Written Statement of 8 December 2004

  EU Constitutional Treaty
  The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)
  My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Jack Straw) will today lay before the House Command Paper 6429, containing the final text of the EU Constitutional Treaty signed by heads of state and government in Rome on 29 October. Copies will be placed in the Library of the House and the Printed Paper Office. The final treaty can also be accessed on the FCO website:www.fco.gov.uk.

  An Explanatory Memorandum will be laid with the Command Paper. The White Papers (September 2003 Cm5934 and September 2004 Cm6309) give further information about the Government's negotiations on the text, and explanation of its contents.

  Armed Forces' Pay Review Body
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)
  My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Mr Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:

  I am pleased to announce that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence has appointed Mrs Alison Gallico, Professor Derek Leslie and retired
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  Air-Vice Marshal Ian Stewart for a 3-year term of office as members of the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body, commencing March 2005. These appointments have been conducted in accordance with the guidance of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

  Housing Investment in the Regions
  The Minister of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Lord Rooker)
  My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  I am announcing today the publication of a consultation paper concerning the regional split of funds for housing investment by local authorities and housing associations allocated through regional housing pots.

  The Sustainable Communities Plan introduced new arrangements for allocation for mainstream funding to support housing investment. Under these new arrangements allocations are increasingly being directed to address strategic regional priorities based on advice from regional housing boards.

  The split of such investment funding between the nine English regions has for many years been allocated on a largely formulaic basis. The paper seeks views on our proposal that the split continues to be made on a formulaic basis, but the formula itself be simplified and linked more directly to the Government's housing objectives and associated public service agreement targets on balancing supply and demand (PSA5) and on decent homes (PSA7).

  Consultation will run until 4 February 2005. Copies of the consultation paper have been made available in the Libraries of the House and it is available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website.