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Written Ministerial Statements
Wednesday 3 March 2004
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
S4C
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell): Following a request from the S4C Authority, I have commissioned an independent review of S4C, to be carried out by Roger Laughton, Head of Bournemouth university media school. Mr. Laughton will be assisted by Meurig Royles as Welsh language assessor to the review.
The terms of reference for the review are: 1) to assess, in light of the Communication Act's reaffirmation of S4C's status and remit, (a) the efficiency with which S4C utilises the resources made available to deliver its statutory responsibilities, (b) the extent to which other sources of funding, including efficiency savings, could make a greater contribution alongside that which S4C receives as grant-in-aid, and (c) the extent to which S4C's latest strategic plan provides an effective basis on which to plan for the future; 2) to examine the particular implications for S4C of the Government's proposal on the future of digital broadcasting.
The review will include: (a) consultation with a wide range of interests, including organisations representative of those sectors where the role of S4C is of particular significance; and (b) consideration, to the extent that the reviewer judges appropriate, of the outcome of and evidence generated by S4C's recent internal review process.
In addition to the consultation outlined above, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to make representations to the review team, via a website set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Government remain committed to the provision by S4C of a high-quality, diverse Welsh language television service forming a key part of the public service broadcasting landscape. I was, therefore, pleased to agree to the S4C Authority's request for a review which could address some of the important challenges S4C faces as it approaches logue switch off. The Authority has already completed its own internal review and Mr. Laughton will be able to take its conclusions into account.
Ofcom's statutory review of the fulfillment of the public service broadcasting remit will also provide an opportunity to consider S4C's contribution to that wider remit. The relationship between S4C and the BBC will in addition be considered in detail as part of BBC charter review.
I have asked Mr. Laughton to report back to me at the beginning of May.
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TREASURY
Main Estimates and Spring Reports
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Paul Boateng): Following the announcement that the Budget will take place on 17 March, HM Treasury plans to publish the 2004–05 main estimates, the supplementary budgetary information publication that accompanies the main estimates, and the public expenditure statistical lyses 2004 on Monday 19 April 2004.
Cash Ratio Deposits
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Paul Boateng): Cash ratio deposits are non-interest bearing assets deposited with the Bank of England by banks and building societies. They are used by the bank to finance its unremunerated activities, in particular its sterling liquidity operations and its efforts to secure price stability and the stability of the financial system in general, from which these institutions are key beneficiaries. The cash ratio deposit scheme was placed on a statutory basis when the Bank of England Act became law in 1998. In February 2003, the Paymaster General announced by written statement a review of the operation of the statutory scheme in its first five years.
My written statement of 18 September 2003 set out the review's conclusions, one of which was that the minimum threshold for making deposits should be raised from £400 million to £500 million, freeing 18 institutions from the scheme and benefiting all remaining contributing institutions by reducing the level of their deposits by £150,000 each. This proposal would require a change to secondary legislation under the Bank of England Act 1998. HM Treasury has therefore consulted publicly about this change and invited views on the review's other recommendations.
The Government's response to this consultation exercise was published yesterday. Given the general support among respondents for the proposal set out above, I am today laying before Parliament a draft statutory instrument designed to increase the threshold for making deposits under the CRD scheme from £400 million to £500 million, scheduled to come into force on 1 June 2004.
Tax Avoidance
The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo): Legislation to prevent tax avoidance by individuals through the creation of deficiency relief on life insurance policies is to be included in the 2004 Finance Bill. The legislation will restrict the deficiency relief available to an individual to amounts of earlier gains which formed part of that same individual's income. The change will have effect from today. It will apply to all new policies. It will also apply to all existing policies which are assigned, or become used as security for a debt, or into which policyholders choose to pay further premiums, on or after today.
A copy of today's Inland Revenue news release giving the relevant background to this measure is being deposited in the Libraries of both Houses and is also accessible on the Inland Revenue website: http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/.
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INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Afghanistan (Election Registration Funding)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr. Gareth Thomas): Ensuring the legitimacy of the Afghan Government within the timescale set down by the Bonn agreement is an important part of the Government's strategy for Afghanistan.
Elections are due to take place later this year and the Government has already provided £1 million from the Department for International Development (DFID)
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and £2 million from the joint DFID/FCO/MOD global conflict prevention pool towards the UN's programme of voter registration in Afghanistan. So far just over 1.2 million of an estimated 10.5 million electorate has been registered.
DFID will now be providing an additional £6 million to the UN to support the registration process. Combined with a US pledge of US$12 million this takes the total funding from US$48 million to US$71 million out of a total budget of around US$98 million. This will allow registration to continue while we work with other donors to fill the remainder of the shortfall, and help to ensure the success of Afghanistan's first free and fair elections.