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Deliver financial performance in line with business plan.
The Minister for International Defence and Security (Baroness Taylor of Bolton): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Quentin Davies) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Government have accepted the findings of the Review Board for Government Contracts as detailed in their report of the 2010 General Review of the Profit Formula for Non-Competitive Government Contracts. The board's recommendations will be implemented in accordance with arrangements subsequently agreed with the industry side and recorded in an addendum to the published report. I will be placing a copy of the report in the Library of the House. The recommendations will be implemented for new non-competitive work with effect from the 1 April 2010.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Thornton): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health (Andy Burnham) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Today the Government are laying before Parliament the White Paper, Building the National Care Service (Cm 7854).
We have listened to the views of the public and stakeholders through the 2008 engagement process and the 2009 Big Care Debate. The Big Care Debate received over 28,000 direct responses, with more than 40,000 people contributing to the debate through further research or events organised by stakeholders. The consultation showed that there was strong support for our vision of a National Care Service and whilst there was no clear consensus on funding, the comprehensive option was the most preferred. Today we have published an independent summary of the consultation alongside the White Paper and placed a copy in the Library.
We also held a care and support conference last month with the Care and Support Alliance and other key stakeholders. They urged us to push forward with reform and favoured the comprehensive option.
We believe the time has come to build a comprehensive National Care Service. This will be for all adults in England with an eligible care need, providing free care when they need it-whoever they are, wherever they live in England, and whatever condition leads them to need care. It will give everyone the peace of mind that they and their families will be cared for should the
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The Government's vision is for a National Care Service that gives people choice and control, and is focused on keeping people well and independent. It will ensure that different parts of the system work better together, with a new duty for NHS bodies and local authorities to deliver integrated care.
Millions of people care for a family member or friend. This is the hallmark of a civilised society. But we must do more to give support to those who provide such care. Building on the carers' strategy, the National Care Service will support those caring for others by improving the quality of formal care, and working with employers and Job Centre Plus, to help carers to live the life they want to live.
We recognise that building the new National Care Service will be one of the biggest changes to the welfare state since the creation of the NHS. We are also creating it during a period of fiscal consolidation. Reform to social care must be consistent with our plans for fiscal consolidation and reflect the tough decisions that will need to be made in the next spending review. This means we need to build the new service in stages.
The first stage is to create a step change in the provision of services in the home and in our communities. These services are essential if we are to ensure that more people are supported in their homes. Central to this is the Personal Care at Home Bill, to be implemented in 2011, enabling us to provide free personal care for people in their own home for those with the highest needs. The first stage of reform will also see reablement services available in every community, ensuring that there is a service by which people are supported to regain their independence and confidence when they need home care for the first time. As part of the first stage we will push forward with existing reforms that are already delivering real benefits for people such as the dementia strategy, the carers' strategy and Putting People First.
The second stage of reform, during the next Parliament, will be to put in place the building blocks of a national system of care and support, in particular the establishment of clear, national standards and entitlements. We will introduce a National Care Service Bill early in the next Parliament as a major step forward. From 2014, care entitlements will be extended meaning that anyone staying in residential care for more than two years will receive free care after the second year. The first and second stages together will mean that the most vulnerable in our society, those with the highest needs, will be protected from very high care costs and that many more people will be supported in their own homes.
During the next Parliament, we will take further steps towards the full reform of the system-moving towards the third stage in which the comprehensive National Care Service becomes a reality, with care free when people need it.
To do this will require everyone to contribute through a fair care contribution. So at the start of the next Parliament, we will establish a commission to help to reach consensus on the right way of funding the
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Building the National Care Service (Cm 7854) is in the Library and copies are available to honourable Members from the Vote Office.
The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Mole) has made the following Ministerial Statement.
The Highways Agency's business plan target for the programme of national schemes in the development phase, contained in the Highways Agency business plan 2009-10 has been revised so as to remove the following target at Annex B:
Major Projects-Development: For the programme of national schemes in the development phase, progress these projects by an average of at least 37 percentage points through this phase.
