Written Statement of 19 December 2002

CABINET OFFICE

  Cabinet Office Report
  The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Douglas Alexander):
  The Cabinet Office Performance Report 2002 has today been published and laid before Parliament. Copies have been placed in the libraries of both Houses.

  Civil Service Sickness Absence
  The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Douglas Alexander):
  The report 'Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service 2001' prepared for my department by Aon Limited shows that by applying the same methodology as in previous years the average level of sickness absence was 9.2 days per staff year. This represents a 7 per cent. decrease over the equivalent figure of 9.9 days set out in the report for 2000. The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the 2001 figures.

  Calculated on the basis of absence per person, the figure for the Civil Service was 8.0 days. According to the CBI survey for 2001, this compares favourably with a figure of 10.1 days for the public sector as a whole and is only slightly more than the average rate of 7.1 days for all sectors.

  Departments have published Service Delivery Agreements which contain their individual targets for reducing sickness absence. Overall the Civil Service has been targeted to reduce sickness absence by 30 per cent. (to 7.2 days per staff year) by 2003 against the 1998 baseline. My department is continuing to work with other departments and agencies as they take forward their plans to reduce sickness absence.

  I have placed copies of the Aon report in the Libraries of the House.

  Open Government Initiative Figures
  The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Douglas Alexander):
  The number of records released under the Open Government Initiative since its introduction in 1992 now stands at over 124,000 and relates to releases up to 31 December 2001. The breakdown of releases is as follows:

  Department

  Total

  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

  6,163

  Cabinet Office

  8,113

  Office of National Statistics

  401

  Crown Prosecution Service

  1,054

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  Department

  Total

  HM Customs and Excise

  1,008

  Ministry of Defence

  12,052

  Department for Education and Sills

  3,802

  Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

  22,277

  Foreign and Commonwealth Office

  18,600

  Department of Health

  2,122

  Department for Work and Pensions

  3,322

  Home Office

  3,553

  Board of Inland Revenue

  2

  Lord Chancellor's Department

  6,448

  Court Services

  3,521

  Metropolitan Police

  1,151

  Department for Culture, Media and Sport

  0

  Northern Ireland (NI and Depts, Northern Ireland Office and NI Court Services)

  11,808

  Department for International Development

  749

  Scottish Executive

  4,928

  Department of Trade and Industry

  651

  HM Treasury

  995

  Wales Office, Office of the Secretary of State for Wales

  983

  Government Communications Headquarters

  9,083

  Security Service

  1,332

  Total

  124,118

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

  Higher Education
  The Minister for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education (Margaret Hodge):
  The level of support available to students in the academic year 2003–04 will be 2.4 per cent. higher than for 2002–03, in line with forecast price increases. I am placing a Memorandum in the Library giving details of the new loan, grant and fee rates for 2003–04. These rates will be incorporated in the Education (Student Support) Regulations, which cover support for eligible students under the current arrangements, and in the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations and the Education (Student Loans) Amendment Regulations, which cover the decreasing number of students who are still receiving awards and loans under the pre-1998 arrangements. These regulations will all be laid before Parliament in due course.

  Departmental Spending Plans
  The Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Charles Clarke):
  On 9 December I set out, Official Report col. 22, our outline investment and reform plans for the education and skills sector, except for higher education. This statement gives the House some further details of spending, within the totals already announced, in a number of key areas. I also attach a table which sets out in detail the allocations I have made. I will announce our plans for Higher Education in January.

  Departmental Spending Plans

    SURE START
    A strong early start for children is vital to longer term educational success, particularly for children from poorer backgrounds. And a sound educational start in life is the best foundation from which to lift children out of poverty. We have already announced that the new, expanded Sure Start Unit will transform childcare, early years education and family and health support services with total funds, including Education Formula Spending (EPS), of £850/1223/1510 million over the three years to 2005–06. By that year, this represents over a third more than was available for 2002–03. These sums will be supplemented by using £203/103/129 million of accumulated End Year Flexibility from Sure Start programmes.
    Some 50 per cent. of the total budget each year (£620/689/788 million) is already earmarked to go direct to local authorities in support of this work. I can now set out in some detail how that resource will be invested.

    SURE START
      (a) Nursery Education
      £344/327/345 million. As I made clear on 9 December, I will be transferring £319/322/40 million to Education Formula Spending to enable local authorities to provide universal provision for three year olds. As a result, all three year olds will have a free nursery education place in their area by April 2004, six months earlier than originally planned. In 2003–4 £20 million of capital grant will help local authorities whose physical infrastructure might otherwise prevent them reaching universal provision. And as part of our commitment to early education £5 million is being made available in each of the three years to develop maintained nursery schools.
      (b) Disadvantaged Areas
      £471/615/843 million. These funds will allow us to deliver 524 Sure Start programmes, to continue the 9 pilots to test how best to mainstream Sure Start methods and 50 programmes covering rural and small areas. £83/99/138 million of these funds will extend the neighbourhood nurseries programme, specifically to add 28,800 more places by March 2006 to the 45,000 we aim to set up by March 2004. We shall spend £5163/181 million on children's centres in disadvantaged areas to reach at least 650,000 children by March 2006. This funding also pays for the 100 Early Excellence Centres by March 2004 (£25/15/13 million) promised in our 2001 Manifesto.
      (c) Other childcare places and support funding
      £136/216/258 million. Within this amount £19/30/40 million will develop Out of School Childcare places in order to achieve our target of 250,000 places by March 2006. It provides funding for childminders' start up costs and support for childminder networks. Some £20/29/35 million will also be available to support advice, support and training to enable children with special needs to access and benefit from services. To manage the increasing demand brought about by the expansion of the programme, local authorities will receive £62/85/87 million to support the work of Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships.
      (d) Training and workforce development
      £52/63/76 million. We want to develop a workforce of highly competent childcare workers, and for all sectors to benefit from staff trained in Foundation Stage curriculum and potentially progression to Qualified Teacher Status. These funds will support workers in achieving level 2 and 3 qualifications through childcare workforce training (0/14/27 million), provide local authorities with funds to support training in Foundation Stage curriculum and practice, for practitioners in maintained, private and voluntary sectors (£36/37/37 million) and support the newly launched progression route to a higher level qualification and then to Qualified Teacher Status (£9/12/12 million).
      (e) Central Support
      £50/105/117 million. This will cover a range of activities key to the success of the programme including Criminal Record Bureau checks (£5/6/7 million) to pay for checks for childcare workers to avoid this being a disincentive to registration, recruitment and advertising campaigns (£4/9/9 million) and research and evaluation (£6/6/6 million). Funding will also provide for Business support (£3/9/9 million) as well as work with voluntary sector and other organisations (£7/8/8 million) with an active interest in children's well being. An unallocated provision of £0/33/44 million provides money for new projects to be developed over the later two years.
    SECTOR SKILLS COUNCILS (SSCs)
    I have already announced that we will be investing over £10 billion a year in skills by 2005–06. If that resource is to be used effectively we need to engage employers at all levels, including enabling them to work with others in their business sector. I am encouraged by early progress being made to establish the UK wide network of Sector Skills Councils. SSCs offer employers the opportunity to articulate the skills needs of their sector clearly, influence decisions by education and training providers about skills supply and deliver sustained improvements in productivity and service delivery. I am announcing today a substantial increase in funding to the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) to enable the completion of the 'Skills for Business' network of Sector Skills Councils and to help address skills issues across the economy. The total planned funding for SSDA will rise to £427 457 48 million. This represents a doubling of the Agency's funding over the period from 2002–03.
    PRISON EDUCATION
    The Prisoners' Learning and Skills Unit, which is managed jointly between my Department and the Home Office, will increase dramatically both learning opportunities and learning outcomes in prisons. In fulfilment of our manifesto commitment and with particular focus on provision for 18–21 year olds, we are providing £85/110/125 million over the spending review period compared with the £66 million invested in 2002–03. These funds, together with the Capital Modernisation Funding agreed in April that we have begun investing, will help deliver a tailored coherent programme of learning for prisoners from induction and assessment on arrival in prison through to resettlement in the community on release.

    INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)
    ICT is at the heart of universal access, educational transformation and preparing children, young people and adults for the knowledge economy. It has the potential to

    Raise standards

    Widen access to lifelong learning

    Engage poor performers, and

    Build the skills needed for work and life.

    Our investment in new technologies since 1998 has already produced significant achievements. These include NGfL in schools; the National Learning Network, UK Online Centres and Ufi/learndirect in post-16 learning; and the eUniversities project, and the high speed teaching and research JANET network in higher education.
    The 2002 Spending Review allocations which I have already announced will enable us to build on these achievements and reap the benefits of ICT for teachers and learners across all sectors. Our further investment in developing ICT infrastructure, content and skills means that we will support ICT programmes totalling, once matched funding from LEAs is included, over £820/858/920 million across the next three years on top of the investment by institutions themselves. For schools, Spending Review funding means that we will

    Connect all schools to the Internet at broadband speeds

    Deliver digital resources into the classroom through Curriculum Online

    Ensure that even more teachers have personal access to ICT, and

    Further embed the use of ICT across the curriculum to help deliver our standards and re-modelling agendas.

    The majority of funding will go to schools through the Standards Fund and, including LEA matched funding, spending on ICT will have increased to £660 million by 2005–06.
    In post-16 learning, the high speed JANET network will be extended beyond FE colleges to adult and community institutions, enabling access across the LSC sector. Additionally, a post-16 equivalent of curriculum online will make high quality digital content and resources for e-learning available to lecturers and students. £14 million of additional resources will be
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    provided in 2005–06 to ensure we continue to have a sustainable network of UK Online Centres. In higher education, further investment in the high speed network will bring even greater capacity and resilience for this world-class infrastructure, and enable a smooth transition to the new Super JANET by 2006.

    SCHOOLS STANDARDS FUND
    I announced last week that around £1.5 billion would be made available in each of the next 3 years to the schools standards fund to enable schools to galvanise reform on standards, behaviour and choice. Details of the Standards Fund grants available to schools and LEAs for 2003–04 were provided to LEAs on 29 November. This included the allocations to individual LEAs of most grants; some allocations, where the data needed to calculate LEAs1 allocations is not yet available, will be made later. The Department also circulated to LEAs on 10 December a forward indication of the sums planned to be made available, nationally, through the Standards Fund in 2004–05 and 2005–06.
    Copies of both these documents have been placed in the Library.

    OFSTED
    I have allocated £203/206/215 million to support OfSTED over the next three years. We recognise that it has an important role to play in monitoring and reporting publicly on what goes on in schools and elsewhere, The extra resources take account of OfSTED's increasing role in the regulation of childcare and post 16 inspections as well as school inspections in the maintained and independent sectors. We look forward to working with OfSTED as they help us to identify where improvements can be made in our continued drive to raise standards.

    RUNNING MY DEPARTMENT
    I am determined to ensure that the Department for Education and Skills continues to look at ways it can become more efficient in the way it operates and remains at the forefront of public service reform. I am allocating £231/246/245 million to Departmental administration costs. In 2003–04, the Department will also use around £16 million of its accumulated end year flexibility for administration costs. In real terms this allocation represents a 1.7 per cent. reduction in my Department's administration costs between 2002–03 and 2005–06. Over the same period programme expenditure will increase by 17 per cent.in real terms. By 2005–06, for every additional £1 we spend on administration, we shall be spending an additional £500 on programmes.
    I am allocating a further £29/35/32 million in programme funds to support evaluation, research, advertising, publicity, communications and ensuring the Department's services can be accessed on-line.
    The table attached shows the full allocations I have made. It includes a number of other allocations to support school-age education, in particular for initial teacher training, Academies and City Technology Colleges, and the National College for School Leadership as well as small but important allocations to continue to develop the Connexions Card, to support

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    joint work with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to foster creativity in schools and to encourage innovation in schools including through the development of Federations.
    I will be vigilant in ensuring that these substantial resources for education and skills are used efficiently and effectively over the next three years and are applied in order to meet the ambitious targets we have set for children, young people and adults. If resources are not being used to best effect, I will not hesitate to ensure they are switched to where they are most needed, and will notify Parliament of any significant movements.
    Allocation of DfES SR2002 settlement

