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Written Ministerial Statements
Tuesday 8 June 2004
NORTHERN IRELAND
Probation Board
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Paul Murphy): I have today published the Probation Board for Northern Ireland business plan for 2004–05. The plan sets out the board's key objectives and performance targets for the year. Copies of the plan have today been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Health and Social Services Estates Agency
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Angela Smith): Stage two of the quinquennial review of the Northern Ireland Health and Social Services Estates Agency has been completed. The report has been made available in the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Northern Ireland Assembly's Libraries and on the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety's website.
The conclusion of the stage one report, published on 4 June 2003, was that the Northern Ireland Health and Social Services Estates Agency should remain in being as an agency.
Stage two examined how the agency operated and looked at the potential for improving its future performance. The consultants invited views from a range of respondents, including Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA), HPSS boards trusts, and agencies and departmental staff. Their report makes recommendations to improve the agency's effectiveness and efficiency.
The report's overall conclusion is that much has already been done to address areas for improvement identified in the stage one report. The report recommends, however, more:
monitoring of compliance with policy standards;
consultation and engagement in formulating and monitoring standards;
practically oriented advice to the Department which can influence capital plans;
early engagement with the Department on estate-related policy issues with wider implications for capital planning;
early involvement of the agency in the development and approval of capital plans and business cases;
involvement in the development of policy which may have capital implications;
communication and integration across all parts of the agency.
Implementation of the report's recommendations will improve the effectiveness of the agency and will enhance its ability to contribute to improvements in the quality of care to patients.
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CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS
Courts Agency
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Mr. Christopher Leslie): My noble Friend the Secretary of State, the Lord Falconer of Thoroton, has made the following written ministerial statement.
"The Queen has agreed that the new courts agency will be named Her Majesty's Courts Service when it is established in April 2005. The Courts Act 2003 allows the Lord Chancellor to create a new executive agency responsible for the administration of the magistrates' courts and the higher courts".
DEFENCE
Department of Defence Mental Health
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin): As part of the Ministry of Defence strategy to modernise and improve defence mental health services, I can announce today that the Ministry of Defence has awarded a contract to King's College London, widely recognised as a leader in this field, to establish, in partnership with Defence Medical Services, a Department of Defence Mental Health.
This Department, which will come under the auspices of the Royal College of Defence Medicine, will be based in London as part of the King's College centre for military health research. It will have a small permanent staff, consisting of a senior lecturer in military health studies, who will be appointed by King's, and a clinical senior lecturer and nurse senior lecturer, who will be Defence Medical Services staff. Administrative support and accommodation will be provided by King's.
This department will become a centre of excellence for the study of service mental health conditions, enabling us to develop a better understanding of their causes, treatment and prevention. It will greatly enhance the level of training available to our mental health specialists, and provide invaluable support to our newly enhanced community-based teams of mental health specialists.
Iraq
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): On 4 May, I told the House that 33 cases of civilian deaths, injuries or alleged ill-treatment in Iraq have been investigated by Service Police. The Secretary of State repeated this figure in the House on 10 May, as did the Prime Minister on 12 May.
A detailed verification exercise was put in place to ensure that all cases were being properly investigated and centrally reported. As a result of this continuing exercise it has come to light that the figure given on 4 May failed to incorporate details of investigations from all branches of the Service Police.
The correct number of investigations into civilian deaths, injuries or alleged ill-treatment undertaken at 4 May was 61. Of these 23 were still in progress, 31 had
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concluded with no further action being taken and seven were pending a decision whether to prosecute. None of these additional 28 cases relates to detention facilities.
We have initiated a further 14 investigations since 4 May. These new investigations can principally be attributed to the high operational tempo over the last month, and a small number of new allegations made by Iraqi civilians relating to earlier incidents.
Steps have been taken to ensure that information on all Service Police investigations into incidents in Iraq are now held centrally. I will continue to update the House on significant developments as appropriate.
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WORK AND PENSIONS
Child Poverty
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Andrew Smith): Today I have published the Government response to the Work and Pensions Committee Second Report of Session 2003–04 [HC 85–1] "Inquiry into Child Poverty in the UK" (CM 6200). Copies have been placed in the Library and are available for the Vote Office.
I am grateful to the Select Committee for their report which is detailed, comprehensive and helpful.