I am today announcing my decision on recommendations contained in the O'Hare report on the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development's arrangements for the provision of agri-food education and R&D in Northern Ireland. I first announced my proposals on 25 November 2002, at which time I issued the proposals for public consultation. Having taken account of this consultation, I am now confirming the final decisions. These are detailed in the appendix below.FURTHER INFORMATIONThe Government's response to the O'Hare report was issued for public consultation until 28 February 2003, after their announcement on 25 November 2002.The O'Hare review was conducted by an independent panel, consisting of three ministerial appointees. The team's report was completed in April 2002.APPENDIXDetails of the Government's final decisions on the way forward in response to the O'Hare report are listed below.CENTRAL DECISION TAKING PROCESSAn advisory board on R&D and technology transfer will be set up, consisting of independent expert advisors from science and industry and with some additional membership nominated by the Rural Stakeholders Forum. Appointments to the board will be made through a transparent process using pre-set criteria. Strategic advice on the formulation of the R&D and technology transfer programme will be provided to the Department.TRANSFER OF THE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SCIENCE TO EITHER THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST (QUB) OR THE UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER (UU)The educational provision currently delivered at the School of Agriculture and Food Science at QUB will be transferred to one of the two NI universities. The process of selection of the university will be conducted by a panel consisting of internal and external members which will oversee the competitive exercise. The funding will be ring-fenced for an initial period of three years. Suitable transitional arrangements will be put in place for both funding and students.

The report on the Review of the Criminal Justice System in Northern Ireland, which flowed from the Belfast agreement, recommended in the area of youth justice that the Juvenile Justice Board, a statutory non-departmental public body with responsibility for the provision of youth justice services in custodial and community settings, should be replaced by a next steps agency. This statement announces the creation of that agency within the Northern Ireland Office, to be known as the Youth Justice Agency, on 1 April 2003.A full consultation exercise was undertaken in relation to all the recommendations in the Criminal Justice Review. There was broad support for the creation of an agency.The agency will play a central and leading role in addressing youth crime in Northern Ireland, by facilitating the development of a strong professional management team responsible for the provision of youth justice services and an increased emphasis on accountability, transparency and effective service delivery.The agency will also implement a range of new diversionary measures for dealing with child offenders, including youth conferencing arrangements based on restorative justice principles, new community orders and bail support schemes. The agency will build on partnerships with others that already exist in helping young people to avoid crime.In taking these developments forward, the agency will provide the appropriate structures, supported by challenging targets and key performance indicators, to ensure that the best value and outcomes are obtained from the substantial investment being made in youth justice provision in Northern Ireland.

Legislation will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2003, to take effect from 1 April 2003, which will increase the standard rate of landfill tax from £13 per tonne to £14 per tonne. The increase is part of a series of £1 per tonne escalator increases, announced in the Budget 1999. These increases have been publicised in the landfill public notice (LET1). HM Customs and Excise is writing to all landfill operators registered for the tax to confirm the date of the change.

Following detailed analysis of a number of potential locations, I am able to announce that the Government have decided on West Cumbria as its preferred location for the head office of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.The Government believe that—while a number of other locations could offer similar benefits in terms of the operational needs of the NDA—the NDA will bring significant benefits to the community of West Cumbria by providing a catalyst for economic growth and diversification. These benefits are particularly important to a community that has suffered significantly from economic setbacks and recent job losses. West Cumbria is already a high priority area for economic regeneration and has a long history of engagement in the nuclear business.The decision is the outcome of a two-stage assessment process. The first stage conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry compared eight locations throughout the UK and concluded that the North West was the region of choice.The second stage, conducted by the North West Development Agency, compared two areas within the region—West Cumbria and the area west of Manchester. The results showed that while there were some differences in the two locations, both locations would deliver against the operational needs of the NDA. Hence, their respective needs for investment and economic regeneration became the deciding factor and on this basis I have chosen West Cumbria.

The Department's Public Service Agreement (PSA), published July 2002, included a commitment to review the target on the education of children in care, in light of the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) project on that subject. Work on the SEU project is nearing completion, and I am now in a position to announce the new target, which is to:

Improve life chances for children, including by substantially narrowing the gap between the educational attainment and participation of children in care and that of their peers by 2006.

RPG 13 sets out the spatial development strategy that encompasses proposals for the development of the Region's economy, housing and transport infrastructure, and other land uses. Within the terms of the strategy, priority is to be given to sustainable development and investment within the North West Metropolitan Area (especially the Regional Poles of Manchester/Salford and Liverpool), together with defined Regeneration Priority Areas. RPG13 also sets out proposals for the conservation, management and enhancement of the Region's natural and cultural environment.I am pleased that much of the vision, objectives and core strategy of RPG 13 carries forward to a great extent what was proposed in the original draft RPG prepared by the North West Regional Assembly (NWRA). RPG 13 reflects the effective working that was achieved between the NWRA, local authorities and other stakeholders, all of which have made valuable contributions to refine and enhance the original draft guidance through public consultation. It builds on the inclusive process for preparing RPG that the Government have put in place. Many of the comments received in response to the consultations carried out earlier have made a positive contribution to the overall strategy for sustainable development and have been taken on board.The North West Regional Assembly, in its role as the Regional Planning Body, will work with partners—including the business community—to ensure its effective implementation, monitoring and review.