    £ millions

    2003–04

    2004–05

    2005–06

    Total allocation1

    49,632

    53,039

    57,965

    Of which

    Resource2

    21,143

    22,286

    24,143

    Capital

    4,061

    5,023

    5,753

    EFS

    24,428

    25,731

    28,069

    Breakdown of Allocation

    Sure Start

    850

    1,223

    1,510

    Of which

    Sure Start spending

    734

    1,005

    1,299

    Planned use of Sure Start EYF3

    -203

    -103

    -129

    Assumed spending through EFS

    319

    322

    340

    Schools allocations

    31,597

    33,492

    35,984

    Of which

    EFS (excluding assumed spending on Sure Start

    24,109

    25,410

    27,729

    Schools Resource—Standards Fund

    1,567

    1,398

    1,631

    Schools Resource—Leadership Incentive Grant

    175

    175

    175

    Schools Resource—School Standards Grant

    799

    849

    872

    Schools Resource—Threshold and Performance Pay

    742

    844

    0

    Schools Resource—National College for School Leadership

    77

    87

    92

    Schools Resource—Academies and CTCs

    126

    184

    245

    Schools Resource—Innovation

    10

    10

    10

    Schools Resource—primary Modern Foreign Languages

    4

    8

    10

    Schools Resource—Creativity

    5

    5

    10

    Schools Resource—Initial Teacher Training4

    345

    375

    415

    Schools resource—Music and Dance Scheme

    14

    16

    18

    Schools Resource—Assisted Places Scheme

    30

    10

    3

    Schools Resource—Gifted and Talented5

    8

    8

    8

    Schools Resource—other Central spending

    186

    154

    264

    Leadership Reserve

    0

    50

    100

    Schools Capital—School Buildings6

    3,016

    3,487

    3,959

    Schools Capital—ICT

    384

    422

    443

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    Skills

    9,227

    9,859

    10,487

    Of which

    Learning and Skills Council Allocation7

    7,923

    8,496

    9,074

    Non LSC—Adult Skills

    Prisoner education

    85

    110

    125

    Sector Skills Councils

    42

    45

    48

    RDA: Skills fund

    43

    43

    43

    Ufl

    44

    44

    44

    UK Online centres (inc capital)

    14

    20

    28

    Financial Support for Adults

    66

    106

    106

    Employer Training Pilots

    130

    0

    0

    Adult Basic Skills Development

    76

    76

    76

    Non LSC—adult skills (small programmes)

    49

    49

    45

    Union Learning Fund

    11

    11

    11

    Non LSC— Youth

    Connexions Service8

    455

    500

    515

    Connexions Card

    5

    15

    14

    QCA

    60

    60

    60

    Youth Service disabled access

    8

    8

    8

    Millennium Volunteers

    15

    15

    15

    Non LSC—14[en rule]19 (small programmes)

    89

    100

    98

    Gap Year

    5

    Non LSC other

    Non LSC [en rule]FE

    78

    130

    147

    International programmes

    29

    31

    30

    Other

    7,958

    8,464

    9,984

    Of which

    Children's Fund

    200

    200

    200

    DfES admin. Costs and related spending9

    260

    281

    277

    OFSTED

    203

    206

    215

    Service Development Fund

    0

    0

    500

    Unallocated funds10

    7,379

    8,109

    8,752

    Behaviour—Post 14 Contribution11

    17

    17

    40

    Planned use of EYF3

    -101

    -349

    0

    Additional allocations12 PFI credits

    850

    1,050

    1,200

    Transfers to EFS for teacher pensions

    590

    610

    640

    1 An additional £109 million from the Windfall Tax margin allocated in the 2002 Pre-Budget Report.
    2 Excluding capital grants (in the Capital Line) and money
    transferred to EFS.
    3 Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Department plans to
    use accumulated End Year Flexibility to supplement the funds
    available from the SR2002 settlement.
    4 Includes miscellaneous support costs.
    5 Excludes Standards Fund Gifted and Talented programmes.
    6 Excluding PFI credits.
    7 These figures are lower than those published in the LSC's Grant Letter issued on 5 December. The Grant Letter figures include an element of the funds transferred for teachers pensions contributions and CMF funding which is allocated outside the SR settlement.
    8 This figure includes provision for VAT.
    9 Includes Departmental spending on research and central spending on advertising and publicity.
    10 Includes Departmental unallocated provision, Higher Education Baselines and funding to be allocated for Higher Education.
    11 This contributes towards the total Behaviour package of £13411491186 million announced on 12 December as the remainder is funded through the standards fund and other budgets.
    12 Not included in figures above. Excludes Education Maintenance Allowances which are funded through AME.

  HOME DEPARTMENT

    Police
    The Minister for Policing, Crime Reduction and Community Safety (Mr. John Denham):
    On 5 December I placed in the Library a copy of the Home Secretary's proposals for allocation of police grant for England in 2003–04. I have today placed in the Library a revised copy of those proposals which includes information on allocations of police grant for Wales in 2003–04. The proposals in respect of England are unchanged from the earlier ones. The Home Secretary and I intend to implement the revised proposals subject to consideration of any representations we receive about them and to the approval of the House.

    Funding the police service properly is a top priority for this government. The settlement I am announcing today continues that commitment. The total provision for policing in England and Wales, to be supported by grant in 2003–04 is £9,683 million. This is a cash rise of £566 million or 6.2 per cent over the provision for 2002–03. This includes principal formula police grant, direct Home Office spending, the standard spending on which revenue support grant is based.

    Provisional grants (i.e. Home Office Police Grant, Revenue Support Grant and National Non Domestic Rates) for Welsh police authorities in 2003–04 compared with 2002–03 are given in Table 1. Where Welsh police authorities fall be low the 3 per cent "floor" applied to English police authorities, they will receive Home Office special grant to bring them up to the minimum increase of 3 per cent. Grant increases for individual authorities vary. Differences between authorities reflect funding formula changes resulting from the recent consultation process over formula changes and year-to-year data changes. Changes to the police funding formula:

    The police funding formula that distributes Home Office police grant to police authorities has been reviewed as part of an overall review of local authority funding formulae.

    We consulted on proposals for the police funding formula that would make the policing formula more responsive to current policing needs. The six options for change relating specifically to the police funding formula published in the consultation paper were to:

    update the activity analysis data on which over 70 per cent of the formula allocation is based;

    incorporate the £30million Rural Policing Fund into the main grant formula:

    remove the remaining component that was still based on police establishments;

    increase the personal crime component by 5 per cent;

    increase the public order component by 5 per cent;

    introduce a deprivation component at 2 per cent.

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    Consultation on the proposals was wide ranging. In the light of comments received, the Home Secretary has decided that two changes will be made to the police funding formula. These changes were widely supported by the policing community during the consultation process.

