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DEFENCE

Reservists (Former Yugoslavia)

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): A new call-out order has been made under Section 56 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 so that reservists may continue to be called-out into permanent service to support military operations in the former Yugoslavia. The order will take effect from 1 April 2004.

At present, some 300 Reservists are serving in the former Yugoslavia. They are providing a wide range of individual skills as well as a composite signals squadron. We do not expect to have to mobilise any Reservists compulsorily for this particular deployment and we are most grateful for their continuing support to an important stabilisation operation.

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Veterans Agency

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): The key targets that have been set for the Chief Executive of the Veterans Agency (VA) for the financial year 2004–05 are as follows:

Service

Key Target 1: To issue decisions on claims to war pensions in an average of no more than 63 working days. This represents a cumulative improvement of 38 per cent. against our 2000–01 baseline level of 100 working days.

Key Target 2: To issue decisions on war widows claims in an average of no more than 25 working days. This represents a cumulative improvement of 31 per cent. against our 2000–01 baseline level of 36 working days.

Key Target 3: To achieve an externally validated claims accuracy rate of at least 97 per cent.

Key Target 4: To achieve an externally validated medical adjudication accuracy rate of at least 95 per cent.

Valuing our people

Key Target 5: To undergo a successful, externally managed IiP re-assessment exercise by June 2004.

Working in Partnership

Key Target 6: To work with the Department for Constitutional Affairs' Court Service to reduce the average time it takes an appeal to pass through the war pensions appeals process. By 31 March 2005 the average time should reduce to no more than 240 working days. This is an improvement of 10 working days on our 2003–04 target; and it represents a cumulative improvement of 57 per cent. against our 2000–01 baseline level of 565 working days.

Efficiency

Key Target 7: To use the Agency output costing methodology developed in 2002–03 to help identify and generate such administrative efficiencies and other savings as will enable the Agency to achieve a 3 per cent. reduction in 2004–05 against its 2003–04 final out-turn figure.

Deepcut (Surrey Police)

The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): On 4 March 2004 the Chief Constable of the Surrey Police published his final report following the completion of the investigation into the deaths of Privates Sean Benton, Cheryl James, Geoff Gray and James Collinson at Princess Royal Barracks, Deepcut between 1995 and 2002. At the Chief Constable's request placed copies of the report in the Libraries of both Houses on the same day.

In conducting background research for their report Surrey Police drew considerably on information provided by the Army. I recognise the interest of right hon. and hon. members in these cases placed and I am today arranging for a number of documents mentioned specifically in the report to be in the Library of the House shortly.

These documents have, where appropriate, been expurgated to remove security sensitive material and references to third parties.

We continue to give the Chief Constable's recommendations careful consideration. I expect to a further announcement after the Easter recess.

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HEALTH

Clinical Trials Directive

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Ms Rosie Winterton): We are today laying before Parliament the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004, which will implement into United Kingdom law directive 2001/20 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 April 2001 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the member states relating to the implementation of good clinical practice in the conduct of clinical trials on medicinal products for human use. The regulations will come into force on 1 May 2004, the date by which member states are required to implement the directive.

These regulations will ensure that the rights, safety and well-being of clinical trial subjects are protected by requiring sponsors of trials to be responsible for designing, conducting, recording and reporting clinical trials according to principles of good clinical practice derived from the principles set out in the amended 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. In addition, the regulations will further protect public health by ensuring that the results of clinical trials are collected, recorded and analysed in accordance with internationally recognised principles so that they can be audited and verified before being used to impact on public health, for example through a publication that changes medical prescribing practice or as evidence to support applications to place medicines on the market.

The Regulations will provide a statutory basis for:

standardisation of procedures for ethical and competent authority consideration and authorisation;

good clinical practice (GCP) standards for commencing and conducting clinical trials;

good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards for medicines used in clinical trials; and

inspections against internationally accepted principles and standards of GCP and GMP, supported by enforcement powers.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Department of Health will be publishing guidance on the new procedures which the regulations will implement from 1 May 2004. This will cover applications for clinical trial authorisations, inspections, ethics committee applications, informed consent for incapacitated adults and sponsorship of clinical trials.

The Government have undertaken extensive consultation with stakeholders in both the pharmaceutical industry and the non-commercial clinical trials sector on how to implement the Directive. Where possible, concerns expressed by the non-commercial sector, in particular, about the possible regulatory burden have been taken into account in the UK Regulations. Furthermore, the MHRA and Department of Health have been working with stakeholders to help them comply with the practical requirements of the regulations. The Government believe that the regulations achieve a proper balance by safeguarding the rights of patients involved in clinical trials while avoiding a disproportionate impact on those who carry out clinical trials.

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WORK AND PENSIONS

Pathways to Work

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Andrew Smith): The Department of Work and Pensions laid before the house on 18 November 2002 a consultation document entitled: "Pathways to Work—Helping People into Employment", (Cm 5690). This outlined a range of proposals to provide more effective support to people with health conditions and disabled people. The Pathways to Work are at the leading edge of international best practice on the help and support that is on offer for people whose job prospects are affected by a health condition or disability. In a recent economic survey by the OECD, Pathways to Work has been described as a "radically new approach to dealing with those on incapacity benefits".

On 27 October, I announced the launch of the first three pilots—Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf; Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyll & Bute; and Derbyshire. I know there has been considerable interest in these groundbreaking reforms and I wish to update colleagues on progress in the first three pilots.

To date, the specially trained personal advisers we have put in place have carried out over 3,000 Work Focused Interviews with promising results. Many customers are, as we believed; keen to actively consider a return to work and positive about the help on offer. They are keen to participate in the NDDP Programmes and NHS Condition Management Programmes. By mid-March, well over 400 customers had been referred to NDDP Programmes and in the first few weeks of operation, around 130 people had been referred to Condition Management Programmes. The Return to Work Credit of £40 a week is also proving a popular incentive, with approximately 700 awards made, helping incapacity benefits recipients make that final step back into work. Furthermore, there are over 700 longer-term recipients who have volunteered to work with an adviser to try and find a job. These figures are drawn from management reports and are provisional—validated statistics are expected to be available from May. With over 700 people helped back to work and off benefits, these pilots are already changing many people's lives. One such example is from Tonypandy, where a client who had been claiming Incapacity Benefit since 1978 due to a back problem and depression, with the support from her Personal Adviser, and help from Return to Work Credit, Adviser Discretion Fund, Tax Credits and New Deal 50+, started work as a Production Operator after 25 years on benefits.

On 5 June, I announced the locations of the final four pilots—East Lancashire, Essex, Gateshead & South Tyneside and Somerset.

My Department, together with the Department of Health have been preparing for the implementation of these pilots.

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In the Budget we also announced the expansion of the specialist Personal Adviser service to more actively support some longer-term IB recipients. We will also be introducing a new financial incentive to support customers as they undertake return to work activity.

Today, I am pleased to announce that these pilots will be launched on 5 April.

The pilots are to run until 2006 and the impact of the extra support will be fully evaluated before decisions are made about extending the measures.

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