Written Statement of 21 October 2003

TREASURY

  National Statistics
  The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Ruth Kelly)
  The National Statistics Annual Report for 2002–03 is being published and laid before the House today. Copies are available in the Vote Office and from the Libraries of the House. The report can also be obtained free on the National Statistics Web site.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

  Culture Online
  The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell)
  Culture Online is a new project, led by my Department, which aims to use new technology to increase access to and participation in the arts and culture. Digital technologies—including, but not limited to, the internet—give us the opportunity to present cultural resources and activities in different formats and allow people to use and add to them in new and exciting ways. Projects involving interactive games, audio and video footage, and digital cameras and editing software and tools can improve the quality of education and bring in new users.

  Culture Online is commissioning digital educational materials from cultural and new media organisations. We are about to commission the first seven projects (details of which will be placed in the Libraries of both houses). They involve a range of organisations including local and regional museums and theatres, the V&A, Kew Gardens and the National Theatre. Just over a half of all projects will be aimed at school age children. The rest will be aimed at adult learners, particularly those who may not traditionally have been involved in the arts and culture. The first projects will start in November and will be accessible by the public next year. Projects will be available through participating organisations websites, the Culture Online website www.cultureonline.gov.uk and the DfES Curriculum Online portal.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

  Affordable Housing
  The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott)
  I am pleased to be announcing today the allocation of nearly £5 billion over the next two years to drive forward the Government's commitment to affordable housing. This includes the balance of the £1 billion for key worker 32WS
  housing promised in the communities plan and funding to help ensure that all people living in social housing have a decent home by 2010.

  KEY WORKER HOUSING PROGRAMME

  Using housing initiatives to support recruitment and retention in key public services is a government priority. Over the summer the Government have worked to develop a successor programme to the starter homes initiative. This will target resources on the key workers who can make the biggest possible contribution to improving frontline public services.

  The proposals I am announcing today represent the main features of the key worker housing programme to be run in 2004/05 and 2005/06.

  The majority of support will continue to be directed towards our priority categories such as teachers and health workers. However, we also propose that the programme should be widened to apply to other public sector workers, such as social workers, where there is clear evidence of recruitment and retention problems. This is in response to the needs identified by the regional housing boards in their housing strategies.

  Support will be provided to key workers through one of four simple options. Emphasis will be more on family homes rather than on starter homes as the evidence base compiled in recent months suggests that this is what the workers who are critical to service delivery need and want.

  The options are: Homebuy, "homebuy plus", shared ownership or intermediate renting. Homebuy will provide key workers with an interest-free equity loan equal to 25 per cent. or more of the value of the property on the basis that the key worker pays back the same proportion of value of the property when he or she sells it. Homebuy plus will offer assistance on the same basis but with larger equity loans for a very small number of critically important key workers—for example, teachers who will become middle managers in key London schools. Shared ownership will allow a key worker to buy part of a property—at least 25 per cent.—and pay rent on the remainder. Key workers will be able to increase their stake in the property when they can afford to do so. Intermediate renting offers the chance to rent a property at a rate between social rents and open market values.

  The starter homes initiative has concentrated on helping key workers buy homes on the open market. The new scheme will shift the balance progressively towards new build schemes. Details will be decided in consultation with the regional housing boards.

  Through this programme we will ensure that support for key workers is better targeted and better tailored to meet both the recruitment and retention needs of our frontline public services and the needs of the employees crucial to delivering those services.

  LOCAL AUTHORITY SOCIAL HOUSING GRANT

  I am pleased to announce increased funding for transitional arrangements following the abolition of local authority social housing grant. An additional £75m has been made available for debt-free authorities.
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  Local authority social housing grant (LASHG) was abolished from 1 April 2003. It was a mechanism which local authorities used to fund new or improved social housing through registered social landlords (RSLs). The authority made a loan from its own capital resources to the RSL. The loan was then repaid to the authority by the housing corporation. With-debt authorities were then required to set-aside the reimbursement to meet debt and credit liabilities. Debt-free authorities, on the other hand, were allowed to use the reimbursement for any purpose they wished—not necessarily housing. This meant debt-free authorities effectively obtained additional affordable housing at no cost to themselves.

  As anticipated, the transitional funding was oversubsrcibed. Many of the bids submitted did not meet the bidding criteria. The housing corporation prioritised the bids in consultation with the Government offices and I am today announcing approval for transitional local authority social housing grant schemes (LASHG). The transitional arrangements will lead to £680m spend on schemes and will provide 14,000 homes over the next three years.

