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to prepare and deliver to the Secretary of State a report of its findings.
It is important that this is swift so as not to unduly distract the new management and staff at the hospital from improving services for patients today. The inquiry is therefore planned to report to me by the end of 2009. Should the chair of the inquiry consider that it is necessary to have the power to require witnesses to attend, as Secretary of State I have the power to convert the inquiry into an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005.
There are also national lessons to learn from the investigation at Mid Staffordshire. Dr. David Colin-Thomé's report contained some important recommendations on this.
Many of these are already being addressed, for example through the implementation of Lord Darzi's vision High Quality Care for All and our World Class Commissioning programme. In addition, the new National Quality Board will report to me by the end of the year with recommendations on how best to ensure any early signs that something is going wrong in the NHS are picked up immediately, that the right organisations are alerted, and action is taken quickly.
The Mid Staffordshire case has also illustrated that the current regulatory framework for foundation trusts (FTs) needs updating. The FT model is a key plank of reform in the NHS, successfully rewarding high performance with greater freedom and autonomy. The policy is based on the premise that FT status is a privilege to be earned and valued-an incentive to drive up quality, innovation, productivity and local accountability. However, it is clear that in some exceptional circumstances, where an FT has failed to live up to this standard and public confidence has been damaged, it may be right for the privileges of FT status to be withdrawn.
This is why I intend to consult on legislative proposals to enable Monitor to "de-authorise" a foundation trust, subject to agreement by the Secretary of State, where it is clear an organisation has forfeited its right to the freedoms and flexibilities afforded by FT status. It is also important that where there is public concern, the Secretary of State is able to express his views and request that Monitor considers intervention in a particular way. I will also consult on legislative proposals so that, in these circumstances, if Monitor disagrees with the approach suggested by Ministers, they should be obliged to justify this position publicly. The Government will issue a consultation on both these issues in the next few days.
By focusing on the powers and actions of Monitor to intervene, I believe we achieve the appropriate balance between ensuring fundamental failure is addressed and maintaining the significant benefits of the FT model, which gives FTs greater freedom in return for high quality.
All of us who care passionately about the health service were appalled by the events at Mid Staffordshire, which are in stark contrast to the dedication and professionalism shown by NHS staff every day up and down the country. The measures I have announced today, building on those already taken, demonstrate the collective commitment in all parts of the system, to ensure there will be no repeat.
Home Department
Olympics (Safety and Security)
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Alan Johnson): I would like to inform the House that on the 20 July 2009 Ministers agreed that material on our planning for the safety and security of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games should be made available to the public. In doing so we have to ensure that the public are kept fully informed of progress and of practical impacts, but also that sensitive material is not inappropriately placed in the public domain. In my statement to the House on 26 February I announced that the Government had agreed a strategy and developing concept of operations (CONOPS) for Olympic security planning, and promised that appropriate material would be put before Parliament and the public as soon as practical.
This follows a period of hard work by all stakeholders, including the police and emergency services, to ensure that a comprehensive and effective programme can be delivered on time and within appropriate boundaries for additional spending.
The Home Office, in consultation with the main stakeholders in Olympic security planning, is publishing two documents today:
An unclassified version of our safety and security strategy. This sets out our planning work in detail and in the context of our wider counter-terrorism strategy; and
A shorter leaflet setting out the main points of our security planning of wider interest to the public.
Copies of these publications are being placed in the Vote Office and the Libraries of both Houses.
Newspapers (Surveillance Methods/Update)
The Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism (Mr. David Hanson): In my written statement on 14 July 2009 I gave an undertaking that the House would be updated on any substantive development.
On 16 July 2009, the Director of Public Prosecutions made a statement following the conclusion of the review he announced on 9 July 2009. He had concluded that in the light of the findings, set out in the statement, it would not be appropriate to re-open the cases against Goodman and Mulcaire, or to re-visit the decisions taken in the course of investigating and prosecuting them. A copy of the full statement by the Director of Public Prosecutions will be made available in the Library of the House.
