30 Mar 2004 : Column 83WS
Written Ministerial Statements
Tuesday 30 March 2004
HEALTH
NHS Charges
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton): We have laid before the House regulations to increase the income level at which people are entitled to full remission of national health service charges, payment of travel costs, national health service sight tests and optical vouchers, that is full help through the national health service low-income scheme. Currently, people are entitled to full help through this scheme when their income is equal to, or less than, their requirements. From 6 April 2004, people will be entitled to full help if their income exceeds their requirements by up to 50 per cent. of the prescription charge. This will mean that people whose income is only marginally above income support level will now be entitled to full help.
Entitlement to income-based help with health costs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.
Arm's Length Bodies
The Secretary of State for Health (Dr. John Reid): Two new regulatory bodies, which will operate at arm's length from the Department, come into being on 1 April: the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI) and the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). A third regulatory Body, the Office of the Independent Regulator (OIR) came into being in January this year. The inception of these new bodies will change the Department's role in the provision and inspection of healthcare and social services. The effects that this will have on accountability arrangements are set out below.
The role of the OIR is to authorise, monitor and regulate National Health Service foundation trusts (NHSFTs). The Independent Regulator is directly accountable to Parliament, and the Department will not be able to comment on the details of the OIR's day to day management. For any questions that might arise in this area, we would provide information on the Independent Regulator's behalf, but not directly.
NHSFTs are themselves independent of the Department, and are directly accountable to their local populations and to Parliament. Because of this independent status, and NHSFTs' separate and local route of accountability, we will no longer be in a position to comment on, or provide information about, the detail of operational management within such trusts. Any such questions will be referred to the relevant NHSFT chairman.
30 Mar 2004 : Column 84WS
Notwithstanding these changes, matters of national policy (including the statutory framework for the NHS, and its resources, standards and targets) will of course remain the responsibility of the Department. We will therefore continue to respond directly on these issues. We will also continue to respond directly on the services commissioned by the NHS locally, as these remain the responsibility of primary care trusts.
As with the OIR, CHAI and CSCI are independent of the Department. We will therefore provide information to Members on behalf of these bodies about their activities, but not directly. Two areas of their operations warrant particular notice. The Department has traditionally had much a closer involvement in the (performance) star ratings system. From 1 April, it will be CHAI's and CSCI's responsibility to devise the form of performance ratings, and their criteria and methodology. The Department will approve the criteria devised.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Departmental Service Charges
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): The Department has carried out a review of the basis for charging for a number of plant health, plant varieties and animal health services that it provides. Invoicing for the services concerned was suspended whilst the review was completed.
The review focused on whether the legislative basis for making charges for these services was adequate. The conclusion is that for the following services the legislative basis was not sufficient to allow the Department to impose a charge:
- Export certificates for plants and plant products
- Seed potatoes: approved stock scheme
- Seed potatoes: fees for inspection of pre-basic seed potatoes
- Seed potatoes: fees for investigation of complaints
- Provisional seed certification scheme
- Seed samplers' and crop inspectors' examinations
- Examination of seed analysts
- Additional costs of meeting statutory consent conditions for GM crop varieties in national list trials
- OECD /ISTA certification
- Purity and germination tests
- Special tests for distinctness, uniformity and stability
30 Mar 2004 : Column 85WS
- Certain aspects of the Poultry Health Scheme
- Factory Inspection Scheme
- Additional animal health certification issued in connection with the Classical Swine Fever outbreak in 2000.
A parallel review of Forestry Commission services has found that the legislative base for export charges of forest trees and forest products was not sufficient to impose a charge. Invoicing for this service was also suspended whilst the review was completed.
Action will now be taken to repay to customers some £2.4 million of charges that were levied over the six years prior to the suspension of charging. To take this forward, the Department and the Forestry Commission will be writing over the coming weeks to those organisations and individuals who are to be repaid.
30 Mar 2004 : Column 86WS
Where required, work is underway to introduce the necessary legislation for future charging for the services affected.
The review concluded that the necessary legal base was in place to allow charging for plant health propagation scheme services provided by the Department. Charging for this service will recommence from this coming season.
TRANSPORT
Highways Agency
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson): The Highways Agency's 2004–05 business plan is published today and contains seven key targets for the Agency to deliver by 31 March 2005. These are:
| Indicator | 2004–05 Target |
|---|---|
| 1. Deliver the programme of improvements to the strategic road network. | Achieve:— At least 440 progress points for the M1, M6 and M25 schemes, compared to 2003–04 forecast score of 250.— At least 95 per cent. of the major schemes progress points required to reach the score of 6,500 compared to the 2003–04 forecast score of 4,590.— Complete 20 of 26 priority action sites at junctions. |
| 2. Deliver a demonstrable reduction in incident-related congestion and minimisation of road works-related congestion. | In establishing the Regional Control Centres (RCCs), achieve:— West Midlands RCC and traffic officers commence service. Achieve 92 of 100 points.— 140 of 155 progress points for all other RCCs and traffic officers.Establish and implement a management system to monitor and report on incident-related congestion in the West Midlands. |
| 3. Make information available to influence travel behaviour and inform decisions. | — Make publicly available by March 2005—and maintain thereafter—traffic information for the Agency's network through a website and a dedicated voice recognition interactive telephone service.— Provide by March 2005—and maintain thereafter—on the Agency's motorway network, strategic route advice using the variable message signs (VMS) available, for all incidents causing more than 15 minutes predicted delay, and monitor its accuracy. |
| 4. Deliver the Agency's agreed proportion of thenational target. By 2010 reduce by a third (i.e. to 3,327) the number of people killed/seriously injured on trunk roads compared with the 1994–98 average of 4,991. | Reduce by at least 832 to 4,159. |
| 5. Maintain the network in a safe and serviceable condition. | Achieve a road surface condition index score of 100 ±1 |
| 6. Mitigate the potentially adverse impact of strategic roads and take opportunities to enhance the environment taking into account value for money. | Achieve at least 95 per cent. across the five sub targets:— Air Quality: Improve quality of at least two air quality management areas (AQMA) sites.— Biodiversity: Achieve at least 5 per cent. of the Agency's Biodiversity Action Plan extending across 15 priority targets.— Landscape: Introduce no less than four planning schemes.— Noise: Treat at least 50 lane km of concrete road surface with lower noise surfacing.— Water: Treat at least five outfalls identified as posing a pollution risk to watercourses. |
| 7. Deliver a high level of road user satisfaction. | Achieve from the road user satisfaction survey an average annual score of at least 85 per cent. for motorways and at least 80 per cent. for trunk roads. |
30 Mar 2004 : Column 87WS
Explanatory notes against each of these indicators are provided in the business plan, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |