under this title. Of course, I shall not. Perhaps it can be construed as a curate’s egg—some good and some bad. We have heard about many things that concern

At the other end of the process is the time taken for a ministerial decision. The best example of this is an intermodal logistics terminal site in beautiful Radlett in Hertfordshire, which is at an old airfield that the developer applied to turn into a logistics centre. I think he has been at it for 10 years and how many tens of millions, or more, have been spent is not clear. It went through two public inquiries and a judicial review; finally, before Christmas, the Minister made the decision to allow the project to go ahead. This is the problem when things get political.

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[LORD BERKELEY] Some five or six years ago the noble Lord, Lord McNally, said to me, “You are involved in rail freight. I live in Radlett and I do not really want this thing on my doorstep”. I said, “Well, perhaps you would like to meet the developer, who might be able to persuade you that not every truck going into the terminal will knock the hanging baskets of Radlett as it goes past because there will be access from the motorway”. Radlett is a politically difficult constituency because both the Tories and the Lib Dems believe that they should represent it in Parliament and neither want a nasty development in their backyard. Things have moved on since then. I had thought that the Liberal Democrats were in favour of such developments, but apparently not in their backyard. Anyway, two public inquiries and one JR later, the project is going ahead but at what cost? It is a pretty bad example of how our planning system works, or does not work. As other noble Lords have mentioned, we now have the idea that the Planning Inspectorate should be given extra projects to look at; perhaps 10 or 15 more are in the pipeline. But apart from whether the people in the inspectorate are the right ones to do this work, are they suddenly going to have the resources for it? If they do not, there will be problems. This is something we will need to reflect on during the later stages of the Bill. I have two other issues to mention briefly. The first relates to Clauses 22 and 23, which would remove the special parliamentary procedure from certain types of project. My concern is that the availability of such processes will be removed from railway and ports infrastructure. These both consist of pretty critical infrastructure projects for the UK so there is a strong argument for saying that if there is a real problem requiring a special parliamentary process it should still be allowed—although probably by reducing its scope to only those issues that are relevant to the concerns raised, rather than revisiting the entire planning application. My final issue concerns something that is not in the Bill, but which I hope will be if Ministers accept it later, and which has been brought to my attention by Transport for London. TfL is trying to develop a new road tunnel under the Thames at Silvertown which is to have a road user charge attached to it. As part of the development consent order requirements, TfL has discovered that it has to build toll booths and big toll plazas. It is not allowed to bring in what might be called automatic road-user charging because of the detail that would be required in the DCO for the project. We could say, “Well, it’s one tunnel in east London, so what does it matter? Dartford tunnel used to have charges”, and so on. But apparently the Government will introduce new toll roads soon. The A14 has been talked about. The Birmingham northern relief road has a toll on it and I believe that the operator, the Macquarie group, can charge what it likes for any type of traffic for the next 50 years or so. It would be useful if the Government could look at the wider policy here. They are talking about road-user charging for trucks nationwide, but I think they are going down the wrong road by introducing the charges on a time rather than a distance basis. We have the


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congestion charge in London and perhaps in some other places. If each new road being built might have a different system for tolling, we are going to look extremely stupid within the next 10 years. I am told that the Chancellor of the Exchequer does not like the idea of distance-based road tolling because it might affect him driving up the M1 by his having to pay more. I hope that that is not the real reason and that in future stages of the Bill we can see whether a DCO really needs to specify what type of collection is used for a project, if it is to be tolled. 7.28 pm Lord Taylor of Goss Moor: My Lords, I should first declare my interests. I chair the National Housing Federation, the voice of housing associations in England. I also chair the strategic partnership of the private sector with Cornwall Council and the Homes and Communities Agency charged with delivering ecocommunities in the St Austell area. Further, I make the case for good planning and sustainable development in various fora, not least to the previous Labour Government on their review of rural planning in relation to housing and business, and more recently the current review of planning guidance for the Government, which I also chair. However, my real interest lies in meeting the needs of the people of this country, in particular families and the next generation of people who need homes that they can afford and that meet their needs in the places where they live and work. This means that I have a deep interest in great planning because I believe that it is through planning that we will deliver homes in ways that meet our environmental needs and acknowledge the sensitivities of villages, market towns and other communities which do not want to be wrecked by poor development. That means that I am a strong believer in planning, not as rationing, a tick-box process of approval, or an endless argument over the next 50 houses, but as a way of raising our eyes to meeting the needs that we see coming over the next one or two decades in far more imaginative ways than that. As we heard earlier, the origins of planning, such as the garden city movement and the 1945 Act were not about rationing. I am not one of those who believe that our planning system is not at fault; we have had a system of rationing and not one of great design and place-making, by and large. That is why I strongly welcomed the NPPF and, along with many other individuals and organisations, participated in trying to get it right. I am delighted that right across the board, organisations that had in many cases expressed great concerns about earlier drafts of the NPPF, welcomed the product that was delivered. I am talking about those concerned about the environment, great planning, development and the delivery of housing. I see the NPPF as an essential compact between local communities and national policy. The national policy is clear: we need to meet the needs that I have described and to do so in a way that is sustainable. It must unlock both economic growth and the need for homes. The compact is that it then requires local communities both to assess that need locally and decide how to meet the need locally.

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It was sometimes misunderstood in the early days that localism was somehow about local authorities doing whatever they wanted; if they did not want to have development, they did not have to have it. But they have to meet the needs of their community, which must be right. They assess it and are given the responsibility of delivering on it. We are at a crucial stage in this process because many local authorities have resisted the scale of development to meet their needs. It is always unpopular to deliver new homes to those who already have a home. A lot of people do not want development if they are okay, but increasingly even they are saying that their own children are being priced out of a home. They see that the person serving them in the shop or working in the school cannot afford a home in their community. We have seen a transformation of attitudes in many villages and we are starting to see that transformation in many market towns, too. However, they still want a development that works, is well designed and does not ruin what is there already. I believe that the NPPF describes that extremely well. We have to see that now delivered in the local plan-making process, but I am not yet convinced that all local authorities have either understood their responsibilities or seized the opportunities for great planning that is implicit in that policy. My question is: does this Bill help to deliver those things that I have just described at this crucial stage in the NPPF process? There I have doubts in part. Let us be blunt; I have been here for most of the debate and I do not think that anyone has yet said that this Bill was produced and cobbled together with all sorts of things to fill a gap because Lords reform was not in front of us. There was a space in the agenda and things were cobbled together, some of which are hugely useful—stuff that might not have happened otherwise, and I shall come on to that. Other things would frankly have been better kept in the box. They would have been had there not been this big gap and a space, which I shall come to, as briefly and as quickly as I can. If Clause 1, referring to poorly performing councils, were so crucial we would have seen it before. The reason why it is not so crucial is because the powers are already there. Undue delay gives the right of appeal; bad decision-making can be called in, as can issues of national importance. The powers are broadly there, so what is this about? It is clearly about a big stick to wave around and threaten councils, saying, “You have to get on with the tasks outlined in the NPPF”. Ministers, of course, are also saying, “It will hardly apply to anyone; in fact, we hope that it won’t apply to anyone at all”. So, it is just a bit of flag waving, if we believe that; or it is a complete reversal of the process of localism that the Government have set out, which I supported, in the NPPF. If this is about timeliness, it is simply unnecessary. If it is about bad decisions, I am not convinced that nationalising it is the way to go. I believe that there may need to be special measures with some councils of all sorts, but one of the biggest special measures is the process of adopting a local plan. They have to persuade people that that local plan is right and if they do not, the principles of the NPPF—the presumption in favour


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of sustainable development—kick in anyway. One has to ask whether this is really necessary, much as I understand the bit of flag waving that may lie behind it. However, I believe that Clause 5 is needed; it provides that the information requested should be relevant and necessary to the decision. I feel very strongly about this. The planning guidance review I conducted meant wading through 7,000 pages of an almost entirely out-of-date, wildly contradictory and in many cases unnecessary layering of guidance within which were absolutely essential pieces of guidance. One of the key things said by the group as a whole—which included people working within the environment to those working on housebuilding—was that we need to help both developers and councils with issues of proportionality. There is concern in local authorities to ask for as much information as possible to ensure that their appraisals and assessments cannot be challenged at judicial review, but equally, large developers can layer on all sorts of appraisals because they can afford to do so. They are applying for supermarkets all over the country and can defray their costs, knocking out the medium-sized guys and the local builders who cannot afford to do that. They ratchet up the requirement because if they have done it for their supermarket proposal, or housing development, somebody else will do it for theirs. Talking about what is proportionate and reasonable is essential. I am not certain that it needs to be in legislation; it could be in guidance, but I am prejudiced as I have just done all that work on guidance, so I would think that. Nevertheless, I think that that principle is right. We then come to Clause 6 on the modification of Section 106. Time is running out, so I shall try to be quick. The first essential point is that we should not see affordable housing as somehow the bit at the end after we have done everything else. Why is affordable housing more arguable or negotiable than the transport, density or all sorts of other requirements that may have been put on the development, and now CIL too? Affordable housing is not somehow the residual. If there is a residual, it should be the profit to the landowner who has benefited from the planning permission and the huge escalation of the value of the land. Of course, we are talking about deals that have been done, and the first thing that should happen is that the deal should be looked at by the developer. If it is an option, the option should be renegotiated. I accept that in some cases we need to look at this again, but it should be drawn more widely than simply Section 106 affordable housing. Unlike the private sector, housing associations do not hold land banks. Some of the demands for affordable housing were excessive and unrealistic, but if we surrender it in a blanket way we do not have a way of making it up. I have two suggestions. The Government announced, at the same time as this, some hundreds of millions of pounds to make up the shortfall in the housing that is lost. Why is that not the first stage rather than the option of appeal and trying to get out of the obligation? Why is the HCA not the first port of call for a discussion on whether it should use some of the hundreds of millions of pounds to help the developer unlock the site and deliver the affordable housing he agreed to in the first place, not least because that is what the community was told it was getting? The land may have

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[LORD TAYLOR OF GOSS MOOR] been released specifically because there would be affordable housing. We should start with the HCA which can assess viability. It would be better at assessing viability in PINs as the HCA negotiates on sites all the time. Only then should there be the right of appeal if the developer is not happy, but they should lose any offer that the HCA may have made for money. You can have the money to deliver your affordable housing, if you have persuaded us of it, but if you appeal you will lose the offer. That way, we will not have the hold-up that is likely to occur with appeals happening all over the country. The village green change is important, but I made a recommendation on this in the Taylor review in 2008 and have to ask whether it would be better to have a simple weeding out at the first stage when village green applications are made as to whether they have a reasonable case before going through the whole process, rather than the trigger of an application. My worry about the trigger is that many communities will only realise at the point of an application that their community land, which they have accessed for years, is under threat. However, worse than that, this policy may trigger a whole lot of village green applications to go in, on the possibility that there might later be an application for development on the site, in which case PINs and the Government will be entirely bogged down in the process that they have just invented in a counterproductive way. I have many other things I could say on this subject but I will stop there.

7.40 pm Baroness Turner of Camden: My Lords, of course I support steps in favour of growth and the employment that it should bring. But does this Bill cope with our current economic malaise? I do not think so. The first part of the Bill, as we know, gives the Minister the power to remove from local planning authorities the ability to decide planning operations. Why is that? Planning applications will thus bypass local communities. At present, local communities are involved. In my area, there is local consultation; I am involved in such a consultation at the moment. We believe that this should continue. The Government claim to be in favour of localism, so why interfere with local arrangements that already exist via elected local authorities? In the countryside, as we know, this could well involve threats to the local environment. There is no indication that these arrangements will improve the availability of social housing. In London and the south-east, there is a crisis of affordable housing and the Bill does little about that. In fact, the section on affordable housing is so complicated that it is likely to make the provision much more difficult. The right to buy council housing was fine for some, but nothing was done to replace the affordable housing that became privatised as a result. House prices are so high that they have put mortgages out of the reach of many young people and private renting is also quite desperately expensive. There was of course a housing crisis in the years following the Second World War, because of the bombing, and it is interesting to recall how subsequent Governments, both Labour and Conservative, dealt with it at the time. There was a


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campaign to build cheap housing—the so-called prefabs —many of which still exist. There was also a restriction on the level of rents, with rent tribunals to which recourse could be made if there was overcharging. Rents were thus kept within the range of affordability for ordinary wage earners. Without those policies, many would have been rendered homeless—in fact, most were not. The Bill before the House does not tackle the problems of the housing market; nor does it give a necessary boost to the construction industry. Indeed, other government legislation under consideration by the House—the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill—actually has a clause undermining health and safety at work law, which would make inherently dangerous work even more dangerous for the workers involved in construction. Unfortunately, the Bill now before us follows what has become a normal course with this Government: employment rights of any kind are viewed as something to be undermined or removed. Hence, businesses are to be allowed to buy the rights of workers, to slash them: “Beecroft by the back door”, as my noble friend Lord Adonis has already said from the Front Bench. I absolutely agree with him. However, it will not work. The Government seem to hope that unions will disappear, but they will not. A sensible approach would be to realise that economic recovery needs the support of workers and their unions. Removing hard-fought-for rights will not achieve this. Moreover, any plans for growth must include a plan to rebalance our economy by a government campaign to boost manufacturing industry. Many areas have a great deal of unemployment because the factories and workshops that once provided employment, often for skilled workers, no longer exist. The report of the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, made reference to this. He, too, is in favour of a more balanced economy. My union, Unite, has been involved in the development of the Automotive Council, which has worked with employers to promote the motor industry, the supply chain, and the training and skills of the workforce. As a result, the industry is doing relatively well. There are issues that must be dealt with if growth is to become a reality rather than simply rhetoric uttered by government Ministers. It involves co-operation with the workers and their unions, rather than attempts to remove hard-won employment rights as proposed in the Bill before us today. 7.45 pm Lord True: My Lords, I declare an interest as leader of a London borough council which is also a planning authority. I will not follow the noble Baroness opposite on Clause 27, but will say that I hope my Front Bench listened to the brilliant and humane speech made on this subject by my noble friend Lady Wheatcroft. I share the objectives set out in the title of the Bill, although perhaps the PR people might wish that the title had been preserved for something that goes a little further towards the great leap forward than the contents of this Bill. From the start, we heard eloquent speeches from the noble Lords, Lord Adonis and Lord Tope, about their fears that centralism was creeping back. It is

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impossible to deny that that feeling has been very strong in this House throughout the debate and I share it. However, I will confine my comments to certain of the planning aspects of the Bill and will not go over the whole ground, because I recently troubled your Lordships with some detailed comments on the ideas put forward, rather suddenly, lately by Mr Boles. Some of those ideas are in the Bill but others, such as those relating to the protection of our suburban environment and permitted development in back gardens, are not currently included in the Bill and are intended to be the subject of secondary legislation. However, they are clearly in the scope of the Bill, given the long title relating to the carrying out of development and the Government’s own provisions on reforming PDOs in Clause 4.

central government of a potential stick with which to hit the worst-performing authorities, whoever they are—we will hear that shortly, I understand. We are told that its use will be limited. In fact, the unelected Planning Inspectorate could be absolutely overwhelmed by this legislation if a future Government took Clause 1 powers to their potential end. As it legislates, the House should understand that while this Government may intend to restrict the use of this, a future Government could extend it by waving an unamendable wand in secondary legislation. I am also interested in the point raised by my noble friend Lady Eaton and the noble Lord, Lord Smith, about how a planning authority will be able to get out and be disgorged from this position.

I have not lost hope of persuading the Government to drop this—in my view—foolish plan, which is wholly irrelevant to growth, to extend rights to building in back gardens without the need for planning consent. I do not understand why my Government want to set neighbour against neighbour in this way or side with those who do not wish to play according to the rules. Removing such local controls, as is being proposed, and then saying you will let them be reintroduced in a far more costly and cumbersome way by use of Article 4, seems a very bizarre way to proceed. It smacks rather of the old ways of the 17th century, when the Government passed legislation but the Crown said that certain people did not need to adhere to it. If there is no sense in it, I hope my noble friend will agree it should be dropped or at least consider methods to allow local authorities to opt in to any changes the Government may propose and so leave the decision as a local one. If I cannot, in the course of the Bill, persuade the Government to change their mind on this, I must give notice that at a later stage I will consider laying my own amendment to enable your Lordships to express a view on whether unrestricted development in back gardens of this kind should be allowed. “Unrestricted” is not quite the correct word—“greatly derestricted”, perhaps.

I welcome the provisions on disposal of land, which are a great step forward. The small provision on stopping-up orders is very welcome. I disagree with some of those who have opposed the question of acting on village green applications. I very much welcome the Government’s action here. Some have expressed concern about precisely how this would operate, and we can look at that in Committee. Certainly, no one wishes to weaken village green protection but there have quite clearly been abuses of such powers by campaigners against development in some places and the Bill points towards finding the right balance.

Consultation on these proposals closed on 24 December —always a suspicious date, in my mind, for consultations to end. Can my noble friend, in responding, say when the Government’s response will be published? Ideally, this should be before Committee stage, but certainly in good time before Report, to enable proper consideration of this outside the very restricted and unamendable procedures of secondary legislation. On permitted development, I am grateful to my noble friend for indications she has given in relation to points that I and other local authority leaders have made about the freer change of use from employment to residential, especially in parts of London and other cities, where there is limited employment and commercial space and the scope for creating it is restricted. So I also ask my noble friend to indicate whether, before we reach Clause 4, she will say how the Government intend to address this concern, for which they have expressed sympathy. I would welcome a chance to discuss that with her in her usual open manner. Like many others who have spoken, I am not a great enthusiast for Clause 1. It certainly is a setback for localism. Like others, I can see the attractions to

I also understand the Government’s wish, expressed in Clause 5, to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy in relation to requests for information. That is a perfectly reasonable aspiration. However, good decisions require good evidence and accurate information. As has recently been said, many of us thought that this had been addressed in the NPPF; paragraph 193 was quoted and is very clear on this subject. My fear is that, perversely, this clause may lead to more confusion and, worse than that, recourse to the courts as the emerging definition is tested through review. If that happens, it will be precisely at the time when we want the Bill to work in order to encourage growth, and there is a risk that we may encourage more legislative action. While I agree that bureaucracy should be avoided, what I miss in this Bill is a recognition that much of the delay in the development process comes not from local authorities but from others in the planning process, as the noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, said. For example, I could cite the cumbersome process of judicial review, on which I greatly welcome the current consultation launched by my right honourable friend Mr Grayling, and indeed the often time-consuming requests and slow responses from statutory undertakings. Try getting information from the lower ranks of some of our statutory undertakings in relation to implementation of conditions, or indeed whether they wish to exercise rights as statutory consultees. There are many other sources of delay in the process, and if this clause is to stay, perhaps the Bill can be amended at a later stage to address some of those other issues, rather than just bashing planning officers. On the subject of statutory undertakings, like others, I do not support the sweeping provisions in Clause 8 on broadband boxes. Of course we need good infrastructure. Local authorities are actually friends,

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[LORD TRUE] not enemies, of this. But do the Government understand how unpopular many activities of statutory undertakings are, how unaccountable, and the great cost to the economy that arises from their frequent wilful refusal to negotiate and poorly co-ordinated action between them? Removing totally the need to negotiate reasonable sites with representatives of local communities will lead to wholly capricious, absurd and illogical outcomes —as I have shown my noble friend’s honourable friend the Minister in photographs—such as pavements obstructed to the disabled or boxes placed in front of listed facades and free-standing on greens when they could quite easily have been placed nearby. If this clause is not to be omitted, it would benefit from amendment to impose on the undertakings a reasonable duty to consult local and other competent authorities in conservation areas, parks and other places of outstanding beauty. Quite frankly, most of these issues could be sorted out in a day or two by two competent project managers, one from the regulatory authority and one from the undertaking, rather than what I fear we have: well paid directors going off to the Treasury to mutter in the ears of officials and be rewarded with a free hand. To conclude, it is important that this Bill receives close examination in Committee. I have no doubt that it will. I hope I will be proved wrong that it seems based on a false prejudice that local authorities are an obstacle to growth rather than, as I believe, that the planning system is a method to secure orderly public consent to the kind of growth that we all wish to see.

7.55 pm Baroness Donaghy: My Lords, I will start on a positive note. I believe that local authorities should be empowered to assist economic growth and should be allowed to borrow more money to build houses. They should have powers to deal with the 700,000 existing homes in England that are empty. They should also be able to work with a Government who are fully committed to localism. Unfortunately, there is very little in this Bill that will achieve these objectives. In fact, most of the proposals will reverse the previous commitment to localism. In Clause 1, the Government want to give themselves plenipotentiary powers to overturn local authority decisions. Clause 1 creates an imagined obstacle to growth, in the form of planning delays, as the noble Lord, Lord True, has just said, and proceeds to focus on tackling that. The truth is, as has already been said, that there is a building backlog of 400,000 new homes with planning permission but yet to be built by developers. Approval for residential and commercial applications, as the Minister herself has said, are at a record 10-year high: 87% of applications were approved in 2011-12. In a reversal of the emphasis given in the Localism Act, the Secretary of State has indicated that it is the job of the Government, “to identify where some—very few—local planning authorities are failing to discharge their responsibilities to local people”.—[Official Report, Commons, 17/12/12; col. 605.]

The definition of failing could catch many local authorities, which could appear on the list through no fault of


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their own, and could even cover those that have been specifically praised by this Government for their initiative. My response to how one interprets “failing to discharge their responsibilities” is that the council may actually be giving priority to the views of these local people rather than developers. I am not reassured that officials at the DCLG would be, “putting an arm round those authorities that are beginning to get into the danger zone”.—[Official Report, Commons, 17/12/12; col. 606.]

As we all know, there are different ways of “putting an arm round”. At worst, it will be a stranglehold; at best, a patronising reminder that the Government know best. How sure can we be that the Planning Inspectorate will be sufficiently funded to take on the significant increase in workload, even if it was the right thing to do? My view is that this power in Clause 1 would undermine all local authorities, not just the “very few”, and would create delays and uncertainties as applicants find new and ingenious ways of avoiding their local responsibilities. Clause 6 is an attack on affordable housing requirements set out in Section 106 agreements. Where is the evidence that this requirement alone is holding up planning applications? In the short term, this proposal will delay applications that are already in the pipeline as developers hold out for higher profit margins. I have said before that we need a proper debate about housing provision in this country. The terminology can be confusing: affordable housing, market value housing, council housing—even the Prime Minister managed to confuse affordable housing and council housing. We have a serious situation in that there is insufficient money to lend for both mortgages and housing development, but this is not the first time that this has happened and it will not be the last. In a sense, it masks the real problem of houses and jobs needing to be in the same place. The previous Labour Government had a regional strategy. It may not have been 100% successful in every area, but at least it grasped the connection between economic development, jobs and housing. This Bill is dressed up as a plan for growth, but it is actually allowing 100 developers to blossom. I am not accusing the Minister of being a Maoist, incidentally, but her colleague in the House of Commons gave the game away when he said that he wanted local authorities to do, “whatever it takes, pragmatically and practically, to ensure that homes are built”.—[Official Report, Commons, 17/12/12; col. 625.]

To be fair, he also said that he wanted, “mixed communities to remain a key theme; we do not want gated communities”.—[Official Report, Commons, 17/12/12; col. 625.]

That is fair enough, but undermining Section 106 agreements is more likely to see those gates going up. The Minister wants local authorities to take responsibility instead of, “fetishing an agreement which sets out a vague target”.—[Official Report, Commons, 17/12/12; col. 625.]

I try not to be diverted by the trend to use nouns as verbs, but as a fully paid-up English language pedant, I had to check out the word. As a noun, the word “fetish” is described as, “an object regarded with superstitious trust or reverence”.

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There is another alternative, which is, “an object believed among a primitive people to have a magical power”.

I will not mention the one about bodily parts, but my point is that the Minister has painted a picture of a “very few pig-headed local authorities”—presumably these are the primitive people—not acting in the interest of their own people. Why not name them? Why not embarrass those very few pig-headed local authorities? Where is the evidence that this clause is necessary? The Government have promised to deliver homes for first-time buyers and young families. In reality, they have increased the threshold for what can be called affordable rents to up to 80% of market rates and are now attempting to weaken the obligations on developers to build such housing. House prices are rising at three times the rate of wages. Now is really not the time to weaken the obligations that ensure that developers build affordable homes, not just homes for the wealthy. Clause 24 postpones the business rate revaluation from 1 April 2015 to 1 April 2017. It must always be tempting for any Government to avoid taking potentially sensitive decisions which coincide with a general election. However, the postponement date will fall during council and other elections in 2017. Will that be another excuse not to bite the bullet? If this is a genuine attempt, as my noble friend Lord Whitty said, to give time to discuss how business rates are set arising from the provisions of the Local Government Finance Act, will the Minister give an assurance that local councils as well as businesses will be fully consulted? Will the Government publish their full reasons for the postponement and have they taken fully into consideration the impact on retailers, pubs and manufacturers? Have the Government considered the unintended consequences of this postponement and the continuing injustices in the system—for instance, the level of assessment of out-of-town superstores, which is considered to be very low; the instability created where property values have fallen substantially; the increase in cases of evasion and the increase in home-based business—all of which will have a perverse impact on local authority income? Some evidence that these issues have been fully explored would be welcome. Finally, I do not intend to say much about Clause 25 on shares for rights. I think John Cridland, the Director General of the CBI, had it about right when he said, “I think this is a niche idea”—not a nice idea—“and not relevant to all businesses”. I suspect that this niche is so small that you could grow a particularly rare variety of lichen in it. I do not know how the Government reconcile their proposal to require longer notice periods for return from maternity or adoption leave with the fact that they will retain anti-discriminatory employment rights. The Employee Ownership Association believes that employee ownership can be promoted without requiring a dilution of rights. I will not repeat what my noble friend Lord Adonis said about the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The consultation has been shambolic and the costings are a joke. I do not know whether this is a totem proposal to distract attention from other clauses in the Bill, but just in case it is not, will the Minister give us


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an indication of what safeguards there will be to ensure that the scheme is voluntary? Will jobseekers who choose not to take up such an offer be penalised in any way? The Minister’s response at Third Reading was less than reassuring. Will the noble Baroness give an assurance that this is not just a tax avoidance scam? Will she assure the House that the Exchequer will make money, not lose money, on this venture? In conclusion, I look forward to Committee stage, when we will have the opportunity to examine these centralising proposals in more detail. 8.05 pm Lord Burnett: My Lords, I draw the attention of noble Lords and others to my entries in the Register of Lords’ Interests. We are all only too well aware of the crisis precipitated by years of failure to build sufficient houses to meet the huge and growing demand. Housing starts slumped again in 2007 at the start of the recession. Noble Lords are well aware that household growth in England increases by approximately 240,000 per year, whereas fewer than 100,000 houses are being built. These problems date back many decades and there is now a massive accumulation of demand that has led to terrible stress for individuals and families. There is an estimated shortage of 2 million homes. The first major problem to be overcome is finance. I am delighted that the Government are taking steps to ensure that there are competitive and reasonable sources of finance for house purchase, especially for first-time buyers. I hope that this year mortgages will be easier to obtain with competitive rates and not such stringent deposit requirements, especially—again—for first-time buyers and young families. The main headline on the front page of yesterday’s Financial Times was, “‘Massive Softening’ of Basel bank rules”.

It was reported that, “global liquidity standards would be less onerous than expected and not be fully enforced until 2019, four years later than expected”.

This is encouraging. I also welcome the Government’s proposed new funding for affordable homes. If the financial problems are beginning to be resolved, this leaves the difficulties that successive Governments have faced in dealing with the planning system. There are signs from the front line that local planning authorities are responding more optimistically and more positively to the dreadful shortage of housing. Local councillors are elected on a local, not a national mandate. It is very difficult for local planning authorities and councillors to respond to what are not only local but also national pressures. This is true especially in areas where the demand is particularly great, including London, the south-east, East Anglia and what I call the near and far south-west. The National Planning Policy Framework is assisting, and there has been some further impetus with the relaxation of planning rules for change of use from commercial to residential. In rural areas, planning policy should also, in appropriate circumstances, allow for conversion of redundant agricultural and other buildings—I am talking about more modern buildings and what could be called rural brownfield sites—to residential use. Rural areas need houses, especially affordable ones. At present, an individual has to be wealthy to buy a house in much

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[LORD BURNETT] of rural England. I remind the House that wages for many in the rural areas of England are very low. Nevertheless, although there are signs of a more speedy and realistic response from planners, as my noble friend said when she opened this debate, there is still much to be done. We have a plan-led system. That is understood by professionals in the field. It should work well. Local plans should be produced expeditiously and time limits for consultation should be adhered to.

One matter that must be given more attention is housing need. It appears that with the demise of the regional spatial strategy each local authority will face the task of assessing housing need for its individual area. There must be a clear, intelligible and compelling basis for assessing that need. The underlying basis and calculation should and must be made publicly available, and should accord with publicly available national guidelines. In sensitive areas, there is always pressure on local councils and planning authorities to reduce the need figures. The measure of need must be robust and ensure that local authorities do not buckle under pressure and reduce the housing need for their areas. The robust measure of need, combined with a five-year supply and other rules, should ensure that we start to meet the massive pent-up demand for housing that, as I said, has built up over decades. If planning authorities are to assess the need for housing in their areas, they must carry out that assessment openly, robustly and—as I have said before—within national guidelines. If a planning inspector at the core strategy consideration stage is not satisfied with the level of housing, he or she should not find the local plans sound. I hope that my noble friend will let me have some assurances on this matter when she winds up at the end of the debate. A sound local plan produced swiftly, with objective, robust housing need numbers and a formula that can be tested by potential applicants, is essential.


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in this country, the sale of their premises, with or without planning permission for development, will be the basis of their pension. The self-employed do not have the benefit of, for example, generous public sector pensions or the pensions that are available to those who work for large corporations. I hope that the Minister will make the foregoing clear to planning authorities when they consider Section 106 agreements and the burdens to be imposed on developments. Further, I hope she will exhort local planning authorities to have a simple, straightforward measure of viability for development that is easily understood and implemented. For example, a small site of fewer than 15 houses should not, in these difficult economic times, have to bear substantial planning burdens. There is not sufficient time to deal in detail with the community infrastructure levy, which could be yet a third-tier tax on house construction. I believe some local authorities have already introduced a community infrastructure levy and I know that the Government have set up a committee to review that levy. I remind the House of a previous episode in the chequered history of the taxation of development in this country. In approximately 1976, the then Government introduced the development land tax. At the cost of millions, a new tax office was set up in Middlesbrough, forms were produced and, if my memory serves me right, the rate of that development land tax was about 80%. That led to the absurd situation that, with capital gains tax or income tax for traders, the rate of tax was sometimes in excess of 100%. This led to a complete drying up of the supply of land. Attempts like this serve only to make housing more and more scarce and enrich further those lucky enough to be able to afford to own a house.

In the past the Secretary of State in the other place referred to “muscular localism”. I take it that that means, among other things, that local planning authorities should not be able to deny need and, if they do not have a five-year supply and cannot point to other more suitable sites, applications should in the main be granted. I am aware of analysis made by the Centre for Economics and Business Research that suggests that housebuilding, which sank to 95,000 units in 2010, could be boosted to 300,000 units annually by 2015. This would add some 201,000 extra permanent jobs in construction, and contribute £75 billion to GDP, or 5 percentage points to growth. Furthermore, it is estimated that this would reduce rents by nearly 11%. Housing would then become more affordable and the financial pressures on the working-age population would be substantially reduced.

I welcome the Government’s proposals in relation to town and village greens. I hope my noble friend will give consideration also to the inclusion in the legislation of a clear right of appeal or challenge to a registration of a town or village green under the 2006 Act. The right of appeal should be designed to catch future and some past registrations. The registration authority— invariably the local authority—often appoints an expert to advise the registration authority, which is both judge and jury in the matter. It is contrary to the rules of natural justice to deny an appeal. I hope that the Government will consider introducing a mechanism for reviewing town and village greens registered under the Commons Act 2006 and over land already allocated for development or subject to an existing planning application. There is rightly a democratic process for formulating a local development plan, and if land has been allocated for development for a particular purpose, that process should not be overturned and changed by means of a town and village green application lodged at a late stage.

I welcome the measures in the Bill to deal with existing planning consents that are now economic. Some local authorities are already more realistic. I would hope that local authorities are being made aware that landowners already pay either capital gains tax or income tax on the proceeds of the sale of land for development. Furthermore, for many proprietors of small and medium-sized owner-managed businesses

Finally on this matter, the Bill provides that an application should be stayed when land is allocated for development or when a valid planning application has been made in relation to the land. The stay would cease if the land were removed from allocation or if an existing planning application were withdrawn or refused. I hope my noble friend will give consideration to the stay becoming effective once the consultation draft of

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the local development plan is first published. This would effectively make the process subject to the more democratic processes that apply to emerging local plans. Planning is a complex subject, and good intentions can often thwart and deny the possibility for many to find a reasonable house to buy or rent at a reasonable price. We need to balance the protection of the countryside with the legitimate need for housing of millions of our fellow citizens. 8.18 pm Lord Faulkner of Worcester: My Lords, I am pleased to follow the noble Lord, Lord Burnett, on one particular theme: the question of democratic accountability and the role of Parliament. I will speak briefly about Clauses 22 and 23, which deal with special parliamentary procedure. I believe that I am right in saying that only the Minister in her introductory speech referred to these clauses in the debate this afternoon. I do so as one of three of your Lordships’ representatives who have served from last October, meeting virtually every Wednesday, on the Rookery South Joint Committee, with three Members from another place. We have considered petitions against an application from a company called Covanta to build a resource recovery facility—a waste disposal incinerator and power station generating electricity from burning refuse—in a former brickyard pit in Bedfordshire. Although we have one further meeting scheduled, on 16 January, the conclusions of the committee have been made known to all the parties, and I am therefore not breaching any confidences in speaking today about our deliberations. My starting point is that if this Bill is enacted as it stands, there will be no more Joint Committees operating in the way that we have done on Rookery South, and as a result there will be significantly less parliamentary scrutiny in future. SPP—special parliamentary procedure—was introduced by the Statutory Orders (Special Procedure) Act 1945. It is an additional procedure that must be followed when compulsory purchase is authorised under various enactments. It is triggered when what is called special land—local authority, statutory undertaker, commons and open spaces, and National Trust inalienable land—is acquired and the landowner objects. SPP is not triggered very often, and in the majority of cases when it is, the orders are unopposed in Parliament. Since 1990, only three SPP orders, of which Rookery South is one, have been opposed and have had to be dealt with by a Joint Committee. Since 2000, 10 other SPP orders have gone through without opposition. The 2008 Act set out a new procedure for authorising nationally significant infrastructure projects. This is achieved by the making of development consent orders by the Secretary of State, following examination of the order by an inspector. These can include powers of compulsory acquisitions, and, like CPOs under the 1981 Act, are subject to SPP if they allow the acquisition of special land. Clause 22 of this Bill repeals Sections 128 and 129 of the 2008 Act. Subsection (1) will ensure that SPP will no longer apply in the case of the acquisition of local authority and statutory undertakers’ land. That is


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why the Rookery South order would not have been subject to SPP had these proposed repeals been made earlier. Clause 23 in this Bill applies to all orders—not just development consent orders—that remain subject to SPP. So it will apply not only to nationally significant infrastructure projects but also, for example, to road schemes where public open space land is acquired compulsorily using the 1981 Act procedures. When a compulsory purchase order or a development consent order provides for the compulsory acquisition of special land, the current position is that if certain conditions are met, the order is referred to special parliamentary procedure. Clause 23 will change that to the extent that in the case of a CPO of local authority, statutory undertaker or National Trust land, SPP will be triggered only if the owner objects to the acquisition of the land. As the law stands, SPP could be triggered if the owner objected to the order even if they did not object to the acquisition of the land. The powers of Parliament, however, once the SPP process is under way, will change as a result of this Bill. The owner—or anyone else with sufficient interest— would still be able to petition against a CPO or DCO that was made subject to SPP and which authorised the acquisition of special land, but the scope of such a petition would be limited to that part of the order which authorised the compulsory acquisition of the land. As the law stands, a petition could be made against the whole order or any part of it. The powers of the Joint Committee which would consider the order if there were petitions will be similarly limited. The committee could decide that the order be amended so as to remove or amend the power to acquire the special land, but it could go no further. At present, the committee could decide that the whole order should not proceed, or could amend parts of the order unrelated to the acquisition of the inalienable land. Similarly, the powers of each House to annul the order by resolution will change. Instead of being able to resolve to annul the whole order, the Houses will be able only to resolve to annul that part of the order which authorises the acquisition of the special land. I apologise to your Lordships. This is a complicated point. I can see some noble Lords nodding, so I think they are following this. Had those changes already been made, it could have made a considerable difference to how the Rookery South order deliberations were conducted. I say “could have”, because the Joint Committee by majority vote decided that the promoters had no case to answer on the main petition lodged by the local authorities. The noble Lord, Lord Geddes, and I both took the view that they had a case to answer. We both felt that it was necessary for the need for the new resource recovery facility to be proven, given convincing evidence that there was already sufficient capacity to deal with waste at existing plants within the stated catchment area. The committee was told that the new facility would generate more than 1,100 heavy lorry movements per day, despite the fact that it is to be located adjacent to the Bedford to Bletchley railway line, and a feasibility study had demonstrated that a private rail siding could be constructed to bring in the waste by rail.

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[LORD FAULKNER OF WORCESTER] Members of the committee saw the location for the rail access when we spent a day visiting the site and the surrounding area on 28 November. Unfortunately, as I said, the noble Lord, Lord Geddes, and I were not able to convince a majority of our fellow members of the Joint Committee that issues needed to be considered. It is important that these matters should be subject to parliamentary scrutiny. In future, if Clause 23 remains in the Bill, that opportunity will be lost. I would be grateful, therefore, if the Minister could advise me whether petitioners will still be able to raise issues which are not directly related to the acquisition of the land but are to do with the public interest. It has always been a central tenet of compulsory acquisition law that the applicant for the powers must demonstrate that there is a compelling case in the public interest for the land to be acquired compulsorily. Those words are contained in Section 122(3) of the Planning Act. In order for petitioners to demonstrate that there is no compelling case in the public interest, they should be able to bring evidence to bear about the benefits of the proposals as a whole, compared with the injury that they will suffer when losing their land. I also hope that the Minister will be able to answer the points made by the Open Spaces Society, which is particularly concerned about Clause 22. It points out that the clause provides that, where an open space is threatened with a DCO and compulsory purchase and there is no suitable exchange land, or the exchange land is deemed too expensive, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government may himself decide that the DCO need not be subject to SPP. As the Open Spaces Society states in its submission, Parliament will no longer have the final say; its power is relinquished to the Executive. Open space is any land, “used for the purposes of public recreation”.

Therefore, according to the Open Spaces Society, the provision potentially puts at risk all open spaces enjoyed by the public, formally and informally. They include the many acres of land registered as access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Special parliamentary procedure is rarely invoked, so why do away with it? It is there as the final safeguard when people’s rights over open space are threatened, and when wider consideration needs to be given to major planning projects. I hope that the Minister will be able to provide good reasons why this change is needed. I am sure that we will return to this issue in Committee. 8.26 pm Lord Shipley: My Lords, I declare my interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. The Government have been pursuing a strongly devolutionist agenda in England. The Localism Act established a range of devolved powers and provided a structure for enhanced borrowing powers to drive growth. City deals are passing powers from Whitehall to localities, a trend which will continue, with submissions for the second wave due shortly. Whitehall may sometimes know best, but it does not automatically do so. Because it is organised in departments, it is very difficult for it


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to focus geographically on a locality. Mostly, it is too far away anyway, which is why local authorities and local enterprise partnerships have such a crucial leadership role, as my noble friend Lord Heseltine has so emphatically shown. The main aim of city deals is to promote growth. Growth outside London and the south-east is too low and too slow compared to elsewhere in Europe. I welcome discussion of any sustainable initiatives that may help to drive growth; so, in theory, I welcome the Bill. The title at least represents a statement of intent. However, whatever a Bill is about, the legislation proposed needs always to reflect a clear understanding of the problems that need to be resolved. As we progress through Committee, I hope that we will examine the changes proposed in the Bill in that light: do the solutions proposed solve a defined and recognised problem? I hope that we will examine a number of areas closely. For example, is the planning system a barrier to growth? I have listened to all sides of the argument over recent months, and I have concluded that, in the main, the planning system is well run by most local authorities. In some cases, there may be a tendency to delay or to adopt an overzealous bureaucratic outlook, where the development control process has become a means of prevention; but, in the main, councils understand that growth drives jobs and that more new homes are needed. Those councils want to rise to the challenge. There are 400,000 new homes not yet built, which have planning approval. Seven out of eight applications were approved by councils for residential and commercial development in the last full year of 2011 to 2012. The case that new central powers are needed has not been made. The problem for developers is primarily one of finance, not planning. There has been a proposal that an 18-month period should elapse between a poorly performing council being identified and central intervention taking place. There seems to be merit in this and I hope that we can look at it more closely in due course. Peer support from another council is better than central control. It can be done very quickly, certainly within that 18-month period. However, we have to build more homes for all the reasons that have been identified in this debate. As we examine the Bill in Committee I hope that we shall keep this objective of building more houses in mind. On Clause 5, I am unconvinced that any change to the National Planning Policy Framework is needed. It seems to have defined the information requirements of a local authority perfectly well. Its information requirements should be relevant, necessary and material. Adding to the Bill that they should be “reasonable” strikes me as unnecessary, since being relevant, necessary and material seem to be reasonable requirements already. Indeed, adding “reasonable” may create greater uncertainty and potential for delays. A number of people argue that it is possible that Clause 6, which relates to Section 106 agreements, is not needed, because councils can renegotiate and are already doing so. Most that are doing so seem to be accepting a reduction of around a third in the amount of affordable housing. The problem may be solving itself. It should be seen as temporary, given the

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introduction of the NPPF, and it should therefore be time-limited. I hope that in Committee we can discuss with the Minister relevant amendments to make Clause 6 time-limited. This is partly because I have two concerns in relation to this clause. First, how do the public know that a change to a Section 106 agreement is the right thing to do? Making public the figures on which decisions are based seems to be important and there should be a common formula that is followed in different parts of the country to ascertain viability. Secondly, councils need to be able to share in any rise in prices once a new agreement has been signed—in other words, to have secure clawback to compensate for the affordable housing that was not built, if and when values rise. I understand that guidance is going to be issued on this point, but I wonder whether it will be sufficient. Clause 8 relates to communications equipment. I have not understood why it is deemed appropriate for six-foot high junction boxes and overhead poles to be put in place without prior approval or conditions. Junction boxes are big. I hope that as a minimum there will be assurances that this will not happen in conservation areas, or in historic places, or in areas of natural beauty. Local people have a right to know about proposals, to object and to propose alternatives. Denying them that right is hardly localist. On Clause 24 I have some concerns on extending the major infrastructure planning regime. Nationally significant infrastructure planning is one thing, but surely residents and their councils have rights to decide major local applications, such as shopping centres, office and leisure complexes. Given that local authorities are already meeting their response times in most cases, it is not clear why large-scale commercial and business applications need to be fast-tracked in the way that the Government seem to be proposing. I hope that the Minister will clarify what constitutes business and commercial development, and what will be centralised under the Bill. A lot has been said about Clause 27. It creates a new employment status of employee shareholder with the aim of increasing the employment options companies may use. It is said that it will be voluntary for a job applicant, but what if it is the only job offer out of hundreds of applications that someone has made? So far the Government have not provided safeguards for people on jobseeker’s allowance. If someone refuses to take up an employee shareholder job, they could face losing their benefits because whether their decision is reasonable will be judged on a case-by-case basis. That is hardly voluntary for a jobseeker desperate for a job. The Bill is about growth and infrastructure, but I cannot see how this policy will increase growth. It really is not right to force someone to give up employee rights in return for a company share. Protection against unfair dismissal, the right to flexible working, the right to time for training, parental leave rights and the right to statutory redundancy pay are all fundamental employment rights, and it is hard to see how these proposals fit with true employee ownership schemes, which can be hugely successful and should be encouraged. It is also hard to see how administrative costs for a company will be reduced by the proposed measures.


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I can see that for a small business starting up in a fast-growing sector, equity as an incentive and reduced risk to its capital from employment tribunals could be attractive but, surely, in only a very limited number of cases. What is much more likely is that offers to potential new members of staff of employee shareholder status will reduce the willingness of good people to apply for such posts, with most existing companies proving unwilling to use it. I hope that in Committee we will have the opportunity to examine these proposals in much greater depth. In her introductory speech, the Minister emphasised that the Bill was about deregulation and removing barriers, particularly in the planning system. The trouble is that most of the barriers to growth are actually financial, not regulatory. I hope that, as the Bill progresses through Committee, we will approve clauses and amendments to it on the basis of established facts and the primacy of localism over centralism. 8.36 pm Lord Hunt of Chesterton: My Lords, in speaking about this centralising Bill, I suppose that my qualification is that when I was leader of the Labour Party on Cambridge City Council and I was in Moscow in 1972, I was described as a leader of the Cambridge soviet. I have an alternative qualification: I declare that I helped to set up an environmental consulting company in Cambridge. It was interesting to hear about Cambridge earlier from another speaker. When considering legislation on social, environmental and economic issues, it is reasonable to consider whether it is bringing us closer to or further from countries that are evidently very successful in those fields. The UK has no peer in the fields of humour and creativity, as I saw in the Christmas pantomime “Norwichababa”, and as we saw in yesterday at No. 10; indeed, the UK is now exporting pantomime, so that is one area of economic growth. However, I think that most people will acknowledge that we have something to learn from other European countries. They have rigorous planning, preservation of the countryside through strong local control and sufficient high-quality housing—anyone who has been a city councillor visiting council accommodation in Germany is somewhat humiliated. I would say, though, that over the past 20 years housing standards in Britain and Germany have become closer. The other feature of those countries is that there are small industries all over the country, including in natural areas, and that is also developing in this country. Furthermore, I should add that all those countries with admirable economic and social policies are working within EU rules and regulations. As many noble Lords have commented, the UK is facing the problems of a lack of housing and a lack of finance for housing. We have also seen that many of the regional projects that began in the previous decade were stopped, to the protests of many industries, when the present Government began to abandon the regional development authorities. The support of this by the Lib Dems, who had many of their own councillors and regional officials involved in those development agencies, was most surprising—I never could understand that.

