Vol. 720 Thursday No. 36 22 July 2010

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) HOUSE OF LORDS OFFICIAL REPORT

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Introductions: Lord Taylor of Goss Moor, Lord Reid of Cardowan and Baroness Eaton Questions International Criminal Court Bovine Tuberculosis Visas Sheffield Forgemasters Business of the House Motion on Standing Orders Business of the House Timing of Debates Administration and Works Committee Communications Committee Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee Refreshment Committee Membership Motions Policing and Crime Debate Poverty Debate Written Statements Written Answers For column numbers see back page

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© Parliamentary Copyright House of Lords 2010, this publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/ 1061 Introductions[22 JULY 2010] International Criminal Court 1062

given to the ICC, as I learnt when I represented your House of Lords Lordships’ House at an international meeting of parliamentarians for the ICC? Perhaps I may ask him Thursday, 22 July 2010. a specific question about sexual violence, which is such a major and horrible aspect of war crimes and 10.45 am crimes against humanity. The Government pledged to the review conference to do more for victims, particularly Prayers—read by the Lord Bishop of Bristol. victims of sexual violence. Can he tell us what the Government plan to do specifically to help victims of Introduction: Lord Taylor of Goss Moor this deeply appalling crime? 10.53 am Lord Howell of Guildford: I thank the noble Baroness Matthew Owen John Taylor, Esquire, having been created for her comments, which of course apply equally to Baron Taylor of Goss Moor, of Truro in the County of the previous and the present Government of the United Cornwall, was introduced and took the oath, supported Kingdom. The conference at Kampala adopted a by Lord Tyler and Lord Teverson, and signed an undertaking resolution on the victims issue which recognised the to abide by the Code of Conduct. rights of victims to have access to justice and to participate in judicial proceedings. That applied to Introduction: Lord Reid of Cardowan victims generally. For our part, the United Kingdom is committed to tackling the problem of violence against 10.59 am women. We will continue to promote programmes in The right honourable John Reid, having been created support of this agenda, including measures that will Baron Reid of Cardowan, of Stepps in Lanarkshire, was address the special needs of women and children in introduced and took the oath, supported by Lord Alli areas of conflict. and Baroness McDonagh, and signed an undertaking to abide by the Code of Conduct. Lord Chidgey: Will the Minister confirm the importance of the step taken in amending the Coroners and Introduction: Baroness Eaton Justice Act, particularly in regard to enabling prosecutions of suspects for genocide, crimes against humanity and 11.04 am war crimes from 1 January 1991? However, can he also Dame Ellen Margaret Eaton, DBE, having been created tell us how that will be implemented to enable, for Baroness Eaton, of Cottingley in the County of West example, the prosecution of suspects such as the four Yorkshire, was introduced and took the oath, supported Rwandans who have been accused of war crimes but by Baroness Hanham and Lord Bates, and signed an whose extradition failed last year, which has left us in undertaking to abide by the Code of Conduct. a quandary? Lord Howell of Guildford: In answer to my noble International Criminal Court friend I can only express the hope that this will be Question resolved. The Kampala conference addressed these issues but did not reach any final conclusions. A great 11.10 am deal of the conference was simply carrying forward Asked By Baroness Stern and firming up the work of the ICC in the light of its To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their experience, of which my noble friend has just mentioned response to the outcome of the Review Conference one example. I cannot give a more specific answer at on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal this moment. Court held in Kampala, Uganda, from 31 May to 11 June. Lord Archer of Sandwell: I congratulate the Government on the amendment to define aggression. The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth However, does the noble Lord agree that the decision Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): My Lords, our to defer its implementation until 2017 demonstrates response is positive. The ICC review conference in that those who oppose international answerability are Kampala was a major milestone in the international at least as determined as those who support it? Can he community’s fight to combat impunity for the most assure the House that the Government will oppose serious crimes of international concern. The stocktaking any further attempts to undermine what has been of international criminal justice will help shape the achieved? future development of the court. The UK will now consider whether to ratify the amendment on the use Lord Howell of Guildford: I do not quite agree with of certain weaponry in a non-international armed the implication of the noble and learned Lord’s question conflict. The conference agreed a package, including although obviously I agree with him about the importance the definition of the crime of aggression and the of the issue; it is a very complex question which was conditions for exercise of jurisdiction, to be put forward discussed in considerable detail at Kampala. The UK for discussion and possible adoption in 2017. has a principled position: that the UN Security Council has primary responsibility for dealing with aggression. Baroness Stern: I thank the Minister for that reply. We maintain that that is right. If in the discussion the Is he aware—I am sure he is—of the considerable complexities of developing a further definition can be gratitude from across the world to the United Kingdom overcome, then the general purpose—all are agreed for the support which successive Governments have —is the right one. However, there are some obvious 1063 International Criminal Court[LORDS] Bovine Tuberculosis 1064

[LORD HOWELL OF GUILDFORD] The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, complexities here that need resolving. They are not in Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs any way against carrying forward the concern with (Lord Henley): Tuberculin skin tests are the internationally crimes of aggression; the only question is the technique accepted standard for detecting TB. Many countries and method by which that should be done. have eradicated TB using a test and slaughter approach. In England, evidence suggests that without addressing Lord Alton of Liverpool: My Lords, can the Minister the disease in badgers, it will be impossible to eradicate confirm that an International Criminal Court arrest TB in cattle. The department has committed to developing warrant still is outstanding against Joseph Kony, the affordable options for a carefully managed and science-led leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army? The LRA has policy of badger control in areas with high and persistent been responsible for some of the worst violations levels of bovine TB. against women, such as those described by my noble friend Lady Stern a few moments ago, especially in the Lord Dixon-Smith: My Lords, I thank the noble Democratic Republic of Congo and in Uganda, where Lord for that response. There is evidence that the it is estimated that the LRA has killed over 1 million present testing regime correctly identifies the presence people. Will he confirm that a letter was received by of tuberculosis within a herd, but no longer identifies the Prime Minister only a week ago from a young all the infected animals so that after a series of tests, a woman called Juliet, who is here in London and residue of infection is left within the herd which can who was herself raped by the LRA when she was just continue to spread the disease despite the removal of 12 years old? the identified animals. Will the noble Lord ask the Government to conduct a thorough review of the Lord Howell of Guildford: The noble Lord, Lord implications of this? The existing regime is not satisfactory Alton, always speaks with authority and knowledge and there are managerial consequences for biosecurity on these issues. It is significant that this meeting was on the farm. Although this programme was very successful held in Kampala, and of course it is in Uganda that half a century ago, it is not working now. We are these arrest warrants are currently out for a number of effectively burning pound notes. people. It is also where some particularly horrific crimes appear to have occurred, including crimes against Lord Henley: My Lords, I accept that there are women, about which we were talking a moment ago. occasions when using the current test—what I have That is the position and I can only reaffirm what the described as the internationally accepted comparative noble Lord has said: this is a good example of where test—that some cattle are missed. If we move to the ICC really can carry forward the causes of peace another test, known as the single test, there is a and justice together in what we hope is an effective possibility of a greater number of what are described way. as false positives, which again would not be satisfactory. A further test is used, a blood test which is known as Lord Goldsmith: Does the noble Lord agree that it the gamma test, and we can look at it. I can give my is very important that our allies operate under the noble friend an assurance that we will look at all three, same conditions as we do? Would he therefore tell us but for the moment we think that the comparative test whether the Kampala conference has advanced at all is the best one to use. the prospect of the United States committing to the International Criminal Court, and will the Lord Livsey of Talgarth: My Lords, I declare an Government—both parts of the Government—encourage interest as an associate member of the British Veterinary the United States to join? Association. Does my noble friend agree that blood testing is a good alternative or addition to skin testing Lord Howell of Guildford: I think that the answer is and reveals more reactors? Will he consider a Defra maybe. The United States sent 23 delegates to the policy of blood testing as well as skin testing in bovine Kampala conference; they all turned up and discussed TB hot spots, particularly where the badger population these issues in detail. I asked those at the conference is considerable? whether that will lead to a better prospect of the United States signing up to this but they were not sure Lord Henley: My Lords, my noble friend, I think, of an answer. They say that the United States is refers to the gamma interferon blood test, which is involved in the discussions and interested in carrying used alongside the tuberculin skin test in certain prescribed matters forward, but the signs that it will actually put circumstances to improve the sensitivity of the testing its signature to it are, I am afraid, still a bit fuzzy and regime and identify more affected animals more quickly. remote. I shall certainly look at whether it is possible to use that test solely, but, as I said earlier, for the moment, Bovine Tuberculosis we believe that the comparative tests that we are using are possibly the best. Question 11.16 am Baroness Quin: My Lords, will the Minister join me in welcoming the sharp, 25 per cent decline in bovine Asked By Lord Dixon-Smith TB which is recorded in today’s Farmers Guardian,for To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the example. Given that Defra has shelved its own vaccination practice of skin testing for bovine tuberculosis followed project, will the Minister assure us that the department by the slaughter of reactors will eliminate the disease will continue strongly to support vaccination and assist from the national herd. those farmers who wish to use it? 1065 Bovine Tuberculosis[22 JULY 2010] Visas 1066

Lord Henley: My Lords, the noble Baroness is Lord Henley: My Lords, we have every intention of correct to say that there has been a decline. Addressing attacking the problem vigorously, but whatever we do bovine TB still involves great expense, in compensation, will be based on the science that is put before us. We testing, research and surveillance. Something of the will make sure that we understand that science and act order of £63 million was spent on it in 2009-10. Some on it. £29.9 million has been invested over the years in vaccine development. We shall continue to work on Lord Walton of Detchant: Does the Minister accept vaccine development and encourage others to do so as that one of the problems with skin testing for tuberculosis well. in both animals and man is that it does nothing more than indicate that the individual has at some stage Baroness Masham of Ilton: My Lords, can foxes been infected with tuberculosis but cannot, under all and rabbits carry bovine tuberculosis? circumstances, indicate the presence of an active infection, because the infection may well have died out some time ago? Lord Henley: The noble Baroness has absolutely stumped me. I do not know whether foxes and rabbits can spread bovine TB. We know that badgers are the Lord Henley: My Lords, the noble Lord knows far principal problem, which is why we want to address more about these matters than many in the House and them first, but if there is a problem in foxes and I listen to him with great respect. I shall certainly take rabbits, I am sure that we will look at that as well. on board what he says. As I said, at the moment we believe that the comparative test is the right one but, as the noble Lord well knows, there are other tests at Baroness Trumpington: My Lords, before breeding which we can, and will, look. cattle are imported into this country, are they sufficiently checked to make sure that they have certificates stating that they are free from TB, and, if not, why not? Visas Question Lord Henley: My Lords, my understanding is that when breeding cattle are imported—the same would 11.25 am be true of export—the single test would be used. As I have said, that test can be more accurate, but it leads Asked by Lord Clement-Jones to more false positives. However, in the cases to which To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they my noble friend refers, a false positive would be better will review the impact of the points-based visa than missing some of the others. system on visiting artists and performers.

Lord Clark of Windermere: My Lords, the Minister Lord De Mauley: My Lords, there are no current mentioned budgets. Will he update us on the Government’s plans for such a specific review, but a broader survey latest position on making progress against badgers if across all categories of tier 5 applicants—including, of they are going to do so? course, artists and performers—has recently been undertaken, the findings of which will shortly be Lord Henley: My Lords, we are looking at all the published. The arts and entertainment task force is relevant key evidence, including the published scientific closely involved to ensure that the detail of the system evidence from what was referred to as the “randomised reflects the creative sector’s needs while being robust badger culling trial” and subsequent post-trial analysis. and fair. Having looked at that, we will draw up proposals. We will then consult on them and consider the best way Lord Clement-Jones: My Lords, I thank the Minister forward. for that encouraging reply. It was a breath of fresh air compared with replies on the subject from the previous Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior: My Lords, in the Government. Will the Minister ensure that, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a rigorous attack was made process that he has described, he will consult the on bovine TB, consisting of the double intradermal Manifesto Club and talk personally to the arts community, test, strict regulation of movement of cattle, the attested which has a great concern about this? Will he include herd scheme and the TT scheme for milk production. I also the issue of academic visiting visas, which is a had the pleasure of participating in that as a young matter of concern to the academic community? vet. We very nearly eliminated TB from the United Kingdom. It was only when it got into wildlife and Lord De Mauley: My Lords, I am grateful to my badgers in particular that it went astray. noble friend for that question. As I have said, the survey has been completed and the results will shortly be published. My noble friend was good enough to Noble Lords: Question! give me sight of a paper from the Manifesto Club which referred to three specific examples of artists. To Lord Soulsby of Swaffham Prior: Does the Minister explain each in detail would take too long today but, agree that an even more rigorous campaign to attack to summarise, in one case the applicant cut rather fine TB in cattle is now necessary, because it is causing the timing of the application; in the other cases, the great harm to most producers? applicants provided no evidence of funds to support 1067 Visas[LORDS] Sheffield Forgemasters 1068

[LORD DE MAULEY] Will the Minister consider that there is a great deal of them in the UK. Although advice and guidance are difference between visiting artists and young people available, it sounds as though in the latter two cases who are not yet artists? I have cited in the past Joan better advice could have been provided, and I have Sutherland, who was nothing when she first came made that clear to the department. here. The time and training that she had here made a difference. The previous Government replied that they Lord Howarth of Newport: My Lords, given the had introduced a degree of flexibility to enable young devastation that the Government plan to visit upon talent to come particularly from Australia, because the arts through massive cuts in public funding for Australian points are what we are basing this on. No which there is no conceivable justification, is it not all one goes to Australia to become an artist. the more important that no unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles should be placed in the way of distinguished performers coming to work with our orchestras, theatre Lord De Mauley: My Lords, I am racking my companies and other arts organisations? brains to think of an artist, but I accept my noble friend’s general point. I mentioned earlier in answer to Lord De Mauley: My Lords, I agree at least with the the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, the concession under latter half of the noble Lord’s contention. Two routes tier 5, which allows for non-visa nationals, including are useful for short-term visitors: one is a concession nationals from Australia specifically.That is one example. under tier 5 for non-visa nationals that requires no We will look at any suggestions that that my noble prior entry clearance—I can explain the system in friend may offer. greater detail to the noble Lord if he wishes—and the other is an entertainer visitor scheme outside the Lord Sutherland of Houndwood: My Lords, in view points-based system. We are doing what we can to of the supplementary point made by the noble Lord, help. Lord Clement-Jones, about academics, is any check being made of the impact of the points system on The Earl of Clancarty: My Lords, does the Minister academic appointments? realise that whether artists are unknown or established, poor or rich, cultural interaction and travel are part of their lifeblood? It should be as easy for overseas artists Lord De Mauley: The noble Lord will of course be to visit this country as it is for British artists to travel aware that the Question was about tier 5 applicants abroad. and students. I think that academics are dealt with under tier 4, which is somewhat outside the scope of Lord De Mauley: I cannot disagree with anything the Question. I will look into what he asks and write to the noble Earl has said. It is very important to us to him, if I may. encourage and foster culture in our country. Foreign artists and performers are extremely welcome here, but the system has to be conducted in a robust but fair Baroness Hamwee: My Lords, tempted as I am to way. ask the noble Lord why he thinks the Sydney Opera House was built, does he recognise that in the operation Lord Geddes: My Lords, where an artist—let us say of the system the problem often lies not at policy level for reasons of health—has to drop out of a performance but on the ground, where there is insufficient briefing at very short notice and the only suitable replacement and training for everyone to operate the system in the artist is from abroad, is my noble friend aware of the way that is intended? potential difficulty in obtaining a visa for the artist coming in as a subsidiary? Lord De Mauley: Yes, my Lords, I take that point. My noble friend may be interested to hear that the Lord De Mauley: My Lords, yes, I am aware of independent chief inspector has recently published a that. As I have tried to explain, there are certain routes report on the UKBA’s handling of complaints and to facilitate an artist in that situation, but they have to correspondence that makes a number of important be used with a system of undertaking proper checks of recommendations. We are determined to act on those documentation. and improve our existing practices. In future, I am hopeful that the certain lack of helpfulness to which Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke: My Lords, many my noble friend referred will be addressed. artists travel to this country—to study, in particular—on ancestry visas. What is the coalition policy on ancestry visas? Sheffield Forgemasters Lord De Mauley: My Lords, I am grateful to the Question noble Baroness for her question. I am not briefed on that specific point, so I will write to her, if I may. 11.32 am Baroness Gardner of Parkes: My Lords, I am delighted Asked By Lord Hunt of Kings Heath to hear the noble Baroness, Lady Liddell, ask her first question. She was a very honourable High Commissioner To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they for Australia. I asked, and had an answer from, the cancelled a loan to Sheffield Forgemasters, given previous Government about people coming here to the willingness of the company to dilute its equity study—exactly those referred to by the noble Baroness. share. 1069 Sheffield Forgemasters[22 JULY 2010] Sheffield Forgemasters 1070

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Baroness Wilcox: I think that the noble Lord will Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness well know the view of this Government—both sides of Wilcox): My Lords, the decision not to pursue the our Government—on nuclear power. It is something loan was taken on grounds of affordability. that we have considered long and hard and it was not an easy decision to take. For our party, we will always say that we will not subsidise the nuclear industry. Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My Lords, both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister in the other place made statements to the effect that the Lord King of Bridgwater: Does my noble friend not reason why the loan was withdrawn was that the agree that, despite the outrage expressed on the other company would not dilute its equity share. It has since side of the House, the financial situation of Sheffield transpired that the Deputy Prime Minister was aware Forgemasters might have been much different if the that the company was in fact prepared to dilute its previous Government had not dithered so consistently equity share. Why will the Deputy Prime Minister not on the question of further nuclear power for this apologise to Parliament for misleading it? Why have country, so that that company could have had decent the Government taken such a crass decision to withdraw orders instead of having to seek loans from the the loan from the company, which could have provided Government to bail itself out? a massive foundation to the development of a nuclear supply chain industry in this country? Baroness Wilcox: Of course I agree with my noble friend. I say again that Sheffield Forgemasters is an Baroness Wilcox: Absolutely not. Our decision not excellent example of a successful British manufacturing to proceed with the loan was a matter of affordability company and will, I am sure, continue to be so for a and that only. The shareholder structure of SFIL did long time to come. not influence any assessment. I have no knowledge of any privy discussions between the Prime Minister and Lord Foulkes of Cumnock: The Minister must agree the Deputy Prime Minister. The Government’s decision that the decision to cancel this loan—after all, it was a has absolutely nothing to do with this issue. We regard loan, not a grant—is inexplicable until one realises Mr Honeyman and his team as having produced an that it follows a letter to the Government from Mr Andrew excellent project with no criticism of him or of the Cook, a major Conservative Party donor, who owns company. Perhaps the Opposition should apologise two forges in Sheffield. Surely that cannot be a coincidence, for the necessity of cuts based on the state of the can it? economy that we inherited. Baroness Wilcox: I assure the noble Lord that the Lord Brookman: My Lords, I declare an interest as representation from Mr Cook—copies were sent to the ex-leader of the trade union that represents most Clive Betts MP and Angela Smith MP in another of the workers at Sheffield Forgemasters. The Minister place yesterday on their request and will be placed on is aware—it has already been stated by my noble the BIS website today—had no bearing on the decision- friend—that this was a loan, not a grant. Therefore, it making process. The decision not to pursue the loan is difficult to understand the attitude of the coalition was made on grounds of affordability. Government. As my noble friend said, two companies make this product for the nuclear industry: Sheffield Lord Cotter: My Lords, would the Minister not Forgemasters and a plant in Korea. Is it not the case agree—and I am sure that this could highlight the that this loan should be provided to save jobs in the situation generally in the manufacturing industry—on community in Sheffield and to help manufacturing? the need for the banks to give support to manufacturing in particular, especially in the light of a recent report from the British Bankers’ Association showing that Baroness Wilcox: There is no doubt about it: I shall bank lending fell substantially last year and that many have to answer again and again that this decision was businesses are still being turned down for loans? I taken on grounds of affordability. Nobody would know that the Government are concerned about this, argue that Sheffield Forgemasters is not an excellent but I urge renewed efforts to persuade the banks to example of a successful British manufacturing company. address this issue. Time and again they say that they The Government wholeheartedly support what the are lending, but the facts say not—and this is an company does and I place on the record our recognition example, perhaps, of a manufacturing industry issue of its excellent work. Once again, I tell noble Lords where lending is required. that the only reason why we took the decision was affordability and we had to take that decision because of the condition that the previous Government left us Baroness Wilcox: The banks will say, as they always in financially. say, that it is not their money that they are lending but other people’s money— Lord Broers: My Lords, in light of the fact that it is largely German and Danish companies that will build A noble Lord: Taxpayers’ money. the hugely expensive offshore wind turbines, do the Government not think that they should do more to Baroness Wilcox: Not all of them are using taxpayers’ ensure that the same thing does not happen with money.It must be for the banks to protect that investment regard to nuclear power plants? and make sure that they get a good return. Sheffield 1071 Sheffield Forgemasters[LORDS] Policing and Crime 1072

[BARONESS WILCOX] Communications Committee Forgemasters has concluded that at present there is no available private sector alternative funding structure Membership Motion that is both economically viable for the company and Moved By The Chairman of Committees fair to existing shareholders and that the company’s best interests will be served by suspending work on the That the Lord Bishop of Liverpool be appointed project for the time being. However, as it has also a member of the Select Committee. stated, it is still keen to undertake the project. Motion agreed. Lord Woolmer of Leeds: My Lords— Merits of Statutory Instruments Lord Martin of Springburn: My Lords— Committee Membership Motion Lord Jenkin of Roding: My Lords— Moved By The Chairman of Committees Lord Young of Norwood Green: Since the issue is That Lord Plant of Highfield be appointed a one of affordability and value for money, will the member of the Select Committee in place of Lord Minister confirm that the Government will publish Rosser, resigned. the value-for-money case? Motion agreed. Baroness Wilcox: The trouble with the party on the other side is that it misunderstands what “affordability” Refreshment Committee means or implies. As I have said, the Government Membership Motion inherited a massive and growing debt. If that had been Moved By The Chairman of Committees allowed to grow beyond control, every company in the country would have had to face the risk of a disastrous That Baroness Crawley be appointed a member rise in borrowing costs and there might have been even of the Select Committee in place of Lord Davies of less money to borrow from the banks. Oldham, resigned. Motion agreed. Business of the House Motion on Standing Orders Policing and Crime Debate 11.40 am Moved By Lord Strathclyde 11.41 am Moved By Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate That Standing Order 46 (No two stages of a Bill to be taken on one day) be dispensed with on Monday To call attention to policing and crime rates; and 26 July to allow the Consolidated Fund Bill and to move for papers. any Finance Bill brought from the Commons to be taken through all their remaining stages that day. Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate: My Lords, I am pleased and honoured to introduce this timely and Motion agreed. important debate. I was looking forward to the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Wills, but I have been informed that he has flu and therefore will not be able Business of the House to attend. I am sure that the House will extend to him Timing of Debates our best wishes under the circumstances, and we look forward to his maiden speech on a future occasion. Moved By Lord Strathclyde Crime is an issue that is never far from the news That the debate on the Motion in the name of headlines. Policing and crime affect all our lives. Television Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate set down for and films depict criminal enterprises as entertainment— today shall be limited to two hours and that in the and that is fine; I love a good detective or gangster name of Lord McKenzie of Luton to three hours. film myself. It is important, however, that when politicians engage in debate on these vital issues, they do so on Motion agreed. the basis of fact and evidence, not pure invention for the purpose of political advantage. One of the first duties of any state is to safeguard Administration and Works Committee its people from both within and outside its territory. Membership Motion Citizens from inside our borders need to be protected by those seeking wealth, advantage or gratification Moved By The Chairman of Committees through the commission of crime against innocent That Lord Faulkner of Worcester be appointed victims. a member of the Select Committee. I intend to touch on three main issues today: to expose the myth asserted recently by the Prime Minister Motion agreed. that violent crime rose under the previous Government; 1073 Policing and Crime[22 JULY 2010] Policing and Crime 1074 to voice the fears of many citizens that serious crime “Crime has fallen in Britain throughout a period of both will grow over the coming years because of cuts in rising prison populations … and economic growth, with strong front-line policing caused by the slashing of police employment levels and rising living standards. No one can prove budgets, the review of security cameras and the reduction cause and effect. The crime rate fell”. in the DNA database; and to express the concern that He went on to claim credit for his improved economic the coalition Government, against all advice by respected legacy, which by implication he suggested caused the chief officers and others, intend to politicise the police drop in crime. Again, this is a travesty of the truth. by introducing elected police commissioners, thereby Last year’s crime figures which I have just quoted are risking for the first time the political independence of from a period of recession, which refutes the Justice a police service that is respected throughout the world. Secretary’s argument that falls in crime are solely down to greater prosperity. He also omitted to say that First of all, on the crime figures, at Prime Minister’s when crime was remorselessly rising in the early 1990s, Questions on 7 July in another place, the right honourable Ken Clarke was the Home Secretary. I know because I David Cameron said: was the vice-president of the Police Superintendents’ “The point is that under the last Government violent crime Association at that time. While Home Secretary, like a and gun crime went through the roof”.—[Official Report, Commons, bull in china shop, Ken Clarke took on the police 7/7/10; col. 364.] service head-on. He had a history of belligerence in Not true; the latest annual update on national crime dealing with other public services and appointed the statistics for England and Wales, released last week on chairman of British American Tobacco, Sir Patrick 15 July, demonstrates that the Government are misleading Sheehy, to bring private sector efficiency and values to the public about levels of crime. the police. How about that? It is just what our respected police service wanted: the moral and ethical values of Both the British Crime Survey and police recorded an international tobacco company. crime figures show that overall crime is down on last In the summer of 1993, a mass rally of 20,000 year by 9 per cent. I will cite the British Crime Survey, police officers gathered in Wembley Arena to protest which is accepted as the most accurate measure of about the Sheehy proposals, such as performance-related trends. Vehicle-related crime is down on last year by pay—presumably based on the number of arrests made 17 per cent. Domestic burglary is down on last year by by each officer. It was a truly historic occasion. I 9 per cent. Violent crime is down on last year by 1 per remember the star political speaker against Sheehy cent. Police recorded crime shows that firearms offences being the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, who I see in are down by 22 per cent since 2002-03 and knife crime his seat today as part of the Government on the is down on last year by 7 per cent. Since 1997, when coalition Benches. The point is that Kenneth Clarke the previous Government took office, the British Crime totally demoralised the police service; under his Survey shows that overall crime is down by 43 per stewardship crime really did go through the roof. cent; overall crime against the person is down by 41 per cent; overall household crime is down by 44 per Fortunately for the police, the economic crisis at cent; burglary is down by 59 per cent; and violent that time, when Britain crashed out of the ERM, led crime is down by 42 per cent. I could go on but by any to the resignation in 1992 of the then Chancellor, the standard these figures demonstrate how impressively noble Lord, Lord Lamont. He was succeeded by Kenneth the police and the criminal justice system have tackled Clarke—you’ve guessed it—whose legacy left the police crime under the policies of the previous Administration. service in total disarray. The new Home Secretary at that time, Michael Howard, is well known to your The Prime Minister has since been rebuked by the Lordships and has just been introduced into this House. chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, Sir Michael He immediately scrapped the controversial Sheehy Scholar, for misusing violent crime figures. He confirms reforms and declared famously that “prison works”. I that the authority remains of the view that the British spoke yesterday with the noble Lord, Lord Stevens of Crime Survey provides the most reliable measure of Kirkwhelpington, who cannot be here because he is in the trends in violent crime. Any attempt to suggest France. He said to me, in terms, “Michael Howard, otherwise by misquoting or disbelieving the British put it right”. The noble Lord, Lord Howard, demonstrated Crime Survey, which is accepted as a gold standard by that prison works because crime fell dramatically under most British academics and internationally, is beneath his stewardship as prison numbers rose. Ken Clarke contempt. It deserves to be exposed as a scaremongering now talks of bringing the same private sector values propaganda effort of which Joseph Goebbels would and profiteering to community service in place of have been proud. I know that the facts get in the way short prison sentences. He says that he will empty of a good story but I ask the Minister, in replying, to prisons to save money, thereby putting decent people apologise on behalf of his right honourable friend the at risk of becoming victims of crime. Does the Minister Prime Minister for recent utterances on these important agree with the Justice Secretary, Mr Ken Clarke, or matters. It is accepted by most informed commentators with his noble friend Lord Howard, the previous Tory that the fear of crime is far worse than the risk of leader, who said yesterday that Ken Clarke is totally crime. By stoking the fear of crime the coalition “misguided” on this? Government create unnecessary concerns, particularly among the elderly. There are also rumours in the press that the Sheehy report is being dusted down and revisited. Will the While dealing with Ministers and their statements, Minister give us an assurance today that this report, I will comment on the Justice Secretary, Kenneth with its private sector values, is dead and buried, Clarke. He said last week in his Mansion House because the police service is very concerned that it is speech: being revisited? The police are a public service, not a 1075 Policing and Crime[LORDS] Policing and Crime 1076

[LORD MACKENZIE OF FRAMWELLGATE] the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, when he stated private company. The last thing that is required, on that regional and national gangs would be allowed to top of all the planned cuts and upheaval on the scale flourish because of a lack of national co-ordination, of what appears to be being planned for the National as local commissioners would stand, quite understandably, Health Service, is a similar operation for the police. Is on local issues, and we do not have a federal system of this really what Liberal Democrat voters expected law enforcement, as in the United States. when they placed their cross on the ballet paper? It Caution is the watchword. Let us not destroy the certainly was not in the manifesto. good simply for the sake of change. I leave the Minister What has brought crime down over the past decade with the following questions to answer. I hope that he has been record numbers of police and uniformed answers, because there is a tendency in this House for support officers on the streets, and the willingness to Ministers not to answer the questions that they are use prison as a deterrent against people who simply asked in debates. Does he accept that it is not true that refuse to comply with the courts. The police service violent crime increased under the previous Administration? increased by 16,000 to 143,000 officers under the Can he assure the House that front-line policing will previous Administration—record numbers—plus 16,000 not be reduced by the proposed cuts in policing budgets? uniformed police community support officers. This is Is he prepared to accept the risk of rising crime and what the public want. Only this week, Sir Denis O’Connor, more crime victims by preventing the courts from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said using prison as a final deterrent and introducing that only 10 per cent of police officers were available at community sentences for profit in their place? Can he any one time on the front line to help the public and reassure the police that the discredited Sheehy report respond to calls. This is because of specialist posts, will not be revisited? Finally, does he accept the very shift rotas, leave and the like. Is it not time for a royal real dangers of the politicisation of the police by the commission to examine the police to see how they introduction of elected commissioners? should be organised? It is estimated by the House of Commons Library that the £125 million of cuts proposed 11.57 am by the coalition would result in a reduction of some 4,100 police officers. This is on top of the 25 per cent Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I thank the noble reduction in the Home Office budget. Lord, Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate, for instituting Another bright idea of the Tory wing of the coalition this important debate. We also have the benefit of a is the election of so-called police commissioners. It is very balanced report, produced jointly by the Chief said to make the police more accountable. Whatever Inspector of Constabulary and the two audit bodies else is wrong with the police, it is not a lack of for England and Wales. accountability. They are accountable to the Home I should like to add my support to the Government’s Secretary and to police authorities, which have elected intention to consult—I repeat, consult—on plans for members among their number. They are accountable the election of police commissioners. This strikes a locally to district and parish councils, which have balance between the practice in, for instance, the United regular meetings with local officers. Most importantly, States—on which the noble Lord gave us a valuable of course, they are accountable to the law in the insight—where chief police officers are elected on a courts. I spent some time with the FBI in the United political basis, and the United Kingdom. The former States and saw at first hand how the police were is quite rightly anathema to senior police officers in dragged into the political arena through the election this country, since it would remove the ultimate operational of sheriffs. Judges and district attorneys are also elected independence from the chief police officer, while the in some areas. Government’s proposal would make the commissioner The system we have has stood the test of time. accountable to his electorate. Police are accountable and the last thing we want is a However, this is a sensitive subject on which there commissioner standing on a party ticket or on a single are differing views from within the police forces and issue. I remember talking to a deputy sheriff in America outside, as the noble Lord articulated. The Government who was a crony of the sheriff, of course, because he are wise to consult on this. A factor to be considered appoints them. He was canvassing on behalf of his will not least be the actual control that a commissioner boss, as his job depended on it. Is this really what we would have over the selection and employment of want in this country? The criminal justice system chief and senior police officers in the respective forces. should be above party politics and independent of I should be very interested to hear the contribution of political pressure. Can you imagine a British National my noble friend Lady Harris from the Benches of our Party member standing on a tough law-and-order and coalition partners. anti-immigration ticket being elected a commissioner I turn to SOCA. At a recent conference of the of police? Once we allow this poisonous genie out of Police Foundation, Metropolitan Police Commissioner the bottle, it will be very difficult to put it back in. Sir Paul Stephenson left his audience in no doubt on Parliament must scrutinise all this very carefully the resourcefulness of the masters of organised crime, and any planned legislation to take our cherished not only in the sophistication of their methods, but in police service kicking and screaming down this road the ever widening geographical scope of their operations. should be rejected. The police service is totally against For instance, I understand that SOCA keeps closely in such changes and Sir Hugh Orde, the respected president touch with the US Coast Guard. I believe that SOCA of ACPO, has said that there could be senior resignations in its short life has made a promising start, but it must if such a policy were to be implemented. Similar be resourced to enable it to have multifocused vision, caution has been expressed by Sir Paul Stephenson, as it were, on its global activities, while being able to 1077 Policing and Crime[22 JULY 2010] Policing and Crime 1078 address domestic considerations in the United Kingdom. upwardly mobile crime figures. Let us hope that that It is in the latter environment that more co-operation will not be so this time. I believe that we all have a part between forces would be beneficial to SOCA’s effectiveness. to play in helping to ensure that it does not happen. That leads me on to the subject of amalgamation of We know that proposals to come before Parliament forces. I entirely support the Government in their view would fundamentally alter the form and nature of that this can be only on a voluntary basis with mutual police accountability in England and Wales. I should agreement between forces. We saw a few years ago the have thought that the recent crime figures might have tensions that arose from what was perceived by certain persuaded the Home Secretary that police accountability, forces as attempted shotgun marriages, if your Lordships through the police authorities, had finally come good will pardon the metaphor. and that the structures put in place to ensure that police forces focused on providing police services to Where there is real scope for co-operation is in the satisfaction of their communities was working. relatively non-contentious areas, such as IT and the back office in general, in forensics and in motorway The arguments around this proposal will be brought policing, where a regional or even a national unit out when we shortly see the consultation document. I might be considered. In many of these areas, Bedfordshire understand that it will not be in the form of a White and Hertfordshire have taken the initiative and that Paper, which is a little disappointing, but I hope that could provide a good example nationally. my noble friend will reflect on the success of police Let us not forget the main thrust in this debate. The authorities and not consider putting in their place police community in England and Wales is understandably untested and potentially expensive experiments which concerned at the impact of the cuts that will inevitably will deflect politicians and professionals alike from the be required to be made. It has been well said that every core policing tasks. country has the police it deserves. We are proud and We have been reminded about the Sheehy proposals, well served by our police forces, and it is incumbent on which were indeed disastrous, but I also well remember the coalition Government that these unpalatable measures the last time that we were engulfed in proposals to are handled as sensibly and sensitively as possible. alter police structures and accountability, between 2005 and 2006. Then, we saw considerable falls in police performance in serving the most fundamental 12.01 pm of the public’s needs, to which the noble Viscount, Baroness Harris of Richmond: My Lords, before I Lord Bridgeman, referred. I am talking, of course, begin, I declare an interest as a vice-president of the about the proposed mergers of police forces which, national Association of Police Authorities, a former thankfully, were dropped because of massive opposition chair of a police authority and a patron of the National across the country. I hope that we learn from that Victims’ Association, about which I shall speak later. mistaken proposal. According to the British Crime Survey, whose statistics, The present system has since 1995 delivered success, as we heard, were released last week, crime is at its huge falls in crime and year-on-year efficiency savings— lowest level for three decades. It dipped below 10 million more than 30 per cent over 10 years. There are welcome offences to fall by 9 per cent last year to the lowest signs that the service and national agencies are increasingly level since comparable records began in 1981—the making inroads into the terrible threats posed to every year in which I became a member of a then police neighbourhood by both serious organised crime and committee. Crime recorded by the police also fell by terrorism. All those developments are to be applauded 8 per cent to 4.3 million crimes in the 12 months to and we would be foolish to throw away a system that April this year. has delivered such results. These statistics do not, however, include some of Within the statistics that I spoke of earlier there are the more serious violent and sexual crimes, such as others that are more insidious and below the radar. So homicide and rape, but these are covered by police I now move on, briefly, to voice a very real concern figures, and event-accounting for these gaps does not about how victims of crime are treated. Last weekend shift the overall downward trend in crime statistics, as I attended a meeting of the National Victims’Association, the noble Lord, Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate, has of which I am a patron. This amazing organisation, told us. However, the figures still mean that 26,000 led by its chair David Hines, supports families of people fall victim to a crime every day, and the one those who have lost loved ones through murder or area that proves resistant to such welcome falls in manslaughter. On another occasion I will bring to the crime rates is sexual offences. This rise may represent attention of noble Lords much more detail about how the implementation of new guidelines to improve the both policing and the criminal justice system as a recording of rape; nevertheless, it is extremely worrying. whole have so grievously and badly let down those However, we should all be very happy and congratulate who have to turn to this charitable organisation for those who have contributed to these considerable falls help. It exists from hand to mouth and almost certainly in crime. I am sure that your Lordships will wish such will not be able to continue unless core funding for its gains to be maintained, and indeed built on, because services is provided in the very near future. Those 26,000 people rendered as victims of crime every day families are the lost survivors who receive barely any is far too many. help or recognition and it is a national shame that that We recognise that to wish for continued falls in is so. crime in our present economic context is perhaps to We heard the most chilling and horrendous stories place hope over experience, as previous periods of of how relatives of murder victims were treated. I will, economic downturn have generally been followed by if I may, quote two instances which illustrate areas 1079 Policing and Crime[LORDS] Policing and Crime 1080

