Written Statement of 10 November 2004

  Tourism Ireland: Annual Report and Accounts 2003
  The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos)
  My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has made the following Ministerial Statement.

  Tourism Ireland Limited's annual report and accounts 2003 were deposited in the Houses of Parliament today.

  Copies have been placed in the Library.

  Better Regulation Task Force
  The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor (Lord Falconer of Thoroton)
  The Government have today published their response to the Better Regulation Task Force report,Better Routes to Redress. Copies of the government response have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Further copies of this response may be obtained from the Department for Constitutional Affairs and it is available on the department's website at http://www.dca.gov.uk. The BRTF report Better Routes to Redress and the government response are also available on the BRTF website at http://www.brtf gov.uk.

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

  In my Statement to the House on the Ministry of Defence's response to the Surrey Police report into the four tragic deaths at Deepcut Barracks on 24 May 2004 (Official Report, cols. 1306–21), I informed right honourable and honourable Members that the Director of Operational Capability would undertake a further reappraisal of initial training in the Armed Forces to assess progress in the implementation of the recommendations of his first report.

  This reappraisal—which included visits to 12 units across the three Services and interviews with 1,252 recruits and trainees and 307 instructor staff, command and administrative authorities and representatives of welfare, social and emotional support groups—is now complete.

  The report confirms that significant progress has been made in implementing all the recommendations set out in the original report. It concludes that particular advances have been made in the field of duty of care arrangements for recruits and trainees, and highlights the considerable energy, imagination and leadership that is being applied in an effort to improve the regime in which recruits and trainees are trained. That said, it identifies areas where further work is required, to ensure that the training organisation meets the highest standards demanded. We are now taking these matters forward.

  I am today placing copies of the report in the Libraries of the House.