  The housing corporation will be notifying local authorities of the outcome of the bids.

  I should like to emphasise that local authorities remain able to support new social and key worker housing by housing associations. They will, however, no longer be reimbursed by the housing corporation—and, in particular, debt-free authorities will no longer be able to spend the money twice. I would encourage local authorities to continue to support the acquisition of new affordable housing wherever this is the best way to achieve the objectives set out in their housing strategies.

  REGIONAL HOUSING BOARDS

  The communities plan set out a range of measures to deliver a step change in tackling the serious imbalances between the supply of and demand for housing in many parts of England. A key element of this was to ensure better integration between investment in housing, the planning system and economic development strategies.

  In order to help achieve this, the framework for determining the allocation of funds for housing investment is being substantially changed to focus resources on strategic housing priorities. Regional housing boards have been established to make recommendations to me on how the funds available to each region should be distributed between local authorities and housing associations and where they should be targeted. These recommendations reflect priorities set out in their regional housing strategies, which build on the existing housing statements.

  I have given careful consideration to their funding recommendations, Regional Housing Strategies and other supporting information and I can now announce my conclusions.

  The task the boards faced—balancing the competing demands within the region while at the same time supporting delivery of a small number of key national priorities and targets—was a difficult one.

  I am pleased to say that I am accepting the broad thrust of the Boards' recommendations for 2004/05 and 2005/6 and their regional spending priorities. In most
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  regions the recommendations will be accepted in their entirety. There have been further discussions with the boards for the London, East and South East Regions. These have taken into account the increased resources now available for transitional local authority social housing grant and the additional homes we expect English Partnerships to provide via innovative new schemes, neither of which the regional boards were aware of at the time they made their recommendations. As a result the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been able to increase the funding made available for key worker housing.

  A table giving details of each region's allocation will be placed in the Library. Details of the housing allocations for individual local authorities will be announced in 4–6 weeks time.

  A competitive bidding round for the funds available for new affordable housing schemes is being launched by the housing corporation; the results will be announced by March.

  I have been impressed by what the boards, local authorities and other stakeholders have achieved in a short space of time. There is clearly a real appetite for a strengthened regional role on housing and for finding new ways of working to improve effectiveness of delivery.

  It is important to build on this—both to increase and strengthen partnership working and innovation and to develop regional and, where appropriate sub-regional, housing strategies. Sub-regional housing strategies require a stronger analysis of current and future housing needs. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister always recognised that the short time available would limit the analysis this year.

  Central Government will play their part. Work is already underway to evaluate the first round of the new arrangements and will include feedback from the regional housing boards. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will consider carefully what changes are needed.

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Police Performance Monitors
  The Minister for Crime Reduction, Policing, and Community Safety (Ms Hazel Blears)
  Today I have published the second set of police performance monitors for individual forces in England and Wales. The first set of performance monitors was published in February 2003. The "performance monitor" diagrams provide a quick, visual summary representation of the balance of performance for a force. Although the diagrams are simple to look at, they contain a lot of information and have the capacity to reflect performance in a number of separate areas of policing responsibility.

  The forthcoming National Policing Plan 2004–07, to be published in November 2003, describes in more detail the ongoing work to develop a set of national measures of policing performance and an associated assessment system. While this is being developed, we are continuing

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  to monitor the performance of police forces across a set of "interim indicators" of policing performance, as well as through other relevant information.

  The publication of the second set of performance monitors will enable the public to gauge the performance of their local force across a range of policing responsibilities. The ability to make this assessment has been considerably improved by the addition of bar charts to the original monitor diagrams, giving a more detailed breakdown of the comparison of forces with their peers. This is further enhanced by the inclusion of two years' worth of performance information, which indicates changes in police performance since last year.

  Asylum Seekers (Language Analysis Pilot)
  The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes)
  I am pleased to announce the outcome of the pilot testing of language analysis to help determine asylum claims from selected applicants who claimed to be nationals of Afghanistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka. The pilot was established in the light of concerns that some asylum seekers were posing falsely as nationals of these three countries. Its purpose was to assess the potential value of language analysis in providing expert evidence to identify the place of origin of asylum seekers, and to detect and deter abuse of the asylum system.

  Evaluation of the decisions and appeals outcomes for cases in the three-country pilot to the end of July this year has shown that language analysis is a valuable aid in detecting false nationals (9 per cent. of the total number of applicants selected for the pilot and 21 per cent. of claimed Somali nationals) and in delivering robust and effective decisions. The percentage of outright refusal decisions was 78 per cent. compared with 51 per cent. for the pilot nationalities as a whole in 2002. In cases where appeal rights have been exhausted the percentage of decisions upheld (86 per cent.) was also higher than the norm (68 per cent. for these nationalities, in 2002).

  In order to address continuing concerns about abuse of the asylum system and in the light of the initial and similarly encouraging results from the subsequent Iraqi language analysis pilot, I have decided to commission further work to take forward the wider introduction of language analysis. To achieve maximum benefit, this will form part of the asylum srceening process, and will be targeted on cases where claiming a false nationality would give rise to a greater likelihood of being granted asylum, humanitarian protection or discretionary leave.

  The evaluation of the appeals outcomes for cases in the three-country pilot found that challenges to the reports have focused on the credentials of individual language analysts. It is of course essential that the reports are accepted as credible evidence at appeal and that failed applicants are removed from the UK. This demonstrates the need to ensure that the credentials of the language analysis bureau and their analysts meet the requirements of the Immigration Appellate Authority.

  Among other options, we will be considering the feasibility of establishing a language analysis bureau in the UK to address this issue.
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  The race monitor, Mary Coussey, who reports to Parliament via the Secretary of State, will exercise independent scrutiny of the operation of language analysis.

  A copy of the summary of findings of the three country language analysis pilot has been placed in the Library of the House.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  Government/Business Information Sharing
  The Minister for Trade and Investment (Mr. Mike O'Brien)
  The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Confederation of British Industry have been working together to strengthen arrangements for government and business to share information on a wide range of issues affecting their security when operating in overseas markets. The Government recognise that business needs good information sharing to ensure that they are making the right decisions on their investments in overseas markets.

  Most of our embassies and high commissions already have arrangements to exchange information on security issues with locally-based British business representatives and to provide information on request to business visitors, The new scheme is designed to make the service more systematic and more proactive, and will seek to ensure that all posts and FCO departments provide a consistent level of service.

  A major feature of the new scheme will be the establishment of a forum in the UK for regular discussion of security related issues. A steering group consisting of FCO, CBI and. British Trade International officials and business representatives will monitor the process to ensure we are fully meeting the needs of business. Details of the new scheme have been placed on the FCO, British Trade International and CBI websites with links to each other

NORTHERN IRELAND

  Local Museum and Heritage Review
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Angela Smith)
  The local museum and heritage review, which was instigated by Michael McGimpsey, Minister in the NI Executive, has sought to chart the best way forward for the museum and heritage sectors in Northern Ireland.

  The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Department of the Environment have considered carefully the report of the review steering group and have produced this response that sets out our proposals for taking forward the review's recommendations.

  I believe that the response provides a sound basis for the future development of local museum and heritage provision in Northern Ireland.

  I am pleased to be able to commend this joint response by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Department of the Environment.
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  Copies of the Joint Response are now available in the Library.

TRANSPORT

  Working Time Directive
  The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Dr. Kim Howells)
  A consultation document on working time limits for the road transport sector has today been published. The proposals will form the basis for transposing the sector specific road transport directive scheduled for implementation by 23 March 2005, into domestic legislation.

  These proposals will provide extra protection for drivers and crew of heavy goods and public service vehicles, who carry out road transport activities covered by the EU drivers hours rules—regulation (EEC) 3820/85. The main provisions of the directive include:
  Weekly working time is limited to an average 48 hours.
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  Up to 60 hours work can be performed in a single week, as long as the average 48 hour limit is maintained.
  Night workers are restricted to 10 hours working time in any 24 hour period.
  Self-employed drivers will be subject to the RTD from March 2009.

  The consultation exercise seeks views on how the Government should implement the RTD. The document provides a summary of the contents of the directive and sets out the Government's preliminary views on how it should be transposed. Specific issues include the definition of night time for the purpose of the night working limit and the intention to use the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency to enforce the directive. The consultation document also seeks views on whether we should implement the derogations available under the RTD.

  An assessment of the costs and benefits of these proposals is being published alongside the consultation document. Copies of these documents will be placed in the House Library and will also be available on the DfT Website.