| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
DEFENCE
Armed Forces Pay
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): The 2004 Report of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body has been published today. Copies of the Report are available in the Vote Office and the Library of the House. I wish to express my thanks to the Chairman and members of the Review Body for their clear and wide-ranging report.
The AFPRB has recommended an increase in basic military salary of 2.8 per cent. for the majority of personnel and 3.2 per cent. for certain Privates and Lance Corporals (those on the lower pay range). The AFPRB has also recommended increases in the rates of Specialist Pay (eg Flying Pay, Submarine Pay, Diving Pay and Hydrographic Pay), and in accommodation charges. The AFPRB has also recommended a 3.2 per cent. increase to rates of longer separated service allowance and longer service at sea bonus which are designed to compensate for separation.
The additional cost to the defence budget will be £196M. This will be met within existing departmental expenditure limits.
The AFPRB's recommendations are to be accepted in full, with implementation effective from 1 April 2004.
WORK AND PENSIONS
Child Support
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Andrew Smith): Progress in new scheme performance has continued to be made and future improvement is expected. The number of poor families now benefiting from the new child maintenance premium has almost tripled in the last quarter. More than three times as many non-resident parents have now made a first payment of maintenance as at the end of the previous quarter. In each of the three months during the quarter, the agency made more maintenance calculations on the new scheme than it made on the old scheme in the same months last year.
In clearing cases so far, the ratio of those reaching calculation to those that have been closed in the new scheme remained 6:4, compared with the ratio of 4:6 in the old scheme. During the third quarter, the agency cleared nearly as many cases as it did in the first two quarters combined, taking the total number of clearances (calculations and closures) to over 100,000.
The Department continues to retain around 15 per cent. of each monthly payment due to EDS, the service provider, due to the continuing problems with the computer and telephony systems.
12 Feb 2004 : Column 81WS
Technical issues continue to preclude reliable figures on compliance for the latest quarter. However, the agency is focusing more effort on compliance and is working on alternative mechanisms to derive this information.
The current accuracy (to the nearest penny) level is estimated at 83 per cent. against a 90 per cent. target. We expect to see the target reached as further improvements are made to the computer support and staff become more and more familiar with the new scheme.
Because of continuing issues with the new computer's management information systems, we are still unable to provide a reliable throughput figure for the latest quarter. Alternative methods for measuring throughput are being developed.
| Agency Performance | Quarter 1Mar—Jun2003 | Quarter 2Jul—Sep2003 | Quarter 3Oct—Dec2003 | Scheme toDec 2003 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applications received | 73,582 | 78,982 | 85,306 | 237,870 |
| Applications cleared | 12,648 | 38,583 | 49,453 | 100,684 |
| of which: | ||||
| Maintenance Calculations | 6,671 | 23,857 | 29,672 | 60,200 |
| Closures | 5,977 | 14,726 | 19,781 | 40,484 |
| First payments made through the Agency | 461 | 5,164 | 11,473 | 17,098 |
| First Child Maintenance Premium payments made | 77 | 3,314 | 6,173 | 9,564 |
| Mar-03 | Apr-03 | May-03 | Jun-03 | Total InQuarter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applications Received | 3,444 | 25,228 | 19,951 | 24,959 | 73,582 |
| Applications Cleared | 43 | 1,616 | 3,441 | 7,548 | 12,648 |
| of which: | |||||
| Maintenance Calculations | 10 | 721 | 1,810 | 4,130 | 6,671 |
| Closures | 33 | 895 | 1,631 | 3,418 | 5,977 |
| 7 | |||||
| First Payments Made Through the Agency | *136 for 1st 3 months | 325 | 461 | ||
| First Child Maintenance Premium Payments Made | *17 for 1st 3 months | 60 | 77 | ||
Agency Performance (October 2003 to December 2003)
12 Feb 2004 : Column 82WS
| Oct-03 | Nov-03 | Dec-03 | Total InQuarter | SchemeToDec-03 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applications Received | 35,724 | 28,841 | 20,741 | 85,306 | 237,870 |
| Applications Cleared | 19,832 | 16,011 | 13,610 | 49,453 | 100,684 |
| of which: | |||||
| Maintenance Calculations | 11,807 | 9,975 | 7,890 | 29,672 | 60,200 |
| Closures | 8,025 | 6,036 | 5,720 | 19,781 | 40,484 |
| First Payments Made Through the Agency | 3,978 | 3,503 | 3,992 | 11,473 | 17,098 |
| First Child Maintenance Premium Payments Made | 2,108 | 1,915 | 2,150 | 6,173 | 9,564 |
Notes:
