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Better Government Programme

22. Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on his better government programme. [9729]

Dr. David Clark: The White Paper on Better Government will set out how we intend to meet our commitment to rebuild the bond of trust between Government and the people, by opening Government out and by providing accessible services which better match the way that people need live their lives.

The White Paper will address four challenges for Government as we enter the new millennium:

Cleaning up politics;

Getting good results and rooting out waste;

Listening to the people;

Working together across institutional boundaries.

Public Appointments

23. Mr. Gunnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what guidance he has given the Commissioner for Public Appointments regarding his role in relation to reappointments of existing chairpersons of public bodies whose terms of office are or shortly will be due for renewal. [9730]

Dr. David Clark: None. The Commissioner for Public Appointments is independent of Government. His code of practice for public appointments procedures, which came into effect on 1 July 1996, states

"Reappointments to the same post should not be automatic. The performance of the post-holder should be reviewed. A second reappointment should be exceptional and normally subject to a scrutiny process, including considering other candidates."


The code is supplemented by detailed guidance for Departments. Copies of the code and guidance are available in the Library.

Deregulation

25. Mr. Spring: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on the Government's future plans for deregulation. [9732]

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 314

Dr. David Clark: We are committed to ensuring that regulations are simple, helpful and fair. We aim to deliver responsible and responsive regulation for business, particularly small firms, and the citizen. I have appointed Chris Haskins to chair a new better regulation task force and the deregulation unit has similarly been renamed the better regulation unit to reflect the fact that our priority is to get regulation right.

Food Safety

26. Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what additional steps he is taking to ensure that food is safe to eat. [9733]

Dr. David Clark: At the request of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, I chair the ministerial group on food safety. As part of its work on the establishment of a Food Standards Agency, the group has looked at ways in which we can improve food safety arrangements in the interim. This work has involved a number of Government Departments, principally the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health. Later today, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food will make a statement setting out these measures in full.

Quangos

27. Mr. David Heath: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will make a statement on his plans to (a) abolish quangos and (b) introduce a significant element of democratic accountability to quangos. [9734]

Dr. David Clark: As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister stated in reply to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for West Lancashire (Mr. Pickthall) on 18 June, Official Report, column 174, the Government believe that the previous Administration created too many unelected, undemocratic quangos. We have therefore instituted a review of quangos with the aim of reducing overall numbers.

Last Thursday, Official Report, column 693, in response to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for The Wrekin (Mr. Bradley), I announced proposals to issue a discussion paper in the autumn, considering how democratic oversight of public bodies might best be enhanced. In the light of consultation, we have brought forward proposals in the White Paper on Better Government to be published later this year.

Next Steps Agencies

Mr. Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans he has to improve the accountability of next steps agencies to Parliament. [9712]

Mr. Kilfoyle: We are considering whether there are any issues that need to be addressed in this area as part of our wider commitment to modernise Government services and make them more responsive.

Ethnic Minorities

Mr. Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list the number and proportion of (a) Asians and (b) Afro-Caribbeans in each grade in the civil service. [11103]

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 315

Dr. David Clark: Information on the ethnic origin of civil servants is collected using a voluntary, self-classification, confidential questionnaire. The number

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 316

and proportion of Asian and Afro-Caribbean civil servants, by grade equivalents, who have submitted a questionnaire, as at 1 April 1996 is set out in the table.

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 315

Grade Level by ethnic origin

Grade level	Afro-Caribbean	Percentage Caribbean	Afro-Asian	Percentage Asian	Total Respondents
SCS (1-5)	13	0.34	43	1.13	3,819
6	18	0.42	91	2.10	4,325
7	82	0.55	216	1.45	14,906
SEO	68	0.33	263	1.28	20,500
HEO	553	0.84	736	1.12	65,839
EO	1,494	1.54	2,280	2.35	96,929
AO	4,275	2.97	5,873	4.08	14,4099
AA	2,212	3.47	2,684	4.20	63,837
Other	5	0.33	8	0.53	1,505
Summary information	8,720	1.20	12,194	2.03	415,759

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 315

Central Office of Information

Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what targets have been set for the Central Office of Information for 1997-98. [12164]

Mr. Kilfoyle: I have set Central Office of Information the following key performance targets for 1997-98:

to achieve a surplus of £1 million in modified historical cost terms after recovering all costs including interest on borrowings;

to achieve a further 2 per cent. increase in efficiency as measured by limit cost reduction;

to achieve an average score of 8.25 out of 10 for the COI customer satisfaction index.

Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency

Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what performance targets he has set for the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency for 1997-98. [12166]

Mr. Kilfoyle: I have set the following key performance targets for the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency for 1997-98:

to break even on an accruals basis;

to deliver CCTA services within voted provisions;

to establish a baseline for operation within the CCTA customer charter;

to secure savings which will result in a 5 per cent. reduction in the cost of supporting services in 1998-99;

to achieve 85 per cent. of customers assessing satisfaction with CCTA services at levels one and two of a five-point scale.

Civil Service College

Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what key performance targets he has set for the Civil Service College for the current year. [12165]

Mr. Kilfoyle: The key performance targets for the Civil Service College for 1997-98 are:

to break-even in accrual accounting terms;

to earn £1,500,000 from consultancy;

to attract 1,515 students from the private sector;

to attract 900 students from the private sector;

to earn 88 per cent. of students' course evaluation in the highest two of six categories.

30 Jul 1997 : Column: 316

NORTHERN IRELAND

Parades and Marches

Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which organisations applied to march in Northern Ireland in 1996 more than five times. [9978]

Mr. Ingram: The information is not available in the format requested and would incur disproportionate cost to provide.

Mr. Robert McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proposals she has to extend the remit of the Parades Commission to (a) grant special protection for traditional parades and (b) monitor other aspects of local culture in Northern Ireland. [10123]

Mr. Ingram: The Government have received representations about the remit of the Parades Commission, and is considering extending this remit beyond that recommended by the North report.

The forthcoming parades legislation will, as proposed by North, provide for the commission to take into account a range of factors including whether a parade is of long-standing. The commission will, in any particular case, weight up all the factors before reaching a conclusion.

Mr. McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many parades were applied for in 1996; how many were perceived as (a) unionist, (b) nationalist and (c) other; and which organisations filed for more than 10 parades in that year. [10125]

Mr. Ingram: The information is not available in the format requested and would incur disproportionate cost to provide. I refer the hon. and learned Gentleman to the reply given to the right hon. Member for Strangford (Mr. Taylor) on 29 July 1997, Official Report, column 158.

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