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Written Ministerial Statements
Thursday 12 July 2012
Business, Innovation and Skills
Advanced Learning Loans
The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes): Today we lay regulations before Parliament which will allow adults over 24 to benefit from loans for fees in further education: 24+ advanced learning loans. The regulations are made under the same powers as the Education (Student Support) Regulations, which underpin the higher education student support system. From the 2013-14 academic year, loans will be available for learners aged 24 and above studying courses at level 3 and above, replacing grant funding for this group as we focus our state investment on those under 24 years of age, those without basic skills, and those seeking work.
The intention to offer loans in further education was confirmed in November 2010, as part of the Government’s strategy “Skills for Sustainable Growth”. A public consultation followed in 2011, leading to the publication of impact assessments. Implementation is well under way, and these regulations are the final step in what has been a full and open process.
This is a progressive system. Learners will pay nothing up front, removing one of the main barriers to participation in training that adults commonly report. Repayment will be linked to income so there is nothing to pay until the learner is earning more than £21,000. Rates of interest will be lower than anything in the high street; and outstanding balances will be written off after 30 years.
Research published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills shows that 74% of people say they might, probably would or definitely would undertake learning following the introduction of loans. When the terms and conditions are explained, they become even more positive. This is why, in our impact assessment, we conclude that with clear and transparent communication to learners, we expect full take-up of the available funding for loans.
However, this is the first time that loans have been available in further education, and we want to ensure that appropriate safeguards for learners are in place. Our commitment to social mobility, and the critical contribution of further education to it—our mission that learning should drive social purpose and serve the common good—remains unabridged, undiluted.
In this spirit, I can therefore confirm that we will put in place an extensive and substantial range of support measures alongside the introduction of loans. The package will comprise:
An offer to individuals taking access to higher education courses that on completion of their higher education programme, the Student Loans Company will write off the amount outstanding on the loan for their access course. Access
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courses are designed to help those with low qualifications but high ambitions progress into higher education:, it is our duty to support those learners.
A £50 million bursary fund over two years, disbursed by colleges and training organisations. This will help vulnerable learners such as those with learning difficulties or disabilities, parents who need help with child-care, and ex-military personnel. The level of the bursary fund will be kept under review so we continue to provide the right level of support for those who need it.
Additional information, advice and guidance for adults who are uncertain about loans, provided by the National Careers Service, including a targeted face-to-face session—a “learning healthcheck”—with a careers adviser for older adults who research published by BIS in May suggest are less likely to respond positively to the idea of taking out a loan.
We have been working with the Association of Colleges, the 157 Group of Colleges, and the National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education to develop this package. They are supportive of this additional offer and we will continue to work with them on the detail.
The Government will ensure that potential adult learners who are eligible have the clear information they need about 24+ advanced learning loans. Alongside this, we will align our other resources, such as capital funding, to ensure we can maintain and grow participation in STEM programmes—through investment in infrastructure to provide the tools for learning, and stop costs rising—working with the Sector Capital Group to determine the best means of doing so. It is vital that we continue to drive sustainable growth as well as social mobility.
The existing policy, inherited from the previous Administration, requires the student to contribute in cash before they start the course; loans will ensure that fees are no longer a barrier to access. We want to build an FE system fit for purpose for the future and loans in FE will help to deliver capacity. In a tighter spending environment, it is right to focus available funds on 19 to 24-year-olds who did not complete their education at school, those without basic skills, and those seeking employment; and it is right to maintain access to learning for people outside these groups.
Colleges and training organisations are preparing now, so that as many adults as possible can benefit from 24+ advanced learning loans when the application system opens on 1 April 2013. I urge you to give the sector your support, as I have given my own, as they manage this important change.
Regional Growth Fund
The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Mark Prisk): The regional growth fund is an important part of the Government’s “Plan for Growth” and supports two of the main ambitions:
To make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business;
To encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy.
The following details will update you on the current round, as well as progress from the previous two rounds.
Round 3 for bidding to the regional growth fund (RGF) closed on 13 June and the team received 414 bids with a value of over £2.7 billion. This shows that the fund is relevant, popular and that businesses are looking for opportunities to grow.
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A breakdown of bids by region, and by type (programme or project) is provided at annex A.
During the summer all bids will be appraised by officials, the independent advisory panel and the ministerial group. After an initial assessment, Ministers will shortlist bids: those going forward to full appraisal will be visited by officials and those who are no longer in the running for funding will be notified immediately. Announcements of the successful bidders will be in the autumn.