[BARONESS HARRIS OF RICHMOND] come face to face daily with the consequences of which the police will have to address to improve their social malaise or policy failure. They do so with courage help to victims. We were told about Hughie and Betty, and without complaint. whose son was drugged and then beaten to death. The There are many agencies in the criminal justice people responsible put his body in the boot of a car, system, and all have made a contribution to the long-term drove it on to the Derbyshire moors and set fire to it. decline in offending—and there can be no doubt that They were caught but because they simply blamed there has been a long-term decline. However, no one each other, the police did not know which one to can doubt that the police, alongside those other agencies, charge with delivering the fatal blow and no one was have played their part in these important advances ever charged with George’s murder. On top of that, to too. Yetthere can be no room whatever for complacency. this day, Hughie and Betty are regularly intimidated Offending in the UK is still high by global standards. by the families of the murderers. Crime is still responsible for enormous individual Then there were Carla and Rachel, two young harms and for massive social and economic costs. women. Their father, a retired police officer, was beaten Therefore, we need new policies and ever more effective to death in the kitchen of his home and his blood agencies that can bear down on crime, and can reduce covered the floor, walls and ceiling. The police said it yet more substantially. This needs to happen now that there was no funding to pay for a professional against the grim backdrop of deficit reduction, from clean-up team, so those two young ladies had to do it which no public sector organisation can be immune. themselves. On their hands and knees they cleaned up This is, then, an opportune moment for a fresh and their murdered father’s blood, and years later they are fundamental look at policing in the UK—a good still deeply traumatised by the experience. moment to scrutinise the model that in all its essentials I met all these relatives and was struck by their is now 50 years old, a model which was left relatively dignity and bravery, so I determined to tell noble untouched by the previous Government. Lords their stories. I have many more, sadly, to remind The first challenge is to create a structure that us that policing also needs to focus on those many, focuses on different categories of crime. It is not many victims of crime who are not helped sufficiently self-evident that 43 forces structured around metropolitan by either the police or the criminal justice system. I areas and old county lines is an appropriate model for will most certainly be speaking about the National dealing with crime and disorder today. SOCA is a real Victims’ Association on other occasions. advance, as is the regional focus on counterterrorism. This has been an opportunity to talk about policing However, many policing functions in the 43 forces may generally and I welcome that and thank the noble be better provided at local, regional or national level. Lord, Lord Mackenzie, for bringing it to your Lordships’ At grassroots level, in the immediate locality with attention. I sincerely hope that the comments I have which we can all identify, we need an intense and made about the National Victims’ Association will not accountable focus on anti-social behaviour and locally be lost in the overall concern being expressed about generated volume crime. There are issues, too, at regional police funding or crime statistics. level. I recently saw an excellent programme on television about a truly impressive and innovative specialist police unit for rape set up by Hampshire police. At the end of the programme, the rape unit was closed down. That 12.10 pm was because serious sexual crime in Hampshire was infrequent and its incidence unpredictable, so the utilisation Lord Birt: My Lords, this debate addresses an issue of officers was uneven. The obvious answer, perhaps, of rising salience, not least with the White Paper on was that this very real centre of excellence should have the presses, so I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord extended its geographic focus to a more appropriate Mackenzie, on his superb timing. It is also a pleasure regional level, but structural impediments stood in the to participate on what we should term “Mackenzie” way. On the other hand, some crime has a more day in your Lordships’ House, with two successive national or global focus. Cyber crime costs our economy debates—albeit with slightly different spellings—inspired literally billions of pounds, but the police’s focus on by a Lord Mackenzie. I, too, regret that the noble online fraud is simply lamentable. Here I declare an Lord, Lord Wills, is not able to make his maiden interest as chairman of PayPal Europe. speech in today’s debate. A long time ago, when he was a young man and I was a slightly less young man, we At all those different levels, not just at the most worked together in broadcasting. It was clear even local level, the police need to be more accountable for then that he was a figure of exceptional authority and the outcomes that we want them to deliver. At national real ability. He will, as your Lordships will see, adorn level, we should also re-evaluate the architecture of this House. the oversight institutions, including ACPO, to ensure No one who has had experience of the police in that there is a challenging, strategic and performance- recent years, at any level, could fail to be impressed by enhancing centre at the very heart of British policing. their thoughtfulness and by their sensitivity to the Secondly, the police need to bring their workforce public in general, and—dare I say?—to victims in practices into line with the world around them, which particular, although the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, has changed massively over recent decades. Frankly, powerfully reminds us that there is still, and always Governments have, for perfectly understandable reasons, will be, scope for improvement. Individual officers dodged that issue for too long. As with MI5 and deal routinely with bad or extreme behaviour, and we SOCA, policing at every level needs to focus more on have just heard some vivid examples of that. They the offender and less on cleaning up after the offence. 1081 Policing and Crime[22 JULY 2010] Policing and Crime 1082

That points to more intelligence-based policing, greater Whenever I have raised this issue directly with senior analysis and a smarter use of technology. Modern officers, they have been keen to acknowledge the public’s policing needs greater flexibility and a wider range of wish for highly visible police on the streets and have capabilities than a single point of entry currently played down the problems of competing calls on the allows, with different kinds of specialists and front-line funds of expensive forensics, but I cannot help thinking— officers focusing on different kinds of crime. Moreover, the noble Lord, Lord Birt, touched on this—that there police pay should relate to achievement, not to tenure. is a major tension here of which we will see more in Weak performance should also be addressed, as in the next few months. other organisations, and pensions should be portable, Public trust and confidence are among the building offering greater workforce mobility. blocks of successful policing. Without them it must be There are operational issues as well. Shift patterns difficult to achieve policing by consensus. I am afraid should be more flexible, allowing commanders more that it is inevitable that statistics will be bandied about easily to match resource to operational need. There is regarding police numbers, crime rates, detection rates more crime and disorder on a Saturday night than on and so on. I was interested to see in the report published a Monday morning. Police productivity can be increased a few days ago from the Audit Commission and HMIC, in other ways. Procurement of helicopters and the like to which several noble Lords have referred, that the should be centralised, not localised. Back-office services forces that achieved the highest cashable efficiencies inefficiently duplicated across multiple forces can be do not have lower levels of public confidence, which outsourced, and all core policing processes should be may be something to take on board. re-examined and made fit for purpose and cost- The British Crime Survey tells us that there is a effective—a common call. disparity between perceptions about crime rates nationally, I note, as did a previous speaker, the joint report which are thought to be constantly on the rise, and released this week by the Audit Commission and people’s perceptions in local areas, which are closer to HMIC suggesting that only 12 per cent of police costs reality. The issue of public trust in crime statistics could be saved through greater efficiency. From my behoves us all to use them responsibly. If the figures experience, I would say that, for a mature bureaucracy, are to give a realistic picture, it is important to understand that is a very modest target indeed. that in the case of some crimes an apparent increase in The third challenge is one for Ministers, not for the the rate may be a sign of success because the victim police. Much public and, indeed, political rhetoric has been able to report the crime. connects the notion of reducing crime exclusively with I had expected the noble Lord, Lord Mackenzie, to uniformed front-line policing. In truth, we will not talk about prevention—he is nodding and I think that bear down on crime as we could and should unless he has anticipated what I am going to say—which is and until policymakers, and all the multiple agencies an important role of the police. in and around the criminal justice system, work harmoniously together with matching and complementary Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate: I thought that I objectives and focus hard on the offender. Together, touched on it when I talked about the numbers of they must aim to prevent individuals entering the police officers on the streets increasing by some 16,000. pathway to offending and to address the causes of the That in itself is a preventive measure. offending behaviour in those who do, particularly in relation to drugs. Finally, they must strive at all costs to prevent repeat offending. Baroness Hamwee: Indeed. The rollout of Safer Neighbourhoods teams has been welcome in that Only when we have effective multiagency working connection, as well as in others, which is why local in democratically accountable structures with high-quality authorities have invested heavily in them. It will not be information and performance reporting have we any easy for local authorities buying that service or for the hope of achieving the massive further reduction in police to weigh up the competing calls on money. crime which I am sure is possible, and which I am also Policing is a particularly people-heavy activity. I sure all here desire. understand that it accounts for about 80 per cent of the budget. There are not the same powers to make 12.19 pm employees redundant as in other areas of employment. Baroness Hamwee: My Lords, I, too, thank the I am not trying to encourage noble Lords to leap up noble Lord, Lord Mackenzie, for giving us an opportunity and say that we are predicting massive redundancies. I to discuss policing. I am sorry not to be able to follow am pointing out that there is an issue. the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord Wills. I A number of ways of working are perhaps a bit out was going to ask him whether he had left any notes for of date, to which the noble Lord, Lord Birt, referred. my noble friend Lord McNally, who succeeded him in There will be outcomes from cutting down on recruitment, his post at the Ministry of Justice, because my noble and not just in the numbers. It is still a struggle to get friend has not found them yet. our police forces to look like the public they serve. The expectations of the police among the public are Recruiting from BME communities and promoting very high. For one thing, the public expect to see a lot those officers to higher ranks has long been an issue of them and to see almost instant results and success. and has an impact on the trust of the different In this television age we have become accustomed to communities. seeing cases solved within an hour, minus seven minutes The numbers game has meant that, over a long for commercials, and often using cutting-edge forensic period, there has been something of a misrepresentation techniques—would that life were quite so simple. about the numbers in operational roles, at any rate as I 1083 Policing and Crime[LORDS] Policing and Crime 1084

[BARONESS HAMWEE] on practical measures, which characterises much of have seen them. It does not seem necessarily to be the coalition’s programme for government on crime better to have a warranted officer dealing with, for and policing. They range from the use of technology instance, human resources problems. I suspect that to make policing more effective at lower cost and with this is likely to become more of an issue because of the fewer time-consuming activities that give bureaucracy matters to which I have referred. Police officers cost a bad name—bureaucracy does have a place—to requiring considerably more on average than police staff members. hospitals to share non-confidential information so I understand that not only have the headline figures that the police can target work on gun and knife crime for spending on the police increased, but within those, hot spots. overtime payments have increased by over 90 per cent. In the short time that we have today, and without It has long seemed to me that overtime needs to be the consultation paper, one can only scratch the surface addressed. Furthermore, officer numbers have increased of what is to be said about crime and policing. There over the past 10 years by 12 per cent while civilian staff will be plenty of opportunity to extend our discussions numbers have risen by 46 per cent. That in itself has to the issues of structure and accountability later in been a move in the right direction and I hope it does the Session and I, for one, am sure that I will find not row back. myself expressing quite firm views about accountability Although I hate the term, I was interested to see and how to achieve it. that a new key performance indicator has been introduced in London regarding the front line: to maximise the use of warranted officers deployed into operational policing in order to produce an annual 2 per cent 12.30 pm improvement. This is not wholly new. Something similar has been used in the Met for eight or nine years, with Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe: My Lords, I thank an operational policing measure to accurately reflect my noble friend Lord Mackenzie for introducing the the number of police officers and police staff who debate. I was rather hesitant in putting down my name provide a visible uniform presence, but it has become a to speak because I lack the credentials of many other performance indicator. noble Lords who are taking part. If I may say so, the noble Lord, Lord Mackenzie, I have long been concerned about the relationship did not serve his cause well by rejecting wholesale, as I between crime rates and the incidence of repeat offending heard it, the lessons that might be learnt from the among those released from custodial sentences, particularly private sector. I do not support transferring every among young offenders. I have been impressed by the private sector approach into the public sector, but way in which education initiatives in prison, together some can work well. Indeed, the private sector can with a focus on training for skills for employment, can also sometimes learn from the public sector. One of make a huge impact on reoffending rates. So I was the findings of Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s review of policing particularly proud of the way in which the Labour was the negative impact of risk aversion on decision- Government focused laser-like attention on this issue, making, something which the private sector is better at developing nationwide schemes through the offenders’ tackling. I was interested to read Jan Berry’s comments, learning and skills scheme, the Learning and Skills in her recent report, that: Council and FE colleges, as well as hugely successful “Over-reliance on compliance with set rules and targets has collaborations with the Open University. These were reduced the ability of many officers to use their professional accompanied by the encouragement of a range of judgement”. initiatives, including many employer-led schemes such She said also that there are, as the National Grid Transco young offenders’ scheme, “strong links between a predisposition to avoid taking risks and which I have long supported. While I was chief executive levels of professional knowledge, skills and experience in the use of Universities UK I encouraged the scheme to find of discretion”. places in the university sector for the employment of Those are important points. young offenders. Just before the election, the CBI published a paper Like other noble Lords, I shall refer to the crime on what in its view the private sector has to offer the statistics published last week which show that the police by way of smarter working and different working Labour Government’s commitment over more than 10 in order to increase productivity and reduce costs. It years has paid off. The British Crime Survey showed a talks about the need for, 9 per cent drop, the lowest since the survey began in 1981, and crimes recorded by police forces across “the right people with the right skills doing the right things at the right times—the fundamentals of a modern workplace. But too England and Wales fell by 8 per cent. The statistics often the debate about crime at a national and local level has show—other noble Lords have referred to this, as did tended to focus on overall officer numbers and has avoided the Daily Telegraph—that crime is at its lowest level on questions about how these officers are deployed and their overall record. Indeed, the Independent newspaper said that effectiveness”. the figures, It also makes the point that: “paint an impressive picture of the [Labour] party’s record on “Success has frequently been measured by inputs—the overall crime during its 13 years in power”. number of officers—rather than outcomes—reducing crime and Although I entirely agree with the Home Secretary in dealing with the consequences of crime”. another place that figures for offences are still far too I share the focus on practical measures contained in high, I hope the Minister, when responding to the the report, and while I do not support everything it debate, will pay tribute to the impressive way in which says, there is a lot that is sensible. There is also a focus the police and other agencies have tackled crime over 1085 Policing and Crime[22 JULY 2010] Policing and Crime 1086 the past 10 years and that he will not be churlish in almost two-thirds of adult prisoners reoffend within acknowledging the previous Government’s commitment two years. Employment is said to reduce reoffending to reducing these figures. by between a third and a half. If that were not compelling Governments often have difficulty in seeing beyond enough, the total cost of recorded crime committed by the short term and there are many pressures which reoffenders is estimated at around £11 billion per year. dissuade them from doing so, including the media. I The key to much of this is that half of all prisoners hope the coalition Government will be just as determined do not have the skills required by 96 per cent of jobs as my party was in government to stick with policies That is what the Offender Learning and Skills Service that work in the longer term. That is why focusing on is working hard to address, along with the heartening reoffending pays such dividends in cutting crime rates. number of education and training programmes produced There are a huge number of social, economic and by other bodies at national and regional level. other issues that cause first offences, and these have I conclude with a further reference to the young been explored in many debates in your Lordships’ offenders’ programme led by National Grid Transco. House. For many offenders, a prison sentence is a This scheme now involves scores of employers and has wake-up call and can provide a chance for greater demonstrated dramatic achievements for the hundreds self-awareness and true rehabilitation, largely through of offenders who have gone on to rebuild their lives education and the prospect of developing skills that and the 80 companies that employ them. The reoffending most prisoners did not even begin to think they had. rate of young people through this programme is less In a Question earlier this year in the House, the than 6 per cent, as opposed to the national average of noble Baroness, Lady Garden of Frognal, who was a 70 per cent. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary in moment ago in her place, I was glad to see, said that, another place has, like his predecessor in the previous “education in prison is a proven pathway to reducing reoffending”.— Government, commended the scheme as demonstrating [Official Report, 8/2/10; col. 471.], what can be achieved by sustained effort and commitment. and the noble Baroness, Lady Trumpington, emphasised The coalition Government are committed to the the importance of all-round education for mature values of the big society. Reducing reoffending is a key prisoners who can neither read nor write. My Government area where these values are most relevant and will be increased investment in education for all offenders tested. Will the Minister confirm that they will continue threefold and increased spending on education for to support these programmes and the important young people in custody more than sevenfold. Will the programmes and initiatives delivered via public funding? Minister commit to similar levels of investment in this hugely important area at a time when, because of 12.38 pm greater economic challenges, ex-prisoners will find it even harder to be accepted as good citizens and potentially Lord Brett: My Lords, I join other noble Lords in good employees? congratulating my noble friend Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate on securing this timely and important I hope the coalition Government do not throw debate. I go further in congratulating him because, away the huge strides that have been made. Only a few with the authority of the experience and knowledge days ago, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, that he brings to policing issues, he has presented a in her valedictory address, emphasised the considerable devastating case to the House and made my task much progress that had been made in prisons. On education, easier. I totally endorse his case and associate myself she said that in 2003, 78 per cent of prison education with the pertinent and crucial questions he has put to was assessed as inadequate by the education inspectorate; the Minister. I look forward to the Minister’s reply in 2009 it was 6 per cent. That is not to deny her with great interest. I recognise that sometimes we tend criticisms in other areas—including a lack of action to overburden Ministers with questions—when I was on the Corston report and the Bradley report, both on the other side of the Chamber I counted 43 on one produced by Members of this House—but there is no occasion, but I do not think there are 43 questions doubt that there has been a sea change in emphasis on today—and, if he is unable to answer all the questions, education and skills development as the key to reducing I trust that he will, in his usual courteous manner, reoffending. provide written answers to those who have taken part I hope the Minister will acknowledge the importance in the debate. of this in delivering the aim of the Justice Secretary, The admirably brief contribution of the noble Viscount, Kenneth Clarke, Lord Bridgeman, touched on two issues. He referred “to end the revolving door of crime and reoffending”. to the resourcing of SOCA. Several noble Lords said He reminded us that prisoners not given access to that SOCA is an innovative step forward in co-ordination, education in custody are three times more likely to both nationally and internationally. That begs the reoffend. question of whether the resourcing of SOCA will This should be an entirely non-partisan issue and, remain adequate. Are there plans to maintain funding although it is important to acknowledge the strides of that very important element? made by the Labour Government, there is no room for The noble Viscount’s second point was on elected complacency. There is a huge challenge ahead. In a police commissioners and the balance, as he put it, recent factsheet on education in prisons, Civitas, the between the United Kingdom and the United States. Institute for the Study of Civil Society, found that In my experience of the United States, it is not the case 76 per cent of prisoners do not have paid employment that police commissioners are elected in major cities. to go to after release; almost 90 per cent of prisoners In New York, Los Angeles and Chicago they are under the age of 21 reoffend within two years; and appointed by the mayor. There is quite an interchange 1087 Policing and Crime[LORDS] Policing and Crime 1088

[LORD BRETT] off the train on a Monday morning at Euston Station between city chiefs of police moving from one major and for the past couple of weeks have been bombarded city to another. In each case, once they are appointed, everywhere by big posters promising me that the National they are answerable to the mayor and the authority—be Westminster Bank will do a whole series of things that the city council or city management committee. about answering phone calls and dealing with my Therefore, they are accountable to the public of the complaints. They rightly call them commitments because city of which they are chief of police. It is true that in they are committed. They are promises. They are the county system, the sheriff or deputy sheriff in something that they would give me wereIaNatWest many cases is elected, with all the dangers that my customer, in return for being such a customer. noble friend Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate set out. In that sense, I look to the police pledge as being It may have been Winston Churchill who said that precisely that—a pledge and a commitment. It was not truth was the first casualty of war. I sometimes feel a target. What did it promise the public? There were a that language and its meaning are the first casualties series of 10 pledges that covered treating people fairly of political exchange. That is certainly the case at the with dignity and respect and ensuring fair access at a present time with many of the political exchanges that time reasonable and suitable to them. Others included we have had between the Government, the opposition responding to messages within 24 hours, answering parties, the public, within the coalition and beyond. 999 calls within 10 seconds and going to a whole series For example, the Government talk of the millions of of regular public meetings. If you were a victim of pounds to be saved by efficiency savings when in truth crime, they would see how often you would like to be that means cuts, as the noble Baroness, Lady Harris of informed of progress. You had the right to be kept Richmond, said in her very thoughtful and wise informed at least every month if you wished for as contribution. The Government would do themselves a long as was reasonable. Those were not targets: they great service by reading it with interest, taking her were levels of service that we promised the public as experience and knowledge into account. She made the part of our commitment in government. point that efficiency savings had been with us for a Therefore, my question is a relatively simple one. decade. They have been achieved, but to pretend that What are the real reasons for that being scrapped, as it they can continue and to multiply that achievement is not a target but a commitment? Has the policing and call it efficiency savings is a misuse of that phrase. pledge been scrapped because the Government believe Statistics have been given by a number of noble that the public do not require the promised levels of Lords and the facts are simple. Crime has gone down, service that were being delivered via the pledge? Or is according to the BCS on 15 July 2010. But the Home it that, as they know, the intention is to cut policing Secretary and the Prime Minister have said that crime budgets by 25 per cent, which would guarantee that has gone up. The Home Secretary said that on 7 June. there would be fewer police and fewer resources, thereby The truth is that violent crime as recorded has fallen rendering the pledge impossible to meet? That, it by 50 per cent since 1995 according to the BCS. The seems to me, is the central question and one that I British Crime Survey was endorsed, as has been said would be grateful if the Minister could address. by my noble friend, by Sir Michael Scholar and the The Minister was asked a series of other questions ONS as the best and most authoritative survey to tell that arise from the commitment to substantially cut us what crime is doing within the country in which we funding. Several noble Lords referred to the Audit live. The BCS was introduced by the Conservatives in Commission and HMRC report published on 20 July. 1991, but now, when its figures produce an inconvenient Do the Government accept the report of the commission truth, the Government seek to question them. that a funding cut of 12 per cent will negatively affect Accountability is another word that is strangely and impact on front-line police numbers? The simple abused and misused. My noble friend Lord Mackenzie translation of that question is, do the Government of Framwellgate spelt out the accountability currently expect police numbers on the front line to be as great falling to the police and the people and representatives at the end of the exercise—perhaps the life of this to whom they are accountable—everything from courts coalition in four years’ time—as it is now? Or, are the at one level to the Home Secretary at the other level, Government for the first time prepared to admit that through police authorities and so forth. For the life of there have to be substantial cuts, if only because we me, I fail to see how accountability or transparency is know that some 90 per cent of the budget goes on improved by taking the accountability currently afforded policing and police support finances and only 10 per to the police through the policing pledge and elected cent is spent on other issues. Taking 25 from 100 does and independent members of police authorities and not leave 90. You have to get something substantially investing that in a single individual—leaving aside the less, which can only mean a loss of numbers. Central fears and warnings my noble friend spelt out. The to that is whether the Government will continue to Government would do well to consider that when the fund centrally police salaries. Will that be maintained? consultation comes. I am sure the opinion that will be Given that the Home Secretary seems to be in denial voiced will be that accountability is hardly likely to be regarding the record falling crime numbers over a increased by such a move. period, and to echo the question asked by my noble Another misuse of the language is the word “targets”. friend Lord Mackenzie, do the Government accept the The Government tell us that they have removed targets view of the Lord Chancellor, who said that the crime in the health service and in the police service. The rate had fallen under Labour? target of seeing a cancer specialist within 14 days in All of the contributions to this debate have been the health service and the scrapping of the police valuable. A number, including those of my noble pledge were described as the removal of targets. I get friend Lady Warwick and the noble Lord, Lord Birt, 1089 Policing and Crime[22 JULY 2010] Policing and Crime 1090 have brought wider issues into the debate. All point to My noble friend Lady Harris asked about victim the difficulty of maintaining anything like the level of support. We provide funding of £30 million to Victim service that we provide to the community, which people Support, an organisation that works alongside the expect. They will hold to account very closely a National Victims’ Association. I assure my noble friend Government who reduce that level. They will be even that we will ensure that victims are at the centre of the less impressed with a Government who are not honest criminal justice system, and a new victims’ commission enough to tell them what they are doing. has been appointed to help this. We will not lose sight of the awful anguish that victims feel, and we are reviewing the services provided. 12.49 pm The British Crime Survey is an important survey, Lord De Mauley: My Lords, I thank the noble but it does not cover all victims or all crimes. It omits Lord, Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate for initiating rape, sexual assault, drug offences, fraud, forgery, this very important debate. These are vital issues and crime against businesses, and even murder. We have rightly deserve the proper consideration of your Lordships. long argued the need for it to capture the experience of Perhaps I may start by agreeing with the noble young people, and only now, for the first time, is there Baroness, Lady Warwick, and paying tribute to the an experimental element to it which reveals, depending police for their tireless work on all of our behalves. on your definition, anything between several hundred They work under extreme pressure, often risking their thousand and 2 million crimes against those under 16. lives, and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude. The Government share the UK Statistics Authority’s desire to have crime statistics that are robust and I have listened carefully to the contributions of all generate public trust. This is a complex issue and we noble Lords today, and take note of what they have all are considering how this should be achieved in consultation said. I was very much looking forward to the contribution with the UK Statistics Authority and others. of the noble Lord, Lord Wills, whose former constituency is very near my home, on his maiden performance in The police service needs more freedom from central this House. Perhaps his noble friends will pass him my control, with fewer centrally driven targets and less best wishes for a speedy recovery. intervention and interference from Government. That Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour is a priority is why we have abolished the centrally imposed target for this Government. We believe that the best way to on police forces to improve public confidence and achieve this is with a democratically accountable police have scrapped the policing pledge. We want the police service that adopts a commonsense approach to policing to be crime fighters, not form fillers. And yet the police and is free to tackle local priorities. We need to move have been spending more time on paperwork than on away from a centrally micromanaged police service, patrol. That is unacceptable. We will be ruthless in shackled with unnecessary bureaucracy. The public identifying and eradicating processes and procedures expects, quite rightly, that police officers should be on that are unnecessarily time-consuming for police officers the streets, tackling crime, criminal behaviour and and support staff, including in the wider criminal helping communities to feel safer, not stuck behind justice system. For example, by November we will desks, away from the public, completing unnecessary scrap the stop form in its entirety and reduce the forms. Regrettably, that is what we find—a police burden of the stop and search procedures. We will also service tied up in red tape and denied the discretion to consider how we can maximise the use of technology do its job properly. to reduce the paper work in policing. The noble Lord, Lord Mackenzie, points, among other things, to a 9 per cent drop in crime levels, To cut crime, policing relies on the consent and reported by the British Crime Survey, as a measure of co-operation of the public that it serves, but conditions the previous Government’s success. Of course, any fall that support this, such as trust in the police, confidence in crime is very welcome, but this does not show the that the police and councils deal effectively with crime whole picture. Crime, by any measure, remains too and anti-social behaviour and confidence in the wider high. As my noble friend Lady Harris said, 26,000 criminal justice system are still too low. The bond crimes take place every day in our country. The police between the police and local people is too weak. This continue to record more than 1,000 incidents of grievous is because the police have been focusing on the issues or aggravated bodily harm each day and perhaps even that national politicians have told them are important more worryingly, around 100 incidents of serious knife rather than their local communities. The police have crime. Muggings and violence against strangers remain been reporting their performance to civil servants in stubbornly high, with more than 1 million offences Whitehall rather than giving information to their local last year, according to the British Crime Survey. The communities, so they can judge how well they are noble Lord, Lord Birt, referred to the fact that we are doing. I respectfully remind the noble Lord, Lord still a country, in the international context, with a high Mackenzie, that only 7 per cent of the public are aware relative rate of crime. Levels of victimisation are much that they can go to their police authority if they are higher in the UK than in many other countries. The unhappy with their policing. As his noble friend Lord latest International Crime Victimisation Survey in 2004— Rooker wisely noted during the passage of the Police admittedly that is some years ago now, but it is still Reform Bill in 2002: important—found that over 20 per cent of the population “The fact is that if one person in three knows the name of his of England and Wales had been the victim of a Member of Parliament, I doubt whether more than one person in household crime that year, compared with just 12 per a thousand knows the name of any member of the police authority cent in France and 13 per cent in Germany. in his area”.—[Official Report, 16/4/2002; col. 828.] 1091 Policing and Crime[LORDS] Policing and Crime 1092