    Activity analysis data has been updated to make the formula more responsive to current policing needs. Up to this year, the pattern of resources across policing functions has been calculated using data collected in 1995. It is important to bring it up to date to reflect contemporary pressures on the police service.

    The Home Secretary has agreed to reduction of the `establishment component' in the formula from 10 per cent to zero. This change finally removes the old damping mechanism that cushioned police authorities from the full impact of change when the present formula was introduced in 1995. The component had been reduced from 50 per cent to 10 per cent before the moratorium on formula change was introduced in 1999. The change will complete the process of phasing out the damping. Other damping mechanisms, in the form of floors and ceilings on grant change, are now in place.

    The Home Secretary has announced already that the Rural Policing Fund will remain unchanged as a separate £30 million fund to meet the particular needs of forces with the most widespread populations. A proportion of this will be available to police forces in Wales. There has been no change to the method of allocation. Data changes have been applied as usual which accounts for the year-on-year variations in allocations for authorities.

    Specific grants for police authorities:

    As well as general grant, police authorities will receive additional funding through several specific grants for particular schemes. Some of these grants will be available to all forces in England and Wales, others to specific forces to help meet their particular requirements. Funding for some of these initiatives will be available on a matched funding basis. I estimate that specific grants up to £23 million will be available to Welsh police authorities.

    The main specific grants are:

    Crime Fighting Fund: this will continue for the three years 2003–04 to 2005–06. Police officers recruited between April 2000 and March 2003 through the CFF will continue to be funded at 100 per cent. There will be funds for the recruitment of a further 600 officers in 2003–04 and more in the subsequent two years. Officers recruited in 2003–04 and future years will be funded at 75 per cent;

    Airwave: further funds will be available for the startup operational costs of authorities taking Airwave in 2003–04 and to enable those forces who have the Airwave service to purchase additional menu services. The Home Office will continue to meet the core charges for the service provider. Additional capital will be available to police authorities.
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    Basic Command Unit (BCU) funds: £50 million for BCU's, that are at the forefront of local policing. Grants will be targeted towards forces with BCU's in high crime areas to help reduce crime in partnership with Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships;

    Police Negotiating Board (PNB): the pay and conditions package agreed by PNB is fully provided for in the settlement. The package introduces new elements into police pay such as payments for the most experienced officers who can demonstrate a high level of professional competence and extra rewards for officers in the most difficult and demanding posts. A separate special grant is available to underpin the PNB proposals for special priority payments.

    Community Support Officers (CSOs): funding will be available to support the costs of CSOs who will free up police officer time, will play a crucial role in providing-reassurance and who will have some powers to deal with low level crime and anti-social behaviour. The provision will fund in full CSOs recruited in 2002–03 and fund those recruited in 2003–04 at 50 per cent.

    Police authority capital:

    The Home Secretary and I intend to allocate to police authorities in England and Wales provision of capital grant and supplementary credit approvals of approximately £190 million in 2003–04. Within this allocation funds will be set aside for a second Premises Improvement Fund to which forces may bid for funds specifically to improve the working conditions of police officers.

    In addition capital grants for the introduction of Airwave will be made available to those authorities taking up the radio communications service in 2003–04. Similar arrangements were made for 2002–03.

    There will be capital provision for the case and custody project of the Criminal Justice IT system. This will be supported by resource funding as well.

    Central spending on policing:

    The main specific items are the DNA expansion programme, the National Strategy for Police Information Systems and the Airwave contractor's core charges. In addition, provision is made for the costs of organisations supporting policing, mainly the Police Information Technology Organisation (PITO), Centrex (the Central Police Training and Development Authority) and scientific and technical facilities.

    Efficiency:

    The settlement continues to take account of the Home Secretary's commitment to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the police service. Future police grant allocations will be considered in the light of police authorities meeting the 2 per cent efficiency improvements. The PNB agreement includes a service-wide target to secure a 15 per cent reduction in overtime expenditure over the three years from 2003–04. Implementation of activity based costing in forces will be another factor considered when assessing the efficiency target.
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    Conclusion:

    We are keeping our promise to the police and public to match reform with investment. In November we published the first National Policing Plan which sets out strategic national priorities for the police service. With this settlement we are delivering our investment in the police service by providing the resources to help the police do their job more effectively. The police service is receiving the resources to benefit from an historic pay and conditions deal and an action plan to cut bureaucracy. At the same time both the police service and the public will continue to benefit from record police numbers that are helping to deliver on high visibility policing targets and to reduce the fear of crime.

    Table 1: Police Grant Allocations by Welsh police authority (includes Home office special grants to maintain floor increases but excludes all other specific and special grants)

    Police Authority

    2002/03 Allocation £m

    2003/04 Allocation £m

    % Change

    Dyfed-Powys

    (1)

    47.9

    49.3

    3%

    Gwent

    66.7

    69.6

    4.3%

    North Wales

    (2)

    70.1

    73.4

    4.6%

    South Wales

    (1)

    158.3

    163.0

    3%

    Total

    343.0

    355.2

    3.6%

    Notes:

    1. Grant allocations for 2003–04 include special grant from the Home Office to ensure a 3 per cent. minimum increase over 2002–03.

    2. Grant allocation for 2002–03 included special grant from the Home Office to ensure a 2.3 per cent. minimum increase over 2002/03.

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD & RURAL AFFAIRS

  Hunting Bill
  The Minister for Rural Affairs (Alun Michael):
  As requested during the final stages of the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons on Monday night, I wish to respond by written statement to the debate.

  The Government has a specific manifesto commitment to enable Parliament to reach a conclusion on hunting with dogs. The manifesto also made it clear that we have no intention whatsoever of placing restrictions on the sports of angling and shooting.

  Many of the questions raised in the debate can be answered by a careful reading of the Bill itself, it seeks to be tough but fair. It seeks to resolve the issue in a way which is based on the right principles tested against evidence, that will make good law, that is enforceable and that will stand the test of time. But as well as being practical it deals clearly with the moral issue. At the heart of the Bill is the key purpose—to prevent cruelty associated with hunting with dogs. It tackles cruelty but it also recognises the need to deal with pests and to protect livestock and crops.
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  The standards for the utility and cruelty tests are set out in the Bill. The test of utility requires the activity to be shown to be necessary in an area to prevent serious damage by the quarry species to livestock, crops, property or biodiversity. The definition of cruelty is well established in law: it is the causing of unnecessary or avoidable suffering. It is important to be clear that no Bill could prevent all suffering associated with pest control. What the Bill does is to ensure that hunting with dogs is permitted only where it is necessary, and where it is established that the activity proposed would cause the least suffering. The cruelty test is set out in clause 8 of the Bill and demonstrates that suggestions that the Bill would cause more suffering are mistaken.

  The two tests have been applied consistently to all the activities and based on the evidence.

  In the case of deer hunting, this is banned absolutely because it does not meet the cruelty test. Stalking and shooting will always be available and are less likely to cause less suffering. This is made clear by paragraph 6.39 of the Burns Report:
  "Stalking, if carried out to a high standard and with the availability of a dog or dogs to help find any wounded deer that escape, is in principle the better method of culling deer from an animal welfare perspective. In particular, it obviates the need to chase the deer in the way which occurs in hunting".
  The Government's response to concern about the effect a ban on deer hunting may have on the deer population is to secure the control of the populations through local deer management groups. These groups operate both in areas where there is deer hunting and in other areas where there are healthy deer herds and we will encourage them to operate effectively in all areas.

  Hare coursing is also banned absolutely because the intention of the activity is to test the speed and agility of dogs and not to control hare numbers. Burns (para 5.94) made clear that there is little or no need to control hare numbers and also (para 6.67–68) drew a distinction between the suffering caused to hares that were killed in coursing and those killed in hare hunting. I have seen nothing in more recent evidence to lead me to disagree with Burn's conclusions.

  There are no restrictions on hunting with dogs of rats and rabbits because this method of controlling the populations satisfies the two tests and causes less suffering than alternative methods of control such as poisoning or snaring.

  The proposal in the Bill that Parliament should establish a system for making case-by-case decisions in regard to other hunting activities is to ensure that cruelty is prevented. An applicant would have to show that both the tests are met in the case of the particular hunting proposed. The applicant's evidence would need to cover any relevant local factors, the period for which the applicant undertakes the activity, and what hunting practices the applicant wishes to undertake. A designated animal welfare body will also be able to provide evidence regarding the application. The registrar (and in the event of an appeal the tribunal) must determine, on the basis of an objective assessment of the evidence provided by both the applicant and the animal welfare body, whether the proposed hunting satisfies the two tests. If appropriate, for example on
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  questions of bio-diversity, the registrar (or the tribunal) may seek advice from English Nature or the Countryside Council for Wales.

  This is not a matter of balancing the two tests. Both tests must be satisfied for hunting to continue. In other words, the registrar or the tribunal must be satisfied that the proposed hunting would be for one of the purposes set out in clause 8(1) and that purpose cannot reasonably be achieved by a method that would cause less suffering. So hunting will be permitted only where no method that causes less suffering is available for achieving a necessary purpose.

  I was asked about the effect of the Bill on arrangements for the disposal of fallen stock. It should be remembered that the European Unions Animal Byproducts Regulation will ban routine on farm burial and burning of animal carcasses from 30 April 2003. This will mean that the existing fallen stock service provided by a number of hunts could only continue with considerable investment in new equipment. So the future of the hunts 1 service is in doubt irrespective of the Bill. The Government has been holding discussions with the livestock and disposal industries with the aim of developing a national fallen stock scheme.

  I look forward to discussions in committee where many of the detailed points raised during the debate can be fully addressed.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Alternatives to the Baton Round
  The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Jane Kennedy):
  Today I have placed in the Library a copy of the Report on the third phase of the research programme into alternative policing approaches towards the management of conflict. Copies of the reports on the previous two phases of the programme were placed in the Library of the House on 4 April and 30 November 2001.

  The programme was set up, in response to the Patten recommendations on public order equipment, to:
  establish whether a less potentially lethal alternative to the baton round is available; and
  review the public order equipment which is presently available or could be developed in order to expand the range of tactical options available to operational commanders.
  I am grateful to the Steering Group, and to the many contributors to the programme, including those in government service, the police, academics and other experts, for their sustained commitment.

  In summary, the report:
  makes clear that there is no off the shelf, commercially available, effective and acceptable alternative to the baton round at this time,
  gives further details on the decision of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to place an order for six vehicle-mounted water cannon announced on 18 July this year;
  describes the extensive research into alternative less lethal systems conducted over the past twelve months;

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  highlights the efforts made in developing an integrated and community-oriented approach to the management of conflict. This report contains both an important account of the approach developed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and the international context.
  The report describes the progress in researching two alternative technologies offered by the private sector, building on the comprehensive evaluation in the phase 2 report. It also sets out the urgent development research that the Northern Ireland Office has commissioned from the Government's own professional advisers. This is currently assessing the scope to develop both an attenuated energy (perhaps soft-nosed) projectile and a discriminate irritant projectile. A further report on the potential of the two alternative systems will be published in due course, although completion of any programme through to manufacture would inevitably be resource intensive and take several years.

  The aim of this programme is not only to take research forward, but also to encourage wider debate about the issue of conflict management. The programme has been conducted in an open and transparent way, including publication of developments over the past twelve months and presentations at conferences. The report invites comments on a number of specific issues, that have particular application in Northern Ireland.

  Northern Ireland Census 2001
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Ian Pearson):
  Copies of the second report of the Northern Ireland Census 2001—Northern Ireland Census 2001 Key Statistics' have today been laid in the Northern Ireland Assembly as required by statute. Copies have also been lodged in the House of Commons Library and the House of Lords Library.

TREASURY

  Privately Operated Tolls (VAT)
  The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey):
  On 12 September 2000, the European Court of Justice ruled that privately operated tolls should bear VAT. The Government will implement this ruling with effect from 1 February 2003, once consultations with toll operators have been concluded.

  At the time of this ruling, the Government made clear its intention that motorists should not pay higher toll charges as a result of the imposition of VAT. Our intention remains that tolls will not increase on account of VAT being levied from 1 February.

  Debt Management Office
  The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly):
  The second published Debt Management Account covering the year to the 31 March 2002 is being laid before the House and published today. Copies will be available in the Libraries of both Houses.

  Tonnage Tax
  The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo):
  The tonnage tax was introduced in 2000 as part of a package of measures
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  designed to help revive the UK shipping industry. In order to place a check on the cost of the tonnage tax, there are rules that restrict the amount of capital allowances that can be claimed by a lessor for expenditure on a ship that is used for activities within the tonnage tax. These rules apply only to finance leases. Some lessors are, however, now offering long-term leases for ships that have the many of the characteristics of finance leases without being finance leases in form. Such leases can be used to allow lessors to claim significantly more in capital allowances than had been intended when the tonnage tax was introduced. The extra cost is not justified and does nothing to further the objectives of the regime. The next Finance Bill will, therefore, contain a provision extending the restrictions. The provision will take effect for leases entered into on or after today.

