Written Ministerial Statements
Tuesday 7 November 2006
Treasury
United Nations Measures Orders
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Ed Balls): In line with measures I announced to Parliament on 10 October regarding the strengthening of counter-terrorist financing frameworks, the Government will be seeking the agreement of the Privy Council on 14 November for the adoption of two Orders in Council concerned with giving effect to UN financial sanctions regimes against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and North Korea. The Government strongly support international efforts to tackle abuse of financial systems and these new orders will further enhance the UK’s ability to play its full part in these international actions.
Al-Qaeda and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2006
UN financial sanctions against persons associated with al-Qaeda and the Taliban are currently given effect in the UK through the al-Qaeda and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2002. The new Order will update these earlier provisions, bringing them into line with the new Terrorism (United Measures) Order 2006 that came into effect on 12 October 2006.
The Al-Qaeda and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2006 will further strengthen our powers to freeze assets, including the property of persons listed at the United Nations under the relevant UN Security Council resolutions or who we suspect are persons acting on their behalf, and to prevent funds or economic resources being made available to them.
North Korea (United Nations Measures) Order 2006
Following North Korea's announced nuclear test, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously on 14 October 2006 to adopt resolution 1718 (2006), which calls upon all member states to impose sanctions against North Korea’s nuclear, ballistic missile and other weapons of mass destruction-related programmes. The North Korea (United Nations Measures) Order 2006 will give effect to the financial sanctions measures set out in resolution 1718.
Consistent with the UN Security Council resolutions and with other financial sanctions legislation, both Orders in Council include provisions to allow the Treasury to license exemptions to the restrictions to meet legitimate humanitarian needs.
ECOFIN (7 November 2006)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Gordon Brown): Items on the agenda were as follows:
Financial Management—Ministers received a presentation from Hubert Weber, the President of the Court of Auditors, on the Court of Auditors’ report on the 2005 General Budget.
Statistics: 2006 Status Report and EU Statistical Governance—ECOFIN adopted conclusions on the Economic and Financial Committee’s 2006 status report and other statistical issues.
Sustainability of Public Finances: Sustainability Report—Ministers held an exchange of views and adopted conclusions on the Commission report regarding the sustainability of public finances.
Excise Duties: Minimum Rates on Alcoholic Beverages—ECOFIN discussed issues relating to the minimum excise rates on alcoholic beverages.
VAT and Excise Duties: Travellers’ Allowances Directive—Ministers discussed issues relating to the Travellers’ Allowances Directive.
ECOFIN Ministers also met with European Free Trade Area Finance Ministers to discuss energy policy and climate change. Finance Ministers agreed in principle to bring the European Free Trade Area Members into the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme.
Communities and Local Government
Planning Enforcement
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Meg Munn): Today I have published the outcome of the “Review of Planning Enforcement” that has been carried out by the Department for Communities and Local Government. There was a high level of response to the review—around 500 of those consulted sent in replies and recommendations to our questions about enforcement—whether it was working, and what might be done to improve it.
There was strong agreement amongst consultees that the current statutory framework for enforcement remains fit for its purpose. There was no need to introduce stronger provisions, or to make unauthorised development a criminal offence, and enforcement should remain at the discretion of local authorities,
The introduction of temporary stop notices was an early outcome of the Review of Planning Enforcement. It is now over eighteen months since we gave local planning authorities the power to issue a temporary stop notice to require the immediate cessation of a breach of planning control for a period of 28 days. This has proved a popular enforcement tool for local planning authorities. Over 300 were used in 2005-06 to stop unauthorised development, protect the environment and to speed up the process of enforcement.
Temporary stop notices have proven a welcome and helpful measure in speeding up the enforcement process. They have been used successfully to stop a wide variety of unauthorised development, including: damage to listed buildings, trees, wildlife sites; unauthorised landfill, quarrying, tipping, processing and storage of waste, clay extraction; building new houses, flats, garages, barns; Gypsy sites; access roads and engineering and building works.
The review has, however, highlighted that enforcement does not have a high profile in authorities and that there is a lack of resources and trained staff working in this area. In taking forward the recommendations of the review, therefore, our focus is on how we can encourage and support proactive approaches to enforcement in
planning. Enforcing planning activity, whether through reaction to complaints about breaches, proactive monitoring, or taking measures that prevent the necessity of repeated interventions, helps to create a quality, fully rounded planning service which in turn delivers sustainable outcomes. I want all authorities to regard enforcement as an essential element in their service.
To that end, we are looking at working with the Planning Advisory Service and the National Association of Planning Enforcement to provide opportunities and events that promote the importance of enforcement and provide workshops and training around some of the key elements. We will be encouraging authorities to share ideas at these events, with the aim of producing a benchmark of good practice, and some ‘golden rules’ of enforcement. And we are working, through our culture change programme, on identifying training and career structures for staff working in enforcement, and raising its profile in authorities.