[LORD DE MAULEY] We believe that the police are only part of the Effective democratic accountability of the police is solution. Lasting success in tackling crime and anti-social the bedrock of the policing model in this country. behaviour will lie in the response of local services and Robert Peel set this out as long ago as 1829, when he communities to the problems they face, and the said that, Government are committed to empowering that response. “the police are the public, and the public are the police”, That is why we will make sure that crime data are which continues to be our guiding principle today. The published at a level that allows the public to see what is fact is that the existing accountability model is not happening on their streets. working. Police authorities are too invisible and in We will also support the police to be available and cases ineffective. People still do not know how to accessible to their communities through regular police influence how their streets are policed, let along how beat meetings, giving residents the opportunity to put to get involved. Only 8 per cent of local councillors are forward their concerns and hold the police to account police authority members, and there is no simple way for how they are dealing with problems in their area. for the public to change them if they feel they are not We would like to see all adults being part of an active doing a good job. We need to replace bureaucracy neighbourhood group and playing a role in tackling with democratic accountability. crime in their communities. We want the voluntary and community sector to play an enhanced role, contributing its expertise and innovation. Lord Brett: The Minister is painting a picture of a populace that is totally unaware of what is going on. I Engaging other local services and building a culture live in a small village with a parish council. The local of local co-operation is vital. These partnerships need police officer attends the parish council at least every to drive joint action, not further bureaucracy, and be three months and has made everybody aware of the more accountable to communities. As we reduce the policing pledge, which is printed in a newsletter that ring-fences on central programmes, streamline funding goes to everybody in the village. I am not on the parish and allow autonomy for local agencies to set priorities, council and do not take any active part in it, but it we will want them to answer for outcomes, not inputs seems to me that that would belie the black picture or processes. being painted. I do not think that there is any particular I turn to funding. I have heard the concerns expressed peculiarity about Irthington or Brampton in the county today by noble Lords about this issue. We have made it of Cumbria compared to other parts of the country. clear that value for money must be a key driver of everything we do as a Government. The Government’s priority is to cut the budget deficit and get the economy Lord De Mauley: I am grateful to the noble Lord, moving in the right direction. Lord Brett, for his intervention. He is very lucky to live in a small village. I am assured that the same case The Budget on 22 June set out our plans to reduce that he has portrayed is not the same everywhere. the deficit, including £32 billion per year in spending reductions by 2014-15. The police, along with everyone We need to replace bureaucracy with democratic else, will have to bear a share of that burden. I am accountability, which is why we proposed introducing grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Birt, for his helpful directed elected individuals, elected by and accountable recommendations, which we will consider carefully. to the public. They will ensure that the police are held to account by the public that they serve, rather than There has been some speculation—the noble Lords, bureaucrats based in Whitehall who cannot fully appreciate Lord Mackenzie and Lord Brett, asked about this—that local concerns. As my noble friend Lord Bridgeman this could lead to a reduction in the number of police said, later this month the Home Office will publish a officers. All government departments are subject to consultation document, with the final policy to be the comprehensive spending review, which is due to be announced in the autumn. We are very keen to hear completed in October. Before then, it would be misleading the views of the public and policing professionals on and unhelpful to speculate about the outcome. how this model should work. As the Home Secretary In any case, policing is not a numbers game. The announced at the APA/ACPO conference earlier in test of an effective police force is not how much it the summer, we will soon be bringing forward detailed costs or the number of officers it employs but how it proposals and introducing the necessary legislation to protects the public it serves. Our challenge is to use be implemented in this Session of Parliament. our resources most effectively by freeing up officer On the subject of ACPO, the noble Lord, Lord time to deal with crime. My noble friend Lady Hamwee Birt, asked about its role. The Government’s position made some useful suggestions about certain back-office is that ACPO has an important part to play in the functions. effective delivery of policy and we are working with it I turn to some specific questions. The noble Lord, to focus its role as the organisation responsible for the Lord Birt, raised a point about co-ordination of effort professional leadership of the police service and we across the piece, from crime to arrest to documentation will do so by ensuring that it is properly accountable and through the criminal justice system. That is why and transparent in fulfilling that function and spend the Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice, public money. We also want to see a return to common- Nick Herbert, has a combined role to enable him to sense policing. We must trust the police service and bring together the reform of policy within the wider treat the police as professionals, with the discretion to reform of the criminal justice system. This includes make key decisions. That is why we will be taking making sure that processes elsewhere in the criminal action to return more charging decisions to officers for justice system do not generate excessive bureaucracy minor offences. for the police. 1093 Policing and Crime[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1094

My noble friends Lord Bridgeman and Lady Harris 1.07 pm asked about our approach to serious organised crime. Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate: My Lords, this We agree that we need to ensure that the police and has been an interesting and informed debate, including agencies have the capacity and structures to fight the contribution of my noble friend Lady Warwick, serious organised crime. Our proposals will enhance who was far too modest about her contribution. I am the local accountability of police and create stronger sure that we will be revisiting these issues in the arrangements to tackle crimes that cross force borders, months after the Recess. All that is required now is for include serious organised crime. For example, we are me to beg leave to withdraw the Motion. looking at steps that can be taken to strengthen and further develop collaboration between forces. We are Motion withdrawn. committed to ensuring that SOCA makes an effective contribution to the overall law enforcement approach to tackling serious organised crime. My noble friend Lady Hamwee asked about risk Poverty aversion. We agree with her and with Jan Berry that Debate police officers need to be less risk-averse. That is why the Government’s approach to reducing bureaucracy has at its centre the need to return discretion to police 1.08 pm officers. Examples of this, as I mentioned earlier, are Moved By Lord McKenzie of Luton returning charging decisions to the police for more minor offences and taking action to amend some of To call attention to the impact of the Budget on the health and safety practices that get in the way of people in poverty; and to move for papers. common-sense policy. The noble Lord, Lord Mackenzie, and my noble friend Lady Harris asked about our attitude to the Lord McKenzie of Luton: My Lords, I welcome the Sheehy review. We have announced a review of opportunity to open this debate and am grateful to all remuneration and conditions of service for police noble Lords who are proposing to contribute. I look officers and staff. The terms of the review will be forward to hearing maiden speeches from four new announced shortly. Members of your Lordships’ House. I also thank the The noble Baroness, Lady Warwick, asked about number of organisations that have offered us briefings rehabilitation, a subject that we consider very important. for this debate. The consistency of their analysis and We are conducting a full assessment of sentencing and the intensity of their concerns are startling. rehabilitation policy to ensure that it is effective in Poverty has many faces, none of them attractive. deterring crime, protecting the public, punishing offenders There are many in our world who live in abject, and cutting reoffending, something that she specifically absolute poverty without sufficient nourishment and referred to. We will take time to get this right, and we with no access to clean water, shelter, simple life-saving will consult widely before bringing forward coherent medicines or rudimentary education. Defeating such plans for reform. We intend to publish proposals for poverty remains, quite properly, a supreme cause of reform in the autumn that will then be subject to our time. There are, however, issues closer to home public consultation. that should also command our attention and commitment. If I have not answered every question that has been These might be described as matters of relative poverty, raised today, I will write to noble Lords. The changes which, for families, was characterised by the founder to policing that I have outlined today will play an of the Child Poverty Action Group in this way: important part in giving the public the police service “Their resources are so seriously below those commanded by that they deserve—one that is democratically accountable, the average … family that they are, in effect, excluded from effective and free to tackle local priorities. ordinary living patterns, customs and activities”. It is from this perspective that I would like us to consider the impact of the recent Budget, which cut Lord Mackenzie of Framwellgate: My Lords, before spending beyond inherited plans by £32 billion a year, the Minister sits down, in the light of the crime figures as well as raising net taxes by a further £8 billion. published last week showing dramatic reductions in Eleven billion pounds of spending cuts will come from crime, does he believe that the Prime Minister’s statement specific welfare measures. to the House of Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions, In analysing these issues, let me anticipate and deal when he said that crime had gone through the roof with the complaint that the state of the public finances under the previous Administration, was grossly misleading gave no room for any other Budget judgment. Our the public? borrowing has risen because the global financial crisis caused tax receipts to fall and spending to rise. The fiscal stimulus led to more borrowing, but it was the Lord De Mauley: My Lords, in this debate we have right choice to stop recession turning into depression. discussed at some length the fact that the British We had set out our clear deficit reduction plan, which Crime Survey figures do not include a number of would have brought the deficit down to 5 per cent of important types of crime. The key fact is that violent GDP in 2013-14. The coalition Budget goes faster, crime remains unacceptably high. Furthermore, cuts deeper and adopts a different set of priorities. Let internationally, we are still a country with a high us be clear: the Government chose to do this; they did relative rate of crime. not need to do it. 1095 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1096

[LORD MCKENZIE OF LUTON] The National Housing Federation has warned that In March, George Osborne declared that we are all these cuts will put more than 200,000 people across in this together and said that he would not balance the Britain at risk of homelessness. It says that they will Budget on the backs of the poor. It is by that statement force families to move, for some away from social and that we will judge him and the coalition Government family networks, undermining well-being, employment of which he is part. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and childcare opportunities. It will amount, in effect, claimed his Budget as a progressive Budget, saying to the expulsion of low-income families from some that it was tough but fair. Tough it was; progressive communities. These consequences are not difficult to and fair it most certainly was not. The Budget Red predict. There is no massive affordable housing programme Book presents various charts to justify the claim of to rely on to take the pressure off private sector rents. being progressive, but the truth has been laid bare, in If the expectation is that there will be downward particular by the IFS. Only by overlaying the Budget pressure on private sector rents, this is a huge gamble measures with the progressive measures inherited from being taken with the lives of some of our most vulnerable Labour’s March Budget can the net result be seen as families. From the Government there seems to be no progressive, even taking account of the personal allowance recognition of the consequences, no compassion and change. Even this must be treated with some caution, no understanding of the devastation that this will as the analysis does not fully factor in all the draconian cause to so many who need our help. consequences of the housing benefit measures. It also I turn now to issues of indexation. Until now, most cannot as yet take account of what is coming down benefits have been uprated by the RPI, with means-tested the track from the cuts that will pour from the expenditure benefits by the Rossi index, a variant that excludes review—cuts that will inevitably impact most on the poor. certain housing-related costs. Moving to uprating all When we hear that the Budget is grounded in benefits by CPI will mean that the real-terms value of fairness and that we are all in it together, frankly, we benefits will continue to fall compared to average beg to differ. We do so because of what the Budget earnings and will fall at least 1 per cent faster—although contains in rises in VAT; in reductions in tax credits; in the IFS suggests that this would be closer to 2 per the freezing of child benefit; in restricted benefit and cent—than under previous uprating rules. Without pension uprating; in narrowing the gateway to disability countervailing measures, uprating benefits by RPI was living allowance; and in illogical and spiteful cuts in anyway at risk of driving inequality as the cumulative housing benefit. gap with earnings widened. Uprating by CPI will, in I start with the impact of the changes to housing the terms of CPAG, cause the downward escalator to benefit. These changes include taking a reduced level move even faster. This is a cut to benefits of nearly £6 of local rents for the housing allowance; capping rent billion annually—this when research shows that, because levels for each type of property; increasing the non- of their spending patterns, people on low incomes face dependant deduction; uprating the local housing allowance much higher inflation rates than CPI. How does the rates by CPI, rather than actual rent levels; and docking Minister justify this? What rationale underpins this 10 per cent from the long-term unemployed. These change, other than reducing the costs of benefits? amount to a net cut of £1.7 billion a year—a cut to be The use of CPI does not relate only to benefits; it met by the poor and those on low incomes. Penalising has a profound effect on pensions and pensioners. working-age people who are unemployed is a particularly More than 10 million people get a state second pension, savage act. The need for reform of housing benefit to including 6 million women. The reforms to S2P in improve work incentives is accepted, but a 10 per cent recent years have been particularly focused on improving deduction in housing benefit is entirely arbitrary, will outcomes for the low-paid. The average state second cause incredible hardship to those who seek to make pension is now £36 a week. The switch to uprating this up the shortfall from their jobseeker’s allowance and by CPI rather than RPI means a loss on average of will exacerbate poverty in those very communities more than £2 a week by 2015, with growing losses where jobs are hardest to come by. thereafter. There was no mention of that when boasting As Shelter points out, the reforms adopting the about the triple lock. There are also ramifications for 30 per cent level rather than the median level of rents public sector pensions and for many private sector for housing allowance will lead to a significant reduction occupational pensions because uprating is linked to in the amount received by many claimants across the S2P uprating. This comes at a time when pensioners country. Citizens Advice calculates that an average are faced with the burdens of the VAT increase and no allowance for a two-bedroom property in England will benefit from the increased personal tax allowance. As fall by nearly £10 a week, and for a three-bedroom the Public Service Pensioners’ Council points out, it property by £13, worsening existing rent shortfalls. was assured by all three parties that any changes to Shelter says: public sector pensions would have a long lead-in time “We expect that many households will try to remain in their and be the subject of consultation. Where was the home and be forced to make financial sacrifices in order to do so. consultation? It may be fashionable to attack public For those households already struggling to balance very tight sector pensions, but many who gave public service are budgets, a reduction in local housing allowance will … push … on low or modest pensions and the uprating changes them over the edge, triggering a spiral of debt, eviction and affect them, too. What evidence is adduced to support homelessness”. the Government’s intention that CPI is a better measure This will be made even worse by the uprating over of inflation for pensioners than RPI? Given that the time of local housing allowances by CPI, rather than coalition agreement specifically recognises that work actual rents, so that the allowance will be increasingly is needed to amend the CPI index, can the Minister disconnected from rent levels. advise us of progress? 1097 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1098

We should give credit where credit is due. We welcome On proper scrutiny, it is clear that the 2010 coalition the increases in the child tax credit announced for Budget is deeply regressive. It cuts benefits, reduces April 2011, even though—as Save the Children pointed tax credits for families on low and moderate incomes, out—those on housing benefit will see a reduction in short-changes pensions and pensioners, exacerbates housing support of up to 65 per cent of this increase. homelessness and chooses regressive taxes. These choices However, these increases in child tax credits are dwarfed did not have to be made. by a plethora of reductions to the tax credit regime. We came into politics through a variety of influences. CPAG calculates that only 20 per cent of the £3.2 billion Many of us wanted to bring about social justice, of cuts will come from reducing entitlement for families combat poverty and promote equality. The improvement on higher incomes. The rest will have a direct impact in our own material well-being and our inculcation on low-income families. The increased rate at which into grand institutions such as your Lordships’ House tax credits are withdrawn would lose someone earning may have dimmed or deflected that commitment. £16,420 a year £200. Introducing the £2,500 income However, if that cause needed a catalyst—a call to disregard for households facing a drop in income— action—it is writ large in this unfair, regressive and ill a novel invention, I am bound to say—could mean a judged Budget. We have work to do to expose its reduction in tax credits of £1,000, particularly affecting excesses and we must use our energies to protect those people who take maternity leave or long-term sick whose lives will be scarred by its ideology. leave.

Families with babies seem to have been especially 1.22 pm targeted by this Budget, despite the rhetoric around family values. They lose the health in pregnancy grant, Lord Boateng: My Lords, in thanking the noble the £545 baby element of the child tax credit and the Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton, for initiating this £500 Sure Start maternity grant, other than for the debate, I confess a degree of trepidation in speaking to first child. Then there is the demise of child trust your Lordships’ House for the first time. That trepidation funds. The increase in the child tax credit is not is in no way engendered by the kindness and warmth enough to compensate for these. Freezing child benefit shown to me and my fellow newcomers to this House for three years will have a disproportionate effect on by all Members, officers and staff, but by the requirement the poor, because child benefit contributes a larger to be both brief and uncontroversial. That does not proportion to their household income than it does for come naturally to me. Given the rather rueful faces of more affluent households. Notwithstanding all this, some of my noble friends, I think that they probably the Government assert that increasing the child element share that view. Nevertheless, one will do one’s best. I of the child tax credit above inflation to ameliorate the am encouraged in that by the traditions of this House. freezing of child benefit will cause no measurable I first encountered those traditions on the very first impact on child poverty in the next two years. Will the occasion that I came to the Palace of Westminster Minister please confirm that this assessment is made many years ago. I came here wearing flares and with on the basis of all the measures set out in the latest an Afro—when one had hair and wore flares—which Budget, rather than just those two items? We welcome tells noble Lords just how long ago that was; it was the Government’s commitment to the child poverty 14 December 1978. targets but, frankly, this Budget takes us in the I came here as a young lawyer accompanying a wrong direction. group of black women from the London Borough of Lewisham. They were concerned about what was Time does not permit a detailed analysis of how happening to their children and other young people in different households might be affected by different Lewisham—black and white, but largely black—in combinations of Budget measures, but the Citizens relation to a piece of legislation known as the sus laws. Advice briefing is recommended reading. However, we These women had attempted to initiate a debate about know that one group will particularly bear the brunt the sus laws in the other place. They had a great deal of of this Budget—women. This was covered extensively support for that from their then local MP, Chris Price, in yesterday’s debate on the role of women. The analysis but they did not succeed. The then Labour Government shows that, of the £8 billion net revenue to be raised in did not want to debate the sus laws or to hear from this 2014-15, some £6 million will be from women—and group of black women in Lewisham. It was your this at a time when women still lag behind men in Lordships’ House that found the time and the space to earnings and wealth. discuss this matter in a debate on a Private Member’s That is just one more manifestation of a regressive Bill on the sus laws initiated by the noble Lord, Lord Budget judgment. If we needed proof, the choice of a Avebury. I will never forget it, nor will I will forget the VAT increase as a revenue-raising measure is it. The respect that was shown to these women and their 2.5 per cent increase in VAT is the biggest single item concerns by the noble Lord and by the late Lord Pitt, in the Budget, raising some £13.4 billion. Both the who was one of the first Afro-Caribbeans—my race—to Prime Minister and his deputy are on record as find a place and a welcome in your Lordships’ House. acknowledging that it is a regressive tax, hitting the He was an inspiration to many of us. poorest hardest. The IFS analysis shows percentage I also remember the contribution of the late Lord income losses for the poorest to be more than twice Gardiner and the response of the Minister in this those for the richest. The Government know that the House at that time. This House listened. The Motion VAT hike will have a significant adverse impact on the was not carried, but subsequently a Conservative incomes of poor families but chose it in preference to Government—due very largely to the heroic efforts targeted taxes on the assets and income of the wealthiest. not only of those women but of the right honourable 1099 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1100

[LORD BOATENG] presented in any circumstances, on children and young Sir John Wheeler—abolished this unfair and people at risk, so that they do not as a result of a side discriminatory piece of legislation. However, it was wind or neglect lead to their being further disadvantaged. this House, with its tradition of being responsive to I hope that I have been brief and uncontroversial— the needs of those who might otherwise not get a because this cause can unite the whole House—but hearing—the poor and the dispossessed—which showed none the less passionate. the way. That taught me something which I have not forgotten in the course of my subsequent career in the 1.33 pm law and in politics, and which strengthens my resolve to put before your Lordships a concern that those Lord Bilimoria: My Lords, it is a great honour to women in Lewisham would have wanted this House to follow the maiden speech of the noble Lord, Lord hear, were they here today. It is a concern about the Boateng. As predicted and as expected, it was excellent. impact of the Budget, and a number of its proposals, This is just a taste of what we in this House may on a group of young people who all too often are not expect to come from the noble Lord in the many years heard in our society—young people at risk and young ahead. people in care. These are some of the most vulnerable Poverty is a cause which the noble Lord has spoken young people in our society. They do not have much of passionately about for years. In fact, in his maiden a chance because they tend to go into care, having speech in the other place in 1987 he spoke of poverty been subjected to abuse and disadvantage in myriad in his constituency of Brent South. He played a leading ways. When they are in care, I fear that the state does role in establishing and launching the £450 million not prove to be a very good parent. children’s fund designed to tackle child poverty—of This Budget was introduced in the context of the which he has just spoken. In his young life—the noble notion of the big society. It seems to me that if the big Lord is still young; he has not yet reached 60 and society is to live up to its name, it has to find a place middle age will come next year—he has achieved within it for young people at risk and young people in much as a passionate campaigner and activist, as a care. I learned, in the course of putting together the lawyer who is both a solicitor and a barrister, and he Green Paper Every Child Matters, way back in 2003, has achieved many firsts, including being the first that young people at risk and young people in care are black Cabinet Minister, as Chief Secretary to the to be found not just in the inner cities of our in Treasury in May 2002. During his victory speech as an country, but in rural areas too, because poverty and MP in 1987, he famously said, “Today Brent South, deprivation can be found all over our land. Young tomorrow Soweto!” Of course, he was talking about people—young people at risk and young people in South Africa being freed from apartheid, but he was care—tend to be the least advantaged of all. also presciently talking about his future appointment as British High Commissioner in South Africa from The big society is often juxtaposed with the big 2005 to 2009, a role in which he excelled. He has made state. That is a false dichotomy. It is not a question of his mark throughout his career, and we are fortunate whether or not you have a big society or a big state; it that he will continue to make his mark here in this must surely be a question as to whether or not the House. state empowers and enables citizens to make a contribution, to come together to care, and to form Soon in my role as president of the UK India sustainable and cohesive communities. I fear that aspects Business Council I will accompany the Prime Minister of this Budget work against that. The removal of on his visit to India, following up on what was said in ring-fencing in terms of local authority grants will, I the gracious Speech. I quote: fear—I am not alone in this; it is a fear shared by “My Government looks forward to enhanced partnership many in local government, many social workers and with India”. many who run voluntary organisations—lead to a Although I was born and brought up in India collapse in funding for voluntary organisations, cutbacks throughout my childhood, although I visit India several in the special support services provided to children in times a year, and although India is today a global care and children at risk. That would be damaging. emerging economic superpower with amazing capabilities in IT, aerospace and even in space, every time that I get I ask the noble Lord who will reply for the Government off that plane I am hit by the dire, abject poverty. in this debate: please, please, in the course of the Sadly, 300 million people there live on less than a spending review that must take place, and is taking dollar a day, and many of those are not living, but place, make sure that there is a stream of work that merely existing. This poverty exists now as much as it looks at the impact of the budgetary provisions that did during my childhood in India and I console myself we are debating on those children in care and children about the enormity of the problem and the challenges at risk, and the voluntary organisations that serve that this most diverse and complex country in the them, who will inevitably be affected by the increase in world, with a population of over 1 billion, faces. VAT and who do not have a rebate system upon which Then I think about us here in the UK, one of the they can rely. largest absolute economies in the world. Whichever I ask the noble Lord to think also about how the way you measure it—absolute GDP or GDP per office of the Children’s Commissioner, which is being capita—we are one of the wealthiest countries in the reviewed, can be strengthened in such a way that it is world. We are relatively small, with 60 million people, answerable to Parliament. The Children’s Commissioner yet it saddens me that we have such high levels of should be appointed by Parliament and have a specific poverty and child poverty. According to Save the remit to examine the implications of all Budgets, Children, 3.9 million children are living in poverty. 1101 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1102

There is no excuse at all for poverty in this country. secondary school without being able to read and write After all, we have one of the most generous welfare with confidence. This makes it very difficult for them states in the world. We have free education; people are to be employable. entitled to free housing; those without work get an In my role at Cambridge University as a visiting income to live on; and we have free healthcare from entrepreneur and a member of the advisory board, I cradle to grave—all funded by the state. So surely was presented with a paper from Professor Radjou, poverty should not exist at all. And when I say poverty, Jaideep Prabhu and their colleagues on whether the I mean poverty of any sort, let alone the scale of the UK can win in an age of scarcity. Their theory is: dire poverty in India. “more for less for more”—an approach that places emphasis on delivering more value for less cost for Where are we going wrong and what should we do more people. If necessity is the mother of invention, about it? One answer is that the welfare state is meant as they say, scarcity is the grandmother of innovation. to address it and the Government are spending massive This is where a developed economy such as ours can amounts on it. Public expenditure has reached 54 per learn from some of the amazing innovative models cent of GDP, when it should be at around 40 per cent. that have been pioneered in emerging markets such as This has led us to enter an age of austerity, as the India, Brazil and China. Prime Minister put it. How can we maintain a safety net and at the same time work towards eradicating We have such advantages in this country. We have poverty? I am afraid that increasing taxes in the Budget, the finest higher education in the world and cutting-edge maintaining the 50 per cent higher rate tax, maintaining research. One university, Cambridge, has produced the non-dom levy, increasing VAT, and increasing almost 90 Nobel Prize-winners. Our greatest strength capital gains tax, will not solve the problem. The is our people. The Government alone cannot eradicate Government are not meant to be Robin Hood—taking poverty, even with the best of intentions; we have to from the rich to give to the poor. We have seen that work together, and this is where NGOs working together this does not work and that even in the boom time, can really help, as we have heard. The coalition with massive levels of public expenditure, poverty Government’s answer of promoting the big society increased. The Gini coefficient that measures wealth and getting communities to work together is fabulous. and equality is the highest that it has been in 30 years, However, is it not ironic that a big society goes hand in and over the past decade there has been no increase in hand with smaller government? It is about people the average income of the poorest tenth in our society. coming together to care, share, help each other and prosper together. The noble Lord, Lord Sheldon, recently asked a This country used to have a glass ceiling. As recently Question in this House: what proportion of wealth is as three decades ago, it was not a meritocracy. However, held by the richest 10 per cent of the population? The today this country is a true meritocracy. It enabled me Answer given by the Minister was 54 per cent. This 21 years ago, with £20,000 of student debt to pay off, was shown not to be out of line with other countries, to start up a business from scratch. This is a country with France on 61 per cent and the US on 69.8 per with opportunity for all, and the poorest person is cent. I hope that the noble Lord will forgive me if I say given hope by that opportunity. that I strongly believe that the answer is not, as he Earlier this week, we in Parliament had a visit from suggested, to take action to reduce the level of wealth Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest men in the world. He of the top 10 per cent. It is wealth generation that addressed Parliament on development. How inspirational should generate opportunities for wealth creation. I that here is an individual giving away tens of billions have said it before and I will say it again that the job of of dollars. He changed the world through his business; the Government is to create an environment for now he is going to change it through his development business—in particular SMEs—to flourish and create work on the alleviation of poverty. I have a saying that the jobs that pay the taxes, that pay for the public achievement leads to inspiration; inspiration leads to services, that pay for the welfare that pays for those aspiration; aspiration leads to achievement—and a who genuinely need our help. virtuous circle follows. We can just imagine that if only we had that virtuous circle in every corner of this However, in my eight years on the New Deal task country, we would obliterate poverty and genuinely force and then the National Employment Panel, it make it history. became very apparent to me that work was the best way out of poverty. Yet, sadly, millions in this country Recently, I met those running a charity in India are in a benefits trap where generations in certain called the Akshaya Patra Foundation. The foundation areas have not worked, because work often does not has a vision that: pay. The difference between welfare support and a “No child in India shall be deprived of education because of 40-hour week on a minimum wage is £37 a week—hardly hunger”. enough to inspire people in difficult times to seek jobs. Today, it reaches 1.2 million children every day, giving For this reason, the welfare reform Bill is welcome in them lunchtime school meals. However, the sad reality its efforts to simplify the benefits systems, remove is that it has had to adjust its practices. On Monday, barriers to work and attempt to lessen the hold of the after the day off on Sunday, it has to provide double awful benefits trap that exists in this country. the amount of food for the children because they have not eaten on the Sunday. That is true poverty, and it However, it is even more challenging when our depresses me that this wealthy nation of ours has schools are letting our children and our country down, poverty in the 21st century. We should be ashamed of where over a third of 11 year-olds leaving primary ourselves. Our people need to come together, helping school have difficulty reading, and a fifth leave their one another to succeed. We need to raise the water 1103 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1104

[LORD BILIMORIA] to be a registrar or secretary, or to fill a role with one level for all the boats to float and to get bigger, and of the newer titles in universities today. I was fortunate that is going to take a huge amount of work from to work for the great Lionel Elvin, our director, who government and NGOs and from communities and had been a member of both the Robbins and McNair citizens. A friend of mine defined luck as being when committees, and then with Sir William Taylor. Both opportunity meets determination. We have the instilled in me the importance of teacher training and opportunity; we have to be determined as a nation. education. So what happened to change me from I conclude by quoting Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous going in the direction of a potentially glittering university “Tryst with Destiny” speech made on the occasion of career? India’s independence in 1947, as it is pertinent to what The institute took a decision in 1969 not to give a we are talking about: pay rise to its clerical and library staff on the ground “The service of India means the service of the millions who of affordability. Academics were given a pay rise. I suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease decided that it was patently unfair to pick on the lower and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man paid and helped to form a union branch of NALGO. of our generation”— No one had ever been in a union before. We lobbied he was talking about Mahatma Gandhi— the institute and were awarded our pay rise, backdated. “has been to wipe every tear from every eye”. I carried on recruiting members and for 16 years was privileged to represent all clerical and related staff in 1.43 pm universities in their pay negotiations, and set up national Baroness Donaghy: My Lords, since I was introduced pay scales for the first time. Ninety per cent of the on 1 July, I have been overwhelmed by the warmth of members were women and 90 per cent were first- my welcome and the generosity of noble Lords on all generation trade union members. I spent most of my sides of the House in sharing their experiences with career boxing and coxing between my paid employment me. I am grateful, too, for the dedication and friendliness and my unpaid trade union activity. I moved within of the staff, who seem to be able to read my mind the institute to become permanent secretary of the when I am uncertain about geographical direction or students’ union and was licensee of the union bar for procedure. I thank them most sincerely for their care 16 years. I am aware that some noble Lords on different and support. sides of the House have owned breweries, and it is possible that some of them have been their occasional As a former chair of ACAS, my first instincts are to customers, but I suspect that very few have actually form a consensus based on bringing the parties together. been licensees. I am not sure whether those skills will be useful in this House. I know from experience that, when the going After 13 years on the TUC General Council, I gets tough, it is difficult to promote agreement between became its president. I would chair the General Council employer and workers but that it is infinitely more and then sometimes appear before the magistrates’ difficult on occasion to achieve agreement among court to apply for an extension to opening hours in the members of the same side. If the coalition Government students’ union bar. Such were the contrasts in my were ever in need of mediation skills, I would be dual life. available. In 1997, the continuing theme of poverty arose ACAS’s contribution to the modernisation of public when I was appointed a founding member of the Low services was to recognise that the world of work was Pay Commission. This was an absolutely wonderful not just about collective bargaining but about the experience, and I like to think that my practical experience millions of individuals, both employers and employees, of wage structures and the impact of low wages helped needing advice. Radical changes were achieved with to set up a framework that is virtually intact today. We the involvement and consent of the staff and trade learnt that poverty is complex—a single mother in the unions in ACAS, and without the demotivating effect south-east would have to earn over £17 an hour to of so many pronouncements about public service workers. make up any loss in benefits—yet we fixed on £3.60 an Calls to the ACAS helpline amounted to 1.2 million hour because the minimum wage cannot solve everything. last year, and the website is much praised by employers We learnt that poverty is not a north/south or even a and employees because of its quality and impartiality. regional phenomenon. The largest proportion of low-paid The subject of poverty has been a theme that has workers, in terms of population, live in London and threaded throughout my life. On the day of my the south-east. We also learnt that the low paid need introduction to this House, one of my cousins gave me no lessons in hard work or the ability to calculate their a copy of a payslip belonging to our late grandfather, earnings. Observing textile workers calculate their complex Arthur Howard. It was for £1.53, dated 11 November piece-rate earnings in their heads to the nearest penny 1933, and came from New Monckton Collieries near would impress any mathematician. Barnsley, where he worked for most of his life. He The noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, in moving the brought up four daughters on that wage, played the regulations concerning the national minimum wage cello and built the first television in Worsbrough Common. on Monday, was kind enough to say that the proposed He had no money but a wealth of talent and unfulfilled increase for this October, promise. My own parents taught me the value of work, education and caring for others. “strikes the right balance between ensuring that low-paid workers are treated fairly and preventing adverse economic effects. It is After university, I worked at the Institute of Education based on sound evidence and consultation, and takes into account in London for 33 years. I had become an assistant the present economic circumstances”.—[Official Report, 19/7/10; registrar at a very early age and was probably destined col. 888.] 1105 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1106

Those criteria were established at the start of the Low in the 1980s. Since that time she has had an impressive Pay Commission’s work, and it is gratifying to see that trade union career becoming the president of both her this evidence-based work continues and is appreciated own union, NALGO, and then president of the TUC. by the Government. Following that time, as we have heard, she served as I am aware of the recent short debate on poverty on chair of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration 15 June, initiated by the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood Service for seven years, helping to make it into the of Kirkhope, and of the excellent contributions that modern and effective organisation that it is today. It were made. It is not my intention to go over the same was also one of the periods of the lowest industrial ground. I am aware that the measure for poverty unrest in its history and, as she has indicated, I am might seem like a dry academic debate to some, but if sure these skills of bringing peace and harmony to an official poverty measure is changed, it can be used potentially warring factions can be put to good use in as a respectable excuse for taking away support systems your Lordships’ House, not least among noble Lords from those who do not fit the new criteria. The on the coalition Government Benches. Finally, lest Government have promised to maintain the target of anyone might think that her skills are on the soft side, ending child poverty in the UK by 2020, and I shall she also served on the Committee on Standards in watch this with interest. Public Life for seven years before becoming its interim There are people now seeking work who are healthy chair. I am sure that she will play her part in keeping and motivated and have a good employment history, us all in line in the years to come, with her trademark but they cannot find work, so how will those with reputation for intelligence, independence and straight disabilities, language and literacy barriers or no work talking. record find work? Joblessness is a scourge on any I add my congratulations to my noble friend Lord society and the Government will be judged on how Boateng on his passionate and inspired maiden speech many people are unemployed. The margin between and very much look forward to the maiden speeches of poverty and just about managing is perilously narrow. other noble Lords in this debate. Cutting pennies here and there from benefits, VAT costs, pay and pensions may not seem a lot to those Before I start, I declare an interest as the chair of who are privileged to lead society, but together they Circle 33 housing association and record that I am a will have a catastrophic outcome for individual families. volunteer in The Passage homeless centre in Victoria. I, therefore, have some direct experience of the fine We are a country of extremes in income and no line walked by some of the most disadvantaged and Government have solved that particular inequality. I vulnerable in our society, for whom managing a weekly make a plea to this Government that more work budget and staying out of debt is a constant trial and should be done on why we are a relatively low-wage burden. It takes only one trigger—perhaps a partner society. Average earnings of £24,000 a year include leaves, someone falls ill or an employer closes down—for paid overtime—mainly done by men—and City bonuses. an individual or family to fall behind with their rent That completely distorts the real situation. Just as we and face homelessness. When you are already living in on the Low Pay Commission discovered, women who poverty the financial margins are tight and the earned too little to pay national insurance did not consequences of default can be devastating. I say that appear on any statistics and could not therefore be in the confident knowledge that the previous counted as a group that might benefit from a national Government—my Government—both understood this minimum wage. Clearly, steps were taken to rectify the fear and acted on it. They understood that you could Alice in Wonderland situation, but it shows that statistics be working but still poor and they introduced the without common sense and grounded reality can be working families tax credit to make work pay. They used to hold back progress, sometimes unintentionally understood that a child brought up in poverty would and sometimes not. bear the scars for life and so they increased child The Economist on 3 July stated: benefit and set a goal of ending child poverty completely “The past decade made a disappointingly small dent in poverty, by 2020. They invested in jobs and training to give but it may be the best time the poor will know for many years”. people the skills to get secure and rewarding work. I look for an assurance from Ministers that that grim Of course, not everything they did was perfect and forecast will not be realised. not all their ambitions were achieved but I am proud In conclusion, I thank my two sponsors, my noble of a Government who invested in public services, friends Lady Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde and Lord reduced unemployment and raised people out of poverty. McKenzie of Luton for all their help and encouragement. We went a long way to creating a fair and benevolent I offer particular thanks to my noble friend Lord society in which the poorest and most vulnerable were McKenzie for raising this topic today and for giving protected. me an opportunity to make my maiden speech on a That brings me to this Government’s Budget and subject about which I feel so passionately. what it tells us about their values and beliefs. First, they seem to have abandoned the post-war Keynesian 1.53 pm analysis that government fiscal and monetary measures Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: My Lords, I congratulate can mitigate against economic recession. Instead, we my noble friend Lady Donaghy on her passionate and appear to be returning to a rather alarming 1930s free informed maiden speech. I would have expected no market programme, which became discredited first less of her, having known and admired her abilities for time round and now risks driving the recession into a nearly 30 years. I first met her when we were both deeper and longer trough. Of course, there is a need trade union officials in the university sector in London for a clear deficit reduction plan and part of that will 1107 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1108

