Written Statement of 22 October 2003

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

  National Forest Company
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw)
  I am pleased to announce that I have arranged for copies of the National Forest Company's annual report and accounts for 2002–03 and its corporate plan for 2003–04 to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

  The report is being made available on the company's website http://www.nationalforest.org/

  Veterinary Surveillance Strategy
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw)
  Later today, the Chief Veterinary Officer will launch the UK's veterinary surveillance strategy (VSS).

  This strategy will form an integral part of the developing animal health and welfare strategy for Great Britain which aims to improve the health and welfare of animals kept by man and to protect public health from animal disease. The veterinary surveillance strategy launched today seeks to enhance veterinary surveillance to enable faster, better targeted disease prevention and control measures.

  The core objectives of the ten year strategy will be to deliver earlier warning and more rapid detection and analysis of disease threats, provide open and transparent prioritisation of surveillance activities, to give a clear, well defined evidence base for all animal health and welfare related policies, and to make better use of the data collected.

  The launch follows extensive consultation across Government and with the veterinary, farming and wildlife sectors.

  Copies of the strategy document have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

HOME DEPARTMENT

  Campsfield House
  The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes)
  Campsfield House opened as an immigration centre in November 1993 following its closure as a young offenders institution. In February 2002 the Home Secretary expressed concerns about the quality of the accommodation and it was concluded that it should close. However, Campsfield has proved invaluable in recent months in holding short term 40WS
  detainees. Furthermore, during the refurbishment of Harmondsworth, its South East location makes the establishment strategically important.

  Consequently, and as part of a wider review of the removal estate, we have examined the possibility of maintaining Campsfield. We now propose to modernise and develop the centre, bringing the facilities up to an acceptable standard so as to maximise the capacity of the removals estate and retain a valuable resource.

HEALTH

  Patient and Public Involvement in the NHS
  The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton)
  The Government's response to the Seventh Report of the House of Commons Select Committee on Health, on Patient and Public Involvement in the NHS, Cm 6005, has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

TRADE, AND INDUSTRY

  Community Interest Companies
  The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt)
  I announced in a written ministerial statement to the House on 26 March 2003,Official Report, column 14WS, that a joint DTI/Home Office&/Treasury consultation document on proposals for a community interest company (CIC) was being published. The consultation document set out proposals for a new type of company, not for profit, and working for the public benefit.

  I am today publishing a report on the outcome of the consultation. The consultation ended on 18 June and the Government received over 130 formal responses. The overall reaction to the consultation has been extremely positive, with the concept of the CIC receiving widespread support. This is consistent with the response to the outline proposal on CICs in the Cabinet Office Strategy Unit report of September 2002 "Private Action, Public Benefit". Respondents suggested that this new type of company, with the features proposed, could potentially benefit a range of organisations, particularly those looking to work for community benefit within the relative freedom of the non charitable form, but with a clear assurance of not for profit status.

  The Government are encouraged by the confirmation of strong support for the CIC concept which this consultation demonstrated. As I announced in July 2003, we intend to proceed with legislation on CICs as soon as Parliamentary time allows.

  In the light of the responses to the consultation, and further consideration of the technical issues, the Government intend that the key features of the CIC will be largely as proposed in the March 2003 consultation paper. However, we intend to clarify and in some respects amend the detail of the proposals, as described in the report. In view of the responses on stakeholder consultation, we do not propose that there should be a statutory requirement for CICs to carry out such consultation.
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  Nonetheless, there will be a strong presumption that CICs should take steps to engage their stakeholders where appropriate. As the consultation paper suggested, there will be a requirement on CICs to report annually on what has been done to involve stakeholders and this will be supported by guidance on good practice. We also intend that the CICs should report to stakeholders on key issues such as directors' remuneration.

  Copies of the report on the public consultation and the Government's intentions are available in the Libraries of both Houses and on the DTI website.

WORK AND PENSIONS

  Pensions
  The Minister for Pensions (Malcolm Wicks)
  Today we have published proposals to amend the statutory priority order when a defined benefit pension scheme subject to the minimum funding requirement is wound up and draft regulations to bring these proposals into effect.

  The draft regulations are intended to ensure that, where there are insufficient assets to meet all liabilities, they are shared as fairly as possible between non-pensioner and pensioner scheme members.

