Written Statement of 14 March 2003

DEFENCE

  Armed Forces Pay Review Body
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Lewis Moonie)
  I am pleased to announce that I have reappointed Lord Patel as a member of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body for a second three-year term. This appointment has been conducted in accordance with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments' guidance on appointments to public bodies.

  Hayes PPP Project
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Lewis Moonie)
  The Ministry of Defence has decided to appoint TNT Express Services with ProLogis Ltd. as the preferred bidder for the Hayes PPP Project. Subject to negotiations, TNT will be responsible for the provision of records management and archiving services to the Ministry of Defence and a number of other Government organisations for a 25-year period. ProLogis will become the owners of the Ministry site at Bourne Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex and will be responsible for its redevelopment. Within two years, TNT intends to relocate the records service to new facilities in the midlands.

  This project is a pan-government collaboration between the MOD, as project sponsor, and its 13 partners who are as follows:

  Court Service

  Public Record Office

  Lord Chancellor's Department

  Department for International Development

  Department of Trade and Industry

  Public Guardianship Office

  Parliamentary Commissioner

  Crown Prosecution Service

  Home Office

  Metropolitan Police Service

  Food Standards Agency

  Veterinary Medicines Directorate

  Energywatch

  When the contract takes effect, possibly in the summer of 2003, TNT will become the new employer for all transferring civil servants (perhaps more than 60).
  30WS
  All transfers to TNT will be covered by the Transfer of Undertaking (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) 1981.

  The Hayes PPP contract will initially provide secure storage for possibly 200Kms of official paper records. The service will include a high degree of accountability for this material and will offer a range of delivery standards to suit each Government organisation's needs via a UK-wide logistics network.

TREASURY

  Air Transport
  The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Healey)
  The 2002 pre-Budget report announced that the Government would discuss with stakeholders the most effective economic instruments for ensuring that the aviation industry is encouraged to take account of, and where appropriate reduce, its contribution to global warming, local air and noise pollution.

  To take this process forward, the Government will shortly be issuing invitations to all key representative stakeholders to attend discussion sessions. The stakeholders will include umbrella organisations covering the following broad areas:

  Industry and business (including airlines, airport operators, manufacturers, tourism bodies and union representatives)

  National environmental groups

  Public bodies

  The expert community

  To provide background and support to these discussions, the Government are today publishing a discussion paper, Aviation and the environment: using economic instruments. This document, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House, covers:
  The Government's objectives for aviation. The Government believe that aviation should aim to maximise its significant social and economic benefits and minimise its environmental impacts.
  The Government's approach to using economic instruments in general, following the Government's environmental tax principles set out in Tax and the environment: using economic instruments, published alongside the 2002 pre-Budget report.
  The Government's estimates of aviation's environmental costs, including its impacts on climate change, local air quality and noise.

  The document also contains a list of questions which the Government would like stakeholders to consider in more detail at the discussions.

  The discussions with stakeholders, as well as the document being published today, will help to inform policy on the future development of air transport in the UK on which the Government are consulting through a series of documents issued last summer and, additionally, through a second edition of the South East consultation document published on 27 February. The Government will set out their views in their air transport White Paper later this year.