Previous Section Back to Table of Contents Lords Hansard Home Page



5 Mar 2009 : Column WS59

Written Statements

Thursday 5 March 2009

Bank of England: Monetary Policy Committee

Statement

The Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Myners): My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

In my Statement to the House of Commons on bank lending of 19 January, I announced the setting-up of the asset purchase facility. I noted that this facility could be used by the Monetary Policy Committee as an additional way for meeting the inflation target, and that I would inform Parliament if the facility were to be used for monetary policy purposes.

Following the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee on 4 and 5 February 2009, the Governor of the Bank of England wrote to me on 17 February, requesting that the Monetary Policy Committee be authorised to use the facility to purchase eligible assets financed by central bank money. The Governor's letter set out that the Monetary Policy Committee had concluded that it might be necessary to use asset purchases at future meetings in order to meet the 2 per cent target for CPI inflation.

I replied to the Governor on 3 March, authorising the Monetary Policy Committee to use the asset purchase facility for monetary policy purposes. I also extended the range of assets eligible for purchase by the Bank of England Asset Purchase Facility Fund to include UK Government debt purchased on the secondary market as well as the full range of private sector assets previously specified in my letter to the Governor of 29 January 2009. And I also authorised an increase in the scale of purchases under the facility to up to £150 billion, but that, in line with current arrangements and in recognition of the importance of supporting the flow of corporate credit, up to £50 billion of that should be used to purchase private sector assets. These are maximum limits within which the Monetary Policy Committee will determine the scale of its purchases each month; the proportion of Government and private sector assets purchased will be kept under review.

These changes do not affect the objectives of the Government's monetary policy framework. The remit of the Monetary Policy Committee continues to be to maintain price stability and, subject to that, to support the Government's economic policy, including its objectives for growth and employment. The symmetrical inflation target is 2 per cent on the CPI measure, as specified in my letter to the Governor of the Bank of England of 11 March 2008.

The Government's debt management objective remains to minimise, over the long term, the costs of meeting the Government's financing needs, taking into account risk, whilst ensuring that debt management policy is consistent with the aims of monetary policy.

A copy of my letter to the Governor has been deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.



5 Mar 2009 : Column WS60

Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform: DEL

Statement

The Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Davies of Abersoch): My right honourable friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Pat McFadden MP) has made the following Statement.

Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's DEL will be reduced by £1,905,574,000 from £3,367,913,000 to £1,462,339,000 and the administration budget will be reduced by £55,714,000 from £332,531,000 to £276,817,000.

Within the DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is as set out in the following table:

ChangeNew DEL
VotedNon-VotedVotedNon-VotedTotal

Resource (£000)

936,100

-1,646,469

438,114

1,008,411

1,446,525

of which:

Administration* budget

-55,714

276,817

276,817

Near cash in Resource DEL*

885,423

-1,694,221

239,793

998,926

1,238,719

Capital (£000)

6,562

-1,201,767

-757,437

773,251

15,814

Less Depreciation* (£000)

2,444

3,872

-46,336

-20,812

-67,148

Total (£000)

945,106

-2,844,364

-365,659

1,760,850

1,395,191

The change in the resource element of the DEL arises from:

RfR1

a Machinery of Government transfer to the Department of Energy and Climate Change of a net negative £992,321,000 voted near cash and £1,711,504,000 of non-voted near cash in respect of clean, safe and competitively priced energy and energy liabilities;a Machinery of Government transfer to the Department of Energy and Climate Change of a net negative £2,980,000 voted non cash and £47,752,000 of non-voted non-cash in respect of clean, safe and competitively priced energy and energy liabilities;a Machinery of Government transfer to the Department of Energy and Climate Change of £308,000 in respect of legal costs;transfer of £40,000 from voted provision to non-voted departmental unallocated provision relating to the transfer to the Cabinet Office for the security monitoring and co-ordination centre made in the Winter Supplementary;