A significant improvement to round 3 will be that the contracting process timeline has been defined—the timings have been fixed so that the terms of a conditional offer must be agreed within three months of the announcement, and bidders then have a further three months to complete due diligence.
This means that bidders will sign a final offer within six months of Ministers deciding to support the bid.
If the process takes longer than six months despite our best efforts, we reserve the right to withdraw the offer of funding.
From the previous rounds, 176 successful bids have been conditionally allocated £1.4 billion.
This translates into 237 final offer agreements because some bids comprise of multiple counterparties.
110 (46.6%) have a final agreement in place, to a value of over £718 million. These projects are able to draw down their funding. These projects leverage over £3.7 billion of private sector investment.
50 have agreed terms and conditions including leverage, funding and jobs—these will now proceed through due diligence and represent a further £1 billion of private sector investment.
16 have withdrawn from the RGF process in total, which has released over £40 million to be recycled into the RGF. The additional companies to withdraw include: Vestas Technology UK Ltd, Aggregate Industries Ltd, Sirius Minerals and Shepherd Offshore Ltd. See annex B for full list.
61 companies have received draft offers, but are still considering terms and conditions.
My officials are writing to many of these 61 successful bidders, as progressing their bids is a priority. Projects and programmes where the terms and conditions have yet to be agreed, and where no reasons for the delay have been discussed, will be given a time limit to the conditional offer. This money is intended to be used to stimulate the economy and I am confident that if these bidders are unable to take it up at this time and create jobs, then we will be able to find good uses for it elsewhere.
Some 139 (58.9%) projects have started, which is more than those with final offers. Some projects are able to start in advance of signing a final offer as even a conditional offer of Government support can safeguard jobs and unlock private sector investment. Examples of projects which have started:
Getrag Ford in the north-west will use £3.4 million from the RGF to expand capacity for the production of B6 transmissions at the Halewood plant. The RGF investment will be supported by £28.3 million of private investment and will create and protect 120 jobs.
Cornwall Deep Geothermal Energy Project in the south-west will use £6 million of RGF to drill the deepest onshore borehole in the UK to test the potential to site a geothermal plant near Redruth. If the tests are successful, £45 million of private investment has already been secured to drill a further
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two boreholes and construct a geothermal power plant. The project includes establishing a centre of research excellence in partnership with Exeter university and aims to create over 100 direct jobs and 1,500 indirect jobs.
Birmingham Post Business Growth Fund in the west midlands, managed by Bournville college will make funding of £10,000 to £100,000 available for SMEs and start-ups, as up to 50% match funding for their investment. Each business supported will be provided with a mentor, as well as skills assessment and training. There will be an extensive media-led campaign with various events to raise awareness and engage the community. They will receive £5 million from RGF, supported by £750,000 of private investment and will aim to create 250 jobs.
The NAO has recently reported on the RGF. It found that the average cost per job (£33,000) created by the RGF is in line with other similar funds while also recognising that the projects being supported will, in many cases, create wider benefits on top of the immediate employment boost (such as training spill-overs and economic and social infrastructure). The NAO report and Government response to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing held on 16 May can be seen online:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmpubacc/writev/104/m02.htm.
The next update on RGF progress will be in October 2012.
Annex A - Round 3 bidding data
| Bids | Value (£m) | |
| Bids | Ask | |||
| No. | % | £m | % | |
Annex B—Withdrawn projects from rounds 1 and 2
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Treasury
Fiscal Sustainability Report
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander): Today the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its second fiscal sustainability report (FSR). This document meets their requirement to prepare an analysis of the sustainability of the public finances each financial year, and provides an important insight into the state of the public finances taking into account the significant impact of demographic change. The report was laid before Parliament earlier today and copies are available in the Vote Office.
The FSR shows that, without additional policy change, an ageing population is projected to increase age-related spending by 5.0% of GDP between 2016-17 and 2061-62, as health, social care and pension expenditure become an ever larger proportion of total public spending and the economy. The OBR projections show that public sector net debt is expected to fall to a trough of 57% of GDP in the mid-2020’s, before rising to reach 89% of GDP in 2061-62 in the absence of further policy change.
