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Diplomatic Missions and International Organisations (Congestion Charge)
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague): The number of outstanding fines incurred by the diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom for non-payment of the London congestion charge since its introduction in February 2003 until 29 January 2010 was £36,057,690. The table shows the 57 diplomatic missions and international organisations with outstanding fines totalling £100,000 or more.
| Country | Number ofFines | Total Outstanding (£) |
Health
Direct Payments for Health Care
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr Paul Burstow): The Government have today authorised the piloting of direct payments for health care, under powers in the Health Act 2009.
This Government want to put patients at the heart of everything the national health service does. Direct payments, and personal health budgets more generally, have great potential to put patients in control, enable integration across health and social care, and improve outcomes.
We have long supported the idea of personal health budgets, and we continue to support the pilot programme.
The Department has initially authorised piloting of direct payments in eight primary care trusts (PCTs) within the personal health budget pilot programme.
More will be authorised as soon as individual PCTs are ready and have in place suitable systems and safeguards. Approved pilot sites will be able to offer direct payments to people across a range of conditions and services, including continuing health care, a number of long-term conditions, mental health, learning disabilities, and end-of-life care.
The personal health budget pilot programme involves around seventy PCTs across England. An independent evaluation will provide evidence on how personal budgets work and how to overcome the technical and cultural challenges involved. The evaluation is due to report in autumn 2012.
The table shows the PCTs initially authorised to offer direct payments.
Home Department
Non-EU Economic Migration Limits
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May):
This afternoon I will make an oral statement to the House on the Government's plans to
introduce annual limits on economic migrants from outside of the EU from April 2011; and interim measures being taken to prevent a surge in applications during the interim period.
Justice
Judicial Appointments
The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr Kenneth Clarke): I am today announcing my intention to review the operation of the judicial appointments process and the structure of those bodies supporting the Lord Chief Justice and me on judicial matters.
The appointment element of the review will look at the end to end appointments process addressing in particular:
The proper balance between executive, judicial and independent responsibilities.
Ensuring clarity, transparency and openness.
Quality and speed of service to applicants and the courts and tribunals the process serves.
Governance, efficiency and value for money.
The appointments process must fully respect and maintain the independence of the judiciary, and appointment on merit must remain absolutely at the heart of the process. These principles will underpin the review.
In the light of the needs of the judicial appointments process, the Courts and Tribunals Integration Programme and the Government's wider review of arm's length bodies, the review will also consider whether the current structure of judicial arm's length bodies
best meets the needs of the constitutional settlement, properly protecting judicial independence;
provides clear accountability; and
provides the most effective means of delivering a high quality service and value for money.
The review has been agreed with and will be conducted in close consultation with the Lord Chief Justice. I expect the review to report in the autumn.
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