The Statistics Commission's annual report and accounts, covering the 2002–03 financial year, are being published today, having been laid before both Houses of Parliament. Copies are available in the Vote Office.

Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve my recommendation that the following commemorative coins should be issued in 2005:

A pair of crown pieces for the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson;

A two-pound coin for the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot;

A fifty pence piece to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the publication of Samuel Johnson's dictionary of the English language.

Collector versions of these coins will be at a premium above face value and, during the course of the year 2005, the coins will also become available at face value from banks and post offices.

The Legal Services Ombudsman has today published the twelfth Annual Report, and copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has changed its travel advice for Pakistan with effect from 7 July 2003.We previously advised British Nationals other than those of Pakistani origin:

The following key targets have been set for the Chief Executive of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency for financial year 2003–04:

Title	Details	Target
KT 1—Financial Performance 1	The measurement of DARA's ROCE.	To achieve a minimum average ROCE of 6 per cent. over the first three years of trading (FY01/02-FY03/04 inclusive).
KT 2—Financial Performance 2	The measurement of value of contracts won.	To achieve order intake to the value of at least £160 million.
KT 3—Quality	The measurement of attributable major customer concerns received from DM DARA's customers.	To have no more attributable major customer concerns than the baseline set on DARA's performance of FY 01/02, less 10 per cent.

The following Key Targets have been set for the Chief Executive of ABRO for Financial Year 2003–04. The targets build on the high standards of service already provided by the Agency:KEY TARGET 1:

The House will be aware of the desire to issue a campaign medal to service personnel and entitled civilians engaged on operations in Iraq and supporting areas, collectively known as Operation Telic.I am pleased to confirm that Her Majesty the Queen has approved the award of a specific campaign medal to mark this operation. The detailed eligibility criteria for this award are being determined and will be published in due course.

In 1998 we instituted a series of recruitment goals to ensure that appropriate levels of recruitment from Britain's ethnic minority communities took place. Running for four years, the goals aimed at increasing the recruitment of ethnic minority young people incrementally by 1 per cent. each year until the Forces reached 5 per cent. In the event the outcome for 2001–02 was a very creditable 4.4 per cent., although this figure contains a large number of Commonwealth nationals recruited in this country. Given the nearness to publication of the National Census, and therefore access to new and up-to date- research data, an interim goal of a further 1 per cent. from the previous year's outcome was agreed.We have found that quite significant numbers of young people travel to the United Kingdom and join the Armed Forces, particularly the Army, which has the greatest number of trades open requiring relatively low security clearances. An internal provisional estimate of the recruiting outcome for 2002–03 makes this clear:

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary has today laid before the House a copy of the annual report produced by Mary Coussey, the independent Race Monitor, under section 19E of the Race Relations Act 1976, together with his response. The Race Monitor has a statutory duty to report to Parliament via the Home Secretary on Ministerial authorisations made under section 19D of the Race Relations Act enabling immigration staff to discriminate on the basis of nationality or ethnic or national origin in the exercise of their functions.

The purpose of this statement is to confirm advice to businesses and inform the House of our view on the question of whether organisations should acquire their own equipment to detect chemical, biological or radiological materials as part of their contingency plans.The Government takes contingency planning for potential terrorist attack very seriously and is working with emergency services to ensure that they have the equipment they need to protect the public from the use of chemical, biological or radiological (CBR) materials. The Government are also ensuring that effective measures are in place to detect such substances on a routine basis, where required. Such equipment is regularly tested by independent scientists and by users in the relevant agencies, including the emergency services, to ensure that it is of the standard required. Staff are also well trained in its use.The Government's advice is, therefore, that other organisations, including businesses, leave the demanding and potentially dangerous job of detecting CBR materials to personnel in the emergency services and responsible agencies who are professionally trained in the necessary equipment. Any business considering measures to prevent or reduce the impact of terrorism should contact the counter-terrorist security adviser in their local police force who will be able to give further advice.

I am pleased to publish today the third report by the President of appeal tribunals on the standard of decisions made on my behalf in cases which come before appeal tribunals. Of those cases where the appeal tribunal overturned or amended the decision the main reasons given were because new evidence was produced at the hearing, the tribunal took a different view of the same evidence or the presence of the appellant at the hearing shed new light on the existing evidence.

I am pleased to announce the first awards from the £200 million Performance Standards Fund. These total £33 million and will benefit 210 local authorities, who submitted applications for funding to support their local housing benefit improvement plans.These awards are the first step in the substantial investment we are making, as part of our housing benefit reform agenda. The performance standards fund of £200 million over three years represents the single biggest investment in housing benefit since the scheme began in 1988. We have established the fund to target additional resources in a focused way to help local authorities bridge the gap between current performance and the performance standards for housing benefit administration we published last year.The priority for the first awards of funding is to improve performance in the speed and accuracy of processing of claims and the prevention and recovery of overpayments. Much of the additional funding is going to help with the recruitment and training of new benefit staff and investment in new IT systems. These awards demonstrate that we are committed to working in partnership with local government to improve their performance. In return, however, we expect real improvements in the speed and accuracy of claims processing.A full list of the successful applications has been placed in the Library. We expect to be announcing further awards during the coming year.