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12 July 2007 : Column WS99
12 July 2007 : Column WS99
12 July 2007 : Column WS99
Thursday 12 July 2007
Agriculture: Wet Weather
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Rooker): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State (Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The unprecedented wet weather has caused significant disruption for a number of farmers. In recent days, including during my visit to the Great Yorkshire Show, I have received representations from industry representatives and individual farmers about two specific measures that we might take to help to alleviate their difficulties. Both have now been implemented.
Given the urgency of the issue, I gave instructions yesterday that the cross-compliance requirement—good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC) 3—prohibiting the use of mechanical field operations and mechanised vehicles on waterlogged soil should be suspended until 31 July 2007. This will enable farmers to use mechanical equipment and vehicles on waterlogged soil and access their crops. Farmers should use their soil protection review as a means to identify and mitigate any soil-related issues arising as a result of the suspension.
Livestock farmers have also been experiencing problems in accessing sufficient forage for their animals. I have, therefore, authorised the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) to allow farmers in England to graze set-aside land with their own animals or harvest hay or silage for their own use. Farmers wishing to make use of this derogation should telephone, e-mail or write to the RPA customer service centre providing the reference numbers for the fields that they wish to graze or harvest. Exceptionally, in these circumstances, farmers may consider that the derogation has been granted unless RPA subsequently makes contact to indicate otherwise.
Further details of these measures are accessible on the RPA website: www.rpa.gov.uk/rpa/index.nsf/0/839744302B8BBA1080257315005078F1
Coins
Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) has made the following Written Statement.
Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve my recommendation that the following coins should be issued in 2009:
a crown piece to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the accession of Henry VIII;a two pound coin to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of publication of The Origin of Species;a two pound coin to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns; and12 July 2007 : Column WS100
Collector versions of these coins will be released at a premium above face value and, during 2009, the coins will also become available at face value from banks and post offices.
Court Funds Office: Children's Funds Accounts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Bridget Prentice) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Court Funds Office (CFO), an associated office of the Ministry of Justice, provides a banking and investment service for funds held in court. The work is governed by the Administration Act 1982, the Civil Procedure Rules and the Court Funds Rules. The CFO manages some £4.5 billion in a mixture of cash and equity holdings. Investment on behalf of children is generally made into the equity index tracker fund, which is managed on behalf of the Ministry of Justice by Legal & General, one of the largest managers of index tracker funds in the UK.
A recent review of children’s damages awards that are held in court and administered by the CFO identified a requirement to correct a number of children’s accounts, to ensure that the award is appropriately invested as originally directed by the court. Where the award is more than £5,000 and the child is under 13 years of age, part of the award would usually be placed in an index tracker fund. In a number of cases, this investment in equities did not take place.
Prompt action is now being taken to identify all affected cases and, where the consequence has been a lower rate of return, to pay the balance necessary to ensure that beneficiaries are not disadvantaged. The administrative failures that led to this situation have been addressed to ensure that cases are invested in accordance with the courts’ directions without delay.
The process for calculating the correction payments has been reviewed by a City firm of accountants and by the Strategic Investment Board, a panel of appointed financial experts that provides generic investment advice to the Ministry of Justice in respect of its clients.
It is estimated that approximately 4,000 current and closed cases have been affected and that the full cost of corrective payments will be approximately £12.5 million. This is out of a total of 90,000 current children’s cases, holding nearly £650 million in cash and investments, and 1.1 million closed cases.
Letters providing full details of the corrected accounts are being sent to all litigation friends who represent the children involved.
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Energy: Demand-reduction Trials
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence & Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Lord Drayson): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (John Hutton) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Contracts have been signed with EDF Energy, E.ON UK, Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power to conduct the trials of smart meters and associated feedback devices. They are being funded by £10 million from the Government, matched by a similar amount from the companies involved. The funding was announced as part of Budget 2006.
The trials will include 15,000 households receiving state-of-the-art smart meters and 8,000 more receiving clip-on real-time display units for their existing meters. The other households in the trial will be testing new ways of receiving information to help them to cut their energy use. Altogether, around 40,000 households will be involved.
Clip-on real-time display units can tell people how much energy they are using and how much it is costing when individual appliances are turned on. Smart meters allow energy suppliers to communicate directly with their customers, removing the need for meter readings and ensuring entirely accurate bills with no estimates. Smart meters tell people about their energy use either through linked display units or in other ways, such as through the internet or the television.
The trials will test out consumers' response to better information on their energy use through a variety of methods, including:
consumers to be able to access information about their consumption and energy costs through visual display units that can be displayed round the house, over the internet and even through digital TV;the potential for energy suppliers to provide enhanced billing information with advice to consumers on how they can cut down their energy bills; andproviding a breakdown of energy use to the customer and exploring a range of tariffs for consumption at different times of the day.The trials will be conducted throughout the country and will look at the responses from a range of customers, including those in fuel poverty.
increasing the frequency of billing as well as the impact of more accurate bills; andencouragement to become even more energy efficient through more information and community engagement.Smart meters are expected to be rolled out to most households within the next 10 years and to all but the smallest businesses in the next five years.
In the mean time, the Government have proposed that real-time display units be provided with any new meters fitted from 2008 and to all households that
12 July 2007 : Column WS102
Forensic Science Regulator
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Meg Hillier) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today announcing the arrangements that we have put in hand to establish the post of forensic science regulator, whose role will be to advise the Government and the criminal justice system on quality standards in the provision of forensic science. This will involve identifying the requirement for new or improved quality standards, leading on the development of new standards where necessary; providing advice and guidance so that providers will be able to demonstrate compliance with common standards, in procurement and in courts, for example; ensuring that satisfactory arrangements exist to provide assurance and monitoring of the standards; and reporting on quality standards generally.
The regulator will be supported and advised by a Forensic Science Advisory Council, whose members will be drawn from key stakeholders, expert bodies and others with a particular interest in the provision of forensic science to the criminal justice system. These arrangements draw on the recommendations of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee in its report Forensic Science on Trial, which was published on 16 March 2005, and on the responses to a consultation exercise carried out by the Home Office last year.
A team has been established in the Home Office under the management of a senior civil servant to set up the office of the regulator and the Forensic Science Advisory Council. The regulator will be appointed by the Home Secretary following recruitment through the public appointments process. Pending this recruitment, the responsible official will serve as the interim regulator.
Medical Training Application Service
Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Ann Keen), has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Following the end of the first round of recruitment for specialty training on 22 June, I should like to give the House the data showing the number of posts that have been filled in England.
The information is in the tables. These figures show that 85 per cent of all junior doctor training posts in England have been filled by the end of round 1. Of a total of 15,600 training posts available in England, 13,168 have been offered to and accepted by junior doctors.
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A second round of recruitment has commenced and will run until 31 October. Deaneries have informed the department that there are 2,320 posts available to applicants within round 2.
As part of the package announced in the House on 24 May, around 1,000 training posts will also be made available at the end of this year’s recruitment process to appointable junior doctors who did not secure a post in rounds 1 or 2.
| England: Summary of round 1 acceptances | ||
| Excluding Defence Medical Services—acceptances data correct as of round 1 close on 26 June | ||
| All | ||
| Round 1 fill rate by specialty (Royal College groupings) | |
| Royal College | Fill rate (percentage of posts filled at close of round 1) |
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