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20 Jun 2007 : Column WS17
20 Jun 2007 : Column WS17
20 Jun 2007 : Column WS17
Wednesday 20 June 2007
Armed Forces: Coroners’ Inquests
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): My right honourable friend the Minister of State (Harriet Harman) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence and I wish to make the following Statement to the House about the inquests of service men and women who have died overseas where jurisdiction has been assumed by the Oxfordshire coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, and the Wiltshire and Swindon coroner, David Masters.
All casualties suffered by the UK Armed Forces are a source of profound regret. UK service personnel have put their lives on the line to help build strong, stable and democratic nations and protect the interests of the United Kingdom and we cannot pay high enough tribute to the job they are doing, or the sacrifice some of them have made. We are committed to assisting the families of UK service personnel who have died on operations overseas when their loved ones are returned to the UK.
We made Statements to the House on 5 June 2006, Official Report, Commons, col. 4WS; 12 October 2006, Official Report, col. 26WS; 18 December 2006, Official Report, col. 112WS, and 29 March 2007, Official Report, col. 121WS, with information about the conduct of inquests by the Oxfordshire coroner and today we are announcing progress which has been made since the Written Ministerial Statement in March.
Coroners are independent judicial officers appointed and paid for by the relevant local authority. Their officers and staff are employed by the local authority and/or the police.
Each death of a service man or woman killed in an operation overseas whose body is repatriated to England and Wales is subject to an inquest. The inquest, both the investigation into the death and the holding of the public hearing into the death, is conducted by the coroner with jurisdiction which derives from where the body lies.
In the case of deaths of service men and women whose bodies were flown into Brize Norton military airbase until it could no longer be used for repatriations on 31 March 2007, the Oxfordshire coroner has initial jurisdiction. In the case of deaths of service men and women whose bodies have been flown into Lyneham military airbase since 1 April 2007, the Wiltshire and Swindon coroner has initial jurisdiction.
The coroner has powers under the Coroners Act 1988 to transfer jurisdiction to another coroner while the body is still lying within his district and with the consent of the other coroner. Since late December 2006, the Oxfordshire coroner's practice was to
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Progress with the remaining inquests
At the time of the March Written Ministerial Statement, 56 inquests had been held, 46 into the deaths of servicemen and 10 into the deaths of civilians in Iraq whose bodies were repatriated via RAF Brize Norton.
A further 16 inquests have been held into the deaths of servicemen, making a total of 72 inquests which have been held since June 2006.
Of these 72 inquests, the Oxfordshire coroner, Nicholas Gardiner, has conducted five, Assistant Deputy Oxfordshire Coroner, Sir Richard Curtis, six, Assistant Deputy Oxfordshire Coroner, Selena Lynch, 28, Assistant Deputy Oxfordshire Coroner, Andrew Walker, 32, and the Greater Manchester West Coroner, Jennifer Leeming, one.
Oxfordshire coroner's jurisdiction
There remain 11 inquests to be concluded into the deaths of service personnel in military conflicts and exercises overseas, and four inquests into the deaths of civilians who lost their lives in Iraq and whose bodies were repatriated to Brize Norton before 16 May 2006. This includes the death of a serviceman on an exercise in California in December 2005, details of which we have recently been advised by the coroner.
The oldest outstanding military inquest in the Oxfordshire coroner's jurisdiction is the inquest into the death of Corporal Allbutt on 25 March 2003, which will be heard on 29 June 2007. The oldest outstanding civilian death inquest in the Oxfordshire coroner's jurisdiction is the inquest into the death of Antonio Jose Monteiro Abelha on 22 June 2006. This inquest will be heard on 13 July 2007.
The four outstanding civilian inquests all have a hearing date. All but one of the outstanding inquests into servicemen's deaths before 16 May 2006 has a hearing date and these inquests are due to be heard by the end of October 2007. The MoD recently determined that there should be a board of inquiry in the case of Lieutenant Palmer who died on 28 February 2006. His inquest will not be heard until 2008.
Of the 66 more recent cases since the 16 May 2006, which have been repatriated via Brize Norton, the Oxfordshire coroner has retained jurisdiction in 50 cases and has transferred 16 inquests to other coroners with jurisdiction closer to the next of kin of which one inquest has been held. Of those retained by the Oxfordshire coroner, pre-inquest hearing dates have been set in 17 cases, hearing dates set in nine cases and progress made in the remainder. Of the 15 inquests which have been transferred to other coroners, progress has been made and dates set for three inquests.
Wiltshire and Swindon coroner's jurisdiction
There remain 10 inquests into fatalities which were repatriated via RAF Lyneham prior to 16 May 2006. These relate to the deaths of 10 crew members who died together in the crash of Hercules XV 179 on 30 January 2005. The coroner held a pre-inquest
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A further 22 inquests relating to deaths since 16 May 2006 fall within the jurisdiction of the Wiltshire and Swindon coroner. Of these, the Wiltshire and Swindon coroner has transferred, or is in the process of transferring, 12 inquests to other coroners with jurisdiction closer to the next of kin. A further inquest has been heard by the Liverpool coroner, Andre Rebello.