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[LORD HUNT OF CHESTERTON] The other feature of those countries, particularly Germany, is worker representation on the boards. One of the most important features of the supervisory boards is that the workers have an interest in the preservation of the companies. Those companies have not been bought up and sold like chips on a gambling board, as we have experienced in the UK. We have a long way to go to get that kind of management. The real problem for developing our economy—as has been made plain over and over again by the CBI and the Institute of Directors—is that there has been a complete lack of decisiveness about major infrastructure projects. We could now be having a third runway at Heathrow; we could be having toll roads. We need many more of these fundamental measures and every day that we do not have them we lose our competitiveness to other countries. When the Prime Minister talks about competitiveness, he just has to listen to what the CBI is saying. However, the Government have pushed ahead on energy and the further energy developments in the Bill are to be welcomed. The fact that we now have permission to develop a big nuclear power station in Somerset is a very important development. What else does this Bill propose? First, it proposes a reduction of local planning powers, which many noble Lords from all sides of the House have commented on. I hope the House of Lords will be able to vote on this, as in the other place, and that the decision will be different. However, some of the most important developments in the UK, as pointed out by a Lib Dem colleague talking about Cambridge, were done through local planning. The development of Cambridge’s high-tech society was an extraordinary case of the local council changing its mind and working with local universities and industry. Equally, there have been other developments that could not be done by local planning. We have had Acts of Parliament to develop, for example, Felixstowe docks or some of the processes in London. The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, was quite correct to say that there are certain things that local councils do not have a big enough power to do. It really requires a concept that combines localism with a national view. That is what we have been struggling with this afternoon. One of the aspects that has not perhaps been covered is the localism developed in Denmark, which has pioneered the economic involvement of communities in controversial developments. It completely transformed the way they considered energy developments. There is an element of that in the UK with local participation in housing developments. We have been talking about that much this afternoon. In Denmark, for example, there is local participation in many other projects. In many other areas of the continent there is local investment, which means that there is tremendous commitment to develop local businesses. Again that is somewhat lacking here. We had that with our regional development authorities but, for reasons that I do not understand, they have gone—of course they are supported by the noble Lord, Lord Heseltine, but his views and the Prime Minister’s are not completely consistent.


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In the past, the UK has been a Mecca for planners and Governments from all over the world to see how we have combined industrial growth with the preservation of our natural environment. The way in which national parks manage to have the natural environment, local businesses and local housing is a global model. There are people who are worried about Clause 8 of the Bill. It is very important that we continue that tradition. Some of our major national parks are very close to the centres of great industry. One of the attractions for world-class engineers who go to work at Rolls-Royce is that Derby is very close to the Peak District, which is an untrammelled and marvellous national park. Other countries also have major manufacturing centres close to great parks. Manaus in Brazil, home to its main electronics centre, is close to the forest environment of Amazonia. I have a nice example of the small industries in our national parks. I once sat next to a lady on a British Airways aeroplane. When we got to the stage of eating cupcakes, as we were flying over her village, she said, “We make them down there”. Those kinds of small-scale industries are very important. The Government and all parties believe that they should be expanded. A strange feature of the Bill is that, although it has to do with economic growth, housing, infrastructure and the environment, there is no mention of or reference to the economic value of the environment. This is now a standard concept in government; the White Paper refers to it. The Prime Minister now refers to the fact that gross national product is not the primary definition of growth: it has to include the environment. The recent Secretary of State at Defra referred to this natural capital. Since, perhaps, not all noble Lords know about this, a document developed by the NGO Globe, of which I am a vice-president, has been put in the Library. I recommend that noble Lords do a little homework on that, particularly the people in DCLG devising the Bill, or perhaps read the speeches of Ministers in other departments. The last part of the Bill, in Clause 27, is equally perverse in going against the spirit of many successfully run businesses. The Government seem to be amplifying occasional problems and producing a complex solution with implications that have not been foreseen. Can the Minister say what kinds of complications there are, and give examples of where the approach in Clause 27 has been tried as a pilot? I thought that the Government wanted to reduce red tape, and maybe reduce just slightly the income of lawyers dealing with complications in government. I was obviously wrong. This is a new jamboree for all of them. Furthermore, now it is even a jamboree for the tax lawyers. All I can say, as the director of a small company in Cambridge where the staff have regular maternal and paternal leave—it is an unusual software company, with 70% women—is that current human resources management is complicated enough. This is just another problem and will add costs to small companies where these issues are important. The Minister has been asked many things, but we have not heard what the costs of legal challenges are likely to be as a result of this new legislation. In summary, the Government are quite right to emphasise the need to invest in infrastructure and housing, and to maintain their commitment to national

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parks and the natural environment. Both are needed to grow the economy and to develop communities. However, the Government’s determination to reduce local involvement through this clumsy legislation has to be resisted. There are so many successful business developments involving local business and local organisations—and, dare one say it, local political parties. However, there are exceptional situations that we all recognise, in which national projects have to be planned on a national basis. Special measures such as parliamentary Acts are possible, but the Bill needs great changes if it is to be supported in this House and in the country. Of course, lawyers and tax advisers will love the Bill as it is. It will give them a field day. 8.48 pm Lord McKenzie of Luton: My Lords, this has been an extensive and excellent debate, but one which has exposed the gap between the reality of the measures in the Bill and the needs of our country for growth and infrastructure. The Bill lacks coherence, vision and a plan for growth. In the terms of my noble friend Lord Rooker, who put it bluntly, “It won’t work”. My noble friend Lord Smith said that it was a missed opportunity. My noble friend Lord Whitty said that it ignored the need for serious thinking on infrastructure investment. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, called it, “ad hoc, hotchpotch”, with no structure. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, said that it was cobbled together to fill the vacuum left by the lack of Lords reform. My noble friend Lady Turner said that there was no comfort in it for the construction industry. The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, at least clung to the view that the title could be seen as a statement of intent. Much of the Bill is focused on reform of the planning system before the ink is dry on the Localism Act and the NPPF. We had a mini-debate on the NPPF, with a difference of views between the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, and my noble friend Lord Hanworth. That bodes well for Committee. The Bill is predicated on the notion that the planning system, rather than the lack of finance, is holding back growth, a theme that was challenged by a number of noble Lords. That assertion is based at best on anecdote and it lacks a systematic and rigorous basis of assessment that takes account of both cost and benefit. The noble Lord, Lord Tope, asked where the evidence is. Yet again we see the imprint of a Secretary of State who espouses the cause of localism but everywhere removes power from local authorities and takes them to himself. We welcome some measures, especially those which flow from the Penfold review, and which we expect to be able to support. However, they do not amount to a comprehensive plan for growth, and they will not catapult us into the premier league of competitiveness. We have grave misgivings about Clause 1, which are shared by many noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Tope, the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, my noble friend Lord Whitty, and the noble Lords, Lord Teverson, Lord Best, Lord Taylor and Lord True. The clause gives unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State to strip any local authority of its planning powers if deemed to be failing so that a developer can seek approval for major applications from the Secretary of


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State. On the basis of the initial criteria, and taking account of planning performance agreements, vanishingly few local authorities may be deemed to be failing, bearing in mind that planning approval rates are at a 10-year high. However, the risk is a tightening of the threshold in subsequent years, although the Government refuse to set out their response to their consultation on this matter until the Bill becomes law. Why is this? In all of this there is no recognition of the intense financial pressures which government cuts are imposing on local authority planning departments, as on other services; or that designation will weaken local authorities’ ability to improve as they lose fees and struggle to retain more able staff to deal with major applications; that the policy will tilt the balance struck in the NPPF and encourage local authorities to eschew quality and develop their engagement for speed; or that engagement with local communities will be impaired. Frankly, this clause should be deleted. In Clauses 2 and 3 we see yet further examples of the Secretary of State taking powers to himself. In Committee we will seek to ensure that these are exercised in a transparent manner and in line with proper consultation. Clause 4 touches on permitted development rights. Our major concern in this regard is not what is in the Bill concerning the extension of rights. Decisions to extend these centrally will lead to unintended consequences in different localities. If the Government really believed in localism they would agree that these matters should be determined locally. We desperately need more affordable housing and we should acknowledge the important role that Section 106 agreements have played in delivering this ambition. As ever, the noble Lord, Lord Best, spoke with passion on this matter. We consider that Clause 6, which enables developers to seek renegotiation of the affordable housing obligations with a right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, is particularly egregious. In the words of my noble friend Lady Whitaker, it is a step back to another world. It is another example of overriding the judgment of local authorities, which already have the power, which they use, to renegotiate such agreements. We will challenge the linking of project viability just to affordable housing and will argue that any test to be applied should not just be one of economic viability. The development plan policies and different housing needs of an area, including rural areas, must feature in the assessment. However, if this clause is to remain, then it should be considered as a short-term measure with a sunset clause to bring it to an end. My noble friend Lord Adonis has asked the Minister to tell us precisely which stalled sites she considers unviable due to Section 106 affordable housing obligations. I hope that she will do that. While we support steps to increase access to broadband, including for national parks, this must be done in the right way and not with the sledgehammer approach referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Parminter. As the Bill stands, there are concerns that Clause 8 would permit a free-for-all in areas of outstanding natural beauty, which is why we will continue to pursue mechanisms which will narrow the focus of this provision. We understand the point made by the noble Baroness,

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[LORD MCKENZIE OF LUTON] Lady Hanham, in her introduction about EU requirements and will look to see how that bears on secondary legislation. We were reminded by the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, about the importance of broadband, particularly in respect of rural areas, and by the noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, more generally. Clauses 13, 14 and 15 seek to make it more difficult for a green space to be designated as a town or village green. The intent is to stop vexatious applications to register land which are submitted to thwart proposed development. We would have common cause in not wanting to see the opportunities to designate green space used in this manner but remain unconvinced that it is a major problem. The CPRE cites there being only 185 applications for this status in 2009, which can be compared to many tens of thousands of planning applications. However, we do not oppose all change to the existing arrangements but will look for assurances on publicity around landlord statements and will seek changes to the heavy-handed approach to removing the right for local inhabitants to apply for registration of land as a green space once it has been marked down for development. This approach goes beyond what Penfold proposed. A number of provisions in the Bill are focused on clarifying and streamlining the process for infrastructure planning but also on restricting the special parliamentary procedure in part to overcome anomalies. The intervention of my noble friend Lord Faulkner in relation to Clauses 22 and 23 is highly relevant. These clearly are matters that we will have to review in depth in Committee. My noble friend Lord Berkeley spoke about the need to extend some of the provisions relating to easing the infrastructure process. That also will be something which we will need to examine in Committee, as well as his point about the resources for the Planning Inspectorate, given the multiplicity of different roles provided for it in the Bill. Clause 24 seeks to bring business and commercial applications into the major infrastructure regime, which was established in the Planning Act 2008. We are not opposed to a broadening of the regime, although the way in which the clause does this would represent a considerable departure from the current system. “Business” and “commercial” need to be adequately defined as they are not so obviously in the public interest or nationally significant. Widening the regime opens up yet further possibilities for bypassing local decision-making and the lack of any national policy statements bypassing parliamentary scrutiny. We will pursue amendments on these matters. The inclusion of a clause to defer the 2015 rating list revaluation by two years comes as a surprise, particularly as we have only just completed our scrutiny of the Local Government Finance Act where we had extensive discussions about the role and resourcing of the VOA. The deferral breaks a tradition of more than 20 years of regularly uprating business rates that has not been subject to political interference. As my noble friend Lord Smith pointed out, the Government have justified this decision on the grounds of providing certainty for business at a difficult time and that there


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would be many more losers than gainers from the 2015 revaluation. It is accepted that a revaluation would not overall increase or decrease aggregate revenue from business rates but a revaluation is supposed to maintain fairness by ensuring that rateable values reflect up-to-date rental values. As we have heard, the VOA undertook its high-level, indicative estimates based on limited rental data. Others have called into question the projections made from this analysis and the CBI has declared that it considers the benefits of deferral to be overstated. Before proceeding with a deferral, there should be a full consultation process and the Government should publish comprehensive estimates of how businesses are to be affected. We also would want to take the opportunity to assess the current fitness for purpose of the VOA, its resourcing and how it is handling appeals from previous valuations. The Minister will recall our deliberations on the business rate retention scheme and calls then for rating revaluations to coincide with a general resetting of the system. Will putting back the revaluation affect the current 2020 timetable? Finally, the nonsense that is Clause 27 has been comprehensively taken apart by my noble friend Lord Adonis, and he was supported by many other noble Lords—my noble friends Lord Monks, Lord Morris, Lady Turner and Lady Donaghy, as well as by the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, and the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. Seldom have we seen a government proposal that has such little support. The raft of amendments that the Government have already been forced to bring forward underlines the technical complexity of the scheme. If it is anything, it is a job creation programme for lawyers and accountants. In concept, perhaps the Government will explain why it is okay for senior executives to sit on their stock options yet still benefit from handsome payoffs when they leave, but it will be a spur to growth if employees are offered the arrangements to forgo their redundancy entitlement that are proposed in the clause. The noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, made reference to the range of existing employee shareholding schemes. If such arrangements are out there, why cannot they be used? What is so great about the proposals in the Bill? Concerns have been expressed about the scheme being used for tax avoidance. From debate in Committee in the Commons, it would seem that we will have to await the Budget to understand the extent to which the issue of shares, fully paid, will be free of income tax and capital gains on subsequent disposal. Can the Minister shed further light on this? What is the estimated cost in term of tax forgone as a result of these proposals? There remains a raft of technical issues to pursue around valuation, TUPE, JSA claimants, compulsion, realisation, share rights and dilution—to name but a few. Our opposition to this clause is not principally about technicalities. Cutting the rights at work of employees is wrong in principle and, in the terms of my noble friend Lord Monks, unethical. It will not help jobs and growth, and that is why it has so little support among employers as well as employee groups. The proposition is divisive and the clause should be scrapped.

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The Bill displays the worst features of a struggling Government. It is contradictory on localism, lacking in evidence base on planning, misguided in undermining employee rights, divisive in reducing affordable housing, and devoid of a strategic context. It will keep us busy in Committee. 9.02 pm Baroness Hanham: My Lords, perhaps I may start by welcoming the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, to his position on the Front Bench for the Bill. I am delighted to see him there and, having listened to the debate, he will realise that we are in for a lively time—as I do. I also congratulate all noble Lords for having survived. This is the first time in this House that I have sat in this Chamber and been so hot that I did not know what to do with myself. Noble Lords have all done extremely well to survive. The noble Lords, Lord Adonis and Lord Whitty, and many other noble Lords have portrayed not only the Bill but the Government as being anti-localist. Perhaps I should say immediately in our defence that we have spent a lot of time in this House making sure that this Government are localist. Beyond the Localism Bill, we have been through the NPPF, and we have had great discussions on localism and giving priority to local authorities. I do not therefore think that this Bill undermines that in any way. The Government are committed to localism. They recognise that in some areas there are small problems that need to be dealt with, and that is what we are trying to do in the Bill. Perhaps we can start with Clause 1, which has attracted a great deal of attention. The clause is to deal only with those very few situations where an effective planning service is not being delivered locally. We published an impact assessment, which, together with the consultation document on planning performance that supports this clause, is clear about the evidence base. I am sure that by the time we reach Committee, all noble Lords will have read those documents. As I said in my opening remarks, although the great majority of applications—about 88%—are approved in good time, that is not the situation everywhere. The criteria that we have proposed in relation to local authorities that are failing in their duty would mean designating—I emphasise what my noble friend the planning Minister in the other place said—a very small number of authorities that fail to determine more than 30% of their major decisions on time. That is not a standard of performance that we should regard as acceptable. I will not name specific authorities for the simple reason that circumstances can change before any initial designations are made. On that point I want to reassure the noble Lord, Lord Tope, and other noble Lords that we have been talking to the Local Government Association about the role that the sector can play in helping other authorities to improve and to stop them being designated. We do not particularly want them to be designated; we want to use this as a way of ensuring that standards are maintained. We want the Local Government Association to help authorities regain their powers if they have been designated.


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I was asked by various noble Lords how failing councils will initially be designated. They will be designated initially for 12 months, and that will be reviewed before the year is up. It will be done on criteria that I am sure we shall discuss in Committee. Although applicants can appeal against non-determination, once the statutory period is up, we believe that they should have the choice of accessing a better service from day one, where there is clear evidence that the planning service is not being delivered effectively. I must underscore that these provisions are not mandatory on every local authority. They give the Secretary of State powers to designate, as I said, this small number of local authorities. This is not a case of swiping at localism; this is saying that there are small areas that we need to deal with. The provisions do not entirely take the powers away from local authorities because they enable the applicant to decide whether they want to leave their application with the designated local authority or whether they wish to go to the Planning Inspectorate. I do not think that the Planning Inspectorate, under these circumstances, will be overwhelmed with extra work. I am conscious of not having a lot of time. Perhaps I can turn to Clause 5, which deals with information requirements. The noble Lords, Lord True, Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, Lord Teverson and Lord Shipley, all raised points on why that clause is needed as the policy is already set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The clause is needed because there have been court cases and we need to ensure that applicants can get to appeal, if they need to, when there are disputes about information that cannot be resolved. It is also quite unnecessary for local government to have to seek, particularly with smaller applications, a whole raft of information that does not necessarily appear to be germane to the application. People can always ask for that information as the application proceeds, if they wish, but it is clearly not helpful if there is so much information that it never sees the light of day. Section 106 renegotiations on affordable housing have received quite a lot of attention. As I made clear in my opening remarks, there are already 1,400 stalled sites with more than 75,000 houses that should be under construction. A number of those homes will be affordable, so it is not that there will be 75,000 affordable homes, but within that figure will be such homes. We know that there are many reasons as to why development is not coming forward, and those reasons will vary from site to site. We accept that there will be financial implications as well, so this is not the entirety of the problem. At the moment there is no central assessment of the viability of every site. Noble Lords asked whether that would be a general requirement, and perhaps I may come back to the point in Committee. However, we know that Section 106 agreements are a significant cost to developers, and historically 50% of the cost is on affordable housing. Our measure provides for a quick and focused review of the Section 106 agreement without reopening the policy context or merits of the planning consent. It will deliver the development of affordable housing. That is because this particular clause relates to the affordable housing aspect of

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[BARONESS HANHAM] Section 106, and we know that a number of authorities are already carrying out those negotiations. I agree that the assessment of viability will be key to the consideration of appropriate affordable housing requirements. We are going to issue guidance to establish the key considerations for assessing that viability for the purposes of this clause. I do not agree that the Planning Inspectorate is not able to consider matters of viability. Inspectors regularly examine that aspect in planning appeals and local plan considerations.

My noble friend Lord Taylor of Goss Moor asked why we should single out affordable housing rather than use the Homes and Communities Agency to help deliver affordable housing obligations. I have said that we know historically that 50% of the value of obligations is on affordable housing, and councils are already free to renegotiate any aspect of that Section 106 obligation at any time on a voluntary basis. This measure only provides a backstop where local authorities may not be prepared voluntarily to undertake those negotiations. It gives the developer the right to make sure that they take place. Funding historic aspirations on individual sites for affordable housing is not going to be the best way of securing value for money from the Homes and Communities Agency investment, and our aim is to use guarantees to deliver 15,000 new affordable homes. One of the other areas that was the cause of considerable discussion is that of Clause 8 and broadband. The provisions of this clause will be instrumental in removing the planning red tape that is currently slowing down, and in some places blocking, the rollout of broadband. The question of state aid was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker. I accept immediately that state aid has been a delaying factor, but it is not the only one. Planning issues have been the cause of delays as well. As I said originally, the Government’s ambition is for this country to have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015 and it is vital that the rollout of this infrastructure is fast-tracked in order to kick-start economic growth, create jobs and support the country’s long-term economic future. However, it is also absolutely vital to ensure that rural areas have broadband and are thus able to take part in that growth and economic improvement. So we believe that the introduction of short-term planning relaxations is justified and we will ensure that the Government’s ambition for superfast broadband and universal broadband coverage is not prevented by planning objections where we believe that they are causing a blockage. I understand the concerns regarding protected areas, but it is the communities in some of these areas that are in the most need of the upgraded infrastructure. Certain rural areas are in danger of being left behind and are the most expensive and difficult to reach, where underground cabling is often difficult to put in place. If these remote areas are excluded, a number of households and businesses will be left completely behind. In the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, broadband is an essential infrastructure. My noble friend Lady Brinton described eloquently the ways in which broadband is essential to the rural economy.


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9.15 pm The noble Baroness, Lady Parminter, asked about the number of new poles. It is difficult to estimate as operators will first be expected to explore using the existing infrastructure of poles and ducts before putting up any more. We shall be asking how much use operators plan to make of the relaxation of restrictions on new overhead lines in the forthcoming consultation. Decisions on how that is delivered will depend on the outcome of the procurement process. However, I can reassure my noble friend Lord Shipley that the Bill’s provisions insist that communications providers will have to work closely in conjunction with local authorities and local people, and they will have to get their co-operation before undertaking any work. Town and village greens are all areas that have generated the most enthusiasm. On the reforms to the system for registering land as town or village green, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, has suggested that the moratorium on green applications when a planning proposal is first published is Kafkaesque—I think that is how he put it—and unfair. On the contrary, we believe that the trigger event marks the start of the consultation, not the end. It enables communities to have their say on whether land should be developed or kept open, for example, because of its recreational value, without that decision being pre-empted before the process can be concluded. As my noble friend Lady Eaton said in her speech, this puts the decision in the democratically accountable planning system. Also within that planning system are local and neighbourhood plans, and we expect very much that all this aspect of green, open and designated space will be taken up in those plans. Therefore, they will be well and widely known about by the people concerned. On the one-stop shop, under Clause 21, the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, asked whether the Planning Inspectorate will provide pre-application advice. I can assure the noble Lord that the planning inspector already provides that advice. I am sure that the noble Lord will appreciate that I cannot comment on detailed individual cases. However, I hope that he will welcome Clause 21, which expands the one-stop shop for major infrastructure and note that we recently consulted on expanding and improving the one-stop shop approach. The noble Lord talked about our special parliamentary procedures. We propose to continue the special parliamentary procedure under the nationally significant project regime in respect of statutory undertakers’ land. We do not believe that this land warrants inclusion as statutory undertakers can make representations as part of the examination process. I am sorry, I think I should have said that we propose removing special parliamentary procedure in respect of statutory undertaker land. Also on the subject of special parliamentary procedure, the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner, asked about petitions. In future, petitions will be able to be made only about the acquisition of special land. We have responded to the concerns of the Joint Chairman of Committees to address inconsistencies in legislation, and I made that point in my opening remarks as something that has come about as a result of people seeing the way in

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which the legislation operates. We are committed to reforming the special parliamentary procedure so it is triggered only in cases where there is a real need for Parliament to confirm a ministerial decision. There will remain four opportunities—I think the noble Lord asked about that—for the views of all interested parties to be taken. On Clause 24, a number of noble Lords raised questions on how changes to the nationally significant infrastructure regime will operate. We have recently consulted on these proposals and our considered responses to that. We propose to set out the types of development in secondary legislation, but it will be for the Secretary of State to reach a view on national significance following the receipt of a request to use the regime. Applications accepted into the nationally significant projects regime will be decided within 12 months from the start of examination. The noble Baronesses, Lady Parminter and Lady Young, raised the issue of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. I remember the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, raising fracking ages ago. The Government support industries and endeavours which pursue new energy sources, so long as tapping these proves to be technically and economically viable and can be carried out with full regard to the protection of the environment. On business rates and Clause 25, the noble Lord, Lord Tope, asked how many ratepayers would have seen reductions in their bills at the 2015 revaluation. I have said that it is not possible at this stage to say precisely how many would have benefited, but the Valuation Office Agency’s high-level analysis suggests that only 300,000 premises would have seen reductions compared to 800,000 that would have seen increases. That would have had an impact. Finally, I want to touch briefly on Clause 27. I apologise that I am not going to have time to deal fully with that last point. I want to remind the House that this is a new employment status, which employers may wish to use if it suits them. However, it is important that we do not confuse employee shareholders with the employee ownership agenda, which is now being taken forward following the Nuttall review. We have consistently stated that guidance would be provided as to how this new employment status will work and we will update the House as guidance is developed. I note noble Lords’ concerns about the type of shares that will be issued but we have been very clear that it will be up to individual contracts to determine the nature of the shares. Lord Adonis: I thank the noble Baroness for giving way. These are crucial issues. She says she will update the House as guidance is developed. Will that be before Committee stage? Baroness Hanham: My Lords, I do not know the answer to that. I will let the noble Lord and the House know as soon as I can get an indication of when that guidance is going to be available, but I would expect that we would be able to discuss it. We want to give employers and people more choice. Clause 27 does that and when we reach Committee stage, we will be able to deal with some of the more detailed points.

Armed Forces: Future Size

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In concluding, I again thank all noble Lords who have taken part in the debate. I believe the measures in this Bill will build on the steps that this Government have already taken to make the planning system simpler and make sure that we encourage economic growth. I hope that we can all agree that freeing up businesses from the swathe of red tape that has engulfed them is a suitable objective for this House in passing legislation. I hope the House will support the Bill. I am sure that it will in the end and I look forward to the discussions in the middle. Bill read a second time and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

Armed Forces: Future Size Question for Short Debate 9.23 pm Asked By Lord Empey To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of recent international developments particularly in the Middle East, whether they will review their plans for the future size, configuration and equipping of the Armed Forces. Lord Empey: My Lords, I welcome the opportunity for the House to discuss defence issues, given the ongoing sacrifice that our soldiers, sailors and Air Force personnel are being asked to make on behalf of this country. Sadly, another example of that sacrifice has been drawn to our attention today. Leaving aside the question of how or whether we should be fighting in recent theatres of operation, the reality is that we have had large numbers of troops deployed overseas for many years, enduring great hardship and significant losses. Before the Recess, I asked the Minister for details of those who had suffered life-changing injuries as a result of their deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the record, I will repeat the Minister’s Answer: “My Lords, for reporting purposes serious UK operational casualties are usually categorised as having either serious or very serious wounds and injuries. Between 2003 and 2009, 222 UK casualties in Iraq were included in these categories, while the number for Afghanistan between 2001 and November this year was 591”.—[Official Report, 19/12/12; col. 1543.]

These are sobering figures and do not even include those who may suffer mental health issues in later years as a result of their experiences. I labour this point because, due to the vast improvements in battlefield medicine, wounded soldiers are surviving injuries that they would not have done in earlier conflicts. It follows that upon returning to the UK with severe injuries, they will require perhaps 60 years of care, and I wonder if the NHS, which will have to bear this burden, is fully prepared and resourced for the challenge. One keeps hearing examples of the problems returning soldiers and their families have in adapting to civilian life, especially if injuries have occurred while in service. The number of former soldiers who end up in the justice system should alert us to the difficulties they

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[LORD EMPEY] face. The long-term welfare of our Armed Forces must remain a top priority and I hope the Minister can give the House an assurance that there will be no skimping when it comes to assisting with both welfare issues and professional services aimed at helping and equipping former soldiers for the world of work.

Upon taking office in May 2010, the coalition Government undertook a review of the Armed Forces, with the emphasis on ensuring, among other matters, that the sums for procurement add up and that, in future, programmes and equipment would be affordable and delivered on time. For a new Government, with an apparent multibillion pound overage in its spending commitments, this was an obvious thing to do. Furthermore, the threats faced by the United Kingdom are always changing and any responsible Government are required to test our military configuration and equipment against the threat levels we face. Considerable controversy followed the 2010 strategic defence and security review. This is not surprising, but perhaps the most hurtful and humiliating development was the realisation that we currently—and for some years to come—have no seaborne fixed-wing air capability. For an island nation to have such a limited option to project its power from aircraft carriers leaves us effectively out of business in many possible conflict scenarios. It is hard to see how we could defend ourselves without significant help from others. Only months after the review was published we were plunged into the Libyan conflict. I believe that the Government did the right thing by intervening with our allies to protect the people of that country from almost certain mass murder by the Gaddafi regime, but our inability to fly missions from aircraft carriers added to the cost and the risk to our Armed Forces. Air crews, who did a magnificent job, had to fly long distances to land bases in Italy, which even a few years ago may not have been available to us. We know that the previous Government commissioned two large aircraft carriers, which are under construction, but more embarrassment was to follow when we learned that there were no aircraft to fly from them. Our choice of a replacement for the Harrier went from one design to another and then back again. It reminds me of sending a football team on to the pitch without the benefit of a goalkeeper. Given that the UK still has a large military spend compared to many of our competitors it is hard to fathom why we find ourselves in this powerless position. We did not get here simply from 2010 but were clearly going to founder because of decisions taken, or not taken, long before then. As protection of the nation is a top priority for any Government, ending up in this mess represents a fundamental failure of the state to provide adequate protection for its citizens. Our present political model leaves us open, as a nation, to short-term and bad decision-making. We all recall that the decision to save a paltry sum in the South Atlantic in 1982 cost this country dearly, in both personnel and treasure, by signalling to the Argentine military junta that we were not serious about protecting


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the Falklands. What message are we sending out now when we are incapable of providing adequate seaborne airpower? Earlier I referred to the situation we found ourselves in during the Arab spring in Libya. This “spring” will soon be two years old, and a major civil war is raging in Syria, with all the usual suspects in the region involved by proxy. Iran will defend Assad to the last, even if the Russians and Chinese see that he is finished. Iran will stop at nothing if it sees its main ally in the region about to fail. The Strait of Hormuz is still under threat. None of us here can tell how things in the Middle East will play out. Last week, Danish, German and American troops were deployed to Turkey to set up Patriot batteries to protect the Turks against Scuds and other missiles that we know Assad possesses. Lebanon and Jordan are once again being destabilised by the mass movement of refugees, and internal disputes have reignited in both these countries. Will the Minister assure the House that the Government continue to keep the Middle East situation under constant review and will adjust and reconfigure our forces as required to meet the emerging threat posed by the instability in this region? One of the principal reasons given for the second war in Iraq was the alleged presence of large volumes of weapons of mass destruction, hidden by Saddam Hussein for future use. Despite many searches, little evidence was produced that such weapons existed in Iraq. Since then, however, weapons of mass destruction have been used by terrorists in Iraq. Nerve gas booby-trap bombs have been deployed on a number of occasions and other chemicals have been combined with explosives to maximise casualties, including in al-Qaeda attacks in east Africa. Can the Minister confirm that coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan have encountered nerve agents and other chemical weapons which were in the possession of terrorists? Can he assure the House that our own Armed Forces are adequately equipped and trained to deal with attacks involving such agents and chemicals in this country, as well as in other theatres of operation? One of the biggest defence-related debates, even within the coalition Government, is the future of our independent nuclear deterrent. The current delivery system is moving towards the end of its operational life; in view of our current financial position, people will be asking if there is a less expensive alternative, given that the threats the UK faces are more likely to come from unconventional enemies. Can the Minister set out government policy in this matter and the extent to which decisions have been taken for a replacement for the Trident system? As a result of the 2010 review, the three services were all subject to personnel reductions. I accept that numbers are not the whole story; nevertheless, there appears to be a pattern developing of more tasks having to be performed against a background of falling numbers. We had two long-term overseas deployments taking place at the same time as Operation Banner was happening here in the UK. Is the Minister satisfied that the Armed Forces are not being overstretched and, as a result, seeing their flexibility severely depleted? Furthermore, given recent and unjustified violence

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from both loyalist and IRA sources in Northern Ireland, will the Minister assure the House that, should it be required by the chief constable of Northern Ireland, military support will be available to him? Sadly, over the weekend, a threat was made by IRA elements to any Irish citizen serving in the British Army. I ask the Minister, therefore, to bear that in mind in his response. When we debated the Armed Forces Bill in 2011, a number of amendments arose from our deliberations. A commitment was given then that the Secretary of State for Defence would report annually to Parliament on the progress being made throughout the UK in implementing the covenant under certain headings. Can the Minister say when such a Statement is likely to be made so that we will have the opportunity to question him on developments? Following on from that, can the Minister confirm whether Armed Forces advocates have been appointed from all parts of the United Kingdom? I said at the outset that we owe a massive debt of gratitude to our Armed Forces for the work that we ask them to do. They do not unilaterally go to wage war or defend our interests around the world: we send them. It is therefore our responsibility to ensure that when things go wrong and service personnel are killed or injured, those left behind or needing long-term care are adequately provided for. We continue to hear cases of hardship. During the debate on the Bill in 2011 it was suggested that we should have something like the US Veterans Administration in this country. In response, the Government said that they preferred the current model. I care little about which model we follow; what matters is that the help is provided. It annoys a lot of people to hear tales of ex-service personnel being refused this or that help from a country that can find endless supplies of money to cater for the needs of Abu Qatada and his ilk. I trust therefore that even in these times of economic difficulty we will continue to pay close attention to the defence needs of this country. If we fail to do so, history teaches us that we always end up paying a high price as a nation. 9.34 pm Lord Palmer of Childs Hill: My Lords, first, from these Benches I offer condolences to the family of the British soldier shot dead by a rogue member of the Afghan national army. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Empey, for putting this debate down—it was a pleasant surprise when I read about it in Bangkok. The title of the debate mentions the potential problems in the Middle East. Of course, that is only one potential area of conflict and there are others. Did we expect a war in the Falklands or in the Balkans? Did we expect conflict in Iraq or Afghanistan? Can we keep out of conflict in Syria, where horrendous killings are taking place, or Israel/Palestine, whose almost intractable problems seem to be getting worse, or Egypt, Lebanon or Tunisia? The list of potential trouble spots is endless, as the noble Lord, Lord Empey, indicated. Where will the next conflict or conflicts be? With an Army of a mere 82,000 personnel, what will be feasible when any conflict takes place? Could my noble friend the Minister, who does such a great


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job in the Ministry of Defence, indicate how many generals will be left in this Army of 82,000? How does the number of generals in the Army now and when it is so reduced compare to the number of generals in other armies in France or the United States, relative to the number of personnel in those armed forces? The title of the debate includes the word “configuration”. An important point from my perspective has always been the configuration of procurement in the Ministry of Defence. The questions really are: what equipment do we have, what equipment do we need and do we know what we need? The question that perhaps no one wants to ask is: what do we not know that we need? What Navy and RAF do we have and do we need? I am pleased to see the noble Lord, Lord West, in his place. I will leave all naval and aviation problems to him. The noble Lord, Lord Empey, mentioned two aircraft carriers being built. What planes will be able to fly from those carriers? The noble Lord made the analogy to a football team and said it was like sending a team on without a goalkeeper. I disagree: it is like sending a team on without a team. All you would have is the football stadium or the aircraft carriers and nothing to fly from them at the moment. Then the questions are: what vehicles do we have and how do we use them in the conflicts that take place? We have armoured vehicles and we send them to an area that is sandy so we paint them a sandy colour. Then, if we have a conflict in an Arctic region we take the same vehicles and paint them white. But they are not necessarily—in fact they certainly are not—the proper equipment for our forces. The armed personnel will lose lives because of the inadequacy of that equipment. Would my noble friend accept that defence reviews and procurement move far more slowly than the fast-changing events around the world, particularly in the Middle East and north Africa? How can the Government ensure that the United Kingdom is able to react in a timely way to these defence and security challenges? Then of course there is the financial aspect and the unexpected need for finance. When conflicts take place, will finance be available from some pot somewhere to pay for it? Will the equipment needed be available at short notice? Could the Minister say what assessment has been made of new types of warfare such as the Iron Dome defence infrastructure protecting civilians in Israel, which has meant that the rockets sent against Israel do not land in any areas of population? They are in fact developing a system that is Iron Dome-plus and Iron Dome-plus-plus to deal with medium and long-range missiles. That is something that I hope would be in our national security strategy. The Government’s second annual report on the national security strategy and defence review last November highlighted increased instability in the Middle East as one of the major developments since the national security strategy in 2010. How will the Government update the national security strategy to reflect this change? Is the idea of just having a review and then, after a given period, another review and another review the way to go about it? Surely we should be thinking of the review as ongoing and seamless; one should be reviewing it all the time and not just at given times.

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[LORD PALMER OF CHILDS HILL] Does the Minister accept that the developments in the Middle East and north Africa since the publication of the national security strategy have seen major changes in our defence and security picture that were not anticipated when the strategy was first presented. What action will the Government take as a result? The Times today talks about extensive Army redundancies and the effect of the ability to control the future shape of the Army. The great worry is that the redundancies will include people with needed trades and that they will leave gaps in the performance of certain functions. I wonder how that will be coped with. Perhaps the Minister will relate that to the use of the Reserve Forces. A lot is mentioned in the reviews as to the building up of the Reserve Forces, but I have my doubts as to whether people with the relevant skills will always be available, and whether they will be able to take the time off from their main employment to go and serve their country. There is a quote in the Times that perhaps doing defence on the cheap is leaving key roles empty. It really is a problem of whether the Army with 82,000 people is going to be fit for purpose. As the noble Lord, Lord Empey, said, we owe a considerable and continued debt to our Armed Forces. We are lucky to have the Minister here who I know does an incredible job in the Ministry of Defence. Nothing that I am saying is meant to be critical of that. A lot of these problems are inherent in what has been happening not just during the present Administration but during previous Administrations. There is great scope for looking in a fresh light at what conflicts are likely to happen, what stocks of equipment we have, what we will need, what we could need and whether there are new items of defence and attack available in the world that we should be looking at to bring our forces completely up to date.

9.43 pm Lord West of Spithead: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Empey, for raising this debate. It is very pertinent. I apologise for not having put my name on the list of speakers. I was more focused on my Christmas festivities than on knowing what the business of the House was, but I felt it was very important to speak. I will speak very briefly on the aircraft carriers— otherwise people might think that I am a one-trick pony on that. The Government have begun to get their mind around that and understand the importance of them. They are something that we should be really proud of, rather in the sense that we were proud of the Olympic work, employing some 20,000 people across the UK, building these amazing ships. The Government have made it quite clear—certainly the Secretary of State did in a conference I was at—that they intend running both of them. Yes, there have been a lot of problems. Yes, there have been issues about what aircraft they will have; we now know what aircraft they will have. I am glad that the Government are getting to grips with that. However, I believe that our nation is standing into danger. Since I joined the Royal Navy 48 years ago, our military has suffered a steady attrition in size and resources. That has happened year on year in all my


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48 years in the Navy. The 2010 strategic defence and security review is, I believe, the straw that has almost broken the camel’s back, but a further £1.3 billion has been taken from the defence budget. Our military is not now capable of what the people of our nation expect of it. If Ministers think that it is, I fear that they are deluded. The international developments in the Middle East—the Arab spring was referred to as the basis of this debate—are just one example of what a chaotic, unpredictable and dangerous world we are in. At the time of the 2010 SDSR, a number of us—some of whom are in the Chamber tonight—pointed out that the cost-driven exercise took no account of strategic shock. The events in Libya and Syria have proved the point. The noble Lord, Lord Palmer, asked: where will the next one be? We have no idea what the next crisis might be. That is why we need capable Armed Forces. As an aside, Libya was a minor operation, but we could not have done it without the United States. I would strongly advise that we do not get involved militarily in Syria. I come back to defence spending, because that is what I want to focus on. It is complacent and, I believe, shows a lack of understanding, to parrot the fact that our defence spending is the fourth highest in the world, as if that answers criticism that it is too small. First, figures can be very misleading, as many nations, as I know from my time as chief of defence intelligence, hide what we see as defence spending in lots of other areas, so it is sometimes difficult to know what they are actually spending. Even if we are in the top six, so we should be. We are the fifth or sixth richest country in the world; we are a permanent member of the Security Council. Unlike many nations, we have a responsibility for 14 dependencies world wide. The Government recently reiterated our responsibility for defence of those dependencies. We run global shipping from London, the sinews that hold the global trading village together and are a huge earner for this nation. We are the largest European investor in South Asia, South-East Asia, Australasia and key parts of the Pacific Rim. Global stability is crucial to our investments and our nation’s wealth and security. I share in the congratulations to the Minister, because he has been very good about briefing us in this House on defence issues, but he will, because he must as a Minister, no doubt talk about balancing the defence budget. Yes, the MoD equipment programme was overheated—there is no doubt about that—but talking about a balanced budget is sophistry. Future Force 2020, the headmark for the SDSR— Baroness Garden of Frognal: I apologise for interrupting, but the noble Lord will be aware that speakers in the gap have a limit of four minutes. Lord West of Spithead: I am aware of that. Future Force 2020, the headmark for the SDSR, required a 1% increase in defence spending year on year from 2015-16. The Treasury has allowed only a 1% increase in the procurement budget. Therefore, the programme is underfunded; and therefore it is not balanced. The cuts so far have led to an underspend of

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£1.3 million, and they are being taken from money that has been voted by Parliament for defence. If, as David Cameron has argued, defence is the highest priority, we must increase defence spending, even if it means cutting other departments’ budgets. Certainly, involvement in any more foreign adventures without that commitment could be catastrophic. I repeat: our nation is standing into danger unless we increase defence spending as a matter of urgency. 9.48 pm Lord Rosser: My Lords, it is late. Perhaps because of that, the interest shown in this debate in terms of the number of speakers is limited. Nevertheless, the issue raised is one of real interest and importance. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Empey, for giving us the opportunity to have this debate. Relationships between countries and continents, strengths of countries and continents and their levels of influence change over time. For example, it will not be long before the size of the Chinese economy will exceed that of the United States. China’s military capability is also expanding fast and, with it, the confidence in wielding influence and greater political dominance that that brings. The United States, for its part, has made clear that it will be devoting more of its attention and resources, not least military ones, to the Far East and China, which will become its new strategic priority, and fewer to Europe. The United States ambassador to NATO has recently been quoted as saying that the NATO allies need to find the money to spend on military equipment to maintain the organisation’s strength. The US itself accounts for 75% of NATO’s budget and spends 4% of its GDP on defence. The ambassador asserted that the campaign in Libya had exposed what he described as “worrisome trends” in Europe’s ability to act without US help, that some European stockpiles had run out and had to be replenished by the United States, and that there were a, “number of other critical capabilities that the US provided in spades”.

The future direction for the Middle East, in which we have considerable interests, is far from clear. Significant change, which was not predicted, has taken place in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. We have seen the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood as an international phenomenon and the Gulf States, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, becoming more active players in events. The Sunni/Shia sectarian animosity in the Middle East continues to be a telling factor. Syria is in a state of turmoil and that is having repercussions in the Lebanon and Jordan. It remains to be seen in which direction Syria goes once President Assad has left the scene, and in particular the impact that this has on the Iranian Government and stability in the region, since the Iranians back the current Syrian regime. Presidential elections are due in Iran in June and the current president will have to step down after two consecutive terms in office. Iran continues to face pressure over its nuclear intentions and its economy is in trouble. Israel also has elections later this month, though a significant change in government direction does not appear to be likely. The peace process between Israel and Palestine appears at present to be going


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nowhere, and there continues to be speculation on whether the Israeli military will strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. On top of this the growing strength of al-Qaeda in parts of Africa, the rise of new powers in Asia Pacific, weak states outnumbering stable states by two to one, and new threats in cyberspace, which have been the reality in the Middle East in recent months, are all matters to be taken into account in assessing future developments and priorities. Even though we may not have predicted at least some significant events that have taken place, forecasting what is going to happen in the future is likely to become more, not less, difficult. Today, energy security, climate change, demographic shifts, and the spread of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials are threats, alongside state-on-state warfare, or contorted religiously inspired terrorism. The global economic downturn that we face means that we and the majority of our allies are making spending cuts, with unavoidable consequences for capability and global reach. In the UK the situation has not been helped by the fact that decisions taken by the Government have not yet stimulated domestic growth and austerity is set to be extended. Budgetary restraint is unavoidable, however undesirable. If we are to realise our intentions and ambitions for our forces they will have to be affordable, and the profile of the defence budget will be an expression of our priorities. Carrier strike and improved ISTAR are vital. Strategic warning capabilities and intelligence will be crucial in providing early indicators of threats and potential crises. Two state-of-the-art fighter fleets, advanced unmanned vehicles supporting all three services and strategic air lift are also key components. Our Armed Forces personnel will continue to be our most important asset and skills must also be a strategic capability. We need highly trained service personnel able to use higher technology platforms and exploiting to the full the opportunities new technology presents, reservists using niche civilian skills in military contexts, not least in the field of cyberspace and cyber security, and a high-skilled, broad-based defence industry. Remote surveillance, manoeuvrability in cyberspace, better communications and acting at distance with accuracy are all necessary features for our future forces. Alongside this must also be a greater focus on international alliance-building. Shared threats and financial challenges demand that we pool resources and expertise. The UK/France accord may lay the ground for multiple discrete bilateral or regional arrangements between nations. NATO, though, is the primary military grouping through which action will be taken, and Europe’s focus should be on greater deployability and burden-sharing within the alliance. It is vital that European nations work together towards meeting military objectives. European NATO nations are making deep cuts to defence budgets in isolation of each other and the consequence could be cross-alliance shortfalls or duplication, which would certainly not be the best use of available resources overall. We also need to consider the opinion of the British people when considering our defence posture in protecting and furthering British interests and ideas. The public are wary of interventionism, following recent conflicts

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[LORD ROSSER] and the financial crisis. We have to make the case for strong, proactive defence postures, with our goal being prevention before intervention, and early intervention before conflict. Diplomacy can be more effective than the painful cure of military action, albeit that a key function of our Armed Forces is to deter and be a credible threat to those who wish us and our allies harm. Whether in tackling climate change, investing in civil society and governance or diplomatic engagement, the spectrum of soft-power capabilities at the UK’s disposal to defend our interests and promote our ideas in the world should be capitalised on. Defence is becoming more intricate and complex while the world is becoming more interdependent, and we need a policy response as broad as the threats that we face. We must aim to have flexible forces with whole-spectrum capabilities, able to respond rapidly whether through preventive measures, reactive disaster relief or multilateral interventions, and we must ensure that our intentions and ambitions for our forces are affordable and can be financed, with the needs of the front line being matched to those of the bottom line.

9.56 pm The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Astor of Hever): My Lords, I, too, am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Empey, for introducing this timely debate. It is clear that on all sides of the House we share respect for the determination, professionalism and bravery of our Armed Forces. The noble Lord is correct that the welfare needs of our service personnel are, and will remain, a key priority—a duty that we extend to our veterans as well. The Armed Forces have long-standing structures in place to support service families, including welfare officers, trained social workers and other specialists. Under the Armed Forces covenant, the Government have made good progress on improving the care that we provide—for example, by doubling council tax relief to £600 per six-month deployment and ensuring that Armed Forces compensation scheme payments are excluded from means-tested social benefits. There is much that we are doing with regard to veterans. The Armed Forces mental health strategy enables the co-ordination of policy, and focuses efforts and resources where they are most needed. We have also ensured that veterans will be given priority treatment on the NHS for all service-related conditions. We work hard to ensure that our service personnel transition smoothly back to civilian employment. All personnel are entitled to assistance through this process. The single services, in partnership with Right Management, work with service leaders to deliver a range of practical assistance, including training and assistance with recruitment. My noble friend Lord Ashcroft, the Prime Minister’s special representative for veterans’transition, will be reviewing current processes, and we look forward to his recommendations. The noble Lord, Lord Empey, made reference to the annual report on the Armed Forces covenant, which was notified to Parliament last month by means of a Written Ministerial Statement. I warmly welcome


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the interest in this House in the Armed Forces covenant, and would welcome the chance to debate it should the opportunity arise. The noble Lord also asked whether Armed Forces advocates had been appointed from all parts of the United Kingdom. I can confirm that there are now Armed Forces advocates in the devolved authorities of Wales and Scotland. Both Wales and Scotland have produced their own commitment papers on how they will implement the covenant, as well as contributing to the Secretary of State’s statutory report. An Armed Forces advocate has not been appointed by the Northern Ireland Executive, as their strict equalities legislation means that implementation of the covenant is more complicated. Additionally, many local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland have appointed local Armed Forces advocates or champions as part of their commitment to the community covenant, working with local communities to improve access to services and support for serving and ex-service men and women and their families. Relevant UK government departments also have Armed Forces advocates, all of whom are represented on the Covenant Reference Group and are responsible for making sure that their departmental policies uphold the principles of the covenant. As the noble Lord explained, we live in an uncertain world. As such, we need to ensure we have the capabilities to adapt and address a very broad range of challenges. The NSS and the SDSR made a number of strategic choices: to support the deficit reduction programme; to seek to maintain the UK’s international profile; and to honour our operational commitments in Afghanistan. They remain at the heart of this Government’s approach to foreign, defence and national resilience policies. The NSS also acknowledged the uncertainty of the future strategic environment, and the SDSR responded by prioritising those capabilities across government that will allow us to adapt to changes as they happen. The noble Lords, Lord Empey and Lord West, and my noble friend Lord Palmer all mentioned carrier strike. We will have planes. We will have the B variant of the Joint Strike Fighter—the STOVL variant—which, as the noble Lord, Lord West, knows flew very successfully off the USS “Wasp” in November 2011. In the SDSR the Government confirmed our belief that it is correct for the United Kingdom to retain, in the long-term, a carrier-strike capability. In the short term, however, there are few circumstances we can envisage where the ability to deploy air power from the sea will be essential. That is why we reluctantly took the decision to retire the Harriers and Invincible-class carriers before the new carriers become operational. We did not take this decision lightly, but did so mindful of the current strategic context in which we live. The decision on the second carrier will be one for the next SDSR after the general election. The Middle East remains a significant source of instability. One immediate risk, as noble Lords said— Lord West of Spithead: Just on a point of clarity, the Secretary of State said that it was an aspiration of this Government that they would run two carriers although the final decision had not been made. Is that the correct decision?

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Lord Astor of Hever: My Lords, I am not sure what the Secretary of State said but I can confirm that this is definitely a decision for the SDSR. It is my personal aspiration that we have a second carrier operating. As the noble Lord said, an immediate risk is the collapse of the Syrian regime. We will continue to support our allies in the region and would like to see a diplomatic solution but we cannot afford to remove options from the table at this stage. Our current posture in the region supports UK interest in international efforts by securing globally important economical arteries, including the Strait of Hormuz, ensuring the well-being of regional partners and contributing to regional security. The UK currently has one frigate, one destroyer, four mine hunters and two Royal Fleet Auxiliary support vessels deployed to the Gulf conducting maritime security operations. I can assure the House that the Government continue to keep the Middle East under constant review. We will adapt as required to meet any emerging threats wherever they may arise. While responding—and being prepared to respond—in the Middle East, we have continued to make significant progress in Afghanistan. We have built the capability of the Afghan national security forces so that they can prevent Afghan territory from ever again being used as a safe haven by international terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda. We have helped to underpin a more stable Government and have overseen elections. We have demonstrated the Armed Forces’ ability to act elsewhere, such as in the seas off Somalia, where we are working alongside navies from around the world to control the spread of piracy. The noble Lord, Lord Empey, asked about nerve agents and chemical weapons. Happily, I can confirm that insurgents in Afghanistan have not used nerve agents or other chemical weapons against coalition forces. There have been a few cases in Iraq where improvised devices containing industrial chemicals and small quantities of chemical agent were detonated, but these did not result in any coalition fatalities. I can also assure the House that our Armed Forces are adequately equipped and trained to operate in an environment where these threats exist, both overseas and in the UK. The noble Lord asked me to outline the Government’s policy on the replacement of the Trident system. It remains as set out in the SDSR. We will maintain a continuous submarine-based deterrent and will begin the work of replacing the existing submarines. Work on the assessment phase of the replacement submarine programme has been under way since May 2011. The final decision as to whether to proceed with the Main Gate investment decision for the replacement programme will take place in 2016, after the next election. I can reassure my noble friend that the Armed Forces are not subject to overstretch. As we recover and recuperate from Afghanistan, our flexibility will be greatly enhanced. The SDSR set out plans to transform defence so that we emerge with a more coherent capability in the future, under what is known as Future Force 2020. This required tough decisions to scale back the overall size of the Armed Forces and

Statute Law (Repeals) Bill [HL]

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reduce some capabilities less critical to today’s requirements. The SDSR gave us the full structure of Future Force 2020 which, by the next decade, will enable us to deliver our adaptable strategic posture. It is based on our assessment of the forces required to meet our standing commitments, while conducting three overlapping operations: a simple, non-enduring intervention; a complex non-enduring intervention; and an enduring stabilisation operation. The top defence priority remains success in Afghanistan. As we move towards Future Force 2020, the ability of our Armed Forces to respond to additional contingent tasking is kept under constant review by the Ministry of Defence. It is from this realistic capacity that additional commitments are delivered. In response to the question of the noble Lord, Lord Empey, relating to the violence in Northern Ireland, first, I am sure that the House will join me in condemning the violent demonstrations that we have witnessed recently. We should recognise the outstanding efforts of the PSNI and the bravery demonstrated by police officers in maintaining law and order. I call on all political parties in Northern Ireland to engage in dialogue to resolve disputes peacefully. The violence witnessed does not represent the true face of Northern Ireland’s business and community sectors and wider society. Although military operations in Northern Ireland ceased in 2007, our Armed Forces continue to play an important role supporting the Police Service of Northern Ireland. I assure the noble Lord that this will continue. My noble friend Lord Palmer asked how many generals we will have in an Army of 82,000 and in France. I cannot today give my noble friend a specific answer on the number of generals, but I assure him that, proportionally, there will be a greater decrease in major generals and above compared to brigadier and below. My noble friend also asked about Iron Dome. The UK currently has no plans to develop or acquire national ballistic missile defence capability. However, each SDSR provides an opportunity to review this position against projected threats. Iron Dome is not a ballistic missile defence system, but is designed to provide relatively short-range protection again rockets and artillery shells. Its role is comparable to the maritime close-in weapons systems deployed by the UK in Operation Telic to protect UK forces in Basra. I will respond to my noble friend on the issue of generals and the other questions that he asked.

Trusts (Capital and Income) Bill [HL] Returned from the Commons The Bill was returned from the Commons agreed to.

Statute Law (Repeals) Bill [HL] Returned from the Commons The Bill was returned from the Commons agreed to. House adjourned at 10.09 pm.

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Public Bodies Order 2013

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Grand Committee Tuesday, 8 January 2013. 3.30 pm

Public Bodies (Abolition of British Shipbuilders) Order 2013 Considered in Grand Committee Moved By Lord Gardiner of Kimble That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Public Bodies (Abolition of British Shipbuilders) Order 2013. Relevant documents: 14th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, 11th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. Lord Gardiner of Kimble: My Lords, I start by reassuring your Lordships that while this order will abolish British Shipbuilders as a public corporation, its liabilities will transfer to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. On this basis, there will be no impact on the ability of British Shipbuilders’ former employees to claim legal compensation for industrial diseases suffered as a result of their employment with British Shipbuilders. British Shipbuilders was constituted by the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977. British Shipbuilders owned and managed large parts of the UK shipbuilding industry. British Shipbuilders privatised all its active shipbuilding subsidiaries, initially through the privatisation of the war shipbuilding yards in 1985 and 1986, and subsequently through the sale of the merchant yards and the one remaining engine manufacturer. British Shipbuilders is no longer a trading enterprise and does not have any funds of its own. It exists mainly to meet residual liabilities to its former employees. This legal responsibility is funded in total by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Funding these residual liabilities currently costs the department about £7 million a year in health-related compensation payments. These payments are mainly as a result of asbestos-related diseases. British Shipbuilders was considered as part of the Government’s public bodies reform programme and our commitment to reduce the number and cost of quangos. British Shipbuilders does not perform the functions for which it was originally created and does not need to remain a public corporation. The Government therefore put forward a proposal to abolish it using the powers of the Public Bodies Act, which received Royal Assent in December 2011. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills launched a consultation in February last year on the proposal to wind up British Shipbuilders and transfer its property, rights and liabilities to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. The department received four responses to the consultation, none of which objected to the proposal but two of which


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wanted reassurance that the transfer would not impact on the ability of former employees to make legal compensation claims for industrial diseases suffered as a result of their employment with British Shipbuilders. The department confirmed that the transfer would have no impact on the ability of former employees to claim legal compensation for industrial diseases suffered as a result of their employment with British Shipbuilders. An impact assessment in relation to the abolition of British Shipbuilders was not carried out as the savings from the abolition will amount to around £15,000 per year. This saving will reflect the reduced need for company secretarial services post abolition. A firm of solicitors is contracted to manage all industrial disease compensation claims of British Shipbuilders. A separate company is contracted to deal with pension services, which involves investigating and handling unrecorded claims from former employees. These contracts will be transferred to the department immediately prior to abolition. As required by the Public Bodies Act, the Government have obtained the consent of Welsh Ministers for this order. We are also in the process of seeking consent from the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Parliament. We understand that the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Scottish Parliament will consider this order over the coming weeks. Following the abolition of British Shipbuilders, the department will be responsible for the contracts that deal with the industrial disease claims and pension queries. Post abolition, future compensation claims will be paid directly by the department and will be included in the department’s annual accounts. For these reasons, I beg to move that the Committee do consider the order. Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, I welcome the Minister’s assurances on any outstanding compensation or pension claims. I do not think I need to make any further comments in these circumstances. I am not establishing a precedent for any other debate, but we can start the new year on a happy note. Lord Gardiner of Kimble: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Young of Norwood Green, for considering the order so briefly, which is appropriate in these circumstances. British Shipbuilders is effectively a shell company, with its main remaining function to act as a vehicle through which the long-term disease liabilities of former employees are managed. As British Shipbuilders has no funds of its own for this purpose, it is completely dependent on the financial backing of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. As I have already mentioned, the abolition of British Shipbuilders will not impact on the ability of former employees to claim legal compensation. After the consideration against the criteria set out in the Public Bodies Act, the Government have concluded that British Shipbuilders does not need to be a public corporation in order for the Government to meet its residual liabilities. Abolishing British Shipbuilders as a corporation will avoid the need for it to function as a shell company, employ a company secretary and produce an annual


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[LORD GARDINER OF KIMBLE] report and financial accounts. I thank the noble Lord for his contribution to the debate and commend the order to the Committee.

Motion agreed.

Public Bodies (Abolition of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal) Order 2013 Considered in Grand Committee 3.36 pm Moved By Lord Gardiner of Kimble That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Public Bodies (Abolition of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal) Order 2013. Relevant documents: 14th Report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, 11th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. Lord Gardiner of Kimble: My Lords, the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal was established by the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977. It was created to determine any question or dispute which was expressly required by the Act to be subject to arbitration or any matter in respect of which jurisdiction was specifically given to the tribunal by the Act. In practice this meant considering disputed valuations of assets at the point of nationalisation. The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 nationalised three aircraft companies and most of the major shipbuilding companies that were based in England and Scotland. The Act created British Aerospace and British Shipbuilders as public corporations. The tribunal was established in 1978 and considered two applications, one from stockbrokers in respect of Cammell Laird and the other on behalf of Vickers auditors. The tribunal completed its determination of both cases by 1981 and has not met since. British Shipbuilders subsequently sold its shipyards and British Aerospace was privatised. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills launched a public consultation on the abolition of the tribunal in February 2012. This was a six-week rather than a 12-week consultation as the tribunal had been defunct for such a long time. The department sent copies of the consultation to the relevant trade body and to the companies that had been part of the public corporations and continue to operate following privatisation. The department received two responses to the consultation, both of which supported the proposal to abolish the tribunal. An impact assessment has not been produced because abolition of the tribunal will not generate any savings. It is a tidying-up matter. The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal was considered as part of the Government’s public bodies reform programme and the Government’s


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commitment to reduce the number of quangos. The tribunal has been defunct for 30 years and does not have any further cases to consider. The Government therefore put forward a proposal to abolish the tribunal using the powers of the Public Bodies Act. The Government are in the process of seeking consent for this order from the Northern Ireland Assembly, and I understand that the Assembly will consider this order over the coming weeks. The Government have consulted Scottish Ministers as required by the Public Bodies Act and, although it is not required under the law, have consulted Ministers in Wales. For these reasons, I beg to move that that the Committee consider this order. Lord Jones: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his considered and courteous introduction. I rise to support not to oppose what he proposes. I note that both orders carry the date of 1977 as a start point. In an attempt to give brief context to these orders, I point out to the Minister that the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act was hugely controversial at the time of its enactment. I was present in the other place as a Member of the then Administration, and I would be the first to say that 35 years is a very long time. It is just possible that the Minister, with his expertise and his group of able advisers, will also remember when the legislation was enacted but, if not, perhaps a few brief remarks on whence the orders have sprung may not be amiss. The legislation engendered massive confrontation in the Chamber of the other place. It was hugely controversial. As the legislation made its way in the Committee corridor, it was often almost impossible to enter the Committee Room because of the huge number of interested parties—in shorthand you might say they were lobbyists, of the most honourable kind—from the industries concerned. Also there were trade unionists who knew that they had a problem concerning their long-term employment. In the Chamber itself, on the fateful night, the nature of the legislation was challenged. Was it a hybrid Bill or was it not? The consideration of such proposals by the then Administration was hugely controversial. In the vote of that night, there was a tie, and it was for Mr Speaker Thomas, as he was then known, later Lord Tonypandy, to make the decision. In terms of tradition, he cast his vote where the Government’s proposals lay—a time-honoured practice. At that time, the then Secretary of State for Industry was Mr Eric Varley, who subsequently entered your Lordships’ House, having had a distinguished political career. Mr George Thomas, as he then was, came under huge pressure on that night and in the months leading up to that fateful vote, because his decision in the end on advice from his clerks would be crucial. I thought that your Lordships would need to know the content of this set of orders. It was historic because, in the early 1970s, the Upper Clyde shipyard was occupied, and the occupation, which was very controversial and huge in Scotland, was led by a legendary trade unionist, Mr Jimmy Reid. He enunciated a famous principle in the thick of the fight, saying that a rat race was for rats. I pass hurriedly by on that. Following the occupation came the astounding requirement to nationalise the iconic Rolls-Royce factories.

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Charging Orders Regulations 2012

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3.45 pm By my mentioning those two industrial developments, you can understand the nature of the challenges that Britain was then facing. That Act was an attempt to shore up Britain’s manufacturing base—there were other measures. Shipbuilding then was a huge industry; aerospace was a huge industry; coal was a huge industry; and steel was a huge industry. In relatively short years, those industries virtually disappeared and with them came colossal redundancies and major unemployment which ran on into the 1980s. The vote that evening proved that the then Administration’s hold on power was tenuous and, by 1979, another, most famous, Premier took the reins of power. Today, no airliner is manufactured in Great Britain. There is the magnificent making of wings in north-east Wales by Airbus, but there are no airliners of standard size made now in this nation. We would be very hardpressed to find a truly significant shipbuilding industry outside one or two sites in the north. Additional to Upper Clyde and Rolls-Royce there was during the Heath Administration the OPEC nations’ decision in November 1973 to increase the price of oil by four times. The consequence of that was massive inflation and subsequent unemployment. The 1977 Act and consequential subsidiary legislation were attempts to cope with world-shaking eventualities. The noble Lord, Lord Healey, who was at that time the Chancellor of the Exchequer, had to face up also to the suggestions of the International Monetary Fund. The then Prime Minister, Mr James Callaghan, needed to get majorities for his legislation in that Parliament. Although he did not form a coalition, he seemed to reach some form of understanding with the then leader of the Liberal Party, who is now a Member of your Lordships’ House. I perceive that legislation as being part of a nation’s attempt to hold on to its manufacturing base. It does not appear to have been very successful, in so far as manufacturing now accounts for perhaps 12% or a little less of GDP. We now face massive challenges from the east. I was grateful for the Minister’s considered introduction and I hope that my remarks will enable him and his very able advisers to have a better context thereafter.

I have read the report from the committee. There was some concern about the consultation, but I think that in the end it was prepared to accept that it was sufficient, so I have no further comments to make.

Lord Young of Norwood Green: My Lords, I, too, support the order. As usual, I am grateful to my noble friend Lord Jones for a tour d’horizon and history lesson. Some of it I remembered well, and some not so well—so I was exceedingly grateful. I hesitate to correct him on one matter, and he can tell me whether I have got it wrong, but I thought that, in relation to the Upper Clyde, it was not just an occupation but a work-in that Jimmy Reid organised, which was unusual at the time.

3.54 pm

Lord Jones: Amendment accepted. Lord Young of Norwood Green: I know that because it was not so long ago that there was a programme on Radio 4 relating to it. However, the noble Lord, Lord Jones, was right to give us that historical context and to set the scene.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Jones and Lord Young of Norwood Green. I particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Jones, because he put into a fine historical context some of the dilemmas of that part of our industrial history. I took on board the point about manufacturing. One of the challenges that we have had in this country is that we have not thought as much as we should have about how we ensure that there is a British manufacturing base. I particularly took on board the noble Lord’s point about aircraft. There is good news on motor vehicles, where we are now beginning to see some very good statistics on the production of vehicles. In fact, if my memory serves me right from a briefing a few months ago, we are now manufacturing more cars than we are importing. It is a great accolade to the management and the work force for working so well together that we have these successes. However, returning to the job in hand in regard to the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal, as I have said, it has been defunct for more than 30 years and has no assets, employees or further cases to consider. After consideration against the conditions set out in the Public Bodies Act the Government have rightly concluded—and noble Lords on all sides of the Committee have agreed—that the tribunal no longer needs to exist and that abolishing it would tidy up the regulatory landscape. It is for those reasons that I commend the order to the Committee. Motion agreed.

Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2012 Considered in Grand Committee

Moved By Lord McNally That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2012. Relevant document: 13th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): My Lords, the purpose of this draft order is to introduce a financial threshold of £1,000 for the enforcement of charging orders by an order for sale where the charging order was made to secure the payment of money owed under an agreement regulated under the Consumer Credit Act 1974. A charging

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[LORD MCNALLY] order made in such cases may not be enforced by way of an order for sale where the amount owing, including interest, is less than £1,000.

Before I go into greater detail about the order, let me briefly provide background on charging orders and orders for sale. When a creditor has not received payment for a court judgment, they may apply to the court to enforce that judgment. They have several enforcement options open to them, including applying for a charging order on a debtor’s property or asset. While the majority of charging orders are made against property, the provisions themselves also cover land and stocks and shares. The purpose of the charging order is to secure the debt. It does not, in itself, lead to repayment of the debt until the debtor sells their asset. The creditor may also choose to pursue other enforcement options or make a further, separate application for an order for sale. This application seeks the court’s permission to enforce the existing charging order by ordering the sale of the property, or other asset, either immediately or at some point in the future if a suspended order is made. Both the application for a charging order and the further application for an order for sale are always listed for hearing before a judge and so are subject to case-by-case judicial discretion and case law. In each case the judge will consider, among other things, the proportionality of the debt as set against each of the parties’ assets and commitments; whether—if it is a property in question—it is the primary residence of the debtor or a secondary residence or a commercial property; who else may reside within the property, including children; the balance of rights between the creditor and the debtor; and whether the debtor should be granted additional time to pay, resulting in a suspended order. Evidence shows that under the existing arrangements only a very small proportion of charging orders—some 0.5%—result in an order for sale, and some of these may be suspended orders. This is in part due to the fact that the process of applying for, calculating potential equity in and administrating the sale of a debtor’s property is economically risky for creditors. This, together with case-by-case judicial discretion, means that it is very rare for debtors to lose their homes as a result of a charging order. With that background, I turn to the reason for the regulations before us today. Although it is indeed very rare for debtors to lose their homes as a result of a charging order, it is important that the Government ensure that all appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure that this does not happen as a result of what might have originally been relatively small, unsecured borrowing. The coalition commitment to introduce a threshold for orders for sale applications reflects this. However, it is also essential that protection for debtors is balanced against the rights of creditors. The Government believe that responsible creditors who are owed money and have gained a judgment in court have the right to enforce that judgment. Without


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effective enforcement we risk jeopardising the authority of the courts and public confidence in our justice system, as well as there being a negative impact on the economy if lenders are not confident that they can recoup money that is rightly owed to them. Following extensive public consultation, we intend to introduce a £1,000 financial threshold, as set out in the draft regulations. While this differs from the £25,000 threshold set out in the coalition agreement, it was concluded to be the most appropriate level at which the necessary balance between the rights of debtors and the rights of creditors could be most effectively struck. While stakeholder opinion was, perhaps predictably, split between creditors and debtors, there were other groups who also held strong opinions—for example, the legal profession and the judiciary. A number of arguments against a high financial threshold, or even any threshold, were given. With a high threshold, such as £25,000, there is a risk that creditors may seek to recover their debt by initiating bankruptcy proceedings as an alternative to enforcement. This would be a more draconian outcome for debtors than an order for sale. As many noble Lords will be aware, bankruptcy often results in debtors losing their homes, whereas the protections which are already in place within the enforcement system—and which will continue to be in place if these draft regulations are approved—protect most debtors from losing their homes. 4 pm A high threshold may mean that creditors may be less likely to risk providing unsecured credit if it is seen to be more difficult to recover. This would reduce the availability and increase the cost of unsecured lending, which can be a valuable and much needed source of credit to some individuals. It is also important to remember that when we talk about creditors, this does not just mean large organisations. It also means individuals and small businesses which may be severely impacted by a high threshold, as debts below £25,000 may represent a significant proportion of their commitments and assets, making it important that they can recover this where possible. This brings me back to judicial discretion. As I described earlier, this already provides a great deal of protection to debtors, yet balances this against the needs of creditors. Responses to the consultation indicated that there was significant danger that introducing a threshold, especially a very high one, would restrict such discretion in individual cases. We do not want this to be an unintended consequence of introducing a threshold, so a lower threshold of £1,000 was seen as a proportionate response. It maintains the flexibility of discretion while ensuring that those with a lower level of debt are protected from applications for orders for sale. In conclusion, the Government’s commitment to provide protection to debtors holds strong. We believe that the implementation of these regulations will deliver this protection without a disproportionate effect on the successful recovery of debt by responsible creditors. We have taken all stakeholders’opinions into consideration

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and have tailored our approach in the light of this to ensure that we are introducing the most appropriate threshold level. I therefore commend this draft order to the Committee and I beg to move. Lord Beecham: My Lords, the Minister has outlined the position in relation to charging orders and orders for sale but has omitted—with respect—a couple of highly relevant factors. The first is that we are here dealing with consumer credit arrangements and the lender has already priced in the possible risks of not recovering his money. Therefore, we are seeing something like double jeopardy, with the debtor having in any event to pay a higher rate of interest than would normally be the case—and would certainly be the case in the event of a secured loan—and also having now to face the possibility of an order for sale based on a charging order. I have to confess that I certainly had not taken note of the regulation introduced last October which allows charging orders to be made—not the order for sale, but the initial charging order—even before the debtor has defaulted on the loan agreement. In other words, it is effectively at the option of the creditor to convert an unsecured loan into a secured loan, even before any default has been made. That is surely not a satisfactory proceeding. The coalition is to be commended for its original agreement to establish a significant threshold. Moreover the last Labour Government, who I am bound to say facilitated some of these proceedings, are to be congratulated on not in fact proceeding with their original intention of making orders rather like these and explicitly withdrawing from advancing such orders in 2009. The accompanying Explanatory Notes and evidence base for this order disclose quite clearly that there is a significant number of cases under £25,000, but there is not much in the way of detail. Indeed, paragraph 211 of the report openly admits that the data set is very limited, meaning that any conclusion drawn from it is not robust. What is significant is that at the moment something like 10% of applications for charging orders are below £1,000. That is not a large number; in fact, it is almost so insignificant as to make one wonder why the Government are bothering at all to proceed with these regulations. The number of charging orders made for loans above £25,000 is very small indeed—some 6.7%—and there are not a large number of cases altogether. However, what is significant is that it would appear that in 2009-10 ultimately 566 orders for sale were granted, which was double the number of orders made as recently as 2005. Therefore, on the face of it, there is a growing trend to rely on these orders. One reason advanced for not having a threshold higher than £1,000 is that it is open to a creditor to pursue bankruptcy proceedings on any debt exceeding £750. However, that of course then raises the question of whether that is a reasonable level in itself. Why have the Government not addressed the level at which bankruptcy proceedings might be instituted and aligned it properly with a reasonable level, particularly bearing in mind, as I said, that the risk has already been priced into the cost of the loans by these creditors? These are


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not normally small concerns; they are consumer credit agreements and it is often large firms that lend money in this way. It seems that the Government are missing an opportunity to carry out one of their more welcome pledges in the original coalition agreement and that they will achieve virtually nothing in the way that these regulations have been put forward. Furthermore, looking at the timing, it is rather surprising that the regulations referring to charging orders were put through quite separately from these regulations. It seems to me that in principle they are linked and that it would have been better if the two had been considered alongside each other at the very least, because the former has clearly paved the way for quicker action by creditors, who see an opportunity to collect their debt via this process. Citizens Advice has long campaigned on this issue and it produced a report called Out of Order some three years ago. It raised some interesting points not only on the matters that we are discussing today but also by asking what the Government might do about non-consumer credit agreements, for which these protections, such as they are, are not available. I am bound to admit that this is somewhat beyond the scope of these regulations but I ask the Minister to indicate—if he can today but, if not, perhaps subsequently by letter—whether the Government are looking at non-consumer credit agreements. Clearly, particularly in the present economic climate, there is a risk of many more debtors falling into greater difficulty and creditors pursuing them by these means. That might lead not only to difficulty for borrowers and their families but ultimately, in the event of orders for sale proceeding, to a greater charge on the public purse. Of course, as the noble Lord pointed out and as the Explanatory Memorandum and other documents indicate, judicial discretion has to be considered, although it has to be said that, in the view of Citizens Advice, it is by no means clear that that discretion will be frequently exercised in the face of pressure from creditors. Citizens Advice takes the view that orders for sale should be permitted only where there is a willing default—that is, where it is not a question of somebody having a capacity to maintain the payments but where they decline to do so. Citizens Advice agrees that where a wilful default is made by people who can afford to meet the debt, a charging order and an order for sale will be an appropriate last resort. The trouble is that, as matters have developed, it is more likely to come about much earlier than as a last resort for people without the capacity to pay and, equally, without any wilful component in their behaviour, thereby exposing vulnerable people to what might well be regarded as predatory action by less than scrupulous creditors. That would be an unfortunate outcome which I am sure the Minister— because I remember some of his remarks when we discussed this in debates on the Crime and Courts Bill—would have little sympathy with but it may perhaps be an unanticipated consequence of the regulations before us.

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Lord McNally: My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, for that constructive response. I know from our exchanges during the Crime and Courts Bill of his long-standing interest in this area and I understand why he continues to probe on the matter. The Government remain committed to providing more protection for debtors and we are taking appropriate action to ensure that that happens. When we debated this on the Floor of the House, and again today, the noble Lord pointed out that the coalition agreement talked about a £25,000 limit and we now talk of £1,000. I suppose that the honest answer is that that was the outcome of the consultation. We now feel that the balance of what we wanted to do is better met by the guideline of £1,000 rather than £25,000, not least because we were advised that the higher limit could steer creditors more in the direction of bankruptcy solutions, with the impact that I indicated on house ownership, rather than a settlement under these regulations. We were also very much influenced by the judiciary, which believes that a very low threshold, with a great deal of judicial discretion, provides a far more guaranteed protection for the creditor than the protection afforded by a higher level—

Lord Beecham: For the debtor.

Lord McNally: For the debtor, yes; I am sorry. With these things it is always a matter of judgment. The judgment that we have come to, and the level we have set it at, is the result of consultation, with the aim of striking a right and proportionate balance that will give power and flexibility to the judiciary and a degree of protection for the lower levels of debt. The noble Lord asked about early enforcement of parts of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. Following the Solving Disputes consultation paper we implemented Section 93 of the TCE Act. It closes an existing loophole, providing a greater degree of security to creditors and encouraging debtors who are in financial trouble to make more reasonable yet affordable offers to pay. The Government consulted on introducing this section in 2010 in their Solving Disputes in the County Courts paper. Some 74% of respondents supported its introduction, arguing that it offers protection both for creditors, for whom a charging order is often the only effective long-term solution to recovering a liability, and for the debtor. By commencing Section 93 of the Act we have given creditors a certain ability to convert unsecured loans to secured loans. I am sorry—I had better clarify that. One of the criticisms that has been made is that we have given creditors the ability to convert unsecured loans to secured loans by extending the use of charging orders in this way. We do not believe that that is true. Charging orders are used to secure an unpaid judgment debt, not a loan. Legitimate judgment creditors who have obtained a valid judgment through the courts should have the right to enforce the judgment by the most appropriate means available.


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4.15 pm The availability of charging orders is also likely to dissuade frustrated creditors from opting to use bankruptcy law against debtors. A successful bankruptcy decision against a debtor would expose him, as I said, to his house and all his properties being repossessed. I have tried to be frank with the Committee, as has the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, and I understand the campaign waged by Citizens Advice on this matter— indeed, it may have influenced the original coalition agreement. However, after consultation, and in trying to get the balance right, we have come up with this solution. We will of course keep the matter under review. As to matters outside the credit regime, I was passed a helpful note which tells me that we will write to the noble Lord on the issue he raised. Lord Beecham: My Lords, I would be grateful if the Minister could clarify a couple of matters. He referred to the order allowing charging orders to be applied for, but is he aware that under the regulations enacted last October it would be possible to do that without the debtor having at that stage defaulted? That would seem to convert an unsecured loan into a secured one. My second question relates to responses. Am I right in thinking that the balance of responses reflects the fact that most of those responding were creditors rather than debtors, their representatives or organisations interested on behalf of debtors? Lord McNally: My Lords, the balance reflected the interests of the responders. The noble Lord is quite right: the creditors had one set of priorities and those speaking out of concern for debtors had others. That is the nature of consultations, as the noble Lord will be aware. I also pray in aid the strong view of the judiciary that it wants to retain as much judicial discretion as possible. In my remarks I listed the clear considerations that a judge takes and the fact that these matters come before a judge. On the issue of whether it is pre-emptive, as it were, under the measures that we took last October, as I explained, it gives debtors who are in financial trouble the opportunity to make more reasonable and affordable offers to pay. The noble Lord appears to be saying that adjustments can be made only after disaster has struck, but that is not my reading. If I am not right in my interpretation I will write to the noble Lord. However, it seems to me that it provides an opportunity to intervene in a constructive way when people are running into difficulty. Lord Beecham: My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister. However, as I understand it, the order does not require the debtor to be in any difficulty or to have made any default at all before the charging order can be applied for. That does not mean, of course, that the order for sale would automatically follow, but it is a precursor to that and can arise even before any default has taken place. We are unable to take this much further today, but I invite the Minister to look at the situation in due course. Motion agreed.

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Baroness Garden of Frognal: My Lords, the proceedings have moved very quickly and we are missing some speakers for the next debate. I therefore propose that the Committee adjourn for 10 minutes. The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Colwyn): My Lords, I suggest that the Committee adjourn until half-past four, which is 10 minutes. 4.20 pm Sitting suspended.

Sri Lanka Question for Short Debate 4.30 pm Asked By Lord Naseby To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment to date of the implementation of the independent report from the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission in Sri Lanka, and of the challenges facing Sri Lanka in implementing recommendations still outstanding. Lord Naseby: My Lords, first, I thank colleagues who wish to say something about Sri Lanka this afternoon. I appreciate that very much indeed. I would like to place on record the fact that the noble Lords, Lord Bilimoria and Lord Sheikh, are in the sub-continent and send their apologies to the Committee for being unable to be here this afternoon. As I think the Committee well knows, I have no interests to declare other than the fact that I have been interested in Sri Lanka for 50 years, since I first worked there for the Reckitt and Colman group in 1963. I had absolutely no political interests at all at that time. I have paid two key visits among many. One was in January 2009 at the height of the war, which seemed to me an appropriate time to go, if I may use that phrase, to see exactly what was happening. The second was earlier this year when the peace was firmly established. This debate is about the LLRC, as I will call it in shorthand. It is not about the Supreme Court and what has happened there, although I will allude to that later in my contribution. A war lasting 30 years or thereabouts is a very long war. A number of colleagues in the House came through the Second World War, which lasted only five years. Change is inevitable when a war ends and Sri Lanka is no different from anywhere else in that respect. However, one thing was different in Sri Lanka. I remember the sheer joy of VE Day, as I am sure do others. Initially, there was a sense of sheer joy in Sri Lanka but it was very quickly clouded by allegations of war crimes and allegations that Sri Lanka had abused certain other international laws. My analysis leads me to the conclusion that one of the key reasons why this happened was that although the Tamil Tigers were defeated on the ground in Sri Lanka, the network that they had set up across the world was still intact, many of the senior operatives were still in place,

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certainly vast funding was still available, and the propaganda machine was alive and well in the sense that the propaganda was still being pumped out. That affected particularly the million or so members of the Tamil diaspora who had left because of the conflict. They were clearly leant on—we know this from the evidence gathered in many countries—and as a result western Governments understandably felt that they had to listen. Whether or not they felt that they had to act is another matter. In my view, if today’s debate is to do any good, we need to look impartially at what has happened. The LLRC was set up on 15 May 2010, one year after the defeat of the Tigers and the end of the war. The very fact that it was set up deserves a tick as that was a good action. The more than 1,000 oral and more than 5,000 written submissions indicate that an awful lot of people responded to it. The key point is that the report was published in full, is extremely thorough and is based on the key principles of restorative justice rather than retributive justice. Those of us who know south and south-east Asia well will appreciate that it very much reflects the philosophy of the five principles of Buddhism and indeed the principles of Hinduism. People of real eminence in that society were appointed to the relevant body. Sri Lanka has been criticised for doing that and for not inviting international observers to participate. However, we chose to have “good eminent people” from our own Civil Service, and people from that sort of background, on our Chilcot commission. The report we are discussing was produced just over a year ago, whereas three years on we still do not have the Chilcot report and none of us really knows when it will come out. The other people who were making noises at that time were the human rights groups, the International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty. Sadly, each refused to give any evidence at all on the grounds that they did not like the make-up and, in their view, the independence of the eminent persons. I think that that is a great pity and shows non-objectivity on the behalf of those groups. I am astonished that Amnesty in Canada has now accepted funds from the LTTE. I find it quite extraordinary that a human rights group should receive funds from the LTTE. That is its right, I suppose, but it somewhat undermines its moral standing. Now those same three groups are chasing up the Sri Lankan Government and saying that they are acting far too slowly to implement the recommendations. And yet—I have done a little bit of research on this—all over the world there are quite a lot of investigations going on into former wars and dictatorships, and some of them are taking an extraordinary length of time. Some of them are taking 11, 12, or 15 years. To take two that we might know a bit more about, one is in Bangladesh, which is again in south Asia, which set up in 2011 an inquiry into what happened in the 1971 war of independence. That has not reported. And, dare I mention it having been PPS in Northern Ireland, the inquiry into Bloody Sunday has now gone on for 40 years and still remains still totally unresolved. So what has happened on the ground? That is by far and away the most important thing. First, when I got there in the end of March, all the way through to the

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[LORD NASEBY] middle of April, there was peace on the ground. There were no bombs; you can travel wherever you like in Sri Lanka, by day and by night, with no security checks. I spoke to a Tamil cook of a friend of mine—my friend is also Tamil—just outside Bentota. He had come down from Jaffna overnight, not requiring any special pass or anything; he booked a ticket in a bus station, got off at Colombo, changed buses, and came along the corridor through to Bentota. Asked by me whether he had had any problems, he said that he had no problems at all and that it was as easy as anything. So life for ordinary people in Sri Lanka is good at the moment. Plus, one has to say, British tourists have responded en masse—in fact, almost too readily in the sense that there is obviously a shortage of hotel accommodation, particularly in the east, where people want to go, and in the north, although they are trying hard to get on and build more hotels. So that is real positive benefit on the ground.

abductions. I have looked at the figures: in 2011 there were 239, with 226 now traced; in 2012 there were 225, with 207 now traced.

I went to Menik farm, where the 297,000 rescued from the war fled. First, I put on record that I saw the head of ICRC with no one else present and asked him whether ICRC was restricted from going into Menik farm. The answer was no. It is true that certain other UN bodies were restricted but, in my book—as one that has done a number of these types of events—ICRC, or the Red Cross, are the key people. Secondly, my wife is a qualified retired doctor and we looked at the reports on malnutrition to see whether there was malnutrition in those coming into the camp, and there was hardly any at all. I shall not go into the food dimension but I do have data on that. That place is now closed and those 297,000 are now all rehoused, which is pretty good in that time span: near enough 300,000 rehoused in a relatively short period. On top of that, a number of the Muslims, who were ethnically cleansed out of Jaffna by the Tamil Tigers, have also been rehoused.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: It is the time for the Chamber. I am sorry, but that is what that is showing.

Demining is happening and I say a big thank you to the UK Government, both the former Labour Government and the coalition Government, for the money given to Halo, which is doing a good job on the ground. I spent a whole day with Halo: the team is very good and I thank DfID and, in particular, the Government. I make a plea that when that work is completed somebody does an analysis on Jaffna’s needs and, in particular, the hospital, which I went to look at in some depth. I would be very happy to prepare a draft paper if that was found to be helpful. The rehabilitation of combatants has been excellent and there is a good case history. Eleven thousand of them have been rehabilitated, with 260 judicially mandated. Child soldiers, of whom there were 595, are all now back with their families. Land issues are being taken very seriously but are proving very difficult to resolve after 30 years. The situation is not unlike that in England, where if you own a bit of land for 12 years you have legal rights to it; I think that it is 10 years in Sri Lanka. The high-security zone, which I visited, is down to 40% of what it was. It has to remain because of the problems in Tamil Nadu. The country’s massive infrastructure, housing and official language policy are all working well. A great issue has been made of

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: It is 11 minutes on the clock. Lord Naseby: No, I have been speaking for 10 minutes. I am taking injury time. I am taking my time from the annunciator. The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Colwyn): The debate started at exactly 4.30 pm, so you are now in the 11th minute. Lord Naseby: With great respect, Lord Deputy Chairman, if a time is up there, it is the time that I am speaking from. I cannot look down here.

Lord Naseby: With the permission of the Committee, I should like two minutes to wind up. On the numbers killed, four reports have come out recently. One was produced by the UN Country Team, which was never published. My plea to Her Majesty’s Government is to ask for that to be published. That indicated that 7,000 were killed. A satellite analysis by the Americans indicates that fewer than 2,000 were killed within the graves that can be found. The recent census by Tamil teachers, again, indicates that just over 7,000 were killed. There were not 40,000 killed. The second problem that the Government of Sri Lanka face is the ever-present threat of the LTTE overseas and the propaganda that is put out. However, Sri Lanka is an excellent member of the Commonwealth. It helped the UK in its hour of need at the time of the Falklands. There are those who, I know, want to downgrade the conference, but what greater stimulus can there be to Sri Lanka today to move forward on the areas that still have to be dealt with than to hold this conference? After all, the CPA held its conference back in September, attended by 700 parliamentarians from 54 countries. That went extremely well, as are preparations for the forthcoming conference. Here we are in the Moses Room. I suggest that we need the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job, and let us not forget Kipling’s remarks that, “A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East”.

4.43 pm Lord Wills: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, has done your Lordships’ House a service by enabling this important issue to be debated here today. The civil war in Sri Lanka was a prolonged, brutal and bloody business. Estimates of the numbers killed vary; most of the estimates that I have seen are considerably higher than those put forward just now by the noble Lord—I have seen estimates of more than 100,000. Many thousands of people were killed; tens of thousands more were wounded, tortured and raped. The LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, was a brutal adversary. It was guilty

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of terrible atrocities against civilians, including the widespread use of suicide bombing and deployment of child soldiers and human shields. However, there were also appalling atrocities committed by the opposing forces of the Sri Lanka Government. These have been well documented by the UN and by the Channel 4 films, “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”, which showed the deliberate targeting of hospitals and civilians by heavy artillery, deliberate denial of food and medicine to civilians in the no-fire zone, summary execution of civilians and Tamil Tiger fighters, and sexual violence against women members of the LTTE. The opinion of the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, that the report from the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, set up by the Sri Lankan president, is independent is not shared widely outside Sri Lanka. In presenting the Government’s response to that report, the Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt MP said, “we continue to believe it is important that an independent, credible and thorough mechanism is put in place to investigate all allegations of grave abuses”.—[Official Report, Commons, 12/01/2012; col. 21WS]

The International Crisis Group—a distinguished group of diplomats and politicians whose trustees include a Member of your Lordships’ House, a former Secretary General of the United Nations, former presidents, former prime ministers and former foreign ministers—said that the report, “fails in a crucial task—providing the thorough and independent investigation of alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that the UN and other partners of Sri Lanka have been asking for”.

Sri Lanka can never rebuild itself adequately after its terrible civil war until there is full accountability for the atrocities committed in its course. This is a moral imperative, but it is also a practical one. How can the significant Tamil minority ever be reconciled to a regime that treats war crimes and crimes against humanity insouciantly? More important than implementing the recommendations still outstanding of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission is the establishment of an independent investigation of these alleged atrocities and then a calling to account of everyone responsible for them. I appreciate the efforts that Her Majesty’s Government have made to persuade the Sri Lankan Government to set up such an independent and credible mechanism to investigate these human rights abuses. Sadly, however, the Government’s efforts so far have not worked. To date, there has been no such investigation and no accountability secured for any of the well documented atrocities and other human rights violations committed by state forces. The International Crisis Group has concluded that, “Sri Lanka is suffering from a crisis of institutionalised impunity for human rights violations by state forces and those working in collaboration with the state”.

The longer this situation continues, the more likely it is that those responsible for these atrocities will think they have got away with them, to the shame of the international community.

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We should never accept that those responsible for horrendous war crimes and crimes against humanity can escape responsibility for what they have done. Moreover, there are well-substantiated reports that human rights abuses continue in Sri Lanka to this day. For example, the Amnesty report documented, “numerous cases of disappearances which have taken place after the end of the conflict…there are reasonable grounds to believe that enforced disappearances have taken place in Sri Lanka as part of widespread attacks on the civilian population and they amount to crimes against humanity”.

Last month, the British Government expressed their concern about the current situation in Sri Lanka by saying that they, “continue to have concerns about human rights in Sri Lanka, including the rule of law and individual freedoms”.

Now a critical decision is looming for our Government. In November, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is due to be held in Sri Lanka. The Canadian Prime Minister has made it clear that he will not attend, “unless there is measurable progress in the human rights situation in Sri Lanka”.

The Government will soon need to decide whether they will adopt a similarly principled stand. There can be no evasion here because there can be no doubt about how attendance by the British Prime Minister and Her Majesty the Queen will be construed by the regime in Sri Lanka. When the then Culture Secretary decided to spend his Christmas holiday in Sri Lanka just six months after the end of this brutal war, the state-run broadcaster in Sri Lanka reported that, “his arrival, despite the accusations made the British Government on the human rights record of Sri Lanka, is an indication that the charges have not been authenticated”.

What does the Minister think would be the reaction in Sri Lanka of the Sri Lankan Government and the state media when the visitor is not just a Culture Secretary but the British Prime Minister—and not just the British Prime Minister, but Her Majesty the Queen as well? We cannot allow our Prime Minister and Her Majesty the Queen to be used to cleanse any regime of war crimes and crimes against humanity. I recognise the strength of the arguments that Governments should not grandstand, that strident public denunciations of other Governments could be counter-productive. I understand that; I understand that they can strengthen such Governments domestically and can turn the issue into one not of human rights abuses but of national sovereignty. There is always a case to be made for persistent, resolute, behind-the-scenes diplomacy as being the best way of effecting change but, so far, such diplomacy has produced no significant results. In such circumstances, there is a strong case for more resolute diplomacy to demonstrate the limits of impunity for human rights abuses. Ronald Reagan understood that when he stood up to the Soviet Union; Margaret Thatcher understood that when she stood up to Argentina over the Falklands; and this Prime Minister understood it when he stood up to Colonel Gaddafi. Do this Government now understand that they have to stand up to the Sri Lankan regime? Are this Government prepared to follow the principled stand of the Canadian Prime Minister?

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[LORD WILLS] As the Minister considers her answer to that question, I should like to remind her what her colleague, the Justice Secretary, wrote in the Daily Telegraph just three weeks ago about his vision of human rights. He said: “As Conservatives, we remain absolutely committed to the importance of human rights around the world”.

He identified as fundamental principles of a democratic nation the right to life, the right not to be tortured and the right to a fair trial. Those are all rights which have been denied to tens of thousands of Sri Lankans. I hope that the Minister can tell your Lordships today that these fine words, written by her colleague, the Justice Secretary, were more than just words and that they will be translated into action in relation to Sri Lanka. I am sure that in addressing that question the Minister will also be aware that human rights, for which the Government of Sri Lanka have not shown very much respect, is one of the core values of the Commonwealth. Therefore, I should be grateful if, in replying, the Minister could answer these questions. First, have the Government already made a decision about whether to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka and, if they have not yet made it, why not? If they have not yet made it, when do they expect to be in a position to do so? Secondly, does the human rights situation and what the International Crisis Group calls a crisis of, “institutionalized impunity for human rights violations”,

in Sri Lanka have any bearing on the Government’s decision on whether to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting? If so, what action do the Sri Lankan Government need to take before the Government will decide to attend the meeting? I recognise that the Minister may not be able to answer all these questions today but, if she cannot, I should be grateful if she could write to me with the answers. 4.52 pm Lord Dholakia: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Naseby for securing this debate. I have similar antecedents to those of my noble friend, having visited Sri Lanka a number of times. I was there first in 2009, when the civil war was raging, and I again visited the country when the war came to an end. My last visit was undertaken as a member of the CPA bilateral delegation, which gave me the opportunity to learn first-hand about the reconstruction, resettlement and reconciliation work in progress there. Much has happened since then. We have the report of the UN Secretary General’s review panel on UN action in Sri Lanka, the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, referred to in this debate by my noble friend Lord Naseby, and the International Crisis Group report, which spells out the grievances of Tamil and Muslim leaders that still need to be resolved through the political process. I am well aware that there are deeply held views about the war and its aftermath in Sri Lanka. This debate is not the place to confirm or deny what did or did not take place during that time. Evidence and its rejection have formed the basis of much publicity in recent times, and I have no doubt that this will continue.

