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Written Ministerial Statements

Wednesday 15 October 2003

NORTHERN IRELAND

Sex Offences Review

The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Mr. John Spellar): A review of sex offences in Northern Ireland is being undertaken by officials in the Northern Ireland Office. The review follows on from proposed changes to the law on sex offences in England and Wales, and is looking at ways to achieve a strengthened and modernised body of law on sexual offences in Northern Ireland.

The terms of reference for the review are:

"To review the sex offences in the common and statute law in Northern Ireland, and make recommendations that will:


provide coherent and clear sex offences which protect individuals, especially children and the more vulnerable, from abuse and exploitation; enable offenders, particularly abusive offenders, to be appropriately punished; and


be fair and non-discriminatory in accordance with the ECHR, Human Rights Act and the Northern Ireland Act 1998."

The review will seek to adopt, and adapt to the Northern Ireland context, much of the work undertaken in the Home Office review of sex offences. It will also take into account proposed reform of the law in England and Wales resulting from the Sexual Offences Bill currently before this House. It is our intention to draw upon the knowledge and experience of interested groups and to issue a consultation document in early 2004. Our aim is to introduce legislation in the 2004–05 parliamentary session.

DEFENCE

Oil and Pipelines Agency

The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): The first stage of the Quinquennial Review (QQR) of the Oil and Pipelines Agency (OPA), an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), has been completed. The review focused on the OPA and its role as managing agent of the Government Pipeline and Storage System (GPSS).

The Stage 1 report found general satisfaction in the performance of the OPA since its inception and that customers both military and commercial were generally content with its stewardship of the GPSS. The report also established that there is a continuing need for the GPSS and hence for it to be managed. Having established this need, the review concluded that the OPA was best placed to discharge this role and, after examining a range of alternative status options for the OPA, considered that it should continue to operate as an NDPB for the present time.

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The review also concluded that there were a number of improvements that should be taken forward into Stage 2 of the review, the most significant of which are:

Developing the OPA's Management and Business Plans.


Revising the Managing Agency Agreement between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence and the OPA.


Revising arrangements for corporate governance.


Reviewing the OPA support structure and communications.

I have given my endorsement to the report's recommendations and Stage 2 is now underway with the aim of completing this work by the end of 2003. A copy of the Executive Summary of the QQR Stage 1 report has been placed in the Library of the House.

Warship Support Agency

The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): Key Targets have been set for the Chief Executive of the Warship Support Agency for financial year 2003–04. The targets build on progress already made and are as follows:

Key Target 1: Quantity

To meet the 100 per cent. available vessel days target.

Key Target 2: Timeliness

To meet the <6.5 per cent. upkeep period timeliness target.

Key Target 3: Timeliness

To achieve the 95 per cent. target for timely completion of the high priority upgrade programme.

Key Target 4: Quality

To achieve the Operational Support Services target of providing the appropriate standard of single living accommodation to 35 per cent. of naval personnel.

Key Target 5: Quality

To achieve the Operational Support Services target of meeting the Customers Needs ISO Quality Control Comment Form targets, as follows:


Group 1–0 failures


Group 2–0 failures


Group 3 <5 per cent. failure

Key Target 6: Quantity

To generate the capacity to support the Naval Force Generation Plan target with Green assessments against all elements.

Key Target 7: Cost/Efficiency

To make the necessary Agency contribution to the Defence Logistics Organisation Strategic Goal of reducing Output Costs by 20 per cent. by 2005 whilst ensuring that we continue to deliver and, where appropriate, improve the quality of our outputs.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Access to Government Information

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. Christopher Leslie): The Code of Practice on Access to Government Information Monitoring Report for 2002 is being published today. Copies are available in the Libraries of both Houses.

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HOME DEPARTMENT

Immigration Control

The Minister for Citizenship and Immigration (Beverley Hughes): The Government are firmly committed to maintaining effective immigration controls while at the same time ensuring that genuine passengers are able to pass through our ports with the least possible inconvenience.

