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Written Ministerial Statements
Thursday 1 April 2004
TRANSPORT
Road Safety Strategy
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson): The Government's road safety strategy "Tomorrow's roads—safer for everyone" published in March 2000 included a commitment to evaluate every three years progress on delivery of the strategy and towards meeting the 2010 casualty reduction targets.
The first three-year review has been conducted by the Department, in consultation with the Road Safety Advisory Panel, which includes many of the key stakeholders both within and outside Government. I intend to publish the outcome of the review on 7 April 2004 to coincide with World Health Day 2004, the theme of which is the global road safety challenge. Copies of the review report will be placed in the Library of the House.
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Mr. David Jamieson): I am pleased to announce the Ministerial Targets for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for 2004–05. I will place in the House Library, shortly, a copy of the Agency's Business Plan and Forward Look, which includes its Ministerial targets for 2004–05. The Ministerial targets are:
- In at least 96 per cent. of incidents, within 5 minutes of being alerted, take a decision on the appropriate search and rescue response and initiate action if necessary;
- Deliver at least 97 per cent. of planned ship inspections, and ensure that 95 per cent. of mandatory expanded ship inspections are carried out;
- Approve ship security plans and undertake verifications of all applicable UK registered cargo ships;
- Establish a baseline for seafarer satisfaction levels;
- Develop a robust statistical base and design a system, which will allow the Agency to measure accurately the impact of its incident prevention activity;
- Ensure that no more than 3 per cent. of UK ships inspected under the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) arrangements are detained, and also ensure that the UK Shipping Register maintains a position on the Paris MOU White List which is comparable to registers of a similar size and reputation.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Independent Police Complaints Commission
The Minister for Crime Reduction, Policing and Community Safety (Ms Hazel Blears): I am pleased to announce the launch of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which has now replaced the Police Complaints Authority. It will operate under the
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powers and duties provided to it by the Police Reform Act 2002. Under the Chairmanship of Nick Hardwick, it is responsible for the effective and efficient running of the police complaints system.
The IPCC has its headquarters in London, and also has a regional presence in Manchester, Leicester, and Cardiff.
As guardian of the complaints system, the IPCC alongside the police service and others will undertake a vital role in maintaining public confidence in the integrity and accountability of the police service.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Local Authority Fees 2004–05
The Minister for the Environment (Mr. Elliot Morley): Charges to cover the costs of local enforcing authorities in regulating processes which are subject to Part I of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (Local Air Pollution Control (LAPC)) were introduced in April 1991. Interim charges for installations which are subject to the Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 (Local Air Pollution Prevention and Control (LAPPC) and Local Authority—Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (LA-IPPC)) were introduced in August 2000.
With the approval of the Treasury to the extent required, and following consultation with local authority associations and industry, myself with my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Sustainable Food and Farming have made revised schemes in respect of the Environmental Protection Act England and Wales and in respect of the Pollution Prevention and Control Act. The schemes specify the scale of fees and charges to take effect from 1 April 2004.
There will be a 2.75 per cent. increase to the LAPC, LAPPC and the LA-IPPC fees and charges schemes for 2004–05. One of the factors taken into account was the take-up of cost accounting by local authorities which, when fully adopted, should provide the evidence of the adequacy or otherwise of current charging levels. According to my Department's statistics, 66 per cent. of local authorities had adopted cost accounting practices for LAPC by 31 March 2003, compared with 51 per cent. by the same date in 2002. A further 19 per cent. had said they intended to introduce cost accounting by the end of 2003–04, while the remaining 15 per cent. have no stated plans to do so.
There will also be an additional fee spread over the 18,000 regulated activities, amounting to approximately £2/3 per standard activity. This is required to cover the £40,000 necessary to recover the costs of the Environment Agency's technical unit which provides guidance notes for use by local authorities and operators and is funded under the scheme.
The schemes will be laid before both Houses and copies placed in the Libraries.
Farm Animal Welfare Report
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr. Ben Bradshaw): In June 2003, the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC) published its report and recommendations on the welfare of farmed animals at
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slaughter. It was a valuable and comprehensive report and I am grateful to the council for the work they put into it.
The report contains 94 recommendations for improvements in the welfare of animals at the time of slaughter or killing and the Government are prepared to accept, or partially accept, the majority of them. But the Government also accept that FAWC's recommendation to ban the slaughter of animals without prior stunning on welfare grounds has been contentious for the Jewish and Muslim communities.
The Government also recognise that such a ban would be likely to result in kosher and halal meat being imported with no overall improvement in animal welfare. We also think that there is a strong possibility that a legal challenge to a ban on slaughter without prior stunning would succeed on the grounds that the practice is protected under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights.
While the Government therefore propose to reject the FAWC recommendation to ban slaughter without prior stunning, we recommend that cattle slaughtered by having their throats cut should receive an immediate post-cut stun because of the time it takes cattle to lose consciousness This should be progressed on a voluntary basis.
In addition to the issues identified by FAWC, the consultation provides an ideal opportunity for a debate on whether meat from animals slaughtered without prior stunning for the kosher and halal markets should be labelled voluntarily. Some meat that has been slaughtered without the animal previously being stunned finds its way onto the ordinary meat market. At present, such meat is not required to be labelled to indicate the method of slaughter.
We are today issuing our response to the FAWC report for consultation on all aspects including those identified in this statement.
CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Land Registry
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. David Lammy): My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor has today set the following key performance targets for Her Majesty's Land Registry for 2004–05.
Critical Action Points
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| 2003–04 | Outcome @ 6/2/2004 |
|---|---|
| Start pilot implementation for e-Discharges. | Achieved. |
| Make all key Land Registry information services available over the Internet. | Title Plans not yet available online. |
| Implement the Land Registration Act 2002. | Achieved. |
| Report to Ministers on proposals for e-conveyancing service and procurement strategy | Submission forwarded on 27 February 2004. |
| 2004–05 | |
| Customer Service: Enable printing of authenticated results of Official Searches and Copies in a customer's office. | |
| Land Registration: Carry out consultation on a standard form of lease. | |
| Electronic Service Delivery: Start the pilot for processing e-lodgement of forms. | |
| Make Land Registry data available to the EULIS demonstrator. |
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