[BARONESS JONES OF WHITCHURCH] Budget that is blatantly neither of these things has inevitably include tough choices on spending. But in rendered those words obsolete in their true sense. As the current fragile world economy, there is a particular the weeks go by and the consequences of the Budget imperative to prioritise growth as a precondition for are spelt out, it is becoming clear that the government economic recovery. That remains Labour’s strategy. It agenda has at its heart an ideological drive to promote is based on sound economic modelling and was already the free market, close down public services and hand proving to be successful in stopping our economy over the remaining services to private multi-nationals. sliding into a recession. Therefore, the question remains: It is a policy that is increasingly saying to the poorest do the current Government have an alternative growth and most vulnerable, “You’re on your own. If you’re strategy or are they happy to let high unemployment lucky, a charity or a private philanthropist will come and increased poverty act as the drivers for future to your rescue, but don’t expect anything from us”. economic policy? Interestingly, this attitude was notably absent in the Secondly, despite their election promises, they are election campaign. Prior to that, there was lots of talk intent on squeezing public services and cutting front-line of compassionate conservatism, but now there appears staff. It is obvious to everyone that departmental cuts to be a view that compassion is for wimps. Budgets are of 25 per cent or even more can be achieved only by inevitably about global statistics and calculations running wholesale services being abandoned. Those public servants into billions of pounds and affecting millions of people. who are lucky enough to remain will have their income But behind those statistics are real people, like the and, therefore, their spending power reduced as a ones I work with at The Passage whose lives are on the result of the freeze in public sector pay, while those margins of success and failure, for whom small shifts who are made redundant will cost the country billions in their fortunes make the difference between a job in lost tax revenues and increased benefit bills. The start or staring at a wall all day, between paying their consequence of this policy is bound to have a further rent or being on the streets. These are the people I fear depressing effect and will, of course, particularly impact for with this Government’s policies, so I hope that the on the poorest regions where public services play a Minister is able to reassure me that my fears are particularly valuable role. groundless and that those at the bottom of the economy really will be protected in the years to come. Thirdly, they appear to be abandoning the goal of ending child poverty by 2020. At present nearly 4 million children are living in poverty in the UK. We know 2.02 pm from previous research that child benefit has proved to The Earl of Clancarty: My Lords, it is a great be one of the most effective and popular ways of privilege to have been returned to your Lordships’ cutting child poverty so freezing it for three years will House following the recent Cross-Bench by-election hit the very families who need it the most. Again, this and I thank everyone for the warm welcome that I will prove to be a false economy because respected have received. I have very much enjoyed the remarkable research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has maiden speeches that we have heard today and look estimated that £17 billion every year could be saved forward to those yet to come. from public spending if child poverty was eradicated. We have of course many experts in the Chamber Finally, to return to a subject particularly close to today, but perhaps the biggest experts of all on the my heart, the cuts in housing benefit will cause hardship subject of this debate are not present. They are the to many and may well push families in high-priced poor themselves. I believe that they should be here in areas on to the streets. There has of course been a need the Chamber somehow, for the simple reason—and it to reform housing benefit for some time, but the cuts seems common sense to me—that the views of the proposed in the Budget are not the solution. There is a poor should be heard in a debate on the poor. It is a myth developing that housing benefit claimants are question of representation, since those who are poor wayward families bent on living the highlife. In truth, and on the margins of the mainstream are effectively as Shelter research has confirmed, the vast majority denied a voice. This is the reason, I think, why we still are pensioners, those with disability, people caring for have something called “poverty” in our sophisticated a relative, or hardworking families on low incomes, western society. while only one in eight is unemployed. At the same time, nearly half of local housing allowance claimants I was once a little closer to this form of expertise; I are already making up a shortfall of almost £100 a was on benefits myself, specifically income support. month to meet their rent, so further cuts to this benefit This was in Sheffield in the 1980s at a time when could trigger a spiral of debt, eviction and homelessness. unemployment was less reviled than it is now, partly because of the sympathy for those working in the Of course, at the heart of this problem is a critical coal-mining and steel industries who had been put out shortage of affordable housing, which means that of work. more and more families are forced into the private I suggest that poverty as an experience is actually rented sector, often into inferior, poorly maintained very simple, even if the bureaucracy that has accumulated properties with rents that are almost double those in to deal with it, including the benefits system, is complicated the social housing sector. It is this lack of affordable and public attitudes themselves are convoluted. I think housing that the Budget could have, and failed, to that over a period of decades we have become, with a address. larger middle class, more aware at least of the idea of This coalition Government have made the misuse poverty, but perhaps less tolerant of those who remain of the English language into an art form. The use of unemployed, in the sense, of course, of not having words such as “fair” and “progressive” to describe a paid work. 1109 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1110

I believe that there are really just two things that a Where should we be looking for answers? Is it Government should bear in mind about poverty. The appropriate for charities to fill the gap? I notice this first is money. This Government are freezing benefits week from the Evening Standard that the Government, and capping the housing benefit. Sheffield was then, in a supposed time of national austerity, are providing and still is, cheaper than London, but income support £1 million of matching-funds to a newspaper editor’s was impossible to live on then; today, with a personal project to dispense largesse to the poor, piecemeal via allowance rate of £51.85 per week for the under-25s, a number of charities. This is David Cameron’s big who have been hit the hardest by this recession, I philanthropic society in action, turning the clock back would say that it is absolutely impossible to survive to a Victorian society in an age when the poor do not on. Whatever you read in the newspapers, it is difficult want to be, and should not be, patronised. I am not to survive on most benefits. saying that individuals might not be helped by this, or The second and related issue is the stigma of being that charities are not fine, but the proper purpose of unemployed, by which I mean not having paid work, charities is, in my view, that they do—yes—a significant which is not necessarily the same as not working. For job of stepping into the breach when a Government everyone on basic benefits, this stigma is less now fail to do the appropriate and long-term job that they connected with unemployment; it is more about being should do. I would support a Government who said, off the map and unvalued as a citizen. I believe “We will make all the charities that cater to poverty passionately that one should be regarded as a citizen redundant by such and such a date”. whether one is in paid work or not—indeed, whatever I can give one example of a government policy that one’s status. That means that if you do not have an seemed to address the twin evils of money and stigma. income, or have a low income, the state should pay you From income support, I went on to the original enterprise a decent rate on which to live. allowance scheme as an artist. Of course, the scheme The very language that the new Government use did not suit everyone at the time—those who had perpetuates the stigma. For example, The Coalition: worked in traditional industries in and around Sheffield Our Programme for Government says: just wanted their old jobs back—but a number of “The Government believes that we need to encourage responsibility things made the enterprise allowance scheme unique. and fairness in the welfare system. That means providing help for First, you were instantly destigmatised, because as those who cannot work, training and targeted support for those soon as you were self-employed, you were considered looking for work, but sanctions for those who turn down reasonable to be working, although—this is the significant point—you offers of work or training”. might not yet have had any income from your work Carrot and stick, carrot or stick, it does not matter—this except for the small weekly grant that you received. is still, in an old-fashioned sense, a perpetuation of an Secondly, there was no bureaucracy. The business plan “us and them”situation for the poor who, in comparison was easy for anyone to fill in. You did not have to be a with the poor in Victorian times, are highly articulate businessperson to do that and you were not judged and educated and have expectations. according to how the business might do, although If we were not so wedded to the entirely constricting some people later became highly successful commercially idea of paid work being the measure of all things, we as a result of being on the scheme. Thirdly, they left would solve poverty overnight. However, by these you alone—a mark of respect and trust. Fourthly, you restrictions on benefits, this Government are saying followed your dream, or simply continued with your that we cannot afford to do so. Like others, I believe work, for which one might say that the state was that this Budget owes its inspiration much more to paying, although not very much. political philosophy than to national need. The Green Unfortunately, the enterprise allowance scheme did Party for one, now represented in Parliament at last, not last. It was watered down and then scrapped as the believes that we should not be having these cuts at all big stick once more came out, but it is being looked at and that we should be doing quite the opposite and again. It features in the recent Arts Council England creating jobs in the public sector. report, Creative Survival in Hard Times. I understand Another example of this same stigmatisation are that the Government are taking an interest in the the powerful television adverts which are supposed to original scheme and I would like to know whether target, in their words, “benefit thieves” but which in they are thinking about reintroducing it. fact, I believe, help to criminalise people who are I believe that the only way to cure poverty is finally claiming benefits. Just as bad is the fact that no to accept that there will never be full employment in Government yet have run TV adverts advertising terms of paid work unless the state itself fills that gap unclaimed benefits, which is a little bit like the “finders and assumes and respects people’s contribution to keepers” rule. Why do a Government who would claim society irrespective of their income. to lift people out of poverty not chase down as assiduously the poor who do not know how to claim benefits as 2.11 pm ferociously as they do those who may be claiming too much? It is easy to build up a head of righteous Lord Shipley: My Lords, it is with a great sense of indignation over those who it is said are abusing the privilege, tinged with a certain degree of nervousness, system, but are we not truly abusing the system if we that I rise to make my maiden speech in this debate, do not reach out to those who are so caught in the particularly after so many distinguished contributions poverty trap that they do not even know that help and excellent maiden speeches have been made already. exists, let alone how to claim? I would like an answer I thank all the staff, all my colleagues and my sponsors from the Minister as to whether the new Government for the warmth of their welcome and for their willingness would consider running such TV adverts. to go out of their way to explain the workings of the 1111 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1112

[LORD SHIPLEY] which engages young men in developing their skills as House to me. There is much to learn. The support that fathers and promotes their literacy and numeracy and I have received has been exceptional and I am deeply their skills for work. There is family learning in schools, grateful for it. which gives parents the chance to learn new skills and I am a Yorkshireman by birth, although not from to help their own children to learn. Parents can spend the town whose name I bear. I was born and brought up to a day a week in school with their child. up on the Yorkshire coast, in Whitby, but have been an In Newcastle, Moorside Community Primary School adopted Geordie for the past 40 years in Newcastle is one example of a school that does not allow deprivation upon Tyne, where I worked for many years for the to be an excuse for low expectation. A majority of Open University and where I have been a councillor Moorside’s pupils live in areas within the 10 per cent for more than 30 years. I would like to concentrate on most deprived nationally, but the school has raised that latter connection in this debate. attainment and aspirations of children and has increased Last year, Newcastle City Council was appointed as opportunities for parents to enter employment, education one of three beacon councils, along with Cornwall and training, which has had the effect of reducing and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in addressing benefit claimant rates. Key to that has been the child poverty. Forty per cent of Newcastle residents appointment of parent link workers to enhance are in the lowest national deprivation quintile—twice relationships between school and home. Through family the average England figure. Men in that quintile have a learning at Moorside, several hundred parents have 10-year lower life expectancy than men in the least obtained accreditation from courses that they have deprived quintile, while women have a seven-year lower taken, with awards being presented in front of their life expectancy, so reducing child poverty could have a children, which has a big influence on raising aspirations major impact later in life in terms of life expectancy. of both child and parent. Parents are then supported to progress further through link agencies such as Newcastle One in three children in Newcastle lives in poverty, Futures, which we set up in partnership with the according to official definitions, compared to just over Government to find solutions to worklessness and one in five in England as a whole, so the need for us which has helped more than 1,000 long-term jobless locally to take action to mitigate child poverty has people into work. been stark. In Newcastle, we have learnt a number of things. The first is that it is important to understand However, research by Barnardo’s has shown that, the diverse needs of local communities and to empower although work is often seen as the best route out of all of our partners to go much further than just poverty, low pay can still keep families in financial engagement. poverty. That is why taking low-income families out of income tax altogether, as proposed in this Budget and Although child poverty is closely related to financial future Budgets, matters so much. deprivation, deprivation of experience and of aspiration In conclusion, children who grow up in poverty are can both have a massive impact on a child’s future less likely to attend school regularly, to stay on at opportunities. Teachers have to work hard to help school, to obtain qualifications, to go on to higher children in deprived neighbourhoods to reach their education or to aspire to well paid employment. The age-expected levels of attainment. Imagine, for example, gap in attainment between children receiving free school the hurdles that children have to get over in comprehension meals and other children is marked. The obvious exercises when what is being described bears no follows. Reducing the number of children who grow relationship to their experience. That is why personal up in poverty will increase the number of young enrichment through education remains the key to people with chances to succeed as adults. That success social mobility and it is why a pupil premium proposed will increase the life chances of their children and in for children in disadvantaged areas could be so important. turn promote a cycle of aspiration. Educational achievement grows from raised aspiration, which in turn results from enriching the experiences of I thank your Lordships once again for the warmth all our children. of your welcome and for the opportunity to participate in this debate. I greatly look forward to making further Addressing child poverty is not just about the level contributions to the work of the House in future. of benefits or a fairer tax system. Although both of those are crucial, neither is designed as a measure to abolish child poverty on its own. For example, measures 2.19 pm to combat fuel poverty and making our homes more Lord Best: My Lords, I congratulate all those who energy efficient are of great importance to families on made their maiden speeches today. We have a wealth low incomes. In Newcastle, we have had great success of new talent among us. I also congratulate the noble with our Warm Zone initiative in cutting fuel costs by Earl, Lord Clancarty, who has rejoined us on the more than £3 million a year. Cross Benches, on his powerful contribution. As president Abolishing child poverty by 2020 is a commitment. of the Local Government Association, I must welcome That is why employment and skills matter so much the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, particularly. He will be and why we in Newcastle have decided that reducing another strong voice for local government, which will child poverty is the not just the business of children’s be very important in this era of localism and devolution services but our core business across the whole of the of power from the centre to local government. He council and the whole of the local strategic partnership. brings us expertise from the public and private sectors; We have introduced projects to promote intensive from academia in a very distinguished form; and from multi-agency support to individual families. For example, the arts, which Newcastle and Gateshead have done so there has been the Barnardo’s young dads’ project, much to promote over recent years. 1113 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1114

Most of all, the noble Lord has been a councillor business. It means that in a lot of cases people will for 35 years and since 2006 has been leader of Newcastle again, all across the country and not just in London, City Council. Newcastle has seen the most incredible find that there is a gap between what they receive in transformation in recent years. I have followed its housing benefit and the market rent in the area in progress wearing various hats in the housing world which they are located. and as the father of a student at Newcastle University, Other reductions follow on top of those. If you are which has entailed endless visits to that vibrant and living in accommodation deemed to be too large for exciting place. Over the years in which the noble Lord your needs, there will be a housing benefit cap relating and his predecessor, the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, to the size of accommodation in which you are living. who we will shortly welcome here, have been responsible, If, for example, you are in a three-bedroom council they have done so much to change a great city. I property but it is deemed that you could well do with congratulate the noble Lord on a most eloquent and only a two-bedroom or a one-bedroom place to live, articulate speech, and we look forward to many more you will be required to move or you will not receive the contributions of that high calibre. full rent to continue where you are. The problem with I thank the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton, that is that councils have built over the years five times very much for introducing this debate. He has drawn as many three-bedroom homes as they have built of attention, among other aspects of the ways in which any other size. The actual opportunities to move to the the Budget impacts on people in poverty, to the problems smaller accommodation, until we build more homes, that will be created by reductions in housing benefit. I may be rather complicated. If you are living in a tower want to share with your Lordships some thoughts on block, it is likely that you are a single person. Local the ways in which the housing benefit cuts may have authorities have been reluctant to put children into the an effect. three-bedroom accommodation in towers because of The intention is that the Budget will see a reduction the impact on family life. These are restrictions that of some £2 billion each year in the amount paid in families will face. housing benefit, which means that a hit has to be There is a further restriction if you are on jobseekers’ taken either by the landlords or by the tenants. There allowance and are unemployed. Whatever efforts you are no other sources from which we can draw that are making to secure employment, if you fail to do so £2 billion of savings each year. In other contexts, I will your housing benefit will be cut by 10 per cent after a explore with your Lordships some of the impacts on year of looking for a job, even if you are in an area of landlords in facing a situation in which their rental high unemployment. Even if you have been demonstrating income is likely to reduce but today I want to concentrate that you have been trying your very best to get on the impact on tenants. employment, you will still see a deduction from your The cuts that are to face tenants who receive housing housing benefit. benefit, or in the case of those in the private rented sector the local housing allowance, are in several different I accept that in some cases landlords will be willing forms. The first is the cap on rents in the London area. to cut the rents and take a lower rent than they have in Although we may hear shock-horror stories of a handful the past. That is particularly the case in those low-value of families with many children who have received as areas where a large proportion of those tenants coming much as £2,000 a week for their accommodation, to them are on housing benefit. That is not the case in these are very few and far between. The new cap is to London and in the high-value areas where there will be set for the largest families at £400 per week. One be plenty of choice of other people to accept. Frankly, would think that that is quite a large sum, but it is not landlords would be ill advised very often to take so in inner London where that is the amount required anyone who was in receipt of housing benefit. Those to house families. Indeed, it is impossible to find people will have to move on and it is not at all certain accommodation in many parts of inner London at to where they will move. that price. We heard about the spiral of arrears, followed by This will mean that the families whose rent is currently evictions, followed by homelessness, which seems to be well in excess of this figure will have to move away a likely outcome in far too many cases. For other from inner London to accommodation elsewhere, which people, there will be attempts to struggle on and find is likely to be incredibly disruptive of family life. For the full rent to stay in the accommodation or to move example, there may be children at school, carers close into accommodation elsewhere even though there is a at hand, people with disabilities who know a particular gap between the housing benefit received and the rent area and have no desire to leave it, people who go to a that must be paid. That gap would have to be filled hospital locally and wish to remain there, and people from the income support or other benefit being received in a range of circumstances who will find it very by—let us remember—some of the poorest people in difficult to relocate to other parts of the country in society. It will be extremely difficult for people to meet order to avoid the gap which could be, in the case of that gap out of the income they receive from the state inner London, several hundred pounds a week between on benefits calculated specifically to exclude any housing the rent that will be paid in the future and the actual costs. They are benefits paid in order to cover food, costs of their accommodation. We need to think ahead heating and other costs, but not housing. To fill that to how we will handle the exodus of the lowest income gap from within their benefits will be extremely households from the high-priced areas of inner London. problematic for the poorest households. There is also the cap that comes from using the Perhaps I may suggest four ways in which the 30th decile instead of the 50th decile in determining Government might need to respond to the position in the housing benefit for a household, which is a complicated which they find themselves. Few people doubt that 1115 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1116

[LORD BEST] the CPI does not include housing costs. The effect of housing benefit requires an overhaul. It is a very the change will bea1to2percent reduction in the complex arrangement which could do with changes. benefits paid to families. Housing benefit—a subject First, I suggest that we need to phase the cap for those to which I shall return—will also be affected by the London households which will have to move to the change in the basis for uprating. The increase in the edges of London or beyond. We will need to take that rate of VAT to 20 per cent will have a disproportionately more gently and slowly than at the moment—at the large impact on the poorest families, because the poorest anniversary of your rent coming up—and suddenly 10 per cent spend 14 per cent of their disposable finding a colossal cut in what you can pay to your income on VAT compared to the most affluent 10 per landlord. cent, who spend just 5 per cent of their income Secondly, the discretion for local authorities to on VAT. make up the difference requires a larger fund than the The Budget did include measures aimed at helping one that the Government have set aside. They have low-income families. The increase in child tax credit is said that £60 million is available to councils to top up welcome, although if a family also receives housing those families and individuals for whom there is that benefit, that allocation will be cut in recognition of the gap. The £60 million is against a backdrop of a £20 billion increased family income from the child tax credit. This a year housing benefit expenditure. That £60 million occurs because the child tax credit is taken into account will not go very far. It would go towards two to three when the household income is calculated. For the families in each local authority area for a year. The housing benefit to remain unchanged by the increase sum for local authorities and the discretion that they in child tax credit, the regulations would need to have needs to be increased. change so there was a disregard for child tax credit, Thirdly, it would be wise if job centres could certify and I will be interested if the Minister will give the that people had done their very best to get jobs and House the benefit of his views on this point. they should not have their housing benefit cut by This Budget is deeply regressive. People in the bottom 10 per cent. Finally, I would ask the Minister to ensure half of the population are heavy users of services and that there is now dialogue with Citizens Advice, Shelter, benefits and there are more children and elderly people the Chartered Institute of Housing and others who in the bottom half of the population than the top half. have ideas on how one can make the most of a very Public service cuts therefore fall disproportionately on difficult situation. the bottom half. The problem is not just that cuts risk tipping us back into recession and will hit the worst-off 2.30 pm hardest. It is that by taking demand out of the economy and undermining a fragile recovery in the process, the Lord Watson of Invergowrie: I congratulate my coalition could actually increase the size of the deficit noble friends Lord Boateng and Lady Donaghy as as has happened in Greece and Ireland, as we know all well as the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, on excellent too well. The extent of these measures amounts to a maiden speeches, and I look forward with eager Budget of ideological choice, not of necessity. There anticipation to the speech by my noble friend Lord was nothing unavoidable about adding £40 billion to McFall of Alcluith—not least to find out where Alcluith the previous Government’s already swingeing plans is, which as a Scot I fear I should already know. The to halve the deficit in four years. The effect of this noble Lord, Lord McKenzie of Luton, has done the Budget will be to shrink the state below 40 per cent, House a service in securing this debate because I which even the noble Baroness, Lady Thatcher, never firmly believe that the poorest in society should not attempted during her time as Prime Minister. bear the burden of rebalancing the current fiscal deficit. As a result of the Budget announced last month, that I say to those on the Liberal Democrat Benches is precisely what will happen. that I wonder what those old Liberal heroes Beveridge Today, 3.9 million children are living in poverty in and Keynes would make of such draconian deficit the UK—that is, in a household with an income of cutting or of £11 billion of welfare cuts. Most of that less than 60 per cent of the median household income, comes from slicing 2 per cent off every benefit by which in 2008 was £404 a week. Households in poverty cutting inflation indexing. You simply cannot cut a therefore have a net income equal to or below 60 per quarter of social care for the old, children’s services or cent of that, which amounts to a weekly income of child protection without doing dangerous harm to £244 or less. After housing costs, that figure falls to millions of vulnerable people. To take only 23 per cent just £206 a week for a family. It should be stressed that from taxes with 77 per cent in cuts means that the pain more than half the children whose family income is will fall on the poorest people in the poorest regions less than £206 a week after housing costs live in most dependent on public spending. households where at least one of the adults is in paid The coalition has opted for cuts far beyond anything work, so this is not just a question of worklessness. In the markets expected or demanded and the reasoning this context, the changes to tax credits and other can only be ideological. The Budget’s key objective— in-work benefits for the low paid are particularly reducing the deficit—is not premised on economic important. logic. You do not require a degree in economics to A number of changes in the Budget will result in a understand that cutting spending and raising taxes reduction in the income of the poorest—for instance, reduces demand—someone who has just been made changing the basis for calculating the uprating of redundant will not be spending much—and could benefits from the retail prices index to the consumer choke off recovery before it has begun. Indeed, the prices index. The main difference between them is that Chancellor is ignoring the cautionary voice from his 1117 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1118 own recent creation, the Office for Budget Responsibility, condemn the proposed changes to housing benefit as which has revised down its growth forecast for the next draconian, and not all Lib Dem MPs are prepared to year by 0.3 per cent—£5 billion—as a direct result of forsake their principles. Simon Hughes has urged the the Budget, so even his own experts believe that the coalition to slow down changes to housing benefit, Budget will have an immediate, negative effect on saying: growth. Both Barclays Wealth and Ernst & Young—not “We need a system that is flexible and ties in to areas of organisations that I am normally given to quoting—have different need”. produced analyses suggesting that the Government Indeed we do, and that begs the question as to how are, in the latter’s words, long Liberal Democrats will adhere to the Tory agenda “underestimating the impact of this significant fiscal tightening″. when the Budget has shown that it is the poor who will The International Monetary Fund is equally unimpressed, be hit hardest. During the general election, the Liberal because it has cut its growth forecast for the UK both Democrats actively campaigned against much of what this year and next in the light of this austerity Budget. is now being implemented. Even excluding the effect For all Mr Osborne’s protestations that the measures of wider spending and benefit cuts, the squeeze on the in his Budget were “unavoidable”, there is every reason worst-off 10th of the population will, according to the to believe that cutting fast and deep could, and indeed Institute for Fiscal Studies, be five times the impact on should, have been avoided. the richest 10 per cent by 2015. Many charities have warned that drastic changes to The Chancellor insisted that his Budget was progressive, the housing benefit system outlined in the Budget will fair and unavoidable. In fact, it was the precise opposite lead to overcrowded homes and a surge in evictions. on all counts. Raising the regressive value added tax They fear the changes will make central London while cutting housing, disability and child benefits unaffordable to anyone on a low income, ghettoising contrasts starkly with plans to cut corporation tax the city by pushing the poor to the outer boroughs. I year after year and let banks off with a levy that is welcomed the contribution by the noble Lord, Lord inconsequential when compared to the huge amounts Best, who spoke very knowledgably on this subject they pay out in bonuses. Even the boost to child tax and in greater depth than I can. As he said, the credit will be more than offset by the housing benefit changes will see housing benefit capped at £400 from squeeze and the ending of maternity and pregnancy next April. Thousands of people renting from private grants, along with other benefits targeted at women landlords in London and other high-rent cities will and children. find that that will no longer cover their weekly rent, Lib Dem voters backed a party which stood against forcing them to move to a cheaper area. From April early cutbacks, in support of a ratio of cuts to tax 2013, people who have been on jobseeker’s allowance increases of 2.5:1 and fiercely opposed the threat of for 12 months or more will also see a 10 per cent what it called a “Tory tax bombshell” of increased reduction in their housing benefit. The coalition has VAT. Now, sadly, I have to say that it has binned all said that it wants to make sure that when you work three commitments in the name of coalition compromise you are better off. That is not unreasonable, but the and signed up to a Budget which must be alien to suggestion that the system is being changed to encourage much of what it has hitherto stood for. people to go into work is based on a popular This unnecessary and dangerous Budget is very misconception about those who claim housing benefit: likely to push the economy back into recession, and only one in eight people receiving that benefit is the big worry is that it will lead to what the Nobel unemployed. The changes will be very serious for economist Paul Krugman has called the long depression: London and other inner-city areas and could result in zero growth and high unemployment for years. There thousands of people becoming homeless. The policy are no prizes for guessing who that will hit the hardest. would force people on low incomes out of central London. In fact, it could replicate what has become of Paris, where the well-off have annexed the city centre, 2.40 pm while the poor form a ring around the outskirts. Lord McFall of Alcluith: My Lords, it is a deep As the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, said, the situation privilege for me to be a Member of this House, and in London is currently so grave that the Evening particularly to be making my maiden speech today. Standard has begun an appeal, which it has named the Since my introduction, I have found nothing but a dispossessed fund, to help those who it has identified welcoming atmosphere and encouragement from all as being in distress. Yesterday’s edition highlighted a sides of the House, and I would like to put on the cleaner working at the Treasury, who the newspaper record my thanks to all the staff of the House—the claimed was paid so little that her children have to live Doorkeepers, the Library staff, the catering staff and on soup. The homelessness charity Shelter estimates others—for their care and attention both of me and that some people currently claiming housing benefit my family, especially on the day of my introduction. I could lose up to 40 per cent of their total rent, which would also like to thank my sponsors, my noble friends will force people out of their accommodation with Lord Graham of Edmonton and Lord Myners. My nowhere for them to go. Shelter expects to see debt noble friend Lord Graham is an old friend. He entertained and evictions rise as a result of this change. Any my children over 30 years ago and he met them again. savings to the Government would be more than offset I think they were better able to understand his humour by the cost of rehousing families unable to afford their as a result of the passage of time. rent. The coalition needs to answer the question: I have long admired the intellectual rigour and where are people on low incomes meant to live? Even broad expert nature of debates in this House. My the Mayor of London has forsaken party loyalty to interest goes back to the days when I was an opposition 1119 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1120

[LORD MCFALL OF ALCLUITH] the way forward for restructuring the financial sector. Front-Bench spokesman in the other place. I made it a That resulted in reform in the UK that has not been feature to read the Lords’ Hansard to better perform seen in other major countries. and educate me in my role. I hope that it did that, and This week, the Treasury committee came out with I am now delighted to have a ringside seat at these its report on the June 2010 Budget. It is pertinent to debates. the debate today because it warns of the increasing I was privileged to represent West Dunbartonshire risk that Britain will slide back into recession, and of for 23 years, and I was born and bred in Dumbarton, the coming austerity hurting the poor disproportionately. as was my wife, Joan. The noble Lord, Lord Watson, Robert Chote, the distinguished head of the Institute asked where Alcluith is. It is the Gaelic name for for Fiscal Studies, gave evidence to the committee that Dumbarton and goes back to the dark ages of the fifth the Budget is regressive, contradicting what the Treasury century. I was unable to obtain the name “Dumbarton”, said, which was that it was progressive. Robert Chote so Alcluith was the name I focused on. Alcluith literally pointed out that when you dig deeper, you find that means “the rock on the Clyde”. The rock refers to the Chancellor’s statements have been focused only on Dumbarton castle, which is associated with historical the next two years, to 2012-13, but beyond that, experts figures such as Robert the Bruce and the infant Mary, say that the cuts in housing benefit, disability living Queen of Scots before she was taken to France for her allowance and the in-year changes to tax credits will safety. Merlin is supposed to have stayed there, too. hit the poorer half of households harder than they The earliest reference to Alcluith is recorded in a letter will the rich. The Chancellor is on record as saying from St Patrick to King Ceretic of Alcluith in which that the Budget will not increase poverty according to he complains about the raids the Britons were making measured child poverty targets over the next two years, on his Irish converts. I can tell noble Lords that but given that many welfare cuts will not take effect complaints and warring factions are still a feature of until after 2012-13, one can understand the concerns my area, and over the years I have been asked to of experts and groups such as Save the Children and mediate in them, but that is part of a healthy society. the Child Poverty Action Group about the future, The primary school I attended was named St Patrick’s, particularly for poorer people. as was my secondary school. In fact, my first teaching The Chancellor has made promises that have to be post was in St Patrick’s secondary school. As one of set against the provisions in the Child Poverty Act 2010, my friends said the other day, “John, if Alcluith is which will guide him. The Government have signed up good enough for St Patrick, then it’s good enough for to this Act and, as previous speakers in the debate you”. I take the point well. have said, it makes meeting the 2020 target of eradicating The other part of the name refers to the River child poverty legally binding. The 2010 Act has four Clyde, which has dominated my area because it has targets. An assurance has been given by the Chancellor been a site of shipbuilding dating back to the days of on what he declares is “measured child poverty”, but Robert the Bruce when he set up shipbuilding on the that is limited to a two-year timeframe. No assurances River Leven and the River Clyde. The area has an have been given on the other three targets set out in historic industrial heritage, with shipyards lining the the Act. If this Budget is indeed to be worthy of the Clyde. As far back as 1963, there were 33 shipyards on description “progressive”, it demands detailed and the Clyde. In my area, we had the mooring where the continuous scrutiny in order that the Government’s Cutty Sark was built, and we had the QE2, for which I ambitious rhetoric and their solemn legislative was privileged to represent the Clydebank area, and undertakings serve the interests of all, but especially the former John Brown’s Shipyard. In my home town the poorer and most needy members of our society. of Dumbarton we had Denny’s Shipyard, which closed in the 1960s but which was able to develop the hovercraft. So there is a proud shipbuilding history in the area, 2.48 pm and I have been privileged to chair two regeneration Lord Touhig: My Lords, it is a great pleasure to companies in my constituency, Clydebank re-built and follow my noble friend Lord McFall. I welcome him to the Strathleven Regeneration Company, both of which your Lordships’ House and congratulate him on his are dealing with the consequences of our industrial maiden speech. I extend my congratulations to my heritage and hoping to formulate a new age. I have noble friends Lord Boateng and Lady Donaghy, and included the Strathleven Regeneration Company in to the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, on their excellent my interests in this House, and I also declare an contributions today. My noble friend Lord McFall interest, which is recorded in the register of interests, and I have known each other for 20 years, and in that in a company that has aspirations to be a bank. time I have come to hold him in very high regard I come from having nine wonderfully privileged indeed. We have seen from his contribution to this years chairing the Treasury Select Committee in the debate why he was such a successful chairman of the other place. Latterly, times were hugely uncertain and Treasury Select Committee in the other place. With worrying. They have been challenging for our country great skill he held the Government to account while at and its citizens. One of the achievements of which I the same time preserving the unity of his committee. am most proud is that in the teeth of very divisive He was relentless in conducting his inquiries into the debate between the political parties as to the source banking crisis, and many a banker did not look forward and responsibility for the crisis, the Treasury committee to appearing before him when he sought to hold them kept its focus and delivered unanimous reports throughout to account, exposing their greed and ineptitude which the period which, in the words of the then Chancellor brought the world economy to the brink of collapse. and the Governor of the Bank of England, pioneered My noble friend served in the Whips’ Office for some 1121 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1122 time, and in the Northern Ireland Office. Many in the that people with autism receive means that they and Province will remember him for his compassion and their families experience extreme financial difficulties. his cool head on the day of the Omagh bombing, Some people with autism are able to live independent when he was the only Minister in Northern Ireland. and fulfilling lives with very little support, but we all know that others will need support throughout their Yet my noble friend has one shortcoming, and I lives. The vast majority of people with autism want to hope he will forgive me for revealing it. It is that he work, and we need to do more to help them to do that. and good timekeeping are not close companions; indeed, But as a dear friend of mine, a now retired GP, some would say they are total strangers. His extraordinary Dr Dipak Ray, said to me only last week: “Suddenly, work rate, running from one engagement to another, is creating jobs is out; inflicting pain is in”. That seems the reason for it. I well remember a few years ago to be the message that we have had from this Budget. arranging to meet him and other friends for dinner. We all arrived at the appointed restaurant at the Only 15 per cent of adults with autism are in full appointed time and waited and waited and waited for employment. Some 66 per cent of adults with autism my noble friend. Eventually, after half an hour of are not in any kind of employment. Almost 80 per putting off an eager waiter who wanted to take our cent of those are on incapacity benefit. Six out of 10 order, we surrendered our table to other diners who adults with autism survive only with family and parental were very hungry indeed. My noble friend did not financial support. Caring for a child with autism is a arrive for a further half an hour and we had to queue full-time job. According to the National Autistic Society, to get our table back. I regret to say that I am not sure 68 per cent of carers it surveyed said that their caring that his timekeeping has greatly improved, but I have responsibilities exceeded 70 hours a week. The same no doubt that we will welcome his further contributions survey revealed that only 41 per cent of carers had in this House. As our debates are carefully timetabled, jobs, while almost 70 per cent gave up work to carry I am sure that that will do much to improve his out their caring responsibilities. timekeeping. More than half of families with disabled children The two poorest and most disadvantaged groups in borrowed money from family and friends to pay for our society are at the extreme end of the age spectrum: essentials. According to a recent Contact a Family children and pensioners. During the past 12 years, a survey, one in four families is going without heating in Labour Government did much to redress this with the their homes, one in seven is going without food and record increase in child benefit, family tax credits and nine out of 10 said that financial worries are having the child trust fund, all aimed at helping families with severe impact on family life. young children. We also saw the introduction of pension I believe that noble Lords on all sides of the House credits, free bus travel, free television licences, all improving will find these circumstances unacceptable and will the quality of life of pensioners. But these significant want to challenge any Government who plan to introduce advances may now be reversed by what Paul Krugman cuts in public services for the disabled. Disabled people, has called “ideologically fixed deficit hawks”. Only on especially those with autism and their families, will be Monday, we saw this Conservative/Liberal Democrat forced into greater poverty and financial dependence Government begin their assault on child trust funds. on family and friends if we do not take steps to protect We know that they will freeze child benefit and, with them. massive cuts in public services predicted, every family The Prime Minister said recently that the third with children and every pensioner needs to be concerned sector was really the first sector. He was right in that about the future. we esteem that sector, but I hope that his remarks were The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Budget of a not code for plans to offload the responsibilities of the few weeks ago heralds a major attack on public services state on the voluntary sector. The voluntary sector in which support the most disadvantaged in Britain—public Britain makes a huge contribution to the quality of services that we have built up over years and make us a life of millions of our citizens. Many voluntary groups civilised society. What this Government have forgotten are hard pressed. With massive public spending cuts in is that public service is labour intensive. We cannot the offing, this will cascade into the voluntary sector. sack police officers and put CCTV cameras on every The government programme states that the main street corner and call it policing; we cannot sack burden of the deficit reduction will be borne by reduced teachers and sit every child in front of a computer spending rather than increased taxes. It also states that screen and call it teaching; and we cannot sack social people needing care deserve to be treated with respect workers, give every pensioner a microwave and call it and dignity. I hope that the Government recognise home care. I have no doubt that we on these Labour that, without funding for services for the disabled, Benches will need to be vigilant in these coming months there can be no respect and certainly no dignity. if we are to defend public services on which so many of our vulnerable citizens depend and which the two parties opposite seem determined to put to the sword. 2.57 pm I shall confine the rest of my remarks to the plight Baroness Greengross: My Lords, the Government of disabled people in general and those with autism in have made a strong commitment to fairness, but there particular. Research conducted by Leonard Cheshire are some grave concerns about certain groups among Disability found that 30 per cent of disabled people us who were already suffering from poverty and whose live below the poverty line. That is one in three and a situation will be worsened following the Budget terrible indictment of Britain in the 21st century. The announcement. Careful attention needs to be paid to National Autistic Society says that the lack of support those people who are most affected. 1123 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1124

