London Transport's (LT) expenditure on external consultancy in relation to the Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the modernisation of London Underground (LU) has been regularly reported to the House at six-monthly intervals since 13 January 1999.LT's liabilities transferred to Transport for London (TfL) on 15 July 2003, so some residual final costs are being met by London Underground (LU) in TfL's ownership. The total consultancy costs concerned, from 20 March 1998 (the date of the Government's announcement of the PPP) up to the end of August 2003, is £103.16 million. The potential final cost is £103.5 million. Once all related expenditure has been paid I will report the final costs to the House.

As of today's date, the United Kingdom implements mandatory UN sanctions, imposed by the UN Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, in relation to Al Qa'ida and the Taliban, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Somalia. UN sanctions in relation to Angola (UNITA) and Libya were lifted on 9 December 2002 and 12 September 2003 respectively. The full trade embargo and all-encompassing asset freeze in relation to Iraq have been lifted. But an arms embargo remains and UNSCR 1483(2003) placed a ban on trade in stolen cultural property and requests Member States to freeze and transfer certain Iraqi assets to the Development Fund for Iraq. The United Kingdom implements, in addition, sanctions imposed by the European Union in relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (former President Milosevic and the persons associated with him continue to represent a threat to the consolidation of democracy in the area of the former Republic of Yugoslavia), Libya, Sudan and Zimbabwe. In accordance with a decision of the OSCE, the United Kingdom implements arms embargoes on Armenia and Azerbaijan. The UK has imposed a unilateral arms embargo adopted by national legislation on Iran and a ban in relation to the sale of certain equipment to the armed forces of either side on the island of Cyprus. A list of sanctions regimes implemented by the UK is in the Library of the House. Annexed to this is a summary of additional UK restrictions on the export of strategic goods. These documents are also available on the FCO website at http://www.fco.gov.uk/sanctions and are updated each time there are changes to sanctions regimes implemented by the UK, or to UK restrictions on the export of strategic goods.

Last week we remembered the victims of the 11 September terrorist attacks, two years ago. In a few weeks, we shall be marking the first anniversary of the Bali bombings. The Government responded to these tragic events with practical support for the families of the victims beyond the consular assistance we would normally provide following the death or injury of British nationals abroad. We did so because of the exceptional nature of terrorism, in which individuals are random victims of attacks directed at society as a whole. I am announcing today a package of measures designed to support the families of victims of future terrorist attacks abroad, which is based closely on what was provided for the families of victims of 11 September and Bali.Those measures are:

The FCO has been working to strengthen co-operation with British unions on issues of mutual interest overseas As economic decisions are increasingly made in a global context, so British trade unions are more involved with international organisations and counterparts overseas. British trade unions have long played a wider international role in helping promote, among other things, democracy and human rights.To identify areas of concern and to facilitate discussion, the General Secretary of the TUC and I have agreed to set up an FCO/TUC international advisory council This Council will be led from the Foreign Office side by the Minister for Europe and will include participants from both the FCO and the trade union movement.To brief interested parties on this expanded co-operation, the FCO and TUC agreed to produce a leaflet setting down in practical terms how British unions and the FCO are working together. This leaflet was circulated to delegates at the TUC General Congress last week. Copies of the leaflet, which have been placed in the Library of the House, will also be circulated to our embassies abroad and will be available on the FCO website

The 2002–03 Annual Report and Accounts for the Rural Payments Agency will be laid today and copies will be place in the Libraries of both Houses.

Subject to the will of Parliament, the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Bill will give primary care trusts new duties for commissioning local national health service dental services. Primary care trusts will have a duty to secure the provision of primary dental services either through contracts with individual practices or by providing services themselves. With these new responsibilities, the £1.2 billion currently held centrally for funding dental services will pass to primary care trusts.Until then, we will continue to work with the NHS and the dental profession to support NHS dentistry and to reform it to meet local needs. I am today announcing additional funding of £65.2 million to support change and help improve access, quality and choice for patients. The funding will be targeted at those primary care trusts where access is a real problem and will be on top of the £1.2 billion which is currently held centrally and which will in time go to primary care trusts.The £65.2 million will be used as follows:

Today I am publishing Opportunity for all—Fifth Annual Report 2003 (CM 5956). The report sets out our strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion, and reports on the indicators used to monitor progress. Copies have been placed in the Library, and are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office. A copy of the summary is being sent to all hon. Members.

