Written Statement of 7 May 2003

TRANSPORT

  Driving Licences
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson)
  Legislation that was laid before Parliament by the previous administration on 11 November 1996 and came into effect in January 1997 unintentionally exempted certain drivers from paying a fee for certain short term medical driving licences (that is licences which are restricted on account of the holder's medical condition). However the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) continued to charge such a fee. Corrective action is now being taken by the DVLA.

  Until the age of 70 medical licence holders receive free renewals of their short period licences. This ensures that they are not at a financial disadvantage to those whose licences are not required to be renewed until they reach the age of 70. However, at 70 and every three years thereafter, non-medical licence holders must pay a renewal fee. The policy has always been that, in the interests of equity, medical licence holders should also be subject to this fee except that in cases where licences are granted for periods of less than three years they should not have to pay fees at intervals shorter than three years.

  Between 1991 (when the over 70 renewal fee was introduced) and 1997, this is what the legislation was understood to have required and this is what happened. Regrettably the Regulations which were laid before Parliament on 11 November 1996 and came into force on 1 January 1997 changed the drafting of the relevant provision to the effect that medical licence holders were exempt from paying the three-yearly renewal charge at and after 70. This was not the intention. Although the policy was to charge these applicants a fee, and the DVLA operating instructions continued to reflect this, the legislation no longer provided for it. Unfortunately, it was not picked up at the time and consequently medical licence holders continued to be charged.

  This was compounded in 1998 when the legislation was amended in respect of drivers of buses and lorries holding short period medical licences to bring it into line with the changes which took effect in 1997.

  Consequently the DVLA will be refunding fees as appropriate, with interest. The fees to be refunded vary according to the number of licences renewed during the period and the value of payments made. Licences were generally for a three-year period but some shorter term ones were issued. It is possible that some drivers paid a renewal fee up to three times during the period. The cost of car licences varied between £6 and £8.50 and lorry and bus licences between £26 and £32.50 during the period.
  32WS
  DVLA deeply regrets this matter and Ministers have insisted that measures are taken to refund those involved and to minimise the risk of this problem happening again. Now that the Agency has identified the problem it is taking action to identify all those drivers affected and will refund the payments made. Drivers affected need not take any action as payable orders will be automatically issued to them by the end of June.

  There will inevitably be some drivers affected who have moved and not notified the DVLA of their change of address and some drivers who are now deceased. To handle these cases, DVLA has put in place a free helpline which such drivers or their next of kin can contact for advice on what they need to do to obtain payment. The helpline number is 0800 5877 664.

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Education and Library Boards
  The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy)
  I have today, laid before Parliament the certified Statement of Accounts of the five Education and Library Boards for the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

TREASURY

  Census (England and Wales)
  The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly)
  The National Report on the 2001 Census for England and Wales is being laid before Parliament today. Copies are available in the Vote Office and the report is also accessible on the National Statistics website.

  The report provides detailed statistics covering the wide range of topics included in the 2001 Census, and fills out the picture given by the key statistics report released on 13 February 2003 and the first results published on 30 September 2002. In particular it shows many relationships between census topics, for example the links between age, social group and health.

  The printed report comprises a set of 145 tables presenting statistics at the national level, and an accompanying CD contains the corresponding figures for England and Wales separately, English regions, and local authorities in England and Wales, along with software to view, manipulate and download the data. The CD contains the equivalent to the entire set of 1991 Census County Reports, which were published in two printed volumes for each of the 55 counties in England and Wales over a 14-month period. The CD also contains an electronic version of the key statistics report released on 13 February.

  A further set of tables covering migration and workplace statistics will be published in a supplementary report later in the summer.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  Intellectual Property Rights
  The Secretary of State for International Development (Clare Short)
  Last September, the Government welcomed the report of the Commission on Intellectual Property Rights"Integrating Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy" as a valuable contribution to the debate on the complex issues surrounding the interaction of intellectual property rights (IPRs) and development policy. I am now able to announce the publication of the Government's response. This is available in the Library of the House and on the websites of the Commission, the Patent Office and the Department for International Development.

  The Government believe that IPRs can play a vital role in the course of the development process for developing countries today, just as they did, and continue to do, in the UK, other developed countries and the most successful developing economies. The Commission's report emphasises that a prerequisite for sustainable development in any country is the development of an indigenous scientific and technological capacity. As the Commission recognises, an IPR system is capable of being an important element in developing that capacity, notably in those countries which have already developed a scientific and technological infrastructure. But, as the Commission's report makes clear, an intellectual property system cannot of itself ensure a country attains its developmental goals. The degree to which this occurs depends on many different factors, particularly the economic, social and environmental policies it chooses to pursue, for example, openness to trade and effective governance.

