The GLA Transport Grant for 2004–05 has today been determined by the Secretary of State for Transport at £2,224,536,000, following consultation with the Mayor of London. This grant is a block grant provided by the Government to Transport for London to support improvements to London Underground and other transport services in London.

I stated in the House on 27 January that I was commissioning a report to examine the gateways into the professions. I am pleased to announce the appointment of Sir Alan Langlands, VC of the University of Dundee, to lead this work.Sir Alan will act as an independent person to oversee the report which will examine how the public sector and the professions can sustain and improve recruitment opportunities for graduates, especially those who do not qualify for the full £3000 support, and, to make recommendations to Ministers on action that can be taken by the employing organisations to provide clear accessible gateways for all graduates who want to pursue such careers and which will benefit the recruitment needs of these sectors.The report will cover mainly the public sector but will also look at good practice in the private sector and will include those who work in a professional capacity in the voluntary sector. Additionally there will be reference groups established, one for each sector and with voluntary sector representation on each group.On the public sector, the report will analyse support that is currently available, (through bursaries, golden hellos, fee payment and loan write-offs) its effectiveness and future plans for post autumn 2006. Furthermore it will assess whether these (plus any changes) are likely to continue to work after autumn 2006; and whether there are any gaps in what is available which are likely to create recruitment and retention problems.On the private sector, it will research current and possibly international practice on incentives for graduates, and assess how employers might respond in a variable fees environment;I am asking Sir Alan to start this work after Royal Assent this year with the aim of reporting to me by mid-2005.

I am pleased to announce further details about "Building Schools for the Future" (BSF), including the projects in the first wave, the establishment of Partnerships for Schools, and the publication of the exemplar designs of schools of the future. This follows my statements of 26 February and 26 June 2003.These developments start to deliver the Government's long-term commitment to a programme of rebuilding and renewal to ensure that secondary education in every part of England has facilities of 21st century standard.We are announcing today the projects that will make up wave 1 of "Building Schools for the Future", starting in 2005–06. Wave 1 will benefit from government support for £2.2 billion capital investment in our secondary schools. We hope to announce further waves during 2004.The projects in wave 1 are:

I would inform the House that the Learning and Skills Council for England has today published its annual report and accounts for the period to 31 March 2003. Copies have been placed in the House Libraries

The Government have today accepted the recommendation of the review of the National Land Information Service Central Government Stakeholder Group that the Group should be abolished. Central Government Departments will continue to support the development of the National Land Information Service (NLIS) through direct contact and by liaising with each other to ensure a joined up response to issues relating to NLIS. A copy of the review has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament.

Courts boards will be a means of ensuring local involvement in the way in which courts are run. They will work with the new unified courts agency, which will integrate the management of the courts within a single agency to replace the Magistrates Courts Committees and the Court Service. Courts boards will provide a vital local input, to ensure that the courts' administration is run in a way that meets the needs of their areas. We intend to appoint the first members to courts boards towards the end of 2004, so that the boards will run in shadow form before the new agency is launched in April 2005.The consultation paper

The 26th Report of the Review Body on Senior Salaries, which makes recommendations about the pay of the senior civil service, senior military personnel and the judiciary, is being published today. Copies are in the Vote Office and the Library of the House. I am grateful to the Chairman and Members of the Review Body for their work.The main recommendations of the Review Body for the senior civil service are:

The Government's response to the Health Committee's Fourth Report of Session 2002–03 on Provision of Maternity Services, the Eighth Report of Session 2002–03 on Inequalities in Access to Maternity Services, and the Ninth Report of Session 2002–03 on Choice in Maternity Services (Cm 6140), has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.The Government recognise that women and their families currently benefit from high standard maternity services provided by dedicated and hardworking National Health Service staff.The Government are committed to maintaining and building on the quality of maternity services by tackling inequalities as a matter of priority and promoting choice for all women and their families

The report of the independent inquiry into the death of David 'Rocky' Bennett is published today. David Bennett's death is a tragedy and my sincere sympathies go out to his family for their loss. He died five years ago in a medium secure unit after being restrained by staff. The report raises a number of very important issues. We have a duty to understand these and act upon their findings.It is essential that the health service is safe for service users and staff. Following a meeting with David Bennett's family, we established the Cross-Government Group on the management of aggression and violence. We have just published positive practice standards for local services, and have established a programme of work with the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) to help improve the organisation and quality of training for staff. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence will shortly publish guidance in this area.I accept that there is discrimination in the NHS, both direct and indirect. There is no place for racism or discrimination. It is unacceptable; it contradicts the basic value of equity that is the cornerstone of the health service. In mental health we have already made a start by publishing

