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Written Ministerial Statements Wednesday 17 September 2003
TRANSPORT
Road Safety
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson): The Government's Road Safety Strategy Tomorrow's Roads—Safer for Everyone set out ten-year targets for reducing road traffic casualties and recognised that more could be done to reduce the risks for those who use the roads for work purposes. A Task Group was set up by the Government and the Health and Safety Commission in May 2000 to consider ways to reduce at work road traffic incidents. The Task Group reported in November 2001. They concluded that existing health and safety law adequately covered work-related on-the-road activities and that there was no need for any new legislation. However, one of the Group's key recommendations was that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) should publish generic guidance to help employers manage at work road risk.
Today the HSE, in partnership with the Department for Transport, has published a free booklet "Driving at Work—Managing Work Related Road Safety". There will be a small charge for bulk orders of the document to cover postage and packaging. It is also downloadable from the HSE web site http://www.hse.gov.uk/ without charge. The booklet contains generic advice on managing work-related road safety effectively and on integrating it into existing health and safety arrangements. The guidance will be useful to any employer, manager or supervisor with staff who drive or ride a motorcycle or bicycle at work.
The Department is arranging for over 48,000 copies of the booklet to be issued to road safety, local authority, police, employer and employee interests. Effective management of work-related road safety will help reduce the risk to employees and to other road users, including pedestrians. I hope that all employers will follow the simple guidance set out in the booklet and that the benefits from raised road safety awareness at work will also improve standards of private motoring.
Copies of the booklet are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Voluntary and Community Sector InfrastructureConsultation Document
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Fiona Mactaggart): A Home Office consultation document on the development and funding of voluntary and community sector (VCS) infrastructure in England is being published today. The
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Government's aim is to help build a VCS, including social enterprise, which is fully engaged in shaping and delivering public services, underpinned by a high quality sustainable infrastructure that enables this to happen. Such support must meet the needs of a diverse sector and should complement support services available from the small business service and others.
As part of the Spending Review 2002, the Treasury undertook a cross-cutting review of the role of the VCS in service delivery, published in September 2002. The review identified that VCS infrastructure was patchy in distribution and in quality and that this was a barrier to increasing VCS involvement in service delivery. It recommended that
- "Government and the VCS should develop a coherent shared strategy to underpin capacity in the sector".
Consultation with voluntary and community organisations, and others interested in an effective sector, will inform a final strategy to be published early next year. This will include proposals to guide the investment of approximately £80 million of SR2002 funds.
The aim is to put a strategy in place which ensures:
- High quality support for voluntary and community organisations delivered as close to the point of need as is economically viable.
The existence of effective infrastructure locally, regionally and nationally. This may be supplemented by activity at a sub-regional level particularly activities that cannot be afforded more locally.
Accessible, high quality support available across the VCS, including to support volunteering, black and minority ethnic and other diversity issues, social and community enterprise, community development, rural needs, and to support VCS use of information and communications technology.
Strengthened specialist infrastructure organisations operating nationally—and regionally where needed—covering thematic areas of VCS activity and service delivery such as youth work, childcare, and vocational training.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Crown Prosecution Service
The Solicitor-General (Ms Harriet Harman): The Labour Party 2001 General Election Manifesto promised (at page 33):
- Despite an increase of 25 per cent. since 1997, we have too few prosecutors. By 2004, Labour pledges 300 new prosecutors.
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DEFENCE
Veterans
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): I am announcing the publication of a new report entitled "Improving the Delivery of Cross Departmental Support and Services for Veterans", which my department commissioned from King's College London last year. The publication of this study demonstrates the commitment of the Government as a whole to the Veterans Initiative through the participation of a working group which included members from the Department of Health, Home Office, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Her Majesty's Treasury, Department for Work and Pensions and veterans organisations. The aim was to produce a map of veterans' needs, with emphasis on the more vulnerable veterans, match this against current provision and identify priority research gaps. This involved a literature survey, detailed interviews with 'at risk' personnel, and analysis and further interviews of an existing cohort of personnel for ex-Service outcomes.
This study is a preliminary scoping study and will inform the direction of policy and research. It therefore represents an important contribution to the Veterans Initiative. The report conclusions confirm that
-
"For many (indeed most) personnel military life is a great leveller; it is a positive experience (especially for disadvantaged youths who enter service early), allowing them to enjoy a more favourable life trajectory",
and that
"Over three quarters of service leavers do well and gain employment after leaving".
The Government welcome this report and would like to thank Professor Wessely and his team for their work. The report recommends a number of actions, as well as further research on ways to help the most vulnerable groups. I can confirm that we will look in detail at these recommendations and will evaluate them against existing policies and activities.
A copy of the full report will be placed in the Library of the House, and also on the websites of the MOD and Veterans Agency, at http://www.mod.uk/ and http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Voting Pilot Schemes
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. Christopher Leslie): The Government have today introduced a Bill to allow piloting of innovative voting methods at next year's European Parliamentary elections. The European
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Parliamentary and Local Elections (Pilots) Bill also provides for pilots at local elections where these are combined with and take place on the same day as elections for the European Parliament.
This legislation demonstrates the Government's commitment to their goal of making voting easier and more convenient and represents a marked scaling up from previous pilots. The Bill is needed as current legislation does not allow for piloting at European Parliamentary elections and the Government are keen to maintain the momentum gained through previous successful pilot schemes. Such schemes have included both all-postal ballots and multi-channelled e-voting and, at this year's local elections, were conducted in 61 local authorities covering 6.4 million eligible voters.
Decisions on which regions should be chosen for next year's pilots, and which methods should be used in those regions, will be informed by advice from the Electoral Commission. The Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are today jointly writing to the Commission with guidance on this issue. The Commission—an independent body funded by Parliament—will consult with stakeholders and report back later in the year.
Alongside this legislation, the Government have also today launched a consultation on implementation of next year's pilot schemes. This consultation, to be conducted by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, will outline our plans for the pilots and seek comments from local authorities and other interested parties on our proposals.
Our proposals have been developed in the light of the Electoral Commission's strategic evaluation of the pilots held at the local elections earlier this year. Their report, "The Shape of Elections to Come", made a number of recommendations, which the Government have considered very carefully, and we have published today our formal response.
One of the main recommendations made by the Commission was that all-postal voting should be made the normal method of voting at local elections. We welcome that recommendation, but we recognise that it would involve a major change to our traditional electoral arrangements. Therefore, the Government intend to launch a public consultation on the detail of that recommendation later this year.
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