The Government are committed both to shoring up our fiscal position now and making it sustainable for the long term. The OBR analysis makes it clear that our medium-term consolidation plan is essential to restoring long-term sustainability in the public finances. They show that a deterioration in the primary balance in 2016-17 worth 1% of GDP could increase projected public sector net debt in 2061-62 to around 130% of GDP. This shows the scale of impact if the medium-term consolidation was not achieved.
The OBR discusses the impact of changes to policy on their long-term projections. They show that excluding policy changes announced since the 2011 FSR and the new population projections, public sector net debt would have been projected to reach nearly 200% of GDP by 2061-62. They identify the additional spending reductions announced at autumn statement 2011 as one of the key factors in preventing this increase in projections, as well as highlighting the long-term decisions we have made in bringing forwards the state pension age increase to 67 and public service pension reforms.
The FSR presents the first estimates for the savings delivered by our public service pension reforms. These independent projections show that net spending on public service pensions is projected to fall from 1.5% of GDP without reform to 0.9% with reform in 2061-62. The Government’s reforms will bring total spending on public service pensions in line with the long-run average over the last 40 years. This will save 40% of net expenditure by 2061-62, so freeing up funding for other services. The Treasury estimates that this represents around £430 billion of savings in current GDP terms over the next 50 years. This shows that the deals confirmed last week are good for taxpayers, as well as public sector workers who will
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continue to receive pensions that are among the very best available, providing a guaranteed pension level for all members.
The long-term projections presented in this report also provide important context to ongoing debates about public service reform, such as on social care. The OBR’s projections suggest that spending on social care will increase substantially over the next 50 years as the UK’s population ages and it is clear that the UK will need to take into account the likely pressure on public services from demographic change as we consider reforms in this and other areas.
We will bring forward the necessary legislation to reform public sector pensions in this parliamentary Session and set out proposals this autumn to ensure the state pension age is reviewed to take into account future changes in longevity. These and other decisions reflect the Government’s continuing commitment to make the right decisions for the long term, including for the long-term sustainability of the public finances.
Defence
Charm-3 (Legal Review)
The Minister for the Armed Forces (Nick Harvey): I informed the House on 31 October 2011 that I had commissioned officials to undertake a legal weapons review of our depleted uranium (DU) anti-armour tank rounds, known as Charm-3. Although Charm-3 was introduced before the Government were obliged to undertake such reviews, I ordered this review, as a special case, to address concerns that have been raised in Parliament and by civil society.
The review is now complete and has concluded that Charm-3 is capable of being used lawfully by UK armed forces in an international armed conflict. Charm-3 is the only munition within the UK arsenal manufactured using DU. We judge this capability necessary in any land battle to defeat the armoured vehicles of an adversary state and no alternative tank round (using another metal or substance) has been shown to provide a comparable effect on target. It is self evident that use of Charm-3 will be limited to a war fighting role, specifically in tank battles, and likely therefore to be employed only in exceptional and limited circumstances.
Legal weapon reviews are carried out in accordance with article 36 of the first protocol of 1977 additional to the Geneva conventions of 1949 (Additional Protocol I). Article 36 states:
“In the study, development, acquisition or adoption of a new weapon, means or method of warfare, a high contracting party is under an obligation to determine whether its employment would, in some or all circumstances, be prohibited by this protocol or by any other rule of international law applicable to the high contracting party”.
Such legal reviews are undertaken routinely in respect of weapon systems brought on to the UK inventory following UK ratification of additional protocol I, on 28 January 1998. The acquisition of Charm-3 pre-dates ratification and for that reason only, no review had been undertaken before now.
The legal review process under article 36 of additional protocol I required the use of Charm-3 to be considered in the light of certain key legal principles, namely:
Whether it is prohibited by any specific treaty provision;
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Whether it is of a nature to cause unnecessary suffering or superfluous injury;
Whether it is capable of being used discriminately;
Whether it will cause long-term, widespread and severe damage to the natural environment;
Current and possible future trends in international humanitarian law.
The legal weapon review considered each of these points. The review itself comprises legal advice provided in confidence, but I wish to set out the rationale for reaching the judgment that the rounds are legal:
The use of DU in weapon systems is not prohibited by any treaty provision.
There have been extensive scientifically based studies, undertaken by the World Health Organisation in relation to the long-term environmental and other health effects allegedly attributable to the use of DU munitions. In the light of the reassuring conclusions drawn by such scientific studies, and noting the continuing military imperative underpinning retention of Charm-3 as a weapon system, it was concluded that use of Charm-3 does not offend the principle prohibiting superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering in armed conflict.
Crew training, weapon design and automated targeting systems mean Charm-3 is capable of being used discriminately.
Where DU ordnance residues have existed, in the aftermath of an armed conflict, annual potential radiation doses have been shown by scientific study to be well below the annual doses received by the general population from sources of natural radiation in the environment and far below the reference level recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a criterion to determine whether remedial action is necessary. An environmental footprint inevitably will be left by use of DU munitions but one where a credible and authoritative body of scientific evidence (drawn from both international and national sources) has demonstrated there is no proven link between exposure to DU and, neither, a significant risk to public health, nor, a significant risk of any long-term damage to the environment.
Finally, it was concluded that DU continues to be a material of choice used by states in the manufacture of anti-armour munitions. To date no inter-state consensus has emerged that DU munitions should be banned and the available scientific evidence (developed in the aftermath of the Gulf war in 1991) continues to support the view held by the UK that such munitions can be retained for the limited role envisaged for their employment.
The UK policy remains that DU can be used within weapons; it is not prohibited under current or likely future international agreements. Given the challenging situations in which we expect our service personnel to operate, it would be wrong to deny them legitimate and effective capabilities that can help them achieve their objectives as quickly and as safely as possible.
Marchwood Sea Mounting Centre
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Peter Luff): The 2010 strategic defence and security review identified a number of Ministry of Defence (MOD) assets that would be considered for disposal. I would like to update the House on progress we have made on our commitment to sell the Marchwood sea mounting centre in Hampshire.
Sea mounting activities are vital to meeting the UK’s military requirements and will remain so in future. Our personnel at Marchwood, including 17 Port and Maritime
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Regiment, deliver a key capability to our armed forces overseas and the centre provides a valuable training facility for them at home.
Options for the sale of Marchwood have therefore been assessed with the continued availability of these capabilities in mind, including consideration of alternative UK locations from which sea mounting activities could be undertaken.
Based on this work I can reaffirm the intention to sell Marchwood. However, our analysis has led us to conclude that the preferred option is to continue to meet the sea mounting requirement from the same site. This will ensure that the military outputs can still be met while allowing greater economic and commercial benefit to be realised from the site. In doing so we envisage a much closer relationship between the MOD and industry in delivering these capabilities from a privately owned sea mounting centre.
MOD will now focus on developing the commercial proposal by the end of this year. Any sale will be dependent on the prevailing market conditions at the time, and the transaction will need to demonstrate that the required, assured defence capability can be delivered in a way which represents value for money.
Olympics Security (Military Support)
The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Philip Hammond): In my statements to the House on 15 December 2011 and 3 July this year, I set out the defence contribution to the safety and security of the Olympic and Paralympic games in support of the Home Office and Department for Culture Media and Sport. Elements of that support are now deploying and I am writing to update the House prior to the start of the games.
RAF Typhoon aircraft have deployed to RAF Northolt; RAF Puma helicopters have arrived at Ilford Territorial Army Centre and ground-based air defence systems and air observers are beginning to deploy to their sites today, all to support the air security plan when the airspace restrictions over London come into force on 14 July.
HMS Ocean will arrive on the Thames on 13 July with Royal Marines to provide security on the river and further helicopters to support both the air and Thames security plans.
Other elements of support to police-led security will deploy at different stages between now and the start of the games, including a range of personnel, both regular and reservists, and other assets including HMS Bulwark and RFA Mounts Bay which will provide support in Weymouth bay. Along with an Olympic military contingency force, and enabling units, this support amounts to some 6,000 personnel.
In my earlier statement to the House, on 15 December 2011, I said that we would also deploy, at peak, 7,500 personnel to support the London Organising Committee for the Olympic games’ venue security operation across the period of the games. These personnel have also begun to deploy to venues to support the rolling search and lock-down process between now and the start of the Olympics, alongside the police, the commercial security provider, G4S, and volunteers. As the venue security exercise has got under way, concerns have arisen
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about the ability of G4S to deliver the required number of guards for all the venues within the time scales available. Ministers have been monitoring this situation and, where necessary, preparing contingency measures. G4S has now agreed that it would be prudent to deploy additional military support to provide greater reassurance. The Home Secretary, the Culture Secretary and I have therefore agreed the deployment of a further 3,500 military personnel. This will bring the total number of military personnel, from all three services and including reservists, contributing to the safety and security of the games to 17,000. The chiefs of staff recognise the importance of the Olympic games and support this deployment, confirming that this deployment is feasible and will have no adverse impact on other operations.