  The Inland Revenue are today publishing further details of the proposal. Draft legislation containing the provision will be issued shortly and the Inland Revenue will consult with those concerned on the details of that legislation.

  Home Care Services (VAT)
  The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey):
  The introduction of state registers for domiciliary care agencies provides the Government with the opportunity to extend the VAT exemption for welfare services to those services provided by state-regulated private welfare agencies. I am pleased to announce that when the House returns from the Christmas recess the Government will lay the necessary change before Parliament.

FOREIGN & COMMONWEALTH

  Council of the European Union
  The Minister for Europe (Mr. Denis MacShane):

  Date

  Location

  Event

  January

  9

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  9

  Brussels

  Agriculture & Fisheries Council (To Be Confirmed)

  16

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  20

  Brussels

  EUROGROUP (Evening)

  20

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  20–21

  Brussels

  Agriculture & Fisheries Council

  21

  Brussels

  ECOFIN

  24

  Nafplion

  Employment Council (Ministerial informal)

  27–28

  Brussels

  General Affairs & External Relations Council

  28

  Brussels

  EU-ASEAN Ministerial

  30

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  February

  5

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  6–7

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  10–11

  Brussels

  AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES Council (To Be Confirmed)

  13

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  17

  Brussels

  EUROGROUP (evening)

  18

  Brussels

  ECOFIN

  20

  Brussels

  EDUCATION, YOUTH & CULTURE Council (to be confirmed)

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  Date

  Location

  Event

  22

  Thessaloniki

  Energy Council (Ministerial Informal)

  24–25

  Brussels

  General Affairs & External Relations Council Agriculture & Fisheries

  26

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  27–28

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  27–28

  Brussels

  Justice & Home Affairs Council

  28

  Brussels

  Employment, Social Policy, Health & Consumer Affairs Council

  March

  1–2

  loannina

  Informal Education

  3

  Brussels

  Competitiveness Council

  4

  Brussels

  Environment Council

  6

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  6

  Luxembourg

  Employment, Social Policy, Health & Consumer Affairs Council

  6

  Luxembourg

  EUROGROUP (evening)

  7

  Luxembourg

  ECOFIN

  7

  Luxembourg

  Transport, Telecom & Energy Council

  13

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  14–15

  Athens

  Informal Defence Meeting

  17–18

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  17–18

  Luxembourg

  Agriculture & Fisheries Council

  18–19

  Luxembourg

  General Affairs & External Relations Council

  21

  BRUSSELS

  EUROPEAN COUNCIL

  27

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  27–28

  Luxembourg

  Transport, Telecom & Energy Council)

  27–28

  Athens

  EU-Rio Group, EU-MERCOSUR

  28–29

  Veria

  Informal Justice & Home Affairs

  31

  Brussels

  Agriculture & Fisheries Council (to be confirmed)

  April

  2

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Praesidium

  3–4

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  4

  Brussels

  Justice & Home Affairs

  4–6

  Hania (Crete)

  Informal ECOFIN (Ministerial)

  5

  Lisbon

  Europe—Africa Summit

  5

  loannina

  Ministerial Meeting on Education (Informal)

  10

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Praesidium

  11–13

  Chania

  ECOFIN (Informal)

  14

  Brussels

  General Affairs & External Relations

  14

  Brussels

  Agriculture & Fisheries

  16

  Athens

  European Conference

  16

  Athens

  Signature Of The Accession (Provisional Date)

  23

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Praesidium

  24–25

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  May

  2–4

  (Greece)

  Gymnich (Informal Foreign Ministers)

  5

  Athens

  Informal Environment (Ministerial)

  5–6

  Brussels

  Education, Youth & Culture Council (To be confirmed)

  8

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  12–13

  Corfu

  tAgriculture (Ministerial Informal)

  12–13

  Brussels

  Competitiveness

  12

  Brussels

  EUROGRUP

  13

  Brussels

  ECOFIN

  14

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

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  Date

  Location

  Event

  14

  Brussels

  Transport, Telecom & Energy Council

  15–16

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  16

  Brussels

  EU—ACP Ministerial

  16–17

  Halkidiki

  Informal Regional Policy (Ministerial)

  16–17

  Cruise off

  Informal Transport & Merchant Marine (Ministerial) Greece

  17

  Brussels

  EU—W. Balkans (Zagreb Process)

  19

  Brussels

  General Affairs & External Relations (+ Defence)

  20

  Brussels

  General Affairs & External Relations

  22

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  24

  Thessaloniki

  Informal Culture (Ministerial)

  26–27

  Brussels

  Agriculture & Fisheries Council

  26–27

  Athens

  EUROMED Conference (MidTerm Ministerial)

  27

  Brussels

  Environment Council

  28

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  30–31

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  31

  St. Petesburg

  EU—Russia Summit

  June

  2

  Brussels

  EUROGROUP

  2–3

  Alexandroupol

  Development Co-operation (Ministerial Informal)

  2–3

  Brussels

  Transport, Telecom & Energy Council

  3

  Brussels

  ECOFIN

  4

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  5–6

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  5–6

  Brussels

  Justice & Home Affairs Council

  5–6

  Brussels

  Employment, Social Policy, Health & Consumer Affairs Council

  6

  Rhodes

  Informal Public Administration

  11

  Brussels

  Meeting of the Presidium

  11–12

  Brussels

  Agriculture & Fisheries Council

  12–13

  Brussels

  Convention Plenary

  17–18

  Brussels

  General Affairs & External Relations

  20

  Halkidiki

  EUROPEAN COUNCIL

  21

  Halkidiki

  Zagreb Process II Summit

  22

  Brussels

  General Affairs & External Relations

  24

  Brussels

  Employment, Social Policy, Health & Consumer Affairs Council

  July

  10

  Varese

  Informal Council/Troika

  11–12

  Varese

  Informal Council of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs.

  17

  Treviso

  Informal meeting of the EU Employment Committee.

  21

  Rome

  Meeting of MISEP focal points. (Mutual Information System on Employment Policies in Europe)

  24

  Milan

  European Conference on Discrimination.