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War may solve a few problems but it creates many others. History should not be forgotten but there must be a way forward towards building a stable and secure democracy which all the country’s citizens can enjoy. We should not underestimate the task facing the Sri Lankan Government. To continue to sustain parliamentary democracy at this difficult time is commendable. There are bound to be difficult times ahead. The political process must work towards uniting the nation after 30 years of war. During our visit to Sri Lanka, we were able to learn about the transition from operating and sustaining democracy during the civil war to running a democracy during peacetime. Politicians must be fully aware that winning the war does not mean that problems will go away. For this reason, there is a need to ensure that the rule of law applies to all citizens equally. It is a pre-requisite condition of a successful and stable democracy. During our visit we were impressed with the success that Sri Lanka has in the education and healthcare sectors. It has a literacy rate of more than 90%. I ought here to single out the work of the British Council. Queues of students at the British Council offices provide clear evidence of the council’s success in assisting with the process of education. I plead with the Minister to ensure that the visa system does not discriminate against Sri Lankan students as there is evidence that they are now looking at Australia rather than the UK for their advancement. Sri Lanka has free and accessible healthcare available throughout the country. Despite the concern about our safety, we were allowed access across the north, east and west of the country: there was no constraint on our movement. Like the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, I met IDPs and those in camps. We could see at first hand the post-conflict reconstruction. It will still take a great effort to ensure that there is no disparity in the development and construction work in the north. To an extent, we were aware that the demining process was actively pursued but it has a lot of bearing in preventing the north of the country from opening up. We are all aware that terrorists have no mandate and that oppression perpetrated by terrorists and those in power cannot achieve a peaceful society. The Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland and the Truth Commission in South Africa demonstrated that a peaceful transition is possible only through an acceptable process. It is for this reason that we should attach importance to the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, which was set up in May 2010. There is no dispute that excesses were committed by the warring parties—the collateral damage has been substantial—but there is now a need to move forward. Terrorism and violence have ended but suspicions still remain: the scars of the war will take a long time to heal. What is now required is an all-inclusive political process of dialogue and accommodation so that conflict by other means does not continue. This is one of the key recommendations of the report.

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The LLRC report sets out some clear recommendations on human rights issues arising out of the conflict. It received a large number of representations alleging the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms of people affected by the conflict. The LLRC had no hesitation in stating that its recommendation on these human rights issues were critically relevant to the process of reconciliation. This is not simply a job for the Government: it is also a task for all state institutions, civil societies and citizens to exert all possible efforts towards this end. The LLRC report and its recommendations require clear action. For example, the report pulls no punches when it states: “There is an urgent need to assist the victims and their families to overcome the trauma they suffered due to the conflict and to bring the perpetrators of any human rights violation to justice”.

I, for one, welcome this report for its brevity. It is not a whitewash and it is not easy to ignore. It is a good starting point towards the process of reconciliation and nation building. There is also a further important recognition that this process must reach out to the minorities and that the minorities must reposition themselves in their role vis-à-vis the state and the country. I have known Dr Chris Nonis, the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, for some years know. I know that he is keen to build links with the large Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in the United Kingdom. In turn, I hope that the British Tamil community will play its full part in rebuilding Sri Lanka. It is here that we can play an important role and I hope that the Minister will see what help he can give to build this dialogue. Sri Lanka is a nation that deserves to be at peace with itself. It will take time to build the confidence of all communities, who have suffered enough during the civil war. It has the potential to eradicate poverty and to take its place among the democratic nations of the world. It will require the will of all its people, in Sri Lanka and in countries abroad, to make this possible. Unlike the noble Lord, Lord Wills, I believe that the 2013 CHOGM summit in Sri Lanka should offer all of its experience towards building a peaceful, democratic Sri Lanka. 5 pm Lord Bates: My Lords, I, too, pay tribute to my noble friend Lord Naseby for securing this important debate. My interest is around the issue of conflict. I have never visited Sri Lanka and were it not for the opportunity provided by this debate and the outstanding brief prepared by the House of Lords Library for it, I would have known a great deal less about the tragedy that has hit that country. However, I have followed and witnessed what has happened in a number of areas of the world which have been recovering from conflict and the hallmarks of that difficult path are all too evident in what is happening in Sri Lanka at present. The question is: what are the solutions? We have learnt lessons from other areas—I am thinking in particular of our own issues in the Balkans and in Northern Ireland—and we know how difficult it is. In debates on foreign affairs in this House there is

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sometimes a level of arrogance where we pretend that we have got it all sorted and that we can lecture the rest of the world on how to get it right. However, the fact that a country like ours—with our wealth and our history of parliamentary democracy and justice—is still wrestling to achieve a settlement and peace in Northern Ireland should make us tread carefully and humbly into other people’s conflicts. The first thing we learn from these kinds of conflicts is that, in the long term, violence never succeeds. The second thing we learn is that freezing-out never works: people need thawing out in conflict situations. In that sense, peace needs to be given a chance to take hold. In this circumstance, the conflict went on for 26 years and the peace treaty was signed two or three years ago. I guarantee as a fact that the people of Sri Lanka will still be wrestling with this issue in not five years’ time but in 50 or 100 years’ time. We know from our own experience that that is the kind of timescale that people need. History and the facts presented show that what we have now is a moment of opportunity for the international community to involve the parties to the conflict because, inevitably, they must be the parties to the peace. I refer briefly to the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. I have read the entire report and it seems to me that the Sri Lankan Government are self-critical, which is an encouraging sign. I am disappointed that all other parties did not take part in it because ultimately, somewhere along the line, there will have to be another try at this and outside bodies will have to give their advice. I know that the Indian Government are trying to help. Potentially, South Africa would be much better placed to offer insight and help to people in this process. I refer particularly to page 382, paragraph 9.255, of the report which contains a series of interesting recommendations. I say again that this conflict is no different from any other: we are very familiar with it; we know what needs to happen; we know that it is a long-term process; and we know that we have a moment of opportunity before us which we should seize. However, one hallmark of this Government, of which I am most proud, is the way in which they have been working at conflict prevention rather than intervention, and the Conflict Pool is an essential part of that. There is one part of the report where it seems to me that we could make a big difference. The report identifies that a lot of work needs to be done in the area of peace education. It talks about a trilingual policy and the need to ensure a much broader ethnic mix of student populations, with a choice of courses offered in all three languages. The commission is also of the view that sport builds up interpersonal contacts among people of different communities, which is essential for the process of reconciliation. Perhaps I may refer the Minister, who I know will take these matters seriously, to that particular section. I know that there has already been a tremendous amount of work on clearing landmines—my noble friends have referred to it—but in the specific area of peace education and bringing international students together, I wonder whether the

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[LORD BATES] sporting legacy of the Olympics and the legacy of the Olympic Truce are things that we might be able to seize and build upon. If all the countries simply look at ways in which they can offer practical help and provide support for all the different parties in working through this tremendous difficulty, I think that there will be a chance of long-term stability. The prize for that will come through economic growth. The worst catastrophe that comes from all conflict is that it impoverishes people not only morally but financially. We see from the briefing note that the cost of the war in Sri Lanka over 26 years ran to some $200 billion, which is five times its annual output. It is an enormous cost. Therefore, it is very encouraging that since the conflict has ended there has been significant progress and growth. The proportion of people living below the national poverty line has declined from 26.1% at the height of the conflict to 8.9%. With annualised growth in the region of 6%, 7% or 8%, getting into tourism, getting the economy going and giving people jobs and hope, as well as a future, and allowing them to move forward are things that we ought to be encouraging. Anything that Her Majesty’s Government can do to support and encourage the Sri Lankan Government in that way would seem wise.

5.08 pm Lord Triesman: My Lords, I join others in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Naseby. I, too, have read the report very carefully. It has real strength but it also has significant weaknesses, and I think that it is as well to look at the balance. After all, it covers a war which raged from 1983 to 2009, with pauses in it until Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed. Whatever is said about the figures, an estimate of between 60,000 and 100,000 deaths looks to be relatively credible in terms of the reports made by international bodies. I certainly have no reason to think that they are much in doubt. As my noble friend Lord Wills said— Lord Naseby: I hate to intervene but there is no credible report that mentions 60,000-plus deaths. There are reports of 40,000 deaths from the UN and there are reports of between 7,000 and 8,000 from other UN bodies. If the noble Lord has a copy of any such report, I should be grateful if he would make it available to me, as chairman of the all-party group. Lord Triesman: My Lords, I will go back through the UN figures and will provide the ones that I have seen. I was going to go on to say, as my noble friend Lord Wills did, that it appears that in the final stages the figure of up to 40,000 comes near to the death toll. The 18-month inquiry, which concluded in November 2011, covers all 26 years. One thing is absolutely plain to me: in any civil war of that duration and intensity, the pain between the combatants and the communities from which they come is going to be very great. Significant inter-communal violence, which is very up-close, raw violence, has on the occasions when it has occurred led to the division of countries—for example, India and Pakistan—rather than to an attempt to keep one country in one form.

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It is certainly true, as the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, said, that one sees a good deal more evidence of peace, which is very good news, but it is also true that there are credible reports of civil rights abuses. I add my appreciation to that already expressed for the United Kingdom forces involved in the de-mining exercise. I had the great privilege of being with those forces in Colombia in South America and saw just how amazing and dangerous their work was. I remember how relieved one felt to be able to go away at the end of a phase when they could not always do so. Both sides have made credible claims; both have eye-witness accounts; and both seek retribution. One side has sought prosecution of perpetrators, with greater emphasis focused, perhaps understandably, on the shelling of hospitals, which, by common consent, caused considerable civilian casualties. However, I also note that the commission expressed findings even on this issue, stating that it was impossible to say who had been responsible for that shelling. The report contains findings on many other issues. It apportions blame for the causes of the war pretty evenly between politicians on both sides. It makes it clear that there were no steps taken by the Sinhalese which could have placated the Tamil people. It makes it clear that Tamil politicians worked up passions for militant separation which were impossible to accede to. While there was support for the report, there has also been significant criticism. A lack of independence in the report has been alleged. Not even minimum international standards of protection of witnesses was accorded to many of those who might have given evidence. However, I share a view with the noble Lord, Lord Naseby: that the decisions of Amnesty International, the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch not to take any part can scarcely have helped the process. It would have been better had they taken part and I am not sure that their reasons for not doing so are sustainable. Many of the commission’s recommendations could be detailed very extensively, but I highlight those to deal with long-term detainees individually, to publish full lists, to ensure that freedom meant freedom—that is, once people had been released, they should not be re-arrested—to overcome legal delays in process, to disarm illegal groups immediately as a priority, to ensure that there is free movement in the country, to normalise civil administration and to make sure that documents were in languages that people could understand. Like the noble Lord, Lord Bates, I often feel—maybe I would—that sport can play a significant role in giving people the opportunity to see each other in circumstances that are not quite so gruesome. However, people plainly want more, and herein lies the central dilemma. Reconciliation processes seldom satisfy those who have suffered the sharpest distress or grievances. No one in the United Kingdom would willingly accept any process where there was impunity. I do not know that it would ever speak well in our culture; nor do I think that it would speak well in anybody’s culture, because people want their most serious grievances addressed. As we have seen elsewhere, retributive justice after a war of this kind is very

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unlikely to achieve reconciliation—these are not easy choices to make—but that does not answer the question of impunity. That is why it is an audacious route to take to seek reconciliation in this way and why it is seldom welcomed by all those who seek complete justice or even confirmation that the evidence that they have provided, and on which they rely, is the only accepted truth that should be accounted for. I am with the noble Lords, Lord Willis and Lord Dholakia, in believing that one has to be clear on both sides about the conditions for success if this is the route that one wants to take. The first condition is that there should be sufficient independence in the inquiry to command support—and I support what Her Majesty’s Government have said about that, which is useful and correct. Secondly, reconciliation can work fully in my view, even against all the odds, only if substantive outcomes can be achieved in the programme of reconciliation that is recommended. I make these points here not because the international groups have all written to me and urged that they should be made but because I hope for the success of the country and want to think about how that might be achieved. The outstanding evidence is clear; the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, referred to the first and perhaps most important point, that political processes have to encapsulate the rights for all groups and the rule of law, and that is fundamental. The aid agencies must be able to reach those needing aid, especially with medicines and medical facilities. I do not believe that there is evidence that that has fully happened, and I wonder whether the Minister has an observation on that. There are clear failings in the existing IHL regime in respect of internal conflicts in both state and non-state armed groups. Does the Minister feel that there may be progress there? A large number of allegations have been made of abduction, arbitrary detention and disappearances—what is called a different kind of white van syndrome. There do not seem to me to be such clear outcomes as have been presented, and I wonder whether the Minister has views on that. I know from the work that was done in Argentina and Chile that, until those issues are fully nailed down, the families do not go away—and you can understand why. It will never satisfy them. The independent police commission has to function properly, and I am not absolutely clear from what I have read that it does function. I wonder whether the Minister has any observation. I make one quick observation on Channel 4. Jon Snow is, in my view, one of the outstanding journalists of this generation. He has amazing standards and amazingly good personal, ethical values, which contrast with some others in the media. Yet questions persist about the authenticity of some of the footage of “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields”. It is not for the Minister, but could Parliament perhaps encourage “Channel 4 News” to consider whether it has been deceived in any respect? Lord Wills: I am very curious about this, because I did a lot of work researching all this, including reviewing those particular films. I looked at an Ofcom judgment; there were a lot of complaints about those films—

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hundreds, I think. Channel 4 was found not to be in breach at all by Ofcom, so I wonder whether my noble friend could specify what doubt there is. I am sure that he is aware that much of the footage in those films was filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers on their mobile phones. What possible doubt is there about the veracity of that footage? Lord Triesman: My Lords, if my noble friend had allowed me just one more sentence, I was going to go on to say that I personally had no doubt about the authenticity of the films—that is my view. But when people, particularly in the current media climate, believe that it is important to be absolutely certain of these things, an excellent news programme such as I believe “Channel 4 News” is would do itself no harm if it repeated the exercise if it gave greater confidence. I personally have no doubt about the veracity, but my view may not be significant. Finally, steps could be taken before the conformation of the final arrangements for the state visit, which is also very important—it is not just CHOGM. This is a real opportunity, in the spirit of Commonwealth standards and reputation, not least because the Commonwealth has an outstanding Secretary-General in Kamalesh Sharma, to ask questions, discuss progress and articulate a possible programme and means of verification of the programme. I know that that kind of Commonwealth role appealed enormously—it did in its time to me, and certainly it has done to the noble Lord, Lord Howell of Guildford, and I know that it does to the noble Baroness, Lady Warsi. For those reasons, I always attach great importance to what can be achieved by that kind of process. If it is done properly, it may well be that the value of the Commonwealth and of CHOGM in this instance will be very well demonstrated. 5.19 pm TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Naseby for securing this debate. I know that he and others within both Houses of Parliament have taken a close interest in Sri Lanka. The timing is most apt, a year after the publication of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, or LLRC, report, that has been referred to today. Let me first note that the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka have a long-standing historical connection, and present-day ties include business, family, tourism and education. I assure my noble friend Lord Dholakia that large numbers of bright, talented Sri Lankan students continue to come to study in the United Kingdom and the diaspora community of around 400,000 people contributes significantly to our economy and rich cultural diversity. We are friends and it is a friendship that we value, even on the cricket pitch, despite being knocked out in the World Twenty20 in October by the host, Sri Lanka. The 2009 defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, brought an end to decades of conflict in the country, but a military victory alone cannot deliver the stable, lasting peace which all Sri Lankans deserve. It is for this reason that the UK supports the

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[BARONESS WARSI] view, widely held within Sri Lanka and outside, that long-term peace can best be achieved through an inclusive political settlement that addresses the underlying causes of the conflict. Such a settlement must also take into account the legitimate grievances and aspirations of all Sri Lanka’s communities. The Government of Sri Lanka recognised this in appointing the LLRC, which submitted its report in December 2011. The report made more than 200 recommendations.

In January 2012, following the publication of the LLRC report, my right honourable friend Alistair Burt issuedaWrittenMinisterialStatementinwhichhewelcomed publication of the report and urged the implementation of its recommendations. The recommendations, if implemented in full, would go a long way to achieving the reconciliation which we believe will achieve lasting peace. Those recommendations included calls for credible investigations of alleged extrajudicial killings and disappearances, demilitarisation of the north, implementation of impartial land dispute resolution mechanisms and the protection of freedom of expression. However, as Alistair Burt said at the time, and to which the noble Lord, Lord Wills, referred, in the view of this Government the report left gaps and unanswered questions on alleged violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, and we were disappointed by the report’s conclusions and recommendations on accountability. Sri Lanka has made some progress against the LLRC recommendations. The UK recognises and welcomes the progress that has been made in a number of areas. UK officials have visited all nine provinces in the past 12 months and have seen much to welcome. Most importantly, the absence of conflict has brought greater security and opened up economic development. Demining, which has been referred to in today’s debate, including with UK financial support, is freeing up more and more land for resettlement and agriculture. Rehabilitation of thousands of ex-combatants, including child soldiers, has allowed many individuals to integrate back into society. The majority of internally displaced persons have now moved out of camps, although there is still work to be done in ensuring that all have permanent homes and are, where possible, able to return to their places of origin. Despite a visible military presence, troop numbers in many areas are now well below 2009 levels. Infrastructure development is opening up the country, creating conditions for economic growth and enabling easier travel. All these are positive developments. However, the picture is not all positive. Much remains to be done in order to tackle the roots of conflict and ensure lasting peace and prosperity. The need for progress was highlighted in a March 2012 Human Rights Council resolution, supported by a majority of member states from around the world. It called on the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the LLRC report recommendations and to address alleged violations of international law. In July 2012, the Sri Lankan Government published an LLRC action plan, with deadlines from early this year for the implementation of the LLRC recommendations. However, it is notable that the action plan covers around only half the LLRC

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recommendations. We hope that the Government of Sri Lanka will reconsider and look at implementing the LLRC report in full. This is not a case of unrealistic expectations. The UK has never suggested or expected that resolution following a long-running conflict can be instantaneous. We realise that the LLRC recommendations cannot all be implemented immediately. We have our own experience of reconciliation from Northern Ireland, and we know well that such a process is complex and can take time. I thank my noble friend Lord Bates for outlining possible and potential pathways. He is right: this process will take time. I will take back his suggestions regarding building on the Olympic legacy and, indeed, the Olympic Truce. He is also right that we must look to a future for all, but in the case of Sri Lanka true reconciliation is unlikely to be possible without a brave, open and comprehensive review of the painful past, and addressing the deep-seated issues in the LLRC report requires a long-term approach, tenacity and co-operation. There are, of course, inevitable barriers to swift progress in some areas—for example, the need to broker agreements between various parties, undertake changes to legislation and devise equitable solutions to complicated issues such as land rights. However, to make this long-term progress requires a sense of urgency and it has to be on a positive trajectory. I regret that a number of the recommendations have not been tackled at all or have been tackled in name only. The military presence in many areas is less invasive than at the end of the conflict but armed forces continue to occupy large areas of civilian land, now classified as high-security zones or military cantonments. Military involvement in civil and commercial activities has been reduced in some areas but still remains widespread and a source of tension. Not only has there been no agreement on political settlement but a recent Bill seeks to further centralise currently devolved powers. Moreover, almost four years since the end of the conflict, there have been no prosecutions for alleged misconduct during the conflict. The Government of Sri Lanka face considerable challenges but they face them with the support of an international community eager to see lasting peace in the country. With this support comes scrutiny, and in 2013 this is set to be particularly intense. In March we have the anniversary of the Human Rights Council resolution, and the noble Lord, Lord Wills, spoke about the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which Sri Lanka is due to host in November. The CHOGM is an opportunity either for Sri Lanka’s progress to be showcased around the world or for bad news to be amplified. The UK believes that the host of CHOGM should uphold the Commonwealth values of good governance and respect for human rights. We will look to Sri Lanka to demonstrate its commitment to these values both now and in the run-up to CHOGM. A key part of this will be addressing long-standing issues around accountability and reconciliation after the war. The noble Lord, Lord Wills, will be aware that Sri Lanka was scheduled to host CHOGM in 2011 but, given ongoing concerns about the humanitarian and human rights situation, the UK and other Commonwealth members did not support its bid.

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Commonwealth members decided that Sri Lanka would host it in 2013, but at this stage it is too soon to talk about the UK’s attendance plans. I cannot give further details today, but we will be looking to Sri Lanka to demonstrate the Commonwealth values expected of any CHOGM host. The noble Lord, Lord Triesman, raised current, ongoing concerns about the human rights situation. International concerns about human rights violations in Sri Lanka are not limited to the years of the war but remain since the end of the war as well. The UK has been candid in private and public about our concerns. In the 1 November UN Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka, the UK raised concerns about the attacks on and intimidation of journalists, human rights defenders and the legal professions. We recommended that the Sri Lankan Government investigate alleged grave breaches of humanitarian law during the conflict. This recommendation was accepted, along with 110 of the 210 recommendations made in that review. We also recommended that the Sri Lankan Government ensure a climate in which all citizens can express their opinions freely. This recommendation was rejected, along with recommendations to invite the UN special rapporteurs to visit and recommendations to ensure independence of the judiciary. We continue to have concerns about human rights in Sri Lanka, including disappearances—to which the noble Lord referred— political violence, reports of torture in custody and restrictions on free speech. We raised our concerns directly with the Government of Sri Lanka and called upon them to investigate reports of human rights abuses whenever they occur. The noble Lord, Lord Triesman, also raised the issue of missing persons. A legacy of decades of conflict is that large numbers of missing people remain an understandable cause of considerable distress for many families. The LLRC report is committed to establishing a decentralised database of the missing by February of this year and we look forward to progress in this regard. Events as recently as the last eight to 10 weeks are a source of concern for us as well as for other states and international organisations. These include impeachment proceedings against the Chief Justice, which coincidentally followed a number of rulings against the Government; violent disruption of student remembrance events in Jaffna and the detention of students; and the violent

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suppression of a riot at Welikada prison in which 27 inmates lost their lives. On 5 December, our high commissioner joined other EU heads of mission in a public statement expressing concerns about the rule of law and individual freedoms in Sri Lanka. Following the end of the conflict, we want to see Sri Lanka win a peace that can be enjoyed by all its citizens. Progress has been made but is lacking in a number of areas necessary to ensure long-term peace and stability. We remain committed to helping the reconciliation process, recognising the Sri Lankan Government’s legitimate authority and looking to the Government to implement the LLRC recommendations in full. Lord Wills: My Lords, I am very grateful to the Minister for giving way but I intervene as I suspect that she is about to conclude her remarks. I asked a number of specific questions. I quite understand that she cannot answer them today but will she confirm that she will write to me with specific answers to those specific questions? Baroness Warsi: I will certainly do that. UK support includes funding activities on rehabilitation, access to language rights, community policing support and positive dialogue within and between communities in Sri Lanka and, indeed, engaging the UK diaspora. We recognise the need for a long-term approach but firmly believe that this must include some early evidence of progress. It is right that Sri Lanka’s friends should raise such concerns alongside more immediate human rights issues. As Alistair Burt said in his Written Ministerial Statement last January: “Our long-term interest is in a stable, peaceful Sri Lanka, free from the scourge of terrorism, and as a fellow member of the Commonwealth, conforming to the standards and values which Commonwealth membership requires”.—[Official Report, Commons, 12/1/12; col. 21WS.]

That position remains unchanged. I close by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, for his continued interest in Sri Lanka and for securing this debate today. The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen): My Lords, that completes the business before the Grand Committee this afternoon. Therefore, the Committee stands adjourned. Committee adjourned at 5.31 pm.

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Written Statements Tuesday 8 January 2013

Banks: Business Bank Statement TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Marland): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has made the following Statement. The impact of the financial crisis on the cost and availability of credit is seriously affecting the economy. The Government have already taken action to ease the flow of credit to small and medium-sized businesses including by working with the Bank of England to launch the Funding for Lending Scheme, by putting in place access to finance schemes such as the £1.2 billion Business Finance Partnership and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, and providing additional funding for the Enterprise Finance Guarantee. However, many good small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) still struggle to raise finance from their banks. Furthermore, well before the financial crisis Britain suffered from structural failings in finance, in long term credit in particular. Now as the economy recovers, there is a risk that UK businesses lack the support they need to grow. As set out in the Autumn Statement 2012, the Government therefore plan to deploy an extra £1 billion to create a business bank. We will maximise the bank’s impact and reach by exploring joint investment with the private sector and the use of government guarantees. The bank will make wholesale interventions in the business finance market to facilitate the development of a greater diversity of non-bank business finance sources and to tackle other long-standing market gaps. We will also take steps to bring together government finance schemes for small and medium-sized businesses so that they are managed as a single portfolio and ensure businesses are aware of and can access government-backed business advice. I wish to outline to the House how we will achieve this and what are the key milestones along the way. We envisage the business bank operating on a commercial basis within a strategic framework set by Ministers. It will be charged with finding ways to fill gaps in the business finance market, based on economic analysis. A number of options are being considered including capital investments and guarantees for long term finance products, as well as a wider range of wholesale funding activities which could become relevant over time. Detailed design of the activities will need to reflect the requirement to ensure our proposals are fully consistent with state aid rules. We plan to start a dialogue with the Commission about our proposals in January. At the same time, and in order to start acting swiftly, we propose to use £300 million of the new funding to co-invest alongside the private sector in sources of finance that help diversify the business

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finance market. These investments will be made under Section 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982. Further detail of how this funding will be made available will be provided at Budget 2013 after engagement with market participants in the new year. I am also creating an advisory group, which will comprise independent business and finance experts and advise the Government on the setting up and strategic direction of the new institution. Sir Peter Burt has very kindly agreed to chair this advisory group and additional members will be appointed very shortly. I can also announce today that Keith Morgan has joined the Government to lead the design work for the future business bank. The group will provide advice on: The activities and specific segments of the market on which different activities of the business bank should focus; The design of existing interventions and how they could best be improved; The detailed design of the new interventions, how to make them most effective, and how to attract private sector capital if desirable; How to ensure better joining up of wider governmentfunded business advice and support as well as enhanced awareness of and access by businesses to this support; The role of Government in such an organisation, and at what level; The overall implementation plan; The marketing plan for these activities; and The key roles in terms of design and execution risk for the implementation phase. We will use their expertise to develop proposals for the bank’s interventions and discuss and where relevant agree these interventions with HMT, the Bank of England, UK regulators and the European Commission. I will present more detailed proposals on these matters to the House next year.

Copyright Statement TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Lord Marland): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has made the following Statement. Today the Government are publishing the final part of their response to their copyright consultation: “Modernising Copyright: a modern, robust and flexible framework”. The response sets out government decisions on changes to “copyright exceptions”: freedoms in copyright law that allow third parties to use copyright works for a variety of economically and/or socially valuable purposes without permission from copyright owners. The Government are committed to achieving strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is shared across the country and between industries. Following the Hargreaves review of intellectual property and growth, and an extensive consultation process, the Government

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Written Statements

believe that the copyright framework can be improved to make the UK a better place for consumers and for firms to innovate, in markets which are vital for future growth, without harming the UK’s valuable creative industries. The Government have considered the responses to the consultation carefully, alongside the views of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee and others. They intend to make changes to widen existing or introduce new exceptions for private copying; parody; education; quotation and news reporting; text & data mining; research & private study; preservation; disabilities; public administration and reporting. These measures take account of what the Government have heard from creative industries about the need to minimise potential adverse impacts of any change. The Government intend to make these changes via secondary legislation in autumn 2013. Prior to this, the Government will publish the draft regulations for technical review. The response document will be published on the Business, Innovation and Skills, and Intellectual Property Office websites and a copy will be placed in the House Libraries.

Correction to Commons Written Answer Statement TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Daniel Poulter) has made the following Statement. I regret that the Written Answers given to the honourable Member for Hartlepool (Iain Wright) on 6 November 2012, Official Report column 584w, the right honourable Member for Warley (John Spellar) on 22 October 2012, Official Report column 711w, the right honourable Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) on 20 February 2012, Official Report column 713w and to the honourable Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) on 10 January 2012, Official Report column 120w, contained some incorrect information. The Written Answers pertained to the cost of exit packages incurred by primary care trusts (PCTs) and the information provided in the original Answers incorrectly included a negative figure for one PCT, due to an error in compiling the figures for the annual report and accounts within the department. In respect of the Answer given to the honourable Member for Hartlepool (Iain Wright), a table showing the corrected figures is given below. Category

Compulsory redundancies Other departures

Written Statements

[LORDS]

2010-11 £000s

2011-12 £000s

87,911

83,106

134,982

91,589

Notes: 1. “Other departures” include early retirements (except those due to ill health), voluntary redundancies, Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme, pay in lieu of notice etc.

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2. Voluntary redundancies are not separately identifiable from other departures; therefore, an overall figure for redundancies is not available.

In respect of the Written Answer given to the right honourable Member for Warley (John Spellar), a table showing the corrected figures is given below. Category

Compulsory redundancies Other departures

2009-10 £000s

2010-11 £000s

4,457

60,367

1,737

111,749

Notes: 1. “Other departures” include early retirements (except those due to ill health), voluntary redundancies, Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme, pay in lieu of notice etc. 2. Voluntary redundancies are not separately identifiable from other departures; therefore, an overall figure for redundancies is not available.

In respect of the Written Answer given to the right honourable Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham), the corrected information is as follows. The total resource cost of exit packages for primary care trust (PCT) staff leaving their organisation in 2010-11 was £172.1 million. A table breaking down this cost for each PCT has been placed in the Library. The total value of £172.1 million includes £60.4 million for compulsory redundancies and £111.7 million for other departures. The figure for other departures includes the cost of both early retirements (excluding those relating to ill-health) and voluntary redundancies. However, it is not possible to separately identify the value of either of these costs from the data collected. In respect of the Written Answer given to the honourable Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) on 10 January 2012, Official Report col 120w, the corrected part of the reply is given below. Information from the Audited NHS (England) Summarised Accounts for the financial year 2010-11 shows that the total resource cost of staff exit packages for strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and National Health Service trusts in the 2010-11 financial year was £223 million. This figure includes £88 million for compulsory redundancies and £135 million for other departures. The figure for other departures includes early retirements (excluding those because of ill-health). It is not possible to separately identify this cost, or the cost of voluntary redundancies from the data collected.

Crime: Domestic Violence Statement The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): My right honourable friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. On 21 December 2012, I announced that Baroness HelenNewlovehasbeenappointedasthenewCommissioner for Victims and Witnesses (“Victims’ Commissioner”).

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Written Statements

[8 JANUARY 2013]

The role of the Victims’ Commissioner, as set out in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, is to promote the interests of victims and witnesses, encourage good practice in their treatment and keep under review the operation of the statutory Victims’ Code. We are committed to strengthening the voice of victims who too often feel like they are treated as an afterthought in the criminal justice system. The appointment of Baroness Newlove as the new Victims’ Commissioner will ensure that as our strategy to improve services and support for victims and witnesses is implemented, the views of victims are represented.

Department for Communities and Local Government Statement TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department forCommunitiesandLocalGovernment(BaronessHanham): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Eric Pickles) made the following Written Ministerial Statement on 7 January 2013. I would like to update honourable Members on the main items of business undertaken by my department since the House rose on 20 December 2012. Helping hard-working families with council tax On 1 January, my department highlighted new legislation that takes effect in April 2013 which allows local taxpayers to choose to pay their bill over 12 months rather than 10, if they wish. This new right will make it easier for those on fixed incomes to manage their bills, and would lower the average band D council tax instalment by an average of £24 per month for 10 months. This builds on the support that the Coalition Government have already announced for local authorities and police and crime commissioners in England to help them freeze council tax for a third year and assist in keeping the cost of living down. The Government have set aside £450 million in the Autumn Statement. Taxpayers living in an average band D home in England could save up to £72 compared to a 5% increase, while the cumulative effect of the three years’ worth of freezes is potentially worth over £200 to band D residents. I hope honourable Members will encourage their local authorities to take up this year’s freeze offer. Tackling council tax fraud helps reduce bills for law-abiding citizens. I intend to lay and publish this week draft affirmative regulations, including setting out the powers which local authorities will have to combat fraud in the council tax system and to prosecute those who commit criminal acts. These regulations will ensure that local authorities continue to be able to tackle fraud when council tax benefit is replaced by local council tax reduction schemes in April, and are consistent with those that prevent fraud in the welfare benefit system. Reflecting the Coalition Government’s commitment to civil liberties, we have scaled back existing state powers which we believe to be disproportionate.

Written Statements

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A fairer and simpler planning system The Coalition Government believe in fair play, with everyone abiding by the same rules. On 21 December, we launched a consultation on proposals to give councils greater freedom to prevent unauthorised traveller sites and the small minority who abuse planning rules. Under proposals, councils would be given greater freedom to determine whether to use temporary stop notices in relation to caravans that are in breach of planning control, and are used as a person’s main residence. This would be backed up with the potential for fines of up to £20,000 on a summary conviction or an unlimited fine on indictment. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, proposals will allow councils to act quickly to stop unauthorised sites before they become established, saving on the costs of enforcement and preventing long-term harm to the environment and local amenity. The Coalition Government are committed to making the planning system simpler, more efficient and more effective. On 21 December, my department launched a consultation to consider the recommendations of the external review group on planning practice guidance led by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, to rationalise the volumes of unwieldy and contradictory advice. The goal is to make practice guidance easier to understand for both practitioners and the public. This does not involve any change to planning policy, which is laid out in the National Planning Policy Framework. On 27 December, my department outlined our response to the consultation paper on streamlining information requirements for planning applications. This will encourage a more proportionate approach to the information that applicants are required to provide with outline planning applications, reducing administrative costs to both applicants and councils, while ensuring that all interested parties continue to be well informed of the details of any proposed application. A fairer deal for taxpayers on local government pensions On 21 December, my department published a consultation seeking responses from interested parties on draft regulations for the new Local Government Pension Scheme to come into force in April 2014 relating to membership, contributions and benefits. This represents a key step in the process of reform that began with the commitment given in the Coalition Government’s programme to review the long term affordability and sustainability of public service pension schemes. Figures for the last financial year show that the Local Government Pensions Scheme costs £7.5 billion. Employers—i.e. taxpayers—contributed £5.9 billion towards maintaining staff pensions. The cost to the public is equivalent to £320 a year for average band D council tax. Yet, for the first year, the cost of local authority pension taxpayer-funded contributions has actually fallen, and these further reforms will protect taxpayers’ interests while protecting those on low and moderate incomes. Cutting intrusive red tape On 21 December, my department wrote to local authorities to make clear that equality impact assessments are not a legal requirement. Indeed, they can be resource

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Written Statements

[LORDS]

intensive and take staff away from planning and delivering important public services. We also reminded councils that statutory guidance makes clear that councils do not need to undertake unnecessary lifestyle or “diversity” questionnaires of their local residents and suppliers. I will shortly be giving guidance to my department’s arm’s-length bodies on the same issue. On Boxing Day, the media reported how residents in Stockport, Cheshire East and Manchester were being asked about their sexual preferences when they responded to a consultation on a proposed road improvement. This is a typical example of how the public sector wastes money on pointless and intrusive bureaucracy. A helping hand on housing On 20 December, my department launched the new £200 million Build to Rent fund which will boost the construction of new homes specifically for private rent. By financing the construction of rental homes until they are built, let out and managed, the fund will give developers the freedom to build homes specifically for that market with confidence. An expert taskforce will also work to boost investor awareness of the fund and offer practical support to those interested in this new market. The prospectus for the fund has been published on the Homes and Communities Agency’s website. Over Christmas, Ministers highlighted the help available to those sleeping rough through the new StreetLink hotline and website. StreetLink, run by charities Homeless Link and Broadway with funding from my department, offers a valuable alternative to a cash handout for people sleeping rough. This will support the No Second Night Out initiative as it is extended across the country. In London, where No Second Night Out has been adopted, already 70% of rough sleepers have not spent more than one night on the streets. On 2 January, my department highlighted new deregulation that will cut red tape and costs for homeowners and businesses alike. Changes are being made to the building regulations regime in England to deliver an even better and more cost-effective way of ensuring our buildings remain safe and sustainable. The changes will deliver savings of around £50 million per year to business and will come into force from April 2013. Changes to remove the requirement to notify simple and low risk electrical works will mean that householders keen to improve their home no longer need to pay £240, or more, to their local council to have simple electrical jobs checked. New Year’s Honours I wish to congratulate to all those working in the local government, housing, fire and voluntary and community sector that were recognised in the New Year’s Honours List acknowledging their valued contribution to society. I have placed in the Library a copy of the associated documents and press notices relating to these announcements.

Written Statements

WS 8

EU: European Council Statement TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord De Mauley): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has today made the following Statement. My noble friend Lord De Mauley, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Resource Management, the Local Environment and Environmental Science, represented the UK at the EU Environment Council in Brussels on 17 December 2012. Paul Wheelhouse (Scottish Minister for Environment and Climate Change) and John Griffiths (Welsh Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development) also attended. After adopting the list of legislative and non-legislative A items, Environment Ministers adopted council conclusions on “A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters”. The UK welcomed the blueprint, praising its focus on implementation rather than new legislation, which is in line with principles of better regulation. Several other member states similarly supported the blueprint’s focus on implementation and greater integration. Next, the presidency led an exchange of views on “Greening the European Semester”, based on the annual growth survey 2013. Discussion at Environment Council focused on the bottlenecks to achieving Europe 2020 resource efficiency objectives, and member states were asked to give their views as to which measures in the field of resource efficiency and climate action had the biggest potential to contribute to growth and job creation. A broad range of opinions were put forward. The UK made clear that actions needed to reflect the specificities of each member state; that any additional targets would need to be clearly justified; and highlighted our domestic actions to support resource efficiency. The Commission (Hedegaard) summarised the discussion by stating that the debate was timely, as the annual growth survey was increasingly becoming the key tool for setting economic priorities for the year to come. Discussions on the annual growth survey 2013 will take place at various EU level councils, and will inform debate at the spring European Council in March 2013. Lord de Mauley attended a ministerial lunch, during which the outcomes of the COP18 climate change negotiations which recently took place in Doha were discussed. Member states recognised that overall a good outcome had been achieved at COP18 but, moving forwards, there is still much work to be done. In the afternoon, an orientation debate on the 7th EU Environment Action Programme (7th EAP) was held. The Commission said that it had been a “difficult birth”, but that the 7th EAP should offer a clear-cut programme and a solid and pragmatic framework for years to come. The Commission said that there were only a few legislative gaps to be filled, and the main focus was on implementation. The tone of the discussion was generally positive. Many member states, including the UK, welcomed the focus on implementation. The UK said that they believed the environmental acquis was largely complete, and that any new proposals for legislation must be based on evidence and supported

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Written Statements

[8 JANUARY 2013]

by a robust impact assessment. In that vein, the UK felt that the 7th EAP impact assessment was not quite fit for purpose, and stated that the UK would carry out further work to assess more accurately the ramifications of the programme. The specific concerns of other member states were wide-ranging, but several member states voiced a particular concern about proposed targets to reduce landfill. Under environmental AOB items, a progress report was offered on the Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE), and the presidency provided information on environmental quality standards in the field of water policy (priority substances). The presidency also gave information on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (the EIA Directive). Belgium, Spain and the Czech Republic all intervened to air their concerns about the proposed measures, after which the presidency curtailed the discussion, highlighting that there would be further opportunities to discuss the proposal during the Irish presidency. In the afternoon, several climate change items were discussed under “any other business”. The Emissions Trading Scheme appeared on the agenda in the context of aviation, the recently published carbon market report and the Commission’s proposed measure for changing the auctioning profile for ETS allowances (known as “backloading”). With regards to backloading, Poland presented a paper, based on Commission data, which appeared to show the negative financial impact that backloading would have for certain member states. The Commission responded by questioning the validity of their analysis and was supported by the Netherlands. A proposal to define the modalities for reaching the 2020 targets to reduce CO2 emissions from cars and vans was also presented. Most member states who intervened supported the proposal’s ambition in terms of target levels, and most supported looking at longer-term targets post-2020. The presidency also presented information on proposals for accounting rules and action plans on greenhouse gas emissions and removals relating from activities related to land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). Finally, the Irish presented their priorities for the forthcoming Irish Presidency. The UK also held short bilateral meetings with Croatia, France, the Netherlands and Lithuania.

EU: Transport Council Statement Earl Attlee: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond) has made the following Ministerial Statement. I attended the last Transport Council of the Cypriot Presidency in Brussels on Thursday 20 December. The Council agreed a general approach on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and the council on periodic road worthiness tests for motor vehicles and their trailers and repealing directive 2009/40/EC. Following widespread criticism of the Commission’s proposal at the October Transport Council, the UK has been an active and leading negotiator at

Written Statements

WS 10

the working group meetings chaired by the presidency. The presidency subsequently presented a compromise text that reflected the reality of member states’ road safety testing practices. We supported the change of the legal form of the proposal from a (directly applicable) regulation to a directive (which gives member states some flexibility in transposition). I welcomed the many improvements in the presidency’s text which had substantially reduced the cost implications to a manageable level and indicated that the UK could accept the presidency’s text. I made clear that as negotiations begin with the European Parliament, we would seek to provide Members of the European Parliament with as much information as possible to explain why the changes to the original proposal were both justified and necessary. The presidency provided progress reports on two proposals. The first was the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the council establishing the Connecting Europe Facility. This regulation will provide the legal basis for funding of trans-European transport, energy and telecoms networks for 2014-2020. The text will not be finalised until the budget figures for 2014-2020 have been agreed in discussions on the multi-annual financial framework (MFF). The second was the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the council on the implementation and exploitation of European satellite navigation systems. The council’s position on this regulation, which will provide the legal basis for taking forward the Galileo satellite navigation programme from 2014, was agreed earlier in the year. However, technical discussions with the European Parliament since then have not led to much progress. The dossier will be passed to the Irish Presidency to conclude negotiations with the European Parliament once the budget for Galileo under the MFF has been confirmed. The council adopted conclusions on the communication on “EU’s External Aviation Policy— Addressing Future Challenges”. The Commission welcomed the conclusions, highlighting in particular the worsening aviation relationship with Russia, especially Russia’s ongoing refusal to implement its commitments on Siberian overflight charges. The Commissioner called for collective action at EU level and said he would be producing a road map in the new year with a view to pursuing an EU/Russia comprehensive agreement in due course. The council also adopted a proposal for a decision on the comprehensive aviation agreement between the EU and its member states and Israel. The original plan had been for the agreement to be signed in the margins of the council, but due to internal political reasons, Israel was not able to sign at this time. The Commission hoped that Israel would be in a position to sign this agreement shortly after national elections in the Spring 2013. A high level co-operation agreement with Eurocontrol (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation) was signed in the margins of the council. Under any other business, the Commission provided an update on recent discussions at the International Civil Aviation Organisation to agree a global approach

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Written Statements

[LORDS]

to tackling emissions from aviation. The Commission clarified that it was proposing a temporary derogation on enforcement of the Aviation Emissions Trading System (ETS) relating to international flights and hoped the European Parliament and the council would approve this through a decision in the first quarter of next year. Also under any other business, France tabled a room document which called for a discussion to be held in the International Maritime Organization on the 2015 deadline for implementing the new requirements on the sulphur content of marine fuels. A number of member states intervened and stressed that they would be keen to discuss practical issues, such as the cost of low sulphur fuels to businesses. The Cleaner Power for Transport Package which was due to be discussed as an AOB item was taken off the agenda. Keith Brown MSP, Scottish Minister for Transport and Veterans also attended.

Flooding Statement TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord De Mauley): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs has today made the following Statement. The period leading up to Christmas and in to the new year has again seen flooding across the country. This was particularly unfortunate in that it impacted on people and families during the festive season and I would like to offer my sincere sympathies to those who were affected. The recent floods which began mid way through December affected much of the country. Following on from previous flooding in November and a very wet summer, the December rainfall quickly led to further flooding. Although rain is not unusual at this time of year we have experienced a prolonged period of heavier than usual rainfall during the year. 2012 was the wettest on record in England with some areas experiencing over 131% of average levels. This heavy rain led to flooding from rivers, groundwaters and surface water. The December floods affected many parts of the country with 532 properties flooded, most notably in the south-west with 379 properties impacted. Nearly 22,000 properties were protected from flooding and over 135,000 properties were sent a warning about the potential risk of flooding giving people essential time to protect their homes and possessions. In total over 1.1 million people are signed up to receive Environment Agency flood warnings. I would like to pay tribute to the work of the Environment Agency, fire, ambulance, police and other rescue services, local authorities, the voluntary sector and local communities who contributed to the flood response. This is particularly relevant for those who put aside their traditional Christmas and new year celebrations to help others and to them I offer my sincere thanks.

Written Statements

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I saw for myself some of the magnificent work that results from this multi-agency response when I visited Upton-upon-Severn to see new flood defence schemes successfully keeping high river flows at bay. I also met some of the people who managed the response at the local incident room in Tewkesbury. Last Thursday the Under-Secretary of State, my honourable friend Richard Benyon visited Dorset and Wiltshire to gain a better understanding of the continuing groundwater flooding challenges and to meet some of the people who contributed to our operational response in the region. As river levels fall, saturated ground continues to lead to potential groundwater flooding problems. The Environment Agency’s teams will be monitoring groundwater levels across England and Wales for many weeks to come and advising local authorities which lead on groundwater flooding. As the rain eases over the coming days slower responding rivers such as the Thames, Severn, Nene and the Ouse in Yorkshire, will continue to rise in their lower reaches. The Environment Agency will be monitoring these closely. The recent heavy rain caused major disruption to the rail network in different parts of the UK, particularly in the south-west of England. Major flooding resulted in certain sections of the network being closed and this was compounded by landslips resulting in severe damage to tracks and signalling equipment. Where possible train operating companies either re-routed services or provided alternative means of transport, although this was not always possible due to local road conditions. On the roads there was some initial minor disruption to the strategic road network but the major impact was on local roads under the responsibility of local authorities. In addition to the impacts on homes and businesses around the country, the current floods have been keenly felt among farmers. The Somerset levels and moors have been inundated for a large proportion of the year and continue to be under water. The Lower Hampshire Avon has been at flood risk since early July. In the north-east, there has been extensive and prolonged flooding of agricultural land in the Vale of York. I recognise the difficulties that this situation presents to farmers and offer my sincere sympathies to those who have been affected. It is important to note that investment in flood defence schemes has protected agricultural land. For example, 59 projects completed during 2011-12 provided an improved level of flood protection to more than 74,000 hectares of agricultural land. We recognise that concerns have been raised about clearance of water channels in rural areas and that the department is working with the Environment Agency to examine the issue. My department and its agencies will continue to do all that we can to issue warnings and to moderate the impacts of floods. We will assess the long term impact of the recent saturation of agricultural land. The Government recognise the adverse impacts that flooding has had on communities, both urban and rural, across the country throughout 2012. Continued government investment means that during 2012 we have been able to protect a total of over 200,000 properties from flooding. We now expect to exceed our goal to

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Written Statements

Written Statements

[8 JANUARY 2013]

better protect 145,000 homes from flooding and coastal erosion by March 2015. The Autumn Statement announced an extra £120 million for flood defences in England during this spending period allowing us to protect up to a further 60,000 properties. We remain committed to ongoing discussions with the ABI, on behalf of its members, and others about what replaces the statement of principles agreement. It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on their progress. A range of options are on the table and discussions have been very constructive. No final decisions have been taken. We are keen to improve on the statement of principles. We need a solution that ensures affordable insurance bills for those at flood risk but does not place unsustainable costs on wider policyholders and the taxpayer. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is responsible for the Bellwin scheme of emergency financial assistance to help local authorities with the immediate costs associated with protecting life and properties in their areas. His department stands ready to support all councils that have suffered from the devastating floods including financial support through the Bellwin Scheme and we are monitoring the situation carefully. High river levels, groundwater flooding, standing water and surface water run-off continue to make conditions difficult in different parts of England. I encourage people to continue to take care and think about their own safety and that of friends, relatives and neighbours. These floods, coming as they have after a long series of previous floods, have been a tragedy for those affected, and I want to conclude by paying tribute to the wonderful community spirit that I, the UnderSecretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my honourable friend the Member for Newbury, and Members across the House have seen around the country in their local communities. I shall, of course, keep the House informed of any further significant developments.