5 Mar 2009 : Column WS61

new awards announced in the Pre-Budget Report of £850,000 and £2,500,000 in respect of the national debtline and citizens' advice;a transfer of £250,000 from the Department for Work and Pensions in respect of compensation for mesothelioma sufferers provided through British Shipbuilders' Liabilities;a Machinery of Government transfer of £29 million to the Department of Energy and Climate Change in respect of their contribution to the regional development agencies' “single pot”;virement of £18,439,000 from voted to non-voted expenditure in respect of the regional development agencies reflecting reinstated contributions from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;virement of £1,196,000 from non-voted resource to non-voted capital expenditure in respect of the regional development agencies;a non-cash reserve claim of £21 million for provisions for the enterprise finance guarantee scheme;A non-cash reserve claim of £25 million for provisions for the automotive assistance programme;virement of £7 million Insolvency Service underspend to the non-voted capital departmental unallocated provision to reduce the negative balance shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate; andadditional non-cash of £1,700,000 resulting from reclassification under FRS26.Also within the change to resource DEL, the changes to the administration budget are (RfR1):a Machinery of Government transfer to the Department of Energy and Climate Change of £52,471,000 near cash and £3,000 of non-cash in respect of clean, safe and competitively priced energy and energy liabilities; transfer of £l,240,000 to the Department for Communities and Local Government in respect of Government Office's restructuring costs; andvirement of £2 million administration underspend to the non-voted capital departmental unallocated provision to reduce the negative balance shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate;The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from: RfR1virement of £1,196,000 from non-voted resource to non-voted capital expenditure in respect of the regional development agencies;virement of £7 million Insolvency Service underspend to the non-voted capital departmental unallocated provision to reduce the negative balance shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate;virement of £2 million administration underspend to the non-voted capital departmental unallocated provision to reduce the negative balance shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate;a Machinery of Government transfer to the Department of Energy and Climate Change of a net negative £14,582,000 voted and £1,248,183,000 non-voted in respect of clean, safe and competitively priced energy and energy liabilities;

5 Mar 2009 : Column WS62

a transfer of £200,000 from the UK trade and investment estimate, utilised to reduce the negative capital departmental unallocated provision shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate;a Machinery of Government transfer of £7 million to the Department of Energy and Climate Change in respect of their contribution to the regional development agencies' “single pot”;receipt of £35 million as part repayment of a capital loan made to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills in 2007-08, utilised to reduce the negative capital departmental unallocated provision shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate;virement of £20,000 from core departmental capital, utilised to reduce the negative capital departmental unallocated provision shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate; andvirement of £1 million from the Insolvency Service, utilised to reduce the negative capital departmental unallocated provision shown in the Winter Supplementary Estimate.

We regret that in error this Written Ministerial Statement was not laid in the House on 12 February when the supplementary estimates were laid before Parliament (HC221).

EU: Education Council

Statement

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Lord Young of Norwood Green): Today my right honourable friend the Under-Secretary of State for Further Education Siôn Simon, made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I represented the UK at the Education Council, on behalf of DIUS and DCSF.

Ministers adopted key messages to send to the spring European Council to be held on 20 March. These emphasise the importance of maintaining investment in training, the knowledge triangle of research, education and innovation, the establishment of partnerships between education institutes and employers, and the upgrading and development of skills in developing a knowledge-based low-carbon economy. We welcome these messages. I highlighted domestic best practice in tackling the economic crisis, including support for small businesses and increased apprenticeship places.

Over lunch and in the meeting itself, Ministers held an exchange of views on the establishment of an updated strategic framework for European co-operation in education and training post-2010. This will build on the work programme in education already in place. Ministers were enthusiastic about working together to share best practice and welcomed the four strategic objectives for the new period identified by the Commission. These focus on:

making lifelong learning and learner mobility a reality;improving the quality of education provision and outcomes;

5 Mar 2009 : Column WS63

promoting equity and active citizenship; andenhancing innovation and creativity, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training.

However, there were reservations about the proposal to develop 10 education benchmarks to measure progress against the strategic objectives. These would build on existing benchmarks for the period up to 2010 that measure low achievers in reading, early school leavers, completion of secondary education, numbers of maths, science and technology graduates, and participation in lifelong learning.

Most member states were content with the extension of existing benchmarks but were reluctant to establish many new ones. There was some support for a benchmark on pre-school learning and some opposition to input based benchmarks on language learning and higher education investment. It was also generally felt that further work was needed to develop helpful and measurable benchmarks on mobility, employability, and innovation and creativity. Netherlands was the most negative member state on benchmarking in general. I and some other member state Ministers feel we can accept a few of the new topics proposed if there is further refinement of the measurement of the benchmarks. Further work will be required before agreement can be reached on this issue, expected at the next Education Council in May.

Under Any Other Business, the Commission noted that they had published the Communication “New Skills for New Jobs” in December 2008.

EU: Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council

Statement

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Jonathan Shaw) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council will be held on 9 March 2009 in Brussels. I will represent the UK, except for the agenda item on the pregnant workers directive where the UK will be represented by my honourable friend the Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs. There are no health or consumer affairs issues.

