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ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): At last year's National Farmers Union annual general meeting the Secretary of State announced a review of our bovine tuberculosis strategy. Today I am launching a consultation document that represents the outcome of the first stage of that review. The consultation period will last for 12 weeks and close on Tuesday 4 May 2004.

Copies of the consultation document are available in the Libraries of both Houses and can also be viewed on the Department's website at www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/tb/index.htm

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Spring Supplementary Estimates

The Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn): Subject to Parliamentary approval of the necessary supplementary estimate the Department for International Development DEL for 2003–04 will be

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increased by £197,583,000 from £3,756,454,000 to £3,954,037,000 and the administration costs limit has been increased by £2,566,000 from £212,250,000 to

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£214,816,000. Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital are as set out in the following table:

(£'000)

Resources				Capital
		Of which:				Of which:
Change	New DEL	voted	Non-voted	Change	New DEL	voted	Non-voted
170,083	3,936,037	3,064,152	871,885	27,500	39,000	39,000	—

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from

RfR 1: Eliminating Poverty in Poorer Countries

A transfer of £15 million from the unallocated subhead to the reducing poverty in the rest of the world subhead

The take up of DEL end year flexibility for 2002–03 of £102,791,000 resource for programme costs. £41,395,000 has been allocated to the reducing poverty in Africa subhead, £40,896,000 to the improve the effectiveness of multilateral aid;

A transfer of £1,500,000 resource from the reducing poverty in Asia administration subhead to the reducing poverty in Africa administration subhead;

A transfer of £1 million resource from the reducing poverty in the rest of the world administration subhead to the reducing poverty in Africa administration subhead;

A transfer of £1,500,000 resource from the developing innovative approaches to development administration subhead to the programmes contributing to multiple objectives administration subhead;

A transfer of £6,500,000 resource from the central reserve as a contribution to Iraq reconstruction to the reducing poverty in the rest of the world subhead;

A transfer of £15 million resource from the improve effectiveness of multilateral aid subhead to capital DEL; £13,240,000 to the reducing poverty in the rest of the world subhead and £1,760,000 to the reducing poverty in Africa subhead;

A transfer of £1,050,000 resource from the reducing poverty in Africa subhead to capital DEL. £530,000 to the reduce poverty in Africa capital subhead, £270,000 to the reducing poverty in the rest of the world subhead and £250,000 to the central departments subhead;

A transfer of £1,050,000 resource from the reducing poverty in Asia subhead to capital DEL. £210,000 to the reduce poverty in Asia capital subhead, £40,000 to the reducing poverty in the rest of the world subhead, £120,000 to the developing innovative approaches to development subhead, £170,000 to the programmes contributing to multiple objectives subhead and £510,000 to the central departments subhead;

A transfer of £950,000 resource from the reducing poverty in the rest of the world subhead to capital DEL, central department subhead; A transfer of £910,000 resource from sub-Saharan Africa conflict prevention non-voted departmental unallocated provision to the Ministry of Defence;

A transfer of £11 million resource from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the global conflict prevention subhead. The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from: transfers from the resource to the capital budget as listed above;

to reflect an expected reduction of £8,400,000 appropriation-in-aid in the capital DEL, and a corresponding reduction in the gross capital provision; the take up capital DEL end year flexibility for 2001–02 of £8,621,000; £8,400,000 has been allocated to the improve efficiency of multilateral aid subhead and £221,000 to the central departments subhead.

The increase will be met by inter-departmental transfers or from the DEL Reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.

TREASURY

Economic Reform in the EU

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown): The Government are today publishing a new report on economic reform in the EU.

The report evaluates the progress made in reforming Europe's economy since the March 2000 Lisbon European Council, noting both the EU's achievements over the past four years, and the scale of the challenge ahead if Europe is to compete effectively in the global economy and meet its goals of higher productivity, more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. It notes that, while 6 million jobs have been created in Europe since 1999, a further 21 million are needed to meet the Union's target for 2010. Moreover, productivity in the US remains at least 14 per cent. higher than that in the EU.

The report concludes that further action is needed to improve efficiency and productivity in Europe, with steps to promote increased labour, product and capital market flexibility. It sets out a series of areas for reform ahead of the forthcoming spring European Council, including to improve the regulatory framework in Europe, strengthen the single market, deliver more and better jobs, promote enterprise and innovation, ensure an ambitious outcome to world trade negotiations, strengthen the transatlantic economic relationship, and meet the challenge of sustainable development.

Copies of the report are available in the Vote Office and the Library of the House.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Serious Organised Crime Agency

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. David Blunkett): Since 1997 crime in England and Wales has fallen by a quarter. The chances of being a victim of crime are now at their lowest for over 20 years. At the same time, we continue to face a major challenge from organised crime which costs the country billions of pounds in lost revenue, facilitates 70 per cent. of all illegal immigration to the European Union and can cause local communities huge damage, for example through its link with local drugs markets and all the

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problems of addiction and crime that go with them. The UK crack and heroin markets alone are estimated to be worth £3 billion per year.