We shall lay before the House regulations to increase national health service charges in England from 1 April 2004. There will be a cash increase in the prescription charge of 10 pence from £6.30 to £6.40 for each quantity of a drug or appliance dispensed.The cost of prescription prepayment certificates will rise to £33.40 for a four month certificate and £91.80 for an annual certificate. These offer savings for those needing more than five items in four months or 14 in one year.Prescription charges are expected to raise some £462 million for the NHS in 2004–05.Charges for elastic stockings and tights, wigs and fabric supports supplied through the hospital service will be increased similarly.The maximum patient charge for a single course of dental treatment begun on or after 1 April 2004 will increase from £372 to £378.The prescription charge increase is the same as in the previous five years and is well below the current level of inflation. The other increases are in line with this percentage increase.The majority of optical voucher values will increase by 2.5 per cent. to help children and people on low income with the cost of spectacles or contact lenses. In recognition of the greater costs which people with high prescription lenses may face, vouchers for these individuals will increase by 10 per cent. We will continue to monitor the costs of high prescription lenses over the coming year to see if further changes are necessary.NHS charges and optical voucher values in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a matter for the devolved administrations.Details of the revised charges and optical voucher values have been placed in the Library.

On 21 September 2003, I announced a review of the effectiveness of the temporary provisions of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000. Principally these relate to 50:50 recruitment. That review was initiated as part of the Secretary of State's statutory duty, under section 47 of that Act, both to have regard to progress made towards securing that membership of the police and police support staff is representative of the community in Northern Ireland, and to consult the Policing Board, when making a decision as to whether those temporary provisions should be renewed. The review ended on 19 December, but I have continued to meet with political parties on this issue until recently.As a direct result of these temporary provisions, steady progress towards a more representative police service has been achieved. The number of Catholic applications to the PSNI has been unprecedented, averaging 35 per cent. over six competitions. As a direct result, the proportion of Catholic officers in the regulars has increased from around 8 per cent. to almost 14 per cent. Increase in Catholic representation among civilian staff has been slower, in part because 50:50 does not apply to all civilian recruitment competitions, only to those where six or more are sought in the same field at the same time.A number of issues were raised during the review about the efficiency of the 50:50 recruitment process and its fairness to candidates. I am looking seriously at those issues and my officials are liaising with the police to assess the scope for potential improvements. The Government is keen to move forward with increasing the representativeness of the police service. The more progress we can make now, the sooner it may be possible to put an end to a procedure that is difficult for many people to accept, but justified in our view for the greater good.For these reasons, and after considering carefully all the views expressed during the consultation period, the Secretary of State has now decided that those temporary provisions should be renewed for a further three years. That is why I am today laying before Parliament the draft Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (Renewal of Temporary Provisions) Order 2004. There will be an opportunity to debate the Order in both Houses of Parliament

The report of the Prison Service pay review body on the pay of governor and officer grades in the Northern Ireland Prison Service for 2004 has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.Both the Secretary of State and I welcome the recognition in the report of the work of staff in the Northern Ireland Prison Service.

The 2004 Report of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body has been published today. Copies of the Report are available in the Vote Office and the Library of the House. I wish to express my thanks to the Chairman and members of the Review Body for their clear and wide-ranging report.The AFPRB has recommended an increase in basic military salary of 2.8 per cent. for the majority of personnel and 3.2 per cent. for certain Privates and Lance Corporals (those on the lower pay range). The AFPRB has also recommended increases in the rates of Specialist Pay (eg Flying Pay, Submarine Pay, Diving Pay and Hydrographic Pay), and in accommodation charges. The AFPRB has also recommended a 3.2 per cent. increase to rates of longer separated service allowance and longer service at sea bonus which are designed to compensate for separation.The additional cost to the defence budget will be £196M. This will be met within existing departmental expenditure limits.The AFPR B's recommendations are to be accepted in full, with implementation effective from 1 April 2004

Progress in new scheme performance has continued to be made and future improvement is expected. The number of poor families now benefiting from the new child maintenance premium has almost tripled in the last quarter. More than three times as many non-resident parents have now made a first payment of maintenance as at the end of the previous quarter. In each of the three months during the quarter, the agency made more maintenance calculations on the new scheme than it made on the old scheme in the same months last year.In clearing cases so far, the ratio of those reaching calculation to those that have been closed in the new scheme remained 6:4, compared with the ratio of 4:6 in the old scheme. During the third quarter, the agency cleared nearly as many cases as it did in the first two quarters combined, taking the total number of clearances (calculations and closures) to over 100,000.The Department continues to retain around 15 per cent of each monthly due to EDS the service provider due to the continuing problems with the computer and telephone system