We have also accepted recommendations in the review to look at some longer term changes. Over the next year we will be updating Circular 10/97 and the Enforcement Good Practice Guide.
There are also some areas where we will commission further work, following helpful comments from those we consulted. In particular, we will work with the LGA to see whether there is scope for extending planning fees to cover aspects of enforcement.
Publication of this review is only the first step in an ongoing process of evaluation and change that is designed to ensure that authorities have the means at their disposal to carry out effective and appropriate enforcement, and maintain the integrity of their planning functions.
A summary of the recommendations has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
National Housing and Planning Advice Unit
The Minister for Housing and Planning (Yvette Cooper): The Government are today announcing that they will be establishing a new non-departmental public body in England—The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit.
In response to Kate Barker’s review of housing supply, the Government gave a commitment to set up, by autumn 2006, an independent national advice unit to strengthen the evidence and analysis on improving housing market affordability available to the regional planning bodies throughout the planning process.
The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit is an advisory non-departmental public body comprising a small expert panel/board—six members including a chair—with a supporting technical unit of 10-12 staff. It is an independent body sponsored by DCLG with an annual budget in place of up to £2 million.
A chair, Stephen Nickell, and a board of five board members—Professor Glen Bramley, Bob Lane, Professor Paul Cheshire, Dr. Peter Williams and Max Steinberg—have been appointed after an open public competition held in accordance with the code of practice of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
A copy of the unit’s remit has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Constitutional Affairs
Reform of the Coroners' System and Death Certification (Constitutional Affairs Select Committee Report)
The Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Ms Harriet Harman): I am publishing today the Government's response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee report, of 1 August, on “Reform of the Coroners’ System and Death Certification”. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. It will also be made available on the Department for Constitutional Affairs website.
The draft Coroners Bill was published on 12 June. In the Bill we aim to do three things. First we will improve the way that the system serves the public interest and meet bereaved families’ concerns. The Bill will give families involved in the inquest process a clear legal standing in the system. We will also give families new rights through a new complaints and appeals system, enabling them to challenge a coroners’ decision, and the introduction of a Charter for Bereaved People which lays out the level of service families can expect. Secondly we will strengthen coroners’ work. The Bill will establish a proper appointments system for coroners, who will have to be legally qualified and will have to work full time as coroners, instead of having another job and working part time as coroners. Thirdly, we will create a national structure for coroners’ work. For the first time there will be a chief coroner who will provide national leadership for coroners, as the Lord Chief Justice does for judges. This will be supported by national standards, a coronial advisory council, a proper inspection system and national training for coroners and their officers.
I would like to thank the Committee for its thorough inquiry into our proposals to reform the coroners system, as set out in the draft Coroners Bill and for the additional consideration it gave to death certification. The Government regard pre-legislative scrutiny as a vital step in the consultation process.
Our public consultation exercise on the Bill has almost concluded. We are considering very carefully the views put forward about our proposals before finalising the Bill for parliamentary introduction as soon as time allows.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Correction to PQ 95254
The Minister for Europe (Mr. Geoffrey Hoon): In my reply on 26 October 2006 to the below question from the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) two pages were omitted from the answer (Official Report, column 2071W). I regret this error and now attach the whole reply.
Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown) (Cotswold):
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many redundancies there were in her
Department in each year since 1997; what the cost of such redundancies was in each year; how many temporary staff were employed in each year; and how many staff were seconded by outside organisations to posts within the Department in each year. (95254)
Mr. Hoon: The rules governing redundancies are set out by the Cabinet Office and include schemes for Compulsory Early Retirement (CER) for officers over 50 and Compulsory Early Severance (CES) for those under 50.
The annual number of junior/middle management officers in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) who have taken redundancy through the CER or CES schemes for the years 1997 to 2006 are shown below and include efficiency restructuring in FCO Services. Costs shown for the years 1997 to 2001 are the total for all early retirements in each of those years. We could not break these figures down further without incurring disproportionate costs. The costs from 2002 to 2006 cover redundancy packages only.
| Numbers | Costs (£(1)) | |
| (1) Estimated Costs | ||
Since 1995, we have given FCO senior management staff the opportunity to volunteer for early retirement on CER or CES terms if they complete a full posting before retirement age or had been unable to find a suitable appointment within the Department. To meet efficiency targets, in particular to reduce substantially the number of staff in the Senior Management Structure, we extended this offer to a wider range of senior officers in September 2004, using funding from the HM Treasury’ Efficiency Challenge Fund. The numbers of officers who took early retirement on these terms since 1997 are shown below. As mentioned previously, the costs for 1997 to 2001 are totals covering all early retirements; to provide a further break down would incur disproportionate costs.
| Number | Costs (£(1)) | |
| (1)Estimated costs | ||
The number of temporary/agency staff employed annually by the FCO is as follows:
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |