With effect from 1 April 2007 the Defence Transport and Movements Agency (DTMA) will cease to hold agency status. This has been decided as part of restructuring within the supply chain element of the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO), and complements the future arrangements for the proposed merger of the DLO and the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA).

The role of the DTMA is to provide defence and other authorised users with agreed transport and movements services world-wide in peace, crisis and war in order to support UK military capability, current and future. This role will remain unchanged after 1 April 2007. The agency was created in April 1999 and brought together existing MOD single service transport and movements branches into one organisation. Agency status helped to mould these groups into a cohesive organisation. However, since then the agency has merged with a number of other organisations and taken on a much broader role for the Department, with a greater operational focus.

The DTMA reports directly through the MOD’s supply chain professionals (DG log (supply chain)), and the agency has been obliged to answer for its performance within a tightly defined management framework. This will continue; the benefits originally sought from agency status will not be lost; good management practice will carry on under the new arrangements and removal will not affect the organisation’s ability to meet customer requirements.

I have therefore concluded that agency status for the DTMA should cease and that the organisation should adopt fully the title defence supply chain operations and movements (DSCOM). The chief executive will retain full accountability for the delivery of agency outputs in this final year, including preparing and laying before the House the final reports and accounts.

The Ministry of Defence “Votes A Annual Estimate 2007-08”, will be laid before the House on 20 February as HC 280. This outlines the maximum numbers of personnel to be maintained for service in the armed forces during financial year 2007-08.

Copies of these reports will be made available in the Library of the House.

On 18 January 2006, the Home Office informed police authorities and police forces of their allocations of capital grant for 2006-07.

The sums had been adjusted to take account of money which had been retained centrally to pay for the capital costs associated with police force mergers. I am pleased to be able to announce today that a further £25 million of capital is now available for distribution to police authorities. Following a review of Home Office capital pressures a further £25 million originally earmarked for restructuring will not now be distributed to police authorities.

As a consequence of this additional money, the total amount of capital grant allocated to police authorities in 2006-07 will be £220 million. This compares to £210 million in 2005-06, an increase of 4.8 per cent.

A breakdown of the allocation of this additional money is shown in the table attached. The money has been distributed in order to achieve the same outcome as would have been the case if it had been included in the original distribution.

My officials are writing to police authorities and forces to inform them of this additional grant.

Lin Homer, the director general of the immigration and nationality directorate, has today provided a comprehensive update to the Home Affairs Committee on the progress being made by the IND in deporting foreign national prisoners. In addition to this update, I would like to set out the Government’s position on the deportation of Irish nationals.

In my oral statement to the House on the prison estate, 9 October 2006, Official Report, column 32 I explained the Department was considering treating Irish citizens as a special case in respect of pursuing their deportation from the United Kingdom. A number of hon. Members have asked me to review the Government’s position on deporting Irish nationals in the light of the acknowledged close historic and political ties between the UK and the Irish Republic and I have done so.

Since April last year, we have ensured that all nationals from European economic area countries who have received custodial sentences in the United Kingdom for two years or more have been considered for deportation. This has led to deportation action being pursued against a number of Irish nationals who have committed criminal offences here.

Following recent discussions with the Irish Government, I am able to confirm that the approach to be taken with Irish nationals will now be as follows:

Irish citizens will only be considered for deportation where a court has recommended deportation in sentencing or where the Secretary of State concludes, due to the exceptional circumstances of the case, the public interest requires deportation.

In reviewing our approach in this area we have taken into account the close historical, community and political ties between the United Kingdom and Ireland, along with the existence of the common travel area.

Those Irish prisoners whose cases are not considered exceptional, whose sentences have expired and who are currently in custodial detention awaiting deportation will be released over the next week. I have already asked that the necessary arrangements be put in place to ensure that these prisoners receive proper supervision on their release from the probation service.

I am pleased to say that in accordance with section 14(3) and 14(5) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, Lord Carlile of Berriew QC has completed the report on the operation of the Act in 2006, which will be laid before the House today.

I have today laid before both Houses the report of the Interception of Communications Commissioner, the right hon. Sir Swinton Thomas, for 2005-06 (HC 315), and the report of the Intelligence Services Commissioner, the Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, for 2005-06 (HC 314). As has been the practice in previous years, some sensitive information has been excluded from the reports in accordance with section 58(6) and section 60(4) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.

I am grateful to the Commissioners for their reports and the work that they have undertaken during their respective appointments.

The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has granted consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 for the construction of the Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm.

The consent is granted to Greater Gabbard Offshore Winds Ltd., an Airtricity and Fluor joint venture. The development will be sited around 23 km from the Suffolk coast and has the potential to generate up to 500MW of electricity.

The decision to grant consent was taken after a thorough consideration of the possible impacts of the project on a range of environmental and other issues and interests and of the advice received from a range of stakeholders, including statutory consultees on navigation and nature conservation issues. The Secretary of State concluded that the impacts envisaged by those making representations will either be of low significance or can be mitigated or avoided by the use of suitable conditions in the Electricity Act consent or in the licence for the project that is to be issued by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985.