This has been replaced with the following target:
Major Projects-Development: For the programme of national schemes in the development phase, progress these projects by an average of at least 35.7 percentage points through this phase.
Lord Brett: The Minister of State for International Development has made the following Statement.
On 9 March, I hosted a high-level meeting in the Houses of Parliament in London to review progress towards Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in East and Southern Africa, where there are high or rising HIV prevalence rates and AIDS remains a major health and economic burden.
Around 50 HIV leaders attended, including representatives from Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Ministers of Health and Gender, religious leaders, activists, people living with HIV, the heads of the Global Fund, PEPFAR, UNAIDS were present, as well as representatives of other donors and the pharmaceutical industry. We were delighted that a representative of the Canadian High Commission in London was able to attend and contribute.
In 2005, through our presidencies of the G8 and the European Union, the UK led the world in a commitment to the historic goal of universal access. The UK is the
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At the meeting, participants spoke about the key factors that have led to progress at country level, the major challenges ahead and what needs to be done to accelerate progress towards the Universal Access goals.
The meeting celebrated successes but highlighted the need to provide HIV treatment for the estimated 10 million people still waiting for it, and "turn off the tap" of new HIV infections through evidence and rights-based interventions. Transforming harmful gender norms and stopping violence against women is central to achieving universal access. The group recognised the need for health systems that effectively deliver both maternal, newborn and child health services and services for women, men and children who are vulnerable to and living with HIV. We need to integrate efforts to achieve MDGs 4, 5 and 6. To achieve this we need financing for scale-up, through the Global Fund and other mechanisms. But equally we need leadership-political and at all levels of society.
The meeting resulted in a Declaration of Shared Principles that calls for:
G8 countries to recognise the devastating impact that unmet financial commitments have on global health, and to deliver their financial pledges to the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and Malaria; G20 countries and emerging economies to do more to fight global poverty by adopting the global poverty targets agreed by the G8 at Gleneagles in 2005, including financial contribution to the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria; Southern and Eastern African countries: to put human rights and the need to reach marginalised groups and those most at risk at the heart of country-led efforts to tackle HIV and AIDS; and Pharmaceutical industry: to help avert a treatment crisis by signing up to the UNITAID patent pool to make effective drugs affordable for developing countries.I will place a copy of the shared principles in the Library. I am grateful to the All- Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS for their support to this event.
The Attorney-General (Baroness Scotland of Asthal): My right honourable friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today pleased to announce the appointment of Louise Casey as Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses.
The Victims' Commissioner's key objectives, as defined in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, are to:
promote the interests of victims and witnesses;encourage good practice in the treatment of victims and witnesses; andkeep under review the operation of the code of practice for victims.Additionally, the Victims' Commissioner will chair the Victims' Advisory Panel.
The Victims' Commissioner is an independent role appointed through an open recruitment exercise. Although this was not formally an Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) process, the appointment was made in accordance with OCPA principles. The commissioner will make an annual report to the three criminal justice Ministers and will be accountable to Parliament as chair of the Victims' Advisory Panel-victims of crime who advise Ministers on how we can do things better.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Bach): My right honourable friend the Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Michael Wills) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The following list sets out the key performance indicators and targets that have been set for Her Majesty's Land Registry for 2010-11.
Speed:Percentage of all registrations processed within 15 working days: 80 per cent.Accuracy:Percentage of registrations processed free of any error: 98.5 per cent.Quality:Percentage of manually processed registrations on which key aspects1 of internal quality measures were achieved: 97 per cent.Overall Satisfaction:Percentage of customers who rate the overall service provided by Land Registry as excellent, very good or good: Better than 95 per cent. Percentage return on average capital employed: 3.5 per cent. Cost per unit in cash terms2(real terms3): £33.65(£21.70). Percentage of transactions4 delivered through e-channels: 65 per cent; through voluntary registration, add a further 250,000 hectares of land to the total areas of registered freehold land in England and Wales;earn a contribution from add value products and services of 8 per cent of its income net of direct costs and apportioned product development costs;increase gross incremental revenue from all add value products and services by a further £2.6 million above 2009-10 actual;deliver the key accelerated transformation programme milestones as detailed in the accelerated transformation programme plan;The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): I have tasked the National Measurement Office to provide a measurement infrastructure which supports innovation, facilitates fair competition, promotes international trade and protects consumers, health and the environment.
