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On Question, amendment agreed to.
Baroness Andrews moved Amendments Nos. 64 to 69:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Baroness Andrews moved Amendment No. 70:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Schedule 3, as amended, agreed to.
Baroness Andrews moved Amendment No. 71:
Page 19, line 7, at end insert—
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Schedule 4, as amended, agreed to.
Bill reported with amendments.
The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): My right honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Gareth Thomas) has made the following Statement.
Ensuring the legitimacy of the Afghan Government within the timescale set down by the Bonn agreement is an important part of the Government's strategy for Afghanistan.
Elections are due to take place later this year and the Government have already provided £1 million from the Department for International Development (DfID) and £2 million from the joint DfID/FCO/MoD Global Conflict Prevention Pool towards the UN's programme of voter registration in Afghanistan. So far just over 1.2 million of an estimated 10.5 million electorate have been registered.
DfID will now be providing an additional £6 million to the UN to support the registration process. Combined with a US pledge of 12 million dollars, this takes the total funding from 48 million dollars to 71 million dollars out of a total budget of around 98 million dollars. This will allow registration to continue while we work with other donors to fill the remainder of the shortfall, and help to ensure the success of Afghanistan's first free and fair elections.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey): My right honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Following a request from the S4C Authority, I have commissioned an independent review of S4C, to be carried out by Roger Laughton, head of Bournemouth University Media School. Mr Laughton will be assisted by Meurig Royles as Welsh language assessor to the review.
The terms of reference for the review are: 1) to assess, in light of the Communication Act's reaffirmation of S4C's status and remit, (a) the efficiency with which S4C utilises the resources made available to deliver its statutory responsibilities, (b) the extent to which other sources of funding, including
The review will include: (a) consultation with a wide range of interests, including organisations representative of those sectors where the role of S4C is of particular significance; and (b) consideration, to the extent that the reviewer judges appropriate, of the outcome of and evidence generated by S4C's recent internal review process.
In addition to the consultation outlined above, there will be an opportunity for members of the public to make representations to the review team, via a website set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Government remain committed to the provision by S4C of a high quality, diverse Welsh language television service forming a key part of the public service broadcasting landscape. I was therefore pleased to agree to the S4C Authority's request for a review which could address some of the important challenges S4C faces as it approaches analogue switch-off. The authority has already completed its own internal review and Mr Laughton will be able to take its conclusions into account.
Ofcom's statutory review of the fulfilment of the public service broadcasting remit will also provide an opportunity to consider S4C's contribution to that wider remit. The relationship between S4C and the BBC will in addition be considered in detail as part of BBC Charter review.
I have asked Mr Laughton to report back to me at the beginning of May.
Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend the Chief Secretary to the Treasury has made the following Ministerial Statement.
Cash Ratio Deposits are non-interest bearing assets deposited with the Bank of England by banks and building societies. They are used by the bank to finance its unremunerated activities, in particular its sterling liquidity operations and its efforts to secure price stability and the stability of the financial system in general, from which these institutions are key beneficiaries. The Cash Ratio Deposit Scheme was placed on a statutory basis when the Bank of England Act became law in 1998. In February 2003, the Paymaster General announced by Written Statement a review of the operation of the statutory scheme in its first five years.
In a Written Statement of 18 September 2003 in the House of Commons (Official Report, col. 63WS), the Government set out the review's conclusions, one of which was that the minimum threshold for making deposits should be raised from £400 million to £500 million, freeing 18 institutions from the scheme and benefiting all remaining contributing institutions by reducing the level of their deposits by £150,000 each. This proposal would require a change to secondary legislation under the Bank of England Act
The Government's response to this consultation exercise was published yesterday. Given the general support among respondents for the proposal set out above, the Government are today laying before Parliament a draft statutory instrument designed to increase the threshold for making deposits under the CRD scheme from £400 million to £500 million, scheduled to come into force on 1 June 2004.
"9A (1) The Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (S.I. 1978/1039 (N.I. 9) is amended as follows.
(2) In Article 18(2) (consultation before approving code of practice), in sub-paragraph (a) for "the National Radiological Protection Board" there is substituted "the Health Protection Agency".
(3) In Article 46(3) (consultation before submission of proposals for regulations), in sub-paragraph (a) for "the National Radiological Protection Board" there is substituted "the Health Protection Agency"."
Page 17, line 2, at beginning insert—
"( ) The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 is amended as follows."
Page 17, line 2, leave out from "4" to end of line.
Page 17, line 5, at end insert—
"( ) In section 21(2) (bodies in respect of which schemes may be made for meeting certain losses and liabilities) before "but a scheme under this section" there is inserted the following paragraph—
"(d) the Health Protection Agency,"."
Page 17, line 14, leave out "(da)" and insert "(db)"
Page 17, line 16, leave out "(db)" and insert "(dc)"
Page 17, line 23, leave out sub-paragraph (4).
Page 18, line 19, at end insert—
"( ) In subsection (4)(d)—
(a) after sub-paragraph (ii) omit "or";
(b) after sub-paragraph (iii) there is inserted "or
(iv) the Health Protection Agency.""
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (c. 37) Section 77"
The Committee adjourned at two minutes before eight o'clock.
Written Statements
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