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We are announcing today that the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Health will together commit £12 million to lead action to take forward the recommendations up to and including the national year of speech, language and communication by 2011. In addition, the DCSF is investing £40 million in the Every Child a Talker programme, to ensure that early years practitioners are better able to access training and materials to support children’s speaking and listening skills from birth to five. My department has already asked Sir Jim Rose to examine how schools can better focus on speech, language and communication as part of his review of the primary curriculum.
A full implementation plan will be produced in the autumn.
The Secretary of State for Health and I thank John Bercow MP, and his expert advisers, for the way in which the review was conducted, with extensive consultations and a programme of visits; it provides a benchmark for future reviews. The recommendations in the final report have the potential to transform the lives of children and young people with SLCN and their families and we are committed to delivering the changes required to achieve this.
Civil Justice Council
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Bridget Prentice) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today announcing that Dr Jonathan Spencer CB has submitted his report of his independent review of the Civil Justice Council on 24 June 2008. I welcome the report and accept the thrust of the recommendations. I have asked my officials to work closely with the council to develop a suitable action plan for their implementation. The report recommends retention of the council as an advisory public body but with a series of changes, set out in 27 recommendations for action. These are designed to increase the relevance, value and visibility of the council’s work to users of the civil justice system. They aim to achieve this in particular by increasing the user element in the council’s membership and by increasing the user influence over its programmes of work, while retaining the technical expertise of the legal and judicial members of the council and its committees.
I am particularly pleased that the report acknowledges the value of the council’s work and achievements so far and I am confident that the implementation of the recommendations will be a major step towards its further development.
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The report has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. The report and further information about the review can be found at the Ministry of Justice website at www.justice.gov.uk/reviews/civil-justice-intro.htm.
EU: Economic and Financial Affairs Council
Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) has made the following Written Statement.
The Economic and Financial Affairs Council will be held in Brussels on 8 July 2008. Items on the agenda are as follows:
The French presidency will present the ECOFIN work programme for the next six months.
Implementation of the stability and growth pact
The council will be asked to adopt opinions on the updated stability programme for Belgium and the updated convergence programme for Poland, as well as a decision putting an end to the excessive deficit procedure for Poland. In addition, the council will be asked to agree to a decision and recommendations under Article 104(7) of the EC treaty with regard to the UK.
Adoption of the euro by Slovakia
The council will adopt legislative acts required for the adoption of the euro by Slovakia. The adoption will finalise the procedure foreseen by Article 122 of the treaty establishing the European Community. The council (meeting at the level of heads of state or government in the margins of the June European Council) gave its guidance on this issue on 19 June. Ministers will first vote on the legislative acts and, if successful, will decide on the exchange rate as recommended by the Commission. The UK congratulates Slovakia on the substantial reforms that it has made in order to meet the Maastricht criteria.
Following the June European Council and in advance of the report for the October European Council, Ministers will hold an exchange of views on the situation in the oil and fuel markets. This will also cover the role of ECOFIN in preparing the October and December European Councils. The UK supports the work under way to better understand what is driving the development of oil prices.
Governance of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)
The IASB launched a public consultation on the issue of its own governance in May. The council will provide the European perspective and will prepare a European contribution to the public consultation on IASB. The UK supports the efforts to improve internal processes and governance within the IASB, principally through improving the oversight arrangements for the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation (IASCF).
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Financial markets: situation and implementation of the council road map
The Commission will present the state of play on the council road map agreed in the October 2007 ECOFIN council conclusions. This will cover the items for which the deadline was set at mid-2008. These items include credit rating agencies and the transparency of markets on the level of their losses and risks. Conclusions have been agreed in which member states look forward to further work on transparency and on credit rating agencies in the autumn.
EU: French Presidency
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Malloch-Brown): My honourable friend the Minister for Europe (Jim Murphy) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement:
I will today lay before the House the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Command Paper Prospects for the European Union in 2008: French Presidency. Copies will be placed in the Library of the House. Additional copies can also be obtained from the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office. A copy will also be available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website at www.fco.gov.uk.
The last White Paper was published in January 2008. It focused primarily on the priorities of the Slovenian presidency. The White Paper that I am
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The French presidency has set out a challenging agenda covering a wide range of areas, building on the positive successes of the Slovenian presidency. The presidency offers a significant opportunity to work closely together on a number of key issues.
On climate change and energy security, the presidency aims to reach agreement on the 2020 climate change package, the text of the internal market energy package and the strategic energy review. The presidency will continue work on tackling the challenge of food and oil prices and the credit crunch. These are key issues for the UK Government and ones that we will work hard with EU partners to reach agreement on. The presidency will also look to agree a way forward on the Lisbon treaty during the next six months.
In addition, the presidency will consider the way ahead on the Lisbon agenda for jobs and growth, within the context of increased economic uncertainty, climate change and competition from emerging economies. It will be important in this to focus on delivering reforms that help EU citizens to take advantage of the opportunities and meet the challenges presented by globalisation. We will work closely with the presidency to assist it in taking this forward, rooted in a Global Europe approach.
The EU will continue to work with international partners to address challenges such as those posed by Zimbabwe, Burma, Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East peace process.
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