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Lord De Mauley: Once again, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lester, and the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner of Margravine, for their support. I thank the Minister for her response. She said that stakeholders will be reported to and that reports would be published and so on. That is not quite the same as laying them before Parliament and I look forward to continuing our discussion on Report. Therefore, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendment No. 70:
"(ba) by way of representations made in relation to, or otherwise in the course of, an assessment under section 33,
(bb) by way of representations made in relation to, or otherwise in connection with, a notice under section 34,"
The noble Baroness said: In moving the amendment, I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 71 and 72. Clause 6 creates a bar on disclosure of information provided to the commission in the course of certain enforcement functions, including inquiries and investigations. Much of this information is sensitive and needs protecting. The amendments apply the provisions of this clause to two new categories of information: information provided to the commission in the course of assessing whether a public body is conforming with its public sector duty and information related to a notice requiring compliance with a public duty.
The change corrects an anomaly in the Bill, as currently drafted, whereby information acquired in the course of assessments or the compliance notice procedure is treated differently from that acquired as part of an inquiry or an investigation. The impact is that information so acquired must not be disclosed, except as specified in the clause.
The amendments also make further consequential small changes: adding reports of public sector duty assessments to the categories of disclosure permitted and the list of authorised disclosures would also include those made in the exercise of the assessment function—namely, disclosures made in the processes associated with a compliance notice, as a result of an assessment. I beg to move.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill: Clause 6 is important, because it balances the effective needs of the commission
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to obtain information for its work and personal privacy. It also includes disclosure requirements in limited exceptions. This is a tidying-up operation and, therefore, is entirely sensible.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendments Nos. 71 and 72:
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Baroness Ashton of Upholland moved Amendment No. 74:
"(3A) Subsection (3) does not authorise the disclosure of information provided by an intelligence service unless the service has authorised the disclosure.
(3B) In subsection (3A) "intelligence service" means—
(a) the Security Service,
(b) the Secret Intelligence Service, and
(c) the Government Communications Headquarters."
The noble Baroness said: In moving the amendment, I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 147, 148 and 153.
This group of amendments is intended to provide safeguards to ensure that information which is prejucial to national security cannot be disclosed during an inquiry or investigation. It seems fundamentally right that the Bill should not lead to a situation where the commission would require an intelligence service to disclose sensitive information relating to matters of national security.
The amendments provide, however, that arrangements are in place for the commission to challenge an intelligence service where the commission thinks that that information is being withheld unreasonably. The amendments are eminently sensible and straightforward and I hope that they will be agreed to. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 6, as amended, agreed to.
House adjourned at twenty-four minutes past nine o'clock.
Written Statements
Wednesday 6 July 2005
6 Jul 2005 : Column WS21
Ministry of Defence: Future Capabilities
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (John Reid) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Future Capabilities Command Paper published in July 2004 sets out the Ministry of Defence's proposals for modernising the force structure and capabilities of the Armed Forces to ensure that they are able to meet the security challenges of the 21st century. I am today publishing the Government's formal response to a report by the previous Defence Select Committee on the Future Capabilities proposals, issued in March 2005. Copies of the response will be placed in the Library of the House.
The Ministry of Defence welcomes the report and the committee's support for our programme of modernisation. The Ministry of Defence's response provides detailed answers to all of the report's specific conclusions and recommendations. Our emphasis as we implement the future capabilities proposals across the department continues to be on enhancing the flexibility, resilience and capabilities of the Armed Forces in order that they are well prepared to face up to the most likely operational demands of the future.
Northern Ireland: Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross Foundation
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Lord Rooker): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Peter Hain) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
I have today placed before this House a copy of the third annual report of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Foundation which was sent to me under Article 8(2) of the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC Foundation Regulations 2002.
Copies of the report have been placed in the Library of the House.
Polio
The Lord President of the Council (Baroness Amos): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today announcing that the UK will provide £60 million to eradicate polio by the end of 2005/early 2006, and to boost the effort to ensure the world stays
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polio free thereafter. The UK will immediately and unilaterally plug the remaining funding gap of £20 million ($36 million) so that polio can be eradicated. The UK will also give another £40 million in 2006–08 towards the cost of vaccinating over 500 million children to ensure polio can never break out again.
The money will go towards providing vaccines and immunisation, paying health workers to carry out the immunisation programme, investing in laboratories to ensure the right vaccine is available for the different strains of the virus and putting in place systems to identify new cases and provide help as soon as possible.
The international community's fight against polio has been one of the real success stories in the global campaign to combat poverty. In 1982, polio was eradicated in the UK, but was still a major cause of death and paralysis amongst children in developing countries. In 1988, the World Health Assembly announced the global polio eradication initiative (PEI)—a worldwide programme of action to fight the disease. Seventeen years ago, there were 350,000 cases reported. Last year there were 1,255 cases—a fall of over 99 per cent. The funding I have announced today will, together with other contributions already made, fulfil a longstanding G8 pledge to fully fund the final effort to eradicate the disease.
But it is important that the international community does not stop at eradication. Ensuring polio never breaks out again will cost over £400 million between 2006 and 2008. That is why today I have also announced that we will contribute £40 million to this post-eradication effort. I am calling on others to do the same.
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