Ministers across Government recognise the burden that this additional short-notice deployment will impose upon individual service men and women and their families, especially over the summer holiday season. We will ensure that all those taking part receive their full leave entitlement, even if it has to be rescheduled, that no one is out of pocket due to cancelled personal arrangements and that all deployed personnel are appropriately supported.
I can confirm that there remains no specific threat to the games. Nor is there an increased threat to the games. We are confident that the UK is ready and able to provide a safe and secure Olympic games for the whole world to enjoy.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Circuses (Wild Animals)
The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr James Paice): On 1 March 2012, the Government set out their approach to the use of performing wild animals in travelling circuses in England.
The Government have said they will pursue a ban on ethical grounds on wild animals performing in circuses. Today we are announcing that we are working on draft legislation, which will set out the exact details of that ban.
We have said before that getting primary legislation right on such an emotive issue as this will take time, and we expect to be able to publish draft legislation for pre-legislative scrutiny later this session.
We are laying draft regulations today to introduce a new licensing scheme that will protect the welfare of such animals while they are in use in travelling circuses.
The regulations will be made under the Animal Welfare Act 2006. They will safeguard the welfare of wild animals in travelling circuses and ensure that they receive regular welfare inspections.
In line with the 1 March statement, it is our intent that the regulations are in force from the start of the 2013 touring season.
The public consultation on the licensing proposals closed on 25 April 2012. The analysis of responses and Government response have been published on DEFRA’s website.
During the eight-week period of public consultation, DEFRA officials carried out further engagement with the circus industry, veterinary bodies and other interested parties.
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A period of “road-testing” of the draft welfare standards was undertaken. Road-testing involved multiple visits to circus sites by a DEFRA veterinary team to test the welfare standards alongside the public consultation. Findings have been used to refine the standards.
A total of 236 formal responses to the consultation were received. Responses were generally supportive and the overarching conclusion is that our proposed licensing regime would be robust and workable, subject to careful consideration of the detailed points of feedback received. The analysis of responses and Government response sets out in detail how feedback has been used to improve the package.
The main provisions of the regulations include:
A requirement that any travelling circus in England that includes wild animals first obtains a licence from DEFRA;
That a licence can only be obtained on payment of an administrative fee and circuses will also be liable for the cost of inspections;
A requirement of an initial inspection before a licence can be issued;
Provision for further inspections;
That licences can be suspended or revoked; and
Detailed licensing conditions covering all aspects of welfare in a travelling circus which must be met and adhered to.
In addition to the core welfare standards which are included in the schedule to the regulations, detailed guidance on welfare standards will be revised and updated over the summer period, and take full account of feedback from the consultation.
In line with the 1 March statement, formal inspections would be undertaken by Government-appointed vets before a licence may be issued or renewed. If a licence were issued, compliance checks would be carried out during the period of a licence, including a combination of announced and unannounced visits both to winter quarters and to tour sites.
In conclusion, the new regulations will protect the welfare of wild animals in travelling circuses in the intervening period before a ban can be brought into effect. We expect to publish draft legislation for a ban as soon as parliamentary time allows.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
General Affairs Council
The Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington): I attended the General Affairs Council (GAC) in Luxembourg on 26 June.
The GAC was chaired by the Danish EU presidency, Mr Nicolai Wammen, Minister for European Affairs. A provisional report of the meeting can be found at:
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/EN/genaff/131236.pdf
The first item discussed at the GAC was whether to open accession negotiations with Montenegro. Some member states had argued that this decision should be postponed pending further progress on improving rule of law issues, including the fight against corruption and
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organised crime. I agreed that these were valid concerns but argued that Montenegro had met the criteria set at the December 2011 European Council and that opening negotiations now was the best way to increase the EU’s leverage on the issues where further progress was needed. The GAC was able to agree to the opening of Montenegro’s accession negotiations and the European Council endorsed this decision on 29 June 2012, and negotiations were opened at an intergovernmental conference later that day.
Multiannual Financial Framework
The General Affairs Council had its final discussion, under the Danish presidency, on the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) for the period between 2014 and 2020. The discussion focused on the latest version of the “negotiating box”, of which I have placed a copy in the Library of the House. This discussion gave member states the last opportunity to address specific issues in the text before it went to the June European Council. There, leaders took stock of progress before the negotiations were taken over by the Cypriot presidency, which officially commenced on 1 July 2012.
The negotiating box text contains positive language on the need to focus EU spending on areas that promote growth and explicitly states that
“it is essential that the future MFF reflects the consolidation efforts being made by Member States to bring deficit and debt onto a more sustainable path.”
Less helpful parts of the text are the possible reform to own resources, including the rebate, and the possibility of a financial transaction tax.
The UK Permanent Representative to the EU Sir Jon Cunliffe represented the UK on my behalf for this part of the discussion. He argued that the negotiating box still did not go far enough in reflecting the need for budgetary restraint. This sentiment was echoed by Ministers from the “likeminded group” on the budget. Sir Jon also argued that the UK would not agree to any changes to the UK rebate or any new own resources such as a financial transaction tax.
Other Ministers, led by Polish Secretary of State for the EU, Piotr Serafin, argued that the negotiating box was unacceptable in its current form, in particular because of their objection to the inclusion of the proposed reverse safety net which could serve to cap structural and cohesion fund (SCF) receipts received by the newer member states to a percentage of their previous allocations.
Although there are still elements to the negotiating box text that we are not satisfied with, overall we are content that it leans in the right direction. It has therefore been important to continue to be robust in what action needs to be taken going forwards, but also to consolidate the progress made so far. We have done this at both the GAC and the European Council, where my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister argued that despite the opposition from some member states, the European Council should welcome the progress achieved under the Danish presidency.
The presidency sought a partial general approach on elements of the package of cohesion regulations. These were: on the rules for financial instruments; on the performance framework; and on proposals on revenue generating projects. There was some discussion on the technical elements of this package but the presidency was successful in getting broad agreement on all of
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the four blocks presented at the meeting: thematic concentration, financial instruments, revenue generating projects and performance framework.
The agreement included an amendment tabled by the presidency to add a footnote to the European rural development fund (ERDF) article 4, in the thematic concentration block. This would make it clear that the issue of the percentages for concentration in the transition regions would be reviewed once further decisions were made in the context of the MFF.
We also proposed a declaration on the need for better harmonisation between the rules of the funds of the common strategic framework for 2014 to 2020. In addition to France, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic who formally signed up to the declaration, Austria and the Commission also expressed their support during their interventions.
The General Affairs Council agreed the set of country-specific recommendations that had been endorsed by Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) and Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) the previous week. Malta, Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic all took to the floor to reiterate their particular concerns. The presidency was clear however that a qualified majority existed and so the recommendations were sent to the European Council without an in-depth discussion. The UK, however, maintains its parliamentary scrutiny reserve on this issue.
There was also preparation for the June European Council, which had an extensive agenda covering growth, trade, the MFF, energy, enlargement, justice and home affairs issues and foreign policy. This took place on 28 and 29 June.
Finally, there was a discussion with European Council President Herman van Rompuy which provided the first opportunity to comment on the Economic and Monetary Union report of the “4 Presidents”, released in the early hours of the morning prior to the meeting and available at:
http://ue.eu.int/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/131201.pdf
I underlined that while we were still studying the detail, the focus of our work should be on the more immediate next steps to help resolve the problems in the eurozone. I stressed the delicate challenge of reconciling the eurozone’s need for fiscal integration with protecting the integrity of the single market. In this vein, I made clear that while we support a banking union for the eurozone with a single eurozone banking supervisor, the UK will not be part of such supervision.
Health
Abortion Providers (Inspections)
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley):
Following reports of potential breaches of the Abortion Act 1967, in March 2012 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) undertook a series of unannounced inspections of all abortion providers. The focus of these inspections was whether abortion certificates (Form HSA1) had
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been signed by doctors before a woman had been seen in the clinic. The law requires two doctors to certify that at least one (and the same) ground for abortion exists in relation to a specific woman.
At the end of the inspection process, the CQC set up a national quality assurance panel to review findings, judgments and action. The CQC have today published 249 inspection reports on their website, www.cqc.org.uk. Inspectors seized evidence from around a fifth of providers where issues of consistency and completeness of HSA1 forms were identified. Clear evidence of pre-signing was identified in a total of 14 providers and the CQC have required compliance actions be taken by all of these providers to ensure that their practices meet the standards set in law by a set date.