  We agree with the Commission that IPR regimes can and should be tailored to take into account individual country's circumstances within the framework of international agreements such as the Agreement on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The Commission also raises the important issue of how technical assistance from developed countries and international organisations such as the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) can be provided so as to ensure that developing countries fully understand how to create an effective intellectual property system appropriate to their needs. The Government are committed to this goal, both in its own technical assistance programmes and in influencing those of international organisations.

  In setting up the Commission, the Government's intention was to explore how IPRs could work better for developing countries within the overall framework of development policy. The Commission has found that intellectual property does indeed have a role to play in promoting development but it has made a number of detailed recommendations designed to improve the way these rules are developed and applied, both nationally and internationally.

  The Government remain firmly committed to the effective protection of IPRs in order to stimulate continued innovation and creativity. This commitment is consistent with the use of various flexibilities in the
  34WS
  TRIPS agreement by developing countries as the Ministerial Agreement on the WTO Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health in November 2001 demonstrated in one important area for developing countries.

  I would like to thank the Commissioners for a comprehensive and well-written report. While there are those who disagree strongly with aspects of the report, just as others are in wholehearted agreement, nobody should ignore the importance of the issues it raises and the quality of its analysis. We hope it will continue to serve as a stimulus to ongoing debate on these important issues.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  Iraq and Israel/Palestine Statement (28 April 2003)
  The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Straw)
  During my oral statement on Iraq and Israel/Palestine, I said that the "United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Co-ordinator has said that it is about to declare the area to the south of Baghdad `permissive'"—Official Report, 28 April 2003, column 21. It was in fact the Coalition's Humanitarian Operations Centre who made this statement. The UN have since declared the Basra Governorate to be at "Phase IV". This allows for the return of some international staff on a permanent basis. UN humanitarian agencies arrived in Baghdad on 2 May to establish a permanent presence.

DEFENCE

  Post-Gulf Conflict Health Measures
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Dr. Lewis Moonie)
  Building on the extensive measures put in place to protect the health of our personnel deployed to the Gulf, the Ministry of Defence has decided to conduct research into the physical and psychological health of those who have been involved in the conflict. It is too soon to know whether health concerns will emerge., but we are of course conscious of the range of physical and psychological health concerns reported by veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict. If health concerns arise out of the current operations, we will want to identify and investigate them as soon as possible.

  We therefore propose to put in place the following measures once the units currently deployed have returned from theatre, as I promised in my answer to the Member for North Cornwall (Mr Tyler) of 14 April 2003 (Official Report, column 570W).
  As soon as possible after personnel have returned from post-operational leave, researchers will hold face-to-face interviews with up to 50 individuals. This will produce qualitative data on any emerging concerns. This work will be carried out by King's College London.
  Once personnel have returned to duty and resumed their normal lives, researchers will issue questionnaires to a large representative cohort of those who were deployed seeking data on health status and exposures. As well as regular and reservist Service personnel and MOD civilians, other groups who deployed with them such as representatives of voluntary aid societies, contractors' personnel and embedded journalists will be invited to form part of the

  35WS
  cohort. The same questionnaire will be distributed to a cohort of those who did not deploy, to provide a comparison, or control, group. This, work will also be carried out by King's. We propose to set up an oversight board to monitor the work chaired by an independent scientist with members drawn from MOD and outside bodies. The research will be published in the peer reviewed scientific literature.
  This will be a longitudinal study. Having identified the members of the cohorts we will aim to keep in touch with them wherever possible, so as to be able to carry out further surveys in future and monitor any changes.
  Depending on the outcome of this work, clinical investigations within the cohorts will be carried out as necessary to provide objective assessments of self-reported ill health. This work too will be carried out by King's.
  All regular and reservist Service personnel and MOD civilians who deployed and have concerns about their health, will be able to attend a Medical Assessment Programme (MAP) run by MOD at St Thomas's Hospital, on referral by their doctor. The MAP will not provide treatment; it will assess patients and recommend treatment
  36WS
  as appropriate. This facility will be made available to attached voluntary aid society personnel, contractors and embedded journalists on a repayment basis.
  All regular and reservist Service personnel and MOD civilians who deployed are already entitled to receive a urine test for uranium if they are concerned. Those who have received high exposures are positively encouraged to do so and in addition to have an isotope test for depleted uranium. Voluntary aid society and contractors' personnel and embedded journalists will be able to receive the test on a repayment basis. To provide a baseline for comparison, we will be asking the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh to carry out a study to establish normative values in a military population who did not deploy. (This exercise is separate from the test currently being devised for veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict, where any concentrations will be much lower 12 years on and very much harder to detect).
  We currently monitor the mortality of veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict compared with a control group and publish figures every six months. The same will be carried out for those who have taken part in the current operation.

  Detailed arrangements are now being made and will be announced when they are available.