The Metropolitan Police Service has also written in response to detailed questions about the police investigation to both the Home Affairs and Culture, Media and Sport Select Committees.
In my statement on 14 July, I also reported that the Independent Police Complaints Commission had received a complaint from the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Chris Huhne) about police action in this case and was considering whether there were any issues raised that might fall within its remit. That complaint has been passed to the Metropolitan Police Service for their consideration with the hon. Member's consent.
The MPS will now make a decision as to whether the complaint is recordable under the Police Reform Act 2002 and whether they should refer any matter to the IPCC. The MPS will update the hon. Member for Eastleigh directly.
Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report: 10 Years On
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Alan Johnson): On 24 February the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, supported by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), held a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the publication of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report. The conference, with an opening speech by Doreen Lawrence, OBE, reviewed the progress that has been made over the last 10 years, shared good practice, and helped to set out a focus for future work.
On or around this anniversary three reports were published: "Stephen Lawrence Review" an independent commentary by Dr. Richard Stone; "Police and racism: what has been achieved 10 years after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report" by the EHRC and "The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry 10 Years On" an analysis of the literature by the Runnymede Trust.
I am today publishing a report of the 10 anniversary conference and a Government response to Dr. Stone's, the EHRC and Runnymede Trust reports.
The conference and the reports acknowledge that the police service and other criminal justice agencies have made progress since the publication of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report, in 1999. There have been many positive changes in relation to race equality and the fact that the overwhelming majority of the recommendations of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report have been addressed is a measure of this. However, we must, as the conference proceedings and the reports also demonstrate, not become complacent. Much has been achieved, but there is still considerably more to do. That is why we have published an action plan with the conference report, setting out areas for particular focus, building on existing work, as we move forward from the anniversary. This work includes: increasing the recruitment, retention and progression of minority ethnic police officers and police staff; reducing unjustified disproportionality in the use of stop and search powers; and continuing to improve the reporting and recording of racist incidents.
Copies of the conference report and the Government response to Dr. Stone's, the EHRC and the Runnymede Trust reports will be placed in the Library of the House later today.
Kingsnorth Report
The Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism (Mr. David Hanson):
There has been considerable parliamentary and public interest in the policing of the Kingsnorth Climate Camp which took place between 3 and 9 August 2008. The Government have given repeated assurances that the lessons from the policing
of Kingsnorth Climate Camp would be identified and shared across the police service and more widely with Parliament.
The National Policing Improvement Agency and the Association of Chief Police Officers have overseen a review that has been commissioned by the Chief Constable of Kent into the policing of the "Climate Camp for Change" at Kingsnorth. Given my previous commitments on Kingsnorth, I am accordingly notifying the House that the report will be published on the Kent Police website on Wednesday 22 July, and that I will place a copy of the report in the House Library on that date.
The Government are committed to working with the police and public to ensure the report's recommendations are acted upon in order to facilitate peaceful protest whilst upholding and protecting the rights of wider communities and other individuals. The findings from the report will be picked up by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in its wider review of policing and protest which is due to report in the autumn.
Alcohol Disorder Zones
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Alan Campbell): This statement follows the undertaking by the Government on 13 May 2008 to report back to Parliament one year after the commencement of the Alcohol Disorder Zone (ADZ) legislation.
ADZs came into force on 5 June 2008 and are designed to help local authorities and the police tackle high levels of alcohol related nuisance, crime and disorder that cannot be directly attributable to individual licensed premises. Guidance published by the Home Office both at the time of commencement and in December 2008 emphasised the point that ADZs should be used only in tightly defined areas and as a last resort, when all other tools and measures have failed to solve the problem.
Our discussions with local authorities have confirmed that no local authority has as yet implemented an ADZ. The principal reason highlighted as to why this is was that local authorities and enforcement agencies already have a wide range of powers and tools to tackle many of the problems that they encounter and no local authority felt that it had as yet reached the point of "last resort".
However, the Government remain concerned about the effect that a number of licensed premises acting irresponsibly together may have on an area. For that reason, in addition to this legislation we have introduced new provisions in the Policing and Crime Bill, currently before Parliament, that will allow a licensing authority to take action against two or more premises if they are contributing to alcohol related crime or disorder.
Animal Procedures
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Alan Campbell): I wish to respond to the publication entitled: "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals-Great Britain-2008", which was laid before Parliament today.
This annual statistical report meets the requirement in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 to inform Parliament about the licensed use of animals for experimental or other scientific purposes. It also forms the basis for meeting periodic reporting requirements at EU level. A hard copy is available and supplementary information with additional tables is also available on the Home Office website.
The statistical report shows an overall increase over the previous year of 14 per cent. in the number of procedures undertaken. The total number of procedures was just under 3.7 million, an increase of 454,000 over the previous year. There has now been an increase for the seventh year running and is the highest total since 1992. A number of factors, such as investment in research and development and strategic funding priorities, determine the overall level of scientific procedures.
Non-toxicological procedures accounted for about 87 per cent. of the procedures carried out. These included fundamental research in human and veterinary medicine to improve understanding of disease mechanisms and possible therapeutic options, and development of vaccines.
Most toxicological studies (79 per cent.) were for the safety and efficacy testing of new drugs and medicines and the majority of all toxicological procedures (71 per cent.) were performed in order to carry out legal or statutory requirements.
In line with previous years, those procedures that used mice or rats (or other rodents) were the great majority at 77 per cent. Those using fish amounted to 17 per cent. and those using birds, 3 per cent. The total of all procedures using dogs, cats, horses and non-human primates, that is those species offered special protection by the Act, was less than 1 per cent. of the total.
Genetically normal animals were used in about 1.9 million regulated procedures, (up 160,000 (9 per cent.) on 2007 figures, largely as a result of the use offish and mice in fundamental biological research and applied studies. Genetically modified animals and those with a harmful genetic mutation (nearly all were rodents, fish or amphibians) were used in 1.76 million regulated procedures representing, 48 per cent. of all procedures for 2008 (compared with 46 per cent in 2007 and 16 per cent. in 1995).
Advances in the opportunities to use genetically altered animals for new areas of biomedical research means that the trend of increased production and use of genetically altered animals has continued. It allows a more precise and often less invasive study of physiological studies and disease mechanisms that was previously possible. Most of the animals concerned are mice, which appear and live as normal. Many are only used in breeding programmes. In fact nearly two fifths of all procedures in 2008 were accounted for by breeding procedures (38 per cent.) for the production of harmful mutant and genetically modified animals. Mice (89 per cent.) and fish (9 per cent.) were used in most of these procedures.
I should point out in relation to the statistics, that the Home Office, as regulatory authority under the 1986 Act, does have an effect on the overall amount of animal research and testing that takes place. This is done by ensuring, as part of our licensing function, that the provisions of the Act are rigorously applied in each programme of work and that only work that is scientifically justified, minimises the numbers of animals used and animal suffering that may be caused, is authorised.
The statistical report and supplementary information can be found at:
http://scienceandresearch.homeoffice.gov.uk/animal-research/publications-and-reference/statistics/
Animal Procedures (Annual Report 2008)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Alan Campbell): I am pleased to inform the House that I have today placed in the Library the annual report of the Home Office Animals Scientific Procedures Division and Inspectorate for the year 2008.
Publication of the report honours a commitment given by the Government in response to a recommendation of the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures in July 2002 that more information should be made available about the implementation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
Earlier annual reports have focused on the work of the Animals Scientific Procedures Inspectorate. The report for 2008 has been expanded to include the work of the Animals Scientific Procedures Division licensing and policy teams.
As in previous years, the report explains what Home Office Inspectors do and how they do it and the inspectorate's role in assessing and advising on applications for personal and project licences and certificates of designation under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
The report also explains the work we have been doing to deliver our better regulation programme and new IT systems to improve our regulation of animal experimentation and provides background to the publication by the European Commission of a proposal for a new European Directive to replace Directive 86/609/EEC on which the 1986 Act is based.
I commend the report to the House.
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