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viii. To make recommendations in each of these areas to improve the UKs preparedness for flooding events in the future.
The lessons learned exercise will be wide ranging and will hear from those involved at the local, regional and national level. It will ensure a structured approach to public engagement so that the voices of local communities are heard, including affected individuals and locally elected representatives (councillors and local MPs). At the same time I recognise that a considerable amount of work is taking place dealing with the recovery from last months eventsthe review will therefore take place in a staged approach. It will identify areas for attention as quickly as possible with fuller responses over a slightly longer timescale. We aim to summarise initial findings of the review by the end of the year and explore more fully how we propose to address them in a subsequent published report.
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Hilary Benn):
The unprecedented wet weather has caused significant disruption for a number of farmers. In recent days, including during my visit to the Great Yorkshire show, I have received representations
from industry representatives and individual farmers about two specific measures we might take to help alleviate their difficulties. Both have now been implemented.
Given the urgency of the issue, I gave instructions yesterday that the cross compliance requirement (Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 3) prohibiting the use of mechanical field operations and mechanised vehicles on waterlogged soil should be suspended until 31 July 2007. This will enable farmers to use mechanical equipment and vehicles on waterlogged soil and access their crops. Farmers should use their soil protection review as a means to identify and mitigate any soil-related issues arising as a result of the suspension.
Livestock farmers have also been experiencing problems in accessing sufficient forage for their animals. I have, therefore, authorised the rural payments agency (RPA) to allow farmers in England to graze set-aside land with their own animals or harvest hay or silage for their own use. Farmers wishing to make use of this derogation should telephone, e-mail or write to the RPA customer service centre providing the reference numbers for the fields which they wish to graze or harvest. Exceptionally, in these circumstances, farmers may consider that the derogation has been granted unless RPA subsequently makes contact to indicate otherwise.
Further details of these measures are accessible on the RPA website at:
http://www.rpa.gov.uk/rpa/index.nsf/0/839744302B8BBA1080257315005078F1
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Ann Keen): Following the end of the first round of recruitment for specialty training on 22 June, I should like to give to the House the data that shows the number of posts that have been filled in England.
The information is in the tables. These figures show that 85 per cent. of all junior doctor training posts in England have been filled by the end of round one. Of a total of 15,600 training posts available in England, 13,168 have been offered to and accepted by junior doctors.
A second round of recruitment has commenced and will run until 31 October. Deaneries have informed the Department that there are 2,320 posts available to applicants within Round Two.
As part of the package announced in the House on 24 May there will also be around 1,000 training posts made available at the end of this years recruitment process to appointable junior doctors who did not secure a post in Rounds One or Two.
England Summary of Round 1 Acceptances, excluding Defence Medical Services, acceptances data correct as of Round One close on 26 June | ||
All | ||
Round 1 fill-rate by specialty (Royal College groupings) | ||
Royal College | Fill rate (percentage of posts filled at close of Round One | |
Round fill-rate by Unit of Application (Deanery) | |
Unit of Application | Fill-rate (percentage of posts filled at close of Round One) |
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Meg Hillier):
I am today announcing the arrangements we have put in hand to establish the
post of forensic science regulator whose role will be to advise Government and the Criminal Justice System on quality standards in the provision of forensic science. This will involve identifying the requirement for new or improved quality standards; leading on the development of new standards where necessary; providing advice and guidance so that providers will be able to demonstrate compliance with common standards, for example, in procurement and in courts; ensuring that satisfactory arrangements exist to provide assurance and monitoring of the standards and reporting on quality standards generally.
The regulator will be supported and advised by a Forensic Science Advisory Council whose members will be drawn from key stakeholders, expert bodies and others with a particular interest in the provision of forensic science to the Criminal Justice System. These arrangements draw on the recommendations of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee in its report Forensic Science on Trial which was published on 16 March 2005 and on the responses to a consultation exercise carried out by the Home Office last year.
A team has been established in the Home Office under the management of a senior civil servant to set up the Office of the Regulator and the Forensic Science Advisory Council. The regulator will be appointed by the Home Secretary following recruitment through the public appointments process. Pending this recruitment, the responsible official will serve as the interim regulator.
The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Mr. David Hanson): In his statement on Tuesday 19 June, Official Report, House of Lords, column 96 that the Government were to provide an additional 1,500 prison places, the then Lord Chancellor agreed to make available the information about where the first 500 of those new places would be located. That information is given in the following table.
Officials from the Ministry of Justice have made initial contact with the relevant local planning authorities, and will discuss the plans fully with those authorities over the next few months. Separate letters have been sent to the MPs for the constituencies concerned.
An announcement about decisions on the remaining 1,000 places will be made after Lord Carter has completed his review of the prison building programme, that was also referred to in the announcement on 19 June.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Bridget Prentice): The Court Funds Office (CFO), an associated office of the Ministry of Justice, provides a banking and investment service for funds held in court. The work is governed by the Administration Act 1982, the civil procedure rules and the court funds rules. CFO manages some £4.5 billion in a mixture of cash and equity holdings. Investment on behalf of children is generally made into the equity index tracker fund, which is managed on behalf of the Ministry of Justice by Legal & General, who are one of the largest managers of index tracker funds in the UK.
A recent review of childrens damages awards that are held in court and administered by the CFO identified a requirement to correct a number of childrens accounts, to ensure that the award is appropriately invested as originally directed by the court. Where the award is more than £5,000 and the child is under 13 years of age, part of the award would usually be placed in an index tracker fund. In a number of cases this investment in equities did not take place.
Prompt action is now being taken to identify all affected cases and where the consequence has been a lower rate of return, to pay the balance necessary to ensure beneficiaries are not disadvantaged. The administrative failures, which led to this situation, have been addressed to ensure cases are invested in accordance with the courts directions without delay.
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