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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Regional Development Agencies

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt): As part of a rolling programme of appointments, I have decided to appoint new Chairs to three of the Regional Development Agency boards

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outside London; the Mayor of London makes appointments to the LDA. The new Chair for EEDA will be Richard Ellis; for One NorthEast, Margaret Fay; and for Yorkshire Forward, Terry Hodgkinson.

The appointments will begin on the 14 December 2003 and are for three years, expiring on 13 December 2006. The rolling programme enables the boards to be refreshed and bring new talent and ideas to the boards on a regular basis. I have placed further details of the new appointees in the Libraries of both Houses.

Decisions on the appointments have been made following open competition and consultation with key national and regional players.

Power Cuts (London/Kent)

The Minister for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services (Mr. Stephen Timms): Her Majesty's Government have noted with concern the problems that have recently occurred on the National Grid. I would like to inform the House of the events of Thursday 28th August, when power was temporarily lost to an area of South East London and Kent, and of a further loss of power on Friday 5 September in the Birmingham area, and on the actions taken since.

In the early evening, on 28 August, electricity supply was lost to some 410,000 customers in South London and parts of Kent. Power was restored to the transmission system within 30 minutes and within another 11 minutes the local distribution system was re-energised and normal power was restored in all areas.

However, the consequences of the power failure were serious. There was disruption to surface rail, underground, street lights and traffic systems, water supply and sewerage systems as well as to electricity users in homes and workplaces. While London's critical infrastructure does have back-up arrangements, there was significant disruption, especially to the transport service. I understand that all of the back-up plans are under review by those agencies involved in the light of the difficulties caused to passengers after the power cut.

On 29 August I wrote to National Grid Transco (NOT) registering my grave concern about the power disruption and asking them to provide me with a full report explaining why it happened; what actions were taken; what the risks were of a similar action occurring in the future and what measures they would undertake to prevent a recurrence. On the 29 August I also met with the Chief Executive of NGT. My officials have been in close contact with NGT and EDF throughout. I expect a full report from NGT later this week, which I will place in the Libraries of the House.

My officials in the Engineering Inspectorate will need to consider the report carefully, liaising with the companies concerned. Ofgem will do likewise and will be reporting by the end of September on their initial assessment and will be considering the incident in light of National Grid's obligations. It may therefore be a number of weeks before we have a full understanding of the events. The DTI Engineering Inspectorate has power to mount a full investigation and make recommendations should that be required.

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Initial reports from NGT indicate that the power cut was a result of a transformer fault followed by another fault on a high voltage cable. As a result, electricity supplies could no longer be maintained to the affected areas and a power blackout ensued. EDF (the local distribution company in the area) was also affected, losing power to parts of its network.

It has been suggested that a lack of investment caused the problem. The Chief Executive of National Grid Transco told my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and myself, in a letter of 29 August, that this event "cannot be attributed to under-investment or to resource issues on the network". This issue will of course be considered further.

There has also been speculation that the fault was related to a shortage of generating capacity. However there was no shortage of generating capacity at the time, and the transmission system in the area would normally have been adequate to carry the electricity flow required. On present evidence it appears that the problem was solely a transmission failure.

I am very concerned that between 10.10 and 10.52 on 5 September another power failure should have occurred in the Midlands, this time affecting some 200,000 consumers. Again although I understand power was quickly restored, this second incident does raise questions about the reliability of the Transmission network that I am pursing as a matter of urgency with NGT.

Of course risks to complex systems such as the supply of energy cannot be completely eliminated, but I am determined to use this experience so that together with other Government agencies, the Regulator and the companies involved, we can help minimise and where necessary, manage them. The Secretary of State and I are determined to ensure that the necessary lessons are learnt.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

UN Convention Against Torture

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Bill Rammell ): I am pleased to be able to announce that, today, the UK has taken a significant step towards ratification of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT). I am today laying before Parliament an Explanatory Memorandum, which explains how the UK meets the provisions of the Protocol.

We hope that the ratification process can be completed with the United Nations by the end of this year. This will make the UK one of the very first UN member states to have ratified the Optional Protocol. We signed the Protocol on 26 June, becoming one of only six countries worldwide to have done so.

