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Written Ministerial Statements

Wednesday 4 February 2004

TRANSPORT

Bus Quality Contracts

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. Tony McNulty): The Department for Transport will shortly be taking steps to improve the potential effectiveness of the quality contracts provisions in the Transport Act 2000.

The Act requires each local transport authority, after consultation with local bus operators and other stakeholders, to prepare a bus strategy to ensure that bus services meet the transport needs of local people and are of an appropriate standard. These strategies are translating into excellent practical results in some areas, with improved services and waiting facilities and increased ridership. In these places passengers are getting a better deal through local authorities and bus operators working creatively together.

The Act provides various ways in which local transport authorities can more effectively influence local bus services—statutory quality partnership schemes, ticketing schemes and information strategies. We want local authorities to make full use of these powers. We are pleased that the first statutory quality partnership is to be launched shortly, and we hope to see more of these. Statutory quality partnerships are an essential element of our vision for buses in the context of an integrated transport approach.

The Act also enables local authorities to make quality contract (or "QC") schemes where such a scheme is the only practical way for an authority to implement the policies in its bus strategy, and would do so in a way which is economic, efficient and effective.

All proposed QC schemes need to be submitted to the Department for approval. Approval may be given if a scheme meets the criteria set out in the Act and is in the public interest. Although the provision has been in force since October 2001, no such schemes have been submitted to date. However, the provision is there to be used where the circumstances justify it.

Some local transport authorities believe that they might meet the criteria for making a QC scheme but have been deterred by the length of time which the process will take. A particular issue is the 21-month minimum period which must elapse between the making of the scheme (after it has been approved) and its coming into force.

I am persuaded that, where a local bus strategy cannot otherwise be delivered, 21 months may be too long in certain circumstances for passengers to wait for improvements. The Department will be issuing a consultation document shortly to give the bus industry, local authorities and other stakeholders an opportunity

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to express their views on the implications of reducing the 21 months to a shorter minimum period, in the range 6–15 months.

Some local transport authorities have requested guidance from the Department on the procedure to be followed in making an application, the supporting evidence required and the matters that will be taken into account in deciding whether to approve an application, including appraisal of the public interest. I have decided therefore that, in the interest of transparency, the Department should publish guidance on these matters that is available to all. The Department will shortly consult the main stakeholders on a draft guidance document before publishing it in its definitive form.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Wokingham District Council(Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond): On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) inspection report on Wokingham District Council was published today and copies of the report have been placed in the Library.

Following the housing Green Paper "Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All", published in April 2000, the Department for Work and Pensions developed a performance framework for housing benefits. The "performance standards for housing benefits" allow local authorities to make a comprehensive self-assessment of whether they deliver benefit effectively and securely. They are the standards that the Department for Work and Pensions expects local authorities to aspire to and achieve in time.

The BFI inspected Wokingham District Council against the performance standards for housing benefits. The report finds that the council is not at standard for any of the seven functional areas of the standards—strategic management, customer services, processing of claims, working with landlords, internal security, counter-fraud, and overpayments.

The report acknowledges the problems and challenges faced by the council since July 2002, when it brought its benefits service back in-house following a period of outsourcing.

The report finds that the council's management information was limited, and where information was being produced, its importance was not being considered. Performance in key areas was not being effectively reported or monitored. This was compounded by a very limited management-checking regime, which meant that the council could not provide any assurances about the quality and accuracy of benefits payments being made.

The process of gathering evidence to support benefits claims was generally good, but the speed of processing claims was poor. The report notes concern about the possible impact that unreasonable delays were having on existing and potential customers.

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The council's fraud investigations were generally effective and procedures were in place to consider the most appropriate sanction to apply. However, a lack of active management for administration work resulted in unreasonable time delays, which in turn affected the council's ability to prosecute fraudsters. Effective debt recovery on overpayments was similarly being hampered by slow decision making.

In 2002–03, Wokingham District Council administered some £13.1 million in housing benefits, about 8.4 per cent of its total gross revenue expenditure.

The report makes recommendations to help the council address weaknesses and to further improve the administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit, as well as counter-fraud activities.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is now considering the report and will be asking the council for its proposals in response to the BFI's findings and recommendations.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

BBC News 24

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell): On 5 December 2002 I placed the independent review of BBC News 24 by Richard Lambert in the Libraries of both Houses, together with a letter setting out my response.

In response to the review, I attached two further conditions to the approvals of BBC News 24. These required the Governors to publish their response to the Lambert report by the end of March 2003, and to promulgate revised commitments for the service, taking account of Richard Lambert's recommendations, by the end of May 2003.

In addition, I was minded to attach a third condition requiring the Governors to report more fully on the delivery of News 24 in the BBC's annual reports. I stated that I would reconsider the intention in the light of the BBC's formal response and subsequent 2003 annual report.

I have judged that these two documents provide enough information and demonstrate sufficient improvements to remove the need for a further condition on the approval.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Advisory Group Enforcement Delivery Service

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. David Lammy): The fourth and final report by the Lord Chancellor's advisory group on enforcement service delivery, entitled: "The move to a regulated enforcement industry: transitional issues", has been published in November 2003 and copies placed in the Libraries of both Houses. I am pleased to announce that the advisory group has now fulfilled its original terms of reference. The group is therefore disbanded. I am grateful for valuable contribution provided by the members of the advisory group, throughout the four reports to my Department. Proposals for legislation will follow in due course.

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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Regional Development Agencies

The Minister for Industry and the Regions (Jacqui Smith): I have published the regional development agencies' reported mid-year tier three outputs as at the end of quarter two, 2003–04, which suggest all RDAs are on track to meet the annual targets set in their corporate plans.

The figures cover the creation and safeguarding of jobs, the amount of brownfield land brought back into use, the number of businesses added to the regional economies, the number of learning opportunities created and the amount of private sector investment attracted benefiting deprived areas, all as a result of RDA activity.

Press releases on the results have been issued in each region. Copies of these and the mid-year output results have been placed in the Libraries of the House. The results have also been placed on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/rda/info.

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