[BARONESS GREENGROSS] On the issue of decent homes, in 2008 about 7.4 million In 2007-08, 13.5 million people in this country were homes were described as non-decent—that is one-third living in households below the low income threshold of our homes. Overall, homes in the social sector were of 60 per cent or less of the average income. This is in a better condition than those in the private sector, about a fifth of the population and an increase of where most poor older people live; 27 per cent are 1.5 million compared with three years previously. We non-decent compared to 34 per cent previously. For know that the UK has a higher proportion of its vulnerable groups, 24 per cent of private homes had at population in relative low income than most other EU least one category 1 hazard; 13 per cent in social countries. Of the 27 EU countries, only four have a rented homes; and 31 per cent in private rented homes. higher rate than the United Kingdom. The National Audit Office examination of the decent We know that health inequalities associated with homes programme concluded that while good progress socio-economic status are pervasive and can be found has been made there are risks in terms of completing in all aspects of health, from infant death to the risk of the target to eliminate non-decent social rented homes— mental ill health. We also know that life expectancy is originally by 2010—and of a new build-up of a repairs closely related to this. The difference in life expectancy backlog if a new programme is not put into place. between the leafy suburbs of the south-east and the Such a new programme seems remote in the current inner-city deprived areas of the far north can be as circumstances. much as 17 years. This is a death sentence and is By capping housing benefit nationally, the Budget totally unacceptable. creates real issues in London and the south-east particularly. That, together with the regressive nature I turn to disabled people, who were movingly described of VAT, means that the Chancellor has got his work by the noble Lord, Lord Touhig. About a third of cut out to prove that he is putting fairness first, working-age disabled adults live in low-income households, particularly in the longer term. I hope the Government which is twice the rate of that for non-disabled adults. will consider these issues. The gap between the two is markedly higher than a decade ago. 3.04 pm In the Budget, many entitlements were scaled back. Lord Haskel: My Lords, I am not sure of the The Work and Pensions Secretary admitted that the collective noun for maiden speeches—an avalanche, a decision of the Cabinet to scrap free school meals for torrent? Whatever it is, we have had it today and I working parents’ children and reduce the number of congratulate all noble Lords who have made maiden people who get tax credits made his own long-term speeches. They have demonstrated the genuine concern goal to alleviate unacceptable levels of poverty and in your Lordships’ House for the poor and the vulnerable. social exclusion difficult. I hope that the Government will take note of their concern that such people should not be exploited but An issue which particularly affects older people— should be given a fair deal. although not exclusively—is that of excess winter deaths. In 2008-09 the number of winter deaths increased by The coalition Government are in a hurry. They are 36,700 compared with the average for the non-winter hurrying to change the nature of education, they period—a 49 per cent increase compared with the are hurrying to have fewer public services delivered by number in the previous winter of 2007-08. The elderly the state and they are hurrying to change the economy. population experiences the greatest increase in deaths However, when you hurry, one thing stays the same: each winter. In 2008-09 there were 29,400 more the law of unintended consequences remains alive, deaths among people aged 75 and over as compared well and flourishing. As my noble friend indicated in with those in the non-winter period. In contrast there his authoritative speech moving the Motion, it is the 7,300 among those under the age of 75. That is a poor who are the victims. terrible differential. Let me give some examples arising from the increase in VAT—a rise that has caused concern to many noble On fuel poverty, in 2007, 2.8 million households in Lords. Some of the examples that I consider important England alone were classified as being in fuel poverty. have been mentioned by other noble Lords. Was it In 2004, 5.9 per cent of households were considered to really the Government’s intention to take away half be fuel poor, but that rose to 7.2 per cent in 2005; the surplus of the housing associations? Many speakers 11.5 per cent in 2006; and it went up to 13.2 per cent in are concerned about the effect of the Budget on affordable 2007. Fuel poverty is increasing mostly because of the housing but, according to Mr David Montague, chief continued significant increases in fuel prices, and VAT executive of the London & Quadrant Housing Trust, increases will be passed on directly to the consumer, the increase in VAT will cost the housing association making the situation of people suffering fuel poverty sector £125 million, which is half its surplus. The even worse. Minister knows that it is the poorer households that The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group has estimated are increasingly concentrated in social housing. If you that 4.6 million homes across England could now be in want to eliminate poverty and enhance life chances, fuel poverty. It added that investment in energy social housing is essential. Amid all their talk of infrastructure and measures to reduce greenhouse gases fairness, did the Government in their Budget really were essential but that the cost of these was largely want to make life more difficult for the housing passed on to consumers and that bills could soar by a associations? The noble Lord, Lord Best, reminded us further 50 per cent. Both overall and among those in that housing benefit is a third of the income of the low-income, single-person households, many people housing associations, so their work will be doubly are more likely to be in fuel poverty than other household more difficult—more VAT and less housing benefit. types by 2020. Was this really the Government’s intention? 1125 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1126

Was it really the Government’s intention to victimise This unfairness to the poor is further emphasised poor women more than men? As my noble friend Lord by the inconsistencies in the Budget architecture, as McKenzie told us, women have lower incomes, so the Chris Wales pointed out in a recent Smith Institute VAT increase will hit them harder. This effect on seminar. The Chancellor won praise for his commitment poorer women is supported by a recent paper from the to the triple lock for uprating the state pension, but House of Commons Library that shows that the extra people on welfare benefits live in the same world as VAT raised will come disproportionately from women. pensioners, often with higher demands placed on them In addition, because of their lower incomes and their and even less to live on. Unless the Government greater caring responsibilities, women are bigger users believe that they are all scroungers living off the state of public services, both for themselves and for those when they should be working, it would be logical to for whom they care. They will have to fill the gaps left. assume that, in the interests of fairness, the poor on Do the Government really intend to victimise women benefits should have the same uprating guarantees. Is more than men—or is this the law of unintended that unintended neglect or just plain right-wing politics? consequences at work? Of course, other aspects of the Budget will hit the Was it really the Government’s intention to penalise poor unfairly and other noble Lords have mentioned charities? According to the Charities Aid Foundation, them. What concerns many of us is the gigantic gamble charities will pay £140 million a year more in tax. that the Government are taking with people’s jobs and Therefore, charities are going to be hit in two ways: livelihoods. The Government are convinced that we they will have to pay more VAT and their income will are spending too much on the workless and at the be reduced because of the hard times. Yet, as the noble same time that work has to be transferred from Earl, Lord Clancarty, reminded us, the Government the public to the private sector. It is not rocket science and society look to the charities to help the poor, the to identify some of the unintended consequences of unfortunate and those who cannot cope. Indeed, a that on poor people’s jobs. It is a gamble, because third of their income comes from the Government there are so many uncertainties. Business will not because the Government look to charities to provide invest without demand, yet the economy is being services that many of us consider essential. I cannot starved of the money necessary to create the demand. believe that it was the intention of the Budget to Also, a high proportion of people depend on benefits penalise them—or, again, is this the law of unintended because of low pay. One third of households have consequences at work? state benefits. If, as we are told, there is to be a high number of unemployed people, pay will stay low. Will The only way to deal with the law of unintended that low pay be subsidised by tax credits? If so, jobs consequences is to legislate, not through dogma or will be transferred to the private sector to save money, political belief, for what works—for what gives the but they will be subsidised with public money. That intended consequence. Like other noble Lords who seems curious economics to me. Surely if the jobs are have spoken, this forces me to the conclusion that this going to the private sector to reduce the burden on the Budget is more driven by politics and less driven by taxpayer, it makes sense for private sector employees the need to deal with our deficit. Perhaps there are no to get a living wage and not the minimum wage speakers from the Conservative Back Benches because mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, it is impossible to defend ideology triumphing over which has to be subsidised by the taxpayer. Are these common sense. If it were otherwise, the housing more unintended consequences or just crazy economics? associations, women and charities would be compensated Surely the right question to ask is why people are in with increased benefits for the rise in VAT. Surely that low-paid jobs and what can be done about it. I agree is right, because VAT is a tax that does not take into with Iain Duncan Smith that you have to make sure account your ability to pay. That is why it is regressive. that there is enough financial gain for people to benefit On average, the rise in VAT will cost every household from work. You have to support poor people in work £500 per year, irrespective of ability to pay. That is for a short time until they get to work longer hours or why it hits the poor hardest. Before the election, the are promoted. Do the Government have a plan B? Is Liberal Democrats often spoke of raising a similar there a plan to delay the rise in VAT until the cuts amount through taxing unearned income or through in public sector jobs are in balance with the rise in carbon taxes. Since the election, they have been silent. private sector jobs? Is there a plan to think through all I join my noble friend Lord Watson in asking whether the unintended consequences? Is there a plan to protect the Liberal Democrats have deserted the poor by the poor as things go wrong? having to defend a Conservative Budget—or is this another unintended consequence? 3.15 pm The stated aim of the Budget was to protect the Lord Knight of Weymouth: My Lords, we are grateful vulnerable. My noble friend Lord McFall told us that to my noble friend Lord McKenzie of Luton for that was shown to be misleading by the IFS. It was instigating this debate, the subject of which brought so shown the following day when the IFS helpfully many of us into politics and public life in the first disaggregated George Osborne’s June Budget alongside place. We have heard some excellent contributions, Alistair Darling’s March Budget. They were shown particularly the maiden speeches. Like my noble friend separately and are dramatically different. The bias Lord Haskel, I am not sure what the collective noun is, towards those on lower incomes that characterised the but my noble friend Lord Boateng, as ever, gave us an Labour years has more or less been inverted in the first outstanding oration and an uncontroversial appetiser coalition Budget. for what I am sure will be substantial contributions to 1127 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1128

[LORD KNIGHT OF WEYMOUTH] but. While the Chancellor may claim that his cuts are come. I was particularly pleased that he reminded us not expected to raise measured child poverty, there is of the importance of giving a voice in your Lordships’ little of any comfort in it to those families already House to looked-after children and other children at below the poverty line. I share the fears of Save the risk, for whom he has been such a great advocate Children that, as a result this Government’s regressive throughout his career. approach to tackling the deficit, The noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, treated us to a “those families living in poverty will have less income and fewer taste of her extraordinary range of experience and or less effective services to mitigate the worst affects of poverty”. reminded us of the threat of joblessness leading to Despite the welcome, if menial, increase in personal increased poverty—something that I will return to tax allowance and child tax credits, the Work and later. It was great to hear once again from your Lordships’ Pensions Secretary’s mangling of the benefits system equivalent of a retread with the return of the noble and the axe-wielding of the Chancellor will undoubtedly Earl, Lord Clancarty. He made a passionate plea for cost lower-income families more than they can hope attention to the dangers of stigma being attached to to gain. As the noble Lord, Lord Watson, reminded those dependent on benefits. Like him, I had an early us, more than half of those 3.9 million children whose career in the arts on the enterprise allowance scheme families live in poverty come from households where and I look forward to the Minister’s answers to his at least one of the adults is in paid work. For these questions on that. families, child tax credits, which many noble Lords The noble Lord, Lord Shipley, gave us an insight have spoken about, are vital. Yet many will see that into his experience of tackling child poverty in Newcastle, lifeline disappear in the immediate future. A family particularly on the council there, especially reminding with one child on as little as £15,000 will see their tax us of the links to health and education inequalities. As credits fall next year. The following year, a one-child a former Schools Minister, I was particularly struck by family earning just £30,000 will lose all their tax credit. his description of the excellent work done on family Meanwhile, the promise of a £210 increase in that linking with schools. I was delighted to be here for the benefit for those eligible over the next two years is, of final maiden speech of the day, from the noble Lord, course, when isolated, a great step forward—but not if Lord McFall of Alcluith, which he explained meant that increase ultimately leaves lower-income families “the rock on the Clyde”. For me, the noble Lord was worse off than they were previously. Failure to the rock during my time in the other place, chairing correspondingly amend the way in which housing the Treasury Committee and always leading off the benefits are calculated will have exactly that effect. At Back-Bench contributions to the Budget debates as present, the child tax credit is not disregarded in the measures flowed out from this place to the country. calculations for housing benefits. Resultantly, the We look forward to more contributions from all these coalition’s proposed rise in child tax credits, increasing excellent new Members of your Lordships’ House. the family income, will lead to cuts in that family’s We have not yet heard from the Conservative Benches, housing benefits. but I am sure that it would be unkind to suggest that Other conflicting and confusing measures have been they are contracting out concerns for poverty to their discussed by noble Lords, including the proposed 10 per coalition partners. In the lead-up to the general election, cent cut to housing benefit for those who have been on in response to questions about fairness from the Child jobseeker’s allowance for 12 months or more, which Poverty Action Group, the Deputy Prime Minister, as the Child Poverty Action Group have called a stealth he now is, said: cut on JSA. The Chartered Institute of Housing has “The Liberal Democrats want to make sure that the burden of calculated that the cumulative outcome of the coalition’s controlling spending falls on those who can afford it… so that proposals means that by 2020 every tenant’s housing closing the gap doesn’t bear down on those who already have too benefit will be too low to cover their rent. The net little”. outcome of this is clear: debt, overcrowding and I welcome the coalition’s commitment to continuing homelessness. There are already 1 million children the work undertaken by my party to eradicate child living in overcrowded households. Such living conditions poverty by 2020 but, taking on board the findings of affect children’s mental and physical health, their education numerous non-governmental studies, I believe that and, ultimately, their life chances. As we have heard this Government’s economic policy risks not only from speakers such as the noble Lord, Lord Best, delaying that target but plunging further families into reductions, restrictions and caps on the housing benefit poverty. Cuts in allowances, the VAT hike, decreased that families can claim will force some of them incomes and increased outgoings—the right honourable to move, often into accommodation inappropriate to Chancellor is going to hit the poorest hardest. As my their needs. In addition, that might unnecessarily fracture noble friend Lord McKenzie said, it was his choice. As the family unit and leave families out of reach of the the noble Baroness, Lady Jones of Whitchurch, reminded services that they rely on. So much for being the party us, that was the choice made in the 1930s, when the of the family. The Child Poverty Action Group warns then coalition Government, encouraged by business, that: pursued austerity and then took us into the great “There may be, in effect, an expulsion of low income families depression. From that situation, Keynes developed his from some communities and a tendency for greater ghettoisation great economic theories, now abandoned by the Liberal of poverty where there are concentrations of substandard housing Democrats. As the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, reminded stock”. us in the context of disabled children, if we want to The coalition could go some way towards remedying raise children out of poverty, we need to raise their this simply by altering the status of child tax credits so household incomes, and this Budget promises anything that they were disregarded in benefit calculations. 1129 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1130

Furthermore, the proposed cuts in public services in improvements in reading quality during the course present a severe indictment against the fairness of the of the previous Government with the introduction of emergency Budget. the literacy hour. Poorer households are higher users of public services. Because of this Budget, the founder of the Child Thus, cuts to these services disproportionately hit Poverty Action Group, Peter Townsend, warns that we lower-income families compared with those that are risk perpetuating the exclusion of already impoverished more affluent, owing to the larger contributions that children from the, they make to such a family’s income. One study projects “ordinary living patterns, customs and activities”, that public spending cuts will be equivalent to 20.5 per of average families. Accordingly, the Budget elevates cent of the poorest 10th of households’ regular income, the risk of negative life outcomes. These measures but equivalent to only 1.6 per cent of the richest 10th. condemn to poverty those kids from lower-income These measures reverse any positive impact that direct households—families looking not for a handout but taxation or government-provided subsidies and services for a foot up. might have for the poorest in society. One of the key measures of the success of this As my noble friend Lord Haskel has just argued so Government and their Budget will be how they tackle forcefully, the unfairness in the Budget manifests itself poverty. Like so many others, I am worried that they most significantly in the VAT rise. This will, as Save will fail miserably. The Children has identified, simply widen inequalities and entrench existing unfairness. Not only does a rise in VAT, so nobly campaigned against by the Liberal 3.26 pm Democrats at the election, risk economic recovery at The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, such a fragile time but it disproportionately hits the Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): My pockets of low-income families. The VAT rise impacts Lords, I join the noble Lord, Lord Knight, and others on the entire population, regardless of earnings or in congratulating those noble Lords who have made income level. In that respect, it does what the Chancellor maiden speeches today. I enjoyed all of them. The says it should—we all share in the pain. noble Lord, Lord Boateng, pointed out the importance of young people at risk and in care, with all the There are exemptions, of course, and it is argued passion that we would have expected from him. The that these equalise such measures, assuming that lower- noble Baroness, Lady Donaghy, reminded us that poverty income families spend the majority of their income on is a complex set of issues. My noble friend Lord exempted items like food, children’s clothing and Shipley’s focus was on reducing the number of children household bills. But do poorer people not need beds to in poverty and trying to reinforce the cycle of aspiration. sleep in, clean clothes to wear or hot food in their Finally but certainly not least, the noble Lord, Lord stomachs? There are no exemptions on furniture, toiletries McFall, with his deserved reputation for calling the or household appliances like cookers and washing Government to account, gave us, and me in particular, machines. Increasing VAT simply makes these items fair warning of continuous scrutiny in the years to even more difficult to afford, making it harder for come. I await that with some trepidation. low-income families to stretch their budgets even further. Simply because the Budget does not discriminate, that I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this does not make it non-discriminatory. These rising debate. I thank the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, in costs are likely to increase the number of households particular for giving us the opportunity to tackle the that fall below the poverty line. issue of poverty in Britain today. It is an issue close to my heart, and I know that that is shared widely in this There is much more to say but I do not want to Chamber. delay your Lordships. The noble Baroness, Lady The issue, as I have mentioned, is complex, so it is Greengross, reminded us of the health consequences worth putting the impact of the Budget in context. of the Budget, especially for the elderly. On Tuesday I Many of the measures in the emergency Budget were set out some of my concerns about unemployment taken in the face of a potential eurozone economic rising due to cutting too fast and due to cutting crisis. This was a legacy that we inherited from the employment programmes such as the Future Jobs previous Administration, with borrowing forecast at a Fund and the six-month allowance. As the noble stunning £149 billion this year, the second largest in Lord, Lord Bilimoria, said, work is the best route out Europe. The Budget simply had to tackle borrowing of poverty, but the Government are pulling up that and get that deficit down. ladder. We are now on track to cut debt. The figure is Similarly, the free-market schools policy and allowing £116 billion for next year and £89 billion for the year outstanding schools to be academies risks allowing after. We will get the structural current deficit into the best schools to advance at the expense of the balance by 2015-16, when borrowing will be down to poorest, widening the gap and making it harder for £20 billion. Undoubtedly, reducing the national debt poorer families to use education as a route out of to stabilise our finances and get the economy back on poverty—as, again, the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, track left us with some extremely tough choices. Those said. Mention has been made of ending free school choices were made with some key principles in mind. meals and breakfast clubs, both fundamental to alleviating We wanted to align efficiency and value for money poverty. I will just argue with the noble Lord about with long overdue and much needed strategic reform. the Labour Government’s record on schools; to take We wanted to protect the vulnerable and ensure that reading as an example, we ended a 30-year standstill our reforms were made with fairness and responsibility 1131 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1132

[LORD FREUD] Housing benefit was mentioned by several noble uppermost in our minds. In this context, it is worth Lords, particularly the noble Lords, Lord McKenzie raising something that always puzzles me and puzzled and Lord Knight. The housing benefit reforms are an me today when the noble Lord, Lord McKenzie, excellent example of how we have aimed to balance excoriated the measures. The previous Administration much needed and long overdue reform with fairness were also planning very large cuts. They were a little and value for money. In real terms, the cost of working smaller than the ones that we have put through but age housing benefit has jumped by £5 billion in five they were large nevertheless. I am always puzzled by years, and was projected to reach £21 billion in 2014-15. what exactly they would be, since every single measure In his excellent speech, the noble Lord, Lord Best, that we have taken is wrong. However, the Opposition talked about the cuts in housing benefit. I emphasise would have had to take at least three-quarters of them that we are not talking about absolute cuts in housing in their own programme. benefit, even in real terms. We have put brakes on the sledge as we go down the run. All we are doing in The Budget measures revolve around three key practice is reducing the £21 billion figure by £1.8 billion. objectives: to make work pay and reinforce responsible According to the projected forecast, it will still go up behaviour; to reform the welfare system to make it by £3 billion in the next four years. However, cost is fairer, improve targeting and reinforce conditionality; not the only problem. The scale of these payments has and to protect the most vulnerable while tackling the meant that housing benefit has become a disincentive deficit. As I said, underpinning the approach is a to move into work and has created distortions in the commitment to fairness. That is why we increased the social rented market. personal allowance to boost rewards for work for low and middle-income people. As a result, around 23 million The figures show that 75,000 people get more than basic rate taxpayers will pay up to £170 a year less in £10,000 a year in housing benefit and that some— tax in 2011-12 and 880,000 people will be taken out of admittedly, a small number—get more than £100,000 income tax altogether. Wherever possible we have a year, which means that housing benefit is often made sure that this is a fair and progressive Budget, unfair as some hardworking people could not hope to tackling the deficit while maintaining the right balance afford the properties available to some people on between taxation and spending. Even though we had housing benefit. It is interesting to note that recent to make a tough choice on VAT to avoid even greater reports in the press indicate that many people agree spending cuts, VAT on such everyday essentials as that the system needs a major shake-up. That is why food and children’s clothing remains zero-rated. we have capped local housing allowance levels to the rate for four-bedroom properties, introduced size At the same time, we wanted to use the Budget to restrictions to the social rented sector, and changed reform our welfare system and make it fit for the the percentile of market rents for local housing allowance 21st century.My right honourable colleague Iain Duncan rates from 50 per cent to 30 per cent. These changes Smith has talked extensively about the need for radical are vital and will reset the balance, making housing welfare reform. I know he will be grateful for the benefit fairer and creating reasonable incentives for support of the noble Lord, Lord Haskel, for that people to move into work. Tomorrow we will publish today. Iain Duncan Smith has pointed out that reform the impact assessment on housing benefit so that is so urgently needed because so many people are left everyone can see exactly how these reforms will work without incentives to work and abandoned on long-term in practice. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Best, for his benefits. That was a point also made by the noble recommendations, which we will take back and consider. Baroness, Lady Donaghy. Iain Duncan Smith is looking As I said, we have had to make very tough choices at how we can implement reforms through a far simpler in order to tackle the deficit, but at the same time our benefits system, and concentrating absolutely on the overarching concern is to protect the most vulnerable. huge social and economic advantages we will gain as a That is why many of the measures are progressive, society if we can move to a more dynamic system that including tax credit reforms that target support away gets this right once and for all. from the better-off and towards lower-income families by increasing the child tax credit. The case for urgent reform is clear. The welfare budget has spiralled out of control in recent years, I pick up the point made by the noble Baroness, rising in real terms from £63 billion in 1996-97 to Lady Jones, on the freezing of child benefit. That £87 billion in 2009-10. That includes tax credits. The impact is redressed for the poorest by the move on true cost of our welfare system is not measured purely child tax credit. The Budget package recycles £1.2 billion by the increasing burden on the taxpayer, great though of savings back into child tax credit next year, and that is. The price of worklessness and welfare dependency £1.84 billion in 2012-13, offering enhanced support to is paid by the individual, their families and their poorer children and families. As a result, the child children, who get trapped in a cycle of inter-generational element of the child tax credit will be increased by poverty. To change that, we need a fundamental £150 next year and by £60 in 2012-13, above the level reappraisal of the benefits system. As the noble Lord, of indexation. I should also point out that the Budget Lord Bilimoria, said, we need to support those who package has no statistically significant impact on child genuinely need help, but we do not need to put them in poverty over the next two years. a benefits trap. We have already announced our proposals for a new work programme, and in the near future we I should add something on which I assured the will introduce key measures to reform and simplify the House on 15 June; we are committed to our goal of benefit system to make it fit for the 21st century. eradicating child poverty by 2020, and the Prime Minister 1133 Poverty[22 JULY 2010] Poverty 1134 has asked Frank Field to lead a review on poverty. business to grow. In particular, it will reduce the I hope that that addresses the concerns raised by the burden of public sector debt and the effect of interest noble Baroness, Lady Jones, and the noble Lord, payments, which, if they get out of hand and we lose Lord McFall. the confidence of the markets, will tend to have a significant depressive effect. It is almost a race between The reforms to disability living allowance rebalance those two factors. our support for the most severely disabled people to ensure that their needs are better met. We remain The noble Lords, Lord McKenzie and Lord Haskel, absolutely committed to supporting those with severe talked about the VAT rise, saying that it was regressive. disabilities so that they can live with dignity and The Institute for Fiscal Studies, which has been much independence in their own homes. However, costs have quoted today, has said that total expenditure is arguably ballooned to £12.1 billion, with the number of claimants a better guide to lifetime living standards, as households increasing by more than half a million in just five smooth their expenditure over their lifetime. Therefore, years. This suggests that some laxity has crept into the analysis by expenditure, rather than income level, is a system, which is why we have taken the decision to better measure of the impact of the VAT increase and, introduce a new DLA assessment from 2013. This will on this basis at least, the VAT increase is progressive. ensure that the system is fair and that properly targeted support is available for those who need it. A number of noble Lords argued that the poorest families will bear the biggest burden. The noble Lords, We are applying the same principled approach to Lord Watson and Lord Boateng, and the noble Baroness, reform to benefit pensioners, too, so that older people Lady Jones, made that point. This is a progressive can enjoy dignity and security in old age. The legacy Budget, with every part of society contributing to that we have inherited includes 1.8 million pensioners dealing with the deficit, but the rich are paying more living in poverty—nearly one in six. We aim to remedy than the poorest. There is a handful of questions that that situation in the long term and encourage people I do not have time to deal with, but I shall of course to save responsibly for their future. That is one of our write to noble Lords to pick up those points. key goals for long-term reform, but we have to be fair In conclusion, we live in a wealthy country, yet and sensitive to the needs of those already in or more than one in four working-age adults do not nearing retirement. This is important, because while work, 5 million people are trapped on benefits, 1.4 million we have the levers to tackle dependency and poverty at people have been receiving out-of-work benefits for working age and in an intelligent way, we have to nine out of the past 10 years, and a higher proportion recognise that tackling poverty beyond retirement age of children—2 million of them—grow up in workless is an entirely different proposition. That is why we are households than in almost any other country in Europe. doing more to protect pensioners, and why the That is why the measures that we introduced in the Government have committed to restoring the earnings Budget could not just be about getting the deficit link with the basic state pension from April next year down; they also had to form an integral part of the with a triple guarantee. This means that pensions will long-term reforms that Britain needs to reinvigorate be raised in line with earnings, prices, or by 2.5 per the economy and tackle poverty—not just the symptoms cent—whichever is higher. That is a good start. In of poverty but the causes, too. Our welfare and pension reality it is rather better, because we have paid for the measures, combined with our plans to support private unfounded 1.5 per cent clawback that the previous sector job creation and reduce the impact of the Government left for us when we arrived—a £300 million proposed jobs tax, will allow this country to move hole in this year’s DWP budget. forward from the recession stronger, fitter and more resilient to take on the challenges of the future. I appreciate the issue raised about using the CPI rather than the RPI, but, as has been pointed out, the CPI is the standard measure used by government and in many cases most accurately reflects the costs borne 3.48 pm by pensioners. Let us not forget that pensioners can Lord McKenzie of Luton: My Lords, it just remains continue to rely on housing benefit and council tax for me to thank all noble Lords for contributing to benefit, as well as benefit from our decision to keep today’s debate. It has been wide-ranging and informative, winter fuel payments, bus passes and TV licences. as one would expect from your Lordships’ House. However, the Government are well aware of the need to keep driving reform to ensure that we have a simple, I add my congratulations for four marvellous maiden coherent and sustainable pension system. speeches, from my noble friends Lord Boateng, Lady Donaghy and Lord McFall of Alcluith, and from the I have very little time to deal with the many interesting noble Lord, Lord Shipley. The passion, knowledge questions asked, although I think that I have dealt and experience that went into these speeches make me with the majority. However, perhaps I may pick up the feel glad that I slipped under the wire earlier when the point about the economy and the pace of fiscal standard was not so high. consolidation, which was raised by, among others, the noble Lords, Lord Haskel and Lord Watson. The I thank the Minister. It is a pity that we did not hear fiscal challenge in the UK is, by some measures, more from any Conservative Back-Benchers on poverty issues. serious than in any other advanced economy. That is Perhaps we should take a message from that. I accept why consolidation will support recovery, underpinning that the Minister has an interest in and is passionate private sector confidence and creating the space for about tackling poverty; I know that from our debates 1135 Poverty[LORDS] Poverty 1136

[LORD MCKENZIE OF LUTON] We shall clearly have the opportunity to debate on the Child Poverty Bill. His assertions about protecting these at length as the primary and secondary legislation the most vulnerable were not particularly convincing, comes forward. I am gratified by the fact that, on if I may say so. Concern about increasing work incentives today’s showing, more noble Lords will participate in on the basis of the Budget is partly about driving that endeavour. I beg leave to withdraw the Motion. down the level of benefits, and fairness in housing Motion withdrawn. benefits is very difficult to see from the propositions that are coming forward. House adjourned at 3.50 pm. WS 77 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 78

