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Public Services Reform
Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Government have today published their response to the Public Administration Select Committee's report on Choice, Voice and the Public Services.
The Government welcome the Public Administration Select Committee's report and see the committee's comments and recommendations as a valuable contribution to the debate on how public services can be further improved.
Copies of the Government's response have been placed in the Library.
Review Board for Government Contracts
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Drayson): My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Government have accepted the findings of the Review Board for Government Contracts as detailed in its report of the 2005 annual review of the profit formula for non-competitive government contracts. I will place a copy of the report in the Libraries of both Houses.
Tax and Benefit Reference Manual 2005–06
Lord McKenzie of Luton: My right honourable friend the Paymaster General has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
Copies of the 2005–06 edition of the Tax Benefit Reference Manual (TBRM) are today being deposited in the House of Commons Library.
HM Treasury publishes the TBRM annually. It is a technical manual detailing the tax and benefit system, describing both the current and historic regimes. There are also tables of time series covering tax and benefit rates, numbers of taxpayers and benefit claimants, VAT and duty rates and the tax burden on specimen households.
UK Security Advisory Team
Lord Triesman: The official launch of the United Kingdom Security Advisory Team (UKSAT) took place in Antigua on 9 June 2005, with addresses from the honourable Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and John White, British high commissioner for the eastern Caribbean. Sir James Carlisle, Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda, and other senior representatives from the region were also present.
The UKSAT project supports delivery of FCO's strategic priority two—protection of the UK from illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other international crime—and strategic priority eight—security and good governance of the UK's overseas
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territories. The FCO is providing £1.5 million of funding for the project in 2005–06. The eastern Caribbean is a key transit point for cocaine from Latin America destined for the UK; through UKSAT, we are seeking further to develop our law enforcement co-operation and effectiveness in the region.
UKSAT will work in partnership with the regional security system (RSS) and the UK Caribbean overseas territories (COTs) to enhance law enforcement capacity in the RSS countries and the COTs. This will be achieved through training, advice and mentoring to strengthen actions against drug trafficking and other organised criminal groups operating in the Caribbean.
The team will evolve over the next three years to consist of 14 personnel based in RSS countries: eight UK staff will include officers from H M Revenue and Customs and the Royal Navy and six recruited regionally. UKSAT will work closely with the RSS security screening programme to tackle corrupt practices and integrity issues in regional law enforcement organisations. In addition, UKSAT programmes will be delivered elsewhere in the region, notably Jamaica and Trinidad.
As part of UKSAT, the Maritime Training Unit in Antigua will, in conjunction with the RSS training unit, continue to provide training and advice in support of maritime law enforcement activities in the region.
This practical training commitment reflects the close co-operation which exists at all levels between Her Majesty's Government and governments of the Caribbean nations and a shared commitment to tackle the problems of security and organised crime in the region, which affects both the Caribbean nations themselves and the UK. It is also of particular benefit to the COTs in helping them to meet their maritime law enforcement needs and in providing them with a sound basis to generate sustainable and effective operational capabilities.
Youth Matters: Green Paper
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis): My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Ruth Kelly) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The Green Paper Youth Matters has today been laid before Parliament.
Youth Matters addresses key issues relating to the way in which we provide opportunities, challenge and support to our teenagers. The proposals in Youth Matters build on the ambition of Every Child Matters that all young people should achieve five key outcomes—being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution, and achieving economic well-being.
We should not lose sight of the fact that most young people are doing well, achieving more at school and going on to further study. We need to support these young people with more and better information, advice and guidance, which takes into account how jobs are changing and our proposed 1–19 curriculum
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reforms, and which is delivered in a way that suits young people including through the use of modern technologies.
We also want to provide a wider choice of positive activities for young people to do when they are not in school, college or work and we want to encourage more young people to get involved in volunteering. It is a fundamental part of our proposals that young people and their parents should have a greater influence over the things that are provided for them locally. Proposals include supporting local authorities to develop a card for young people which will give them discounts on activities and could be credited with amounts that young people can spend on their choice of sports and other constructive activities. We also propose a new Youth Opportunity Fund to be spent at young people's discretion on projects to improve things to do and places to go in their area.
We want to improve the way in which we support young people with specific needs and problems, including providing them with a nominated lead professional who will be a single point of contact and making sure that support is provided in a co-ordinated, convenient and integrated way.
But we should also recognise that some young people have problems and some get involved in anti-social behaviour and crime. This can have a negative impact on their life chances and affects the view the wider community has of all young people. Those who fail to behave well should be supported in improving their behaviour but should not benefit from the proposed discount card until they do so.
A copy of the Green Paper will be available in the Libraries of both Houses and will be accessible on the Department for Education and Skills website.
Zimbabwe
Lord Triesman: The most recent events in Zimbabwe are of grave concern. Zimbabweans are deprived of their democratic and human rights, facing the consequences of chronic economic misrule and grappling with severe food shortages. Over the past three weeks the Mugabe regime has launched a brutal crackdown on some of the most vulnerable Zimbabweans, including inhabitants of urban shanty settlements and informal traders.
Over 30,000 have been arrested, with over 40,000 households—approximately 200,000 people—affected with their homes and businesses callously destroyed. People suffering from AIDS are among the worst affected. Many chronically ill people have been driven from their homes. HIV prevention and home-based care programmes have been severely disrupted. We are also very concerned about the welfare of children. Infants have been forced to sleep outside in the middle of winter. There are also reports of children being detained in
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prison and separated from their parents. The crackdown continues to spread across the country to many urban and some rural areas. Armed police have swiftly crushed any resistance with teargas. This action has receivedwidespread international condemnation. The UN's Special Representative on the Right to Adequate Housing called this "a new form of apartheid".
In response, we have joined our EU partners in demanding that the government of Zimbabwe end this crackdown, in a statement on 7 June. Our ambassador in Harare has raised our strong concerns, directly to the government of Zimbabwe, in meetings with the Vice-President and the Minister of State for National Security. I summoned the Zimbabwean charge d'affaires on 13 June to protest at the continuing human rights abuses under the ongoing crackdown. We remain in close contact with our EU partners, with whom I raised Zimbabwe at the 13 June General Affairs and External Relations Council. We also continue to work with other international partners to maximise the pressure on Zimbabwe to end this brutality and are discussing these and other human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, with neighbouring African states and regional African bodies.
DfID is already responding to this man-made disaster, providing $400,000 so far towards humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable mainly through the UN and International Organisation for Migration. A further contribution is imminent. To date, over 5,000 families have been reached with food, blankets, soap and other forms of assistance. Where appropriate transport and emergency water and sanitation has been provided.
Since 2002 the European Union has imposed targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe; an arms embargo on the country and a travel ban and asset freeze on President Mugabe and leading regime figures. The EU's common position is kept under regular review. Together with our EU partners we have recently reassessed the situation in Zimbabwe following the March parliamentary elections. We agreed yesterday in the light of that assessment to extend the list of those regime figures caught by the travel ban and asset freeze, from 95 to 120 names. The new list includes all the senior members of the new government and politburo, and senior figures involved in manipulating the election.
This decision emphasises the EU's continued concerns about the lack of democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law that exists in Zimbabwe, and the failure of Mugabe and his regime to respond to international calls for reform.
Her Majesty's Government will continue to work with the European Union and our other international partners to restore democratic governance, human rights and the rule of law to Zimbabwe.
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