Government Car and Dispatch Agency Statement Earl Attlee: My Honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Stephen Hammond) has made the following Ministerial Statement. I am publishing today details of the charges incurred by departments for the use of official government cars provided to Ministers by the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) during the year 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012. This is in line with previous annual statements. The charges recorded in the Statement show a continuing reduction in the amount spent on official cars for Ministers. Costs to departments have seen a 49 per cent reduction in the latest figures when compared to those of the previous year and a 72 per cent reduction when compared to the figures for April 2009 to March 2010:

2009-10

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April 2010

May 2010– March 2011

2011-12

£0.8m

£2.9m

£1.9m

£6.7m

Official cars are an essential service for Ministers in order that they can carry out their work effectively but we are committed to continuing our focus on the cost of this service. The charges recorded in the Statement also reflect the progress made on restructuring the service to maximise value for money while improving standards of service delivery. This programme of reform includes the development of a new service model which will offer up further cost savings on the provision of the service. The new service model was announced in February 2012 and introduced in April 2012. The associated charges will be reflected in next years’ WMS. The figures for 2011-2012 are: Department Attorney General’s Office Cabinet Office Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Department for Education Department for Communities and Local Government Department for Culture, Media and Sport Department for Energy and Climate Change Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Department for International Development Department for Transport

Allocated Cars1

Allocated Cost

Ministerial Car Pool

Total Cost

1

£76,645.29

£15,495.00

£92,140.29

1

£58,097.77

£24,456.90

£82,554.67

1

£71,075.32

£3,270.71

£74,346.03

1

£71,912.21

£91,270.73

£163,182.94

1

£83,689.50

£119,130.47

£202,819.97

0

£0.00

£1,740.81

£1,740.81

0

£0.00

£36,687.79

£36,687.79

1

£74,013.16

£5,691.82

£79,704.98

0

£31,649.41

£48,434.94

£80,084.35

1

£84,818.65

£56,221.79

£141,040.44

Written Statements

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Department

Allocated Cost

Ministerial Car Pool

Total Cost

1

£87,388.17

£57,117.69

£144,505.86

1

£7,885.11

£119,966.86

£127,851.97

0

£0.00

£23,020.77

£23,020.77

1

£105,640.88

£47,802.27

£153,443.15

1

£75,922.71

£60,919.17

£136,841.88

0

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

1

£91,509.03

£103,405.45

£194,914.48

0

£0.00

£34,289.71

£34,289.71

0

£0.00

£60.00

£60.00

1

£78,067.12

£6,380.00

£84,447.12

13

£998,314.33

£855,362.88

£1,853,677.21

Allocated Cars1

Department for Work and Pensions Department of Health Foreign & Commonwealth Office HM Treasury Home Office Ministry of Defence Ministry of Justice Northern Ireland Office Scotland Office Wales Office

[LORDS]

1 Number of Allocated cars as of the 31st of March 2012. One allocated car service terminated mid-year

Where Ministers were provided with a protected service because of their need for greater security, the costs related to this service are not included as this is not paid for directly by departments but centrally by the Home Office. Ministers may use other means of transport or other secure providers of car services, so the official figures provided by GCDA for the Statement may not reflect the total spend by departments on cars used for ministerial travel. These figures do not cover the full costs of delivering the car service. These are set out annually in the GCDA annual report and accounts.

Government: Coalition Government Statement Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My right honourable friend the Minister for Government Policy (Oliver Letwin) made the following Written Ministerial Statement on Monday 7 January. Today, at the halfway point in the Parliament, the Government are publishing a mid-term document. Two and a half years ago, the coalition came together and formed a Government at a time of significant economic danger. The programme for government, which was published in May 2010, described the decisions and policies that the Government believed were required to address the fiscal deficit, to rebalance the economy, to improve the public services, to build a better society and to reinforce Britain’s position in the world.

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This mid-term review highlights the key actions of the coalition to date and illustrates the progress that has been made in taking forward the principal policies contained within the programme for government. On all of their key aims the coalition Government remain steadfast and united. As well as describing what has been done since the start of the Parliament, the review document also sets out the coalition’s priorities for the remainder of the Parliament—with the twin aims of enabling the UK to compete in the global race at a time of increasing international competition and of enabling all of our citizens to fulfil their aspirations. The Government will, above all, prioritise reducing the deficit, rebalancing the economy, and reforming welfare and education. But the review identifies a large number of policies in other areas that will be implemented during the second half of the Parliament—including setting out some future policy directions. I am placing a copy of the review document in the Libraries of both Houses.

Licensing: Entertainment Statement Viscount Younger of Leckie: On Monday 7 January 2013, my right honourable friend the Minister for Sport and Tourism (Hugh Robertson MP) made the following Statement. In late 2011, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport launched a consultation into reforming the regime that regulates many public and charitable entertainment activities. The consultation was launched after many years of calls to reduce unnecessary regulation arising from the 2003 Licensing Act for low risk activities that hamper cultural and community creativity, restrict charities and prevent small businesses from diversifying. These activities, and the many of the organisations and institutions that host them, play a pivotal role in our communities. We are determined to ensure that needless bureaucracy does not restrict these kinds of positive contribution to society. This is why we announced our intention to act in the coalition programme for government, the Growth Review, the Red Tape Challenge, and in the departmental business plan for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The consultation received a very full response—around 1350 responses—and the department has examined every comment carefully. We are extremely grateful to everyone who responded. This consultation has played a full part in shaping future policy. Its key findings were that there was considerable support for deregulation, but that certain protections needed to be retained, including an 11 pm end time for deregulated performance, and, in most circumstances, a lower audience cap than was originally proposed. The new policy for entertainment is outlined below: Performance of plays: no longer requires a licence between 08:00-23:00 for audiences of up to 500 people

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Performance of dance: no longer requires a licence between 08:00-23:00 for audiences of up to 500 people Indoor sport: no longer requires a licence from 08:00-23:00 for audiences of up to 1,000 people. Live music has already been partially deregulated under the Live Music Act 2012, which came into force on 1 October 2012, with the following effect: unamplified live music deregulated between 08:0023:00 with no restrictions on audiences size; and amplified live music deregulated between 08:0023:00 in premises licensed for sale and supply of alcohol, and in certain workplaces. We will, additionally, retain the key protections of the Live Music Act 2012, but raise the permitted audience ceiling from 200 to 500, in on-licensed premises and workplaces in line with the most other deregulated activities Recorded music: in line with live music deregulation, regulation for recorded music (mainly discos and DJs) will be suspended between 08:00-23:00 in premises licensed for the sale and supply of alcohol. This measure, like live music deregulation, is subject to controls from the local licence review process. We also intend to exempt from most forms of entertainment licensing: Community venues (including local authority) Schools Nurseries Hospitals Circuses Film exhibition: we will consult in the coming months on detailed proposals to partially deregulate community film exhibition while maintaining important age restriction protections for children. We will bring the measures into effect as the parliamentary timetable allows. I am arranging for a summary of responses, and the Government’s full response, to be made available on the DCMS website and be deposited in the Libraries of both Houses. I will also place the impact assessment on the website and in the Libraries of both Houses in due course.

NHS: South London Healthcare NHS Trust Statement TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health (Mr Jeremy Hunt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. I wish to inform the House that the trust special administrator appointed to South London Healthcare NHS Trust provided me with his final report on 7 January 2013. It makes recommendations to me in relation to securing a sustainable future for services provided by that organisation.

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Details about the appointment of the administrator, Matthew Kershaw, were given in a Written Ministerial Statement issued on 12 July 2012, Official Report, cols 47-48ws. The report was provided to me in accordance with Chapter 5A of the National Health Service Act 2006, as introduced by the Health Act 2009, and has today been laid before Parliament and made publicly available at: www.dh.gov.uk/health/2013/01/south-londonhealthcare/ Copies are available to honourable Members from the Vote Office and to noble Lords from the Printed Paper Office. I would like to thank Matthew Kershaw for the work he has carried out in producing his report. This is the first time the trust special administrator’s regime has been used since the last Government introduced the provisions which were enacted in the Health Act 2009. In accordance with the legislation, in addition to producing his recommendations on the future of the trust, Mr Kershaw has also been responsible for managing South London Healthcare NHS Trust and maintaining services for patients while the board is suspended pending the outcome of the regime. I do not underestimate the demands this has placed on him. In triggering this regime, the Government’s priority was to ensure that patients continue to receive high-quality, sustainable NHS services. At the time Mr Kershaw was appointed last July, South London Healthcare NHS Trust was overspending by £1 million a week. In the last financial year, the trust had a deficit at over £65 million, the largest in the country. Left to itself, the trust’s very severe financial position would have continued in a downward spiral of continuing deficits and ultimately threaten the quality of care for patients across south-east London. The challenges facing South London Healthcare NHS Trust are complex and long standing. To date, it has not proved possible to ensure that South London Healthcare NHS Trust is able to secure a sustainable future for its services within its existing configuration and organisational form. The Government’s priority is to ensure the delivery of a long-term, viable solution for services provided by the trust if it cannot be made sustainable. All responses to my predecessor’s statutory consultation on whether to trigger the regime, including from South London Healthcare NHS Trust itself, stated that a solution for the trust cannot be viewed in isolation from broader service provision within south-east London. In accordance with my statutory duty, I will consider the trust special administrator’s recommendations carefully and make a final decision that can secure sustainable services for the people of south-east London by 1 February. In considering the recommendations, I will examine particularly: whether the recommendations are likely to provide a sustainable long term financial position which will secure high quality services in the local area for the future; and

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[LORDS]

whether the recommendations have regard to the Government’sfourkeytestsforlocalservicereconfiguration. These are support from GP commissioners, strengthened public and patient engagement, clarity on the clinical evidence base and support for patient choice. Ultimately, my priority is to ensure that all NHS hospitals live within their budgets and achieve the best quality care, best patient outcomes and best patient experience for all their NHS patients. I will inform the House of my decision as soon as reasonably possible afterwards.

Ports Statement

Earl Attlee: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Transport (Simon Burns) has made the following Ministerial Statement. In January 2010 Dover Harbour Board (DHB) submitted a voluntary transfer scheme in accordance with Section 9 of the Ports Act 1991, which allows a relevant port authority to voluntarily submit a transfer scheme, which, if confirmed by the Secretary of State for Transport, would allow the port to be privatised. This was followed by a statutory consultation period on Dover’s transfer scheme that ended on 25 March 2010. On 16 May 2011 the then Secretary of State for Transport, the right honourable Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Philip Hammond), launched a consultation on the criteria that the Government consider relevant when considering the appropriateness of the sale of a major trust port. The revised criteria—Secretary of State for Transport’s Guidance Note concerning procedure for the sale of trust ports—was published on 3 August 2011. In response to the revised criteria, DHB submitted more information in June 2012, and there was a further six-week period for representations which ended on 27 July 2012. I took over as decision Minister from the right honourable Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) in September 2012 and wish to announce the decision, on behalf of the Secretary of State, to the House today. I have decided not to confirm DHB’s transfer scheme. I reached my conclusion taking into account the published policy. I concluded that the transfer scheme proposed would not ensure a sufficient level of enduring community participation in the port. I also concluded that so far as the board made the application in order to be able to obtain the additional finance necessary to undertake the proposed redevelopment of the Western Docks, there were other options available to secure that redevelopment. The full decision letter will be available on the department’s website shortly after this statement. MyhonourablefriendtheParliamentaryUnder-Secretary of State, the honourable Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond) as Minister for Maritime, will now discuss with DHB their plans for the future of the port.

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Railways: Franchises Statement

Earl Attlee: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport (Patrick McLoughlin) has made the following Ministerial Statement. I would today like to give an update on the situation in relation to franchised train operator London Midland (LM). Passengers who use LM trains may be aware that the operator has been experiencing difficulties recently, with a number of services being cancelled due to a shortage of driving staff. This situation has caused inconvenience and disruption, particularly to passengers in the West Midlands, many of whom have expressed their dissatisfaction to me. I very much share their disappointment that they have not had the reliable service that they rightly expect. However, although the recent levels of performance have been extremely disappointing, I am pleased to say that the measures that LM has put in place are beginning to work. LM has implemented increases to driver efficiency to enable drivers to operate an increased number of routes during existing shifts, improved driver training processes, provided additional incentives for drivers to work overtime and put in place new measures that allow for drivers to cover shifts on other parts of the network where there are shortages. This is in addition to the ongoing training programme that LM is undertaking to ensure that new drivers enter productive service as quickly as possible. However, LM’s performance has been of such a level that it is now in breach of its contractual obligations. We have made London Midland aware that it must now take action to compensate passengers for the disruption caused. We have, therefore, agreed with LM that it will provide a substantial package of passenger benefits by way of compensation for the inconvenience that has been caused. LM has agreed to spend an additional £4 million over the remainder of the franchise to put in place measures to ensure that these problems do not happen again. In addition, the package of passenger benefits includes the issue of five free rail day passes to London Midland season ticket holders, with an expected value of up to £3.5 million. We have also agreed that London Midland will invest a further £2.25 million in infrastructure improvement projects. We have required London Midland to discuss with Centro, the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, how the majority of this money will be invested for the benefit of those passengers who have experienced the worst disruption. As a result of this consultation, LM has agreed that most of this money should be directed towards measures such as improvements to safety and security at stations and improving the reliability and efficiency of LM trains. Lastly, we have also agreed with LM that it must make available an additional 500,000 advance tickets on key routes on the LM network, giving a net benefit

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of around £1.9 million to passengers who will be able to take advantage of these cheaper fares over the next two years of the franchise. I hope that LM will be able to remain the operator of this franchise for the remainder of its contract—to September 2015. But London Midland will continue to work to challenging performance benchmarks for the remainder of the franchise, and we will take further action (including ending the franchise early and retendering it if appropriate) in the event of any recurrence of performance problems. In addition to the package of passenger benefits, we have agreed to revise the profile of performance benchmarks for the next year to include additional measures that can penalise LM financially in the event of further poor performance. We have also agreed financial measures to ensure that the reduction in revenue as a result of the free and discounted tickets is borne by LM, and not by the taxpayer. I am confident that this package, on balance, represents a good deal for passengers and taxpayers, and sends a message to the industry that this level of cancellations is unsatisfactory. I hope that LM can now put this period behind it, and continue to operate a good service for its passengers for the remainder of its franchise.

Youth Justice Board Statement The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Jeremy Wright) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. In March 2011 the Government responded to the Public Administration Select Committee report Smaller Government: Shrinking the Quango state setting out the coalition’s plans for reforming the public bodies sector. It includes the requirement to undertake triennial reviews of executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). The Youth Justice Board is an executive nondepartmental public body of the Ministry of Justice established in 2000 by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

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Its principal aims are: monitoring the operation of the youth justice system in England and Wales; advising the Secretary of State for Justice on the operation of the youth justice system, national standards, and on how to prevent offending by children and young people; making grants to youth offending teams and other organisations to support development and delivery of good practice; placing young people in custody; and providing secure accommodation for both remanded and sentenced children and young persons. To deliver the coalition Government’s commitment to transparency and accountability, the Youth Justice Board will be subject to a triennial review. As part of the triennial review process, the Ministry of Justice, as the sponsoring department, has today launched a consultation which will last until 15 February 2013 inviting views. The review will be conducted fully in line with Cabinet Office guidance Guidance on Reviews of Non Departmental Public Bodies and will consider the following: the continuing need for the Youth Justice Board to carry out each of its functions in their current form; and where it is agreed that the individual functions should remain,toreviewthecontrolandgovernancearrangements in place to ensure that the public body is complying withrecognisedprinciplesof goodcorporategovernance. In conducting the triennial review, officials will be engaging with a range of stakeholders of the Youth Justice Board. In addition, the triennial review will take into account evidence collated during previous reviews where still relevant. In 2011, the Government decided not to pursue abolition of the Youth Justice Board as part of the Public Bodies Act 2011, restating their commitment to maintaining a distinct focus on the needs of children and young people in the youth justice system. It is against this backdrop that this triennial review is taking place. The final report and findings will be laid in this House.

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Written Answers Tuesday 8 January 2013

Abortion Questions Asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 22 October (WA 1), what is the legal basis on which the duty to provide abortion services for women living in Northern Ireland has been delegated to primary care trusts; whether primary care trusts are able to discharge that duty for all such women patients or only specified categories of women patients; and, if so, for what [HL4097] categories.

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Secretary of State has a duty under Section 3 of the National Health Service Act 2006 to provide a variety of secondary care services to such extent as he considers necessary to meet all reasonable requirements. This duty is delegated to primary care trusts (PCTs) in Regulation 3(2) of, and Part 2 of Schedule 1 to, the National Health Service (Functions of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts and administration arrangements) (England) Regulations 2002 (“the Regulations”). Regulation 3(7) of the regulations sets out who a PCT is responsible for exercising functions (including the Section 3 duty) in respect of. Under Regulation 3(7), there are two sets of limited circumstances in which PCTs would be able to exercise their delegated functions to provide abortion services to women resident in Northern Ireland. The first is set out in Regulation 3(7)(a)(iii), which provides that a PCT shall exercise its delegated functions in so far as those functions consist of the provision (or securing the provision) of certain services to “qualifying patients” resident in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland who are present in its area and do not fall under the responsibility of another PCT. This essentially covers persons resident in the above countries with serious mental illness who are present in a PCT’s area. The second is set out in Regulation 3(7)(b)(i), which provides that a PCT must exercise its delegated functions in so far as those functions consist of the provision (or securing the provision) of accident and emergency services for the benefit of all persons resident in its area. A PCT’s functions under Regulation 3(7)(a)(iii) will clearly be exercisable only in respect of the limited number of women who fall within that provision. A PCT’s functions under Regulation 3(7)(b)(i) will be exercisable in respect of any person present in the PCT’s area. There is no absolute right for a patient to receive particular treatment under the NHS. A PCT has delegated powers to provide abortion services to a woman who is ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland but present in

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the PCT’s area in so far as that provision falls within Regulation 3(7)(a)(iii) or (b)(i) and is considered by the PCT to be necessary to meet all reasonable requirements. The PCT can take into account all relevant factors in deciding what is necessary to meet all reasonable requirements. Each PCT, in exercising the delegated duty in relation to abortion services, will make its own judgment whether to provide treatment to a woman resident in Northern Ireland, based on the circumstances of each case. Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 17 December (WA 268), whether they will collect data on the sex of unborn babies aborted after 10 weeks gestation; and why they do not collect that data already. [HL4256]

Earl Howe: Work is in progress to monitor gender ratios at birth following a recent report by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. While the overall United Kingdom birth ratio is within normal limits, analysis of birth data for the calendar years from 2007 to 2011 has found the gender ratios at birth vary by mothers’ country of birth. For the majority of groups, this variation is the result of small numbers of births and does not persist between years. However, for a very small number of countries of birth there are indications that birth ratios may differ from the UK as a whole and potentially fall outside of the range considered possible without intervention. However, it is possible that this is also the product of natural variation. Monitoring of this issue will continue. Identifying the gender of aborted foetuses over 10 weeks’ gestation raises ethical and clinical issues. We have no plans to introduce such a practice.

Adoption Question Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many newborn babies were available for adoption during the past 12 months for which figures are available. [HL4259]

Baroness Garden of Frognal: Information on the number of newborn babies available for adoption is not collected by the department. Information is collected on the number of looked-after children for whom the decision has been made by the local authority that it would be in the child’s best interests to be placed for adoption. The number of looked-after children aged under 1 at 31 March 2012 and with such an adoption decision in place was 3,670. A further 50 children aged under 1 at 31 March 2012 were placed for adoption with the consent of parents or guardians. Of the 3,670 looked-after children with an adoption decision in place, 560 had also become the subject of a placement order in the year ending 31 March 2012.

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Afghanistan Questions Asked by The Earl of Sandwich To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they are having with the Government of Afghanistan regarding the protection that is currently given to United Kingdom-managed or United Kingdomsupported official aid and development programmes by British or NATO and International Security Assistance Force armed forces which are due to be [HL4356] withdrawn after 2014. To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any UK-supported Afghan aid projects in the voluntary sector currently receive protection from British or NATO and International Security Assistance Force Armed Forces; and what provision has been made [HL4357] for their future protection after 2014. Baroness Northover: One UK-supported development programme is protected by International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops. The FCO-funded infrastructure project “Route 611” is scheduled for completion before ISAF forces redeploy at the end of 2014 whereupon ownership will transfer to the Afghan Government. The UK Government are in regular contact with the Afghan Government, in Helmand and Kabul, to ensure that adequate funding is provided for future operation and maintenance of all current UK development projects transferring to Afghan ownership.

Agriculture: Soil Management Questions

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Lord De Mauley: There is presently no agreed definition of a healthy soil and we do not intend to develop one for the purposes of common agricultural policy reform. However, research has been carried out to define quantitatively the properties of soils that support different ecosystem services and we are continuing to fund further research in this area. The Government’s vision for soils is set out in the Natural Environment White Paper 2011, The Natural Choice. This states that by 2030 we want all of England’s soils to be managed sustainably and degradation threats tackled successfully in order to safeguard their ability to provide essential ecosystem services and functions for future generations.

Airports: Gatwick and Heathrow Question Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Institute of Directors’ report into airport expansion at Gatwick and Heathrow. [HL4305]

Earl Attlee: The Government’s position on expansion at Heathrow and Gatwick airports remains unchanged and as set out in our coalition agreement. We have, however, appointed Sir Howard Davies to chair an independent commission to identify and recommend to Government options for maintaining the UK’s status as a leading global aviation hub. I would encourage the Institute of Directors to submit any relevant evidence on such matters to the Airports Commission.

Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they contributed to the World Soil Day on 5 December organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the subsequent 3-day technical workshop on Sustainable Soil Management; and whether anyone from the United Kingdom took [HL4107] part.

Airports: Security Questions Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government what regulatory system applies in respect of security for passengers at airports; and what are the risks which any such system is intended to mitigate. [HL4299]

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord De Mauley): The Government did not take any specific action to contribute to World Soil Day 2012. Nevertheless, the Government continue to raise awareness and knowledge of soils issues through, for example, close working with farming stakeholders and research councils. The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) technical workshop on sustainable soil management was attended by the President of the British Society of Soil Science (BSSS). Defra is continuing to liaise with the BSSS on the development of the Global Soils Partnership, which is being taken forward under the auspices of the FAO. Asked by Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer

Earl Attlee: The European Union has competence in the field of aviation security. Accordingly, UK airports are subject to European regulations that set common rules for safeguarding civil aviation. In addition, the UK has a number of requirements in place over and above those common rules (known as more stringent measures); these are regulated under powers contained in the Aviation Security Act 1982. The regime is designed to mitigate the risk of acts of unlawful interference with civil aviation, primarily arising from the terrorist threat.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their definition of a healthy soil; and whether they intend to develop that definition further for the purposes of the common agricultural policy reform.[HL4108]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they determine the adequacy of security arrangements at foreign airports; and on what risks their determination [HL4300] is based.

Asked by Lord Laird

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Earl Attlee: Internationally, civil aviation is overseen by ICAO (the International Civil Aviation Organisation), a specialist body of the UN. Under the ICAO treaty the responsibility for aviation security lies with host states. In order to validate this, ICAO carries out a programme to audit aviation security in each state. The results of these audits are confidential to the state and ICAO. The Department for Transport maintains a small network of overseas liaison officers who work with states in Africa, the Middle East and Asia to share UK experience and improve aviation security. Their views, along with information from other sources and advice from the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, enable the department to establish a view of risk and consequently to provide appropriate advice to UK air carriers on security measures at the foreign airports that they operate to.

Question Asked by Lord Beecham To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of central funding for the arts in the financial years 2011–12 and 2012–13 was (1) for capital programmes, and (2) for revenue support. [HL3892] Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is unable to provide details of potential funding provided for the arts across all of government, as this information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, the funding DCMS provided to Arts Council England (ACE) in the financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13 can be found in the following table.

Question Asked by The Earl of Sandwich

Baroness Northover: There are no plans to transfer existing Ministry of Defence (MoD) projects to the Department for International Development ownership. MoD funding arrangements for the Officer Academy are still to be confirmed but we expect these to be discussed as part of next year’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

Arms Trade Treaty Question Asked by The Lord Bishop of Wakefield To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they intend to build international support for the draft text of an arms trade treaty following negotiations at the United Nations in July 2012. [HL3952] TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The UK played a leading role in securing a resolution at the UN 1st Committee last month. The resolution calls for the convening of a diplomatic conference from 18-28 March 2013 to finalise work on the treaty. An overwhelming majority of states (157) voted for the resolution, including the US, China and India, with only 18 countries abstaining and none voting against. We have begun to discuss the draft text from the July conference with stakeholders in the non-governmental organisations community, industry and key allies. With a clear set of priorities established, we will then work intensively to build the necessary consensus around them in advance of the March conference.

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Arts: Funding

Armed Forces: Afghanistan

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many projects currently supported by the Ministry of Defence in Afghanistan will qualify or be proposed for funding from the Department for International Development after 2014; and whether new defence projects such as the officers’ academy will qualify for Department for International Development [HL4358] funding.

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2011-12 (outturn) 2012-13 (budget)

Capital Programmes and % of total funding

Revenue Support and % of total funding

£13.032m (3%) £21.271m (6%)

£376.669m (97%) £346.408m (94%)

Total £389.701m £367.679m

These figures exclude funding from the Department for Education for cultural education programmes, museums capital and revenue funding and restructuring costs in 2012-13. Revenue support includes administration costs. In addition to the funding provided to ACE, DCMS provided the following funding to support the arts.

2011-12 (outturn) 2012-13 (budget)

Capital Programmes and % of total funding

Revenue Support and % of total funding

£0.761m (35%) £0m

£1.437m (65%) £1.025m (100%)

Total £2.198m £1.025m

Asylum Seekers Questions Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many asylum applications had been outstanding for more than 12 months in each year from 2008 to 2011; and how many have currently been outstanding for more [HL4131] than 12 months. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): The numbers of asylum applications made between 2008 and 2011 that had been outstanding for more than 12 months before an initial decision, by year, are shown in the attached table. The applications referred to in the data are not necessarily still outstanding.

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Asylum applications made 2008 to 7 May 2011 from main applicants outstanding for more than 12 months Number of applications outstanding for Year in which more than Total main application made 12 months applicants 2008 2009 2010 1 Jan to 7 May 2011

5,101 2,772 526 295

25,932 24,487 17,916 6,722

Notes: Information on the length of time cases have been outstanding has to be derived from existing data on the systems as follows: 1. The asylum applications made 2008 to 7 May 2011 by main applicants outstanding for more than 12 months have been derived from data published as National Statistics in Table as.06. They have been derived by taking the number of applicants who applied that year and then checking whether they had an initial decision within 365 days of their application. If they did not have an initial decision at this point, we considered their application as outstanding. The 2011 data relate only to applications between January and 7 May 2011 as the previously published data were extracted from CID on 7 May 2012, so applications after this point would all have been outstanding for less than a year. Data from 2011 onwards are provisional figures. Source: Table as.06 (extracted 7 May 2012) - Immigration Statistics July - September 2012

These figures are a subset of published data on the outcome analysis of asylum applications, based on the year of application in the release “Immigration Statistics, July to September 2012”, which is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office science website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ publications/science-research-statistics/researchstatistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigrationq3-2012/ The number of asylum applications currently outstanding for more than 12 months is 2,135. This figure is a subset of published data in the above publication and has been derived by looking at asylum claims that were pending an initial decision on the 30th September 2012, as published in Table as.01.q, and calculating for how many the application date was prior to 30th September 2011. Asked by Lord Hylton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what methods they are using to improve the quality of first decisions [HL4236] in asylum applications by women. Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The UK Border Agency is committed to improving the management of asylum claims from women and this includes improving the quality of decisions in these cases. In October 2010 the agency published revised guidance to decision-makers on gender-based claims and, recently, the agency has implemented a programme of mandatory training on gender issues to those decision-makers. Both guidance and training were developed in conjunction with corporate partners, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Asylum Aid. The agency has also carried out a thematic review of decisions in gender-based cases and is using the outcomes from the review to plan further

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improvements, working with corporate partners to do this. In addition, the agency has embarked on a major review of the way in which information and advice is provided to asylum applicants throughout the process. This includes specifically looking at the journey of women through the process. The agency continues to measure quality by auditing 10% of first-instance asylum decisions but it is in the process of developing its “next generation” quality framework, which will broaden the scope of what is measured to ensure compliance across the system.

Bank of England Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will introduce a nominal gross domestic product target for the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. [HL4168] The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Chancellor set the Monetary Policy Committee its remit, at Budget 2012, to target inflation of 2%, as measured by the 12-month increase in the consumer prices index. The Government have no plans to change the inflation targeting framework.

Banking Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether retail deposits with a bank within the proposed regulatory ring-fence will continue to be subject to a maximum limit on claims under the Financial Services [HL4084] Compensation Scheme. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Financial Services Compensation Scheme will continue to provide protection for up to £85,000 per depositor, per authorised institution. The level of protection is set out in the EU Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive, which sets a maximum harmonised limit of ¤100,000. In line with this, the UK limit is £85,000.

Banking: European Central Bank Questions Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on the United Kingdom banking industry of the establishment of a new supervisory role for the European Central Bank [HL4170] over large banks in the eurozone. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Prime Minister’s Statement to the House of Commons on 17 December 20121 on the outcome of the December European Council and the Government’s

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Explanatory Memorandum on European Union Documents No. 13682/12, 13683/12 and 12854/12, on the Commission’s proposal for a Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), set out the following key points: the current allocation of competencies between home and host supervisor and the member state of the banking group would not change; in terms of its regulatory impact, the new supervisory structure may result in additional costs for entities whichhaveoperationsinparticipatingmemberstates—such as complying with additional requests for information from the European Central Bank (ECB), as well as relevant national competent authorities. However, these costs are anticipated to be small, relative to the benefits to be derived from the establishment of the SSM, in terms of strengthened supervision within the eurozone; and in terms of its financial impact, credit institution subsidiaries of UK firms established in participating member states would fund the new supervisory function of the ECB through payment of a levy. At least some of the cost could be offset by a reduction in the levy charged to finance national regulators. 1 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/ cmhansrd/cm121217/debtext/121217-0001.htm#1212174000003

Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether United Kingdom banks will be free to opt to be regulated by the European Central Bank (ECB) rather than the Bank of England or its Prudential Regulatory Authority; and whether they have considered the implications for the competitiveness of United Kingdom banks if the ECB sets lower requirements [HL4260] for capital and liquidity. Lord Newby: United Kingdom banks will not be free to opt to be regulated by the European Central Bank (ECB) rather than the Bank of England or its Prudential Regulatory Authority. The Government have taken into consideration the implications for the competitiveness of the United Kingdom banks and will keep the position under review.

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Financial Service Compensation Scheme to repay part of the loan with HM Treasury, £0.7 billion was allocated to the Depositors’ and Investors’ Guarantee Fund share of the loan and the remaining £0.2 billion was used to reimburse HM Treasury for its statutory debt payments for deposit balances in excess of £50,000. Negotiations with Iceland over the terms of a loan agreement in respect of the compensation paid to UK depositors of Icesave, the UK branch of Landsbanki hf, are ongoing. Progress is currently suspended pending the outcome of proceedings by the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Surveillance Authority against Iceland in the EFTA Court in respect of Iceland’s alleged failure to meet its legal obligations to UK and Dutch depositors under the EU deposit guarantee directive. 1

www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/hmt_annual_report_2012.pdf

Banks: Lending Question Asked by Lord Barnett To ask Her Majesty’s Government what rate of interest is paid by banks for funds under the funding for loans scheme; and to what extent interest rate reductions have been passed on to consumers through [HL4093] lower interest rates. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The amount that banks participating in the Funding for Lending Scheme can borrow from the Bank of England and the fee they pay for it are linked to their lending performance to UK households and businesses. Banks that maintain or increase their net lending pay a fee of 0.25% per year. Banks that decrease lending pay an additional 0.25% for each percentage point reduction in net lending, up to a maximum of 1.5%, in the case where lending falls by more than 5%. It is still too early to judge the impact of the scheme on lending rates. However, mortgage rates quoted by banks have reduced by up to 0.4 percentage points since June 2012.

Banks: Iceland Question Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been repaid to the United Kingdom by or in respect of each of the failed Icelandic banks; how much is still owed by each bank; and what steps [HL4253] they are taking to ensure repayment. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Government expect full recovery of the amount that Iceland is liable for, regarding failed banks. Information on payments in respect of Icelandic banks can be found in Sections 30, 31 and 33 of the Treasury annual reports and accounts 2011-121. During 2011-12, the administrator for Icesave paid out dividends to HM Treasury and the FSCS of £1.3 billion. Of this, £0.4 billion was used by the

Benefits Questions Asked by Lord Greaves To ask Her Majesty’s Government which Department for Work and Pensions benefit centres handle appeals against decisions to place recipients of the employment and support allowance in the work-related activity group, and related matters; and, in each case, (1) how many appeals are outstanding, and (2) how long they expect to take [HL4125] to deal with the current backlog. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): There are currently 39 centres handling employment and support allowance appeals within the network of benefit centres.

WA 11

Written Answers

[LORDS]

The work position is managed across the network and therefore the individual position of benefit centres can be misleading as the work can be moved to sites with more capacity. Additional resource has recently been moved into the benefit centre network to assist with the high volumes of appeals that have been received and it is currently expected that work volumes outstanding will return to normal levels by the end of July 2013 on a national basis. This position is constantly being reviewed with an aim to reducing the outstanding work at the earliest opportunity. Asked by Lord Beecham To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children under 16 live in households with working and non-working parents respectively who will be affected by the proposed 1% cap in benefit increases. [HL4167]

Lord Freud: Assessments of impacts will accompany the uprating order for 2013 and the forthcoming uprating Bill.

Written Answers

WA 12

However, details of ordinary residence and the right to reside in individual cases are not retained in a format that can be accumulated and extrapolated. 1 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/start/who-qualifies/ new-arrivals-uk.htm 2 http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/cbtmanual/CBTM10020.htm and http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/cbtmanual/CBTM10070.htm

Asked by Baroness Sherlock To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average time taken to process applications for disability living allowance; whether there is a target time within which those applications should be processed; and, if so, what proportion of applications meet [HL4323] that target. Lord Freud: The latest Average Actual Clearance Time for processing DLA claims is 28.4 days at November year to date (April to November 2012). However, there is no set target for this measure. When reporting clearance times, the department uses a timeband measure of 79% of claims cleared in 40 days. Against this target we are currently reporting 79.3% in the month for November and 76.8% year to date (April to November 2012).

Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sassoon on 17 December (WA 270), why the information on the European Union nationality of recipients of child benefits is not available; how they assess and record a claimant’s status as ordinarily resident and having a right to reside in the United Kingdom; and whether such details can be accumulated and extrapolated. [HL4298]

Lord Deighton: Nationality is not a condition of entitlement to child benefit, so it is not recorded or retained in the relevant computer system. The factors which HMRC take into account when it assesses whether a claimant is ordinarily resident and has a right to reside in the United Kingdom are summarised in public guidance which is published on the departmental website1. The criteria for being ordinarily resident in the UK to receive child benefit are to: have the main home in the UK; have chosen to live and settle here; and only go abroad for short periods, for example, on holiday. The criteria for having the right to reside in the UK to receive child benefit are for a person to be: a UK national; from the Channel Islands; from the Isle of Man; or from the Republic of Ireland. More detailed information about ordinary residence and the right to reside is contained in the HMRC Child Benefit Technical Manual, which is also published on HMRC’s website2.

Burma Questions Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Government of Burma regarding the allegations of rape of women by Burmese military forces in Rohingya. [HL4147] TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): We have received many reports of human rights abuses in Rakhine State since the outbreak of violence in June, including reports that allege the involvement of government security forces in the rape of Rohingya women and girls. During his recent visit to Burma, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), raised our concerns with the Burmese Foreign Minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, and requested support for the Foreign Secretary’s preventing sexual violence initiative. During his visit to Rakhine State, Mr Swire met local government officials and delivered strong messages on human rights including on ensuring that those accused of human rights abuses are held to account. The publication of the report by the investigative commission that was set up to probe the causes of the violence in Rakhine State has been delayed so that the commission can incorporate its findings on the violence of late October. It will be important for investigations into alleged atrocities, including rape, to be transparent and thorough, ensuring that those who have committed crimes are held to account for their actions.

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Government of Bangladesh regarding provision of assistance to Rohingyan refugees. [HL4148] Baroness Warsi: The Government raise regularly the issue of Rohingya refugees and the importance of continuing humanitarian aid with the Government of Bangladesh. Our high commissioner in Dhaka raised the issue on 11 November with senior interlocutors in the Bangladesh Government and wrote on the issue to the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s office on 15 August. Officials from our high commission have previously visited the camps for displaced Rohingyas. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), raised this issue during a meeting with the Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, on 28 July and the then Secretary of State for the Department for International Development (DfID), my right honourable friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), raised it in a meeting with the Prime Minister on 12 August. I also discussed our concerns with Dipu Moni, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, earlier this month. We have also raised the issue of Rohingya refugees with the Government of Bangladesh as part of a recent EU demarche. DfID continues to provide core contributions to the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department and UN agencies that directly support the Rohingya community. In October DfID allocated £2 million in humanitarian funding to communities affected by the unrest in Rakhine. We also continue to seek every opportunity to raise our concerns about the treatment of the Rohingya directly with the Burmese Government not only in Burma but also in international fora such as the UN in New York, the EU and at the recent Asia-Europe summit in Laos. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), visited Burma from 12-15 December. In meetings with the Burmese Government, both at national and local level, he pressed for increased humanitarian aid access to all communities in need, for those responsible for the violence to be brought to account, and for a long-term solution to the issues affecting the Rohingya. He visited Rakhine State to see for himself the situation on the ground, speaking to victims of the violence in three camps for internally displaced people and to local political and religious leaders. Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the most recent violence in [HL4149] Arakan State in Burma.

Written Answers

WA 14

including Rakhine State, between 12 and 15 December. He was able to see conditions in five camps and settlements for internally displaced persons in Rakhine, including camps at Myebon and Pauktaw. Our assessment is that the violence in Rakhine State has been driven primarily by decades-long intercommunal tensions between communities in western Burma. The estimate from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs on 12 December was that 115,000 people have been displaced by violence during 2012; 36,000 of these from the incidents in October. An unverified number of people have been killed, with official figures from the Burmese Government in the region of 80 people, but it is not possible to confirm numbers precisely. The majority of killed and displaced were from the Rohingya community, though the Rakhine community has also been affected. Efforts to establish dialogue between community leaders have so far met with little success. In meetings with the Burmese Government, both at national and local level, Hugo Swire pressed for increased humanitarian aid access to all communities in need, for those responsible for the violence to be brought to account, including where security forces had been implicated, and for a long-term solution to the issues affecting the Rohingya to include consideration of the issue of citizenship. Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Government of Burma regarding the ongoing violence in Rakhine/ [HL4180] Arakan State.

Baroness Warsi: From 12 to 15 December the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), visited Burma. In meetings with the Burmese Government, both at a national level and in Rakhine State itself, he pressed for increased humanitarian aid access to all communities in need, for those responsible for the violence to be brought to account, including where security forces had been implicated, and for a long-term solution to the issues affecting the Rohingya to include consideration of the issue of citizenship. The UK remains one of the most vocal members of the international community on the issues in Rakhine State. We continue to seek every opportunity to raise our concerns directly with the Burmese Government not only in Burma—including during the visits of the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) and the Prime Minister, my right honourable friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), earlier this year—but also through international fora such as the UN in New York, the EU and at the Asia-Europe summit in Laos. Asked by Baroness Uddin

Baroness Warsi: The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), visited Burma,

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for an International [HL4181] Peace Mission to Burma.

WA 15

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[LORDS]

Baroness Warsi: The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), visited Rakhine on 14 and 15 December, where he met communities affected by the violence and urged the Burmese authorities to ensure both security and humanitarian access across Rakhine State. The Burmese Government have, to date, allowed 19 separate visits by independent observers from foreign Governments and international organisations to visit the areas affected by the violence. Officials from our embassy, including our ambassador, led the first independent diplomatic mission to Rakhine State in early October, and visited again in early November. Given the levels of international access to the area, and the Burmese Government’s establishment of an investigative commission to look into the events in Rakhine State, the British Government will await the Commission’s recommendations, and will work with the Burmese authorities accordingly. We judge that to call for an International Peace Mission at this time would pre-empt the Burmese Government’s own commission. Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for the establishment of a United Nations Commission of Enquiry in Burma to consider the ongoing violence in Rakhine/Arakan State; and whether they have taken steps to promote [HL4182] the establishment of such a body. Baroness Warsi: During his recent visit to Rakhine State the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), discussed in detail the drivers of the recent violence in Rakhine State with the Burmese authorities and leaders of affected Rohingya and Rakhine communities. In the course of his visit the Minister welcomed the formation of an independent investigative commission by the Burmese Government into the causes of the violence. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), also made clear that, for the commission to be credible, it needed to involve a consultative process with all the affected communities, including the Rohingya, and that any investigations into alleged atrocities should be transparent and thorough, ensuring that those who have committed crimes are held to account for their actions. We are awaiting the initial findings of the Commission’s report, due in March 2013. In a statement on 17 November, the UN Secretary General welcomed the positive steps made by President Thein Sein, including the Burmese Government’s intention to ensure that the perpetrators of violence are held to account. UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Baroness Amos, has recently returned from a visit to Rakhine State. The UN has not made the case for a commission of inquiry at this time. The UN is planning a roundtable discussion in Burma in early 2013, in order to address the issues in Rakhine State and the plight of the Rohingya community specifically. The UK will continue take an active role in this discussion and any further UN initiatives.

Written Answers

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Asked by Baroness Cox To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the humanitarian needs of those displaced by conflict in Kachin State, Burma. [HL4333]

Baroness Northover: I refer the noble Baroness to the Answer that my honourable friend the Minister of State, Alan Duncan, gave to the honourable Member for Walsall South (Valerie Vaz) on 22 November (Official Report, col. 607W). Negotiations between the Burmese Government and Kachin representatives for full international access to areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Army have continued since then, but remain difficult. Asked by Baroness Cox To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Burma about the cessation of conflict in Kachin State and ensuring humanitarian access to all internally [HL4334] displaced people. Baroness Warsi: The Government are concerned by the ongoing conflict between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burmese military. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), visited Burma from 12 to 15 December 2012. He raised the UK’s concerns with the Burmese Minister of Defence, Lt General Wai Lwin, and Minister Aung Min, the lead government negotiator for the peace process. Mr Swire urged the Burmese Government to push for a ceasefire and begin constructive dialogue with the KIA. He also pressed the Burmese Government to ensure humanitarian access to all conflict-affected populations in Kachin State. The Department for International Development has allocated £3.5 million to support humanitarian needs in Kachin, helping to meet the needs of internally displaced people, primarily in border camps not controlled by the Government. The aid will help meet their food security, shelter, water, sanitation, health and bedding needs. Asked by Baroness Cox To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider funding established local nongovernmental organisations to provide aid to areas in Shan, Kachin, and Rakhine states in Burma which international non-governmental organisations cannot reach due to government restrictions. [HL4335]

Baroness Northover: The Department for International Development (DfID) selects delivery partners on a case-by-case basis according to whom we judge is best able to deliver what is required. The additional support for Kachin, agreed this month by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State, will be implemented by an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), Trocaire, working closely with a local organisation, Karuna Myanmar Social Services (KMSS). In Rakhine

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

State, DfID’s humanitarian assistance will be delivered by a consortium of international NGOs, but we will continue to monitor the situation, in case opportunities to work with local NGOs arise. DfID also supports the Shan Women’s Action Network who work in Thailand to support the needs of people displaced by conflict in Shan State.

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Question Asked by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff To ask Her Majesty’s Government what approach they have taken to help local councils tackle the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning when using Warm Homes Healthy People funding. [HL4080]

Written Answers

WA 18

Baroness Garden of Frognal: The work of the information-sharing group is now complete. The focus of the work has been on information sharing between early years practitioners (for example, staff in children’s centres or nurseries) and health professionals. The group’s discussions and scrutiny covered the use of both information sharing of population data (such as new birth data) and individual data about a particular child or their family. We expect the final report of the group, entitled “Information sharing in the Foundation Years”, to be submitted to Ministers at both the Department for Education and the Department of Health shortly.

Dentistry: Dental Hygienists Question Asked by Lord Lea of Crondall

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Cold Weather Plan for England 2012, published on 26 October 2012, recognises that carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a potential killer and urges individuals to consider fitting an audible CO alarm that is EN 50291-compliant, but that fitting an alarm should not replace regular maintenance of appliances. The Warm Homes Healthy People 2012 fund supports the Cold Weather Plan, and local authorities were invited to submit innovative proposals to make homes warmer and reduce levels of death and morbidity. Installation of CO monitors is in line with the aims of the Cold Weather Plan in helping to protect vulnerable people during the coming winter. Information on the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in vulnerable households by local authorities has not been routinely collected as part of the Warm Homes Healthy People £20 million funding for 2012-13. However, an analysis of the successful proposals shows that at least 14 local authority proposals (covering 16 local authorities) have included the installation of carbon monoxide detectors as part of their projects. We know that there were some other local authorities that included CO monitors as an element of their wider proposals. The department has also awarded national grants to the value of £1.5 million to Age UK and the Foundations Independent Living Trust to complement the work carried out by local authorities. As part of the Age UK proposals, local and national handyperson services will check if households have a working carbon monoxide detector and, where needed, will install a new one, with the aim of a rollout of the installation of free CO detectors nationwide.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take on patients’ access to dental hygienists following the recommendations of the Office of Fair Trading report on dentistry published [HL4210] in May 2012. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): Access to dental care professionals (DCPs), including dental hygienists, is a matter for the General Dental Council (GDC). Following the publication of the Office of Fair Treading report on dentistry, the GDC has initiated a review of direct access to DCPs. The review is expected to report in early 2013.

Drones Question Asked by Lord Hylton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of frequent drone flights on the civilian populations of parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and in particular on children. [HL4235]

TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The UK operates remotely piloted aircraft systems in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan. The rules of engagement are the same as those for manned aircraft. Drone strikes against terrorist targets in Pakistan are a matter for the states involved. We expect all states concerned to act in accordance with international law and take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties when conducting military operations.

Children: Data Sharing Question

Drugs

Asked by Lord Rooker

Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hill of Oareford on 23 July (WA 92–3), what was the outcome of the working group dealing with information regarding children; and what action they plan to take in [HL4331] response.

Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the remarks on 13 December by the Deputy Prime Minister regarding drugs policy, whether they have any plans to amend their existing policy [HL4230] on illegal drugs.

WA 19

Written Answers

[LORDS]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): We are confident our ambitious approach to tackling drugs is the right one. Drug usage remains at one of the lowest level since records began and people going into treatment today are far more likely to free themselves from dependency than ever before. But we are not complacent. We are continually looking at new ways of reducing demand, restricting supply and promoting recovery. We will be considering the recommendations from the Home Affairs Select Committee’s Drug Inquiry report and will respond in due course.

Drugs: Orphan Medicines

Written Answers

WA 20

Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have assessed the impact on finance costs for them and for business of the United Kingdom losing its [HL4220] AAA credit rating.

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Government’s actions, taken to reduce the deficit and rebuild the economy, have secured stability and positioned the UK as a relative safe haven. Interest rates are near historic lows, benefiting families, businesses and the tax payer. Returning the UK to sustainable, balanced economic growth is the Government’s overriding priority.

Question Asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that interim National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) appraisal processes for orphan medicines are appropriate, while NICE develops its permanent appraisal process [HL4268] for such medicines. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is working closely with stakeholders to prepare to take on its new responsibilities for assessing highly specialised technologies for people with rare conditions from 1 April 2013. As an independent organisation, it will be for NICE to ensure that it has appropriate procedures in place.

Economy: Cost of Living Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to reduce the cost of living. [HL4362]

Lord Newby: The Government continue to take steps to support households. The personal allowance will increase further to £9,440 in April 2013 to support hard-working individuals. This cash increase of £1,335 in 2013-14 is the largest ever. The 3p fuel duty increase planned for January 2013 has been cancelled. The Government have also announced a third council tax freeze.

Economy Questions Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of monetary policy on economic demand. [HL4218] Lord Deighton: The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) macroeconomic policy tools, including bank rate and quantitative easing (QE), via the asset purchase facility (APE), are designed to affect the economy as a whole in order to meet the 2% inflation target over the medium term. The Bank of England has estimated that the first round of QE, between March 2009 and January 2010, raised spending and activity in the UK economy. Analysis set out in the Bank’s December 2012 Quarterly Bulletin finds that the impact of the second round of asset purchases between October 2011 and May 2012 looks to have been similar to the first round in terms of its proportionate effect on broad money and the wider economy. The MPC stated, in the minutes of its meeting in November 2012, that “demand and output would have been significantly weaker” in the absence of asset purchases.

Education: English Language Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to improve English language teaching for immigrants. [HL4229]

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: Where English language training is publicly funded through further education colleges and training providers, they are responsible for the quality of their provision. They are held to account for the quality of teaching and the outcomes of this provision by the Skills Funding Agency and Ofsted. Government and Ofsted have placed a new emphasis on the importance of the quality of teaching, learning and assessment in further education and skills provision. When provision is identified as inadequate, there are now clear intervention procedures. The Government fund through partner agencies quality improvement support for the sector, which includes support to improve the quality of English provision for adults.

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

Elections: Devolved Administrations Question Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps the Cabinet Office is taking to co-operate with the devolved Administrations in (1) Wales, (2) Scotland, and (3) Northern Ireland, to ensure that the maximum number of young people qualify to vote in each of [HL4272] those nations. Lord Wallace of Saltaire: Government, politicians, political parties, electoral administrators and others in society all have a role to play in encouraging people to register to vote. The Government are committed to doing all they can to maximise registration, including among young people, and are looking to make it as easy and convenient as possible for people to register to vote as well as move to IER. This includes looking at the work done in Northern Ireland to get young people registered. We are also piloting different approaches across the country to encourage young people to register to vote. To maximise levels of voter registration among young people, the Government are piloting different approaches to encourage them to register to vote. This includes: holding 20 events in schools, running participatory sessions to inform attainers about the reasons to register to vote and encourage them to do so; making available an online registration event toolkit aimed at teachers and community leaders so that they can deliver their own events targeted at young people; and commissioning digital work so that young people who register can share this fact on Facebook, encouraging other young people in their social networks also to register. We are also running data-mining pilots which intend to assess whether data matching with data from other government departments and bodies such as the Student Loans Company can assist in getting more young people on to the register.

Elections: Voting Age Question Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will monitor the experience in lowering of the voting age to 16 in the Scottish referendum with a view to informing future decisions about lowering the voting [HL4274] age throughout the rest of the country. Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The UK and Scottish Governments have agreed that the power to legislate for a referendum on Scotland’s independence should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. As a result it will be for the Scottish Parliament to determine the franchise of the referendum—just as it is responsible for determining the franchise for any other referendum or election within its devolved competence. However, this sets no precedent for the franchise for the UK Parliament, Scottish Parliament or local authorities, which remain the responsibility of the UK Government and Parliament.

Written Answers

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There is no consensus within government for lowering the voting age to 16 and we therefore have no current plans to do so.

Embryology Questions Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 7 February 2011 (WA 12) regarding the number of cycles in which a risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) was reported as the reason for abandoning a cycle of licensed treatment, what consideration the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has given to the impact of (1) financial payment structures, (2) lack of appropriate cycle monitoring, and (3) competition due to the HFEA’s publication of clinic success rates, on the incidence of OHSS and the under-reporting of complications. [HL4152]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what data directly held by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) the HFEA base their assertion that the single biggest risk of fertility treatment is multiple pregnancy; whether it is directly informed by data from the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health; what data is held by the HFEA regarding the frequency of late miscarriage, high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia in mothers; what efforts were made by the HFEA to ensure that any additional data relating to the risks associated with multiple pregnancy were made available to them; what other risks of fertility treatment are known to the HFEA; and what data is held by the HFEA regarding the frequency and severity of [HL4153] any other such risks. To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary UnderSecretary for Public Health, Anne Milton, on 19 June (Official Report, cols. 941–942W) regarding the activity of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in monitoring research on the safety of treatment techniques, the Written Statement by Earl Howe on 24 November 2010 (WS 101–2) and the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 9 July (WA 202–3), why the HFEA has not made an assessment of the figures described in the journal Human Fertility (volume 10, issue 3, pages 183–7). [HL4154]

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it reviewed its policies regarding egg, sperm and embryo donation in 2011, including donor compensation and benefits in kind, details of which can be found on the HFEA website at: www.hfea.gov.uk/5605.html. The HFEA has also advised that it has limited powers around ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) and does not collect data about the overall incidence of OHSS or produce requirements around monitoring of patients. Clinics are, however, asked to

Written Answers

WA 23

[LORDS]

report treatment cycles to the HFEA where a cycle has been abandoned due to there being a risk of the patient developing OHSS. Severe cases of OHSS are treated as incidents and the HFEA expects an incident report from a clinic whenever a clinic is made aware of a severe case of OHSS. The HFEA also asks to see a clinic’s OHSS management protocols before a licence renewal inspection. The success rates that the HFEA publishes are designed to give patients information to enable them to decide on the best clinic for them, taking into account a number of factors including success rates. The HFEA has advised that its statement that the single biggest risk of fertility treatment is multiple pregnancy was based on the outcome of a series of discussions the Expert Group on Multiple Births after In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) had between the autumn of 2005 and October 2006. The HFEA set up an independent expert group in response to rising concerns about the incidence of multiple births after IVF/ICSI (intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection). The group reviewed the available international and national data on multiple births after IVF/ICSI, health and psychosocial outcomes for twins and their families, and the experience with single embryo transfer gathered in some European countries. It made recommendations to the HFEA and other organisations that have a role to play in reducing the high incidence of multiple births after IVF. The work to reduce multiple births has been a collaborative effort with other professional organisations. Data held by the HFEA regarding the frequency of late miscarriage, following IVF/ICSI, are set out in the following tables:

Year

Incidence of miscarriages

Rate of miscarriages against all pregnancies %

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

1,346 1,594 1,763 1,978 1,963

12 13 13 13 12

A count of the number of outcomes that listed both a live birth and a miscarriage. These are included in the previous totals. Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Outcomes

252

334

412

415

404

Note: These data concern cases where more than one gestational sac was reported, so reflects instances of a multiple pregnancy where both a miscarriage and a live birth occurred.

The HFEA does not hold data on high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia in mothers. Other risks of fertility treatment are set out on the HFEA’s website at: www.hfea.gov.uk/fertility-treatment-risks.html. These risks, along with the risk of multiple births, are considered through the HFEA’s regulatory regime. The data that the HFEA holds on such risks vary depending on the particular risk. With regard to the information in Human Fertility, the HFEA has advised that it has nothing to add to the Answer I gave the noble Lord on 9 July 2012 (Official Report, cols. WA 202-3).

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Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) held discussions with Susan Bewley, Lin Foo and Peter Braude regarding concerns raised in their editorial for the British Medical Journal in January 2011; whether actions were proposed by the HFEA in response, and if so, what; and when any such discussions or actions took place. [HL4174] Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the authority’s horizon-scanning process is an early warning system that identifies new scientific and clinical developments that may impact on the field of assisted reproduction or embryo research. Horizon scanning allows the HFEA to consider the legal, ethical and scientific implications of any new technique that scientists or clinicians may wish to use in HFEA-licensed research or treatment. Research and developments are presented to the HFEA’s Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee (SCAAC) in order for it to provide recommendations. The HFEA has also advised that Bewley et al (2011) was included in its summary of follow-up research for SCAAC. This can be found on the HFEA’s website at: www.hfea.gov.uk/7089.html. Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 20 July 2011 (WA 305–6), how many cybrid embryos have been generated with eggs from non-human species in total according to records held by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA); and how many other classes of “admixed human” [HL4175] embryos have been generated. To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 20 July 2011 (WA 306) and by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 7 November 2002 (WA 145), whether they now collect data on how many human embryos have been (1) created, (2) frozen, (3) destroyed, (4) implanted, and (5) experimented upon, since the passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990; if so, what are those figures; and, if not, whether they will instruct the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to refine their collection of data so that it provides full disclosure under each of those [HL4176] categories. Earl Howe: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it has no further information to add to that provided in the Answer I gave the noble Lord about human admixed embryos on 20 July 2011 (Official Report, cols. WA 305-6). The HFEA has also advised that the data it holds in relation to human embryos that have been created, frozen, destroyed and implanted are set out in the following table. It does not hold data in relation to embryos experimented upon. The HFEA has an obligation to collect information as required by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. It is for the authority itself to determine what further information it considers appropriate to collect.

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HFEA Human Embryo Data—Cycles from 1 August 1991 to 31 December 2011 Embryos Embryos Frozen Discarded

Embryos created 3,546,818

Embryos stored for the patients use

Embryos stored for donation

Embryos stored for research

Embryos reported on the Treatment form as being discarded

839,325

2,071

5,876

1,691,090

Source: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

Energy: Biofuels Question Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment have they made of the value of adding a recycled biofuels category to the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation to recognise the position of biofuels made from locally sourced waste products. [HL4306] Earl Attlee: The Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation already provides additional support to biofuels made from waste by awarding two renewable transport fuel certificates for each litre supplied. We are committed to reviewing the double-counting system in 2013.

Energy: Green Deal Question Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will extend the Green Deal and reduction of value added tax to include voltage optimisation. [HL4114] The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Government have recently commissioned the independent Scientific Integrity Group to review evidence from industry and other sources on the efficacy of voltage optimisation as an energy efficiency measure. The views from this expert group will help with an assessment of the benefits of this technology and its potential for its inclusion within the standard assessment procedure and, in turn, the Green Deal. There are currently no plans to introduce a reduced rate of VAT for voltage optimisation.

Energy: Prices Question Asked by Lord Donoughue To ask Her Majesty’s Government by how much energy prices have risen for the average family in the United Kingdom since 2010, (1) as an absolute amount and (2) as a percentage; and how much of that amount and percentage is due to environmental [HL4247] taxes.

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Implanted Embryos reported on the Gamete Movement form as being removed from storage and discarded

Embryos transferred

Gestational sacs observed

23,480

1,388,443

235,480

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: DECC publishes data on gas and electricity prices in its Quarterly Energy Prices publication in tables 2.2.3 and 2.3.3. Based on the latest available data from this, over the period 2010 to 2012, average gas (Great Britain) and standard electricity (UK) retail prices for the residential sector increased by: 0.77p/kWh and 1.83p/kWh respectively (in current prices); 21% and 14% respectively (in current prices); and 15% and 9% respectively (in real terms). These changes are based on an assumed, fixed consumption of 18.000kWh per year for gas and 3.300kWh per year for electricity. They therefore do not take into account year-to-year differences in weather and improvements in energy efficiency, both of which help determine energy consumption. The only environmental tax (based on the definition used by HM Treasury1) that had an impact on residential energy prices over this period is the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) which adds a cost per unit of carbon emitted from electricity generation. The impact of the EU ETS on retail electricity prices is estimated to have fallen over the period, consistent with the fall in the price of EU allowances, and therefore is not estimated to have contributed to the rise in retail electricity prices since 2010. The majority of the rise in residential energy prices has been driven by rises in wholesale energy costs as a result of increases in fossil fuel prices on international markets and rising network costs as ageing infrastructure has been replaced. 1 Available online at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ press_60_12.htm

Energy: Smart Meters Question Asked by Baroness Byford To ask Her Majesty’s Government what will happen to data stored in utility smart meters at the end of 13 months; and to whom that data will belong. [HL4294]

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: Smart metering equipment has the capability to store a minimum of’ the past 15 months of half hourly consumption data on a rolling basis: once the meter’s data storage is full, the

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oldest data will be overwritten with newer data. As the oldest data are overwritten, they will effectively be deleted and therefore not owned by anyone. A recently published consultation on implementing the provisions of the energy efficiency directive has proposed the option that smart meters actually store a minimum of 24 months of data.

measure. As my right honourable friend the Home Secretary announced in the other place on 15 October 2012 (Official Report, col. 35), which I informed this House about through a Statement on the same day, this wider decision is still being considered and any implementation of this measure will await the outcome of that process.

EU: Banking

EU: Prisoner Voting Question

Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on United Kingdom banking and bank regulation of fewer than five European Union member states remaining outside the banking union; and what measures exist to prevent mandatory supervision of United Kingdom banks by the European Banking Authority in that circumstance. [HL4217]

Lord Deighton: I refer to Lord Sassoon’s Answer of 21 December 2012 (HL4170), which set out the Prime Minister’s Statement to the House of Commons on 17 December 20121 regarding the outcome of the December European Council and the Commission’s proposal for a single supervisory mechanism. There are no proposals to confer responsibility for supervising banks on the European Banking Authority. 1

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa.cm201213/ cmhansrd/cm121217/debtext/121217-0001.htm#1212174000003

EU: Competence Question Asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Warsi on 14 December (WA 262), what estimate they have made of the cost involved in the use of existing resources to compile the review of European Union competences. [HL4308]

TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): There has been no central estimation of the overall cost. Each department is responsible for allocating its own resources to meet its priorities, including delivering the reports on which it leads or to which it has an interest in contributing.

EU: Justice and Home Affairs Powers Question Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have not implemented the European Supervision Order set out in Council Framework Decision 2009/829/JHA. [HL4265]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): Under the terms of the Lisbon treaty, the Government are required to decide by 31 May 2014 whether we opt out of, or remain bound by, all those EU police and criminal justice measures adopted prior to the entry into force of the treaty, which includes this

Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consulted the Governments of (1) Armenia, (2) Andorra, (3) Bulgaria, (4) Estonia, (5) Georgia, (6) Hungary, (7) Liechtenstein, and (8) Russia, about how to address the issue of prisoner voting with the [HL4251] European Court of Human Rights. The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): The Government have not consulted these countries. We are aware of the different approaches to prisoner voting in these and other states, and these various approaches have formed part of the Government’s wider consideration of this issue.

EU: Trade Agreements Question Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint on 14 December (WA 263), given that Singapore does not impose tariffs on imports, what benefits to British exporters the forthcoming European UnionSingapore fair trade agreement will bring. [HL4314] The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint): Following the recent conclusion of negotiations, work is ongoing to assess the outcome. However, we do not yet have a full picture of what has been agreed (since the negotiations are conducted by the Commission on behalf of the member states) and the full benefits to UK business will only become clear when we see the full deal. What we do know is that there will be new opportunities for British businesses to bid for public procurement contracts in Singapore. The FTA grants EU bidders significantly more guaranteed opportunities in public tenders compared to any other country, including for the first time in many utilities sectors in which the EU has many leading suppliers. We also expect to see new opportunities in the services sector, where we expect Singapore to extend its market access commitments, to agree new regulatory disciplines in certain service sectors and to offer parity with other major trading partners in most service sectors, thus offering a more level playing field for UK suppliers. Additionally, Singapore has agreed to tackle technical barriers in key sectors such as cars, pharmaceuticals, electronics and renewable energy equipment. These rules will make it easier for goods produced and tested to European standards to be sold in Singapore without technical changes or additional testing.

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The FTA also includes a high level of intellectual property rights protection. This will, for example, offer better remuneration rights for certain creative activities.

European Commission Question Asked by Baroness Coussins To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to improve (1) the number of applications, and (2) the success rate, of British citizens competing for positions in the European [HL4346] Commission. TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The Government have taken steps to improve both the number of applications and the success rates of British citizens applying to the EU institutions, where UK experience and insight can add real value. This Government relaunched the European Fast Stream (EFS) in 2009 and included significant communications activity, led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), aimed at better publicising and improving the attractiveness of careers with the EU institutions to both graduates and professionals. This has resulted in a 30% increase in British applicants to the main EU graduate recruitment. The EFS prepares UK civil servants for the entry exams to the EU institutions, and includes tuition in relevant languages. The EFS also serves to create a cadre of EU expertise within the UK Civil Service. The UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU (UK Rep) provides support for UK applicants, both inside and outside of the UK Civil Service, who are applying for posts within the institutions. The FCO is also engaged with the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) to encourage a greater number of UK applicants and improve the success rate among those applying for positions in the European Commission. Next year we will have the results of the 2012 graduate recruitment and a clearer picture of our success rate. This is a very long-term project. The UK still remains under-represented at the European Commission —representing only 4.7% of total staff according to the latest figures, while the UK accounts for 12.4% of the EU population. We continue to monitor and promote various career options, including opportunities for permanent and temporary staff, and seconded UK civil servants.

Falklands War Veterans

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TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): All veterans are entitled to priority treatment, subject to the clinical needs of others, for conditions relating to their time in service. When referring a veteran to secondary care for a condition that (in their clinical opinion) may be related to military service, general practitioners (GPs) are asked to make this clear in their referral—as long as the patient is happy with this. Secondary care clinicians are asked to prioritise all veterans (for conditions that they judge likely to be related to military service) over other patients with the same level of clinical need. Veterans are not given priority over patients with more urgent clinical needs. The importance of priority treatment for veterans, and how it should be applied, has been outlined to the National Health Service through a number of letters sent out over recent years from the department. These include correspondence sent from the chief executive of the NHS in 2007 to all senior management of the NHS, which was then reiterated by the Chief Medical Officer in a letter to all GPs in 2010. The earlier letter made a particular point of highlighting the needs of veterans with service-related noise-induced hearing loss. The priority treatment requirement has also been emphasised in past NHS Operating Framework documents. The department has ensured that senior managers and clinicians within the NHS are kept informed of the healthcare needs of the Armed Forces community, with a series of leaflets and correspondence being sent over recent years that clearly outline the guidelines in place around the treatment of service personnel, veterans and their families. Most recently, the department collaborated with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to create an e-learning package aimed at raising GPs’ awareness of the needs of veterans, including priority treatment and the relevant health services available to them. This package is available for GPs to access through the RCGP’s website.

Finance: Isle of Man and Channel Islands Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the steps taken by (1) the Isle of Man, (2) Jersey, and (3) Guernsey, to stop those islands and institutions operating from them from being used to support (a) money-laundering, (b) terrorist finance, and (c) tax evasion; and whether those islands have responded positively to all requests made of them by the Government in that connection. [HL4221]

Question Asked by Lord Touhig To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Earl Howe on 17 December (Official Report, col. 1339), whether veterans whose hearing was damaged during the Falklands War are receiving priority treatment from the National Health Service. [HL4290]

Lord Deighton: The anti-money-laundering and counterterrorist financing regimes of the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey (the Crown Dependencies) have been evaluated against the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards by the International Monetary Fund within the past four years, with all three territories achieving favourable assessments.

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In 2012, the UK facilitated the entry of the Crown Dependencies into MONEYVAL (which conducts selfassessment and mutual assessment exercises of the anti-money-laundering measures in place in Council of Europe member states, which are not members of the FATF)1. These dependencies are, therefore, now considered part of the global network of FATF regional bodies. The Government are fully committed to tackling offshore tax evasion. On 7 December 2012, the Government announced that they would be entering into an agreement with the Isle of Man to move to automatic information exchange. They also confirmed that they are in discussions with the other Crown Dependencies, Jersey and Guernsey, about enhanced information exchange as part of their common commitment to combat tax evasion. The reviews of the Crown Dependencies carried out by the Global Forum show that they meet international standards on tax transparency. 1

http://www.fatf-gafi.org/pages/moneyval.html

Financial Services Authority Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the period that must elapse before senior regulators from the Financial Services Authority can join businesses which they have been responsible for regulating, or where they have regulated direct competitors of a prospective employer; and what [HL4364] current guidance is in effect. Lord Newby: This matter is for the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which is independent from government control. It has, therefore, been passed on to the FSA, which will reply directly by letter. A copy of the response will be placed in the Library of the House.

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potential risks to communities. The integrated risk management plan, which is subject to consultation with the local community, enables each fire and rescue authority to tailor the allocation of its resources to local circumstances—evaluating where risk is greatest and determining its policies and standards for prevention and intervention accordingly.

Food: Climate Change Question Asked by Lord Judd To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the effect of climate change on smallscale farming in the developing world and its implications for world food supply. [HL4205] Baroness Northover: Smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to climate change. They often inhabit marginal landscapes such as hillsides, arid lands and floodplains. They rely directly on climateaffected natural resources for their livelihoods. They have fewer assets to rely on, are less able to diversify their incomes and are more reliant on growing food staples that may be most adversely affected by climate change such as maize, rice and wheat. Climate modelling predictions are uncertain about future food production, given that some regions are likely to benefit while others are likely to be adversely affected and all projections are subject to significant uncertainty. Higher temperatures and changes in rainfall are predicted to reduce global harvests by 7% by 2050, and in some part of the world by as much as 20% by 2030.

Forced Marriage Questions Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider holding a wider consultation with women’s groups about their proposed forced marriage legislation. [HL4178]

Fire and Rescue Service Questions Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government what resources they will make available to Sir Ken Knight to undertake his review of fire and rescue services. [HL4354]

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department forCommunitiesandLocalGovernment(BaronessHanham): In undertaking his review, Sir Ken Knight will be supported by civil servants from the Department for Communities and Local Government. Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they assess the level of protection offered by fire and [HL4355] rescue services. Baroness Hanham: All fire and rescue authorities in England are required by the Fire and Rescue National Framework to have in place and maintain an integrated risk management plan, which identifies local need and sets out plans to tackle effectively both existing and

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): A public consultation on whether we should make forced marriage a criminal offence was held between December 2011 and March 2012. We received responses from a number of women’s groups, which set out their views on whether forced marriage should become a criminal offence. We are currently developing the legislation, which will be introduced when parliamentary time allows. Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have considered upgrading the forced marriage protection order to a criminal offence as an alternative [HL4179] to introducing new legislation. The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): The Government intend to make the breach of a forced marriage protection order a criminal offence. This is in addition to a new offence of forcing a person

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to marry against that person’s will. We will bring forward legislation on both measures as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Gambia Questions Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will propose that the Gambia be added to the list of countries under the scrutiny of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group. [HL4201] TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): We regularly raise our concerns about human rights, good governance and democracy with the Gambian Government, and will continue to work with and through international partners and institutions, including the Commonwealth, to improve standards. However, the UK has no current plans to propose that the Gambia is added to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) agenda. Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to legislate to remove the Gambia from the list of safe countries in Section 94(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. [HL4202]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): There are no current plans to remove the Gambia from the list of countries designated under Section 94(4) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Asked by Lord Avebury

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we understand that the BBC correspondent was not expelled but following intervention by the high commission was granted a 48-hour visa which was not subsequently renewed. Support for freedom of expression and the protection of journalists is included in the EU human rights strategy for the Gambia. Our high commissioner in Banjul regularly raises human rights issues with the Gambian Government—when specific incidents occur and twice-yearly through formal discussions under Article 8 of the EU/ACP Cotonou agreement. The next discussions are due to be held in January.

Gaza Questions Asked by Baroness Tonge To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the cost to United Kingdom public funds of the United Kingdom contribution to reconstruction in Gaza following Operation Pillar of Cloud. [HL4186] Baroness Northover: The Minister of State for International Development, the right honourable Alan Duncan MP, recently announced on his visit to Gaza that the UK will provide £1.25 million to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross in protecting civilians and providing emergency services in Gaza and the West Bank. This will include helping at least 85,000 people inside Gaza who have been injured, had their homes destroyed or were otherwise affected by the recent conflict. The funding will provide temporary shelter and medical assistance, as well as help with rebuilding homes and delivering fuel to keep generators running. Asked by Baroness Tonge To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Government of Israel about their treatment of Gazan fishermen. [HL4189]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to update the Country of Origin [HL4203] Information Report on the Gambia. Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The UK Border Agency plans to publish an update of its Country of Origin Information report on the Gambia in the first half of 2013. Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Government of the Gambia about the closure of independent newspapers and a radio station, the expulsion of a BBC journalist, and other attacks on freedom of [HL4204] expression in that country. Baroness Warsi: Freedom of expression is an ongoing concern in the Gambia. The sudden closures of Taranga FM Radio Station in August and of the Daily News and the Standard newspapers in September are worrying developments. Our high commissioner in Banjul raised the respective closures with the Foreign Minister. However,

TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The UK regularly makes representations at both ministerial and official level to the Israeli authorities on the urgent need to ease restrictions on Gaza, including fishing limits. In this regard, we welcome the newly introduced six nautical mile fishing limit. We have urged Israel to ease this restriction further, in line with the limit of 20 nautical miles stipulated in the Oslo accords.

Gibraltar Question Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Warsi on 10 December (WS 98), whether the assertion that “we will continue to take whatever action we consider necessary to protect British sovereignty and the interest of Gibraltar and its people” includes the use of military force. [HL4313]

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TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The Royal Navy challenges all unlawful incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters by Spanish state vessels by issuing appropriate warnings to the vessels concerned. The military therefore already has an important role in upholding the UK’s sovereignty over those waters. We will continue to uphold our sovereignty against unlawful incursions with a range of proportionate naval, police and diplomatic responses.

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Government Departments: Publications Questions Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many copies of (1) Who’s Who, (2) Dod’s Parliamentary Companion, (3) Dod’s Guide to the General Election 2010, and (4) Whitaker’s Almanac, were purchased by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, broken down by directorate in each of the past two years for which figures are available. [HL4001]

Government Departments: Budgets Question Asked by Baroness Sharp of Guildford To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in relation to Table 2.2 and the statement about schools in paragraph 1.32 of the Autumn Statement 2012 (Cm 8480), which areas of the Department for Education budget will be reduced and by how much [HL4198] between 2013–14 and 2014–15. Baroness Garden of Frognal: The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement applied a percentage reduction to the department’s unprotected resource budget (RDEL) over the next two years. The reduction will be 1% (£153 million) in 2013-14 and 2% (£306 million) in 2014-15. The department will be working out the exact detail of how it meets these reductions over the coming months as it goes through its annual business planning process to set budgets for the next year. Front-line funding for schools will continue to be protected in line with the policy set out at Spending Review 2010. In addition the Government are providing an extra £1 billion of capital funding to build new free schools and academies and expand existing good schools in those areas with the most pressure on pupil places.

Government Departments: Legislation

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many copies of (1) Who’s Who, (2) Dod’s Parliamentary Companion, (3) Dod’s Guide to the General Election 2010, and (4) Whitaker’s Almanack, were purchased by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for use by Ministers in that department in each of the past two years for which figures are [HL4055] available. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord De Mauley): Core Defra has purchased the following numbers of hard copies of each publication since April 2010. A breakdown by year cannot be provided. Who’s Who—one copy; Dod’s Parliamentary Companion—seven copies; and Whitaker’s Almanack—one copy. Of these, five copies of Dod’s Parliamentary Companion were purchased directly by Minister’s Private Offices. Dod’s Guide to the General Election was published only in 2010 and provided free alongside purchased copies of Dod’s Parliamentary Companion. Asked by Lord Bradshaw To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they issue guidance about the use of acronyms and [HL4094] jargon in Government publications.

Question Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance in the preparation of Private Members’ Bills was provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in (1) the 2010-12 Session, and [HL3961] (2) this Session. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord De Mauley): Core Defra officials provided some assistance in the preparation of the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill introduced this Session, which has completed its passage through the House of Commons and is currently awaiting Lords Committee stage. This included discussing the role of the Environment Agency in the regime for registering scrap metal dealers proposed under the Bill, advising on the potential interface with environmental legislation and reviewing and commenting on draft instructions to Parliamentary Counsel.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The Cabinet Office does not provide such guidance, nor do we keep records of whether other departments or agencies do so. Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make it their policy to publish as an annex to the annual report produced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) a list of all publications published by Defra in the preceding [HL4120] year. Lord De Mauley: HM Treasury’s Financial Reporting Manual sets out requirements for the format and content of the department’s annual report and accounts. There is no requirement and therefore no plan to include a list of publications. This information is however publicly available on the Defra website http:// www.defra.gov.uk/publications/.

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Government Departments: Staff Question Asked by Lord Tebbit To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wallace of Saltaire on 14 March (WA 73), when they now expect the findings of the review of Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity—A Strategy for the Civil Service 2008–13 [HL4053] to be made public. Lord Wallace of Saltaire: A date has not yet been set but publication will follow that of the Civil Service’s Capabilities Plan.

Government: Ministerial Guidance

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In addition to assisting the FSA, the GFSC is conducting its own investigations relating to those entities within its regulatory scope. Under Section 270(5) of FSMA 2000 and Statutory Instrument 2003/1181, the FSA provided HM Treasury with an assessment of the authorisation and supervision of collective investment schemes in Guernsey. A comparison of protections will depend on specific protections available to investors and will vary according to the nature of the investment. Collective investment schemes which fall outside the designated criteria are restricted in their promotion to UK investors, including under Section 238 of FSMA 2000. The Guernsey cells were subject to such restrictions as they were not authorised or recognised by the FSA.

Question Asked by Lord Myners

Gypsies and Travellers

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint continues to advise the Chancellor of Exchequer on banking matters. [HL4219]

Lord Deighton: Treasury Ministers liaise closely with counterparts in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills on various banking and business matters.

Guernsey Financial Services Commission Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to pursue the Guernsey Financial Services Commission to make good losses suffered by UK investors in the CF Arch Cru Funds; what is their assessment of the level of investor protection provided by the Commission in comparison to that available in the United Kingdom; and whether they will place restrictions on the marketing in the United Kingdom of banking and financial services by firms and individuals based in Guernsey on the basis of [HL4006] that assessment. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is responsible for the regulation of financial services firms under the powers in the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000. HM Treasury sets the legal framework for the regulation of financial services. The CF Arch Cru matter is complex, involving a number of entities, some regulated by the FSA and some regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC). UK investors have suffered considerable losses through their holdings of two UK open-ended investment companies, the CF Arch Cru funds. These funds were invested in certain Guernseydomiciled companies (the Guernsey cells), listed on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange. These were closedended schemes authorised by the GFSC and were not authorised or recognised collective investment schemes in the UK. The UK Government have no power to pursue Guernsey for redress. However, the FSA is working with the Guernsey authorities regarding these matters.

Questions Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will take steps to ensure that wherever reference is made to the ethnicity of patients throughout the NHS, the 2011 Census ethnic group classification, which includes “Gypsy or Irish Traveller”, is used. [HL4018]

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): In order to support consistency with other data systems within the National Health Service, ethnicity data for NHS patients are currently collected utilising the 2001 codes. The department, in collaboration with other bodies, will shortly produce guidance that advises on the codes for data collection, including those for ethnicity. The guidance will initially recommend that organisations continue to use the 2001 codes; however this will be revisited biannually with decisions to change this advice based upon the breadth of utilisation of the new coding system. NHS organisations can choose to use either the 2001 or the 2011 categories. If they use the 2011 categories, they will need to re-aggregate anyone coming under the “Gypsy and Irish Traveller” heading into “Other” in order to make national comparisons. Additional codes can be included as appropriate at a local level to reflect the demographic make-up of the local population. This allows local monitoring to take place in a way that supports service planning, decisionmaking, and key processes such as the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments. Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the health needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are covered in NHS Joint Strategic Needs Assessments, Health and Well-being Strategies and the agendas of Health [HL4019] and Well-being Boards. Earl Howe: Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNAs) and Joint Health and Well-being Strategies (JHWSs) are local strategic planning processes, undertaken through

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health and well-being boards. They will be the means by which the current and future health and well-being needs of the local population will be determined, and this will then be used to plan local services on the basis of the identified needs. JSNAs must therefore be inclusive of the health and care needs of the whole local population, including Gypsy and Traveller and Roma communities. It would not be appropriate for the department to highlight any care group or area of need over another as this would risk undermining the purpose of JSNAs and JHWSs as being an objective, comprehensive and— most importantly—a locally owned process of developing evidence-based priorities for commissioning. As public authorities, health and well-being boards will need to comply with public sector equality duties, not just in how they engage the local community in the development of JSNAs and JHWSs but also in considering the needs of groups with protected characteristics. We are addressing the health needs of those people most vulnerable to poor health through the Inclusion Health programme, and the early focus of Inclusion Health includes Gypsies and Travellers. A number of representative bodies are working with us to support the National Inclusion Health Board and its working groups, which will work with the National Health Service, local government and others to identify what more must be done to include the needs of vulnerable groups in the commissioning of health and care services. We are supporting health and well-being boards to better understand the needs of vulnerable groups within their JSNAs and JHWSs; and Gypsy and Traveller bodies have contributed to supportive material we are producing.

issuing guidance to all prisons on how to conduct a one-off exercise to move existing prisoners on to the new codes. We will monitor the use of the new code and publish the figures once the coverage and data quality are deemed sufficient to provide meaningful and accurate statistics. We currently have no estimate of when the data will be deemed fit for publication.

Asked by Baroness Whitaker

Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord McNally on 16 July (WA 14), whether they are now in a position to publish information on the number and proportion relative to population of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller prisoners; and, if not, when this will be available. [HL4307]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): We are currently not in a position to be able to publish information on the number and proportion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller prisoners relative to the population. As mentioned previously in a Written Answer on 16 July (WA 14), following the addition of the new census 2011 ethnicity categories into the prison IT system, prisoners received into custody can now declare themselves as Gypsy or Irish Traveller. However, it is unlikely that existing prisoners (those already in custody prior to the new category being introduced) will have been given the opportunity to revise their previously stated ethnicity. Current data on the number of Gypsy or Irish Traveller prisoners are therefore likely to be an undercount of the true number of prisoners who would identify themselves as Gypsy or Irish Traveller. We are committed to moving all prisoners from the 2001 census codes to the 2011 codes; however, this will take some time. We will shortly (by April 2013 under current plans) be

Health: Accident and Emergency Departments Questions Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of constraints on NHS spending, how they will ensure patients in accident and emergency departments [HL4044] are treated promptly. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The accident and emergency (A&E) waiting time standard states that 95% of patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours of their arrival in the A&E department. This standard is included in the NHS Operating Framework for 2012-13. Furthermore, eight clinical quality indicators for A&E were introduced in April 2011 which measure other clinically important aspects of time. It is for local National Health Service trusts to ensure that there are strategies and procedures in place to cope with unexpected periods of increased pressure.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received concerning proposals to close the accident and emergency department at [HL4304] Lewisham Hospital. Earl Howe: The trust special administrator appointed to South London Healthcare NHS Trust published his draft report on 29 October. This included a proposal for the accident and emergency department at Lewisham hospital to become a 24/7 urgent care service. The consultation on the draft report closed on 13 December. The trust special administrator is now considering the responses to the consultation as he prepares the final report. The trust special administrator must provide to the Secretary of State a final report stating the action the administrator recommends by 7 January. The Secretary of State will decide what action to take in relation to the trust by 1 February. The right honourable Dame Joan Ruddock DBE MP has asked two Written Questions in Parliament about accident and emergency services in London, following the publication of the trust special administrator’s draft report. The right honourable Andy Burnham MP wrote to the Secretary of State on 9 December about the trust special administrator’s work and draft recommendations. A search of the department’s ministerial correspondence database has identified 50 items of correspondence about the proposals to close the accident and emergency department at Lewisham Hospital. This figure represents correspondence

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

received by the department’s Ministerial Correspondence Unit only. In addition, this issue was debated in the House of Commons on 28 November and 20 December. Ministers have had no meetings with outside parties about the proposal for the accident and emergency department at Lewisham hospital to become a 24/7 urgent care service. Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they have spent on the refurbishment of the accident and emergency department at Lewisham Hospital [HL4352] since 2005. Earl Howe: This information is not held centrally. The following table shows the amounts in loans provided by the department to Lewisham Healthcare NHS Trust during the three most recent financial years to fund the development of the integrated Urgent Care Centre at the University Hospital, Lewisham. Date of loan

Amount of loan

15 December 2010 17 July 2011 16 July 2012 Total

£6.974 million £4.566 million £302,000 £11.842 million

Health: Ambulance Service

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Health: Asbestos-related Disease Questions Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information is required by coroners investigating asbestos-related deaths (1) in the hours following the death, (2) within seven days of the death, and (3) in the course of the [HL4342] inquest. To ask Her Majesty’s Government what (1) guidance, and (2) training, specific to asbestosrelated disease is provided to police officers who fulfil the duties of coroner offices in visiting recently bereaved families to investigate asbestos-related deaths. [HL4343]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): The Ministry of Justice has responsibility for coroner law and policy only. Coroners are solely responsible for the conduct of their investigations. The Ministry of Justice provides training for coroners and their officers. The 2012/13 syllabus includes a session on exposure to asbestos but does not include specific training on visiting recently bereaved families to investigate asbestos-related deaths.

Question

Health: Atypical Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome

Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick

Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to reduce the emergency response times of ambulance crews. [HL4043] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): National response time standards are in place to ensure an appropriate emergency response from ambulance service trusts. The national standards for ambulance services are: A8—75% of category A (immediately life-threatening) calls should receive a response within 8 minutes; and A19—95% of category A patients requiring transport should receive this within 19 minutes of the request for transport being made. In June 2012, category A8 was further split into red 1 (the most time-critical calls, eg cardiac arrest patients who are not breathing and do not have a pulse) and red 2 (serious but less immediately time critical, covering conditions such as stroke and fits). This was designed to reduce the inappropriate and/or multiple dispatch of resources by ambulance trusts and to allow a greater focus on the most serious incidents. Category C calls are those which are neither lifethreatening nor serious. The setting and monitoring of category C call performance is locally determined. It is the responsibility of the National Health Service locally to ensure that ambulance trusts perform well. Performance on national response time standards is managed at strategic health authority level. Local commissioners must also hold ambulance trusts to account for local performance.

Asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have received a recommendation from the Advisory Group for National Specialised Services regarding the commissioning of a national specialised service for atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome (aHUS); and, if so, when they plan to make a decision based on that recommendation about whether or not a national specialised service for aHUS will be [HL4248] commissioned. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): Ministers have received a recommendation from the Advisory Group for National Specialised Services about the commissioning of a national specialised service for the treatment of atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome and expect to make an announcement early in the new year.

Health: Birth Defects Questions Asked by Lord Rooker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest information they have regarding the high risk groups suffering neural tube defects at birth. [HL4211]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the take-up of advice given on NHS websites in respect of prevention of spina bifida is currently monitored. [HL4212]

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[LORDS]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many births classed as spina bifida caused by neural tube defects there have been in each of the past five [HL4213] years. To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to propose new advice or actions regarding women thought to be in the high risk groups with respect to potential neural tube birth [HL4214] defects. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health(EarlHowe):Thedepartmentcurrentlyrecommends that all women who are planning a pregnancy or who could become pregnant should take a daily supplement containing 400 micrograms of folic acid (the synthetic form of the vitamin folate) before conception and until the 12th week of pregnancy, as well as to increase their consumption of folate-rich foods, to reduce the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) such as spina bifida. The department recommends that women with an increased risk of having an NTD-affected pregnancy take a higher dose of folic acid (five milligrams/day), which can be prescribed by their general practitioner. Women at high risk of having an NTD-affected pregnancy include those who have previously had a baby with an NTD, those who have (or whose partner has) an NTD, those who are taking an anti-epileptic medication and those who have diabetes. The national Infant Feeding Survey, carried out every five years on behalf of United Kingdom health departments, collects information about dietary supplementation practices during pregnancy. Data from the most recent Infant Feeding Survey (2010) show that 94% of mothers reported taking folic acid either before or during their pregnancy. Before they were pregnant, 37% said they took folic acid, increasing to 79% who reported taking it during the first three months of pregnancy, while 23% took it later on in pregnancy. Data on the number of births classed as spina bifida are collected and published by the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers (BINOCAR). The information provided in the following table gives the numbers of live-born babies with spina bifida in the English registers for the years 2006 to 2010. These are the most recent years BINOCAR has complete data for. BINOCAR does not cover all of England and Wales; the registers included in the data cover approximately 35% of the births in England and Wales. Year

Number of cases of spina bifida* (live births)

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

31 28 41 41 54

Note: Spina bifida is only one form of NTD; if other congenital anomalies of the central nervous system (such as hydrocephalus or anencephaly) are included, these figures will be higher.

The department provides women with information on health and nutrition pre-conception and during pregnancy, including the importance of taking folic

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acid supplements to reduce the risk of NTDs such as spina bifida, via all its relevant communications. This includes the pregnancy and baby guide on the NHS Choices website, materials produced as part of the Start4Life campaign, and the NHS Information Service for Parents, a new digital service for parents-to-be and new parents launched in May 2012. The Information Service for Parents sends parents regular free e-mails, videos and SMS messages with advice and information about pregnancy and the first few months with a baby. The service includes advice on folic acid and vitamin supplements, with a video for parents covering “Should I take supplements during my pregnancy?”. To date over 89,000 parents-to-be and new parents have signed up to the service. The department was advised by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and the Food Standards Agency Board in 2007 on fortification options as a measure to reduce the risk of pregnancies being affected by neural tube defects (NTDs). Fortification of foodstuffs with folic acid is a complicated issue, with a balance of benefits as well as potential risks. Additional advice on folic acid and cancer risk was requested by the then Chief Medical Officer and provided by SACN in 2009. The papers underpinning the advice from SACN have not yet all been peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal. Ministers need to very carefully consider this complicated issue and would like to see all information in the public domain before making any decision. Asked by Lord Rooker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what current Government-sponsored research is under way in [HL4215] respect of neural tube birth defects. Earl Howe: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) biomedical research centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London Institute of Child Health is studying whether combined treatment with folic acid and inositol is more effective at preventing neural tube defects than folic acid alone. The researchers are leading a clinical trial of this treatment supported by the NIHR Clinical Research Network. The neural tube defect spina bifida may be associated with hydrocephalus in childhood. Hydrocephalus is commonly treated through insertion of a shunt to drain off the excess fluid, and new devices have been introduced to try to reduce shunt infection. The NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme is funding a £2 million trial comparing these new shunts to standard shunts. The NIHR is also funding a clinical lectureship focused on neurogenic bowel dysfunction associated with spina bifida and other neurological conditions.

Health: Bounty Questions Asked by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor To ask Her Majesty’s Government what payments have been made to Bounty by any department or vice versa in each of the past five years. [HL4162]

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Written Answers

[8 JANUARY 2013]

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The table below sets out the payments made by HM Revenue and Customs to Bounty.

Year 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12

Amount paid to Bounty £

Number of Child Benefit claim forms distributed

112,487.00 125,671.75 143,167.00 126,906.79 90,805.00

706,843 774,604 852,592 888,180 901,298

Information on payments that may have been made by other government departments is not held centrally. Asked by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor To ask Her Majesty’s Government what payments have been made to Bounty by the Department of Health or vice versa in each of the past five years; and what agreements were in place between Bounty and the Department of Health regarding the contents of, or distribution of, Bounty packs to expectant or new mothers, for each of the past five years. [HL4161]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they hold regarding payments to NHS Hospital Trusts, primary care trusts or strategic health authorities by Bounty for the distribution of their packs to [HL4164] expectant or new mothers. To ask Her Majesty’s Government what conditions, restrictions or safety precautions apply to representatives of commercial companies entering maternity units for the purposes of data collection or providing commercial services such as photography [HL4166] to parents.

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): Neither the department nor the National Health Service centrally has any contracts with Bounty. The distribution of Bounty packs is negotiated locally by Bounty with individual NHS and foundation trusts, and individual trusts are able to influence the contents of the packs delivered to their maternity services users. The department does not have information about the contracts that exist between Bounty and the NHS locally, as this is the responsibility of individual NHS authorities and is not collated centrally. Bounty occasionally promotes departmental public health messages free of charge, including messages on seasonal flu, encouraging pregnant women to have the flu jab, and encouraging women to sign up to the NHS Information Service for Parents. The department’s messages are promoted on Bounty’s website, in its membership area and in its “Thank you for registering with Bounty” e-mails sent to newly registered pregnant women. The NHS Information Service for Parents wallet cards with sign-up details are placed in Bounty’s pregnancy and information pack for pregnant women free of charge.

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Levels of security provision are for NHS bodies to establish on a local basis, according to an assessment of the particular security risks they face. Each NHS body is responsible for providing the necessary resources to manage security. NHS Protect has national responsibility for leading work to protect NHS staff and resources from crime and provides support, guidance and advice to NHS bodies on assessing security risks and taking effective action. For areas such as maternity units where there are specific security risks, it is for each NHS body to determine who has access to these areas and to have protocols in place for supervising contractors and/or individuals while on their premises. Asked by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether NHS trusts are placed under any restrictions regarding the distribution of materials from commercial companies or charities other than Bounty; and what approval has been given by any department [HL4207] for any such contracts. To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will place in the Library of the House copies of any (1) agreements, (2) correspondence and (3) details of meeting dates, between Bounty and the Department [HL4208] of Health since June 2010. Earl Howe: The distribution of materials from commercial companies and charities is negotiated locally with individual National Health Service and/or foundation trusts, and as such the department is not involved in the approval process for any relevant contracts. The department does not have any written agreements with Bounty. There were 10 items of correspondence received from Bounty since 1 June 2010. Copies of the correspondence, together with department’s replies, have been placed in the Library. Since June 2010 departmental officials have met with Bounty on five occasions; a further meeting is planned in 2013. The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Anne Milton) also met with Bounty in June 2011. The meetings covered a range of issues including Start4life, public health messages surrounding drinking, giving up smoking in pregnancy and opportunities to promote seasonal flu messages. Officials have also attended one of Bounty’s health networks to brief it on Start4Life, the NHS Information Service for Parents and the Start4Life smoke-free midwives pack.

Health: Cardiology Question Asked by The Lord Bishop of Ripon and Leeds To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the Independent Reconfiguration Panel to publish the findings of its review of the Safe and Sustainable proposals on children’s congenital heart services; whether they issued any instructions about consulting Members of Parliament when requesting

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Written Answers

[LORDS]

that review; and whether they plan to issue further instructions to ensure that interested Members of the House of Lords are able to contribute. [HL4020] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): Following referrals from three local Overview and Scrutiny Committees, and subsequent initial assessments of those referrals, the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) is currently undertaking a full review of the proposals concerning Safe and Sustainable. The panel is now due to submit its advice to the Secretary of State no later than 28 March 2013. As is routine, the panel will publish its advice at the same time as the Secretary of State makes his decision public. No instructions were issued to the panel about consulting Members of Parliament and no further instructions will be issued. As an independent body, it is up to the panel to determine how to carry out its review. However, we are clear that anyone, including honourable Members and other elected or non-elected representatives can make their own representations and views known to the IRP on this important issue. This can be done by contacting the panel at [email protected] and in writing to IRP, 6th floor, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP. NHS Trust consultancy spend by SHA region NHS Direct NHS Trust North East SHA North West SHA Yorkshire and the Humber SHA East Midlands SHA West Midlands SHA East of England SHA London SHA South East Coast SHA South Central SHA South West SHA

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Health: Consultancy Services Question Asked by Lord Mawhinney To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much hospital trusts spent on outside consultants, by strategic health authority area, (1) in each of the past 12 months, and (2) in each of the past five [HL4233] years, for which figures are available.

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): Information regarding expenditure on consultancy services by National Health Service trusts within strategic health authority (SHA) regions for the years 2007-08 to 2010-11 is in the following table. SHA spend in respect of the last 12 months in 2012-2013 will be available once the department’s annual report and accounts are laid before Parliament in October 2013. NHS Direct NHS Trust does not fall under a specific SHA region; as such, figures for the organisation have been listed separately.

2007-08 £000s

2008-09 £000s

2009-10 £000s

2010-11 £000s

2011-12 £000s

3,627 2,972 13,301 5,570 8,349 17,088 10,003 37,588 13,884 13,407 8,285

7,279 2,165 12,862 6,604 8,256 17,631 9,403 49,204 16,355 11,716 7,378

4,955 1,230 7,460 5,720 12,960 15,658 9,822 52,179 13,193 11,826 7,865

1,308 656 8,443 5,566 10,822 12,818 7,781 44,871 10,064 9,099 7,566

2,730 561 14,079 7,844 13,772 17,005 7,325 55,548 12,411 8,811 6,673

Source: 2007-08 to 2011-12 NHS Trusts Audited Summarisation Schedules

The data are taken from the audited summarisation schedules of NHS trusts which are used to prepare the NHS elements of the department’s annual report and accounts.

Health: Finance-related Ill-health Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the link between financial anxiety over debt and health problems; and what steps they are taking to improve debt advice services. [HL4359] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The links between worklessness and mental ill-health are well established. The Foresight Report Mental Capital and Wellbeing, published by the Government Office of Science, highlighted the link

between mental ill-health and social factors, particularly debt. A copy of the report is available at the following link: www.bis.gov.uk/foresight/our-work/projects/ published-projects/mental-capital-and-wellbeing/ reports-and-publications. Through provisions in the Financial Services Act, the Government have clarified the role of the Money Advice Service so that it is required to work with other organisations which provide debt services, with a view to improving the availability, quality and consistency in the services available, in the way in which they are provided and in the advice given.

Health: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Questions Asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase investment in innovation in the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. [HL4266]

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme is funding a systematic review of evidence on the benefits, harms and costs of treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The review began in May 2012 and is expected to report in mid-2014. In addition, the NIHR is funding two one-year biomedical research fellowships studying IPF. In addition, the department has asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to produce a clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of IPF. The draft guideline is due to be published for consultation from 11 January 2013 to 22 February 2013, with a view to final publication in June 2013.

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Earl Howe: It is a matter for local determination to ensure that appropriate specialist infection prevention and control commissioning nurses and teams are in place to prevent and control infections.

Health: Miscarriage Question Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of reports of women losing their babies due to mistaken diagnosis of miscarriage, and the subsequent advice to doctors from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. [HL4173]

Asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the introduction of the value-based pricing system for treatments for idiopathic pulmonary [HL4267] fibrosis. Earl Howe: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is developing technology appraisal guidance on the use of pirfenidone (Esbriet) for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. NICE issued initial draft guidance for consultation on 29 November 2012 which does not recommend the drug and currently expects to issue final guidance in April 2013. The Government have set out their intention to introduce a system of value-based pricing (VBP) for branded medicines from January 2014. VBP will focus primarily on new medicines and it is not our intention to reassess under VBP the vast majority of treatments already appraised by NICE. Under our current plans, we intend to maintain the funding direction for NICErecommended treatments and replicate its effect for medicines with a value-based price.

Health: Infection Control Questions Asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans are in place to appoint a new inspector of microbiology and infection control to advise the Government within the new NHS structures. [HL4196] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The department plans to discuss with the NHS Commissioning Board and Public Health England how to cover the inspector of microbiology and infection control’s functions in future. Asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans are in place to ensure that variations in the redeployment of specialist infection prevention and control commissioning nurses and teams will not pose risks to management of infection prevention [HL4197] and control.

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): It is important that women receive accurate diagnosis of miscarriage to enable them to make informed decisions about their pregnancy. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has considered the available evidence on diagnosis and initial management in early pregnancy of ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage and published clinical guidelines on 12 December 2012: www.nice.org. uk/nicemedia/live/14000/61854/61854.pdf. Health professionals will wish to follow the NICE recommendation that women be informed that the diagnosis of miscarriage using one ultrasound scan cannot be guaranteed to be 100% accurate and there is a small chance that the diagnosis may be incorrect, particularly at very early gestational ages.

Health: Neurology Questions Asked by Baroness Gale To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the commissioning data set for neurology will be developed; and who will be responsible for collecting the data and ensuring that it is accurate. [HL4281] To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the commissioning data set for neurology will be [HL4282] complete. To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people with long-term neurological conditions in [HL4284] the United Kingdom have a care plan. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The department does collect information on the number of people with a long-term neurological condition who have a care plan. Data on care planning was previously collected by the GP Practice Survey, which assesses patients’ experiences of local National Health Services. The most recent data collected, which cover the period April 2010 to March 2011, showed that of nearly 2 million respondents with a long-term condition, 83% reported they had a care planning discussion, and 96% reported an improvement in their care as a result of the care planning process. Of those respondents reporting having a care planning discussion, 70% did not want a written plan summarising the discussion.

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[LORDS]

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The Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention work stream on long-term conditions is looking at reducing the variations in the care planning that people receive. Evidence emerging from this work suggests that people want and value a care planning discussion rather than the need for a written care plan. Arrangements for the development and operation of the neurology dataset will be matters for the NHS Commissioning Board to determine as it moves towards taking on its full responsibilities from April 2013. The board has committed to working with the service to increase the amount of data flowing within the NHS to support clinical commissioners in driving continuous improvements in quality in both secondary and primary care.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency keeps the safety of all licensed medicines, including orlistat-containing products, under close review using a wide range of data sources. These include suspected adverse drug reactions spontaneously reported by health professionals and patients through the Yellow Card scheme. Up-to-date information on the side effects of orlistat is provided in the product information for prescribers and the patient information leaflets, which accompany both the prescription-only and the over-the-counter medicines.

Asked by Baroness Gale

Questions

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what indicators in the Commissioning Outcomes Framework pertain [HL4283] specifically to neurological conditions. Earl Howe: The NHS Commissioning Board published the Clinical Commissioning Group Outcomes Indicator Set (formerly the Commissioning Outcomes Framework) for 2013-14 on 18 December. The set contains indicators from the NHS Outcomes Framework that specifically include patients with neurological conditions. These are as follows (with the NHS Outcomes Framework number in brackets): potential years of life lost from causes amenable to healthcare (1a); health-related quality of life for people with longterm conditions (2); unplanned hospitalisation for chronic ambulatory care sensitive conditions (adults) (2.3.i); and unplanned hospitalisation for asthma, diabetes and epilepsy in under 19s (2.3.ii).

Health: Obesity

Health: Parkinson’s Disease Asked by Baroness Gale To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the quality standard for Parkinson’s disease will be developed. [HL4279] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): We have asked the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) to develop a quality standard on Parkinson’s disease as part of a library of approximately 180 National Health Service quality standards. NICE has not yet published a timescale for the development of this quality standard. The NHS Commissioning Board, which will be responsible for the strategic direction of NHS quality standards from April 2013, has begun discussions with NICE to determine the most appropriate sequencing for NHS quality standards to assist the board in improving patient outcomes across the five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework. Asked by Baroness Gale To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance on Parkinson’s disease will next be updated.

Question

[HL4280]

Asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the risks to patients of using products containing orlistat in treatments (1) prescribed by the NHS, and (2) sold over the counter. [HL4190] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): Orlistat is authorised for weight loss in adults who are overweight and should be taken in conjunction with a mildly hypocaloric, lower-fat diet. Orlistat works by preventing the absorption of ingested fat. Orlistat is available as both a prescription-only medicine (Xenical) and a non-prescription over-the-counter medicine that is available under the supervision of a pharmacist (Alli). Orlistat is authorised throughout the European Union and a full assessment of its safety and efficacy was conducted at the time of authorisation. Public assessment reports have been published by the European Medicines Agency.

Earl Howe: The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of Parkinson’s disease in primary and secondary care in June 2006. NICE carried out a routine review of the need to update the clinical guideline in 2011 and concluded that the guideline should be further considered for an update once the outcomes of recent clinical research in this area have been published.

Higher Education: Modern Languages Question Asked by Baroness Coussins To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many (1) modern languages departments, and (2) degree courses in or including one or more modern language, have been closed in United Kingdom universities in [HL4345] each of the last five years.

Written Answers

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

Baroness Garden of Frognal: The Government do not hold the specific data requested. Higher education institutions (HEI) are autonomous and responsible for how they structure themselves and what courses they offer. As a result of our funding reforms, from 2012-13 HEI funding increasingly flows from the fees paid by students, so institutions are making decisions about which courses to offer to respond to student demand. We have asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to protect subjects that are strategically important and vulnerable (SIVS), including modern foreign languages, to avoid undesirable reductions in the scale of provision. HEFCE is working with institutions to explore how modern foreign language (MFL) provision could best

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be sustained across the sector, taking into account the new landscape for student fees and finance in HE. HEFCE continues to provide funding for student demand-raising activity in MFL at a national level: for 2012-13 this funding is worth £1 million and between 2013 and 2016 HEFCE has committed to invest a further £3 million in a new programme of demand-raising work. Given the need to sustain the supply of MFL provision, HEFCE protected student numbers in these subjects in the redistribution of student numbers for 2012-13. The table below shows the total number of students studying modern foreign languages over the past five years. It demonstrates that there has been little change in the overall number of FTE students taking modern foreign languages at undergraduate level.

Table 1: Undergraduate FTE in modern foreign languages drawn from HESA data* Academic year

Undergraduate FTE in modern foreign languages

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

% change 2006-07 to 2010-11

27,967

26,883

27,441

27,185

28,021

0%

* Includes all students across all modes of study (full-time and part-time), from all domiciles (home, EU and international), and in all years of study. Excludes Open University.

Higher Education: Online Courses Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact on the provision of university education of the publication by leading United Kingdom universities of degree resources online. [HL4232]

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: The UK must be at the forefront of developments in educational technology. Open online courses present an opportunity for us to widen access to, and meet the global demand for, higher education. Recent initiatives by the Open University and others will make high-quality UK-produced academic content freely available to anyone who wishes to study it. We congratulate the Open University and its partners on this.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde): It remains the Government’s continued intention that Lords appointments will be made with the objective of creating a second Chamber that is reflective of the share of the vote secured by the political parties in the last general election, and this commitment is taken into account by the Prime Minister when making appointments.

House of Lords: Catering Question Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask the Chairman of Committees whether he will ensure that foie gras is removed from the menu of all catering establishments in the House of Lords. [HL4301]

The Chairman of Committees (Lord Sewel): The only outlets where foie gras had been on the menu were the Barry Room and the Peers’ Dining Room, during December 2012. Foie gras has now been removed from the menu in both outlets. Foie gras has also been an option for menus for banqueting events, but will be removed from future banqueting menus.

House of Lords: Appointments Question

House of Lords: Members

Asked by Lord Tebbit

Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Strathclyde on 19 November (WA 320), when they expect to start on the process of achieving the objective of creating a second Chamber that is reflective of the share of the vote secured by the political parties in the last [HL4052] general election.

Asked by Lord Ashcroft To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord McNally on 10 December (WA 196), what steps they take to ensure that all Members of the House of Lords retain the correct citizenship status to be a Member of the House. [HL4192]

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[LORDS]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): Since it was established in May 2000, the House of Lords Appointments Commission has asked non-party-political nominees to confirm their nationality and hereditary Peers elected in a by-election are required to confirm they are not disqualified for membership of the House of Lords, but Members’ nationality is not actively monitored thereafter.

House of Lords: Private Members’ Bills Question Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance in the preparation of Private Members’ Bills was provided by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in (1) the 2010–12 Session, and (2) this [HL4118] Session. Lord Gardiner of Kimble: No direct assistance in the preparation of Private Members’ Bills has been provided by the department during the previous and current Sessions. This is because no Private Members’ Bills were tabled which fitted in with agreed policy of the department. The department does, however, endeavour to support Members whenever it can if their proposed Private Members’ Bills fit in with departmental policy.

Housing Questions Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to make family housing more accessible. [HL4042] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department forCommunitiesandLocalGovernment(BaronessHanham): The Government believe that local communities should determine the right mix of new housing for their area. In June 2010 we removed the national minimum density target from Planning Policy Statement 3 (Housing) to give local authorities the flexibility to set density ranges that suit the local needs in their areas—particularly for family houses. The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that councils should plan to meet the objectively assessed needs for market and affordable housing in the housing market area. As part of this, they should plan for a mix of housing based on current and future demographic trends, market trends and the needs of different groups in the community, such as families with children. The Homes and Communities Agency is expecting that delivery of larger family homes through the new Affordable Homes Programme is broadly in line with the proportion delivered through the earlier National Affordable Homes Programme. Around 29% of the homes will be family-sized homes (3+ bedrooms). The Government are also committed to helping people access all types of housing, including family housing, by providing help with mortgage finance. Over £900 million is being invested by government and housebuilders through FirstBuy to help up to 27,000 first-time buyers into home ownership by March 2014. FirstBuy offers an equity loan of up to 20% of

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the property value which can be used towards the cost of purchasing a home. 45.7% of FirstBuy sales to the end of September 2012 were properties of three or more bedrooms. The NewBuy Guarantee scheme helps buyers realise their aspirations for home ownership with a 5% deposit. The Government provide the necessary guarantee to support lenders to offer 95% loan-to-value new-build mortgages. Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to improve the design quality of [HL4238] new-build housing.

Baroness Hanham: Our housing strategy, Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England, was published in November 2011. It emphasises that getting the quality, sustainability and design of housing right is crucial if communities are going to support new homes. In line with this, the National Planning Policy Framework published in March 2012 makes clear that good design is a key aspect of sustainable development, is indivisible from good planning and should contribute positively to making places better for people. Specifically it sets out that: permission should be refused for development of poor design; great weight should be given to outstanding or innovative designs; proposals that have evolved to take account of the views of the community should be looked on more favourably; and local planning authorities should have local design review arrangements in place. In addition, we are currently funding the Design Council CABE to provide design review services. This enables developers and local authorities to get potential schemes reviewed by an independent panel of experts, who provide advice on how the scheme design could be improved. We have also supported the development of the Building for Life design checklist. This is promoted by the Home Builders Federation and the Design Council as a reference tool that can be used at the pre-application stage to help frame local discussions about the design of a new housing scheme. Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce minimum space and storage standards for new homes as part of their review of [HL4239] housing standards.

Baroness Hanham: No decisions have been made about standards for space and storage in the review of local housing standards. Ministers will receive recommendations for their consideration in due course. Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current minimum space standards applicable to new affordable housing [HL4240] developments.

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Baroness Hanham: Information on the design and sustainability standards used by the Homes and Communities Agency can be found online at: www. homesandcommunities.co.uk/ourwork/design-andsustainability-standards. Information on how the quality of housing schemes is measured is at: www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/hqi. Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the cost implications of (1) the Lifetime Homes Standards, (2) the Code for Sustainable Homes, and (3) minimum space standards for public housing for new developments in England. [HL4241] Baroness Hanham: The Department for Communities and Local Government commissioned analysis of the cost implications of Lifetime Homes Standards by Building Cost Information Service in 2009, which estimated costs ranging between £199 and £2,500 per unit for different home types and designs. The cost of the Code for Sustainable Homes has been regularly assessed, and the last report was published in 2011. This indicated that extra over costs can range between £230 and £40,000 per unit, depending on different code level, home type and design, and location. The latest cost report is available at this link: https:// www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-ofbuilding-housing-to-the-code-for-sustainablehomes-standard-updated-cost-review. The Department for Communities and Local Government has not made any estimate of the cost implications of space standards. Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the regulations relating to information required for the marketing of new homes and what consideration they have given to the proposals made by the Royal Institute of British Architects for an industry-wide voluntary agreement regarding the quality and nature of information provided in marketing information for the sale of [HL4242] homes. Baroness Hanham: Striking the right balance in the regulatory system is very important. We need to protect consumers while eliminating the avoidable burdens of regulation and bureaucracy to promote growth, innovation and social action. To protect consumers, the marketing of new homes is covered by general marketing and consumer protection laws. There is also a requirement that an energy performance certificate must be made available to prospective home purchasers. To remove unnecessary red tape, we abolished the previous Government’s home information packs because they significantly increased the cost of moving home for sellers and resulted in duplicated costs as buyers did not trust the information. We have also recently announced our intention to repeal the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 as the Consumer Protection

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from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 provide adequate similar protections against false or misleading commercial practices in this sector, as in other sectors. We would welcome further industry initiatives in response to the proposal from the Royal Institute of British Architects and Future Homes Commission. This could build on the consumer code for house-builders, which is an example of an existing voluntary industry-wide initiative to make the home-buying process fairer and more transparent for purchasers. Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what conditions or expectations are set out in agreements with developers for the disposal of public land for the purpose of new housing development as to the design quality of the homes that will be built. [HL4262]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what requirements are set out for developers taking part in the Build Now Pay Later scheme in respect of the design quality of homes built on surplus public [HL4263] sector land. To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are taking to ensure that new homes built on surplus public sector land are of a good design [HL4264] quality. Baroness Hanham: As part of the Government’s public land programme, departments are freeing up their surplus, formerly used land, with development potential, particularly for housing. Each landowning department is responsible for the disposal of its land and the contracts it uses, including Build Now Pay Later terms, and these will be tailored on a site-by-site basis. The National Planning Policy Framework sets out the Government’s planning policies on design, making it clear that good design is a key aspect of sustainable development. Matters of design quality for homes on public land and all sites are for local decision, as they importantly need to respect the local character and environment of the area. I refer my noble friend to the answer given to my honourable friend the Member for South Staffordshire on 7 January (Official Report, col. 127W), which provides more detail about the steps being taken by the Government to encourage good design.

Immigration: Detention Questions Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion of detainees without authorisation to be in the United Kingdom have been incarcerated for (1) one year, and (2) over two years. [HL4127] To ask Her Majesty’s Government, of the detainees without authorisation to be present in the United Kingdom who have been incarcerated for over two years, how many were (1) released, (2) forcibly released, and (3) kept in detention, during the last [HL4128] five years.

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[LORDS]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): The number of persons detained under Immigration Act powers at 30 September 2012, the latest date for which published information is available, was 3,091; 149 were detained for one year or more and, of these, 27 were detained for two years or more. I have assumed that by “forcibly released” you refer to individuals whose release has been ordered by the courts. We have provided information relating to those released on bail, but do not hold information centrally on whether temporary admission or release is given as the result of a court order or following the UK Border Agency’s review of detention. Information on the number of individuals leaving detention, including the reasons and length of detention, is only available from 2010. Of those detained for two years or more: 77 persons left detention in 2010. Of these, 26 were removed and 15 were granted temporary admission or release. A further 31 were granted bail. 118 persons left detention in 2011. Of these, 29 were removed and 23 were granted temporary admission or release. A further 61 were granted bail. 55 persons left detention in 2012 up to 30 September 2012, the latest date for which published information is available. Of these, 19 were removed and 13 were granted temporary admission or release. A further 22 were granted bail. Detailed information on people in detention, by length of detention, is released quarterly in table dt.9.q, and people leaving detention in tables dt.05.q and dt.06.q of Immigration Statistics, which is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office’s Science, Research and Statistics website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/ science-research-statistics/research-statistics/ immigration-asylum-research/immigration-tabsq3-2012/detention-q3-2012-tabs?view=Binary Detention is a necessary part of the process to remove some individuals with no right to be in the UK. We always seek to remove those with no right to be here as quickly as possible but if detainees give false or incomplete information or submit spurious last-minute appeals, then in such cases, it can delay their return and extend their detention. Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will establish an independent panel to review the cases of detainees without authorisation to be present in the United Kingdom who are held for lengthy [HL4129] periods.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The establishment of such a panel is not considered to be necessary or appropriate. Exercise of immigration detention powers is a matter for the Secretary of State. Decisions to maintain detention are kept under regular review at successively higher levels in the UK Border Agency, with cases involving particularly lengthy detention being reviewed at director level. The legality of detention can be challenged in the courts, as well as the individual having the right to apply for bail at any time.

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Immigration: Handcuffs Question Asked by Baroness Stern To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many times (1) handcuffs, and (2) escort chains, were used on children by escort providers escorting children to or from (a) immigration reception centres, (b) the pre-departure accommodation, The Cedars, and (c) immigration detention centres, during the latest 12-month period for which figures are available, and during the three preceding 12-month periods. [HL3533]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): Handcuffs are only ever used on children as a last resort where it is strictly necessary to prevent self-harm or escape, or to protect others and property. Escorting officers do not use chains. The detention and escorting contract transferred to Reliance Secure Task Management on 1 May 2011. From May 2011 to the present date, there have not been any instances of officers using handcuffs on children when escorting them to or from the pre-departure accommodation or immigration removal centres. There are no facilities called immigration reception centres. Data from the previous escorting provider are not available. The information is taken from data normally used for management information only. It has not been subject to the detailed checks that apply for National Statistics publications and is provisional and subject to change.

Israel Question Asked by Baroness Tonge To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Government of Israel concerning any long-term ceasefire they were negotiating with Hamas before the recent hostilities started. [HL4187] TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): We are aware of media reports about a possible full ceasefire proposal before the recent violence in Gaza and southern Israel. However, we have not discussed this issue with the Israeli Government. Following the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire on 21 November, the priority now must be to address the underlying causes of the conflict, including more open access to and from Gaza for people and goods, and an end to the smuggling of weapons. It is important that momentum towards finding a solution to the problems of Gaza is maintained.

Israel and Palestine Questions Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reported raids by Israeli forces on the offices of Palestinian human

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rights organisations, including the offices of the Union of Palestinian Women Committees and the [HL4146] Palestinian NGO Network. TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): We are deeply concerned by the incursion by Israeli security forces into Ramallah on11Decembertoraidtheofficesof threenon-governmental organisations (NGOs) with which the EU has implemented co-operationprojects—Addameer,theUnionof Palestinian Women Committees (UPWC) and the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO). Incursions by Israeli forces into Palestinian cities where the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo accords assumes the powers and responsibilities for internal security and public order put in jeopardy the internationally recognised success of Palestinian institution-building efforts. Asked by Baroness Tonge To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent discussions they have had with the Government of Israel concerning the recommendation of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office report Children in Military Custody that military law and public administration should deal with Palestinian children on an equal [HL4184] footing with Israeli children.

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that more needs to be done, particularly in the Jordan Valley and Palestinian land on the Israeli side of the separation barrier. We will continue to argue for a just outcome for all the people affected by illegal settlement construction and the confiscation of land due to the separation barrier. This includes funding from the Department for International Development for the Norwegian Refugee Council to provide legal support to communities affected by the occupation. Asked by Lord Hylton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the total cost of Mr Tony Blair and his supporting staff in his role as Quartet Envoy to the Middle East; and what is the United Kingdom share of [HL4326] that cost. Baroness Warsi: The Government do not provide any financial contribution to the Office of the Quartet Representative. However, we do currently second two civil servants to the Office of the Quartet Representative in London, and one to the Office of the Quartet Representative in Jerusalem, to support the work of the quartet in reinforcing the prospects of a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Government do not hold information on the total cost of Tony Blair’s role as Quartet Envoy. Asked by Lord Hylton

Baroness Warsi: Our ambassador to Tel Aviv has discussed the report’s findings with the Israeli AttorneyGeneral and Deputy Attorney-General and with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will continue dialogue with the Israeli authorities on this issue. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my honourable friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Mr Burt), has also written to the Israeli ambassador on this subject and has met Baroness Scotland, as one of the authors, to discuss follow-up to the report. Asked by Baroness Tonge To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent representations they have made to the Government of Israel concerning Palestinian farmers in Jayyous and elsewhere who are unable to access their land [HL4188] because of the security barrier.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the Government of Israel about access to the Old City of Jerusalem for pilgrims and students coming from the West Bank, Jordan and Israel, in line with United Nations [HL4365] resolutions on the matter. Baroness Warsi: We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement between the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and elsewhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Through our embassy in Tel Aviv, we have lobbied the appropriate authorities on the issue of movement and access. We continue to work closely with the quartet and EU partners, and to call on Israel to ease restrictions on access.

Israel and Palestine: West Bank Question

Baroness Warsi: Through our embassy in Tel Aviv, we have lobbied the appropriate authorities on the issue of movement and access. We continue to work closely with the quartet and EU partners, and to call on Israel to ease restrictions on access. The UK position on the separation barrier is clear: if Israel wished to build the barrier, it should have been built on the 1967 border—and where it is constructed on the Palestinian side of that border, it is illegal under international law. According to the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs there are now 522 obstacles which restrict Palestinian access, compared to 503 at the end of 2010. This is a clear increase and it is clear

Asked by Baroness Tonge To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the Government of Israel concerning the break-in and removal of all computer hard disks from the human rights offices of Addameer and other community organisations in Ramallah. [HL4185]

TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): We are deeply concerned by the incursion by Israeli security forces into Ramallah on11December,toraidtheofficesof threenon-governmental

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[LORDS]

organisations,includingAddameer,theUnionof Palestinian WomenCommitteesandthePalestinianNon-Governmental Organisation Network. Incursions by Israeli forces into Palestinian cities where the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords assumes the powers and responsibilities for internal security and public order put in jeopardy the internationally recognized success of Palestinian institution building efforts. Officials at our embassy in Tel Aviv are actively seeking an opportunity to raise this raid with the Israeli authorities.

Justice: Confiscation Orders

WA 64

Asked by Lord Thomas of Gresford To ask Her Majesty’s Government what range of default sentences were set by the Crown Courts for non-payment of confiscation orders in 2011. [HL4225]

Lord McNally: The minimum prison default sentence for non-payment is seven days for outstanding amounts up to £200, while the maximum additional sentence is 10 years for outstanding amounts over £1 million. The table below records the sliding scale of default prison sentences against the amount left outstanding, all of which were allocated during 2011-12.

Questions Asked by Lord Thomas of Gresford To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prisoners are currently serving a term of imprisonment for default in the payment of confiscation orders. [HL4222]

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): The National Offender Management Service and the Ministry of Justice Analytical Services are unable to obtain information from their data systems in relation to how many offenders are currently serving a confiscation default sentence for non-payment of confiscation orders. In addition, if the court has invoked the default sentence and if the offender is still serving their substantive prison sentence they will not be classed as serving their default sentence until after they have served their main sentence. Asked by Lord Thomas of Gresford To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much was recovered from confiscation orders in 2011.

Amount

Default Period

Not exceeding £200 Exceeding £200 but less than £500 Exceeding £500 but less than £1,000 Exceeding £1,000 but less than £2,500 Exceeding £2,500 but less than £5,000 Exceeding £5,000 but less than £10,000 Exceeding £10,000 but less than £20,000 Exceeding £20,000 but less than £50,000 Exceeding £50,000 but less than £100,000 Exceeding £100,000 but less than £250,000 Exceeding £250,000 but less than £1,000,000 Exceeding £ 1,000,000

7 days 14 days 28 days 45 days 3 months 6 months 12 months 18 months 2 years 3 years 5 years 10 years

[HL4223]

Lord McNally: A record amount of £120.8 million was recovered from confiscation orders in England and Wales during the financial year of 2011-12. Asked by Lord Thomas of Gresford To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many confiscation orders resulted in default sentences [HL4224] being activated in 2011. Lord McNally: HMCTS has eight regional confiscation units and the breakdown of the number of default prison sentences activated for non-payment of confiscation orders during 2011-12 is recorded in the table below. HMCTS Regional Confiscation Unit London Midlands (east) Midlands (west) North East North West South East South West Wales Total

Number of default sentences activated during 2011-12 66 27 41 37 67 48 35 6 327

Asked by Lord Thomas of Gresford To ask Her Majesty’s Government what types of offence resulted in confiscation orders being made in 2011. [HL4226] Lord McNally: During the 2011-12 financial year, 20 of the 21 offence categories were used for grant confiscation orders. No confiscation orders were granted under terrorism during 2011-12. The table below records the volume and value of confiscation orders granted during 2011-12, under each offence category. Offence Arms Trafficking Bribery and Corruption Burglary/Theft Counterfeiting/ Intellectual Property/ Forgery Drug Trafficking Excise Duty Fraud

Volume of Orders Granted

Value of Orders Granted

7 11

£1,766,873.33 £1,716,429.75

512 135

£5,697,593.23 £8,814,064.66

3,333 46

£45,428,479.24 £2,917,292.68

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Offence

[8 JANUARY 2013]

Volume of Orders Granted

Value of Orders Granted

63

£868,691.02

13

£186,313.94

257

£12,407,865.56

333

£32,106,071.95

127 904

£8,556,117.70 £36,014,747.14

32 51

£2,179,856.14 £3,372,369.73

Handling Stolen Goods Intellectual Property Crime Money-laundering Drugs Money-laundering Other Other Crime Other Fraud/ Embezzlement/ Deception/Crimes of dishonesty People Trafficking Pimps and Brothels/ Prostitution/ Pornography Robbery Tax and Benefit Fraud Terrorism Trading Standards Offences Unknown VAT Fraud Vehicle Offences Grand Total

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torture and ill treatment. However, in light of the ongoing legal proceedings it would not be appropriate to comment further. Asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will meet the Kenyan Human Rights Commission to discuss the setting up of a welfare fund for Kenyan victims of torture and violence and degrading treatment by the British colonial authorities during [HL4104] the 1950s Kenyan Emergency. Baroness Warsi: It would not be appropriate to comment on the possibility of a welfare fund while there is an ongoing legal case in the High Court.

Liver Bird Question

103 300

£513,453.21 £14,215,450.13

0 3

0.00 £473,820.00

12 25 3 6,270

£150,134.32 £10,165,274.51 £111,772.35 £187,662,670.59

Asked by Lord Thomas of Gresford To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the cost of confiscation proceedings in 2010 and 2011 arising out of court hearings, the use of expert witnesses, enforcement and default prison [HL4227] sentences. Lord McNally: HM Courts and Tribunals Service systems do not identify the cost of confiscation proceedings, including court hearings, the use of expert witnesses, enforcement and default prison sentences. To provide an estimate would require liaising with many government departments and would incur disproportionate costs. Furthermore it is difficult to set an average cost, as some confiscation cases are straightforward while others such as fraud are very complex and would be lengthy and include many specialists.

Kenya Questions Asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to the issue of an apology to Kenyan victims of torture during the 1950s Kenyan Emergency. [HL4103] TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): We understand the pain and grievance felt by all those involved in the divisive and bloody events of the emergency period in Kenya. We acknowledge that the claimants in the related case currently before the High Court may have suffered

Asked by Lord Storey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to (1) Liverpool Football Club, (2) Liverpool City Council, (3) the UK Intellectual Property Office, and (4) the European Union Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, regarding the rights associated with the use of the Liver Bird; and, if they have not made representations, whether they will do so. [HL4275] Baroness Stowell of Beeston: There has been no recent contact between the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and either Liverpool Football Club or Liverpool City Council regarding use of the Liver Bird in their logos. In April 2009, an official from IPO held a discussion with representatives of both Liverpool Football Club and Liverpool City Council to offer advice in relation to their continued and joint use of the Liver Bird. IPO has not discussed this matter with, nor made any representations to, the Office for the Harmonisation of the Internal Market, and is not aware of any discussions between that office and Liverpool Football Club or Liverpool City Council.

Localism Act 2011 Question Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government to what extent the duty to co-operate introduced in the Localism Act 2011 applies to co-operation between public bodies for individual development sites; and whether they will consider measures to require co-operation between public bodies and private companies on [HL4243] individual sites. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department forCommunitiesandLocalGovernment(BaronessHanham): The duty to co-operate applies to the preparation of local and marine plans where local planning authorities, county councils and prescribed bodies are planning for strategiccross-boundarymatters.Localplanningauthorities report to their communities on their actions under the duty in their authority monitoring report at least annually. The duty is intended to support the joint working necessary for good plan-making and this may include work with private partners where appropriate. Public

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bodies subject to the duty are required to have regard to the activities of local enterprise partnerships when preparing local plans, bringing together public and private sector organisations. The duty does not apply to the development management process but there is a similar expectation around effective joint working.

London Underground: Line Extensions Question Asked by Lord Berkeley To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the cost of extending the Northern Line to Battersea Power station; and what contribution [HL4289] the developer of that site will make. Earl Attlee: The costs of the extension are not expected to exceed £1 billion in outturn prices. Further design works will be required to provide a more accurate forecast of the capital costs, which will also be dependent on the timing of construction. Transport for London is currently working with the London boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth, the Greater London Authority and private developers to finalise the project’s funding and financing solution. The developer of the Battersea Power Station site is committed to providing £211.6 million (this figure will be subject to indexation) of funding towards infrastructure works, as set out in its Section 106 agreement. At least 72% of this will be used to fund the Northern Line extension.

Muslim Brotherhood Question Asked by Lord Patten To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of whether the Muslim Brotherhood presents any terrorist threat globally. [HL4160] TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The Muslim Brotherhood is a diverse movement that has its own political parties in a number of countries. We will engage with political parties where they respect the democratic process and have a commitment to human rights, the rule of law and non-violence. We do not consider the Muslim Brotherhood to be a terrorist organisation.

NHS: Contracts Question Asked by Lord Beecham To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many NHS contracts are currently placed with organisations owned by private equity companies. [HL4255] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): Contracts to provide goods and services to National Health Service bodies are generally let by the NHS bodies themselves. As a consequence the department does not hold information on the corporate structure of suppliers awarded these contracts.

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NHS: Data Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Goss Moor To ask Her Majesty’s Government what applications they have (1) received, and (2) granted, from organisations which collect data from NHS users in NHS hospital maternity units regarding the permission of onward sale of that data to other organisations [HL4206] and individuals. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is the central body responsible for undertaking national collections of data from health and care organisations, including data on maternity services. The HSCIC routinely publishes and shares the data it collects so that they can be used to support the delivery of healthcare services but—crucially—only in ways that do not identify individuals. Identifiable data are released by the HSCIC only where consent has been obtained or where there is another basis in law to release it. The HSCIC receives applications for specific extracts of the data it holds to be provided for particular purposes as part of a bespoke data extract service. All applications for such data extracts are assessed by the centre to ensure there is a valid and appropriate purpose for the intended use of the data. If they include identifiable data, the applicant must have the appropriate legal approval to see the data. In addition, a customer of the service can only hold the data having signed a data reuse agreement which contains strict conditions about how the data are to be used. The HSCIC operates this service on a cost recovery basis. That means that any charges made by HSCIC cover only the resource cost of providing the data. No charge is made for the data itself. The HSCIC records requests for bespoke data extracts according to the customer rather than the subject matter of the data. As a result, this information is not stored in a way that allows any requests which may have included maternity data to be identified without examining every extract request manually. Dame Fiona Caldicott is currently leading an independent review, commissioned by the Government, to examine and report on how we can strike the right balance between appropriately safeguarding people’s health and care data while ensuring we are able to harness the enormous power information has to transform people’s experience of care. That review is expected to report early in 2013.

NHS: Funding Questions Asked by Baroness Pitkeathley To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost to the National Health Service in the period 2007-2012, as captured by the National Programme Budgeting Database, of funding continuing healthcare packages for patients’ ongoing health and social care needs, broken down by medical speciality. [HL4133]

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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost to the National Health Service in the period 2007-2012 of funding continuing healthcare packages for patients’ ongoing health and social care needs arising from problems of vision, broken down by [HL4134] primary care trust. To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the cost to the National Health Service in the period 2007-2012 of funding continuing healthcare packages for patients’ ongoing health and social care needs arising from neurological problems, broken down [HL4135] by primary care trust. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The cost of funding National Health Service continuing healthcare packages is not captured specifically by National Programme Budgeting. Since 2009, the department has collected information on the total cost of NHS continuing healthcare packages through a financial information management system1. The annual costs are as follows: 2009-10 - £2,030,071,000; 2010-11 - £2,186,171,000; and 2011-12 - £2,324,655,000. This information is not available broken down by medical specialty. Note: 1 This is management information and is not audited for departmental records

NHS: General Practitioners Question

Written Answers

WA 70

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is an option for clinicians to help manage the care of people in their last days or hours of life, complementing the skill and expertise of the practitioner using it. It requires senior doctors and nurses involved in a patient’s care to agree that death is very likely to be imminent, and that being placed on the LCP would reduce a patient’s distress, discomfort and pain. That decision involves the clinician choosing the best approach to care for an individual patient, whether curative treatment, palliative care, or a mixture of both. The LCP documentation is very clear that the decision should involve the patient and family members wherever possible. The LCP is not a treatment but a framework for managing treatments. Consent is therefore not required for the LCP itself, but normal consent rules apply to treatments while someone is on the LCP. If, as part of the discussions between the patient, family and healthcare team, it becomes clear that someone did not wish LCP to be used to help manage their care, then the healthcare team should respect that choice. Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government who has been appointed to chair their inquiry into the operation of the Liverpool Care Pathway; with whom the chair will be working to conduct that inquiry; and [HL4257] what mandate the inquiry will have. Earl Howe: We expect to announce the chair of the independent inquiry very shortly. Once the chair is in place, further details, including the terms of reference for the inquiry, will be published.

Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to minimise patient services being cut by general practitioners. [HL4361] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department of Health (Earl Howe): The proposed changes to the general practitioners’ (GP) contract for 2013-14 are designed to improve the range and quality of services provided by GP practices. The Government’s evidence to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration proposes that GP practices should also receive an uplift in funding for 2013-14 to allow up to a 1% increase in pay for GPs and practice staff and additional funding to reflect increases in non-staff expenses.

NHS: Liverpool Care Pathway Questions Asked by Lord Patten To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether all patients who are intended to be placed on the Liverpool Care Pathway, and their legal carers, (1) must be informed by hospital staff of that intention, and (2) have the absolute right to decline this form of [HL4071] care.

North Korea Questions Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Warsi on 12 December (Official Report, col. 1064) and following the decision by the Government of North Korea to test its ballistic missile technology, what message was conveyed to the ambassador from North Korea during the meeting to which he was invited at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 12 December; what was his response; and what contact the Foreign Secretary has had with the Government of China in preparation for the meeting of the United Nations Security Council which will consider this matter. [HL4177] TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The North Korean ambassador was summoned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) by the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my honourable friend the Member for North East Bedfordshire (Mr Burt), on 12 December. Alistair Burt condemned North Korea’s satellite launch, made clear that it was a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1874 and

WA 71

Written Answers

[LORDS]

emphasised the importance of North Korea adhering to its international obligations. He also pointed out that North Korea should prioritise its resources on feeding its people, avoid further provocative action and take urgent steps to re-engage constructively with the international community. The ambassador’s response was consistent with public statements by the North Koreans. The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), met the North Korean ambassador on 19 December. He repeated the UK’s strong condemnation of the satellite launch and explained that under international law North Korea must adhere to the obligations placed on it by the UN Security Council. He reiterated the Government’s call for North Korea to focus its resources on improving the lives of the North Korean people. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right honourable friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), did not have any contact himself with the Chinese Government before the UN Security Council meeting on 12 December. However, in advance of the satellite launch, he instructed our embassy in Beijing to speak to the Chinese Government to explain our position. Officials from the FCO in London also spoke to the Chinese embassy and our ambassador to North Korea met the Chinese ambassador in Pyongyang to reiterate these messages. Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions have taken place in the United Nations Security Council following the launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea; what bilateral discussions they have had with China; and what measures are being taken in response by the international community. [HL4258]

Baroness Warsi: The UN Security Council held urgent consultations following the launch on 12 December of North Korea’s Eunha 3 rocket. In that meeting, members of the Security Council condemned the launch as a clear violation of Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1874. They recalled that in April 2012 the council demanded that North Korea not proceed with any further launches using ballistic missile technology. Consultations on the exact nature of the Security Council’s response are ongoing between council members. Officials at the UK Mission to the UN have also discussed the satellite launch with officials at the Chinese Mission to the UN as part of wider efforts to secure a strong UN response. Our embassy in Beijing has also spoken to the Chinese Foreign Ministry and set out our position in an attempt to secure Chinese support for an appropriate Security Council response. We and other like-minded partners remain focused on seeing the Security Council agree an appropriate response to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s launch. EU member states will then consider their own response, in light of decisions taken by the Security Council. At the same time, other international partners such as South Korea and Japan are also considering bilateral responses to the satellite launch.

Written Answers

WA 72

Ofsted Question Asked by Baroness Sharp of Guildford To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hill of Oareford on 24 September (WA 326) regarding complaints to Ofsted, whether details of complaints are made public, and if so where; and what was the outcome of the two complaints against further education colleges which were not concluded at the time the [HL4144] Question was answered. Baroness Garden of Frognal: This question is a matter for Ofsted. The Deputy Chief Inspector, Education, Children’s Services and Skills, John Goldup, has written to the noble Baroness, and a copy of his response has been placed in the House Libraries. Letter from John Goldup, Deputy Chief Inspector, Education, Children’s Services and Skills, Ofsted, to Baroness Sharp of Guildford, dated 13 December 2012. Your recent Parliamentary Question has been passed to Ofsted for response. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is away, and I am replying on his behalf. I can confirm that we do not currently make public details of complaints about Ofsted’s work. However, the annual report of the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted (ICASO) evaluates how complaints have been handled when complainants remain dissatisfied following our internal investigations into their concerns. The ICASO annual report is available on its website at: http://www. ofstedadjudicationservice.co.uk/ In terms of the two complaints by further education colleges where investigations had not been completed at the time the previous Parliamentary Question was answered, one related to the inspection judgments awarded, and one related to aspects of inspector conduct, administrative issues and the inspection judgments. None of these concerns was upheld following complaint investigations. A copy of this reply has been sent to Lord Hill of Oareford, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools, and will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Older People Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Warsi on 14 December (Official Report, col. 1328) that “the mark of a good society is how it treats its old people”, what plans they have to encourage people in the United [HL4228] Kingdom to value older people. TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): As the debate on 14 December highlighted, the contribution of older people to our society is considerable and wide-ranging. The people who benefit from that contribution—whatever form it takes—already hold them with great value.

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Written Answers

Government do recognise the importance of the issues facing people in later life and the contribution they make to society, but do not assume that they know all the answers. The Age Action Alliance was created in recognition of the need for a radical shift in approach. The alliance’s vision is informed and driven by older people themselves, sharing a vision of improving older people’s lives and creating neighbourhoods where all older people are secure, valued and able to make a contribution to their local communities and wider society. UK Older People’s Day is held on 1 October and celebrates the contribution older people make to our society. The purpose of the day is to be a national celebration of the achievements and contributions that older people make to our society and to the economy. Supported by the Department for Work and Pensions, Older People’s Day is a means through which we can progressively address negative attitudes and outdated stereotypes. Community events such as the Big Lunch have also shown themselves to be good vehicles for bringing the generations together. In 2012 8.5 million people took part, with events often involving an intergenerational aspect. In rural Cleveland, targeted support made possible by this department gave an isolated community a big boost with teenagers helping older residents to take part in the Big Lunch.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sassoon on 6 December (WA 203–4), whether the voluntary contribution of ¤150,000 to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development “to support rapid progress on its work to tackle the profit shifting and the erosion of the corporate tax base at the global level” is directly linked to a specific deliverable and [HL4322] agreed timetable. Bilateral sector spending, by country, 2010-11 £ thousand Country Agriculture Afghanistan Africa Regional Asia Regional Brazil Burma Cambodia Cameroon China Ethiopia Ghana India Indonesia Kenya Liberia Malawi Mozambique

5,088 11,984 2.706 455 884 15,838 70 6,888 17 4,097 192

Written Answers

[8 JANUARY 2013]

WA 74

Lord Newby: The Organisation for the Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) work is important to help promote a better way of dealing with profit shifting and the erosion of the corporate tax base at the global level. The OECD will report to the G20 Finance Ministers on progress in February 2013. The timetable and direction for further work by the OECD will be set following consideration of the February report. Given the complex issues involved and the need to gather evidence, the voluntary contributions to this work will help make progress in achieving concrete results.

Overseas Aid Question Asked by The Earl of Sandwich To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding the Department for International Development has allocated in the last two financial years for (1) agriculture, (2) forestry, (3) fisheries, and [HL4137] (4) livestock, broken down by country. Baroness Northover: DfID uses input sector codes to collect information on sectoral spend across its bilateral programme. Information on how much is spent by sector is published annually through its Statistics on International Development publication and at more detailed sectoral level through a set of additional tables. This information can be found at the following link: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-us/How-wemeasure-progress/Aid-Statistics/Statistics-onInternational-Development-2012/. The tables below provide details of bilateral spending in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and livestock broken down by country and regional programme in financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12. The department also provides finance for these sectors through core contributions to multilateral organisations. For example, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) received £32 million in 2010-11, with elements of this funding being used for agricultural purposes.