WORK AND PENSIONS

  Housing Benefit
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Malcolm Wicks):
  I am pleased to announce that 88 of the 135 bids submitted to the Help Fund have been successful. As around a quarter of these

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  are joint bids from groups of Local Authorities, the Fund will help 272 Authorities overall. The Help Fund was set up to address core problems in Housing Benefit delivery at a local level and is a practical demonstration of the Government's commitment to working with local authorities to improve the standard of Housing Benefit administration. The funded projects totalling over £4.6 million will make significant improvements in areas such as training, customer service and IT capabilities. I am placing a full list of the successful bids in the library today.

CULTURE, MEDIA & SPORT

  DCMS/Strategy Unit Report
  The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell):
  The joint DCMS/Strategy Unit report on sport and physical activity will be published today.

  Sport is an important part of many people's lives. It defines us as a nation. It teaches us about life. We learn self-discipline and teamwork from it. We learn how to win with grace and lose with dignity. It gets us fit. It keeps us healthy. It forms a central part of the cultural and recreational parts of our lives. Millions of us are involved in one way or another: as players, as coaches or officials, organising clubs, teams and fixtures, or just watching.

  Sport and physical activity can help the Government achieve key objectives. Crucially, it can help us tackle serious health issues. It can also help to contribute to other areas, such as crime reduction, social inclusion and help with the development of young people in schools.

  Because of our commitment to sport it is now receiving unprecedented levels of public funding—through both the Lottery and the Exchequer. This joint report on sport and physical activity is about how to get more of that cash to the front line and spend less on bureaucracy, on box ticking and procedures. It makes some fundamental recommendations of how to reform the public and other structures which handle money in sport. And it presents our view of how we would like the sporting world to develop over the next 15 to 20 years.

  The key messages in the report are that we should:
  increase participation in sport, because of the health benefits it can bring and, together with its potential to help reduce crime, tapkle social exclusion and provide a better education for young people;
  enhance our international success, building on our achievements at the Olympic Games in Sydney and the Commonwealth Games in Manchester;
  adopt a more focused and strategic approach when bidding for major sporting events, with each of the role of each of the stakeholders being clearly defined;
  remove layers of bureaucracy and help ensure that more funding and help gets to where it's needed most: to the athletes and the thousands of clubs up and down the country.
  We can't get there alone. And nor should we. But with the help of the sports councils, governing bodies, local authorities and all the other organisations and individuals in sport, we are determined to achieve that.
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  Copies of the report are available on the website at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/innovation/reports.

  Video-on-Demand Services
  The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell):
  I am pleased to announce that the videoon-demand industry has made excellent progress with the development of a binding code of practice to apply when video-on-demand services are de-regulated, and have written to me with details of that Code. I am satisfied that the Code represents a system that will provide adequate protection for children, and to subscribers to video-on-demand services. I have asked the industry to keep me informed of its progress in establishing the self-regulatory system set out in the Code, so that it can come fully into effect on enactment of the relevant provisions of the Communications Bill.

  I have placed copies of the Code of Practice in the libraries of both Houses and the text is also available on the DCMS Departmental website at www.culture.gov.uk.

TRANSPORT

  Motorcyclists' Visors
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson):
  I have decided to retain the current limit of tint for visors at 50 per cent. following a three month consultation on possible options.

  The large majority of motorcyclists were in favour of dark visors which they regard as the best way to reduce glare. Road safety organisations expressed concerns about the safety of other vulnerable road users, given the potential for misuse of dark visors at dusk or at night.

  My decision has not been taken lightly and I considered the views and contributions from everyone who responded to the consultation. However, I remain unconvinced that the wearing of dark visors would not present dangers to road safety.

  A technological solution may provide the best way forward. I would urge standards bodies to encourage the development of such solutions so that in the longer-term visor designs lend themselves equally to both day and night time use.

  In-Flight Security
  The Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Alistair Darling):
  The UK aviation security regime is one of the most developed in the world. It was further tightened in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in the United States, and is kept under permanent review.

  Earlier this year that process of review led the Government to decide that the existing package of measures for in-flight security should be reinforced, and deterrence increased, by the development of a capability to place covert, specially trained armed police officers aboard UK civil aircraft, should that be warranted. That capability now exists, and is a sensible and measured addition to the range of security measures we

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  have available for addressing the threat to UK interests and to UK aviation. That threat remains a real one, but this new capability has not been developed and is not being announced now in response to any new or specific intelligence.

  This further security measure joins others the Government has taken to increase security both on the ground at airports and in flight since the attacks in the USA. We have stepped up the search regimes for staff, passengers and their hand and hold baggage, vehicles, cargo and catering, with a particular emphasis on flights going to key destinations such as the USA; added to the range of articles not able to be taken aboard aircraft; and extended the National Aviation Security Programme to smaller aircraft and aerodromes. Additional funding has been made available for airport policing. We have also accepted in principle all of the recommendations of Sir John Wheeler's recent review of airport security, which will in particular enhance the co-ordination of the security effort across different departments and agencies. On in-flight security, we are moving faster than the international community at large to ensure UK aircraft are fitted with intrusion-resistant flight deck doors, and last month we acted to ensure that flight deck doors on foreign aircraft are kept locked, as they have been on UK aircraft since very soon after the US attacks. We have also placed strict limits on those able to be on the flight deck of UK aircraft.

  The Government will continue to work with the UK airline industry on sustainable measures for responding to the terrorist threat.

  Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme
  The Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Alan Milburn):
  The sixth report to Parliament on the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme (PPRS) was published today.

  The report, entitled "PPRS: Sixth Report to Parliament", covers the management and operation of the 1999 scheme, which was introduced in October 1999 including the delivery of the 4.5 per cent. price cut. It explains the Government's objectives for the scheme and gives consolidated information on company annual financial returns. The report sets out the contribution made to the economy by the UK based pharmaceutical industry and sets out the conclusions of the joint Department of Health and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) study into the extent of competition in the supply of branded medicines to the National Health Service.

  Copies of the report have been placed in the Library.

  The Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Alan Milburn):
  The joint Department of Health and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) study into the extent of competition in the supply of branded medicines to the NHS was published today.

  An integral part of the current pharmaceutical price regulation scheme (PPRS) agreement that took effect on 1 October 1999 is a joint assessment by the Department and the ABPI of the scope, pace and change and practical impact of competition in the supply and use of branded medicines for the NHS. The results of this
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  study will be available to both the Government and the pharmaceutical industry in considering the future direction of policy on the PPRS.