The Government is today publishing as CM 5793 a draft Housing Bill for consultation. This aims to tackle some of the most pressing difficulties in private sector housing. The draft Bill will ensure action against unacceptably low housing standards, the impact bad landlords can have on some local communities and the stress in buying and selling a home. These proposals are part of our drive to deliver sustainable communities as set out in the Deputy Prime Minister's long-term action programme "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future" published in February this year.The draft Bill sets out specific legislation in five main areas:

I am today, together with US Attorney General John Ashcroft, signing a new bilateral extradition treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States of America.The current UK-USA extradition treaty was agreed in 1972 and ratified in 1976 with supplementary provisions from 1986. It is outdated and can be significantly improved.The new treaty reflects best modern practice in extradition. In particular, it provides that any crime attracting a maximum sentence of 12 months' imprisonment or more in both the requesting and the requested state is extraditable rather than containing a list of offences which are extraditable, as the present treaty does. The advantage of that is that it encompasses offences, such as computer related crime, which did not exist when the 1972 treaty was drawn up.

Today, I am pleased to announce that Sir Peter Davis, Group Chief Executive of J Sainsbury PLC has agreed to chair an Employer Task Force on Pensions.A vital part of the proposals set out in our pensions Green Paper "Simplicity, security and choice: Working and saving for retirement", Cm 5677, is the renewal of the partnership between individuals, employers the financial services industries and Government.There is no doubt that the people retiring today with the best pension have been helped to do so by their employer. We want the Task Force to help build on that success and encourage more employers large and small to recognise the value of good pension provisions and to identify and promote good practice in providing and promoting pensions. The Task Force will also provide advice to me on the role of the employer in the pensions partnership.

I am delighted to be able to announce that as part of the development of the service provided to working age people, we will be opening a Jobcentre Plus contact centre at the site of the former ITV Digital operation in Pembroke Dock, West Wales. This new venture will create 250 new jobs and will not only offer a major boost to the area but will also help Jobcentre Plus in our aim of delivering a modern, efficient service.

Changing strategic priorities require the Foreign and Commonwealth Office constantly to adapt and amend its pattern of representation overseas. In order to free resources to strengthen the UK's diplomatic network in other parts of the world now more critical for UK interests, I have decided to make the following adjustments to our diplomatic representation in West Africa. With effect from early summer, the Embassy in Bamako will be closed. We intend to retain a UK office there. Given the importance the UK attaches to stability and peace in the Mano River region, we intend to open a one-person office in Monrovia later this year, and upgrade our office in Conakry to an Embassy.

In line with the recommendation of the Medical Quinquennial Review (MQR), which I announced on 11 April 2002, the Defence Medical Education and Training Agency (DMETA) will be established on 1 April 2003. I will arrange for copies of the new Agency's Framework Document, Corporate Plan and Key Targets for 2003–2004 to be placed in the Library of both Houses. The Chief Executive for DMETA will be Rear Admiral Peter Kidner.On formation, the new Agency will subsume the existing Defence Medical Training Organisation (DMTO). The Defence Secondary Care Agency (DSCA) will be disestablished on 31 March 2003 with its responsibility for training and placement of Service medical personnel transferring to DMETA. Responsibility for commissioning secondary care for Service personnel will transfer to a new Healthcare Directorate within the Defence Medical Services Department (DMSD), formerly the Surgeon General's Department. The overseas hospitals in Cyprus and Gibraltar will transfer to the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) by 1 April 2005, but during the interim period DMSD will have responsibility.DMETA will make available nominated Secondary Care personnel for deployments and exercises, and deliver appropriate medical, dental and military training and education to specified standards to meet the operational requirement. It will bring together Defence medical education and training including the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM), the Defence Deanery., the five Ministry of Defence Hospital Units and the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC) at Headley Court.Key Targets have been set for 2003–04 to provide a. balanced, challenging but achievable package covering the full range of DMETA's areas of business. These are:DEFENCE MEDICAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING AGENCY—KEY TARGETS FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2003–04Key Target 1—Deployable PersonnelTo meet 100 per cent. of the Commander in Chiefs' requirement for Secondary Care personnel for operational deployments, major exercises and collective training.Key Target 2—Training Success (Quality and Quantity)

Following the Better Quality Service (BQS) review of the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS), published in November 2000, Ministers announced that they would be looking carefully at how BCMS could best work with the paying agencies in England, Scotland and Wales, to ensure effective interfaces with each other and with their farming customers. The 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic deferred action.Since then we have learnt lessons from the first year of operating the bovine premium schemes on the basis of cross-checks by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and the other GB paying agencies with the BCMS Cattle Tracing System database. These cross-checks threw up a significant level of inconsistencies which adversely affected payment of premium to a large number of farmer customers. This experience highlighted the need for close working between the GB paying agencies and BCMS and raised the question whether potential synergies between BCMS and RPA systems are being fully exploited to provide a better service to all those who use the database.Having examined the options we concluded that there are strong strategic and organisational advantages for Defra's customers in having similar systems run under single management and providing a single point of customer contact through the merger of RPA and BCMS as from 1 April 2003. This would, in turn, ensure that BCMS is in a good position to meet the requirements of all its GB stakeholders. At the same time merger will help both organisations meet their respective business objectives by drawing on each others skills and experiences in improving services and efficiency through investment in significant e-government initiatives. Full realisation of these benefits however, will require a high. degree of integration and consolidation over time.This outcome is consistent with the findings from the BQS review which concluded that BCMS: should assume Agency status; should be retained within the public sector; should achieve efficiency gains through internal restructuring; and should remain on the Workington site.