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Iraq Commemoration

The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): As the House is aware, we have been considering the precise form in which we should commemorate and mark the operations undertaken in Iraq this year.

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I can announce that we have decided that there will be a national service of remembrance and thanksgiving for the campaign in Iraq. This will be held in St Paul's Cathedral on 10 October 2003. The Dean of St Paul's will lead the service and the Archbishop of Canterbury will give the sermon. The service will give thanks for the role UK forces played in ending tyranny in Iraq. It will also give thanks to those personnel, including those that lost their lives, who took part—recognising their professionalism and their achievements.

Members of the Royal Family, the Prime Minister and members of the Government will attend along with Service Chiefs. Representatives of our coalition allies and members of the Opposition will also be invited to the ceremony, along with, importantly, the families of those who so tragically lost their lives over the course of the operation. The majority of the congregation will, though, be personnel who took part in the campaign.

We have given careful thought to the calls made for a parade to mark this event. In accordance with the wishes of the armed forces, we have decided that the most appropriate form of commemoration at the national level would be a service of thanksgiving, but without a parade. At the regional and local level, there will be opportunities for local communities to arrange events for their local units to mark their involvement in, and return from, the operation.

HEALTH

Commission for Health Improvement

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton): The Commission for Health Improvement's 2002–03 annual report, entitled "Delivering Improvement", has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

Patient Advocacy Services

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton): Section 12 of the Health and Social Care Act (2001) places a legal duty on the Secretary of State to make arrangements to provide independent advocacy services to assist individuals making complaints against the National Health Service. We intend to commence this section on 1 September 2003.

Our intention is to deliver arrangements for a national independent complaints advocacy service (ICAS). These intentions were set out in written answers given to the hon. Member for Eltham (Clive Efford) on 19 March 2003, Official Report, columns 849–51W. The new service will be provided by four contractors who will deliver ICAS across England from the 1 September 2003 on a one year contract. These contractors are The Carers Federation Ltd, POhWER, South East Advocacy Projects and the Citizens Advice.

Delivering ICAS through these contracts will allow primary care trust patients' forums, who will in due course have delegated power to commission or provide ICAS under the NHS Reform and Healthcare Professions Act 2002, time to establish their networks and capacity.

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Learning from the experience of community health councils and ICAS pilot projects this will be a completely new service that will provide consistent support to patients with complaints about the NHS across England. ICAS will be provided to standards piloted across the country. The commission for patient and public involvement in health (CPPIH) will, as indicated in its functions in the NHS Reform and Healthcare Professions Act 2002, monitor ICAS services against the standards.

We have worked with the CPPIH to set in place arrangements for them to act as the Department's agents to manage these interim contracts on our behalf. We intend shortly to lay amendments to the CPPIH regulations to reflect this additional function.

The new ICAS providers will begin recruiting staff and preparing publicity for patients, and others, during July and August for the commencement of the service on 1 September 2003. We will be notifying our partners in the NHS about the new arrangements so that they can offer the contractors full co-operation before, and during, the contracts and help direct patients to the new service.

Retail Pharmacy Services

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton): The Government's response to the Fifth Report of the House of Commons Select Committee on Health, on the control of entry regulations and retail pharmacy services in the UK, Cm 5896, has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

NHS Pensions Agency

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. John Hutton): The 2002–03 report and accounts of the National Health Service Pensions 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.

I am today publishing the executive summary of the Quinquennial Review of the NHS Pensions Agency.

I have accepted all of its recommendations including a change of status for the Agency. From 1 April 2004, the NHS Pensions Agency will become a special health authority.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Magistrates Courts

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. Christopher Leslie): I am pleased to be able to announce that today I have placed in the Libraries of both Houses copies of the annual report relating to the 2002–03 business returns provided by magistrates' courts in England and Wales. This is the first time that this report has been published and it heralds a new era in the development of the 42 separate Magistrates' Courts Committee (MCC) areas towards

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the planned unification with each other and with the Court Service Agency. One key matter in the report relates to the enforcement of fines that have been in the full control of magistrates' courts since April 2001. I addressed the matter of the poor collection rates in a written ministerial statement that I made on 25 June 2003, Official Report, column 40WS and I set out the seven point action plan that I am pursuing vigorously in order to improve upon the current performance that has been achieved by magistrates' courts and their agents.

In other areas the magistrates courts have maintained a high level of service during a demanding year. They have supported and participated in a number of criminal justice initiatives, including the street crime initiative in the largest ten areas, extended court sitting hours pilots in London and Manchester and full involvement in the development of the local criminal justice boards. This was during a period when there were considerable additional demands on them. These included the rollout of new computer hardware, new data demands from across the Government service and the MCCs' full involvement in the work being undertaken to facilitate the new planned agency. The latter will bring together the 42 currently independent Magistrates' Courts Committee areas and the Court Service agency into one unified courts administration and considerable work is being done by all involved to ensure a successful outcome.

Particular successes have been in supporting the achievement of the persistent young offender timeliness target of 71 days, reducing it from 142 days and achieving a national average for 2002–03 of 69 days. The active use of courts has also increased from 62.6 per cent. to 67.3 per cent. in 2002–03, which in part reflects the continuing cross-agency approach which means that magistrates courts are being used by other agencies such as the Crown Court and tribunals.

In particular, the Department is leading an initiative, the Case Preparation Project, which involves the other agencies in the Criminal Justice System and which is part of the work looking at what can be done to reduce the number of ineffective trials and improve the service to victims and witnesses.

Overall, there have been a number of successes, but the work that has been announced in relation to the enforcement of fines is particularly important to ensure that there is confidence in the criminal justice system and proper implementation of judicial decisions.

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. David Lammy): The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) has laid before Parliament its Annual Report and Accounts for 2002–03. Copies of the Annual Report and Accounts for 2002–03 have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

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SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Crown Prosecution Service

The Solicitor-General (Ms Harriet Harman): The Crown Prosecution Service annual report 2002–2003 has today been published and laid before Parliament.

Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Junior Counsel to the Crown

The Solicitor-General (Ms Harriet Harman): The Attorney-General's Report of the Review of current Panels of Junior Counsel to the Crown has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. A copy has also been placed on the website of the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers, which can be found at www.lslo.gov.uk.

The Attorney-General (Lord Goldsmith) maintains (by means of an open advertisement and application process) four panels of junior Counsel to undertake civil and EC work for all Government Departments. He has three London panels (an A panel for senior juniors, a B panel for middle juniors and a C panel for junior juniors) and a provincial panel.

The current Panel system for Junior Counsel to the Crown was introduced in 1999, following approval by the then Attorney-General (John Morris QC) of the recommendations arising from a review undertaken by a working party chaired by the then Solicitor -General (Lord Falconer QC) in 1998.

In March 2002, Lord Goldsmith established the Panel Counsel Review Group to review the operation of the current system. The membership consisted of lawyers from within the Government Legal Service and Counsel from the independent Bar. The Review recommends a number of measures to improve the current working of the Panel System. Lord Goldsmith accepts the recommendations, with the following two additional points:

The issue of dual membership in London and the Provinces ought to be revisited and considered in a separate small working group, as suggested in recommendation 14 of the Report; and

With regard to recommendation 10, Lord Goldsmith will review whether an appointment of an external Chair in future selection boards is feasible.

Lord Goldsmith believes that this will satisfy his objective of choosing Counsel of the highest quality to advise and represent Government in a fair, open and transparent way and ensure a fair allocation of this important work across suitable candidates.

Lord Goldsmith is grateful to all those on the Panel Counsel Review Group for their time and expertise in contributing to this review.

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