David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how people with disabilities are being consulted in relation to the disability equality duty by the Environment Agency in the Southern Region.
David Lepper: Does my hon. Friend agree that the real problem is the reluctance on the part of some Jewish students on some of our campuses to report incidents of anti-Semitism to the university authorities, because of a perceived feeling that there will not be a sympathetic response in some cases? Has he encountered that phenomenon?
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of people with disabilities employed by the Southern Regional Office of the Environment Agency have left employment within one year of joining.
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mechanisms are in place in the Southern Regional Office of the Environment Agency to recruit and retain (a) people with disabilities and (b) people from a black or minority ethnic background; and if he will make a statement.
David Lepper: In the light of what the right hon. Gentleman has just said, will he consider as an example illustrating his point the case of Brighton Housing Trust immigration legal service? It is the sole legal aid provider of immigration advice in the constituency. It deals with 80 nationalities a year and a case load of 713 cases, which has doubled as this decade has gone on, and it anticipates that the...
David Lepper: I welcome my right hon. Friend to his new role. We are all aware that the deal between Post Office Ltd and WH Smith in relation to some Crown post offices is a done deal, but will he use his good offices to ensure that before those transfers take place, the Post Office and WH Smith have full regard to disability access to the relocated branches? I give the example of the WH Smith branch in...
David Lepper: Does my hon. Friend agree with me that it is not only in Hastings where there have been advances in combating crime, but that across Sussex generally there has, for instance, been a 55 per cent. drop in the number of burglaries since 1997? In Brighton and Hove, part of which I represent, we now have the sixth lowest burglary rate in the country. Does the hon. Gentleman agree, however, that...
David Lepper: I have already congratulated my hon. Friend the Member for Worsley (Barbara Keeley) on securing this debate. I add my congratulations to those that have already been expressed to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon (Dr. Francis) on his sterling work on the legislation that he has taken through Parliament, and on his work on behalf of the all-party group on carers. I declare a personal...
David Lepper: I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. Does she agree that schools and education authorities also have a role to play, particularly in relation to young carers and their needs? I am pleased that my constituency has a young carers support group, but I am aware that many parts of the country do not have such things. Will she include the need to identify and provide support to...
David Lepper: I welcome what the Secretary of State has said about the future of the Post Office card account, but the concern of many small businesses in the Lanes and North Laine area of my constituency—the main customers of the Crown office, currently in Ship street—is that its transfer to a WH Smith branch some distance away will make it less rather than more accessible for them. I believe that...
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment her Department has made of the likely effects of implementation of the draft guidance produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence on the effective treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome; and what representations she has received on the draft guidance.
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations she has received on the impact on Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club of further delays in announcing a decision on its planning application for a community stadium at Falmer; and what the latest date is by which a decision on the matter will be announced.
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what her Department's (a) plans and (b) projected budget are for the carer's grant in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and if she will make a statement; (2) how many carers of older people had short breaks funded by the carer's grant in (a) 2002, (b) 2003, (c) 2004 , (d) 2005 and (e) 2006; (3) how her Department monitors local authorities'...
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what measures her Department has taken to ensure consistency in the fees charged for securing public sector information from local authorities in the UK; (2) what measures her Department has taken to improve consistency in the length of time it takes applicants to secure public sector information from local authorities.
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what plans her Department has to ensure that local authorities implement the recommendations of the Office of Fair Trading's report on public sector information; (2) what measures she plans to put in place in relation to local authorities which fail to meet the standards recommended in the Office of Fair Trading's...
David Lepper: Will my hon. Friend give way?
David Lepper: rose—
David Lepper: I take my hon. Friend's point. In my area, the Sussex probation area, the probation service works with 19 different voluntary and statutory providers on managing offenders. Those organisations range from the YMCA to Working Links to locally based organisations. If there is a problem with probation boards in other parts of the country, would the Government not be better advised to deal with...
David Lepper: Another form of access to seats that I have had complaints about from some of my constituents and my city council relates to the lack of properly functioning toilets on many commuter trains and other trains along the south coast. Is it true that the train companies have no requirement to provide toilets on trains? If so, will the Minister take steps to rectify the matter?
David Lepper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence's guidelines on Alzheimer's drugs treatment for patients in the intermediate stage of Alzheimer's disease do not have an adverse effect on older people's mental health services.