1. Figures marked with * are not available on a monthly basis for this period.
2. Figures for August and September differ from those previously published as information relating to Northern Ireland Child Support Agency has now been removed. All figures now exclude Northern Ireland.
3. A proportion of cases that have a maintenance calculation in place may already be receiving payment directly, but will not be reflected in the figures shown above.
4. Figures for Child Maintenance Premium payments include an estimate of the number of parents who receive the premium by way of a disregard to their Income Support/income-based Jobseekers Allowance. The disregard has been added from August as data was not available prior to this, and has also been included into the scheme to date figure.
| 1 QualifyingChild | 2 QualifyingChildren | 3 QualifyingChildren | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Weekly Payment | £31.56 | £45.40 | £48.70 |
Note:
Figures are for December 2003 only and are calculated as the total amount received and allocated divided by the number of cases.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Regional Assemblies
The Minister for Local and Regional Government (Mr. Nick Raynsford): The Regional Governance White Paper, Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions published in May 2002 announced that elected regional assemblies would:
- "have the power to request the Secretary of State to call in for his or her determination strategic planning applications which were not consistent with the regional spatial strategy" (paragraph 4.34).
12 Feb 2004 : Column 83WS
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister proposes to strengthen these arrangements so that they have the same effect as those in London. We propose to give elected assemblies a power to direct local planning authorities to refuse strategic planning applications on similar grounds to those in London. The Mayor of London can exercise this power where he or she considers it would be:
- "contrary to the SDS [Sustainable Development Scheme] or prejudice its implementation, or otherwise be contrary to good strategic planning in London" (paragraph 6.12 of Government Office for London Circular 1/2000).
European Parliamentary, Local Authority and Greater London Authority Elections 2004
The Minister for Local and Regional Government (Mr. Nick Raynsford): Following consultation with the Electoral Commission and other key stakeholders the following instruments have now been made and laid before Parliament:
- The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Rules 2004, SI No. 223
- The Local Election (Parishes and Communities) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Rules 2004, SI No. 224
- The Greater London Authority Elections (Amendment) Rules 2004, SI No. 227
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have also laid before Parliament, following consultation, the following draft Instruments on which we are seeking the approval of the House:
- The Local Elections (Ordinary Day of Election 2004) Order 2004
- The European Parliamentary Elections Regulations 2004
- The Representation of the People (Combination of Polls) (England and Wales) Regulations 2004
- The Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2004
- The Local Authorities (Mayoral Elections) (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004
As a package of measures these instruments would:
- give effect to the Government's announced intention to move the date of the English local authority and Greater London Authority elections in 2004, so that they take place at the same time as the European Parliamentary elections, and make consequential amendments relating to:
- the term of office of councillors affected by the postponement;
- the 'six month period' during which by-elections need not be held;
- the date of annual meetings for authorities affected by the postponement.
- make provision for the conduct of European Parliamentary elections in Great Britain and Gibraltar;
- provide revised rules for the combination of polls at all elections and also referendums pursuant to the Local Government Act 2000; and
- provide for other amendments to the Greater London Authority election rules.
A summary of the responses we received during consultation on the draft instruments has been made available in the Libraries of the House.
12 Feb 2004 : Column 84WS
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |