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DEFENCE
Service Children's Education
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): The Chief Executive of Service Children's Education has been set the following Key Targets for 2004–05.
Sustain threshold level performance at each of the Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 by remaining at least 3 per cent. ahead of national (England) achievement.
Sustain the percentage of pupils obtaining A*-C at GCSE as a three-year rolling average.
Sustain the percentage of students obtaining A-E at "A" Level as a three-year rolling average.
Sustain SCE's notional position in the English Local Education Authority league tables, within the leading 25 (of 150) LEAs at each of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3.
At the higher levels of attainment (i.e. level 3+ at Key Stage 1, level 5+ at Key Stage 2, level 6+ at Key Stage 3) match national level of performance in 50 per cent. of the 12 subject elements in 2004, rising in equal steps to 66 per cent. in 2006.
For GCSE, show improvement in Average Points' scores by achieving at least the England "capped" upper quartile figure (38.8).
To achieve Grade 4 or above (on the OfSTED seven point scale) in at least 85 per cent. of schools inspected, in each of the following areas:
Overall effectiveness of the School
Overall standards achieved
Pupils' attitudes, values and personal qualities
The quality of education provided by the school
The leadership and management of the school
Key Target 6
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To demonstrate customer satisfaction with a survey result of 69 per cent. satisfaction or more from Army Continuous Attitude Surveys.
Armed Forces Pension Scheme
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): During Standing Committee consideration of the Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Bill in February, concern was expressed that the Government should provide more independent oversight of the arrangements provided for the armed forces in this area. I made clear to Committee members that I recognised the intent behind these concerns and we have considered how we might respond. We have now decided that we will give the independent Armed Forces Pay Review Body (AFPRB) a role in externally validating the provisions of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS); we plan that this will be done in the context of their quinquennial valuation of the AFPS, though more frequent examinations of the scheme provisions could be undertaken if wider developments justified this.
The broad intent is that the AFPRB would compare the scheme provisions with practice elsewhere in the economy and consider the extent to which they meet the recruitment and retention needs of the armed forces. The Review Body's observations would then be made public in a supplement to the following annual report and the Government would also make public their response to these observations. I am pleased to say that the Chairman of the Review Body and his colleagues have agreed to take on this additional responsibility and we are now in discussion on the detail to determine the timing of the first such review. I am confident that this change will provide for more independence in reviewing the terms of the AFPS while equally helping us to ensure coherence across the broader remuneration package, comprising both pay and pensions. It should also provide additional reassurance for service personnel by ensuring effective independent validation of the appropriateness of the pension provisions for our armed forces.
Freedom of Information
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin):
The first duty under the Freedom of Information Act to be implemented by Government Departments was the requirement to prepare publication schemes. MOD's publication scheme is accessible via the internet at www.foi.mod.uk . Since the scheme was published in November 2002, we have continued to look for opportunities to extend the commitment to make information available proactively. To date, a further five classes of information have been added to the original publication scheme and a process for identifying and adding more is in place. The new classes cover information provided by the Army Historical Branch, the Naval Historical Branch, Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA) Corporate Documents, Defence Data Definitions, and Defence Statistics.
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As a further step in this process, I am announcing today that a new class of information will be included to require publication of the consolidated results of corporate level quantitative opinion surveys carried out to gauge the attitude of members of the public to the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces. The results of similar surveys undertaken internally with a random cross-section of the Department's own staff will also be published. The results of the external corporate level surveys undertaken since 1999 are also being placed in the Library of the House.
From October 2004, we also plan to release the results of the continuous attitude surveys that are undertaken by each of the three services to measure the morale and understand the concerns of their personnel across a spectrum of issues. These surveys are sent out annually to a random sample of around 8,000 military personnel at all ranks. This commitment to publish the results of these surveys will also be reflected through a class of information in MOD's publication scheme.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
BBC New Services Review
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell): I have today announced the start of the independent reviews of the BBC's new digital radio and television services along with the names of the two individuals who will conduct these studies.
The services concerned are: BBC Three; BBC Four; Cbeebies; CBBC; 1Xtra; BBC Asian Network; BBC Five Live Sports Extra; BBC 6 Music; and BBC 7. I have also published today the BBC's submission on these services, an electronic copy of which is available in the Libraries of both Houses.
I have announced previously my intention to appoint one reviewer for the digital television channels and one for the digital radio channels. I am pleased to be able to confirm the appointment of Patrick Barwise to the former position and Tim Gardam to the latter.
The reviews will begin immediately and will run concurrently. In accordance with the conditions that I laid down when giving my approval for the BBC to develop these new digital services, both reviews will include both a period of public consultation and a market impact study. I have asked both reviewers to submit their reports to me by the end of August 2004.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Annual Report
The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott): The Chief Secretary to the Treasury and I are pleased to present the Annual Report of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for 2004 to Parliament. It sets out the achievements of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The aim of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is to create sustainable communities—places where people want to live. It is about revitalising communities,
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delivering sustainable economic growth, revitalising areas of neglect, improving the quality of local environment and protecting the countryside.
This, our second annual report, details an impressive array of achievements in every area of our work. We are driving up the quality and supply of housing, speeding up the planning system, reducing the incidence of rough sleeping and the number of homeless families in B&B accommodation, improving our public spaces and giving people a bigger say in what happens in their regions. We are delivering strong, effective local government services and devolving power to local neighbourhoods. We are also renewing and regenerating neighbourhoods particularly in our most deprived areas and reducing social exclusion.
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But we must not be complacent and we know more remains to be done. We will therefore continue to work hard to deliver our aim of creating sustainable communities that provide a better quality of life, now and in future generations.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
Annual Report
The Solicitor-General (Ms Harriet Harman): My right hon. Friend the Attorney-General has made the following Ministerial Statement: "The learned Law Officer's Departments Departmental Report 2004" has today been published and laid before Parliament. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.