Asia), and work with UKBA and other enforcement Written Statements partners to ensure that our enforcement activity is targeted at the current risks. Thursday 22 July 2010 Copies of the review will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses, on the Defra personal food imports Animal Products: Review of Controls website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/ personal-import/index.htm, and sent to Defra customers Statement for information giving them the opportunity to provide their feedback. Hard copies will also be available on The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, request. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Henley): My honourable friend the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food (James Paice) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. Armed Forces: Coroners’ Inquests As required under the Animal Health Act 1981 (as Statement amended by the Animal Health Act 2002) the Government will publish today a review of controls on the import of animal products for the financial year 2009-10. As The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord the new Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, I McNally): My honourable friend the Parliamentary welcome the opportunity to report on the efforts of Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Jonathan Defra and other government departments and agencies Djanogly), has made the following Written Ministerial during the past year to reduce the risk of disease Statement. entering the country via imports of animal products. My honourable friend the Minister for the Armed Imports of animal products from outside the European Forces and I think it right that we continue the previous Union (EU) bring with them the risk of animal diseases Government’s practice of issuing quarterly Statements which, as we know, could introduce disease to our to the House detailing inquests of service personnel livestock and crops and to the environment. The risk who have died overseas. There was, however, no Written can also be to public health—diseases such as highly Ministerial Statement in late April because of the pathogenic avian influenza type H5N1 can infect humans general election. This is the first of these Statements and is of serious public concern—and also be of high that we have made. economic cost, as we know from the outbreak of foot Like our predecessors, we too cannot express enough and mouth disease (FMD) in 2001, which is estimated how highly we regard all of our service personnel who to have cost £3 billion relating to agriculture and the are or have been involved in the military operations in food chain. Iraq and Afghanistan. We send our deepest condolences Effective enforcement and raising public awareness to the families of those personnel who have been killed are therefore key to ensuring that we meet our objective. serving their country. It is also with particular sadness Controls are already in place to carry out veterinary that we note that, since the previous Government gave checks on legally imported animal products from non-EU their last Statement on 2 February, 71 further service countries. The UK Border Agency (UKBA) delivers a men and women have died. flexible, risk-based enforcement strategy to prevent Today we are announcing the current status of illegal imports including using information from Defra inquests conducted by the Wiltshire and Swindon and on the entry routes that pose the greatest threat of other coroners. This Statement gives the position at introducing animal disease. 16 July. Defra, with UKBA and the Food Standards Agency The tables which accompany this Statement include (FSA), has undertaken a focused publicity campaign information about those cases which involve a board as part of the overall communications strategy—inland of inquiry or a service inquiry. It is encouraging to see within GB, at the border and overseas. During this last that steps are being taken to reduce the average period year we have seen the relaunch of the personal food of time from the date of death to the inquest. We very imports campaigns for general travellers in October much hope that this trend will continue, as it greatly 2009 and for the black and minority-ethnic (BME) benefits the bereaved families primarily, but also other communities in November 2009. parties to the inquests. In some cases a coroner may The changes to the EU personal import rules in choose not to hold their inquest until the completion May 2009, in particular an increase to the personal of a service inquiry, or it may be delayed for other concession amount allowed for fish, has enabled UKBA logistical reasons. It is important that the coroner has to refocus deployments to target the high-risk routes all possible information about the death, and that all for illegal meat and dairy products carried by incoming witnesses are able to attend the hearing. travellers more effectively. The number of seizures of Current status of inquests illegal imports of animal products has therefore shown Since the last Statement a further 71 inquests have a 3 per cent increase this year with seizures of meat been held into the deaths of service personnel in and dairy products up by 14 per cent and 45 per cent operations in Iraq or Afghanistan. This makes a total respectively. of 325 inquests held into deaths of service personnel We can never have a zero risk but we monitor and in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan since June 2006, assess the changing threats from around the world when additional resources were first provided to the (such as the evolving FMD situation in south-east Oxfordshire coroner. WS 79 Written Statements[LORDS] Written Statements WS 80

Since operations commenced in 2001 there have This Government are dedicated to the care and been a total of 376 inquests into the deaths of service welfare of the men and women of our Armed Forces, personnel who have lost their lives in Iraq and particularly those on operations in Afghanistan. This Afghanistan, including six service personnel who died is reflected in the commitments within the coalition in the UK of their injuries. In two further cases, no programme for government, including that we would formal inquest was held, but the deaths were taken rebuild the military covenant. One step in doing so is into consideration during inquest proceedings for those to optimise the rest and recuperation periods for those who died in the same incident. deployed to Afghanistan. We recognise that rest and We would like to express our gratitude for the recuperation is a key part of the morale and welfare of efforts of all of the coroners who are involved in our people and their families, so it is important that conducting these inquests. We also wish to state that we get it right. we are committed to continuing the Government’s But this is not an easy issue. There are very real support for these coroners. limits in terms of the airbridge in and out of Afghanistan. Open inquests In making any adjustments to rest and recuperation policy, we must remain mindful of these constraints Pre-31 March 2007 fatalities because, above all, any changes must not compromise There are currently no outstanding pre-March 31 2007 the operational effectiveness of our forces deployed in inquests in the Oxfordshire coroner’s district. Afghanistan. Post-1 April 2007 fatalities I am delighted to announce today, however, that we Since 1 April 2007 fatalities have been repatriated are making changes so that in future no service men via RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire and since October and women serving tours in Afghanistan (and on 2007 additional resources were provided by the previous other qualifying deployed operations) will lose out on Government to ensure that a backlog of inquests did their two weeks’ rest and recuperation. Where flights not build up in the Wiltshire and Swindon coroner’s home are delayed or circumstances dictate that they district. The coroner, David Ridley, transfers inquests cannot take all that rest and recuperation during their for service personnel to a coroner closer to the bereaved tour, as occurred, for instance, when flights were suspended family, where possible. because of the volcanic ash cloud, personnel will in future receive additional post-operational leave in There are, at present, 101 open inquests to be compensation. So in future no one will lose out on rest concluded into the deaths of service personnel who and recuperation that they would otherwise have received died in Iraq and Afghanistan whose bodies were because of disruption to the airbridge. repatriated after 1 April 2007 (56 involving deaths in the past six months). Of these, Mr Ridley has retained We will also increase the resilience of the airbridge 34 inquests, whilst 67 inquests are being conducted by and prioritise the needs of those who serve the longest—six coroners closer to the next-of-kin. At 16 July two months or more—in Afghanistan. The Chiefs of Staff recent fatalities had been repatriated but the inquests have recommended that the best way to achieve this were yet to be opened. Six recent fatalities awaited improved resilience is to deploy those posted for short repatriation and inquest opening. Hearing dates have tours for less than four months so that they will no been set in 13 cases. longer receive a week’s rest and recuperation in the middle of their tour. This will affect a minority of the Inquests into the deaths of service personnel who force, primarily from the RAF, but improved airbridge returned home injured resilience will significantly benefit the 85 per cent of There remain 12 inquests to be held of service the force, drawn from all services, who are serving on personnel who returned home injured and subsequently longer tours. Our feedback from families and personnel died of their injuries. Hearing dates have been set in themselves also suggests that one week of rest and two cases. recuperation in a short tour does not allow time to We shall keep the House informed about progress transit, adjust, rest, prepare and return. I have therefore with the remaining inquests. I have placed tables in the agreed the Chiefs of Staffs’ recommendation, which Library of the House which outline the status of all will come into effect for those deploying on or after cases and the date of death in each case. Copies are 1 January 2011. also available in the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Together, these two measures will strengthen our Office. operational effectiveness in Afghanistan and ensure that those serving the longest tours receive the rest and recuperation that they so richly deserve. Armed Forces: Rest and Recuperation British Council: Annual Report Statement Statement The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): My honourable of Defence (Lord Astor of Hever): My right honourable friend the Minister of State (Jeremy Browne) has friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Liam Fox) made the following Written Ministerial Statement. has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The British Council annual report will be laid before I wish to inform the House about the new arrangements Parliament this afternoon. The report covers the work that we shall be setting in place for rest and recuperation of the British Council in the period 2009-10. Copies for service personnel on operations. will be made available in the Vote Office (and Printed WS 81 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 82

Paper Office in the House of Lords). A copy of the safe and controlled way. A copy of this letter will be report is also available on the British Council website placed in the House Libraries. As we do so, we shall at: www.britishcouncil.org. I commend the report to take all necessary steps to ensure that the investment the House. made to date in developing ContactPoint can so far as possible contribute to the task of protecting our most Children: ContactPoint vulnerable children from harm. We will continue to draw on views, experience and expertise of front-line Statement staff and managers. Critical to the success of any service must be that it provides a modern, effective The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for tool that supports the front line and that it supports Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): My honourable friend the broader aims of Eileen Munro’s review to improve the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Children and child protection and social work practice. It is also Families (Tim Loughton) made the following Written important that we keep any development and Ministerial Statement. implementation costs to a minimum and that the I am today confirming arrangements for closing service can demonstrate value for money. We shall down the ContactPoint children’s database, in line provide a further update in due course. with the Government’s long-standing commitment. Instead of a database containing millions of children’s details, accessed by hundreds of thousands of Defence Storage and Distribution Agency practitioners, we are examining the case for a more Statement proportionate approach to supporting front-line professionals to help protect vulnerable children from harm. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry I recognise the problem that the previous Government of Defence (Lord Astor of Hever): My honourable were trying to solve in establishing ContactPoint, and friend the Minister for Defence Equipment, Support the well intended efforts that many hard working and Technology (Peter Luff) has made the following practitioners and managers have put into improving Written Ministerial Statement. the quality and use of data on vulnerable children. With effect from 31 July 2010, the Defence Storage Front-line practitioners need to be able to provide and Distribution Agency (DSDA) will cease to have support for our most vulnerable children when they the status of an executive agency of the Ministry of move across local authority boundaries or access services Defence (MoD). in more than one area. Experience shows the potential value of a quick and reliable means of discovering DSDA was established as an agency in 1999 to whether another professional has worked with such a store, maintain, issue, process and distribute materiel child. It is worth considering a national approach to for the MoD and other designated users. In April that issue. 2006, DSDA launched a major efficiency programme under the future defence supply chain initiative (FDSCi). However, we have never agreed that ContactPoint This completed in 2008, having successfully delivered was the answer. It has always been our view that it was savings of 35 per cent in annual operating costs, disproportionate and unjustifiable to hold records on reductions in staff levels of 37 per cent and fundamental every child in the country, making them accessible to improvements in service levels. large numbers of people. Accordingly, we are exploring the practicality of a new national signposting service Subsequently, the operational efficiency programme which would focus on helping practitioners find out (OEP) has been considering potential future operating whether another practitioner is working, or has previously models for DSDA post-FDSCi. It anticipated that worked, in another authority area with the same vulnerable greater value for money may be achieved by pursuing child. Social workers in particular, and potentially a strategy of increased outsourcing and transfer of other key services like the police or accident and business and assets to third-party providers for the emergency departments, may need this information majority of activities that can be delivered outside of very quickly. Such a service must aim to ensure that MoD. these children are not “lost” to social care services This does not require agency status. Moreover, the when they move. We are working closely with our change of status will enable the restructuring of partners to assess the feasibility and affordability of the joint support chain to improve and streamline the such an approach. end-to-end support chain to be fully implemented and In the mean time, we have considered carefully deliver significant improvements. whether it is necessary to keep the existing ContactPoint database operating in order to move towards a more targeted approach. It is now clear that it is not and in Defra: Arm’s-length Bodies the light of the coalition Government’s clear pledge to Statement end ContactPoint as soon as practicable we will now proceed to shut it down. On 6 August, we will switch the database off and we will subsequently decommission The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, it, safely removing and destroying the existing data. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs We are today writing to local authorities and other (Lord Henley): My right honourable friend the Secretary partners to provide them with the necessary guidance of State (Caroline Spelman) has today made the following to ensure that ContactPoint is closed down in a managed, Statement. WS 83 Written Statements[LORDS] Written Statements WS 84

This Government are committed to sustainable key government aim and Defra intends to draw on the development and to becoming the greenest Government full range of expertise available, including Foresight, ever, promoting economic development, environmental the research councils, the Living With Environmental protection and an improving quality of life for everyone Change programme (in which Defra and DECC are in the UK. partners with the research councils), the Royal Society In support of this, Defra’s new structural reform and other academies. In making this decision, I pay plan was published last week. It sets out three tribute to the work of the royal commission and its departmental strategic priorities: current chair, Sir John Lawton. Over the past 40 years, the commissioners have made a significant contribution to support and develop British farming and encourage to raising the profile of environmental issues in the UK. sustainable food production; A range of public bodies affiliated to Defra was to help to enhance the environment and biodiversity established by the 1948 Agricultural Wages Act. Over to improve quality of life; and, time, this piece of legislation has become outdated, to support a strong and sustainable green economy, inflexible and burdensome for farmers and workers. which is resilient to climate change. So today I am announcing that we will be seeking To deliver these priorities, sustainability needs to be agreement with the Welsh Assembly Government to driven across Whitehall and beyond. abolish the Agricultural Wages Board. In England, we I am committed to increasing the transparency and will be taking measures to bring agricultural workers accountability of Defra’s public bodies, to playing my within the scope of the National Minimum Wage Act part in reducing public spending and to reducing the and my department will be working closely with BIS burden of regulation. Following my Written Ministerial to make the necessary amendments to the Act itself. Statement of 29 June 2010, I am today announcing We are discussing with the Welsh Assembly Government the next series of reforms to Defra’s network of arm’s- the arrangements that they wish to propose in respect length bodies. of Wales and will agree with them measures for the abolition of the Committee on Agricultural Valuation On sustainability, together with my right honourable and, separately, the Commons Commissioners. The 15 friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate agricultural wages committees and the 16 agricultural Change, we are determined to play the lead role across dwelling house advisory committees will also be abolished. the whole of government. We will mainstream Appropriate measures for effecting these changes will sustainability, strengthen the Government’s performance be brought forward as part of the Public Bodies in this area and put processes in place to join up (Reform) Bill. The cumulative effect of these changes activity across government much more effectively. I will allow the agricultural industry to adopt flexible am not willing simply to delegate this responsibility to and modern employment practices in order to help to an external body. I have accordingly decided that I will ensure a vibrant and sustainable industry for the future. withdraw Defra funding from the Sustainable I have decided that Defra should have a stronger Development Commission (SDC) at the end of the role in developing policy for inland waterways and current financial year and instead take a personal have already signalled our preference for moving British lead, with an enhanced departmental capability and Waterways to a civil society model. Today I am presence. announcing that I also intend to abolish the Inland I also fully support the role of the House of Commons Waterways Advisory Council. Defra will lead on Environmental Audit Committee in this area—powerful developing future policy in this area by consulting all scrutiny within the democratic process. interests directly, by making full use of the evidence The SDC was founded in October 2000 and recently that can be provided by the navigation authorities and became an executive non-departmental public body by forming a closer relationship with stakeholders. (NDPB). It is jointly owned with the devolved This decision highlights the importance that I attach Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. to the effective management of inland waterways and Each of them has to decide on the best future my determination to place them on a more sustainable arrangements to meet their needs and, over the next long-term footing. few months, my department will work very closely The changes that I am announcing today will help with them to ensure a smooth transition. to streamline and modernise Defra’s network of The SDC has made a positive contribution to arm’s-length bodies and enhance accountability and sustainable development across government and society transparency. I am continuing to look closely at Defra’s over the past 10 years and I pay tribute to its work and other arm’s-length bodies and will make further to its current and previous chairs, Will Day and Jonathon announcements at the appropriate time. Porritt. I am also announcing today that I intend to abolish the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in Department for International 2011, subject to the necessary processes and ongoing Development: Resource Accounts and discussions with devolved Administration Ministers. Annual Report When the RCEP was set up in 1970, there was very little awareness of environmental issues, with few Statement organisations capable of offering relevant advice. The situation now is very different and the Government Baroness Verma: My right honourable friend the have many such sources of expert, independent advice Secretary of State for International Development (Andrew and challenge. Protecting the environment remains a Mitchell) has made the following Statement. WS 85 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 86

The 2009-10 resource accounts and annual report the DBS Bridge Bank and, under Section 80(4), the for the Department for International Development Chancellor of the Exchequer is required to lay this have been laid before Parliament today. report before both Houses of Parliament. The annual report covers DfID’s activities in 2009-10 in line with the International Development (Reporting and Transparency) Act 2006. The reports will be available online on DfID’s website Economy: Growth at: www.dfid.gov.uk. Statement

Department for Transport: Resource Accounts The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness Statement Wilcox): My honourable friend the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (John Hayes) Earl Attlee: My right honourable friend the Secretary has today made the following Statement. of State for Transport (Philip Hammond) has made Balanced and sustainable economic growth can the following Ministerial Statement. only be driven by business and enterprise. Business in I have today published my department’s resource the UK cannot prosper while the risk of a debt crisis accounts for 2009-10. Copies have been laid before hangs over the economy.This Government have therefore Parliament and placed in the House Libraries. put decisive action on the fiscal deficit at the centre of Appended to the resource accounts, as per guidance their agenda. Equally though, it is vital we recognise issued by HM Treasury, are performance data tables. strong and continuing growth as a key route to getting this country back on track, including reducing our debts. Skills and training are a central component of Dunfermline Building Society this, contributing to employment, productivity and Statement economic growth. Today I am publishing Skills for Sustainable Growth, a consultation document which sets out our emerging The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord vision for skills and explores some key areas where we Sassoon): My honourable friend the Financial Secretary would like to seek further views. This is complemented to the Treasury (Mark Hoban) has today made the by a technical consultation document which seeks following Written Ministerial Statement. views on a simplified funding system. Today the Treasury has laid in both Houses of I am inviting employers, individuals, colleges and Parliament copies of the accounts for the Dunfermline training organisations to share their ideas on how they resolution account for the year ending 31 March 2010. would like skills policy to be set out in future. The accounts have been prepared in relation to the We will publish a full strategy for skills after the operation of the Dunfermline resolution account spending review in October, informed by these views, established in accordance with Article 6(1) of, and which will set out in more detail how we intend to Schedule 1 to, the Dunfermline Building Society support our learning and skills priorities. Compensation Scheme, Resolution Fund and Third Party Compensation Order 2009 (SI 2009/1800) (“the We have developed some key principles to guide order”). our work as we develop our strategy for skills in England. These principles are designed to underpin a The accounts have been prepared by the account strategy that will: holder for the Dunfermline resolution account, Eversheds LLP, in accordance with paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 1 provide a respected, credible vocational training to the order and the accounting direction issued by the offer that will provide people with a route into Treasury. employment, help them progress in their careers or support them in starting their own business; These accounts have been examined, certified and reported on by the Comptroller and Auditor-General tackle the needs of those who have poor work in accordance with paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 1 to prospects or a high chance of spending long the order. periods out of work; Paragraph 2(5) of Schedule 1 to the order requires give learners and employers access to high-quality, the Treasury to lay the accounts before each House of impartial information so they will be able to Parliament. choose the learning that best suits their needs; The Dunfermline resolution account was closed on realise the best returns on both government 31 March 2010 and no further accounts will therefore investment and the increasing amount of learner be produced. and employer investment in the skills system; The Treasury has also laid in both Houses of give greater freedom to colleges and training Parliament the report that it has received from the organisations to respond flexibly to employer and Bank of England on the activities of the DBS Bridge learner demand; Bank. Under Section 80(1) of the Banking Act 2009, empower communities to develop the informal the Bank of England is required to report to the lifelong learning opportunities in which they want Chancellor of the Exchequer about the activities of to participate; and WS 87 Written Statements[LORDS] Written Statements WS 88

recognise that in the current fiscal environment, it Origin labelling also featured, with a number of is even more important that public funding is used member states against compulsory labelling, while where it is most needed and where it gives most others preferred voluntary labelling, especially for imitation value. products. On market measures there was broad consensus The spending review will provide an opportunity to that reform should continue, but still a need for some transform the skills system so that informed and form of safety net. empowered learners are placed at the heart of provision. There was a mixed response on POs and IBOs, with We want to ensure that our strategy for skills supports France and most southern Europeans wanting their economic growth, encourages progression and promotes powers extended in the milk sector. Northern member learning for wider cultural and community benefit. states urged caution around changes to role of POs Information on how to respond to the consultation and IBOs, warning against the risk of creating an IBO document is available on the BIS website and copies of monopoly. Skills for Sustainable Growth have been deposited in The UK stressed the need for rebalancing producer the Libraries of both Houses. power, but noted that there was already scope to do so under current rules and that we should not interfere with free market principles. The UK also underlined EU: Agriculture and Fisheries Council the clear differences in market organisation between member states—one-size solutions would not fit all, Statement and any legislation would have to minimise burdens. The presidency (Laruelle) plans council conclusions The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, to steer the Commission’s legislative package for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs September council. (Lord Henley): My right honourable friend the Secretary Next, Ciolos noted the derogation from the state of State (Caroline Spelman) has today made the following aid rules which allowed the German alcohol monopoly Statement. to buy spirits from certain distillers at guaranteed My honourable friend the Minister for Agriculture prices. The German authorities accepted that the and Food (Jim Paice) represented the United Kingdom derogation could not continue and therefore it was at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels proposed that this be phased out by 2013, although on 12 July, the first under the Belgian presidency. Germany would be able to continue paying state aid to Belgium’s Federal Agriculture Minister (Laruelle) the sector up to 2017. Germany concurred and, in and Flemish Minister-President (Peeters—who will order to allay concerns about distortion to the market, chair fisheries items at council) gave an overview of highlighted that the monopoly only represented less their priorities for the next six months. On agriculture, than 1 per cent of the EU market of ethyl alcohol and there will be a continuation of discussions of future that there was free access to its market for spirits CAP in advance of the forthcoming communication; produced elsewhere in the EU. The Special Committee and legislative proposals on dairy, food for the needy on Agriculture (SCA) would continue discussions on and quality policy. There would also be other discussions the proposal in September. on the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) Under any other business, Lithuania (with some road map, animal health strategy and the regulatory support) requested that it be allowed to make advance framework on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). direct payments (from 16 October rather than 1 December) On fisheries there would be the annual cycle of decisions to farmers due to the exceptionally harsh winter, which on total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas, but also had led to the loss of winter crops in many areas. The discussion on CFP reform, in particular on the link commissioner said his services would deal with any between science and fisheries. individual request made, but stressed that member Commissioner Ciolos introduced the dairy high-level states must demonstrate that the circumstances were group recommendations as a means to enable the EU truly exceptional. to achieve market stability for the milk sector and pave the way for a future without quotas. There will be a legislative package at the end of the year concentrating on the first three recommendations on contractual EU: Competitiveness Council relations, bargaining power of producers and the role Statement of producers (POs) and interbranch organisations (IBOs). Council was divided between those calling for more regulatory and market management intervention, and The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, those urging more competitive responses, using the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness full scope of existing provisions. Some called for Wilcox): My honourable friend the Minister for mandatory contracts between producers and milk Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs purchasers, but others, led by the UK, wanted these (Edward Davey) has today made the following Statement. kept voluntary. The EU informal Competitiveness Council took The UK and the Netherlands argued that no changes place in Louvain-La-Neuve (industry sessions) and were needed to competition law to allow better functioning Brussels (research sessions) in Belgium on 14 to 16 July. of the milk supply chain, but a number of others The UK was represented by BIS Minister Edward urged relaxations of competition rules to allow producers Davey on 14 July and by BIS officials when the Minister more scope to manage sales. was not in attendance. WS 89 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 90

The first day of the industry session focused on The General Affairs Council and Foreign Affairs future EU industrial policy. EU Industry Commissioner Council will be held on 26 July in Brussels. My right Antonio Tajani emphasised the importance of SMEs, honourable friend the Foreign Secretary (William Hague) a well run EU single market, the external dimension of will represent the UK. I will also attend. EU industrial policy and a strong better regulation The agenda items are as follows: agenda. He also highlighted the importance of the EU space sector and tourism to European economies. The General Affairs Council (GAC) UK called for a step change in the better regulation Belgian EU presidency agenda and more efficient use of natural resources. He stressed that the EU single market was the EU’s most Chairing his first GAC under the new Belgian effective industrial policy, but also that open trade on presidency, Foreign Minister Vanackere will present a global scale could create new opportunities for European the presidency’s programme for the next six-month companies. The Belgian presidency concluded that programme. Other Ministers will have an opportunity overall member states preferred a horizontal (rather to question him on Belgium’s priorities. We believe than sectoral) approach to EU industry policy. there are number of areas in which we can work well In discussion of the external dimension of EU with the Belgian presidency including on trade and industry policy, the UK and a few other member free trade agreements (FTAs), particularly with countries states focused on the importance of free trade, while a such as India and Korea. few other member states favoured the introduction of European External Action Service (EEAS) protectionist measures. At a morning session on the Ministers will discuss the EEAS decision, which second day of the industry session, measures to help was passed by the European Parliament on 8 July, and the integration of innovation by small to medium-sized has been scrutinised by both Houses of Parliament. companies (SMEs) were discussed. The UK stressed The decision provides a framework for the establishment the importance to SMEs of the single market, access of the EEAS, as provided for in the treaty of Lisbon. to finance and making EU innovation programmes It sets out a framework for the nature and scope of the easier to use. service, its functions, its central administration, and In the first research session on the afternoon of the the management of its staffing, budget and programming. second day, the EU Research and Innovation Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn outlined her There remain a number of implementation-related plans for an EU innovation union, one of the flagship issues to be worked through over the coming months. initiatives under the Commission’s Europe 2020 long-term We shall support the Baroness Ashton in establishing economic strategy. She stated that she wanted the EU the EEAS as a body which enables the EU to pursue innovation strategy to address major societal challenges agreed common positions in a cohesive and effective such as healthy ageing and creating carbon-neutral way. We shall be both vigilant and determined to cities. She stressed the need for the EU to broaden its ensure that the EEAS respects the competences of approach to include innovation in services, business member states for foreign and security policy as set models, design, marketing and society.The UK welcomed out in the treaty, and that it provides value for money. the Commission’s approach of looking beyond We will keep Parliament updated regularly on progress. technological innovation and considering how innovation Iceland policy could address major societal challenges, stressing the need to ensure framework conditions for innovation The GAC will agree the EU’s general position on were right in Europe. the negotiating framework for Iceland’s accession The second research session on the final day focused negotiations. Official opening of the negotiations will on the simplification of the EU research and development take place on 27 July. The negotiating framework (R&D) funding programme. There was general agreement reflects UK objectives that stipulate that Iceland that the current rules for applying for funding were implements its EEA obligations, including those identified too complicated, inconsistent and too slow. The UK by the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ie, Iceland’s stressed the importance of the simplification agenda breach of the deposit guarantee directive). but said that moves away from a cost-based funding Follow-up to the June European Council regime to one more focused on results and outputs needed to be treated with caution, as any new system We expect there to be a short review of the key would need to recognise the actual costs of the research conclusions from the June European Council: Europe and offer applicants a choice of funding methods. EU 2020 strategy, the G20 summit, millennium development Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn said that the goals (MDGs), and climate change. There may also be Commission intended to address these concerns through a discussion about the frequency of European Councils a radical overhaul of existing rules. and the role of the GAC in preparing for them. September European Council EU: General Affairs Council and Foreign Ministers will discuss the forthcoming September Affairs Council European Council (16 September), which will be themed Statement around foreign policy and attended by both leaders and Foreign Ministers. Baroness Ashton or Herman The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Van Rompuy may outline their understanding of the Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): My honourable scope of discussion in September, and solicit views. friend the Minister of State (David Lidington) has Ministers may seek to debate the EU’s strategic relations made the following Written Ministerial Statement. with emerging powers. WS 91 Written Statements[LORDS] Written Statements WS 92

Foreign Affairs Council (FAC): Foreign Ministers process including the American-led proximity talks EU’s strategic relationships (India/Brazil) and their progress. Depending on the outcome of the discussion, the council may issue a conclusion statement. Following the morning GAC discussion on the September Council, Baroness Ashton will chair a Kyrgyzstan discussion over lunch on the EU’s relationship with Ministers are expected to discuss the ongoing crisis Brazil and India. in Kyrgyzstan and adopt conclusions welcoming the On Brazil, Ministers will discuss the recent EU-Brazil successful conduct of the 27 June constitutional summit, and the longer-term vision of the high- referendum. Foreign Ministers Kouchner and Westerwelle representative/vice-president for this important strategic visited Kyrgyzstan on 16 July and tabled a joint paper partnership. Ministers are likely to discuss the relaunch at the OSCE informal Foreign Ministers’ meeting in of EU-Mercosur free trade agreement negotiations, Almaty, which we understand they are likely to raise at and the potential benefits of increasing trade with this the FAC. large and dynamic region. Georgia On India, Ministers will assess the prospects for On Georgia the aim is to ensure continued EU delivering more from the EU’s relationship with this focus as we approach the second anniversary of the emerging power. We would like to see the EU-India Russia-Georgia war. The council will not have to take free trade agreement finalised this year, though this any decisions and discussion is likely to focus on a will not be easy given some of the difficult issues to debriefing by EUHR Catherine Ashton on her recent overcome, particularly on migration and EU political visit to Georgia. If time allows, Ministers might discuss clauses. Ministers may also discuss other areas highlighted Georgia’s relations with the EU following the launch by the November 2009 EU-India summit, including of negotiations on an association agreement on 15 July counterterrorism. Ministers will look ahead to the and the recent signature of a visa facilitation agreement. 2010 EU-India summit, on 21 October in Brussels. There may also be discussion of the Georgian Sudan Government’s action plan for engagement with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Ministers will discuss the challenges facing Sudan over the coming months as the comprehensive peace Western Balkans agreement (CPA) reaches its conclusion. We expect Ministers are expected to discuss Kosovo, given the Ministers to agree conclusions that support: forthcoming advisory opinion from the International the upcoming referenda processes in south Sudan Court of Justice (ICJ) on Kosovo’s declaration of and Abyei through substantial technical and independence. The Government firmly support Kosovo’s financial assistance; independence and believe that both Kosovo and Serbia should use the ICJ outcome to reinforce and not peaceful implementation of the CPA, reaching an undermine stability in the western Balkans region. agreement on post-referendum issues and working Ministers will also discuss the EU’s policy towards towards long-term regional stability; Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The Government strongly the work of the African Union high-level support BiH’s ambition for future EU membership implementation panel; but is very concerned about the current reform blockage capacity building and assistance to meet the and nationalist rhetoric. We believe that the EU military challenges faced by south Sudan; force, EUFOR Operation Althea, continues to play an efforts to address insecurity and reach a lasting important role in underpinning stability in BiH. peace settlement for Darfur; Cuba the work of the International Criminal Court; and, The Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, may update the Foreign Affairs Council continued development and humanitarian assistance on the recent release of a number of political prisoners across Sudan. in Cuba, and Cuban government assurances that 52 in On international co-ordination, we expect Ministers total will be released over the next few months. Discussion to agree to co-ordinate closely with the Sudanese may then touch on the EU common position on Cuba. parties, the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), IGAD, the United States and other national, regional and international partners. EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council Iran Statement Ministers are expected to agree to a council decision setting out a comprehensive package of EU sanctions against Iran in response to the challenges posed by The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Iran’s nuclear programme, and in line with the dual-track McNally): My right honourable friend the Lord strategy of engagement and pressure. Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Kenneth Gaza/Middle East peace process Clarke) and my honourable friend the Parliamentary Ministers will discuss the response from Israel and Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office (James the international community to the situation in Gaza Brokenshire) attended the Justice and Home Affairs following the flotilla incident. Baroness Ashton will Informal Council on 15 and 16 July in Brussels. give an update on her recent visit to Gaza and discussions Discussions on the interior day centred on two about how the EU could assist with the opening of themes: how to reach a common European asylum Gaza. Ministers will also discuss the wider peace system by 2012 and crime prevention. WS 93 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 94

