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African Union Mission in Sudan
The Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn): The British Government will provide a further £15 million to support the African Union Mission in Sudan—AMIS—this financial year.
The AMIS force of 7,000 carries out vital operations in Darfur, and in very difficult circumstances. It relies upon the support of the international community to fund its operations, and the UK has been a leading contributor since its deployment.
A high-level consultation on Darfur was held in Addis Ababa on 16 November 2006. It concluded that the UN needs to provide increased support to AMIS, to enhance its effectiveness and ability to protect the civilians of Darfur and implement the Darfur peace agreement signed on 5 May. This UN support will come in three phases, culminating in a joint AU/UN peacekeeping force of 17,000 with 3,000 police. This will require sustainable funding, and the UN Secretary-General will request that this come from the UN. In the meantime, the AU Peace and Security Council met on 30 November: it endorsed the Addis conclusions and extended the mandate of AMIS for a further six months from 1 January. But this extension is conditional upon sufficient funding from the International Community.
The African Union estimates the cost of extending AMIS's mandate to continue its current operations and to implement expansions under the DPA as
US$343 million (£175 million). Finding these funds will require a concerted international effort, and the UK is fully committed to playing its part. As an important donor to AMIS and in recognition of the urgent need to sustain its work, the UK will give a further £15 million to support the force for its extended mandate.
This contribution puts the total British assistance to AMIS for this financial year to £35 million. The previously committed £20 million has been funding ground fuel contracts, airlift for Nigerian and Rwandan battalions and military observers. It also includes a cash contribution of £13.5 million to cover personnel and catering costs for the period October to December. These are vital running costs for AMIS to continue its operations.
As well as taking a lead in committing UK funds, we are also encouraging other donors to make new pledges to sustain the mission.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Parliamentary Boundary Commission
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr. Peter Hain): The Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, as amended by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992, requires that the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland undertake periodical reviews of constituencies in Northern Ireland. The Boundary Commission announced their Revised Recommendations on 18 May 2006 and are due to submit their Final Report by June 2007.
I am pleased to announce that Joan Ruddock CBE has been re-appointed as a member of the Northern Ireland Parliamentary Boundary Commission. Her Warrant of Appointment will run until 31 December 2008.
Trade and Industry
Official Receiver Investigations
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Jim Fitzpatrick): The Enterprise Act 2002 introduced a new financial regime for the Insolvency Service as from 1 April 2004. One feature of this new regime has been the use of general taxation to cover the cost of the Service's enforcement functions e.g. work on director disqualification, bankruptcy restrictions orders and the reporting of criminal offences. Funds have been provided by way of the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) programme vote.
In the light of the continued need for Government to concentrate their resources on high priority areas such
as health, education, science and the environment, the DTI, like other Departments have been seeking ways in which to more efficiently allocate scant resources. Part of this process has been to identify areas where different funding arrangements might be introduced.
Therefore, as from 1 April 2007 the cost of the investigation work done by official receivers and their staffs on disqualifications, bankruptcy restrictions orders and on reporting possible criminal offences will not be met by way of programme expenditure but will be recovered through fees charged to estates. As a consequence the administration fee charged to company and bankruptcy estates will rise broadly in line with inflation. This will enable expenditure on enforcement work to proceed at planned levels in 2007-08 and enforcement outputs, particularly disqualification and bankruptcy restrictions orders to increase significantly.
National Minimum Wage and Penalties
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Mr. Alistair Darling): In his pre-budget report, the Chancellor announced that the Government will increase the resource devoted to National Minimum Wage enforcement. We must ensure that good employers are not put at a competitive disadvantage by those who underpay their workers. I am today publishing our policy to fine employers who ignore an official demand to pay the National Minimum Wage. We will do this through the consistent issue of penalty notices.
This policy will encourage employers to comply with an enforcement notice, and in doing so persuade employers to pay arrears to workers and deter employers from failing to pay National Minimum Wage in the future. At current rates, a typical penalty for failing to comply with an enforcement notice in respect of underpaying one worker will be over £200.
We have an escalating enforcement process which ranges from educating employers to criminal prosecutions. Penalty notices sit within this regime. They impose a fine on employers who have ignored an enforcement notice and not paid in full the arrears outlined. They may be issued even if it is the first time an employer has underpaid workers.
We have carefully considered the 2005 Low Pay Commission recommendation that the Government should introduce interest charges payable on arrears arising from minimum wage underpayment. We are rejecting this recommendation as we believe penalty notices offer a greater financial incentive to comply, stronger deterrence and greater scope to remove the benefits of non-compliance.
Our policy to issue penalty notices is from today on the DTI website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/pay/national-minimum-wage/index.html.
Employers should remember that if they are persistently or wilfully non compliant with National Minimum Wage legislation, they will be considered for criminal prosecution.
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