  As outlined in "Action on Occupational Pensions" the degree of protection offered by the new priority order reflects the length of time a member has been contributing to a scheme and also gives priority to the rights of non-pensioners over the future indexation of pensions in payment.

  We are consulting on the draft regulations and proposed new priority order and should welcome views on both by 3 December 2003. We aim to lay these regulations by early 2004 so that they come into force as soon as practicable.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

  Proliferation Security Initiative
  The Minister for Europe (Mr. Denis MacShane)
  Members of the proliferation security initiative (PSI) met on 9–10 October in London. Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States took part in the meeting. The London meeting built on the firm foundations laid during earlier meetings in Madrid, Brisbane, arid Paris.

  The PSI aims to expand capabilities to conduct maritime, aviation and land interdiction operations in order to help counter the threat of WMD proliferation. At the Paris meeting, PSI participants agreed a statement of interdiction principles, outlining the aims and scope of the initiative and making clear that all action will be in accordance with international law. Following its publication, we have been drawing governments' attention to, and eliciting support for, the statement.
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  At the London meeting, we analysed the responses to date. So far the results have been very good: over 50 countries have already expressed support for the PSI. We hope to build on this over the coming weeks and months. WMD proliferation is a global threat –we need to encourage a global response.

  The London meeting also agreed a short statement on the focus of the PSI efforts. This makes it clear that the initiative does not target any particular country—there are no blacklists—but aims to impede and stop trafficking of WMD, their delivery systems and related materials by any state or non-state actor engaged in or supporting WMD proliferation programmes, at any time and in any place.

  The PSI is a global initiative with an inclusive mission. It is an activity, not an organisation. Successful interdiction of trafficking in WMD, their delivery systems and related materials requires the widest possible co-operation between states. It was agreed at the London meeting that participation in the PSI should be open to any state or international body that accepts the Paris statement of interdiction principles and makes an effective contribution. Participation will vary with the activity taking place, and the contribution participants could provide. Some countries have particular experience, assets or expertise relevant to all PSI activities; other countries or organisations could be expected to contribute according to their particular capabilities. I hope that we can therefore ensure as wide participation in the initiative as practically possible, including—where appropriate—contributions from the EU and NATO.

  The London meeting also developed further a series of interdiction training exercises, which will be taken forward over the coming months.

  In short, we have agreed the broad direction of the PSI. We now have to work to fill in the detail. In doing so, we are keen for the PSI to be an open and transparent process. As such, the chairman's summary was agreed as a public document, and is available on the FCO web-site at www.fco.gov.uk/internationalsecurity, under the heading "Counter-Proliferation".

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

  Libra Project
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. Christopher Leslie)
  The House was informed in July 2002 that the Libra project would be delivered by way of three separate contracts. The delivery of the infrastructure underpinning the system was contracted to Fujitsu Services until 2006–07 at the time of that announcement. I can inform the House that the remaining contracts are now in place. Accenture (UK) Ltd, has today been awarded a five year, £38.5 million contract to deliver a service using specialised software for case management and tracking, payment of fines and court administration to the magistrates' courts in England and Wales. Case management seeks to speed up the courts process by implementing better ways of working. The contract to develop and support the special software was awarded
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  in January 2003 to STL Technologies, part of the Technology Group. That five year contract is worth £35 million.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

  Montserrat
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Gareth Thomas)
  Further to written statements on 17 July 2003 and 15 September 2003,Official Report, columns 86WS and 42WS by my right hon. Friend the (then) Minister of State for International Development and me respectively, DFID has continued to work closely with the Montserratian authorities to alleviate the impact
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  upon the island community of the volcanic activity which affected Montserrat between 12 and 14 July this year.

  I can now confirm that an additional £3.5 million in budgetary assistance has been made available to the Government of Montserrat (GoM) to fund Montserrat's ash clearing assistance programme (ACAP). The programme, designed jointly by DFID and GoM, entails clearance of the volcanic ash from residential and business properties as well as from roads and public facilities. We have contracted a manager for the programme, who is responsible for overall co-ordination of the ash clearing exercise. His work includes liaison with key GoM staff to ensure that management of equipment, staffing, materials and other resources is coordinated effectively.

  DFID's total budget for Montserrat in the current financial year, including this latest additional provision, is now more than £23 million.