  The study comprised seven components and work on each of the components was undertaken jointly by the Department and the ABPI with some elements of the analysis contracted out to third parties. The study allowed an unprecedented level of shared data collection and analysis between the Department and the branded pharmaceutical industry in the UK.

  Copies of the study, entitled "PPRS: The Study into the Extent of Competition in the Supply of Branded Medicines to the NHS", have been placed in the

HEALTH

  NHS Franchising
  The Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Alan Milburn):
  National Health Service franchising is a new approach being taken by the Department to find the best available managers to take over the functions of the chief executive and, where necessary, other senior management positions in, and to identify organisations which might be called upon to exercise the functions of, some of the most poorly performing NHS trusts in England. The prime goal under new franchised management arrangements will be to address the particular areas where a trust has performed poorly and to demonstrate its capacity to sustain improved performance.

  Franchising will bring in new management skills to trusts that have been under-performing, as part of the Government's wider drive to raise standards in all parts of the NHS.

  Until now, NHS franchises have only been awarded to suitably qualified people within the NHS. The Department has now widened these opportunities to other areas of the public sector, the voluntary sector and the private sector, as well as to suitably qualified individuals, by inviting formal applications from both within and outside the NHS for inclusion on the NHS franchising register of expertise.

  The names of the organisations on the National Health Service franchising register of expertise have been published today and a copy has been placed in the Library. It is also available on the Department of Health's website at www.doh.qov.uldnhsfranchisinq. The register includes 62 NHS trusts whose three star status gives them automatic inclusion on the register, Trent Strategic Health Authority, and eight private sector organizations—five of which are based in Britain, one in Germany, one in Canada and one has its parent company based in Sweden.

  The NHS Appointments Commission set up an independent panel, under the chairmanship of Sir William Wells, to assess the applications received from organisations and individuals who expressed an interest following national advertisements in May 2002. The criteria for entry to the register were designed to assess interested parties' expertise and commitment to the

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  public service ethos necessary to turn round failing NHS organisations and services in the future. The criteria included:

  a commitment to the ethos of public service;

  expertise in managing and improving performance in large and complex service delivery organisations;

  an excellent track record in both financial and human resource management.

  Following the July 2002 performance star ratings, the management of two zero star trusts will be franchised. These are United Bristol Hospitals NHS Trust and Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust.

  The Good Hope Hospital NHS Trust, Birmingham, will also be franchised following an investigation around the mismanagement of waiting list figures. As a result the Trust has been reclassified to zero star. The Trust held a disciplinary hearing at which the chief executive was found guilty of gross misconduct and summarily dismissed. The data underlying the Trust's star rating has been reviewed and the performance rating recalculated.

  The Department will shortly be inviting those on the NHS franchising register of expertise to tender for the franchises in these trusts early in the new year, along with the interim management team at Bath.

SCOTLAND

  Sunday Working (Scotland)
  The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mrs. Helen Liddell):
  Scottish shop workers and betting workers who do not wish to work on Sundays are not protected in the same way as similar workers in England and Wales. I am therefore launching today a consultation exercise on a possible change in the law to end this discrimination.

  This follows representations to me about employers moving away from a voluntary arrangement which gave Scottish workers the same rights available under the law to workers in England and Wales. The consultation paper sets out a case for extending to Scotland legal protection in the Employment Rights Act 1996. It invites comments by Friday, 14 March 2003.

  I have written to key employer and employee organisations across Scotland inviting them to meet with Scotland Office Ministers to discuss our proposals.

  Copies of the consultation paper have been placed in the libraries of both Houses.

TRADE & INDUSTRY

  Gas and Electricity Markets Authority
  The Minister for Energy and Construction (Mr. Brian Wilson):
  The current Chair of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority—who is also the Chief Executive of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets—plans to step down in October 2003. My rt hon Friend the Secretary of State and I have decided that separate individuals should be sought for the two roles. Accordingly, we are seeking a non-executive Chair, who will provide leadership and direction to the other members of the
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  Authority and to the Chief Executive, has an appreciation of how competitive markets operate, and be committed to Ofgem's social and environmental obligations. The Chair-designate will join the Authority on appointment initially as a non-executive member, and thereafter will take the lead in the selection of a Chief Executive.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

  Bain Review
  The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott):
  The repeal of Section 19 of the Fire Services Act 1947 is an essential element of the move to risk based fire cover which is at the centre of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Fire Service—the Bain review. I announced on Monday 16 December that I would take the earliest opportunity to make the necessary amendment to the Fire Services Act. I am now announcing that I shall be proposing an amendment to the Local Government Bill which is currently before the House.

  This demonstrates the Government's commitment to fulfil our part of the programme of modernisation proposed by the Bain Review.

  Fire Service Pay Dispute
  The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott):
  I am pleased to announce that the Armed Forces personnel deployed on firefighting duties have been given the extended break over Christmas they richly deserve. This does not imply any reduction in our commitment to the provision of emergency fire cover during any further industrial action.

  However, the FBU have called off the nine-day strike it had planned to start on 16 December and have not announced any plans to strike again until 28 January. The FBU would be required to give seven days notice of any further strike.

DEFENCE

  Meteorological Office
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Lewis Moonie):
  The first stage of the Quinquennial Review (QQR) of the Met Office has been completed. This has focused primarily on the future status of the Met Office and on the arrangements for strategic oversight by its parent department, the Ministry of Defence.

  The Stage 1 report examined a number of alternative status options for the Met Office but concluded that the Met Office should remain a Trading Fund Agency of the Ministry of Defence for the foreseeable future. It concluded also that there was a need for a substantial reform of the arrangements for oversight of the Agency by its Owner, the Secretary of State for Defence. The

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  recommended reforms comprise the re-shaping of the Defence Met Board into a UK Met Board, including in its membership representatives of the three principal Civil Stakeholder interests in the Met Office's product (Environment, Transport and Civil Contingencies) alongside the existing Defence Stakeholder interest; the adoption of a more proactive stance by the new Board, with the focus on identifying in advance and resolving key strategic issues so as to provide a clear framework
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  policy framework for Met Office management; and the provision of adequate administrative support to the new Board.

  I have today given my endorsement of these recommendations, and action is now in hand to give effect to them as soon as possible. It is planned that the UK Met Board should come into existence early in 2003. A copy of the QQR Stage 1 report has been placed in the Library of the House.