That this House recalls the distress caused to many families at the proposal by BAA as part of its plans for a third runway at Heathrow to drive a road through Cherry Lane cemetery; notes the families' concern at the lack of legislative protection against this type of development; acknowledges that this results from a glaring contradiction in the Government's policy towards cemeteries and the issue of exhumation in which exhumations are required to be undertaken in a sensitive, cautious, respectful and caring manner, to be subject to local consultation and, if objected to, to be abandoned, whilst using all methods of notification to next-of-kin and the community; further notes that in cases of major developments affecting cemeteries, exemplified by the Cherry Lane case, a bulldozer approach is taken, allowing for the overriding of objections and the ignoring of the right to be consulted; and therefore calls on the Government to undertake a swift review of the current law in relation to the protection of cemeteries with a view to bringing forward legislation that affords cemeteries suitable protection and avoids others undergoing the distress experienced by the Cherry Lane cemetery relatives.

That this House recalls the distress caused to many families at the proposal by BAA as part of its plans for a third runway at Heathrow to drive a road through Cherry Lane cemetery; notes the families' concern at the lack of legislative protection against this type of development; acknowledges...

That this House notes with concern that value added tax is applicable to the erection and maintenance of memorials to the deceased; considers this to be an unnecessary and insensitive tax on the bereaved and those who wish to honour the memory of loved ones; observes that a tax refund for charities and faith groups for the erection of memorials has been in place for some years now in the form of the Memorial Grant Scheme; calls on the Government to extend the scheme to all memorials; and urges the Government to raise at European level the possibility of abolishing such taxes altogether.

That this House notes with concern that value added tax is applicable to the erection and maintenance of memorials to the deceased; considers this to be an unnecessary and insensitive tax on the bereaved and those who wish to honour the memory of loved ones; observes that a tax refund...

That this House notes the recent discovery of a mass grave in Lapithos containing remains identified as those of Fivos Christofi from Aglantzia, Kostas Kapsokaritis from Tseri and Michalakis Anastasiou from Famagusta, who will be remembered at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of the Organisation of Relatives of Missing Cypriots (UK); welcomes all such discoveries which are being made by exhumation teams of both sides of the buffer zone in Cyprus; recognises the generosity of those countries, agencies and individuals who have donated finance, technical support and forensic expertise to locating, exhuming and identifying the remains of those missing since the invasion of Cyprus in 1974; is conscious however that to date no more than 10 per cent. of the missing have been located; recalls the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that Turkey is in violation of articles 2, 3 and 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights through its failure to collect, record and disclose information about those known and seen to be alive after their capture in 1974; sympathises with the missing persons' relatives who in the words of this judgment must have suffered most painful uncertainty and anxiety and whose mental anguish has not vanished with the passing of time; and calls on the Government to exert all possible influence on Turkey to comply with the ECHR judgment and to assist and co-operate in tracing and identifying the remains of the missing, thus permitting relatives to have closure to their grief and bereavement.

That this House notes the recent discovery of a mass grave in Lapithos containing remains identified as those of Fivos Christofi from Aglantzia, Kostas Kapsokaritis from Tseri and Michalakis Anastasiou from Famagusta, who will be remembered at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of the Organisation of Relatives of Missing Cypriots...

That this House notes with concern that value added tax is applicable to the erection and maintenance of memorials to the deceased; considers this to be an unnecessary and insensitive tax on the bereaved and those who wish to honour the memory of loved ones; observes that a tax refund for charities and faith groups for the erection of memorials has been in place for some years now in the form of the Memorial Grant Scheme; calls on the Government to extend the scheme to all memorials; and urges the Government to raise at European level the possibility of abolishing such taxes altogether.

That this House notes with concern that value added tax is applicable to the erection and maintenance of memorials to the deceased; considers this to be an unnecessary and insensitive tax on the bereaved and those who wish to honour the memory of loved ones; observes that a tax refund...