During the first session, the presidency posed a Finance Bill couple of questions asking whether priority should be given to the negotiations on the Dublin and Eurodac Statement regulations and qualification and long-term residence directives while allowing additional time to consider The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord the appropriate way forward on the procedures and Sassoon): I have made a Statement under Section reception conditions directives and whether Ministers 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 that, in my supported the inclusion of a temporary suspension view, the provisions of the Finance Bill are compatible clause in the Dublin regulation for countries under with the convention rights. A copy of the Statement pressure. has been placed in the Library of the House. James Brokenshire underlined that asylum required an international response and that the UK had taken in the highest number of individuals in Europe last Hillsborough year. However the UK did not believe the directives Statement resolved the challenges facing member states: they increased the rights of asylum seekers, at the expense of providing protection quickly for those in need and The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville- return for those who were not in need. James Brokenshire Jones): My right honourable friend the Secretary of underlined the need for practical co-operation to build State for the Home Department (Theresa May) has the capacity of member states’ asylum systems including today made the following Written Ministerial Statement. via the European Asylum System Office and FRONTEX. I want to place on record the Government’s support On Dublin James Brokenshire said that the UK remained for the work of the Hillsborough Independent Panel very sceptical of a suspension mechanism, which would under the chairmanship of the Right Reverend James address the symptoms not the cause of the problems Jones, Bishop of Liverpool. and risked making them worse. What happened at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989 was a tragedy of national and international significance. During the second session, the presidency posed a The Government recognise that despite the various number of questions on crime prevention calling for examinations of the circumstances which have taken implementation of the EU internal security strategy to place over the years, important questions remain to be focus on practical co-operation and prevention, resolved. With this in mind, the Hillsborough Independent identification of a methodology for prioritising threats Panel has been created to oversee the disclosure of the and identified two areas where work might begin on records relating to Hillsborough; to report on how firearms trafficking and itinerant groups. the disclosed material adds to public understanding James Brokenshire welcomed the presidency priority of the tragedy and its aftermath; and to make given to the internal security strategy and the Commission’s recommendations for a permanent archive. analysis of the link between organised crime and local The panel has the Government’s full support in crime, particularly efforts to tackle illegal firearms, but achieving maximum possible disclosure of the records, would want more information on how itinerant groups initially to the Hillsborough families and then publicly. were to be defined. James Brokenshire noted the role No changes are to be made either to the panel’s terms of passenger name records in fighting organised crime of reference or to its membership, which both remain and expressed disappointment at the Commission’s as previously published. recent information that the directive would not be I am well aware of the significance of the Hillsborough published until next year. Other delegations also called disaster, which had a profound impact on Liverpool as on the Commission to bring forward plans to publish well as people in Sheffield, Nottingham and beyond. an EU passenger name records directive. My meetings with the Bishop of Liverpool have confirmed to me both the importance of the panel’s work and the Discussions on the justice day centred on the role of diligence and professionalism with which it is carrying Eurojust and the launch of the e-justice portal. The out its duty, and I am happy to confirm it will continue Justice Secretary stated that the UK valued Eurojust with our full support. and felt that the EU should wait until the Eurojust council decision had been fully implemented and evaluated before looking to legislate in this area again. The Immigration Justice Secretary reinforced the UK’s position that it would not be participating in the European Public Statement Prosecutor Office. The European e-justice portal was launched by the The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville- Belgian Justice Minister with Commissioner Reding. Jones): My honourable friend the Minister of State for The portal is a website that functions as a point of Immigration (Damian Green) has today made the access to a range of information on justice matters following Written Ministerial Statement. across the EU. This first release of the portal concentrates The Immigration Rules specify that the detail of on the provision of information—for example, how how certain requirements will be applied will be set the legal systems in each member state work and links out in UK Border Agency guidance rather than in the to websites of most relevant interest to citizens and Immigration Rules themselves. This is essential best lawyers. practice as it enables the UK Border Agency to have WS 95 Written Statements[LORDS] Written Statements WS 96 the flexibility it needs to make minor changes whilst (general) and tier 4 (child) students today. The change staying within the framework set out in the Immigration will allow the students of highly trusted sponsors to Rules. commence their studies with them before receipt of However, on two particular points successful legal UKBA’s decision on their application. challenges have been brought to the extent to which In addition, for the avoidance of doubt, I am also requirements must be set out in the Immigration Rules making changes today to our general grounds for rather than UK Border Agency guidance. The first is refusing applicants, (for example on the basis of submitting the minimum levels of courses that may be studied false documents), to make it absolutely clear that these under tier 4 (general). The second is the periods of provisions also apply to applicants who have overstayed time that applicants must have held available funds their previous permission to be here. for. Because of the urgent nature of some of these In light of the court judgments I am bringing the changes, it has not been possible in respect of some of detail of these requirements within the Immigration them to follow the usual convention of laying them Rules. The requirements themselves are not changing, before the House for 21 days before they come into although in the case of English language courses, I am force. I regret that this has not been possible in this using this as an opportunity to reintroduce the minimum instance. The changes permitting students to change level for such courses which was in place before the sponsors where their new sponsor is a highly trusted judgement was handed down. By doing this, if the sponsor and those made following successful legal requirements do change in future, those changes will challenges will come into force tomorrow, on 23 July. need to be laid before Parliament. I am also making a further change to the tier 4 Immigration: Yarl’s Wood (general) category today to make it a requirement for some students studying below degree level to provide Statement evidence of having passed a UK Border Agency-approved secure English language test at a minimum of B1 level The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville- on the Common European Framework of Reference Jones): My right honourable friend the Deputy Prime for languages. This change builds on the previous Minister (Nick Clegg) has made the following Written position where the sponsors of such students were Ministerial Statement. required to make their own assessment of the English language level of the student. The use of an independent In the course of Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, test is an advance on this as it should help ensure that I confirmed to the House that “the Government will sponsors are not duped by students offering false or make an announcement shortly about how we will fake documents to prove their English language ability. deliver on our pledge to end child detention and to close the Yarl’s Wood detention centre for good” It is right that under the points-based system, all (Official Report, Commons, col. 349). I understand students now need to apply to the UK Border Agency that this statement inadvertently caused some confusion. to vary their leave before being able to change institutions. I am very happy to clarify that my statement related to This is essential so that the UK Border Agency can child detention. Yarl’s Wood detention centre family maintain accurate records of where migrants are studying unit will be closed for child and family detention, but and check that the institutions to which they wish to the centre will continue to function as an immigration move are bona fide and are willing to take on the removal facility for adults. sponsorship of their new students under tier 4. Consequently, tier 4 students are unable to start studying at their new sponsor institution until they have received Justice: Arrest Warrants a positive decision on their application. Statement The principle of sponsorship—whereby those who benefit most directly from the contributions migrants make to the United Kingdom (employers and education The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord institutions) are expected to play their part in ensuring McNally): My right honourable and learned friend the UK’s migration system is not abused—is an integral the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice part of the points-based system. The new highly trusted (Kenneth Clarke) has made the following Written sponsor licence introduced for tier 4 sponsors on Ministerial Statement. 6 April 2010 provides a further segmentation of the The United Kingdom has asserted universal jurisdiction existing sponsor rating system designed to identify over war crimes under the Geneva Conventions Act, those sponsors who are achieving the highest levels of and over a few other offences of exceptional gravity, compliance with their sponsor obligations and whose because of our international obligations and our students are showing the greatest compliance with the commitment to ensuring that there is no impunity for terms of their visa or leave. Those holding a highly those accused of such crimes. That commitment is trusted sponsor licence are granted additional freedoms unwavering. and offered new services to recognise their previous It is important, however, that universal jurisdiction track record of good compliance. cases should be proceeded with in this country only In recognition of the high levels of student compliance on the basis of solid evidence that is likely to lead to among highly trusted sponsors I have agreed an additional a successful prosecution—otherwise there is a risk of freedom for their students which is being introduced damaging our ability to help in conflict resolution or by the change to the Immigration Rules for tier 4 to pursue a coherent foreign policy. It is unsatisfactory WS 97 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 98 that, as things stand, an arrest warrant for these grave Local Democratic Legitimacy in Health is a joint offences can be issued on the application of a private publication between my department and the Department prosecutor on the basis of evidence that would be for Communities and Local Government. It sets out insufficient to sustain a prosecution. proposals to increase local democratic legitimacy in a The Government have concluded, after careful way that is consistent with national accountability for consideration, that it would be appropriate to require a national health service. Local authorities will become the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions responsible for local public health improvement functions. before an arrest warrant can be issued to a private They will have a new role in shaping NHS commissioning prosecutor in respect of an offence of universal activities and a new role promoting integration. Local jurisdiction. This would interfere as little as possible authorities will lead in assessing the needs of their with the existing rights of private prosecutors, and populations and co-ordinate local strategies to address would not prevent them from initiating prosecutions these needs. This will promote integration and partnership for these offences where the evidence justified that across the NHS, social care, public health and wider course. services such as housing and disability services. Local HealthWatch organisations, acting as independent A suitable legislative amendment will be brought consumer champions, will also be funded by and before Parliament at the first opportunity. accountable to local authorities. To reinforce local accountability, local authorities will be responsible for NHS: White Paper ensuring that local HealthWatch are operating effectively, and for putting in place better arrangements if they Statement are not. The document also outlines how local authorities The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, may choose to work with their partners to implement Department of Health (Earl Howe): My right honourable the arrangements and how the new public and patient friend the Secretary of State for health (Andrew Lansley) involvement and local authority health improvement has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. functions will be taken forward. Today I am publishing two further supporting Both documents seek views on a number of questions documents to the national health service White Paper, by 11 October. Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS, which was published on 12 July. The documents have been placed in the Library, and copies are available to honourable Office for Judicial Complaints: Annual Members in the Vote Office. The documents are also available at: www.dh.gov.uk/liberatingtheNHS. Report The documents, Commissioning for Patients and Statement Local Democratic Legitimacy in Health, provide further detail on the principles of the policies set out in the The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord White Paper, and seek views from the public and McNally): My right honourable friend the Lord external partners on some of the questions arising out Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Kenneth of them. Clarke) has made the following Written Ministerial One of the central features of the proposals in the Statement. White Paper is to devolve commissioning responsibilities With the concurrence of the Lord Chief Justice, I and budgets as far as possible to those who are best will today publish the fourth annual report of the placed to act as patients’ advocates and support them Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC). The OJC provides in their healthcare choices. Commissioning for Patients support to the Lord Chief Justice and myself in our sets out my intended arrangements for general practitioner joint responsibility for the system of judicial complaints (GP) commissioning and the role of the NHS and discipline. Commissioning Board. I welcome the publication of this report which Through our world-renowned system of general provides details of the work undertaken by the OJC practice, GPs and other primary care professionals are over the past year and the complaints dealt with. already supporting patients in managing their health, promoting continuity and co-ordination of care, and The past year has seen significant change within the making referrals to more specialist services. In empowering OJC with the appointment of Sheridan Greenland GP practices to come together in wider groupings, or OBE as the new Head of the Office for Judicial consortia, to commission care on their patients’ behalf Complaints in August 2009. I am pleased to see that, and manage NHS resources, we are building on these under new leadership, the OJC continues to build foundations. We are also empowering primary care upon the firm foundation set down during the previous clinicians to work more effectively alongside the full three years. range of other health and care professionals and, I note the progress which has been made in identifying where appropriate, to work collaboratively to combine efficiency and performance improvements through a their commissioning power and influence. The NHS “LEAN” review process and look forward to further Commissioning Board will provide overall leadership improvements as the same principles are applied more on commissioning for quality improvement. It will widely throughout the OJC. I am similarly pleased have a duty to ensure comprehensive coverage of to record the successful launch of the OJC’s online consortia and hold them to account for the outcomes complaint service, providing greater accessibility and they achieve and for their financial performance. access to the OJC’s services to members of the public. 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Copies of the report are available in the Libraries of by the people in the 2004 North East Referendum. both Houses, the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Unelected regional government equally lacks democratic Office. Copies of the report are also available on legitimacy, and its continuing existence has created a the internet at: http://www.judicialcomplaints.gov.uk/ democratic deficit. publications.htm. In the coalition’s Programme for Government we said we would consider the case for abolition of the Railways: Franchises eight remaining Government Offices. Statement I am announcing today the Government’s intention in principle to abolish the remaining eight Government Earl Attlee: My right honourable friend the Minister Offices, subject to the satisfactory resolution of of State for Transport (Theresa Villiers) has made the consequential issues through the Spending Review. following Ministerial Statement. The final decisions on the future of the Government In a Written Statement of 17 June, I informed the Offices, including arrangements for closure and for the House that the Department for Transport would shortly transfer of on-going functions, will be made at the end begin a consultation exercise on the future of rail of the Spending Review in the autumn. franchising policy. That consultation has been published today. The Government Offices are not a legal entity. They act on behalf of 13 government departments and are The reforms presented for consultation include longer, staffed by civil servants from these departments. more flexible franchises aimed at incentivising private Communities and Local Government is the biggest sector investment in the railways to benefit passengers. contributor to Government Offices providing 41 per The consultation will provide industry partners, local cent and 33 per cent of funds and staff respectively in authorities, passengers and other groups with the 2010-11. The Home Office; Departments for Education; opportunity to comment on the Government’s approach Business, Innovation and Skills; Environment, Food to rail franchising. In particular, we would welcome and Rural Affairs, and Transport are also employers responses on the best way to ensure that the proposed of Government Office staff. reforms improve the efficiency and value for money of rail franchises, for both taxpayers and fare payers. We are making good progress with our programme The consultation will remain open until Monday of radical reform to reduce the burden of bureaucracy 18 October 2010. Copies have been placed in the on local authorities and businesses, including removing House Libraries. the inflated local government performance regime and doing away with the unnecessary regional tier. Consequently many of the functions Government Offices Regional Government undertook are no longer necessary. By announcing Statement our intention in principle now, we will further progress our programme of reform, allow staff, councils and departments to take account of this, and make an The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, earlier start in the Spending Review on securing savings Department for Communities and Local Government for the public purse. (Baroness Hanham): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local I believe that the original intentions behind the Government (Eric Pickles) has made the following establishment of the Government Offices for the Regions Written Ministerial Statement. (to join up different departmental teams outside London into a one-stop shop) have been lost. Such functions In our first two months in government we are no longer necessary in an internet age and given have demonstrated our commitment to localism, the coalition Government’s commitment to genuine decentralisation and rolling back regional government decentralisation and devolution of power. in England. We have announced the abolition of regional development agencies, abolished the regional strategies, There are, however, some Government Office functions, ended funding for the regional leaders’ boards (the such as arrangements for resilience and civil contingencies, successors to the regional assemblies) and are closing which will need to continue. The Spending Review the Government Office for London. process will be used to test which activities currently We have taken these steps because they are right in carried out by the Government Offices should continue, principle and as part of a fundamental transfer of and to decide the most cost-effective ongoing power from central government down to local councils arrangements. and down further to local communities. We have done so to reduce spending on bureaucracy and protect The Spending Review will also consider arrangements front-line services against the backdrop of an for the redeployment or release of Government Office unsustainable budget deficit and national debt. staff, and for sharing as appropriate the savings, costs, assets and liabilities arising from the decision. We do not believe the arbitrary government regions to be a tier of administration that is efficient, effective We should be clear: the Government Offices are not or popular. Citizens across England identify with their voices of the region in Whitehall. They have become county, their city, their town, their borough and their agents of Whitehall to intervene and interfere in localities, neighbourhood. We should recognise that the case for and are a fundamental part of the command and elected regional government was overwhelmingly rejected control apparatus of England’s over-centralised state. WS 101 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 102

Security Industry Authority: Annual Since taking office, the Government have reviewed Report the economic costs and benefits of a new ship compared to the construction of an airport. Further independent Statement analysis has concluded that, provided certain conditions are met, the best long-term solution from an economic and financial perspective for both HMG and St Helena The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville- is to construct an airport. This would allow us over Jones): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under- time to eliminate the cost to HMG of servicing access Secretary of State for Equalities and Criminal Information to the island, to create the potential for St Helena to (Lynne Featherstone) has today made the following develop a self-sustaining economy (hence eliminating Written Ministerial Statement. the need for budgetary support from HMG) and to I am pleased to announce that the annual report provide a permanent solution to economic isolation. 2009-10 and accounts of the Security Industry Authority I have therefore reached the provisional conclusion, (SIA) will be laid before Parliament today and will be following careful discussion with Her Majesty’s Treasury published on 26 July 2010. and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that the Copies of the report will be available in the Vote additional short-term costs of constructing an airport Office. are outweighed by the long-term benefits. So I believe that this option is likely to represent the best value for money for the British taxpayer. St Helena: Airport We would therefore be willing to finance an airport for St Helena on condition that: Statement an acceptable contract price is achieved; the risk of cost and time overruns after the award of the contract is addressed; Baroness Verma: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Andrew the airport design using EMAS is approved by Air Mitchell) has made the following Statement. Safety Support International; and the St Helena Government undertake to implement The Government recognise their special responsibilities the reforms needed to open the island’s economy to and international obligations towards their overseas inward investment and increased tourism. territories, and are committed to supporting their economic development. We want to provide a permanent, We will make a further announcement once we are economically viable solution to the problem of access satisfied that the above conditions can be met. to St Helena. This is in the long-term interest of both the British taxpayer and the citizens of this overseas Terrorism Act territory. Statement St Helena is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world and is currently accessible only by The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville- sea. In 2005, the previous Government committed Jones): My right honourable friend the Secretary of themselves to building an airport. They put the project State for the Home Department (Theresa May) has out to tender in 2007. In October 2008, they appointed today made the following Written Ministerial Statement. a preferred bidder and commenced contract negotiations. I am pleased to be able to inform you that Lord Two months later they paused the project. In 2009 the Carlile of Berriew QC has completed his report on the Government set up a further consultation on “whether operation in 2009 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and Part an airport is the most appropriate option for access to 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006, which will be laid before St Helena in the current economic climate”. the House today. Copies of the report will be available Should an airport not be built, HMG would have in the Vote Office. to spend an estimated £64 million on a new ship, I am grateful to Lord Carlile for his detailed report because the current vessel is reaching the end of its and thank him for his continuing work in carrying out economic life, and continue to subsidise its operating the role of independent reviewer for terrorism legislation costs. St Helena would stand little chance of becoming so effectively. financially independent, meaning it would permanently I will carefully consider his views and recommendations. rely on substantial annual budgetary and other support Given that a number of Lord Carlile’s key from HMG (currently in excess of £20 million every recommendations relate to powers that are being year). A new ship would provide a costly service but considered in the review of counterterrorism and security not a solution to St Helena’s stagnation and perpetual powers that I reported to the House on 13 July 2010, I dependence on UK aid support. intend to respond to his report after that review has It also appears that airport cost reductions can be been completed. achieved by reducing the length of the runway run-on using an engineered material arresting system (EMAS). Travel: e-Borders Scheme This shorter run-on still allows planes to stop safely Statement after reaching the end of the runway itself. This is a technological advance in air safety, which is already in The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville- use in airports around the world but which has yet to Jones): My honourable friend the Minister of State for be approved by Air Safety Support International, the Immigration (Damian Green) has today made the regulator for the UK overseas territories. following Written Ministerial Statement. WS 103 Written Statements[LORDS] Written Statements WS 104

e-Borders is the electronic collection and checking Those parts of the e-Borders programme that have of individual passenger details against UK police, already been delivered should continue to run as normal. security and immigration watchlists. It is a key element We need to know who is coming to the country and of our strategy to deliver robust border controls and it who has left so that we are able to stop those who are supports our national counterterrorism strategy. It not allowed to come here. A working e-Borders helps to reduce the threat of terrorist attacks, to programme will help us perform all those vital tasks. disrupt cross-border crime and to prevent abuses of That is why we have taken this decision, and why we the immigration system. That is why we made it clear will ensure that the benefits of e-Borders are delivered in the coalition programme that we support the idea of through a programme that meets its targets, so that e-Borders. everyone in this country is made safer. It has been clear for some time that the way the existing programme was developing gave rise to serious concern. Over recent weeks we have been examining Water Supply the progress of the programme and it has been extremely Statement disappointing. While some elements have been delivered, they have not been delivered on time. Delivery of the next critical parts of the programme are already running The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, at least 12 months late. On top of this there remain Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs risks of further delays, and there is no confidence in (Lord Henley): My right honourable friend the Secretary the current prime supplier—Raytheon Systems Limited— of State (Caroline Spelman) has today made the following being able to address this situation. Statement. The Efficiency Reform Group has looked at the The House will be aware that the first six months of project as part of its major project assessment review 2010 have been the driest since 1929—this is partly and its view was that the history of the programme attributable to more of our winter and spring wind was a succession of missed milestones coupled with coming more from the north than is usual (bringing issues of quality. Since July 2009 the supplier has been with them the ash cloud earlier in the year), rather in breach of contract and there have been extensive than the usual winds from the west which bring us negotiations about a remedial plan; no agreement has much of our winter/spring rain. This has had a broad been reached. impact on the availability of water in rivers, reservoirs and canals, and on the environment and agriculture, The supplier’s performance to date has not been with the lack of rain reducing grass growth and stressing compliant with its contractual obligations. As a other crops. consequence I have taken the decision to terminate the e-Borders contract. The supplier is required to ensure The problem has been particularly acute in the a smooth handover of services to a new supplier. North West which has received only 60 per cent of its average rainfall in the first half of this year. Public The decision has not been taken lightly, but after water supplies in this region are more reliant than much consideration. We will now seek alternative providers most on reservoirs which are quick to replenish when to secure the key benefits that the contract has so far it rains but also quick to empty when there is a long been unable to deliver. This work will be undertaken dry period as now. As a consequence United Utilities, as a matter of urgency. the water company in the region, has encouraged To date and since the project was started in 2007, consumers to be careful how they use water and the Government have spent £188 million on supplier on 9 July they imposed a hosepipe ban to reduce costs against a total contract cost of around £750 million. consumption. What we currently have in place is the software for I have been following developments closely and the collection of data in advance of travel and its receive full briefing weekly from the Environment subsequent storage; the technology to enable carriers Agency, which has responsibility for managing our to feed information into a central hub, and a National water resources. In addition, I recently met Philip Border Targeting Centre which opened earlier this Green, CEO at United Utilities, who updated me on year and where the information is checked against the actions the company is taking to help protect watchlists and reviewed by the police and border force supplies of water to its customers. Since the last drought officers. in the North West in 1995-96, leakage has halved and is now operating at its economic level of leakage; this Going forward, the e-Borders programme remains has contributed to a drop of almost a quarter in the a priority. The termination of this contract does not total demand for water over the same period; United change this. The Government are determined to get Utilities is increasing resilience of supplies through a value for money from their major contracts, and require new west-to-east link that is nearing completion. Other the highest standard of performance to be delivered. water companies are also taking positive action, as I e-Borders is part of a wider activity with our partners saw for myself in a recent visit to Yorkshire Water; this to check passengers against watchlists before they company has improved resilience of its water supply travel. Security and immigration checks carried out by since 1995-96 through creation of a network to redistribute the UK Border Agency will continue as normal before water taken from rivers, reservoirs and groundwater individuals travel and at the UK border. across its supply area. The Government are committed to enhancing All water companies plan for secure supplies through e-Borders capabilities and to ensuring that we can their 25-year water resources management plans. These progress this project in a timely and cost-effective way. set out how a company will provide for a sustainable WS 105 Written Statements[22 JULY 2010] Written Statements WS 106 supply and demand balance taking into account pressures can get good advice on how to make best use of such as population growth and climate change. But water from their water supplier, and from Waterwise that does not mean that they can avoid introducing (www.waterwise.org.uk). restrictions in times of water shortage: typically they Looking more broadly at the UK situation we must plan for restrictions once every 20 years. To plan for recognise that the United Kingdom has finite water resources that would meet demand in any circumstances resources, with some parts of England having less would build in significant additional costs, which would water per person than many hotter and drier countries. fall to their customers, and would have impacts on the Using our water supplies wisely so that we have what environment too. And so all companies take a risk-based we need for essential domestic and industrial purposes, approach, balancing a planned level of service, to while minimising the impact on the natural environment include measures such as hosepipe bans, against the at a time of climate change and population growth is costs customers are willing to pay for a secure supply. the challenge for the future. It is now 20 years since the current regulatory regime was put in place and the None of us can predict what the weather will bring White Paper I plan to publish next summer will examine over the coming year and, while I am advised by the the options for reforming the industry to drive greater Environment Agency that no other part of England is efficiency and improving the way we value and use our anticipating imposing hosepipe bans at present, after water resources. such a dry six months we should all take care to I will continue to monitor the situation and will protect the resources available for essential uses and keep the House updated if there is any material change not let it run to waste unnecessarily. Householders in the situation.

WA 229 Written Answers[22 JULY 2010] Written Answers WA 230

considering how best to analyse these data and have Written Answers also sought the views of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Thursday 22 July 2010 We will consider this further alongside the responses to the public consultation on the use of security scanners, which closed on 19 July. All departing baggage is Agriculture: Farming subjected to security screening at UK airports. Question Asked by Lord Rooker Banking: Levy To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they Question will assess the extent to which the planning system Asked by Lord Myners accommodates diversification plans of farmers; and whether they will take action to allow more To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the diversification. [HL1200] bank levy to be imposed by the Government of the United States on banks operating there falls within The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the definition of a tax for the purposes of double Department for Communities and Local Government taxation agreements between the United States and (Baroness Hanham): National planning policy allows the United Kingdom; and whether they propose diversification for business purposes that is consistent that the United Kingdom bank tax levy should be in scale and environmental impact with its rural location. covered by such agreements. [HL1231] We will also promote a Home on the Farm scheme to encourage farmers to convert existing building into The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord housing. Sassoon): The existing double taxation agreement between We will publish and present to Parliament a simple the US and the UK covers US federal income taxes and consolidated national planning framework covering and US federal excise taxes on insurance policies. It is all forms of development. We will make an announcement unlikely to cover the proposed balance sheet levies in on how we propose to take forward the national either the US or the UK. However, the Government planning framework and the implications for specific appreciate the desirability of avoiding double taxation areas of planning policy. caused by the interaction of the different countries’ levies and will discuss possible mechanisms to alleviate Airports: Security that double taxation with other countries that plan to introduce bank balance sheet levies. Questions Asked by Lord Sheikh Banks: Stress Tests To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many persons travelling in the United Kingdom have Questions been searched using body scanners or have had Asked by Lord Myners their luggage screened at international airports in the United Kingdom in the last (a) three, (b) six, To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment and (c) 12 months. [HL1365] they have made of the effect of using generic To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many assumptions common to assets in all markets on persons from ethnic minorities have been searched the utility of the European Union bank stress tests. using body scanners or have had their luggage [HL1118] screened when travelling into the United Kingdom To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether HM in the last (a) three, (b) six, and (c) 12 months. Treasury, the Bank of England or the Financial [HL1366] Services Authority will review and approve data submitted by United Kingdom banks for the European Earl Attlee: The screening of passengers and baggage Union bank stress tests; and whether HM Treasury, flying into the UK takes place at the point of departure the Bank of England or the Financial Services and is the responsibility of the departing state. Authority will review the results of the tests before Security (body) scanners have been operationally they are published. [HL1119] deployed in the UK since 1 February 2010 for the screening of departing passengers. In the subsequent To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the five months to 1 July 2010, approximately 250,000 pass rate for tier one capital and core tier one people have been screened by security scanners at UK capital set by the Committee of European Banking airports. Passengers may be selected for security scanning Supervisors for their banking capital stress tests; on a random basis, or if they cause other detection and whether the Bank of England or the Financial systems to alarm. Services Authority were consulted in setting those rates. [HL1309] The Government require that airports ensure that passengers selected for security scanning be afforded To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their an opportunity to provide details of their age, gender, assessment of the possibility of United Kingdom race, ethnic origin and religion or beliefs. Airports are banks failing the stress tests by the Committee of collecting these data by a number of methods. We are European Banking Supervisors. [HL1396] WA 231 Written Answers[LORDS] Written Answers WA 232

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Budget Responsibility Committee Sassoon): The EU-wide stress test has been expressly designed as an exercise in which commonly agreed Question scenarios and key assumptions have been applied to Asked by Lord Myners institutions across Europe. The stress tests are being co-ordinated by the To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether HM Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS). Treasury informed Mr Geoffrey Dicks and Mr Graham This is composed of representatives from the banking Parker when they were appointed to the Budget supervisory authorities and central banks of the European Responsibility Committee on 8 June that Sir Alan Union, including the Bank of England and the Financial Budd only intended to chair that committee for Services Authority (FSA). The FSA is applying the three months. [HL1191] CEBS stress test to UK banks. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Details on the results of the stress test will be Sassoon): Geoffrey Dicks and Graham Parker were published on 23 July. aware when they were appointed that Sir Alan Budd only intended to chair the interim Office for Budget Responsibility Committee for the time taken to produce the forecasts for the Emergency Budget and advise the British Overseas Territories Chancellor on arrangements for the permanent Office for Budget Responsibility. Question Asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham Burma To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has Questions been the cost of the Overseas Territories Environment Asked by Baroness Cox Programme in each territory; and what assessment they have made of the success of the To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their programme. [HL1103] assessment of the report Crimes against humanity in Western Burma: the situation of the Rohingyas by the Irish Centre for Human Rights, about Rohingyas in northern Arakan. [HL1323] The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): The Overseas Territories The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Environment Programme (OTEP), funded jointly Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): The report from the by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Irish Centre for Human Rights adds to our already Department for International Development, has deep concern about the situation faced by the Rohingya committed for the current financial year the following people in Northern Rakhine State. Our embassy in amounts, based on project bids made by the respective Burma monitors the situation as closely as possible, Overseas Territories (OT): in consultation with the UN High Commissioner for Anguilla: £102,883; Refugees, International Labour Organisation, and UN British Antarctic Territory: £27,351; Special Rapporteur on Human Rights. The Rohingya Bermuda: £114,800; are denied Burmese citizenship, and we continue to receive credible reports of severe restrictions on their British Indian Ocean Territory: £20,961; freedom of movement, forced labour and other human British Virgin Islands: £52,173; rights abuses. We deplore the institutionalised persecution Cayman Islands: £61,224; of the Rohingya highlighted by the report. Falkland Islands: £124,730; Asked by Baroness Cox Montserrat: £56,500; To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they Pitcairn Islands: £18,750; will invoke the Responsibility to Protect mechanism St Helena: £115,348; to address human rights and humanitarian concerns in the ethnic areas of Burma. [HL1325] South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands: £74,687; Tristan da Cunha: £182,785; Lord Howell of Guildford: The coalition Government’s Turks and Caicos Islands: £122,914; and policy towards Burma is consistent with the concept Projects in two or more Territories: £260,613. of Responsibility to Protect, which, while not creating any new rights or obligations under international law, Project implementers submit quarterly reports on underlines that all Governments have a responsibility the progress of, and outcomes from their projects. An to protect their citizens from crimes against humanity, independent assessment of OTEP carried out in 2006 war crimes, genocide and ethnic cleansing. If they are concluded: unable or unwilling to do so, the international community “OTEP has established itself as a highly valued leader in should assist, using humanitarian, diplomatic and all supporting sustainable development in the OTs, particularly in conserving the OTs’ rich biodiversity. It has been well run, is other peaceful means at its disposal. As a last resort, the well received by both UK and OT stakeholders, and is committed concept envisages the consideration of more coercive to continuous improvement. There is considerable demand in the international intervention through the Security Council OTs for OTEP to continue”. in accordance with the UN Charter. WA 233 Written Answers[22 JULY 2010] Written Answers WA 234

We are deeply concerned at the widespread abuse of Lord Howell of Guildford: The EU Council Decision human rights in Burma, and particularly at the suffering on Burma (formerly EU Common Position) was renewed of Burma’s ethnic groups. We are committed to raising for a further 12 months at the end of April 2010 with our concerns with Burma’s neighbours and other unanimous support. The European Commission is international partners, in all relevant international also party to the Council Decision and adheres to EU fora, including the UN Security Council, and directly policy on Burma. EU activity on Burma is further with the military Government in Burma. With such co-ordinated through regular discussion in Asia-Oceania action we aim to highlight the situation in the country, Working Group meetings in Brussels which involves rally international pressure on the regime, and thereby all member states and the European Commission. curtail further human rights abuses. The Government are also committed to helping Burma’s long-suffering people through a significant programme of humanitarian Businesses: Government Contracts aid that makes the UK amongst the largest bilateral donors. Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick Asked by Baroness Cox To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they will take to reduce the bureaucracy involved representations they have made to the Governments for businesses applying for government contracts. of Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan and [HL1372] Saudi Arabia on the situation of the Rohingya people in Burma. [HL1326] Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Government are committed to simplifying and streamlining the public procurement process. We have ongoing work to look Lord Howell of Guildford: The Prime Minister, Foreign into ways to reduce bureaucracy, we have already Secretary and the Foreign Office Minister of State asked government procurers to use standardised, simpler responsible for South East Asia have expressed the prequalification questionnaires; and we have published Government’s concern over the human rights situation a procurement timeline tool to help shorten timescales. in Burma. My honourable friend the Minister of State responsible for South East Asia discussed the situation To make it easier for businesses to identify public faced by ethnic groups in Burma with Association of sector contracting opportunities, the Government are Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers, committed to publishing tender documents online and including the Foreign Ministers of Thailand and Malaysia, free of charge from September. From December, at an EU/ASEAN meeting on 27 May 2010 in Madrid, departments’ prime contractors will be encouraged to and Burma is on the agenda for his forthcoming visit advertise subcontracting opportunities on a single website. to South East Asia. My right honourable friend the The commitment to centralise government commodity Minister of State at the Department for International procurement, set out in the Cabinet Office Structural Development, Alan Duncan, discussed the Rohingya Reform Plan, will also reduce duplication and bureaucracy, with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni on and will improve efficiency in government purchasing. 14 July 2010 and senior FCO officials raised wider Burma human rights concerns with the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June 2010. We will continue to Care Services: Malnutrition seek opportunities to raise the plight of Burma’s Question ethnic groups, including the Rohingya, with neighbouring countries and other international partners likely to Asked by Baroness Thornton have influence on the military Government. To ask Her Majesty’s Government , with reference to the Care Quality Commission’s consultation Asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead document Assessments of Quality 2010–11, whether To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any they will ask the commission to undertake a special British companies are investing in Burma; and, if review of the quality of nutrition and hydration so, which companies. [HL1332] care delivered in care settings in England. [HL1179]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Lord Howell of Guildford: The Burmese Government Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Care Quality do not share with the UK the specific information Commission (CQC) has consulted on its programme they hold on foreign investment, but our assessment is of special reviews and will be publishing the programme that there is negligible investment by British companies in due course. This programme of reviews included a in Burma. Statistics from 2007 and 2008—the latest proposed review on nutrition and hydration. The available—from the Office for National Statistics show commission, as an independent body, will decide based no new foreign investment from the UK into Burma. on the responses to its consultation which reviews it Asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead undertakes. Although the Secretary of State has the power to To ask Her Majesty’s Government what require a particular special review, it is not his intention representations they have made to the European to use this power unless there are particular matters of Commission to ensure officials adhere to agreed public concern that are not addressed by CQC’s own European Union policy on Burma. [HL1333] review programme. WA 235 Written Answers[LORDS] Written Answers WA 236

Child Abduction EU-India Human Rights Dialogue. Child rights was raised at the most recent meeting on 25 March 2010 in Question New Delhi. Asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill In addition, the Government strongly support the ethical trading initiative (ETI). We encourage UK To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether judicial businesses to sign up to the ETI to challenge poor protocols on child abduction have been made with labour standards around the world, including the worst Bangladesh or India, similar to the United Kingdom– forms of child labour, and drive practical measures to Pakistan judicial protocol. [HL1182] improve them.