The first and main item of the agenda is the preparation for the spring European Council which will be held on the 19 and 20 March 2009. A key messages paper will be adopted following a public debate on the economic crisis and the European economic recovery plan. The key messages paper identifies the main messages emerging from the various other reports for adoption at the March council. The presidency will also give information on preparation for the tripartite social summit. The tripartite social summit meets a minimum of once a year, including before each spring European Council. It is attended by the current presidency, the two future presidencies (Sweden and Spain), the Commission and the social partners.



5 Mar 2009 : Column WS64

The next item will be the presidency’s progress report on the negotiations to amend the European globalisation adjustment fund (EGF). Member states can apply to the EGF for matched funding of measures to help back into work any people made unemployed through large scale redundancies. The Government believe that the EGF plays an important role and the UK is involved in negotiations to ensure that recently proposed revisions mean that it plays that role as effectively and efficiently as possible.

The council will also seek adoption of council conclusions based on the recent Commission communication “New Skills for New Jobs”. The conclusions commit member states and the Commission to develop policies and services to address skills needs and labour markets mismatches. There will also be adoption of council conclusions on professional and geographical mobility and the free movement of workers. The conclusions rightly stress the importance of joined-up approaches to support professional and geographic mobility, in response to the economic downturn. The Government welcome both sets of conclusions.

There will be a policy debate on the draft proposal to amend an existing directive which sets out the minimum protections for pregnant workers, and new or breastfeeding mothers. The UK system of maternity leave and pay is in many ways more generous than the proposed minimum. The Government support the aims of the proposal but need to ensure that any proposed changes would be compatible with our own existing provisions.

Under any other business, the Commission will present its recent communication contributing to the spring European Council. In addition, the chairs of the Employment Committee and the Social Protection Committee will give an oral presentation to provide information on their 2009 work programmes. There will also be information on all conferences held under Czech presidency to date.

EU: Justice and Home Affairs Council

Statement

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council was held in Brussels on 26 and 27 February 2009. My right honourable friend, the Home Secretary (Jacqui Smith), the Scottish Solicitor General (Frank Mulholland QC), and I attended on behalf of the United Kingdom. The following issues were discussed at the council:

During the mixed committee with Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, Ministers discussed progress in implementing the second generation of the Schengen information system (SISII) in light of the analysis which had identified problems in the central system. Both the Commission and the presidency recognised the importance of the SISII programme and the presidency reiterated that the repair phase would consist of two aspects, to be developed in parallel: an analysis and repair plan to resolve known bugs in the current SISII programme and a contingency plan. The presidency also stressed the need for agreement on a set of common

5 Mar 2009 : Column WS65

criteria against which both of these aspects could be assessed in the first half of 2009. The council subsequently adopted council conclusions confirming the action required in relation to the central SISII project and a set of criteria against which the SISII-based scenario and an alternative scenario, based on a SISI platform, would be assessed. They confirmed that a decision regarding the future of the project would be taken by June 2009 at the latest.

During the Interior Ministers’ meeting the Commission outlined the plans for implementation of the visa information system (VIS), notifying member states that the final phase had been pushed back to December 2009. The UK does not participate in the VIS.

The council was presented with the draft report on the outcome of the Swiss air borders evaluation which will be considered by experts in March. Switzerland thanked the Commission and presidency for the help they had given in the months before the evaluation and indicated that it was happy with the conclusions of the draft report, taking note of its recommendations and undertaking to report regularly on progress. The presidency concluded by looking forward to 29 March when the Swiss were expected to join the Schengen area in full.

The Commission presented its proposal for a European asylum support office (EASO) to the council. The Commission explained that the EASO’s aims would be to enhance practical co-operation; help member states under particular pressures; and ensure a common European asylum regime. It would not make case decisions and would be part-financed through changes to the European Refugee Fund. The Commission hoped that the proposal would receive political agreement by the summer and be implemented in 2010. The proposal was broadly welcomed by a number of member states. The UK thanked the Commission for its proposal, noting that it went to the heart of what European co-operation was about: making a difference on the ground. It emphasised its support for practical co-operation on asylum in order to provide protection for those who needed it. The UK stated that systems should be streamlined, to deliver fair decisions quickly and tackle abuse. The UK also argued for more work with countries outside the EU in order to stop asylum being the weak point in immigration systems and to stop refugees having to travel to the EU to find safety.


Next Section Back to Table of Contents Lords Hansard Home Page