In the Government's consultation report "Simplicity, Security and Choice: Working and Saving for Retirement", December 2002, (CM 5677) I announced plans to introduce progressively a new package of more intensive back-to-work help for people aged 50 and over. Today I am pleased to announce further details about two elements of this work.The sites for the pilot study to trial mandating the participation of people aged 50 to 59 who have been claiming JSA for 18 months in the New Deal 25 plus Intensive Activity Period, on the same basis as currently exists for claimants aged 25–49, have been agreed and are listed below. 11 of the pilots will commence in April 2004, and three will commence in October 2004. The areas represent a mix of geographical and labour market areas and all will have fully integrated Jobcentre Plus offices. In addition, seven of the sites are also taking part in the Pathways to Work pilots for people on Incapacity Benefits.The pilots will be evaluated comprehensively by independent qualitative and quantitative research and this will include the use of random assignment.Pilot sites for a mandatory New Deal 25 plus Intensive Activity Period for people aged 50 to 59—Launch April 2004:

The existing Night Low Flying System (NLFS) will remain unchanged in principle, but some adjustments are being made to its structure and management to improve the efficiency of the system and reflect an increasing requirement for helicopters to be able to train at night.The NLFS is divided into two by a line from Swansea in the west to Colchester in the east. The southern area is allocated to rotary wing aircraft and the northern area to fixed wing aircraft, with small exceptions to account for locations where rotary wing aircraft are based in the fixed wing region and vice-versa. This basis remains unchanged but the area available to rotary-wing aircraft will be increased and the system made more flexible by the introduction of sectors that may now be allocated to either fixed wing or rotary aircraft. In addition, we are introducing some management changes to make the procedures that units use to book in to the system more efficient.The Government understand that military low flying training is disturbing, and can reassure the House that there is not expected to be a significant impact for those on the ground as a result of these changes. The existing basis of the NLFS will remain, and for most of the country there will be no change to the structure of the system. Where change is being introduced, the impact is generally expected to be limited to the possibility that those on the ground may witness different aircraft types than may currently be the case, and will be small in scale. We have considered the requirement for a sustainability review and recognise that some parts of the changes may lead to such a requirement, although, as stated, the overall impact is likely to be small. Where necessary I can confirm that more detailed work may be carried out. Detailed environmental impact and sustainability studies are being carried out in respect of AH 64, which is likely to be one of the major users of the revised NLFS.Finally, night flying is essential if our aircrews are going to meet the demands that are placed upon them. These changes will assist with these demands.

On 7 March, Official Report,column 89WS, I informed the House that British Energy had repaid to my Department all outstanding amounts under the credit facility. On a contingency basis I decided, with the company's agreement, to continue the facility, with the maximum amount available being reduced from £650 million to £200 million.British Energy has subsequently utilised the facility in August. As the House was in recess at the time the drawing was made, my Department wrote to the Chairs of the Committee of Public Accounts and the Trade and Industry Committee to inform them of the fact. At the beginning of September, British Energy's outstanding drawdown on the facility was £13.1 million.The stringent controls governing drawings on the facility by British Energy remain in place. As with the company's previous drawings, we expect further drawings to be repaid in full, including interest, as soon as the company is in a position to do so. British Energy's obligations under the credit facility agreement are secured by charges over the British Energy Group's assets. This security is in the nature of a senior charge, which would take priority over the claims of other creditors, should the company become insolvent.British Energy continues to work on implementing its restructuring plan. It announced on 11 September that it had agreed the sale of its stake in its US joint venture, Amergen, subject to certain regulatory and other conditions. But there remain significant milestones ahead. Successful implementation of the restructuring plan will require a number of further conditions to be met, including satisfactory formal commitments from creditors to support the plan, completion of the Amergen sale and receipt of state aids approval from the European Commission. I will also need to be satisfied that implementation of the restructuring will lead to a viable restructured entity that will not be dependent on Government support in the long term. If these conditions cannot be met, the Government remain well prepared for administration.

Cash Ratio Deposits are non-interest bearing assets deposited with the Bank of England by banks and building societies. They are used by the Bank to finance its unremunerated activities, in particular its sterling liquidity operations and its efforts to secure price stability and the stability of the financial system in general, from which these institutions are key beneficiaries. The Cash Ratio Deposit Scheme was placed on a statutory basis when the Bank of England Act became law in 1998. In February 2003, the Paymaster General announced by written statement a review of the operation of the statutory scheme in its first five years.

The December 2001 White Paper "Strong Local Leadership, Quality Public Services" (CM 5237) included a commitment to

work with local government with the aim of introducing a safety valve grant in 2004–05. The grant will be available to authorities with high levels of council tax and low unit costs, but which do not benefit from the new grant formulae.

The concept behind the safety valve mechanism was that there might be a small number of authorities whose circumstances do not fit adequately into national funding formulae and as a result experience severe underfunding.We have been unable to find any authorities that qualify for a safety valve grant. After taking technical advice from local government, which pointed strongly against a mechanism we no longer intend to introduce a safety valve grant.