Written Statement of 16 June 2004

ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

  Pesticide Spraying
  The Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality (Alun Michael)
  I have now completed a detailed consideration of the outcome of two consultation exercises regarding the introduction of buffer zones and information on pesticide use. As a result I would like to announce a number of measures designed to provide additional reassurance about the pesticide regulatory process, and to improve public access to information about pesticides used.

  First I would like to announce that the royal commission on environmental pollution has agreed to my request to carry out a special study to examine the scientific evidence on which DEFRA has based its decisions on the risks to people from pesticide exposure.

  I requested this study following a detailed evaluation of the responses made to the two public consultations launched on 21 July 2003, which sought views on the introduction of buffer zones around residential properties near farms, and how residents can best be informed of the pesticides that are being sprayed.

  My number one priority has always been to ensure that the safety arrangements we have in place for pesticides do the job of protecting the public. The independent scientific advice I have received, both from the independent Advisory Committee on Pesticides and DEFRA's chief scientific adviser, is very clear that the existing system provides full reassurance. I am confident that no new scientific evidence has come to light that would provide a safety based justification for buffer zones, and I have therefore decided against their introduction around agricultural land.

  Nevertheless the responses to the consultations demonstrate that there is a perception that the current arrangements, and in particular the assessment of risks, are inadequate. I have listened to the concerns of campaigners who hold strong views about how crop spraying has affected their health. Their views are undoubtedly sincerely held and although no new scientific evidence was produced to support their case, I believe the time is now right for a fresh and independent appraisal of the science. This is why I have asked the royal commission to examine the scientific evidence on which the regulatory system is based. The commission will be free to take a new and independent approach to the question. Further details about the scope and management of the royal commission's study will be released in due course.

  I have also decided to introduce new legal measures requiring farmers and growers to keep records of pesticides used on crops and to make those records available to the public via a third party. Officials are contacting general practitioners' and lawyers'
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  representatives and those for community health councils to explore whether they would act as third party representatives in such cases. These measures are at the early stage of development, and will require changes to existing pesticide regulations to put them into effect. I will bring forward proposals for parliamentary consideration at the earliest opportunity.

  In parallel, a pilot study will be set up to explore how residents living next to farms can be notified in advance of pesticide use. The study will look at the practicality and cost of various options for how notification can take place. Officials are working on the terms of reference for the study and further details will be published as soon as practical.

  These measures are in addition to a biomonitoring study already being arranged to look at the effect of pesticides in the air. There is also an on-going study, co-ordinated by the working group on risk assessment of mixtures of pesticides (WIGRAMP) into the effect of numbers of pesticides used in combination.

  I also intend to invite key stakeholders to a meeting in the near future to explain the reasoning behind the decisions made.

DEFENCE

  Defence Vetting Agency
  The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram)
  The business review of the defence vetting process has been completed. The review team has made a number of recommendations and observations, which Director General (security and safety) has agreed and endorsed, and as the senior responsible officer will oversee the implementation strategy.

  The key findings of the review are that the rationalisation of the former defence vetting organisations has been successful, providing both economies and efficiencies in the vetting process and offering opportunities for further performance enhancement and business expansion. The Defence Vetting Agency (DVA) has achieved the prime aim required by its framework document and become an integrated and cohesive organisation. Standardised procedures for defence vetting have been adopted by the agency, which has successfully consolidated the majority of the disparate processes previously used within the separate service vetting organisations. The organisation is correctly sized to deliver its required output and over the period 1997–98 to 2002–03 has reduced its net operating costs from £11 million to £9.6 million, with the staff component reducing by £1.8 million.

  The review also concluded that the DVA should remain a defence agency and, as the largest UK vetting organisation, is well placed to extend its services to a wider range of other Government Departments, if required.

  I have arranged for copies of the report of the business review to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

  Key targets have now been set for the chief executive of the DVA for the financial year 2004–05. Building upon the progress made since it formed in 1997, these incremental targets will help the agency to become much

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  more responsive to its customers, and be well placed to move towards carrying out security clearances more quickly, without any loss of quality.

  Quality

  KEY TARGET 1:
  Through external validation, achieve at least a 95 per cent. success rating with specially selected cases, and achieve zero serious errors that should have been identified at the time of vetting.

  KEY TARGET 2:
  To complete 33 per cent. of the three-year security check and developed vetting backlog review programme.

  Timeliness

  KEY TARGET 3:
  To improve the completion time of routine cases to:

  (a) 62 per cent. of counter terrorist checks completed within 30 calendar days.

  (b) 65 per cent. of security checks completed within 30 calendar days.

  (c) 50 per cent. of developed vetting completed within 100 calendar days.

  KEY TARGET 4:
  To improve the completion time of priority cases to:

  (a) 45 per cent. of priority counter terrorist and security check cases completed within 10 calendar days.

  (b) 90 per cent. of priority developed vetting completed within 30 calendar days.

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  KEY TARGET 5:
  To achieve average completion times of:

  (a) 30 calendar days for counter terrorist checks.

  (b) 30 calendar days for security checks.

  (c) 100 calendar days for developed vetting.

  Efficiency

  KEY TARGET 6:
  To reduce the unit cost of output by 2 per cent.

  I have arranged tor advance copies of the DVA corporate plan to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

  Desulphurisation Plant (Aberthaw Power Station)
  The Minister for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services (Mr. Stephen Timms)
  I have today granted consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to RWE Innogy plc for the construction of a flue gas desulphurisation plant at the 1,500 MW coal-fired power station at Aberthaw in the Vale of Glamorgan. Planning permission for the plant has also been deemed to be granted, subject to 29 planning conditions agreed with the Vale of Glamorgan council.