Investigations by the police, General Medical Council, and Nursing and Midwifery Council continue and further referrals may result from the publication of the CQC reports. We await the outcome of these investigations.
In the meantime, my officials will work with a number of bodies including the CQC and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to address the findings from these inspections.
South London Healthcare NHS Trust
The Secretary of State for Health (Mr Andrew Lansley): I wish to inform the House that I have made an order to appoint a trust special administrator to South London Healthcare NHS Trust. The order will be laid in the House shortly with a report setting out the basis of my decision, in accordance with chapter 5A of the National Health Service Act 2006, as introduced by the Health Act 2009.
My decision is based on the recommendation of the NHS chief executive and the responses to my recent statutory consultation with the trust board, the strategic health authority and local NHS commissioners on the proposal to place the trust in the trust special administrator’s regime. In accordance with the legislation, I have decided it is in the interests of the health service and, in particular, of the patients the trust serves to put South London Healthcare NHS Trust in the trust special administrator’s regime.
I have appointed Matthew Kershaw as the trust special administrator. Mr Kershaw’s role will take effect on Monday 16 July and I will issue him with terms of appointment. From this point, Mr Kershaw will assume full control of South London Healthcare NHS Trust, replacing the functions of the trust board and assuming the role of the accountable officer. He will be responsible for maintaining services for patients as well as developing recommendations to secure a sustainable future for services provided by the trust for me to consider. At this point, and pending the outcome of the regime, the chair and directors are suspended from their board duties in accordance with the legislation. However, some of the executive and non-executive directors will support the trust special administrator in the work he leads during the regime. How this is organised is a decision for the trust special administrator.
My key objective for all NHS providers is to ensure they deliver high-quality services to patients that are clinically and financially sustainable for the long term.
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The purpose of the trust special administrator’s regime is to ensure that services provided by any NHS trust subject to the regime meet that objective.
The regime, included by the last Government in the Health Act 2009, offers a time-limited and transparent framework to provide a rapid resolution to problems within a significantly challenged NHS trust and its health economy. This is to ensure long-term sustainability and the protection of access to quality services for local patients. In addition to maintaining the provision of services during the period of the regime, the duty of a trust special administrator appointed to an NHS trust is to develop and consult locally on a draft report, making recommendations to me in a final report about what should happen to the organisation and the services it provides. The objective is that high-quality, sustainable services are delivered to the local health economy. I must make a final decision based on the recommendations made in the trust special administrator’s final report, publishing that decision and the reasons for it in Parliament.
The trust special administrator’s regime is not a day-to-day performance management tool for the NHS or a back-door approach to reconfiguration. The purpose is to deliver a rapid and robust process when the widest range of other solutions to improve and maintain sustainability have been tried, implemented and not delivered the results required. It is for this reason that Parliament agreed to set challenging milestones for any appointed trust special administrator and for the Secretary of State to make a final decision about an organisation within a usual maximum period of 120 working days from the date the order is made.
I am using my powers to extend by order the overall time frame by 30 working days. For South London Healthcare NHS Trust, it means I will make a final decision on the fixture of the organisation within 145 working days from 16 July 2012 and, therefore, by 4 February 2013 at the latest. The issues affecting South London Healthcare NHS Trust are particularly complex; they are long standing and are built on a history of trust mergers, changes in commissioning arrangements and affect a range of providers within the trust’s area. This is also the first time the regime has been used. Therefore, the trust special administrator in this case is starting, effectively, with a blank canvas and will be unable to draw on learning and processes developed by previous trust special administrators.
Furthermore, the future of services at Orpington are about to be consulted upon, following a public health driven and commissioner-led needs assessment. Extending the time period in which a draft report would be produced by the trust special administrator by 30 working days would allow him to take into account responses to that consultation, so far as they are relevant, as he develops his own recommendations in the draft report, assuming that consultation goes ahead. It is crucial that the first use of the regime is robust and has the greatest possible chance of success. I believe that the particular complexities and issues that affect South London Healthcare NHS Trust, coupled with this being the first ever use of the regime, and the opportunity to take into account responses to the planned consultation on Orpington, mean that this is an exceptional case which warrants an extension to the time frame in the interests of the health economy and, most importantly, the patients of south-east London.