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord McNally): There are no judicial protocols with Bangladesh Church of England: Appointments or India. Her Majesty’s Government continue to Question encourage more countries to ratify or accede to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Asked by Lord Smith of Finsbury International Child Abduction. There are currently 82 contracting states to the convention. India is considering To ask Her Majesty’s Government what powers whether to accede. the Prime Minister has when names are submitted to him by the Church of England for appointment as a bishop or archbishop to reject both names and Children: Childminders request further submissions; and whether any such Question powers have been exercised in the past 20 years. [HL1181] Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The previous Government they will take to increase the number of registered changed the arrangements for senior church appointments childminders in England. [HL1049] in 2007. The church now provides only one name to the Prime Minister for the appointment of both diocesan bishops and suffragan bishops. The Prime Minister The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for passes this name to Her Majesty the Queen. Schools (Lord Hill of Oareford): The Government’s coalition document Our Programme for Government makes clear our support for free nursery care for Civil Service: Trade Unions preschool children, and that we want it to be delivered by a diverse range of providers. Question Childminders are an important group of providers Asked by Lord Laird and many families value the home-based care that childminders offer. The Department for Education is To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many providing strategic funding of £1.4 million in 2010-11 civil servants from each department are seconded to the National Childminding Association (NCMA), to which trade unions; whether their salaries are which represents home-based childcarers, to help develop paid by the Civil Service; and what are the costs and sustain high-quality childminding. involved. [HL1269]

Children: Forced Labour Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The secondment of civil servants to other organisations is a matter for individual Question departments. The information requested is not collected Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool centrally. To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will discuss with the Government of India the Courts Service: Estates report in the Sunday Times of 11 July on the alleged Question illegal employment of 50,000 children for companies who manufacture commodities for British companies Asked by Lord Bates and the employment of children for long hours and for low pay. [HL1234] To ask Her Majesty’s Government what performance and other measures will be considered during the consultation on the proposed closure of The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Guisborough Magistrates’ Court. [HL1436] Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): We do not intend to discuss the article in the Sunday Times report with the Indian Government. However, child rights remains a The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord high priority in our work to promote equality and McNally): In selecting courts on which to consult the tackling discrimination in India. The Government following conditions were considered: to ensure that engage on this issue with relevant authorities. We also communities have reasonable access to the courts; that regularly raise our concerns over human rights issues people should not have to make excessively long or with the Government of India as part of the ongoing difficult journeys to attend court; to improve the utilisation WA 237 Written Answers[22 JULY 2010] Written Answers WA 238 of the court estate to at least 80 per cent; and to keep on the number of eggs collected per patient and the larger courts in the most strategically important locations percentage of eggs used to create embryos used in and with the best facilities. treatment, cryopreserved or donated to research. An initial impact assessment has been produced for [HL1385] the consultations on proposals for provision of court services across the HMCS estate. The consultation The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, papers and the initial impact assessment can be found Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Human on the Ministry of Justice website at: http://www.justice. Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has gov.uk/consultations/consultations.htm. advised that it holds information on the number of The impacts, costs and benefits of court closures eggs donated to research as part of the data it collects will be considered more fully during the consultation on patients’ treatment cycles. The HFEA is not legally phase and a full impact assessment will be produced required to collect data on eggs used in research. alongside the consultation responses. A post implementation review will be carried out using HMCS financial, performance indicator and Equality Act 2010 utilisation data. Question Crime: Rape Asked by Baroness Greengross Question To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Asked by Lord Rosser age discrimination elements of the Equality Act 2010 will be implemented in full in 2012. [HL1433] To ask Her Majesty’s Government what evidence they considered on the anonymity of rape defendants before the recent announcement on that Baroness Verma: The Government are committed to tackling harmful age discrimination. Given the fast matter. [HL1440] changing demographics as people live longer, it is even The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord more important to ensure that older people are treated McNally): I refer the noble Lord to the reply given by fairly when, for example, receiving healthcare, or in my right honourable friend the Lord Chancellor and being able to access travel insurance. Secretary of State for Justice (Kenneth Clarke) at The Government announced on 3 July that the first Justice Oral Questions on 15 June 2010 [Official Report, wave of implementation of the Equality Act starts in Commons, col. 724]. October. The Government are considering how the rest of the Act can be implemented in the best way for Economy: Statistics business. Question Asked by Lord Myners Equality and Human Rights Commission To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment Question they have made of the accuracy of data published Asked by Lord Dholakia by the Office for National Statistics on (a) the United Kingdom economy in general, and (b) gross To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they domestic product. [HL1377] expect the Equality and Human Rights Commission to appoint a permanent chief executive. [HL1449] The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Sassoon): HM Treasury provides annual feedback on the performance of the Office for National Statistics Baroness Verma: In the light of the current spending as part of its service level agreement on macroeconomic review and of the review of non-departmental public statistics. A summary of this feedback is published in bodies, Ministers have asked the Equality and Human the UK Statistics Authority’s Annual Report and Resource Rights Commission (EHRC) to suspend the competition Accounts. The annual report for 2008-09 is available to appoint a permanent chief executive until there is at: http://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/about-the- greater clarity about the size and functions of the authority/what-we-do/annual-report-and-accounts/ EHRC later in the year. index. html Embryology EU: Economy Question Question Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool Asked by Lord Myners To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to To ask Her Majesty’s Government what stance the Written Answers by Baroness Thornton on they will take on proposals to give the European 19 January (WA 225) and Earl Howe on 8 July Systemic Risk Board or the European Supervisory (WA 68–9), why the information held by the Human Authorities power to make decisions or give directions Fertilisation and Embryology Authority on the use which affect the fiscal autonomy of member states. of eggs is necessarily limited if records are maintained [HL1228] WA 239 Written Answers[LORDS] Written Answers WA 240

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord advice by former Ministers to the Advisory Committee Sassoon): The Government have been very clear that on Business Appointments were met within the no decisions by the new European Supervisory Authorities 15-day target in each of the past five years.[HL1038] should impinge on the fiscal responsibilities of the UK. Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments aims to provide its advice EU: Legislation to former Ministers within 15 working days of receiving a request. There are a number of factors that need to Question be considered before a decision is made on a former Minister’s application, and complex cases can take Asked by Lord Inglewood longer to process than 15 working days. To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to The information requested for each of the past five the Written Answer by Lord Howell of Guildford years is as follows: on 6 July (WA39), whether they intend to re-examine European Union legislation on the statute book to % of requests where advice was ensure it contains no “gold plating”; and, if so, Year provided within 15 working days whether they intend to retranspose any legislation. 2009-10 88 [HL1349] 2008-09 70 2007-08 71 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, 2006-07 73 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness 2005-06 42 Wilcox): The Government have committed to a “one in, one out” rule for new regulation. This requires Ministers who are bringing forward new regulations Government Departments: Staff to identify suitable compensatory savings. Question Government departments will undertake reviews of their current stock of regulation to identify regulatory Asked by Lord Rooker savings as part of this process. European directives To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many will be within the scope of these reviews, and consideration government departments have acting permanent will be given to the level and methods of transposition. secretaries; and what action will be taken to recruit If less burdensome methods of complying with a new permanent secretaries from the private sector directive are identified, suitable amendments to legislation and local authorities. [HL1201] will be made where appropriate. Separately, the Government will seek to influence Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Two government departments the European Commission in its reviews of the of the Home Civil Service currently have acting permanent effectiveness of existing EU legislation. secretaries. They are the Permanent Secretary of Communities and Local Government and the Chief Food: Codex Alimentarius Medical Officer at the Department of Health, which is a permanent secretary level post. Question These are business-critical roles and are exempt Asked by Baroness Byford from the Civil Service recruitment freeze. These posts will be filled by external competitions to attract the To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their best possible candidates from the private and public stance on the work of the Codex Alimentarius. sectors. [HL1171] Government: Ministerial Visits The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Government Questions is a member of Codex Alimentarius, which seeks to Asked by Lord Rooker strengthen food safety systems around the world. The United Kingdom continues to work with other countries To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many through Codex Alimentarius to develop risk-based ministerial visits have been made to Brussels by international food standards that are underpinned by Eurostar using first class since 11 May. [HL1154] the best available evidence. The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Former Ministers: Earnings Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): There is no first class service on Eurostar. There has been one ministerial Question trip to Brussels by Eurostar by business class since Asked by Lord Myners 11 May 2010. This ticket class was booked as there was only a negligible price difference on that particular To ask Her Majesty’s Government , further to occasion between business and economy classes. The the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on only other ministerial journey to Brussels by Eurostar 22 June (WA 167), what percentages of requests for since 11 May has been in economy class. WA 241 Written Answers[22 JULY 2010] Written Answers WA 242

Asked by Lord Myners Year Countries visited

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which countries Saudi Arabia the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Singapore International Trade and Investment visited in an Sweden official capacity in each financial year since 2001; which of those countries he visited more than once Switzerland in any one year; in which visits a Minister also Turkey participated; and which Ministers so participated. UAE [HL1193] USA 2005-06 Bahrain Egypt The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, France Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness Germany Wilcox): In his role as the UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, and in agreement Hungary with and in support of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) Japan objectives, HRH the Duke of York undertook 80 overseas South Korea visits taking in 48 countries between 2001 and July Slovakia 2010. Spain A list of the countries visited in each financial year, UAE including those which were visited more than once, 2006-07 Bahrain can be seen in the table below. China and Hong Kong HRH also undertakes visits for other government Germany departments, primarily the Foreign and Commonwealth India Office. Details of these visits are not held within the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, and Ireland are not included in this list. Kazakhstan Details of occasions when Ministers participated in Kuwait UKTI-supported visits are not held centrally and could Oman only be provided at disproportionate cost. Philippines A list of countries visited by HRH the Duke of Qatar York in his role as the UK Special Representative for Saudi Arabia International Trade and Investment, in each financial Spain year since 2001, in support of UKTI objectives. Switzerland

Year Countries visited UAE USA 2001-02 Germany Vietnam South Africa 2007-08 Algeria Switzerland Azerbaijan 2002-03 France (visited twice) Belgium Greece Brazil USA Egypt 2003-04 Czech Republic India Italy Indonesia Kazakhstan Japan Kuwait Kazakhstan Poland Libya Spain Morocco UAE Qatar USA Singapore 2004-05 Bahrain China Switzerland Italy UAE (visited twice) Japan USA Kuwait 2008-09 Bahrain Malaysia China Oman (visited twice) Egypt Philippines Italy Qatar (visited twice) Jordan Russia (visited twice) Kuwait (visited twice) WA 243 Written Answers[LORDS] Written Answers WA 244

Year Countries visited Asked by Baroness Thornton

Mongolia To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps Qatar are being taken to improve the quality of data collected on malnutrition. [HL1196] Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Earl Howe: Data on malnutrition are collected by South Korea the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) team, taken Switzerland from data sent by over 300 primary care trusts and National Health Service trusts. Turkmenistan HES data contain information on admissions for UAE malnutrition or where malnutrition is significant to Vietnam the treatment of the patient. The NHS Information 2009-10 Algeria Centre for health and social care liaises closely with Azerbaijan these NHS organisations to encourage submission of China complete and valid data and seeks to minimise Dubai inaccuracies. This brings about improvement over time. Egypt India Health: Palliative Care Mexico Question Oman Asked by Lord Judd Panama Qatar To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action Russia they have taken to ensure that there is a minimum standard of knowledge for prescribing morphine Saudi Arabia required of doctors providing out-of-hours service. Singapore [HL1431] Switzerland Thailand The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Tunisia Department of Health (Earl Howe): The department UAE issues the British National Formulary which is published jointly by the British Medical Association and the USA Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and Vietnam provides guidance on prescribing controlled drugs, 2010-11 Bahrain including morphine. (1 April 10—12 July 10) Italy All general practitioners working for out-of-hours Kazakhstan providers must be registered with the professional Kuwait regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), in Malaysia order to practise in the United Kingdom. All doctors Russia working in the UK are required by the GMC to keep Saudi Arabia their knowledge and skills up to date in order to remain on the GMC register. This includes being familiar with guidelines that affect their work. Health: Malnutrition Questions House of Lords Reform Question Asked by Baroness Thornton Asked by Baroness O’Loan To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is meant they have made of the (a) prevalence, and (b) costs, by the term “a grandfathering system for peers” on of malnutrition in England. [HL1194] page 27 of The Coalition: A Programme for Government. [HL1343] The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): The department The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord has made no assessment of the prevalence and cost of McNally): The Government recognise the need for an malnutrition in England. orderly transition from the current House of Lords to However, the Care Quality Commission has consulted a reformed second Chamber which makes use of the on its programme of special reviews and will be publishing expertise and knowledge among current peers. the programme in due course. This programme of The Joint Committee on House of Lords Reform, reviews included a proposed review on nutrition and chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, will make hydration. The commission, as an independent body, proposals for a transitional period where existing Members will decide, based on the responses to its consultation, and newly elected or appointed Members would work which reviews it undertakes. together. WA 245 Written Answers[22 JULY 2010] Written Answers WA 246

Immigration India Question Question Asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno Asked by Lord Avebury To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they considered the impact of any withdrawal of the will ask Her Majesty’s High Commissioner in New Migration Impacts Fund on the welfare of migrants. Delhi to arrange for a member of his staff to attend [HL1410] the hearing on 3 August in the New Delhi High Court of the application by 62 members of the The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Mehdi Foundation International for protection against Department for Communities and Local Government refoulement to Pakistan. [HL1450] (Baroness Hanham): The purpose of the Migration Impacts Fund was to alleviate the impacts of immigration on local public services, rather than to support migrants The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth themselves. Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): We are aware of reports about the case, but we have no plans to attend In the light of the overall fiscal position and the the hearing on 3 August 2010. This is a matter between need for urgent action to tackle the deficit the Government the Indian and Pakistani Governments. concluded that it was not a priority funding stream. At the same time, the Government have protected core local government spending, reduced ringfencing Inflation and ended costly central reporting requirements. These Question changes mean local authorities themselves will be able Asked by Lord Myners in future to decide how best to address the impacts of immigration on their areas. To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their interpretation of the forecast in Chart 5.13 of the Bank of England’s May inflation report; and what Independent Commission on Banking use they have made of the Bank’s forecast of future inflation when it has not taken the form of a bell Question shape distribution curve. [HL1311] Asked by Lord Myners The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Sassoon): The Bank of England has operational contracts of the members of the Independent responsibility for monetary policy. The contents of the Commission on Banking will be published.[HL1310] inflation report are therefore a matter for the Bank.

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Iran Sassoon): Contracts for the chair and commissioners are being finalised. It is anticipated that they will be Question published in due course. Asked by Lord Sheikh To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Independent Networks Co-operative British citizens are detained in Iranian prisons. Association [HL1498] Question The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): We were made Asked by Lord Laird aware of one dual Iranian-British national detained in To ask Her Majesty’s Government what procedure December 2009, who may still be detained. We are was used by the Department for Business, Innovation only able to provide consular assistance to dual nationals and Skills in awarding grants to Independent Networks in the country of their other nationality if they request Co-operative Association on 17 December 2009; it and if the country of their other nationality agrees. how many other applications were made for the In this case we have been asked by the next of kin not grants; how they were advertised; when; by whom; to provide consular assistance or to make representations on their behalf. We therefore cannot confirm if the and who selected the successful applicant. [HL1558] individual remains in detention. We are aware of no other British detainees in Iran. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Baroness Wilcox): I have nothing further to add to previous Justice: Legal Fees Answers on this subject, provided at Hansard 9 June Question (col. WA 46-47), 10 June (col. WA 55), 15 June (col.WA104),15June(col.WA104),15June(col.WA103-04), Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon 15 June (col. WA 105), 15 June (col. WA 105), 15 June To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they (col.WA104),15June(col.WA103),15June(col.WA103), plan to review (a) the operation of conditional fees, and 16 June (col. WA119). and (b) the advertising of legal services. [HL1263] WA 247 Written Answers[LORDS] Written Answers WA 248

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord care to address the health needs of their local populations. McNally): The operation of conditional fee agreements It would not be appropriate for the Government to has been examined by Lord Justice Jackson in his intervene in the local decision-making process, unless recent report Review of Civil Litigation Costs (published the Islington Health and Wellbeing Committee refers 14 January 2010). This is a comprehensive report the matter to the Secretary of State. which makes a wide range of significant recommendations for reform to address high costs in the civil justice system in England and Wales, including those associated NHS: Medical Training with conditional fee agreements. The Government are very grateful to Lord Justice Jackson for his report Question and we are urgently assessing the main proposals. We Asked by Lord Judd will announce the way forward on conditional fee agreements as soon as possible. The advertising of To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment legal services is regulated by the relevant regulatory they have made of the training of doctors in caring bodies for the dying; and what proportion of training is Both the operation of conditional fee agreements dedicated to that purpose. [HL1429] and the advertising of legal services are also being considered by Lord Young of Graffham as part of his The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, current review of health and safety law and the Department of Health (Earl Howe): The General Medical compensation culture. The Government will carefully Council (GMC), as the competent authority for medical consider Lord Young’s recommendations when he training in the United Kingdom, is the custodian of reports. quality standards in medical education and practice and consequently is responsible for ensuring that doctors National Insurance are equipped to deal with the problems they will encounter in practice, including care of the dying. The Question GMC is an independent professional body. Asked by Lord Rooker The GMC’s Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Continued Practice Boards have the general function To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of promoting high standards of medical education new national insurance numbers have been issued and co-ordinating all stages of medical education to to non-United Kingdom citizens since 11 May. ensure that students and newly qualified doctors are [HL1156] equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, The GMC has statutory responsibility to determine Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud): The the extent and knowledge and skill required for the department produces a quarterly publication of national granting of primary medical qualifications in the UK. statistics entitled National Insurance Number Allocations Its recommendations on undergraduate medical education to Adult Overseas Nationals Entering the UK on its are contained in Tomorrow’s Doctors (updated version website at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asdl/niall/nino published September 2009) which: allocation.asp. provides the framework that UK medical schools The most recent data available are for registrations use to design detailed curricula and schemes of up to 31 December 2009. Data from 11 May will be assessment; and contained in the publication for the quarter ending sets out the standards that the GMC uses to judge 30 June 2010, due for release in November, and subsequent the quality of undergraduate teaching and quarterly publications. assessments at individual medical schools. It is the responsibility of the medical schools to NHS: Health Centres ensure that specialist teaching meets the standards set out in Tomorrow’s Doctors in order to retain GMC Question recognition of their course. Asked by Lord Smith of Finsbury Postgraduate medical training curricula are developed by the medical royal colleges and submitted to the To ask Her Majesty’s Government what powers GMC for approval. they have to intervene in relation to the safeguarding of the future of the Finsbury Health Centre, in the event that the Islington Primary Care Trust does North Korea not reach agreement with Islington Council’s Health and Wellbeing Centre. [HL1348] Question Asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe): The Government To ask Her Majesty’s Government what have pledged that, in future, all service changes must representations they are making to the Government be led by clinicians and patients, not be driven from of North Korea about the well-being of Aijalon the top down. It is the responsibility of local National Mahli Gomes and about securing his early release Health Service organisations to provide safe, accessible from prison. [HL1384] WA 249 Written Answers[22 JULY 2010] Written Answers WA 250

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Yes. Employer contributions Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): We are aware of are shown in Note 9, Pension contributions receivable, Mr Gomes’s case. The Swedish embassy in Pyongyang in the Resource Accounts for Cabinet Office: Civil is the consular protecting power for US nationals in Superannuation for the years 2005-06 to 2008-09, and North Korea and is handling Mr Gomes’s case. in Note 5 for the Accounts for 2004-05.

Planning Northern Ireland Office: Bonuses Question Question Asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick Asked by Lord Laird To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans To ask Her Majesty’s Government what bonuses they have to increase the influence of neighbourhoods are available to staff of the Northern Ireland Office; in the planning system. [HL1160] and what proposals they have to reduce or remove such payments following the Secretary of State for The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland taking a cut of 5 per cent in his Department for Communities and Local Government salary. [HL995] (Baroness Hanham): The coalition Government are committed to a radical reform of the planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine Lord Shutt of Greetland: The Northern Ireland the shape of the places in which their inhabitants live. Office (NIO) operates non-consolidated performance payments to senior civil servants and staff below We have already started implementing this by scrapping senior Civil Service, in line with Cabinet Office and regional strategies and their centrally imposed building HM Treasury guidance respectively, to reward exceptional targets, scrapping housing density targets, reclassifying performance across the reporting year. The Cabinet back gardens as not brownfield land, and abolishing Office has frozen the bonus pot for 2009-10 and has the unaccountable Infrastructure Planning Commission. advised that it will issue further guidance in relation to Further proposals to decentralise planning back to payments in respect of performance year 2010-11. At neighbourhoods will be set out in the Localism Bill. present there are no plans to reduce or remove such payments. Price Indexes Question Pensions Asked by Lord Barnett Questions To ask Her Majesty’s Government what forecast Asked by Lord Laird they have made of the gap between the Consumer Price Index and the Retail Prices Index over the To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the next five years. [HL1337] average Civil Service pension; what is the average length of service on which it is based; and how The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord many people are in receipt of pensions (a) below Sassoon): The independent Office for Budget and (b) above that average. [HL1221] Responsibility (OBR) have published their forecast for RPI and CPI inflation in the fourth quarter of each year up to 2015 in Annex C of the Budget document. Lord Taylor of Holbeach: Based on data relating to The relevant part of Table C2 is reproduced below. the 2008-09 financial year, the average pension payable to former civil servants and their dependants is £5,900 pa. Extract from Table C2: Detailed summary of central The number of pensioners and total pensions in payment economic forecast can be found in the Resource Accounts for Cabinet Forecast (Percentage change on a year earlier) Office: Civil Superannuation. Copies of the resource 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 accounts for the years up to and including 2008-09 are in the Library. Information on average length of service CPI (Q4) 2.1 2.7 2.4 1.9 2.0 2.0 2.0 is not available centrally. An estimated 62 per cent of RPI (Q4) 0.6 3.7 3.2 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 the pensioners are in receipt of pensions below the average and 38 per cent are in receipt of pensions above the average. Prisoners: Voting Asked by Lord Laird Question Asked by Lord Tebbit To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on To ask Her Majesty’s Government , further to 13 July (WA 125), whether the value of employer the answer by Lord McNally on 9 June (Official contributions paid into the Principal Civil Service Report, col. 643), how they have assessed the extent Pension Scheme in the past five years are in the of public support or opposition to the proposed Resource Accounts for Cabinet Office: Civil grant of votes to persons serving prison sentences. Superannuation. [HL1424] [HL1297] WA 251 Written Answers[LORDS] Written Answers WA 252

The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Baroness Verma: No formal government assessment McNally): The Government have made no formal has been carried out of the progress made by public assessment of the extent of public support or opposition bodies in meeting the duty in Section 71(1)(b) of the to any proposals to grant votes to persons serving Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended) to promote prison sentences. The Government are considering equality of opportunity and good relations between afresh the best way forward on the issue of prisoner persons of different racial groups. voting rights. Under the Equality Act 2006, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has statutory responsibility Public Appointments for assessing compliance with the public sector equality duties. Question (The commission has over the years carried out Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon assessments of the extent to which organisations meet To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they the public sector equality duties in the development will ensure that all major public appointments are and implementation of policies and practices, or whether based on ability, experience, expertise, suitability or not the duties have been breached. Where organisations and party political independence. [HL1264] are found wanting, the commission will assist them in working to alter their practices in order to achieve Lord Taylor of Holbeach: The independent better compliance). Commissioner for Public Appointments requires all appointments to posts within her remit to be made on Religious Groups: Funding merit following an open and transparent selection Question process. Except for a few bodies where a specific balance is required, political activity plays no part in Asked by Lord Kilclooney the appointment process. To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the estimated cost to the Exchequer in the past financial Racism year of allocating funds to the (a) Anglican, (b) Islamic, and (c) Roman Catholic religions. [HL1475] Questions Asked by Lord Harrison The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion (Baroness Hanham): Like the present Government, the of the membership of the bodies in Schedule 1A to previous Government did not fund religion or religious the Race Relations Act 1976 in each region are activity, and no funds were allocated to any religion from ethnic minorities. [HL1470] during the last financial year. A wide and diverse To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proportion range of programmes was run by various departments of the membership of United Kingdom-wide bodies which affected different faith communities, but a in Schedule 1A to the Race Relations Act 1976 are comprehensive list of these is not available and could from ethnic minorities. [HL1471] only be compiled at disproportionate cost. Baroness Verma: The Government do not hold this Smoking information. The public bodies listed in Schedule 1A Question to the Race Relations Act 1976 are subject to the general statutory duty in Section 71(1) of the Race Asked by Lord Laird Relations Act 1976 (as amended) to have due regard to To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and promote they have to reduce the impact of passive smoking equality of opportunity and good relations between on children. [HL1505] persons of different racial groups. The Race Relations Act 1976 (Statutory Duties) The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Order 2001 sets out specific duties to which some of Department of Health (Earl Howe): We remain concerned these public bodies are subject for the purpose of about the impact that exposure to second-hand smoke ensuring their better performance of the general statutory has on the health of children, and will continue to duty. encourage people to make their homes and private These specific duties include duties to monitor, by cars smoke free. We are currently considering how best reference to the racial groups to which they belong, to tackle this issue in the context of our focus on the numbers of staff in post. public health and our priorities given the challenges facing public sector finances. Under the Equality Act 2006, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has statutory responsibility Syria for assessing compliance with the public sector equality duties. Question Asked by Lord Harrison Asked by Lord Patten To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they they have made of the progress made by public have made, or intend to make, representations to bodies in meeting the duty in Section 71(1)(b) of the Government of Syria about the arrest of the the Race Relations Act 1976, as inserted by the novelist Raghdah Sa’id Hassan, being held by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. [HL1472] political branch in the city of Tartus. [HL895] WA 253 Written Answers[22 JULY 2010] Written Answers WA 254

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): The Government Department for Communities and Local Government regularly make representations to Syrian Government (Baroness Hanham): The voluntary and community Ministers and senior officials regarding human rights sector has an important role to play in helping people issues. As my noble friend may be aware, the Foreign to create the big society in their neighbourhood, by and Commonwealth Office issued public statements providing local services, running local facilities and on 25 June 2010 deeply regretting the sentencing of helping people to help themselves. human rights defender Muhannad al Hassani, and on The Government are also working with the 6 July 2010 deploring the sentencing of human rights community-led voluntary sector to identify and remove defender Haitham al Maleh. We are also in contact unnecessary regulation and barriers which hinder its with EU and US colleagues over what joint action we work. can take. My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State (Alistair Burt) raised the general Youth Justice issue of human rights with Syrian Foreign Minister Questions Walid al Muallem on 11 July 2010 during his visit to Damascus. Asked by Lord Dholakia To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they Taxation will complete their assessment of arm’s-length bodies that operate in the criminal justice system, including Question the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales; Asked by Lord Forsyth of Drumlean and what account they are taking of Safeguarding To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they the Future: a review of the Youth Justice Board’s intend to introduce a dynamic model to assess the Governance and Operating Arrangements, published impact of tax changes on Exchequer revenues. in March, in considering the future role of the Board. [HL1272] [HL673]

The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Sassoon): HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs McNally): In line with other government departments, employ a range of models to help inform forecast MoJ is reviewing all of its arm’s-length bodies. This judgments on the dynamic effects of tax changes. review process includes the Youth Justice Board for Models are regularly updated in line with new policy England and Wales, and Ministers will be considering or economic developments. options over the coming months. As part of this process we will consider all information relevant to Turkey each individual arm’s-length body. For the YouthJustice Board, this will include the Safeguarding the Future Question report. Asked by Lord Patten Asked by Lord Dholakia To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many have discussed, or intend to discuss, with the custodial places for under-18-year-olds have been Government of Turkey the latter’s bar on women decommissioned by the Youth Justice Board in the applying for judicial positions in the higher courts. last two years; what is the total saving made from [HL1361] the decommissioning of custodial places; and what plans there are to decommission further places. The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth [HL1273] Office (Lord Howell of Guildford): There is no bar on women applying for judicial positions in the higher Lord McNally: Between August 2008 and July 2010, courts in Turkey. the net total of custodial places which the Youth Justice Board (YJB) decommissioned was 728, realising Voluntary Sector net annual savings of approximately £34.3 million. Question The YJB continually monitors demand for places in the under-18 secure estate and reviews its plans Asked by Lord Ouseley regularly to ensure that there is sufficient, but not To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the excessive, capacity in the system to accommodate young community-led voluntary sector will provide support, people safely. At current occupancy levels there remains services and facilities to meet the needs of deprived a degree of surplus capacity and the YJB is considering local communities as part of the programme set out what scope there may be to decommission further in Building the Big Society. [HL1246] places.

Thursday 22 July 2010

ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO WRITTEN STATEMENTS

Col. No. Col. No. Animal Products: Review of Controls ...... 77 EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council...... 92

Armed Forces: Coroners’ Inquests...... 78 Finance Bill ...... 94

Armed Forces: Rest and Recuperation...... 79 Hillsborough...... 94

British Council: Annual Report...... 80 Immigration...... 94

Children: ContactPoint...... 81 Immigration: Yarl’s Wood...... 96

Defence Storage and Distribution Agency...... 82 Justice: Arrest Warrants...... 96

Defra: Arm’s-length Bodies ...... 82 NHS: White Paper...... 97

Department for International Development: Resource Office for Judicial Complaints: Annual Report...... 98 Accounts and Annual Report ...... 84 Railways: Franchises...... 99 Department for Transport: Resource Accounts ...... 85 Regional Government...... 99 Dunfermline Building Society...... 85 Security Industry Authority: Annual Report ...... 101 Economy: Growth ...... 86 St Helena: Airport ...... 101 EU: Agriculture and Fisheries Council...... 87 Terrorism Act ...... 102 EU: Competitiveness Council...... 88 Travel: e-Borders Scheme...... 102 EU: General Affairs Council and Foreign Affairs Council...... 89 Water Supply ...... 104

Thursday 22 July 2010

ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO WRITTEN ANSWERS

Col. No. Col. No. Agriculture: Farming ...... 229 Civil Service: Trade Unions...... 236

Airports: Security ...... 229 Courts Service: Estates...... 236

Banking: Levy...... 230 Crime: Rape...... 237

Banks: Stress Tests...... 230 Economy: Statistics...... 237

British Overseas Territories...... 231 Embryology ...... 237

Budget Responsibility Committee...... 232 Equality Act 2010 ...... 238

Burma...... 232 Equality and Human Rights Commission ...... 238

Businesses: Government Contracts ...... 234 EU: Economy ...... 238

Care Services: Malnutrition ...... 234 EU: Legislation...... 239

Child Abduction...... 235 Food: Codex Alimentarius...... 239

Children: Childminders...... 235 Former Ministers: Earnings ...... 239

Children: Forced Labour ...... 235 Government Departments: Staff...... 240

Church of England: Appointments...... 236 Government: Ministerial Visits ...... 240 Col. No. Col. No. Health: Malnutrition ...... 243 Northern Ireland Office: Bonuses ...... 249

Health: Palliative Care ...... 244 Pensions...... 249

House of Lords Reform...... 244 Planning ...... 250

Immigration...... 245 Price Indexes...... 250

Independent Commission on Banking...... 245 Prisoners: Voting...... 250

Independent Networks Co-operative Association ...... 245 Public Appointments ...... 251

India ...... 246 Racism...... 251

Inflation...... 246 Religious Groups: Funding...... 252

Iran...... 246 Smoking ...... 252

Justice: Legal Fees...... 246 Syria ...... 252

National Insurance ...... 247 Taxation...... 253

NHS: Health Centres...... 247 Turkey...... 253

NHS: Medical Training ...... 248 Voluntary Sector...... 253

North Korea ...... 248 Youth Justice...... 254 NUMERICAL INDEX TO WRITTEN ANSWERS

Col. No. Col. No. [HL673] ...... 253 [HL1221] ...... 249

[HL895] ...... 252 [HL1228] ...... 238

[HL995] ...... 249 [HL1231] ...... 230

[HL1038] ...... 240 [HL1234] ...... 235

[HL1049] ...... 235 [HL1246] ...... 253

[HL1103] ...... 231 [HL1263] ...... 246

[HL1118] ...... 230 [HL1264] ...... 251

[HL1119] ...... 230 [HL1269] ...... 236

[HL1154] ...... 240 [HL1272] ...... 254

[HL1156] ...... 247 [HL1273] ...... 254

[HL1160] ...... 250 [HL1297] ...... 250

[HL1171] ...... 239 [HL1309] ...... 230

[HL1179] ...... 234 [HL1310] ...... 245

[HL1181] ...... 236 [HL1311] ...... 246

[HL1182] ...... 235 [HL1323] ...... 232

[HL1191] ...... 232 [HL1325] ...... 232

[HL1193] ...... 241 [HL1326] ...... 233

[HL1194] ...... 243 [HL1332] ...... 233

[HL1196] ...... 244 [HL1333] ...... 233

[HL1200] ...... 229 [HL1337] ...... 250

[HL1201] ...... 240 [HL1343] ...... 244 Col. No. Col. No. [HL1348] ...... 247 [HL1431] ...... 244

[HL1349] ...... 239 [HL1433] ...... 238

[HL1361] ...... 253 [HL1436] ...... 236

[HL1365] ...... 229 [HL1440] ...... 237

[HL1366] ...... 229 [HL1449] ...... 238

[HL1372] ...... 234 [HL1450] ...... 246

[HL1377] ...... 237 [HL1470] ...... 251

[HL1384] ...... 248 [HL1471] ...... 251

[HL1385] ...... 238 [HL1472] ...... 251

[HL1396] ...... 230 [HL1475] ...... 252

[HL1410] ...... 245 [HL1498] ...... 246

[HL1424] ...... 249 [HL1505] ...... 252

[HL1429] ...... 248 [HL1558] ...... 245 Volume 720 Thursday No. 36 22 July 2010

CONTENTS

Thursday 22 July 2010 Introductions: Lord Taylor of Godd Moor, Lord Reid of Cardowan and Baroness Eaton...... 1061 Questions International Criminal Court...... 1061 Bovine Tuberculosis...... 1063 Visas ...... 1066 Sheffield Forgemasters ...... 1068 Business of the House Motion on Standing Orders...... 1071 Business of the House Timing of Debates...... 1071 Administration and Works Committee...... 1071 Communications Committee Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee Refreshment Committee Membership Motions ...... 1072 Policing and Crime Debate ...... 1072 Poverty Debate ...... 1094 Written Statements...... WS 77 Written Answers...... WA 229