I have set the National Measurement Office the following targets for 2010-11:
To increase efficiency by reducing by at least 3 per cent activities which are not directly linked to delivery or staff training;To supply a customer-focused certification service by completing 93 per cent of applications in accordance with agreed customer requirements;To provide a prompt calibration service that completes at least 95 per cent of jobs (including preparation of certificates) within 15 working days of acceptance of the work and also an average completion time of less than 10 working days;To provide a legal metrology programme that completes 95 per cent of the scheduled milestones by their due dates;To preserve the investment of public monies by ensuring that the ratio of spend on science programmes to legal programmes is at least as much as when the NMS unit transferred to NMO on 1 April 2009;To provide a timely metering service by ensuring all meter examiner appointments, manufacturer authorisations/consents and modifications to meter approval and decisions, completes 92 per cent of jobs within five business days of receipt of all necessary documentation;To manage the finances effectively by ensuring that the portfolio of metrology programmes is provided within 1 per cent of the allocated budget;To manage the Teddington estate finances within 1% of the allocated budget; andChief executive to reply within 10 working days to all letters from MPs delegated to him to reply.The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Ian Austin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today publishing a paper Park Homes Site Licensing Reforms: The Way Forward and Next Steps which sets out the Government's proposals for the reform of licensing of park home sites in light of the responses received to the May 2009 consultation paper Park Home Site licensing-Improving the Management of Park Home Sites. Copies will be placed in the library of the House.
The Government want a thriving and well run sector that provides sites where people want to live. We want a licensing system that raises and maintains standards on sites and protects residents by ensuring sites are safe, well planned and properly managed with appropriate facilities and services.
The paper announces that the Government are committed to introducing a number of key reforms to the current site licensing regime, including a requirement that persons engaged in the management of park home sites are "fit and proper" and only such persons may hold licences. The new system will give local authorities duties to impose management conditions in licences and provides a range of enforcement tools to ensure that site licensing conditions are complied with. Measures will be required to be put in place for alternative management arrangements where sites are not able to be licensed. The new scheme will also allow licensing authorities to recover their costs in connection with their duties under the provisions by charging appropriate fees. A new regime for appealing licensing decisions to the residential property tribunal will be introduced.
The Government intend to establish a task force, including representatives of local authorities, the industry and residents, to advise and recommend how some of the key elements of licensing may be most effectively implemented with minimum burdens.
The Government's proposals are intended to drive up standards in this sector (where that proves necessary) and, where that is not possible, to remove the ability of those unscrupulous and incompetent site owners from continuing to manage park home sites.
Lord McKenzie of Luton: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (John Denham) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
I am today announcing the implementation of the duty for local authorities to respond to petitions, giving real power to local people to raise the issues they care about with their council and ensuring they receive a meaningful response.
The petitions duty is provided for by chapter 2 of Part 1 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. The core elements of the duty, ensuring that local authorities must set out in a petition scheme how they will respond to petitions from people who live, work or study in their area, will come into force on 15 June this year. The requirements relating to electronic petitions will come into force on 15 December, reflecting the additional time needed for local authorities to procure, install and test software and to train staff.
To support effective delivery by local authorities, I am today publishing statutory guidance and a model petitions scheme, alongside the Government's response to consultation on draft versions of those documents. A total of 123 responses were received, and a number of changes have been made to the guidance and model scheme to reflect the helpful points that were raised.
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