  Copies of the press notice and decision letter are being placed in the Library of the House.

  Armed Forces Pension Scheme
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)
  My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  I announced on 19 November (Official Report, vol 413, cols. 39–40WS) that the Ministry of Defence would not seek leave to appeal to the House of Lords the Court of Appeal judgment in the case of Mrs Hulme and the Pensions Ombudsman v the MoD. I also announced that, as appropriate, the department would review previous decisions on entitlement to pensions where death in service or injury that resulted in invaliding was due to service and where Armed Forces Pension Scheme administrators have previously not accepted War Pension Scheme decisions on attributability; that awards would be backdated; and that the department would consider compensation to reflect the effect of inflation on the value of pensions over the period of non-payment.

  I can now advise the House that those pensioners, widows, widowers or their estates who will receive backdated pension benefits as a result of this judgment will also receive interest on those payments. Where the error occurred within the last six years, the interest will be based on the scheme's usual formula of simple interest. Where the error occurred beyond six years, interest will be based on a formula using the rate of RPI plus 2 per cent compounded. This is consistent with the formula used in compensating those who were affected by the Armed Forces Pension Scheme tax and related pension errors, which I announced to the House on 15 December 2003.

  Work has begun on identifying the cases involved and we hope that back payments and interest will be paid within one year to those who were affected.

  Defence Estates Corporate Plan: Key Targets 2004–05
  Lord Bach
  My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  As detailed in the Defence Estates corporate plan 2004–09, the following key targets have been set for the agency for 2004–05.

  Key Target 1: To improve the condition of the defence estate for fitness for purpose and condition by:

  Delivering 1,640 single living accommodation grade 1 bedspaces under Project SLAM, and reporting on the provision of 4,307 bedspaces delivered under parallel projects, and improving service families' accommodation by delivering 500 upgraded properties.
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  Ensuring that at least 70 per cent of MoD sites of special scientific interest in the UK meet the criteria for satisfactory condition.

  Key Target 2: To provide an estate of the right size, by increasing the number of personnel on core sites by 4 per cent by 31 March 2005, producing business cases to support the MoD estate rationalisation plan by December 2004, and by achieving accrued estates disposal receipts of £661 million from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2008, including £126 million from 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005.

  Key Target 3: To improve customer satisfaction and service delivery, by decreasing customer dissatisfaction with service families' accommodation by a percentage point by 31 March 2005, compared to the outcome as at 31 March 2004.

  Key Target 4: To implement key 2004–05 milestones for MoD estates change initiatives by achieving the contract award for the housing prime contract by 31 July 2004 and the regional prime contract (southeast) by 30 November 2004.

  Key Target 5: To produce the necessary strategies and to establish target baselines in support of the Defra sustainable development in government requirements.

  Key Target 6: To integrate baseline information to inform the methodology for demonstrating value for money efficiencies from prime contracting, and to reduce the management margin of vacant housing to 10.7 per cent by 31 March 2005.

  I am placing a copy of the new Defence Estates corporate plan in the Library of the House.

  Met Office: Key Performance Targets 2004–05
  Lord Bach
  My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

  The chief executive of the Met Office is responsible for providing meteorological and related environmental services, including climate change prediction, to a wide range of customers, including the Armed Forces, government departments and local authorities, civil aviation, shipping, emergency services, media, commerce, industry and the general public. The Met Office also undertakes research related to meteorology and climate.

  Over the past 12 months the Met Office completed the challenging relocation of its headquarters and operations centre from Bracknell to Exeter. It was one of the biggest moves of IT capability undertaken in Europe, with no interruption in output or customer service. Some 1,000 staff transferred to Exeter in a project that was completed on time, to budget and against quality standards set. The move to new premises supports new ways of working and an advanced technology and IT infrastructure, which will result in increased resilience and data reliability for the Met Office's customers.
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  To reflect the established strategy of investment and growth, the Met Office has adopted a new target relating to growth. A new target has also been included to ensure that the Met Office is prepared for the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on 1 January 2005.

  Previously the Met Office has had a target set against commercial contribution. This has become less relevant given that there is no longer a clear distinction between commercial work and public sector work. This target has therefore been discontinued.

  Key Target 1: To achieve an increase in value for the numerical weather prediction index (measuring forecasting skill) of at least 1.4 by 31 March 2005, from the level achieved at 31 March 2004.

  Key target 2: To deliver an operating profit before strategic investments of at least £15.5 million in the financial year 2004–05, while making strategic investments of between £5.8 million and £6.8 million.

  Key target 3: To achieve a return on capital employed of at least 3.5 per cent in the financial year 2004–05.

  Key target 4: To achieve direct services growth in both government and non-government revenue of at least 4.1 per cent in the financial year 2004–05 from the 2003–04 baseline, while maintaining direct services operating profit.
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  Key target 5: To have in place, by 31 December 2004, basic procedures to answer requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and to review by 31 March 2005 the initial operation of the procedures to ensure that they are fit for purpose.

  Key target 6: To develop, by March 2005, an efficiency measure which demonstrates the continuous improvement in value for money of the National Met Service (including the Public Met Service and relevant parts of the National Met Programme).

  Aberthaw Power Station: Desulphurisation Plant
  The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)
  My honourable friend the Minister for Energy, E-commerce and Postal Services (Stephen Timms) has made the following Written Statement.

  I have today granted consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to RWE Innogy plc for the construction of flue gas desulphurisation plant at the 1,500 MW coal-fired power station at Aberthaw in the Vale of Glamorgan. Planning permission for the plant has also been deemed to be granted, subject to 29 planning conditions agreed with the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

  Copies of the press notice and decision letter are being placed in the Library of the House.