Organised criminals are willing to resort to extreme violence, intimidation and corruption to protect their illegal businesses. They often display detailed awareness of law enforcement methods and take sophisticated counter-measures including counter-surveillance techniques and elaborate money laundering arrangements. Through their involvement in people trafficking, organised criminals exploit the vulnerable and deal in human misery as appears to be the case in the tragic events at Morecambe Bay at the end of last week. They use every legal device available to them to evade prosecution when they are arrested.

Responsibility for tackling organised crime has until now been spread across a range of different agencies. Each of them has been highly effective in their own area of specialism—and I pay tribute to the outstanding work they and their staff have undertaken to date—but each must also work within its own priorities and departmental structures. This can make co-ordination difficult and has led to blurred lines of accountability in some key areas like drugs and fraud and to a lack of critical mass in some important skill areas like those required to tackle financial and other economic crime.

In response to these issues, the Prime Minister announced last July that the Government would be reviewing the structures of our national law enforcement agencies responsible for investigating serious organised crime.

Over the past six months we have undertaken detailed consultations with all those involved in fighting organised crime, including the police service and all of the relevant national agencies and regulators. The clear view from almost all we consulted was that the present arrangements were not satisfactory and that there was a strong case for rationalising existing structures.

I can therefore today announce the next step in this process. Drawing on the lessons from this consultation we intend to bring together in a single national agency—the Serious Organised Crime Agency—which will report to me, the responsibilities which currently fall to the National Criminal Intelligence Service, the National Crime Squad, the Home Office's responsibilities for organised immigration crime and the investigation and intelligence responsibilities of HM Customs and Excise in tackling serious drug trafficking and recovering related criminal assets. The agency will also bring a new focus to bear on dealing with the problem of financial crime.

The creation of the new agency is a key part of a wider series of changes including new powers available to tackle organised crime. I will set out the detail of all these changes in a statement to the House when I publish a policy paper within the next few weeks.

The new agency will have as its core objective reducing the harm caused to the UK and its citizens by organised crime including the trafficking of drugs and people. It will have the capabilities to make a real difference through enhanced intelligence, financial investigation skills, economic analysis and better and more sophisticated use of technology. It will develop a comprehensive strategy for reducing the harm caused by organised crime and will be much more than the sum of

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its parts, drawing on best practice and skills from all the existing agencies to focus on those criminals and criminal markets causing us the most harm. It will work very closely with the revenue departments which will continue to be responsible for tackling revenue and tax fraud. It will build on the determination, professionalism and success of the existing agencies and their staff and will be approaching 5,000 strong.

The new agency will work closely with police forces, regulators and others throughout the UK. Its focus will be on crime that crosses national and international frontiers. But, where a request is made, or where it is otherwise agreed, it will also have a key role in supporting individual police forces in tackling crime that crosses police force boundaries. It will provide intelligence from criminal activity to the wider law enforcement community, drawing on the intelligence they themselves provide in developing a firm understanding and strategy.

The agency will have a UK-wide remit. However, in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency and the police service of Northern Ireland will continue to exercise the functions they currently undertake in partnership with existing UK agencies.

Specialist prosecutors answerable to the Attorney General will co-operate closely with officers of the new agency and work alongside them wherever this makes good operational sense. They will be available whenever required to provide comprehensive, practical and specialist advice to help shape investigations and develop strong and well-presented cases for prosecution. The specialist prosecutors will stay with each case from the outset of investigations right through to the point of sentence.

The arrangements for the agency's governance will be crucial. A Home Office-led taskforce, including representatives of those who will form part of the new organisation, will consult stakeholders on this and report back by the end of this month enabling me to give further details to the House in the statement to which I have already referred. The agency will need high powered and dynamic leadership to ensure it becomes a world leader in its field, so I am today appointing an executive search agency to help us recruit a Chairman and Director-General, with a view to having them in place by the early summer.

Until their appointment, representatives of all the agencies concerned will be driving forward the transition process, under Home Office chairmanship, to enable the agency to get off to a rapid and effective start.

We shall take the earliest opportunity to seek Parliament's approval for the legislation needed to establish the Serious Organised Crime Agency but will seek as far as possible to anticipate the benefits of these changes through closer joint working and operations, training and secondments so that this transitional phase enhances rather than disrupts this critical work.

Those who seek to damage our country and undermine our way of life through organised crime will continue to grow in expertise and sophistication. We must more than match them and ensure that the skills and insights we have developed in different areas are shared. These proposals will enable us to respond to these challenges effectively in the years ahead.

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