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HEALTH
Medical Devices Agency
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Miss Melanie Johnson): The 2002–03 report and accounts of the Medical Devices Agency have today been laid before the House of Commons pursuant to section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. Copies have been placed in the Library.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Miss Melanie Johnson): The National Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease surveillance unit's 11th
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annual report has been published today. The report documents the unit's findings in relation to sporadic, familial and iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), and also variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), up to 31 January 2003. Copies have been placed in the Library, and are also available on the Unit's web site at http://www.cjd.ed.ac.uk/.
Clinical Trials Directive
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Miss Melanie Johnson): The draft regulations to transpose the clinical trials directive into domestic law are currently being discussed with stakeholders. The process of developing these regulations fully, at which point they can be laid before Parliament, should therefore be completed some time after Parliament reconvenes in October. I will aim to give a further update at around that time. Member States are required to implement the directive fully by 1 May 2004.
NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton): The National Health Service Purchasing and Supply Agency's annual report and accounts 2002–03 have today been laid before the House of Commons pursuant to section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.
Copies have been placed in the Library.
NHS Estates and Facilities Management Development Agency
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton): We have received the NHS Estates and Facilities Management Development Agency's annual report and accounts 2002–03, and copies have today been laid before Parliament in accordance with the requirements of section 5 of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1921. Copies have been placed in the Library.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Criminal Justice
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. David Blunkett): Technical notes for the remaining shared Criminal Justice System Public Service Agreement (CJS PSA) targets for the 2002 Spending Review period, have been published today. Copies are available in the Library and online at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/inside/aims/index.html.
In common with those for other targets, the technical notes define the terms used in the PSA targets, their territorial scope, measurement systems which will be used, and criteria for success. The purpose of the technical notes is to enable Parliament, and the public, to judge progress against the PSA targets. The measurement systems will be used by the three CJS departments to manage delivery of the new, challenging targets.
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The majority of the CJS technical notes were presented to Parliament, as part of the Home Office technical notes, on 25 March 2003. The remaining technical notes, published today, relate to the targets (i) to improve public confidence in the CJS, and (ii) to increase value for money in the CJS. For convenience, the Home Office technical notes document has been republished to incorporate the revised public confidence technical note. The CJS Value for money technical note has been published as a separate document.
The Criminal Justice System PSA targets were presented to Parliament on 15 July 2002 as part of the Command Paper "2002 Spending Review: Public Service Agreements" (Cm 5571).
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum
The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes): I have today placed in the Library of the House a copy of the official consultation process report following the public consultation exercise on the implementation of sections 134–139 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. These provisions will enable the immigration authorities to require employers and financial institutions to provide information in respect of specified individuals who are reasonably suspected of committing certain immigration offences. Their purpose is to strengthen our ability to deal with illegal working and fraud against the national asylum support arrangements. The new powers are closely drawn and are modelled on existing powers in social security legislation. A consultation paper seeking views on practical questions concerning the operation of the new powers was published on 19 March. The consultation process report summarises the comments received and our response. The new powers will come into force on 30 July, together with section 129 of the 2002 Act relating to the supply of information by local authorities.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Fire Authority
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy): The Report on Stage Two of the Quinquennial Review of the Fire Authority for Northern Ireland has been completed and made available in the House of Commons Library and on the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety's web site.
The conclusion of the Stage One Report, published on 3 February, was that the Fire Authority for Northern Ireland should remain in being as an NDPB.
Stage Two examined how the Authority operated and related to the Fire Brigade and its sponsoring Department. The consultants invited views from a range of respondents, including Authority members and personnel, the fire fighters' unions, and representatives of local government in Northern Ireland. Their report makes recommendations to improve the Authority's effectiveness and efficiency.
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The Report's overall conclusion is that the Fire Authority has already begun to address effectively the problems identified in the Stage One Report. In particular, relations between Authority members and senior officers have improved significantly since last year.
- A more strategic role for the Authority Board.
A more compact Board.
A new senior management structure, with greater emphasis on the personnel and financial management functions.
The proposed changes in the composition of the Authority would require legislation. I intend to include them in a paper for public consultation, which I plan to publish later this year. That paper will also outline the Government's vision for the future development of the Fire and Rescue Service in Northern Ireland in light of the broad policy approach outlined by the Deputy Prime Minister in his Statement to the House of 30 June, tailored to Northern Ireland's particular needs and circumstances.
Police Ombudsman
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy): The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland's annual report for 2002–03 is published today.
Copies will be available in the Libraries of both Houses.
Life Sentence Review Commissioners
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Jane Kennedy): I have today arranged for the Annual Report of the Life Sentence Review Commissioners to be laid in the House. Copies have also been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. This document will not be published but will instead be made available on the Commissioners' website at http://www.Isrcni.org.uk/.
Train Derailment
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. John Spellar): The report of the inquiry carried out by an Inspector of Her Majesty's railway inspectorate into a train derailment in County Londonderry on 4 June 2002 is being published today. Copies of the inspector's report have been placed in the Libraries of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Northern Ireland Assembly and copies will be made available to the public on request. I have also placed copies of the Northern Ireland Railways internal report on this incident in the Libraries and copies will also be available to the public from Translink on request. The HMRI report will also be placed on the Department for Regional Development's website http://www.drdni.gov.uk/transportpolicy/
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The derailment occurred when the 12.50 pm train from Londonderry to Belfast hit a large rock that came to rest on the railway track following a rock fall from an adjacent cliff at Downhill, County Londonderry. Thankfully there were no fatalities and only the driver of the train suffered injuries that were sufficiently serious to require admission to hospital. Following the accident, Mr Peter Robinson MP, the then Minister for Regional Development, made a statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 10 June 2002 advising that he had asked HMRI to conduct an investigation into the circumstances of the accident, to report the findings and to make recommendations.
The report comes to a number of conclusions about the operations of Northern Ireland Railways that were a contributory factor to the accident and makes recommendations for improvements. It also contains conclusions and recommendations in respect of the Department for Regional Development's Roads Service, the Department of the Environment's Planning Service, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and other duty holders. The report concludes that rock falls from the cliffs at Downhill were foreseeable, that further rock falls will occur, and that these pose a risk to residents and, to a lesser extent road and rail users.
The conclusions and recommendations contained in the report are actively being considered for implementation by the relevant agencies in Northern Ireland. I will ensure that these bodies liaise closely with each other in this process. I have taken action to ensure that the recommendations are actively considered for implementation.
I wish to express my appreciation to HMRI for their assistance and in particular to the inspector, Mr Gerald Kerr, for his detailed and careful examination of the issues and for his recommendations. I also wish to commend the public spiritedness of the eyewitness to the rock fall who contacted the emergency services and the residents of Downhill for the assistance they gave to the injured.
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