The aggregate amount of civil defence grants to be made for the financial year 2003–04 is £19,038,000 of which £100,000 will be retained as discretionary grant for special projects and special events deemed of benefit to the wider emergency planning community in England and Wales.The remaining £18,938,000 will be allocated to individual authorities as set out in the table below.The grants have been allocated in the same way as last year, but with each authority receiving an equal share of the additional £70,000 available. Every authority thereby receives a slight increase in grant of £386.

When the destroyer HMS NOTTINGHAM grounded in Australian waters on 7 July 2002 she sustained severe damage and flooding in the forward part of the ship. She is now on passage to the UK on a heavy lift ship and is expected to arrive in United Kingdom waters on 7 December. She will then be unloaded and towed into HM Naval Base at Portsmouth where a contract has been placed for her repair with Fleet Support Limited. The repair work— which will cost around £26M, including all materials supplied by the Department— is expected to last up to 18 months. HMS NOTTINGHAM is expected to return to operational service in November 2004.HMS NOTTINGHAM is a highly capable Type 42 destroyer designed to provide area air defence either independently or as an integral component of larger joint or coalition maritime task groups. Her key weapons, sensors and Command System were significantly upgraded during an extensive refit in 1999–2000. These improvements will enable the ship to keep pace with the increasing demands of maritime air defence during the next 10 years and will aid interoperability with key allies, in particular the USA. HMS NOTTINGHAM'S contribution will be crucial to bridging the air defence gap during the drawdown in Sea Harrier air defence aircraft beginning in 2005 and the introduction of the Type 45 Destroyer from 2007.To ease the short-term programming gap in the fleet created by HMS NOTTINGHAM'S unavailability, HMS GLASGOW, an older and less capable Type 42 is being regenerated from a planned state of lower readiness. An alternative solution which would have given HMS GLASGOW a similar capability upgrade to that received by HMS NOTTINGHAM in 1999 was considered, but the repair of HMS NOTTINGHAM was deemed to provide best value for money.

On 25 April 2002 Official Report, columns 426—27W, I informed the House that the problem of mistaken taxation of some Service invalidity pensions was more extensive than previously understood. I reported that we had set up an internal review, independent of the staffs involved, to establish the extent of the taxation errors and expose any related problems. This review is now complete.The review has established that the taxation problem is more extensive than I indicated in April. It is now clear that some RAF pensions are affected, and that the RN pensions affected are not limited to the period 1973–99. In addition, the review has found that further work is needed on Army pensions; this is required both to re-examine more thoroughly certain cases adjudged when first reviewed as correctly taxed, and to examine for the first time some other cases previously not thought to be at risk.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a further statement on the mistaken taxation of Army attributable pensions. [53048]

Since my statement to the House on 23 January 2002, Official Report, columns 891–902, the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency has been conducting a review to establish more clearly the exact extent of the problem with the mistaken taxation of service invaliding and attributable pensions. This work is not complete, but has revealed that some Royal Navy invaliding and attributable pensions awarded between 1973 and 1999 have also been mistakenly taxed. We will be reviewing all the case files of those who might have been affected and arranging for refunds to be made as appropriate. This will be done as quickly as possible but is expected to take some months given the need to review several thousand pension files. We will also be providing appropriate national publicity to allow those who think they might have a claim to apply for a tax refund.

I have written to Sir Trevor Chinn, the chairman of the Motorists' Forum, welcoming their report on car sharing and car clubs and enclosing the Government's response. The response outlines further support that the Government will give to work in this field, in particular:

continued funding for an advisory service on car clubs and formal car sharing schemes;

further research to monitor car clubs in circumstances that offer the most potential for success, for example where they may help to achieve higher densities in new residential developments than might otherwise be the case; and

further research on formal car sharing schemes in institutional settings, such as the workplace, with a view to publishing best practice guidance later next year.

Legislation governing public service pensions requires public service pensions to be increased annually by the same percentage as State earnings related pensions (additional pensions). My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced on 19 November 2002, Official Report, column 16WS that benefits such as additional pensions will be increased by 1.7 per cent., in line with the annual increase in the Retail Prices Index up to September 2002. Public service pensions will therefore be increased by 1.7 per cent, from 7 April 2003, except those which have been in payment for less than a year, which will receive a pro-rata increase.

All controlled drugs are harmful and will remain illegal. Drug misuse is the biggest challenge society faces. It damages the health and life chances of individuals. It undermines family life, turns law-abiding citizens into thieves and erodes communities. It is essential that we educate the young about the dangers of drugs, prevent drug misuse, tackle the dealers to reduce the prevalence of drugs on the streets and reduce the harm drugs cause.To address this, the Government has published its Updated Drug Strategy developed to take account of new evidence of what works and focus on delivery.In 1998, the first cross-cutting strategy was introduced to tackle drug trafficking, supply and misuse. This update builds on the foundations laid and the lessons learnt. We must concentrate on the most dangerous drugs, the most damaged communities and the individuals whose addiction and chaotic lifestyles are the most harmful, both to themselves and others. Education, prevention, enforcement, treatment and harm minimisation are our most powerful tools.Setting out a range of policies and interventions, the Updated Drug Strategy provides:

I have today deposited a copy of the draft Order and accompanying Explanatory Memorandum in the Libraries of both Houses. Copies have also been sent to the Radio Authority, the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Commercial Radio Companies Association. We welcome comments from anyone with an interest.

Today I have placed copies of a report produced by the COBR-Joint Assessment Cell report, entitled "Industrial Action by the Fire Brigades Union. Contingency arrangements during the 8-day strike, 22–30 November 2002" in the Vote Office and Libraries of the House.

I am today laying before Parliament the annual report for 2001–2002 of the Chief Surveillance Commissioner on the discharge of his functions under Part III of the Police Act 1997 and Part II of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. As required, under section 107(3A) of the Police Act 1997, after consultation with the Chief Surveillance Commissioner I can confirm that no matter has been excluded from the enclosed report.I am most grateful to Sir Andrew Leggatt and his colleagues for the work which has gone into preparing it.