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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Home Loss Payments

The Minister for Housing and Planning (Keith Hill): Following the annual review, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will today lay regulations to update the home loss payment thresholds in section 30 of the Land Compensation Act 1973 (as amended). Home loss payments are paid at a rate of 10 per cent. of the market value to owner-occupiers who are displaced from their homes as a result of compulsory purchase or certain housing orders. These are subject to maximum and minimum payments. Tenants receive a flat rate equal to the minimum payment to owner-occupiers.

With effect from 1 September 2004, the maximum payment to owner-occupiers displaced from their home will be increased from £31,000 to £34,000 and the minimum payment will be increased from £3,100 to £3,400. The flat-rate will be increased from £3,100 to £3,400.

The period of two months between laying the regulations and commencement will give acquiring authorities reasonable notice to revise their budgets for compensation. This is similar to the notice period that was given for previous amendments to home loss payments thresholds.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

East Midlands Development Agency

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Patricia Hewitt): I have decided to appoint Bryan Jackson as the new chair of the board of the East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA).

The appointment will begin on 14 December 2004 and is for three years, expiring on 13 December 2007. I have placed further details of this appointment in the Library of both Houses. The appointment has been made in accordance with the code of practice of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Chris Mullin): I have arranged for copies of the first annual report by Fiona Lindsley, the independent monitor for entry clearance refusals without the right of appeal, to be placed in the Library of the House today.

The report covers a review of decisions taken in the calendar year 2002. It should have been submitted by 30 November 2003, but was delayed due to the late appointment of the independent monitor. I thank Ms Lindsley for her hard work in completing her first report as independent monitor for entry clearance matters.

I welcome Ms Lindsley's report. It contains a number of interesting recommendations, a number of which have already been addressed.
 
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Ms Lindsley has started working on her second report, for the calendar year 2003, which should be submitted to my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary by 30 November 2004.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Underfunded Pension Schemes (Insolvency)

The Minister for Pensions (Malcolm Wicks): On 14 May, the Government announced a financial assistance scheme for those who have lost out because they worked for companies that have gone insolvent and wound up their pension scheme underfunded. While the Government have no liability in respect of these schemes, they recognise that in some cases wind-ups have imposed severe hardship and the assistance scheme will offer significant help to those worst affected.
 
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I subsequently said, during report stage of the Pensions Bill on 19 May, that by the end of June the Government would publish the results of their inquiries to establish the numbers affected and the scale of their losses. I have accordingly today placed a report in the Library.

The nature and level of any assistance given to pension scheme members under the financial assistance scheme will be subject to a number of factors including the design of the scheme and whether the significant Government commitment of funding from the taxpayer is supported by funding from industry. As I explained to the House on 19 May, we shall be designing the scheme in consultation with interested parties over the summer and autumn of 2004, with a view to having the legislative framework in place by the spring of 2005 and making payments as soon as practicable after that.