The UK is committed to the fight against torture. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Anti Torture Initiative, launched in 1998, continues to provide a focus for us on this issue. The follow-up to our ratification of the OPCAT will be an important part of the current

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phase of the Initiative. We will undertake a lobbying campaign urging other countries to sign, ratify and implement both the Convention Against Torture and the Optional Protocol.

Wilton Park: Annual Report and Accounts 2002–03

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Chris Mullin): Wilton Park is an academically independent Executive Agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Its Annual Report and Accounts for 2002–03 were laid before the House on 17 July 2003.

Wilton Park's performance against agreed targets for the FY 2002–03, which work from framework targets for cost recovery, quality of conference programmes and standards of service, and the targets for the current year are shown in the table.

	2002–03Target	2002–03 Performance	2003–04Target
Total Income	£3,314,000	£3,591,000	£3,372,000
Excellent rating for programmes	56.7	57	57
Excellent rating for administration	89	87.4	89

Iraq: The Foreign Secretary's Letter to the Rt. Hon. Michael Ancram QC MP, 16 July 2003

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw):

"Dear Michael,

In our exchange on the floor of the House on 8 July I undertook to write to you to let you know when I first knew that the February briefing paper drew on the work of Dr Al-Marashi.

The first I knew of this was after the story was made public by Channel 4 on 6 February. This was after Colin Powell had spoken to the UN Security Council (5 February), and the Prime Minister's remarks to the House (3 February).

I am placing a copy of this in the Library, and in Hansard via a Written Ministerial Statement.

Yours ever,

Jack Straw"

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Liberia (Humanitarian Situation)

The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Hilary Benn): Following the most recent fighting in Liberia, between 200,000–300,000 people had to leave their homes and seek shelter in over 100 different locations in Monrovia. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and a small

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number of NGOs have provided emergency humanitarian assistance throughout the crisis under extreme conditions, and in the last few weeks, the UN and additional NGOs have re-entered Liberia to increase the humanitarian effort. Malnutrition remains a major concern particularly amongst vulnerable groups, and safe drinking water as well as sanitation and basic hygiene remain critical issues, especially in the areas where refugees have moved to. Security remains a major concern for operational humanitarian agencies. Whilst the deployment of ECOWAS (ECOMIL) has stabilised a secure zone in and around central Monrovia, access is still very limited outside the city. Agencies are operating on the basis of ad-hoc negotiated access to rebel-controlled areas. In such difficult circumstances, it is crucial that the UN takes a strong lead in humanitarian co-ordination. After a difficult beginning, the agencies have reported that co-ordination with the UN has now dramatically improved.

On August 21 DFID committed an additional £4.7 million to support humanitarian needs in Liberia. The funds are being allocated to UN agencies, NGOs and the ICRC to provide an immediate response, This brings the UK's total humanitarian assistance to Liberia to £7.6 million this year. Our approach is to strengthen the UN system to take on a lead role in co-ordination and delivery of assistance, to support NGOs and the Red Cross in provision of immediate relief, and to ensure collaboration between the major donors in planning and monitoring of assistance. Last month we hosted a meeting of NGOs working in Liberia, or planning to do so, to discuss the situation and identify what help is needed on the ground. We have invited NGOs to put proposals to us and we have just agreed to fund a supplementary feeding programme for all refugee children under the age of five in Monrovia. Our strategy has been developed with advice from an assessment team who are currently based in Monrovia. This team will remain in the region to assess the evolving humanitarian situation in Liberia, and monitor DFID-funded operations.

The UK is committed to working closely with the international community to ensure that ECOMIL, and the UN Mission planned for Liberia, are successful in restoring peace and security. We have contributed £1m to ECOMIL and have seconded a military adviser to ECOWAS. We have also offered military advisors to the UN planning mission and headquarters. The UK is also working in the UN Security Council to ensure that the forthcoming Resolution authorises the deployment of a UN mission with a strong mandate to: restore and maintain security; establish peace-building initiatives; and provide the conditions to allow the Transitional Government to operate effectively and work towards holding free and fair elections. We are monitoring developments in the region closely to ensure that ex-combatants do not cause problems in neighbouring countries. A regional approach to Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) will be important if the region is to eliminate the guns for hire culture that has developed. We are discussing options for DDR with the UN, ECOWAS and other interested parties, and are considering how we can best support this process.

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