The number of people arriving at UK airports who are found to be inadmissible is unacceptably high. Certain nationals, who are required to hold a valid visa to enter the UK, may transit this country for up to 24 hours without a visa.

This provides a relatively easy and inexpensive way for those who are intent on circumventing our immigration controls to do so. We have already introduced measures to tackle this problem with the introduction of a direct airside transit visa requirement for 16 nationalities on 24 June. We now need to take further action and have identified six nationalities (Angola, Bangladesh, Cameroon, India, Lebanon and Pakistan) as posing a particular problem. Therefore from 00.01 hours on Thursday 16 October nationals of those six countries wishing to transit the UK will require a visa to do so. To avoid undue hardship for those who had already made their travel plans, we have agreed to operate a grace period. Until 23.59 hours on Monday 20 October any transit passenger who bought their ticket on or before 15 October will not be refused entry solely on the basis of not holding a valid transit visa. Also, any person on the return leg of a journey they commenced before 16 October and who passed through the UK on the outward leg of their journey will be allowed to transit the UK without a visa until 23.59 on 12 November.

In parallel with those measures we are introducing changes that will allow certain groups of low risk passenger who would normally require a transit visa to be exempt from such a requirement if they are in possession of specific documents. This will include those who are in possession of a valid US or Canadian visa or certain types of residence permits, long-stay visas for entry to an EEA state, or the EU common format residence permit.

We have also decided to remove the requirement for nationals of Croatia, Libya and Slovakia to hold a visa when transiting the UK for up to 24 hours. Finally, holders of diplomatic or service passports issued by the People's Republic of China, and holders of diplomatic or official passports issued by India will also be exempt from the requirement to hold a visa when transiting the UK for up to 24 hours.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Departmental Estates

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Andrew Smith): In my written answer on 24 July 2002, Official Report, column 1583W, I announced that my Department had decided to negotiate with its existing supplier LandSecurities Trillium (LST) to provide estate

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and property services to its former Employment Service buildings by expanding the existing PFI (PRIME) contract.

These negotiations have now reached the point where I can announce that agreement in principle has been reached. Subject to contract, the expansion will occur later this year. As part of this deal, my Department will receive £100 million as a transfer payment as part of the agreed valuation of the former Employment Service estate.

The expansion of the PRIME contract represents the best value solution. It will provide a uniform and consistent service with sufficient flexibility to meet the Department's future business needs.

Note: PRIME (Private Sector Resource Initiative for the Management of the Estate) is a PFI contract let to Trillium (now LandSecurities Trillium) in April 1998.

Social Inclusion

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond): Copies of the UK's second National Action Plan (NAP) on Social Inclusion, covering the period 2003–05 have today been placed in the Library.

The Government's commitment to eradicating child poverty and ensuring that everyone in the UK has the opportunity to escape social exclusion is central to its programme.

To achieve this, we need to work effectively with a wide range of organisations across the UK—and with people who are experiencing poverty and social exclusion. The UK Government has made clear its commitment to working with the European Union (EU) to make a decisive impact on poverty across Europe by 2010.

The two-yearly NAPs enable the Government to:

join up action across the UK, encouraging the participation of the voluntary and community sector, 'grassroots' people and all levels of government;


identify best practice and assess the effectiveness of our strategy against other EU Member States using commonly agreed indicators; and so


learn from what works well both within the UK and across the EU.

In preparing the UK's second NAP, published in July 2003, the Government has achieved unprecedented levels of participation in the anti-poverty strategy and a shared understanding of the challenges which will need to be addressed in the coming two years. The NAP also reflects the success of the Government's broader strategies. In particular, macroeconomic stability has generated resources to target investment in the priority areas of health, education, criminal justice, housing and transport;

Overall, there are now over 1.5 million more people in employment than in 1997 and around 350,000 fewer children in workless households. There has been good progress in reducing the numbers below absolute low-income thresholds—around 1.8 million fewer children

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and 1.6 million fewer pensioners below the 1996–97, 60 per cent. median income after housing costs threshold held constant in real terms.

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