The Regional Governance White Paper, Your Region, Your Choice: Revitalising the English Regions published in May 2002 announced that elected regional assemblies would:

"have the power to request the Secretary of State to call in for his or her determination strategic planning applications which were not consistent with the regional spatial strategy" (paragraph 4.34)

Following consultation with the Electoral Commission and other key stakeholders the following instruments have now been made and laid before Parliament:

The Local Elections (Principal Areas) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Rules 2004, SI No. 223

The Local Election (Parishes and Communities) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Rules 2004, SI No. 224

The Greater London Authority Elections (Amendment) Rules 2004. SI No. 227

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have also laid before Parliament, following consultation, the following draft Instruments on which we are seeking the approval of the House:

The Government are today publishing the Independent Review of the Supporting People programme, which was conducted by Eugene Sullivan of RSM Robson Rhodes LLP. Copies of the review will be available in the Libraries of both Houses and on the ODPM website www.spkweb.org.uk.The Government is allocating £1.801 billion for the Supporting People programme in 2004–05, which will fund housing related support services for over 1 million vulnerable people including victims of domestic violence, older people and those with mental health problems. The programme funds an estimated 250,000 units of housing related support, compared to fewer than 100,000 in 2000.On the basis of the Independent Review, local authorities will be expected to make efficiency savings of up to 2.5 per cent. in 2004–05, with a proportion of the savings reallocated to local authorities to fund services that have come on stream in 2003–04 and are reaching unmet need.The Supporting People programme began in April 2003, drawing together nine different funding programmes, including Transitional Housing Benefit. Following significant late growth in costs last year, the government commissioned the Independent Review to look at value for money and the variation in unit costs and services across local authorities. The Review has found that there are wide variations in unit costs between authorities, and that 1.8 billion is too much to pay for the legacy services. It recommends that efficiency savings can be made, but that the pace of change needs to be managed to avoid difficulties for service users and small providers.The Government are concerned to ensure that value for money is achieved and that valuable services for the vulnerable are sustained. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are therefore asking the Audit Commission to undertake detailed inspections in a series of local authorities with high unit costs, alongside their routine inspections, to inform the Spending Review and funding allocations for 2005–06.The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are also beginning today a consultation on the grant conditions for Supporting People in 2004–05, which we are proposing to keep broadly the same as 2003–04. The consultation ends on 24 March. We are writing to local authorities to inform them of their allocations.

Responsibility for the Rent Service, an executive agency, is to transfer from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to the Department for Work and Pensions. The Deputy Prime Minister has agreed with his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (DWP), that this transfer will take place with effect from 1 April 2004.The reasons for transferring the Rent Service (TRS) to the Department for Work and Pensions are that the vast majority of TRS's work (around 90 per cent.) is on rental valuations to determine how much housing benefit (HB) claimants should receive. Although this is carried out primarily for local authorities, the policy and legislative lead rests with DWP. TRS, which will retain its executive agency status on transfer, will be better placed to assist with taking forward the on-going work on housing benefit reform—announced by the Secretary of State for DWP in October 2002—if it is operating within DWP.Only a small percentage of TRS's current workload (around 10 per cent.) relates to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's responsibilities on fair rents. The transfer will not prevent the Agency from contributing to ODPM's policy objectives, as the role and functions of TRS remain the same.The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is consulting with the trade unions involved in this change of Departmental responsibilities

The Third Report of the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) on the pay of in-charge governors and operational managers, prison officers and related grades in England and Wales in 2004 has been published today and copies placed in the Library.The PSPRB have recommended a 2.4 per cent. basic increase to pay rates for prison officer and related grades and 1.5 per cent. to in-charge governors and other operational managers. Nearly all in-charge governors and other operational managers receive performance payments on top of their basic award, which contribute to earnings growth for them above the level of inflation.The Home Secretary has decided that the recommendations will be implemented in full, with effect from the operative date of the award of 1 April 2004.The key recommendations of the report are:

As I set out in my written statement of 5 January, Official Report, column I W, Lord Penrose delivered the report of his inquiry into Equitable Life to the Treasury on 23 December.Further to that statement and my written answer to the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire on 26 January,