Fisheries

Forestry

Livestock

Grand Total

2,813 280 -

1,515 13 24 253 257 607 753 146 -

6 1 375 -

5,094 16,314 13 24 3,081 988 257 884 15,838 677 6,888 753 17 146 4,097 192

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Bilateral sector spending, by country, 2010-11 £ thousand Country Agriculture Nepal Nicaragua Nigeria Pakistan Rwanda South Africa, Republic of 1 South of Sahara Regional St Helena Sudan Tajikistan, Republic of Tanzania Uganda Yemen Zimbabwe Non-specific Country Grand Total

WA 76

Fisheries

Forestry

Livestock

Grand Total

1,602 113 294 2,192 4,283 -319

-

3,200 -

694 -

4,802 113 988 2,192 4,283 -319

36

-

-

-

36

1,214 11

169 -

-

-

169 1,214 11

467 334

-

-

-

467 334

1,021 4,281 5,050

48

52,872

1,205

1,021 4,281 59,174

68,799

3,310

59,640

2,281

134,030

1 Reimbursement of funds to programme. 2 Spending on agriculture based on Input Sector Codes 31110, 31120, 31130 and 31191. 3 Spending on fisheries based on Input Sector Codes 31310 and 31320. Bilateral sector spending, by country, 2011-12 £ thousand Country Agriculture Afghanistan Africa Regional Asia Regional Burma Cameroon China Congo (Dem Rep) Ethiopia Ghana India Indonesia Kenya Malawi Middle East Mozambique Nepal Nigeria Pakistan Rwanda Somali Republic South Sudan Sudan Tajikistan, Republic of Tanzania Uganda Vietnam Zambia Zimbabwe

Written Answers

[LORDS]

4 Spending on forestry based on Input Sector Codes 31210 and 31220. 5 Spending on livestock based on Input Sector Codes 31163. - represents zero expenditure

Fisheries

Forestry

Livestock

Grand Total

3,540 3,661 8,375 16,740 107 1,762 15,246 200 291 1,958 330 415 7,115 1,394 4,380 72

1,834 -

404 30 516 44 70 167 1,036 3,721 353 566 -

20 875 336 573 -

3,560 5,900 30 9,250 516 44 70 16,740 274 1,762 1,036 336 15,246 200 291 5,680 903 415 7,115 1,394 4.733 566 72

3,915 0 22 3,883

0 -

35 -

-

3.915 35 0 22 3,883

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Bilateral sector spending, by country, 2011-12 £ thousand Country Agriculture Non-specific Country Grand Total

Forestry

Livestock

Grand Total

5,179

4

2,317

1,091

8,591

78,587

1,838

9,261

2,895

92,580

Parliaments: Costs Question Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the latest figures for the annual total costs, and cost per member, of (1) the House of Lords, (2) the House of Commons, and (c) the European Parliament. [HL4062]

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The table below sets out the annual cost, number of Members and average cost per Member for the House of Commons, House of Lords and European Parliament. Number of Members

Expenditure per member £ million

385

650

0.59

109

821-831

0.13

1,332

736

1.79

£ million House of Commons House of Lords European Parliament1

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Fisheries

1 Spending on agriculture based on Input Sector Codes 31110, 31120, 31130 and 31191. 2 Spending on fisheries based on Input Sector Codes 31310 and 31320. 3 Spending on forestry based on Input Sector Codes 31210 and 31220. 4 Spending on livestock based on Input Sector Codes 31163. - represents zero expenditure. 0 represents expenditure rounded down to zero.

Annual cost

Written Answers

[8 JANUARY 2013]

The figures for the House of Commons are taken from the House of Commons annual accounts 2011-122 (for both administrative and Members’ budgets) and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority annual accounts 2011-123. The House of Lords figures are for taken from the House of Lords annual accounts 2011-124. For the European Parliament, figures are taken from the European Union Budget of 2011 financial report5. The European Parliament increased from 736 Members to 754 from 1 December 2011. 1 Reported annual cost of ¤1,555 million, converted at the December 2011 exchange rate of ¤1.18 = £1 2 http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/commons/ resource-accounts 3 http://parliamentarystandards.org.uk/About%20Us/ Corporate%20Publications/Annual%20Report%20and% 20Accounts%202011-%202012.pdf 4 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/Id/Idresource/35/ 35.pdf 5 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/aboutparliament/en/ 00059f3ea3/The-budget-of-the-European-Parliament.html

Pensions Questions Asked by Lord Watson of Invergowrie To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take to ensure that recipients of the British state pension resident overseas and whose pensions are currently frozen will in future have their pensions paid at the same rate as the remaining expatriates whose pensions are uprated. [HL4325] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): There are no plans to change the current arrangements for pensions paid overseas. Asked by Lord Rooker To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to incorporate the £10 Christmas bonus for pensioners into the basic pension, or to abolish it. [HL4328]

Lord Freud: The £10 Christmas bonus is paid to both pensioners and working-age people in receipt of certain qualifying benefits. The majority of recipients receive their payment automatically with whichever qualifying benefit they receive, which keeps administrative costs relatively low. There are no plans to change the way the Christmas bonus is paid or to abolish it.

Planning Question Asked by Baroness Whitaker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the regulators of utility companies about requiring utility companies to co-operate with public bodies in the planning of sustainable development. [HL4261] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department forCommunitiesandLocalGovernment(BaronessHanham): In 2011, the Government undertook a consultation on the draft Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012 in which the bodies subject to the duty to co-operate were prescribed. This was a general public consultation and so enabled the regulators of utility companies to put forward their views. The consultation also specifically invited views on the list of bodies that should be subject to the duty. A summary of the responses to that consultation was published on 27 March 2012 and is available on the departmental website at: https://www.gov.uk/ government/consultations/local-planning-regulations.

WA 79

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[LORDS]

Written Answers

Police: Aid and Development Programmes

Police: Overseas Service

Questions

Question

Asked by Lord Chidgey

Asked by Lord Chidgey

WA 80

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of opportunities to review the way in which police reform and development is administered overseas in countries where the United Kingdom is [HL4309] contributing to this process.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the demand for the provision of United Kingdom policing practice and expertise by countries in Africa. [HL4340]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the scope for employing United Kingdom police forces to deliver appropriate outcomes [HL4311] in aid and development programmes.

The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): UK policing is highly regarded internationally, and there is demand for UK policing expertise both through multilateral mechanisms and from specific countries. While we have not made an assessment overall of the demand within Africa for UK policing, requests put to the Stabilisation Unit—which co-ordinates all requests for “non-operational” policing assistance—suggest that demand in Africa, as elsewhere, is high. We currently have senior UK police officers serving in UN missions to South Sudan, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The Government’s Building Stability Overseas Strategy recognises the contribution that our policing expertise can make to building security, justice and broader development outcomes.

Baroness Northover: The Building Stability Overseas Strategy sets out the UK’s “whole of government” approach to delivering stability and development outcomes overseas. The positive contribution that UK police forces can make to deliver development outcomes is recognised within this strategy. Appropriate use of UK police expertise and experience for a particular programme is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Police reform can make a critical contribution to the development of more effective security and justice services in developing countries. The UK is currently reviewing its existing approaches for police reform in order to prepare up-to-date guidance based on experience and lessons learnt.

Police: Reform Question Asked by Lord Chidgey

Police: Cross-Commonwealth Reform Question Asked by Lord Chidgey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the scope for developing a cross-Commonwealth approach to police reform, including the establishment of a register of police reform service providers within Commonwealth police [HL4312] agencies.

TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): The Commonwealth Secretariat continues to provide Commonwealth member states with support on police reform, including facilitating co-operation between members. A recent example has seen the Secretariat run a programme to strengthen the capacity of the Sierra Leone police force through partnership with the Botswana Police College. The UK also continues to provide support to Commonwealth members on police reform through our bilateral aid. Mostrecently,theDepartmentforInternationalDevelopment has funded programmes in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Jamaica, and the International Academy of the Collegeof Policingprovidedassistanceto17Commonwealth countries in 2012 through their training programmes. The Government have not, at this point, made an assessment of scope for further developing a crossCommonwealth approach to police reform.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect on the police of outsourcing police reform and development to commercial companies; and, what assessment they have made of the benefits delivered by the investment they have committed to such outsourcing to date. [HL4341]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach): HM Inspectorate of Constabulary’s Collaboration Report (July 2012) estimated that forces would save £169 million through collaboration by March 2015, including through collaboration with the private sector. It is for police and crime commissioners and forces to consider whether the private sector can help achieve cost savings and better services for the public. The police remain a public service, accountable to the people.

Population Questions Asked by Lord Empey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what forecast they have made of the size of the population of the United Kingdom in 2021. [HL4285] Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

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[8 JANUARY 2013]

Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Lord Empey, dated December 2012. As Director General for the Office for National Statistics I have been asked to reply to your question to Her Majesty’s Government asking what forecast has been made of the size of the population of the United Kingdom in 2021. [HL4285] Estimates of future population are available as population projections. The most recent national population projections are based on mid-year population estimates for 2010 published in 2011, and they project the population of the United Kingdom to reach 67.6 million by mid-2021. These projections do not take account of results of the 2011 Census. National population projections are not forecasts and do not attempt to predict the impact of future government policies, changing economic circumstances or the capacity of an area to accommodate a change in population. They provide an indication of the future size and age structure of the population if recent demographic trends continued. Asked by Lord Empey To ask Her Majesty’s Government which department or agency is responsible for assessing [HL4287] population trends in England.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply. Letter from Glen Watson, Director General for ONS, to Lord Empey, dated December 2012. As Director General for the Office for National Statistics I have been asked to reply to your question to Her Majesty’s Government asking which department or agency is responsible for assessing population trends in England. [HL4287] The Office for National Statistics is responsible for population statistics and analyses population trends in order to produce population projections.

Post Office Question Asked by Baroness Byford To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the £1.34 billion allocated to the Post Office for modernising its network will be spent in rural areas. [HL4293]

Baroness Stowell of Beeston: Post Office Ltd’s Network Transformation programme for modernising some 6,000 branches by 2015 is operating on a voluntary basis and is still in its early stages. It is therefore not possible to indicate how much of the funding will be spent in rural areas. Of the 307 branches which had converted to new operating models as at end November 2012, 162 are classified as rural.

Written Answers

WA 82

Post-2015 Development Agenda Questions Asked by Lord Chidgey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they are giving to promoting a law and justice component within the Post-2015 Development Agenda. [HL4310] To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will push for a post-2015 millennium development goal of promoting internal security and stability [HL4339] and the rule of law. Baroness Northover: Ahead of the UN High-Level Panel (HLP) meeting on the post-2015 development goals on 1 November, the UK hosted a day of seminars for panel members on issues that might feature in the new framework. This included sessions on access to justice and personal security. As co-chair of the High-Level Panel, the Prime Minister is keen that the post-2015 development goals tackle the root causes of poverty. This includes strengthening the rule of law, promoting greater access to justice and providing stable and secure environments for all citizens.

Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals Questions Asked by Lord Chidgey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedures they will adopt to engage directly with Members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords in providing their input to, and monitoring of, the deliberations of the High-Level Panel on Post-2015 [HL4244] Millennium Development Goals. Baroness Northover: The International Development Committee has launched an inquiry into the post-2015 development agenda. The Department for International Development, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provided joint written evidence and the Secretary of State for International Development, the right honourable Justine Greening MP, gave oral evidence in November 2012. Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) Ministers are also engaging directly in parliamentary debates, such as the adjournment debates in the House of Commons (January and October 2012) and the Lords debate in November 2012. HMG are also answering large numbers of Parliamentary Questions about the post-2015 development goals and engaging with parliamentarians through All-Party Parliamentary Groups. Asked by Lord Chidgey To ask Her Majesty’s Government which civil society organisations have held discussions with the High-Level Panel on Post-2015 Millennium [HL4245] Development Goals.

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Written Answers

[LORDS]

Baroness Northover: In parallel to the High-Level Panel meetings, held in New York and London, a global online civil society consultation provided the opportunity to respond to questions on individual and household poverty. Many members of the High-Level Panel have organised their own national or regional consultations—many of them with civil society representatives. Asked by Lord Chidgey To ask Her Majesty’s Government what topics were discussed, and what were the outcomes of these discussions, at the last meeting of the High-Level Panel on Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals. [HL4246]

Baroness Northover: The first substantive meeting of the post-2015 High-Level Panel took place in London in early November. The panel discussed individual and household level poverty—with a particular emphasis on human development, jobs and livelihoods. In a day of UK-hosted seminars, panellists also addressed key issues related to poverty reduction with some of the world’s foremost experts—including sessions on future social and economic projections, the rule of law and good stewardship of natural resources. Panellists agreed on a set of questions that set the agenda for the panel’s work and will frame its report. They discussed elements of a vision statement where there was strong support for ending poverty in our time while putting in place the building blocks of sustained prosperity.

Prisoners: Ethnicity and Religion Questions Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information they collect on prisoners’ ethnicity and religious backgrounds; and what are the most recent figures for which information is available. [HL4348] To ask Her Majesty’s Government what data they hold on the number of religious conversions in [HL4349] prison. The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): Tables A and B provide information on population in prison establishments by ethnicity and religion as at 30 September 2012. Information on the number of prisoners who convert to each religion while in prison is not held centrally. The data held centrally relate to prisoners’ current declared religion, not any previously declared religion. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prisoners: Muslims Question Asked by Baroness Uddin To ask Her Majesty’s Government what specialist advisers are employed within the prison service in relation to Muslim detainees; and what are their roles and responsibilities. [HL4350]

Written Answers

WA 84

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): There are a range of specialists employed by the National Offender Management Service to meet the needs of prisoners generally. The service also employs a Muslim adviser to advise specifically on Islamic issues relating to prisoners and to be one of the tiers of approval in the appointment process of all Muslim chaplains. Chaplaincy teams in prisons will include Muslim chaplains whose role includes providing religious and pastoral support to Muslim prisoners.

Prisons: Lincoln Prison Question Asked by Baroness Stern To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have responded to the finding by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in his report on Lincoln Prison published in October 2012 that the data provided evidence of unequal treatment of black and minority ethnic [HL4319] prisoners. The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): NOMS is committed to fairness for all in its duty of care towards prisoners. Prison Service Instruction 32/2011 “Ensuring Equality” sets out the policy approach and lists key mandatory actions designed to ensure legal compliance in prison establishments. This is supplemented by comprehensive guidance. This compliance is audited. In the course of 2012-13 it is proposed to improve on the range and quality of monitoring data with the aim of driving forward improvements at both national and local levels. Since the inspection of HMP Lincoln a new governor has been appointed and he has introduced new arrangements related to equality issues to engage with prisoners in minority groups, including those from black and minority ethnic communities. As with all establishment inspection reports by HMIP, NOMS intends to produce an action plan responding to all the recommendations made in the report between three and six months after the date of publication. I will therefore write to the noble Baroness detailing the response to the specific recommendations about this matter once the plan has been sent to the chief inspector. Asked by Baroness Stern To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have sought an explanation for the finding of HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in his report on Lincoln Prison published in October 2012 that work, training and education places in a new academy were almost empty whilst up to half the prisoners were locked in their cells during the working part of the day. [HL4321]

Lord McNally: Since the inspection a new governor has been appointed to HMP Lincoln. He is working closely with a new learning and skills provider and other partners to improve and monitor attendance at work, training and education places. They are committed to delivering an appropriate level of offender learning

WA 85

Written Answers

[8 JANUARY 2013]

to meet the needs of prisoners, and thereby improving on the previous arrangements and partnership working that existed. Work is also under way on the reorganisation of Lincoln, in order to deliver a more effective regime. As with all establishment inspection reports by HMIP, NOMS intends to produce an action plan responding to all the recommendations made in the report between three and six months after the date of publication. I will therefore write to the noble Baroness detailing the response to the specific recommendations about this matter once the plan has been sent to the chief inspector.

Railways: Stations Questions Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with relevant agencies about the reopening of a rail station in Walworth. [HL4302] Earl Attlee: We are not aware of any discussions that have taken place with agencies about the reopening of a rail station in Walworth. Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government what public money has been spent on the following railway stations (1) New Cross, (2) New Cross Gate, (3) St John’s, (4) Lewisham, and (5) Ladywell, in 2010 [HL4303] and 2011. Earl Attlee: Under the National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP) £695,000 and £95,000 were spent on improvements to the waiting accommodation at Lewisham Station in 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively. Under the Access for All (AfA) main programme, £138,000 has been spent so far at New Cross towards a £2.5 million project and £171,000 at New Cross Gate towards a £4 million project, most of which will have been spent in 2010 and 2011. As part of the AfA small scheme programme, a further £65,000 was spent at New Cross Gate in 2009-10 and 2010-11. At Lewisham, a £5.7 million Access for All project was completed in 2010, although only a minimal amount of this sum would have been spent in 2010. Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they have spent on (1) Elephant and Castle, and (2) Denmark Hill, railway stations in (a) 2010, and [HL4351] (b) 2011. Baroness Stowell of Beeston: Under the National Stations Improvement Programme (NSIP) £11,000, £30,000 and £879,000 was spent on station improvements at Denmark Hill station in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively. £3.4 million of funding under the Access for All (AfA) main programme has also been spent towards a £4.18 million project at Denmark Hill, which is due for completion in 2013. Of this, £400,000 was spent in 2010 and £1.6 million in 2011.

Written Answers

WA 86

Under the station commercial project facility, £328,000 was awarded in 2011 for new station ticket gates and £80,000 to improve retail facilities for passengers at Denmark Hill. There is no record of equivalent expenditure at Elephant and Castle.

Rodents Questions Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the rat population in (1) England, (2) Wales, (3) Greater London, and (4) Northern Ireland, in each of the past 15 years for which [HL4121] information is available. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord De Mauley): Defra has made no estimate of the size of the rat population in England, Wales, Greater London or Northern Ireland in any of the last 15 years. Defra has published data on rodent presence in domestic dwellings. The most recent information published by Defra is a report in May 2010 of the interim analysis of rodent presence in domestic properties from data for 2005, 2006 and 2007. This reported that there was no significant increase in rat presence inside dwellings between 1996 and 2007. The presence of rats outside dwellings increased between 1996 and 2001 but between 2001 and 2007, although the presence of rats outside dwellings fluctuated, there were no statistically significant increases or decreases. Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have (1) taken, and (2) plan to take, to reduce the rodent population in (a) Greater London, (b) England, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland. [HL4122]

Lord De Mauley: Responsibility for dealing with problems caused by wild animals normally rests with the occupier of the land concerned. Under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that their districts are kept, as far as is practicable, free of rats. The Act gives local authorities the power to require landowners and occupiers to control rat infestations on their land. A local authority can also, where necessary, carry out the control work itself and recover the cost of such action from the landowner or occupier. Natural England provides advice on controlling rat infestations; its publication Rats: Options for Controlling Infestations is available on its website.

Schools: Primary School Places Question Asked by Lord Dykes To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to provide extra funding to increase primary school places in the Greater London area. [HL4046]

WA 87

Written Answers

[LORDS]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): The department provides basic need funding to local authorities to support the provision of additional pupil places and we will confirm the 2013-14 allocations by the end of January 2013. The Chancellor, as part of the recent Autumn Statement, announced that an additional £980 million of investment to support the creation of new pupil places will be made in schools in England by the end of this Parliament. The department will make further information about this funding available in the new year. Asked by Lord Dykes To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have made any assessment of the availability of primary school places, including state-funded church [HL4047] schools, in London. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): The department collects pupil place data from all local authorities through the Annual Schools Capacity Survey. The most recent information, which includes state-funded church schools, relates to the position as at May 2011 and shows that there were 1,779 primary schools in London providing 622,597 primary places. Also as at May 2011, a total of 40,353 unfilled places were available across London. The data to provide detail on the May 2012 position will be available in the new year.

Scotland: Independence Question Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the Government of Iceland about the remarks by that country’s President, Olafur Grimson, that independence for Scotland could be the “road towards prosperity and a good [HL4252] society”. TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi): There are no plans for the Government to make representations to the Icelandic GovernmentaboutthereferendumonScottishindependence. As the Government have made clear, any decisions on Scotland’s future are for the people in Scotland to decide. The Government are confident that Scotland will choose to remain part of the UK and are therefore not planning for any other outcome. The government position is clear: Scotland is stronger in the UK and the UK is stronger with Scotland in it.

Sport: Motor Racing Question Asked by Lord Rooker To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress they have made regarding allowing motor racing on closed public roads. [HL4332] Baroness Stowell of Beeston: The Department for Transport is currently considering the case for making it easier to hold on-road motor racing events and intends to consult in the spring.

Written Answers

WA 88

Sudan Questions Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will seek to ensure that the Paris Club opposes any debt relief for Sudan until the Government of that country have been shown to have ceased all military action against civilians in Darfur, South Kordofan [HL4017] and Blue Nile. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): Any future debt relief for Sudan would take place as part of a wider reform programme that may be prepared by the IMF and would be subject to decisions made by the boards of the IMF, World Bank and Paris Club, on which the UK Government are represented. This would be subject to the same requirements and obligations as for any other country. It is important that the Government of Sudan demonstrate their full commitment to the reduction of poverty across the whole country. Ongoing conflicts are a significant cause of poverty and an obstacle to the implementation of development plans. Asked by Baroness Cox To ask Her Majesty’s Government what further pressure they will put on the Government of Sudan to allow access for humanitarian aid for the peoples of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, particularly in view of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North’s offer to initiate a ceasefire to facilitate [HL4336] humanitarian aid access. Baroness Northover: We welcome the statement by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North on 19 December expressing their readiness for a ceasefire. It is now imperative that they, and the Government of Sudan, enter into direct talks immediately and without preconditions, aimed at a cessation of hostilities. A political settlement remains the best hope for the people of the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. Working with the United Nations, African Union, League of Arab States and other international partners, we will continue to press both sides to co-operate so that we see these talks begin and full humanitarian access granted.

Syria Questions Asked by Lord Hylton To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the provision of European Union and other international aid and supplies to Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon to assist Syrian refugees in [HL4234] those countries. Baroness Northover: The European Union has provided substantial funding for the crisis in Syria, including for refugees in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Total EU humanitarian funding for the Syria response

WA 89

Written Answers

[8 JANUARY 2013]

Written Answers

WA 90

to date is well over ¤320 million. ¤120 million of this total is provided by the European Commission, with over ¤200 million by member states. The UK is a leading donor among the EU member states, providing £68.5 million, at least £24 million of which is going to help refugees in neighbouring countries. The UK continues to monitor the situation closely and actively consider what more we can do. We are calling on the international community, including the EU, to step up and provide more funding, or co-ordinate bilateral assistance with the UN appeals. Asked by Baroness Cox To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the Government of Syria to allow access by international aid organisations to all civilians including Christians and other religious [HL4337] minorities in Aleppo and Homs.

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): All multinationals plan and manage their tax compliance. The amount of tax they have to pay is affected by a range of factors, including how they arrange their affairs. There are a range of rules designed to ensure that profits earned in the UK are taxed here. HM Revenue & Customs ensures that multinationals pay the tax that is due under UK tax law. Asked by Lord Myners

Baroness Northover: The UK is calling on all parties to the conflict in Syria to facilitate improved access, respect international humanitarian law, facilitate safe passage for humanitarian workers and supplies, and permit civilians to evacuate conflict zones safely. Most recently we did this at the Friends of Syria meeting on 12 December 2012. We are also working closely with the UN on this matter. The UN’s Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Baroness Amos, recently visited Syria and met the Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid Muallem, to discuss humanitarian access, among other issues. Asked by Baroness Cox To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the Governments of Greece and Turkey to allow access for refugees [HL4338] from the fighting in Syria.

Lord Sassoon: The Government are introducing a new employee shareholder employment status. Employees adopting the new status will receive a minimum of £2,000-worth of shares. Any gains made, on up to £50,000-worth of shares, will be exempt from capital gains tax (CGT). The Government will take steps to prevent manipulation of CGT exemption available on shares received under the status. The draft capital gains tax legislation, published on 11 December 2012, sets out a number of anti-avoidance provisions, including rules to preserve the integrity of the £50,000 limit and to prevent those in control of a company from accessing the CGT exemption. The Government agree with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that predicting take-up of new policies, such as the new employment status, is difficult. However, some further clarification is needed. The OBR refers to tax planning—not avoidance. Encouraging take-up of this targeted employment policy should not be misconstrued as encouraging avoidance. In addition, the potential costs of the policy referred to by the OBR are estimated to take place well beyond the end of the forecast period. If further provisions are needed to address particular avoidance risks, the Government will have the opportunity to include these at a later date, with a view to ensuring that this policy does not become disproportionately costly to the taxpayer. The Government keep all areas of tax policy under review at all times.

Baroness Northover: There are over 550,000 refugees from Syria in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. We welcome the generous effort of these countries in hosting thousands of refugees and co-ordinating with the UN-led humanitarian response to assist them. We have been clear in our engagement with host Governments, including Turkey’s, to press the importance of keeping their borders open to allow refugees to flee the violence in Syria, in line with international law. We understand a small number of Syrians have requested asylum in Greece. The UK is providing assistance to Greece to improve their immigration and asylum management in the context of the EU’s support for Greece’s action plan. The UK has provided £68.5 million to assist people affected by the violence in Syria, including £24 million to support refugees. We continue actively to consider what more we can do to ease the desperate suffering of the Syrian people.

Taxation: Avoidance Questions Asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many large multinational companies they estimate are trading in the United Kingdom and organising their tax affairs to pay little or no corporation tax. [HL4029]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to avoid any tax avoidance arising from their proposal for employees to exchange shares for employment rights; and whether they agree with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment of the potential risk of avoidance or evasion arising [HL4085] from the proposal.

Taxation: Income Tax Question Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people are projected to be paying income tax at the 40% rate in the financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14; and how many paid income tax at that rate in [HL4004] 2009-10. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): The number of people with higher-rate income tax liabilities is projected at 4.10 million in 2012-13 and 4.72 million in 2013-14. In 2009-10, 3.19 million people paid income tax at that rate.

WA 91

Written Answers

[LORDS]

These estimates are based on the 2009-10 Survey of Personal Incomes data, projected to 2012-13 and 2013-14, using economic assumptions consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s December 2012 economic and fiscal outlook.

Thames Tunnel

Written Answers

WA 92

Premier Ewing’s new Government have set out an ambitious agenda for the Turks and Caicos Islands which includes the development of the economy, educating and empowering its people, creating opportunities for its workforce, moving towards self-reliance in key areas, the restoration of national pride and achieving desired standards in healthcare and the security of its borders.

Question

Unemployment

Asked by Lord Berkeley To ask Her Majesty’s Government which company will be responsible for developing and financing the construction of the Thames Tunnel Project and whether it will adopt the Equator Principles in [HL4194] arranging its financing. TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord De Mauley): Thames Water Utilities Ltd (TWUL) is the sewerage undertaker in London and is responsible for ensuring a solution to ongoing sewage discharges into the Thames. While a final decision is yet to be taken, the current working assumption is that the proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel would be financed and built by a dedicated infrastructure provider (IP) procured via competitive tender by TWUL. The IP would be an independent company separate from TWUL with its own licence from Ofwat. Equator Principles are a voluntary set of standards developed by private sector banks for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risks when considering project finance investments. The principles are not designed for companies seeking investments in utility services under a well established regulatory regime which already balances the economic, social and environmental aims of sustainable development. It is unlikely that there would be benefit for Thames Water customers in restricting investment to institutions that have signed up the Equator Principles, but any tender specification for an IP is for Thames Water to determine within the regulatory framework.

Turks and Caicos Islands Question Asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of progress in the Turks and Caicos Islands since the cessation of direct rule and the election of a new Government in November 2012. [HL4191]

TheSeniorMinisterof State,DepartmentforCommunities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office(BaronessWarsi):TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my honourable friend the Member for Boston and Skegness (Mr Simmonds), visited the Turks and Caicos Islands on 26 to 28 November and had discussions with Premier Ewing, his new Government and a wide range of stakeholders. Mr Simmonds and the Premier had a bilateral meeting in London on 3 December and Premier Ewing took part in the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council from 4 to 5 December.

Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the willingness to work of those experiencing long-term unemployment. [HL4231] TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): All those counted in the Labour Force Survey as unemployed, including the long-term unemployed, must have looked for work in the last four weeks and be available to take up work in the next two weeks. People not actively looking for a job are counted as economically inactive rather than unemployed. People claiming jobseeker’s allowance for more than 12 months are still required to bring evidence of job search to their fortnightly job search review at the Jobcentre, in addition to activity they are doing to find work supported by their work programme provider. The department is aware of the challenges currently facing jobseekers in the labour market and a substantial body of support has been put in place to help people move into work. Jobcentres currently offer claimants a comprehensive menu of help including skills provision and job search support. This is bolstered by a number of specific measures including work experience placements, the work programme, the youth contract and support for those looking to start their own business through the new enterprise allowance. Previous recessions have typically seen a rise in inactivity, including more people claiming unemployment-related benefits who had reduced their job search efforts. No such trend has been seen this time around: excluding full-time students, the inactivity rate is the lowest since records began in 1993.

Universal Credit Questions Asked by Lord Greaves To ask Her Majesty’s Government which areas of the country will be covered by the universal credit pilots due to commence in April 2013. [HL4109]

TheParliamentaryUnder-Secretaryof State,Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): Pathfinder is the early implementation of universal credit in April 2013, in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire area, which will enable us to test the end-to-end process in advance of the national launch of universal credit in October 2013.

WA 93

Written Answers

[8 JANUARY 2013]

Written Answers

WA 94

The people who will be able to claim universal credit during pathfinder will be single, unemployed people with or without rented housing costs, who live in the Tameside, Wigan, Oldham and Warrington local authority areas. Asked by Lord Greaves To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provision and support will be provided for universal credit claimants who do not have access to the internet at home, and for those who do not have the ability to [HL4111] use the internet.

Lord Newby: The Government have no plans to means-test winter fuel payments or make them taxable. The coalition agreement set out that the Government will protect key benefits for older people, including winter fuel payments.

Lord Freud: Universal credit will be predominantly online, although telephony and face-to-face channels will remain available. At whatever point claimants enter the system, they will be signposted to the most appropriate channel for their needs. We recognise some claimants do not have access to the internet and will require support to go online. Our current plans are to provide claimants with help to get online and to stay online over the phone and to provide access to the internet at jobcentres and through partners.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Strathclyde on 12 November (WA 249), and in the light of Recommendation 42 of the Report of the Leader’s Group on Working Practices (HL Paper 136, Session 2010–12), whether they will issue guidance that Ministers should publish written responses to all substantial points raised in House of Lords debates and not answered orally in the Official Report as Written Ministerial Statements.

Winter Fuel Payments Question Asked by Lord Rooker To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will consider taxing winter fuel payments for pensioners rather than means-testing those payments. [HL4330]

Written Ministerial Statements Question Asked by Lord Hughes of Woodside

[HL4209]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde): I do not intend to issue such guidance to Ministers. The Official Report is held in perpetuity and covered by parliamentary privilege, and therefore not every written response by a Minister to a point raised in a debate in the House will be suitable for publication as a Written Ministerial Statement.


ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO WRITTEN STATEMENTS Col. No.

Col. No.

Banks: Business Bank.......................................................... 1

Flooding ............................................................................ 11

Copyright ............................................................................ 2

Government Car and Dispatch Agency ............................. 13

Correction to Commons Written Answer ............................ 3 Crime: Domestic Violence ................................................... 4

Government: Coalition Government ................................. 15 Licensing: Entertainment................................................... 16 NHS: South London Healthcare NHS Trust ..................... 17

Department for Communities and Local Government ........ 5

Ports .................................................................................. 19

EU: European Council ........................................................ 8

Railways: Franchises.......................................................... 20

EU: Transport Council ........................................................ 9

Youth Justice Board........................................................... 21


ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO WRITTEN ANSWERS Col. No.

Col. No.

Abortion.............................................................................. 1

Drugs................................................................................. 18

Adoption ............................................................................. 2

Drugs: Orphan Medicines.................................................. 19

Afghanistan......................................................................... 3

Economy ........................................................................... 19

Agriculture: Soil Management............................................. 3

Economy: Cost of Living................................................... 20

Airports: Gatwick and Heathrow ........................................ 4

Education: English Language ............................................ 20

Airports: Security ................................................................ 4

Elections: Devolved Administrations................................. 21

Armed Forces: Afghanistan................................................. 5

Elections: Voting Age ........................................................ 21

Arms Trade Treaty............................................................... 5

Embryology ....................................................................... 22

Arts: Funding ...................................................................... 6

Energy: Biofuels ................................................................ 25

Asylum Seekers ................................................................... 6

Energy: Green Deal ........................................................... 25

Bank of England ................................................................. 8

Energy: Prices .................................................................... 25

Banking ............................................................................... 8

Energy: Smart Meters........................................................ 26

Banking: European Central Bank........................................ 8

EU: Banking...................................................................... 27

Banks: Iceland ..................................................................... 9

EU: Competence ............................................................... 27

Banks: Lending.................................................................. 10

EU: Justice and Home Affairs Powers ............................... 27

Benefits.............................................................................. 10

EU: Prisoner Voting .......................................................... 28

Burma ............................................................................... 12

EU: Trade Agreements ...................................................... 28

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning............................................. 17

European Commission ...................................................... 29

Children: Data Sharing...................................................... 17

Falklands War Veterans ..................................................... 29

Dentistry: Dental Hygienists.............................................. 18

Finance: Isle of Man and Channel Islands ........................ 30

Drones ............................................................................... 18

Financial Services Authority.............................................. 31

Col. No.

Col. No.

Fire and Rescue Service ..................................................... 31

Israel and Palestine ............................................................ 60

Food: Climate Change ....................................................... 32

Israel and Palestine: West Bank ......................................... 62

Forced Marriage ................................................................ 32

Justice: Confiscation Orders .............................................. 63

Gambia.............................................................................. 33

Kenya ................................................................................ 65

Gaza .................................................................................. 34

Liver Bird .......................................................................... 66

Gibraltar............................................................................ 34

Localism Act 2011 ............................................................. 66

Government Departments: Budgets................................... 35

London Underground: Line Extensions ............................ 67

Government Departments: Legislation.............................. 35

Muslim Brotherhood ......................................................... 67

Government Departments: Publications ............................ 36

NHS: Contracts................................................................. 67

Government Departments: Staff........................................ 37

NHS: Data ........................................................................ 68

Government: Ministerial Guidance ................................... 37

NHS: Funding................................................................... 68

Guernsey Financial Services Commission ......................... 37

NHS: General Practitioners............................................... 69

Gypsies and Travellers ....................................................... 38

NHS: Liverpool Care Pathway .......................................... 69

Health: Accident and Emergency Departments ................. 40

North Korea ...................................................................... 70

Health: Ambulance Service................................................ 41

Ofsted ................................................................................ 72

Health: Asbestos-related Disease ....................................... 42

Older People ...................................................................... 72

Health: Atypical Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome.............. 42

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ................................................................. 73

Health: Birth Defects......................................................... 42 Health: Bounty .................................................................. 44 Health: Cardiology ............................................................ 46 Health: Consultancy Services ............................................ 48

Overseas Aid...................................................................... 74 Parliaments: Costs ............................................................. 77 Pensions............................................................................. 78

Health: Finance-related Ill-health...................................... 47

Planning ............................................................................ 78

Health: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis ............................. 48

Police: Aid and Development Programmes........................ 79

Health: Infection Control .................................................. 49

Police: Cross-Commonwealth Reform ............................... 79

Health: Miscarriage ........................................................... 50

Police: Overseas Service ..................................................... 80

Health: Neurology ............................................................. 50

Police: Reform ................................................................... 80

Health: Obesity.................................................................. 51

Population ......................................................................... 80

Health: Parkinson’s Disease .............................................. 52

Post Office ......................................................................... 81

Higher Education: Modern Languages.............................. 52

Post-2015 Development Agenda ........................................ 82

Higher Education: Online Courses .................................... 53

Post-2015 Millennium Development Goals ....................... 82

House of Lords: Appointments ......................................... 53

Prisoners: Ethnicity and Religion ...................................... 83

House of Lords: Catering .................................................. 54

Prisoners: Muslims ............................................................ 83

House of Lords: Members................................................. 54

Prisons: Lincoln Prison...................................................... 84

House of Lords: Private Members’ Bills ............................ 55

Railways: Stations.............................................................. 85

Housing ............................................................................. 55

Rodents ............................................................................. 86

Immigration: Detention..................................................... 58

Schools: Primary School Places ......................................... 86

Immigration: Handcuffs .................................................... 60

Scotland: Independence..................................................... 87

Israel.................................................................................. 60

Sport: Motor Racing ......................................................... 87

Col. No.

Col. No.

Sudan ................................................................................ 88

Turks and Caicos Islands................................................... 91

Syria .................................................................................. 88

Unemployment .................................................................. 92

Taxation: Avoidance .......................................................... 89

Universal Credit ................................................................ 92

Taxation: Income Tax ........................................................ 90

Winter Fuel Payments ....................................................... 93

Thames Tunnel .................................................................. 91

Written Ministerial Statements .......................................... 94

NUMERICAL INDEX TO WRITTEN ANSWERS Col. No.

Col. No.

[HL3533] ........................................................................... 60

[HL4107] ............................................................................. 3

[HL3892] ............................................................................. 6

[HL4108] ............................................................................. 3

[HL3952] ............................................................................. 5

[HL4109] ........................................................................... 92

[HL3961] ........................................................................... 35

[HL4111] ........................................................................... 93

[HL4001] ........................................................................... 36

[HL4114] ........................................................................... 25

[HL4004] ........................................................................... 90

[HL4118] ........................................................................... 55

[HL4006] ........................................................................... 37

[HL4120] ........................................................................... 36

[HL4017] ........................................................................... 88

[HL4121] ........................................................................... 86

[HL4018] ........................................................................... 38

[HL4122] ........................................................................... 86

[HL4019] ........................................................................... 38

[HL4125] ........................................................................... 10

[HL4020] ........................................................................... 47

[HL4127] ........................................................................... 58

[HL4029] ........................................................................... 89

[HL4128] ........................................................................... 58

[HL4042] ........................................................................... 55

[HL4129] ........................................................................... 59

[HL4043] ........................................................................... 41

[HL4131] ............................................................................. 6

[HL4044] ........................................................................... 40

[HL4133] ........................................................................... 68

[HL4046] ........................................................................... 86

[HL4134] ........................................................................... 69

[HL4047] ........................................................................... 87

[HL4135] ........................................................................... 69

[HL4052] ........................................................................... 53

[HL4137] ........................................................................... 74

[HL4053] ........................................................................... 37

[HL4144] ........................................................................... 72

[HL4055] ........................................................................... 36

[HL4146] ........................................................................... 61

[HL4062] ........................................................................... 77

[HL4147] ........................................................................... 12

[HL4071] ........................................................................... 69

[HL4148] ........................................................................... 13

[HL4080] ........................................................................... 17

[HL4149] ........................................................................... 13

[HL4084] ............................................................................. 8

[HL4152] ........................................................................... 22

[HL4085] ........................................................................... 90

[HL4153] ........................................................................... 22

[HL4093] ........................................................................... 10

[HL4154] ........................................................................... 22

[HL4094] ........................................................................... 36

[HL4160] ........................................................................... 67

[HL4097] ............................................................................. 1

[HL4161] ........................................................................... 45

[HL4103] ........................................................................... 65

[HL4162] ........................................................................... 44

[HL4104] ........................................................................... 66

[HL4164] ........................................................................... 45

Col. No.

Col. No.

[HL4166] ........................................................................... 45

[HL4212] ........................................................................... 42

[HL4167] ........................................................................... 11

[HL4213] ........................................................................... 43

[HL4168] ............................................................................. 8

[HL4214] ........................................................................... 43

[HL4170] ............................................................................. 8

[HL4215] ........................................................................... 44

[HL4173] ........................................................................... 50

[HL4217] ........................................................................... 27

[HL4174] ........................................................................... 24

[HL4218] ........................................................................... 19

[HL4175] ........................................................................... 24

[HL4219] ........................................................................... 37

[HL4176] ........................................................................... 24

[HL4220] ........................................................................... 20

[HL4177] ........................................................................... 70

[HL4221] ........................................................................... 30

[HL4178] ........................................................................... 32

[HL4222] ........................................................................... 63

[HL4179] ........................................................................... 32

[HL4223] ........................................................................... 63

[HL4180] ........................................................................... 14

[HL4224] ........................................................................... 63

[HL4181] ........................................................................... 14

[HL4225] ........................................................................... 64

[HL4182] ........................................................................... 15

[HL4226] ........................................................................... 64

[HL4184] ........................................................................... 61

[HL4227] ........................................................................... 65

[HL4185] ........................................................................... 62

[HL4228] ........................................................................... 72

[HL4186] ........................................................................... 34

[HL4229] ........................................................................... 20

[HL4187] ........................................................................... 60

[HL4230] ........................................................................... 18

[HL4188] ........................................................................... 61

[HL4231] ........................................................................... 92

[HL4189] ........................................................................... 34

[HL4232] ........................................................................... 53

[HL4190] ........................................................................... 51

[HL4233] ........................................................................... 48

[HL4191] ........................................................................... 91

[HL4234] ........................................................................... 88

[HL4192] ........................................................................... 54

[HL4235] ........................................................................... 18

[HL4194] ........................................................................... 91

[HL4236] ............................................................................. 7

[HL4196] ........................................................................... 49

[HL4238] ........................................................................... 56

[HL4197] ........................................................................... 49

[HL4239] ........................................................................... 56

[HL4198] ........................................................................... 35

[HL4240] ........................................................................... 56

[HL4201] ........................................................................... 33

[HL4241] ........................................................................... 57

[HL4202] ........................................................................... 33

[HL4242] ........................................................................... 57

[HL4203] ........................................................................... 33

[HL4243] ........................................................................... 66

[HL4204] ........................................................................... 33

[HL4244] ........................................................................... 82

[HL4205] ........................................................................... 32

[HL4245] ........................................................................... 82

[HL4206] ........................................................................... 68

[HL4246] ........................................................................... 83

[HL4207] ........................................................................... 46

[HL4247] ........................................................................... 25

[HL4208] ........................................................................... 46

[HL4248] ........................................................................... 42

[HL4209] ........................................................................... 94

[HL4251] ........................................................................... 28

[HL4210] ........................................................................... 18

[HL4252] ........................................................................... 87

[HL4211] ........................................................................... 42

[HL4253] ............................................................................. 9

Col. No.

Col. No.

[HL4255] ........................................................................... 67

[HL4307] ........................................................................... 39

[HL4256] ............................................................................. 2

[HL4308] ........................................................................... 27

[HL4257] ........................................................................... 70

[HL4309] ........................................................................... 79

[HL4258] ........................................................................... 71

[HL4310] ........................................................................... 82

[HL4259] ............................................................................. 2

[HL4311] ........................................................................... 79

[HL4260] ............................................................................. 9

[HL4312] ........................................................................... 79

[HL4261] ........................................................................... 78

[HL4313] ........................................................................... 34

[HL4262] ........................................................................... 58

[HL4314] ........................................................................... 28

[HL4263] ........................................................................... 58

[HL4319] ........................................................................... 84

[HL4264] ........................................................................... 58

[HL4321] ........................................................................... 84

[HL4265] ........................................................................... 27

[HL4322] ........................................................................... 73

[HL4266] ........................................................................... 48

[HL4323] ........................................................................... 12

[HL4267] ........................................................................... 49

[HL4325] ........................................................................... 78

[HL4268] ........................................................................... 19

[HL4326] ........................................................................... 62

[HL4272] ........................................................................... 21

[HL4328] ........................................................................... 78

[HL4274] ........................................................................... 21

[HL4330] ........................................................................... 93

[HL4275] ........................................................................... 66

[HL4331] ........................................................................... 17

[HL4279] ........................................................................... 52

[HL4332] ........................................................................... 87

[HL4280] ........................................................................... 52

[HL4333] ........................................................................... 16

[HL4281] ........................................................................... 50

[HL4334] ........................................................................... 16

[HL4282] ........................................................................... 50

[HL4335] ........................................................................... 16

[HL4283] ........................................................................... 51

[HL4336] ........................................................................... 88

[HL4284] ........................................................................... 50

[HL4337] ........................................................................... 89

[HL4285] ........................................................................... 80

[HL4338] ........................................................................... 89

[HL4287] ........................................................................... 81

[HL4339] ........................................................................... 82

[HL4289] ........................................................................... 67

[HL4340] ........................................................................... 80

[HL4290] ........................................................................... 29

[HL4341] ........................................................................... 80

[HL4293] ........................................................................... 81

[HL4342] ........................................................................... 42

[HL4294] ........................................................................... 26

[HL4343] ........................................................................... 42

[HL4298] ........................................................................... 11

[HL4345] ........................................................................... 52

[HL4299] ............................................................................. 4

[HL4346] ........................................................................... 29

[HL4300] ............................................................................. 4

[HL4348] ........................................................................... 83

[HL4301] ........................................................................... 54

[HL4349] ........................................................................... 83

[HL4302] ........................................................................... 85

[HL4350] ........................................................................... 83

[HL4303] ........................................................................... 85

[HL4351] ........................................................................... 85

[HL4304] ........................................................................... 40

[HL4352] ........................................................................... 41

[HL4305] ............................................................................. 4

[HL4354] ........................................................................... 31

[HL4306] ........................................................................... 25

[HL4355] ........................................................................... 31

Col. No.

Col. No.

[HL4356] ............................................................................. 3

[HL4361] ........................................................................... 69

[HL4357] ............................................................................. 3

[HL4362] ........................................................................... 20

[HL4358] ............................................................................. 5

[HL4364] ........................................................................... 31

[HL4359] ........................................................................... 47

[HL4365] ........................................................................... 62

Volume 742 No. 89


CONTENTS Tuesday 8 January 2013 List of Government and Principal Office Holders and Staff Death of a Member: Lord Rees-Mogg Announcement ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Leader of the House ............................................................................................................................................................... 1 Questions Airports: Capacity .............................................................................................................................................................. 7 Housing: New Homes ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Amendment of Schedule 1) Order 2012 ............... 12 Economy: Effect of US “Fiscal Cliff ” Solution ............................................................................................................ 15 Ibrahim Magag: Disappearance Private Notice Question ................................................................................................................................................... 17 NHS: South London Healthcare Trust Private Notice Question ................................................................................................................................................... 21 Public Service Pensions Bill Order of Consideration Motion ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Growth and Infrastructure Bill Second Reading ................................................................................................................................................................. 26 Armed Forces: Future Size Questions for Short Debate ............................................................................................................................................ 110 Grand Committee Public Bodies (Abolition of British Shipbuilders) Order 2013 .................................................................................... GC 1 Public Bodies (Abolition of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Arbitration Tribunal) Order 2013 ................ GC 3 Charging Orders (Orders for Sale: Financial Thresholds) Regulations 2012 Considered in Grand Committee ................................................................................................................................ GC 6 Sri Lanka Questions for Short Debate ....................................................................................................................................... GC 13 Written Statements .......................................................................................................................................................... WS 1 Written Answers ............................................................................................................................................................... WA 1