We are very grateful for the efforts of all the coroners involved in conducting these inquests.
We shall continue to keep the House informed on a quarterly basis about progress through the remaining inquests. I have placed a table in the Library which outlines the status of all cases and the date of death of each case. Copies are also available in the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office.
It is of the greatest importance that the next of kin have full information about the progress on the inquest of their deceased next of kin.
In order to further improve the service to families, I invited to meet me on 4 December 2006 the families of service personnel who died in Iraq whose inquests had been held. We are grateful to the 17 relatives of the 12 deceased service men and women who gave us the benefit of their views and experiences so as to improve the inquest system for the benefit of future families of members of the Armed Service who die abroad.
Following that meeting we have been working on better supporting bereaved military families. My right honourable friend the Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence (Adam Ingram) issued a Written Ministerial Statement on 7 June, Official Report, Commons, col. 26WS, giving details of the support which is now being provided.”
Construction Industry: Payment Practices
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Truscott): I have today launched a consultation document on improvements to regulation intended to support better payment practices in the construction industry. Copies are available in the House.
It has taken a long time to assemble these proposals following the publication of the DTI and Welsh Assembly Government’s first consultation in March 2005. I am delighted that we can now issue the second consultation we promised on Improving payment practices in the construction industry. I know how important it is for all in the construction industry that we have a system which delivers fair payment practices. The framework set out in Part II of the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 has delivered improvement over the past nine years and it is important that we build on this. I look forward to a healthy and constructive discussion.
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The consultation document sets out a number of proposals on how we might seek to:
introduce greater clarity and transparency into the statutory payment framework to enable construction companies to better manage cash flow; and encourage parties to resolve disputes by adjudication.Prompt and fair payment practice throughout construction supply chains will help the construction industry to adopt integrated working as the norm.
improve transparency and clarity in the exchange of information relating to payments to enable the better management of cash flow;encourage the parties to resolve disputes by adjudication, where it is appropriate, rather than by resorting to more costly and time-consuming solutions such as litigation; and improve the right to suspend performance under the contract.improving access to the right to refer disputes for adjudication by:
applying the legislation to oral and partly oral contracts;preventing the use of agreements that interim payment decisions will be conclusive to avoid adjudication of interim payment disputes; andensuring the costs involved in the process are fairly allocated. preventing unnecessary duplication of payment notices;clarifying the requirement to serve a Section 110(2) payment notice clarifying the content of payment and withholding notices; andensuring the payment framework creates a clear interim entitlement to payment prohibiting the use of pay when certified clauses. improving the statutory right to suspend performance by allowing the suspending party to claim the costs and delay which result.These proposals are intended to be proportionate amendments to the existing framework to address specific issues that have arisen during the nine years the Construction Act has been in operation. Guidance remains the preferred route to improve the operation of construction contracts and we have only considered further legislative intervention where we believe it is absolutely necessary.
Having emerged from the first consultation on Improving payment practices in the construction industry in 2005, these proposals were first outlined in the analysis of the consultation in January 2006. During 2006, a DTI-appointed sounding board assisted in the development of the detailed proposals for this second consultation. I am very grateful for the work that the sounding board did.
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It was originally intended that these proposals should be introduced using a legislative reform order (LRO) under the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006. But I have now concluded that it would be more appropriate to introduce these proposals using primary legislation. The consultation covers the primary legislative proposals in detail, as well as the consequential amendments that will need to be made to the Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998.
We are now seeking the views of the construction industry and its clients on:
whether this package of proposals properly and adequately addresses the weaknesses in the existing framework; andhow we might evaluate the costs and benefits of the package.We will be seeking to introduce legislation to implement the proposals emerging from this consultation through primary legislation as soon as a legislative slot is available.
The consultation document is also available at: www.dti.gov.uk/sectors/construction/constructionact/page 13956.html.
Courts: Family Cases
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Lord Falconer of Thoroton): I am pleased to inform noble Lords that I have today laid before Parliament a further consultation paper on Confidence and confidentiality: Openness in Family Courts - a new approach (Cm 7131). It is available on the department's website at: www.justice.gov.uk/publications/consultations. htm.
Since publishing our initial proposals in 2006, we have reflected on the best ways of making the culture of family courts more open, while maintaining the privacy of those involved, especially children. We have listened to what people said in response to our original proposals. We have decided a new approach is needed which focuses not on who may go into family courts, but on the information which comes out.
The consultation paper sets out our intention to take forward proposals that were widely welcomed by responses to the previous consultation paper, and consults on further proposals.
Diplomatic Immunity: Serious Offences
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Triesman): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Margaret Beckett) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
In 2006, 15 serious offences allegedly committed by people entitled to diplomatic immunity were drawn to the attention of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. “Serious Offences” are defined as offences that would, in certain circumstances, carry a penalty of
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The table below lists those foreign missions whose diplomats allegedly committed serious offences and the type of offence from 2002-06.
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