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Written Ministerial Statements
Wednesday 24 March 2004
CABINET OFFICE
Central Office of Information Targets 2003–04
The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Douglas Alexander): The targets set for the Central Office of Information for the 2003–04 financial year are:
| Financial: | To break even on an accruals basis. |
| Efficiency: | To achieve a unit cost reduction of 2.5 per cent. |
| Quality: | For the customer satisfaction system: |
| To achieve a customer satisfaction score of 8.25 out of 10; | |
| To achieve 96 per cent. of customer satisfaction scores of 6 or higher; | |
| To achieve a response rate of 62 per cent. |
HEALTH
Dental Treatment Charges
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton): The written ministerial statement of 12 February 2004 covering national health service charges in England informed the House that we planned to raise the maximum patient charge for a course of dental treatment from £372 to £378 from 1 April 2004.
In order to minimise changes and to avoid any confusion for patients, dentists and their practice staff, we are deferring the increase in the maximum charge for a course of dental treatment from 1 April to 1 May 2004 so as to coincide with the implementation of the doctors and dentists review body recommendation for dentists' fees. The fees will be backdated to 1 April 2004 but the new charges will be effective from 1 May 2004 and there will be no retrospective increases to charges already paid by patients.
The chief dental officer will be writing to all dentists advising them of the 1 May 2004 implementation date for the statement of dental remuneration and the increase in the maximum charge for a course of dental treatment.
DEFENCE
Gulf Veterans' Illnesses
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): A key principle of the Government's approach to addressing the health concerns of veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict is that there should be appropriate research into veterans'
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illnesses and factors that may have a bearing on these. Our current research programme is expected to cost at least £8.5 million.
As part of this research effort, the Ministry of Defence funded an independent study of the reproductive health of UK veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict through the Medical Research Council (MRC). The main findings of this research have today been published in a paper entitled: "Miscarriage, stillbirth and congenital malformation in the offspring of UK veterans of the first Gulf war" in the "International Journal of Epidemiology".
The researchers have reported that for male veterans of the 1990–1991 Gulf conflict, they found no evidence for increased risk of stillbirth, chromosomal malformations, or congenital syndromes. Some associations were reported between fathers' service and increased risk of miscarriage and other less well-defined malformations. For female veterans, the number of stillbirths and malformations were too small to allow meaningful analysis and there was no effect on the risk of miscarriage.
The MOD welcomes publication of this important research. The MRC's military health research advisory group (MHRAG) has considered the paper. They agree with the researchers that overall, the lack of evidence to link reproductive health problems with Gulf service should be reassuring to veterans and that the apparent increased risk identified should be interpreted with caution. The MHRAG does not intend to recommend any additional research into this aspect of Gulf veterans' health at this time.
TREASURY
The UK/IMF (Annual Report)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown): I am today publishing the fifth annual report to Parliament on UK operations at the IMF, "Growth For All—Towards a Stable and Fairer World: the UK and the IMF 2003".
Copies are available in the Library of the House.
FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS
E-diplomacy
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw): In our last information and communications technology (ICT) strategy published in 2000 we set ourselves the goal of transforming the FCO from a headquarters with outstations to a single global online organisation. We have come a long way towards achieving that goal. The FCO telecommunications network (FTN) together with our desktop system (Firecrest) provides a dedicated global network that connects our UK offices with over 200 overseas Posts and to the rest of Whitehall. On it we send over 1 million e-mails and download gigabytes of data every day, and run a number of applications including Genie (for issuing passports).
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Following publication of the FCO strategy in December last year, we have reviewed what we need from our ICT to enable the more flexible FCO envisaged in that strategy. "e-diplomacy" explains how we will introduce greater flexibility to our ICT infrastructure and enable more flexible use of information. This includes more use of mobile and remote-working technology and new applications to make information more accessible, whilst keeping it secure. We will continue to improve our project management skills and develop closer working partnerships with the private sector to ensure we provide the most cost-effective service to FCO users. We will also work with other Government Departments to achieve efficiency savings wherever possible.
The plans we have set out in "e-diplomacy" are challenging but achievable. We believe they are crucial to the overall effectiveness of the FCO.
Copies of "e-diplomacy" have been placed in the Library of the House. It is also available on the FCO's web-site www.fco.gov.uk.
WALES
Public Audit (Wales) Bill
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Don Touhig): Clause 54 was included in the Public Audit (Wales) Bill to ensure consistency in the criminal law across England and Wales. The Government have brought forward an amendment to Clause 54 to make clear the link with the present legislation that currently applies across England and Wales—section 49 of the Audit Commission Act 1998. It also ensures that any relaxation of the restrictions in
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the Audit Commission Act can be applied at the same time in England and Wales, following consultation with the National Assembly for Wales of course.
The Government acknowledge the concerns that have been raised about this clause. Indeed, section 49 of the Audit Commission Act is already being considered as part of a much wider review of statutory restrictions on disclosure that the Government are undertaking. This is the Department for Constitutional Affairs' review into existing statutory prohibitions on disclosure. Such restrictions can be removed by order under section 75 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in the case of Acts passed before or in the same session as that Act. The DCA's "Second Report to Parliament on the Review of Legislation Governing the Disclosure of Information" published in November 2002 is available at http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/foidoirpt2.htm. Section 49 of the Audit Commission Act is specifically referred to in Part II of that report, "Listing by Lead Department" under the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister heading.
Following preliminary consideration and consultation, the Government's preferred treatment for section 49 is to amend it so that it is consistent with the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act, which has an overall presumption in favour of disclosure. The Department for Constitutional Affairs currently plans to publish a final report on its review in the autumn. The Department for Constitutional Affairs is also intending to bring forward the first order to be made under the freedom of information legislation later this year, and the Government will include the proposed amendment to section 49 in that order. When section 49 is amended, the Government amendment to clause 54 will allow the relaxation of the restriction on disclosure to apply also in Wales. The Government are therefore following the proper process to address this issue, and are already well advanced in doing this.