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Written Ministerial Statements
Wednesday 25 May 2005
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Lottery Transformational Grants Programme
The Minister for Sport and Tourism (Mr. Richard Caborn): I am pleased to inform the House that on 24 May I formally issued the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and the Community Fund—now operating jointly under the name of the Big Lottery Fund—with policy directions in connection with the transformational grants programme. We announced our intention to establish such a programme in the National Lottery funding decision document in July 2003.
NOF and the Community Fund applied to the Secretary of State in December 2004 to authorise the two funds to participate in a joint scheme to make transformational grants. The New Opportunities Fund (Specification of Initiative) Order 2005, which came into force on 5 April 2005, following a resolution of each Houses of Parliament, specified transformational grants as a new NOF initiative
The policy directions which I have issued to the Big Lottery Fund were subject to public consultation and will allow the fund to carry forward the best of the Millennium Commission's work. This presents an opportunity for the fund occasionally to support exciting major capital projects. These will benefit community regeneration and contribute to growth and transformation across the UK.
I have placed a copy of the policy directions and my letter to Sir Clive Booth in the Libraries of both Houses.
DEFENCE
The Duke of York's Royal Military School
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Don Touhig): The Chief Executive of the Duke of York's Royal Military School has been set the following key targets for 2005–06.
2. To achieve 92 per cent. of 15 year old pupils gaining five or more passes graded A* to C at GCSE.
4. To generate income from the hire of school facilities of at least £14,000 and support at least eight community events.
Defence Analytical Services Agency
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): Key targets have been set for the chief executive of the Defence Analytical Services Agency (DASA) for the financial year 2005–06. The targets, which build on the already high standards of service provided by the agency since its formation in 1992, are as follows:
Meet at least 95 per cent. of the timeliness and quality targets in the 53 service level agreements with customers and project agreements for surveys, modelling and other one-off projects.
Publish the five key national statistics on time, with no major errors and with no breaches of the pre-release arrangements, and meet 95 per cent. of the timeliness and quality targets for other defence national statistics publications.
At least 90 per cent. of customers report satisfaction with the overall service they receive from DASA, as reported in the annual customer satisfaction survey.
Make sufficient efficiency gains to provide the necessary resources to enable DASA to deliver key target 3.
Defence Communication Services Agency
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): Key targets have been set for the chief executive of the Defence Communication Services Agency for financial year 2005–06 as follows:
Infantry Regimental Headquarters Review
The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram): On 16 December 2004 my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Defence, announced arrangements for the future Army structure (FAS). A significant part of this work regarded the future infantry structure (FIS).
As we work to implement FIS, it is appropriate that we examine whether the supporting infrastructure of regimental headquarters (RHQs) is correctly configured.
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We need to ensure that the design of the RHQs will support the future infantry. As before, they will give support to our soldiers whilst making the most effective use of taxpayers' money. RHQs will also continue to fulfil their remit of supporting former members of the Army.
The infantry RHQ review has therefore been commissioned to undertake this work. It will ultimately recommend the most effective and efficient method of delivering the functions of an RHQ in order to support the future infantry. This work is due to report by the end of the year and a final recommendation is not therefore expected until 2006. The review will not include RHQ Royal Irish.
The review will not look into museums. However, where museums are co-located with RHQs, the implications for the museums will have to be determined and weighed in consideration of options.
Iraq: Roulement
The Secretary of State for Defence (John Reid): As part of the routine management of UK forces in the Multinational Division (South-East) (MND(SE)) in Iraq, we are conducting a roulement offerees. The lead UK formation, previously 4 Armoured Brigade, will now be provided by 12 Mechanised Brigade. The majority of forces involved in this roulement will complete their deployment by 30 May. The following units are involved:
At the end of this process the number of troops in Iraq will be around 8,500—a little over 400 more than at present. The reason for this small increase is in order to allow greater effort to be put into the training, development and mentoring of the Iraqi security forces: this will enable them to take on ever greater responsibility for their own security and so pave the way for UK troops to withdraw.
We will continue to consider, with the Iraqi Transitional Government and our partners in the multinational force, the levels and dispositions of forces required in Iraq. If we judge that further changes to the UK military contribution would be appropriate, we will of course inform the House at the earliest opportunity.
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