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Despite recent improvements in quality of services and access times, there is a long-standing history of underperformance, particularly around financial management and some key access targets, within the area now served by South London Healthcare NHS Trust. There has been a consistent inability by the trust to deliver high-quality services whilst balancing income with expenditure over the last seven years. A number of solutions have been implemented to attempt to resolve the worsening problems and ensure the NHS in this area can provide consistent quality services to patients and the public within the designated budget. These systemic, long-standing challenges mean that South London Healthcare NHS Trust has historically underperformed against key quality, performance and finance requirements outlined in the national NHS performance management framework. The trust has also failed to make progress towards a viable foundation trust application. In 2011-12, it incurred the largest financial deficit of any of the 248 NHS provider organisations in England, at over £65 million. The deficit equates to an average weekly overspend of £1.3 million of taxpayers’ money on top of an average allocated weekly income of £8.4 million.
For South London Healthcare NHS Trust, the regime will be used because of the particular nature and scale of the financial and performance challenges, the complex interrelationship, the failure to make the scale of change required in the trust and with its partners and the absence of any viable, alternative strategy to ensure long-term clinical and financial sustainability.
The trust special administrator, working with clinicians, staff, commissioners, patients and the public, and other stakeholders, must now prepare recommendations for a sustainable solution for South London Healthcare NHS Trust as part of the south-east London health economy. The scale of the challenge means that Mr Kershaw will be expected to engage with, and consider the implications of any recommendations he makes with regard to the South London Healthcare NHS Trust on, other providers. Whilst it is not possible to speculate on the effect any decision may have pending the outcome of the regime, providers in the south London health economy could be affected and will be engaged throughout the process.
The trust special administrator will also constitute a clinical advisory panel, comprising prominent clinical leaders, to support and advise him in developing his recommendations. This will provide further reassurance that the TSA’s proposals are based on strong clinical evidence and are in the interests of local patients.
In accordance with my statutory duty, I have published guidance for trust special administrators appointed to NHS trusts, to which they must have regard in undertaking their legal duties. This can be found at: www.dh.gov.uk/health/2012/07/statutory-guidance-tsa/
A copy has been placed in the Library.
Home Department
British Citizenship (War Crimes Screening)
The Minister for Immigration (Damian Green):
The Equality (War Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2011 and the corresponding Race Relations (Northern Ireland) (War
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Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2011 enable the Secretary of State to subject certain applications to more rigorous scrutiny than she subjects like applications from persons of other nationalities to, for the purposes of determining whether the applicant has committed, or been complicit in the commission of, or otherwise been associated with the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
The condition for subjecting these applications to more rigorous scrutiny is that the applicant is a national of a state specified on a list approved personally by the Minister for the purpose of the arrangements. I have now reviewed and approved this list in accordance with our commitment to do so annually. I am satisfied that the conditions set out in the arrangements are met in respect of the countries on the list.
The arrangements will continue to be reviewed on an annual basis and will remain in force until revoked.
A copy of the arrangements is available on the Home Office website via the following link:
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/IDIs/idischapter1/section11/annexee8?view=Binary
Criminal Records Bureau
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone): The 2011-12 annual report and accounts for the Criminal Records Bureau is being laid before the House today and published on the Home Office website. Copies will be available in the Vote Office.
Independent Safeguarding Authority
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Lynne Featherstone): I am pleased to announce that the annual report 2011-12 and accounts of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) will be laid before Parliament and published today.
Copies will be available in the Vote Office.
Firearms (England and Wales 2010-11)
The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert): The latest figures from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 show that:
The number of police operations in which firearms were authorised was 17,209—a decrease of 1,347 (7%) on the previous year.
The number of authorised firearms officers (AFO’s) was 6,653—a decrease of 326 (5%) officers overall on the previous year.
The number of operations involving armed response vehicles was 13,346—a decrease of 743 (6%) on the previous year.
The Police discharged a conventional firearm in three incidents (down from six incidents in 2009-10).
Full details are set out in the tables below:
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| Table 1 – Number of Operations in which Firearms were Authorised. | |||||||||
| Year | |||||||||
| 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | |
| Table 2 – Number of Authorised Firearms Officers (AFOs) | |||||||||
| Year | |||||||||
| 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | |
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| Table 3 – Number of Operations Involving Armed Response Vehicles (ARVs) | |||||||||
| Year | |||||||||
| 2002/3 | 2003/4 | 2004/5 | 2005/6 | 2006/7 | 2007/8 | 2008/9 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | |
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