In addition, the Department will provide funding to complete the training of 1,200 existing candidates for licence acquisition, with over half of these being funded through to achievement of their Logistics Skills Award. We are also considering proposals made through the Road Haulage Forum to fund some research projects to help understand recruitment and training needs and how they can be met.

This programme reflects the Government's commitment to help the industry to help itself. I look forward to discussing this programme with industry stakeholders at the next meeting of the Road Haulage Forum.

a 40 per cent. increase in the volume of quota stocks landed into the UK by foreign owned UK registered vessels. This figure is proportionally higher when viewed against cuts in TACs since 1998;

a significant increase in the number of landings into the UK by Anglo-Spanish vessels, resulting in additional expenditure at our ports of some £3 million; and

the provision of almost 500 tonnes of quota for redistribution to our inshore fleet, notably nephrops, North Sea sole and North Sea cod.

A full report by the fisheries departments in the United Kingdom on the operation of the economic link measures in 2002 and their impact has been placed in the Library of the House.

155 authorities reported meeting the 36-day standard of processing new claims, compared with 134 authorities in the third quarter of 2002–03;

the average reported number of days to process new claims reduced from 53 days in the third quarter of 2002–03 to 47 days in the third quarter of 2003–04;

175 authorities reported the standard of processing changes in circumstances, on average within nine days, compared to 166 in the third quarter of 2002–03.

The statistics are un-audited and are provided quarterly by local authorities to my Department.

The audited Best Value performance information for English local authorities for 2002–03 was published by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 18 December 2003 on the best value performance indicators website at: http://www.bvpi.gov.uk/home.asp.

A copy is available in the Library.

The most recent corresponding data for local authorities in Wales are also for 2002–03. These are published on the Audit Commission website at: http://www.lgdu-wales.gov.uldeng/Project.asp?id=SX99A1-A77F4BA8

A paper copy of the relevant extract from this site is available in the Library.

The most recent corresponding data for local authorities in Scotland are also for 2002–03 and are in the Accounts Commission publication "Performance Indicators 2002/2003: Benefits, Finance and Corporate Issues" a copy of which is available in the Library.

To Deliver Pension Services

To make 99 per cent of all pension payments (including new awards) by the due date (excluding late payments caused by events determined to be outside the control of the Agency).

To keep the monthly error rate of accuracy for the volume of payments within 0.1 per cent.

To Support the Delivery of Joint Personnel Administration Programme

Subject to Main Gate approval, Joint Personnel Administration Partnering Agreement to be signed, by 30 September 2004 for the Manufacture, Roll Out and Delivery.

To commence the Roll Out of Joint Personnel Administration Core System for the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Army by October 2005, May 2006 and October 2006 respectively.

To transform the Agency to Deliver the full Potential of the Joint Personnel Administration Environment

To deliver Joint Personnel Administration Centre capability through six stages, commencing, June 2004 Stage 1 and March 2005 Stage 2.

To deliver 100 per cent. of Key critical path milestones in Agency Transition Plan.

To deliver a cost effective change programme in accordance with departmental priorities

To deliver 96 per cent. of major change to ensure individual development Projects are delivered to specification and schedule.

To deliver 96 per cent. of all minor change in accordance with Joint Change Management Team plans agreed by partner and customer.

To Develop targets for implementation in 2005–06 that will measure the delivery of Pay. Pensions and Personnel Services against Service Level Agreements

To achieve the agreed service levels of all Performance Assessment Indicators (levels 4 and 5 of current contract Schedule 2) not already included in Key Targets 1 and 2.

To meet approved efficiency targets for the delivery of core services

To reduce the unit cost by 6 per cent. in 2004–05 which will contribute to a 12 per cent. reduction over a 4-year period from 2002–03 for the delivery of core pay and personnel administration.

Lifer cases and oral hearings

A new scheme for the preparation and submission of mandatory lifer dossiers has considerably speeded up the review process. A new key performance target for lifer dossier production, requiring 80 per cent. of dossiers to be sent to the Parole Board on target, is now being achieved. Oral hearings to review the recall of extended sentence prisoners have been successfully introduced.

The Parole Board has developed a system for appraising judicial members of the Board, who currently chair most of the Board's oral hearings.

New procedures to ensure timely processing of recall requests made by the Probation Service have been successfully introduced. New arrangements for handling representations against recall have been implemented and which provide for a greater input from the probation service. Furthermore, the Secretary of State has issued new Directions to the Board on considering of recalls and their representations against recall, which has clarified the Board's role and the basis on which it is asked to take decisions and make recommendations. The Directions are also now more in line with the Probation Service National Standards on licence enforcement and reflect that the aim of licence enforcement should be not only to reduce the risk of further offending, but also to make clear that the licence period is an integral part of the sentence and compliance with licence conditions is an important part of licence supervision.

Improving the operational and working practices between the Prison Service and IND, which has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of parole notifications issued on target.

A Review of corporate governance, resulting in tighter terms of reference for management committees. The Board also achieved IiP status and has recently achieved re-accreditation. Members and staff development has become a greater priority for the Board, with systematic training needs analysis and evaluation mechanisms adopted. The Board is also in the process of developing a whole system approach with the Prison Service to implement change and has improved its focus upon communication, both internal and external.

The Review provided an opportunity to raise the profile of the parole process which was achieved via the 42 area committees of the Criminal Justice Strategy Committees and the National Criminal Justice Consultative Council. A series of Parole Clerk Fora have been introduced to provide for training and topical issues to be discussed. This has given parole clerks a much-needed voice to highlight areas of "best practice" and these suggestions are being taken forward in order to further improve parole performance. The Review has also led to Victim Personal Statements taken by the police at the time of the offence being included, where available, in parole dossiers. Victims are also generally more informed about the parole process.

Of the 118 recommendations, only 18 remain to be completed. The Review is being project managed by the Early Release and Recall Section of the Sentencing Policy and Penalties Unit of the Home Office, working in conjunction with the Probation Service, Prison Service, Immigration and Nationality Directorate and the Parole Board. Their progress is being monitored by a Programme Board (which is chaired by the Head of the Sentencing Policy and Penalties Unit), in which all the relevant criminal justice agencies are represented. I have decided that the time is right formally to draw the review to a close, although the work on the outstanding recommendations will continue and I will receive regular reports on its progress.

As a part of the Review, the Secretary of State's Directions to the Parole Board concerning the release of determinate sentence prisoners have been reviewed and a revised copy of these Directions has been served upon the Parole Board today. The purpose of the Directions is to structure the Board's discretion and require it to have regard to risk. The balance of the Directions is between public protection and the rehabilitative benefits of early release.

In reviewing the existing Directions, a number of considerations were taken into account.

We were concerned that the voice of the victim, when considering whether or not a determinate sentence prisoner is suitable for early release on parole, needed to be heard. The Victim's Charter and Victim Personal Statements have been in use for some time now, with the latter being a useful vehicle for victims to state how they have been affected by the offence. We were keen to build on this by requiring the Board to consider the impact of the offence upon the victim or the victim's family when assessing suitability for early release on parole.

The existing Directions make no reference to previous record (save in the case of violent and sexual offenders and then only to previous offences of three similar nature). Previous offending (and previous custodial penalties) is the most reliable predictor of future offending, and we were concerned that the new Directions should recognise this.

The existing Directions rightly draw attention to the relevance of previous breaches of trust. However, they fail to include the prisoner's likely compliance with the conditions of his licence, taking into account where there have been breaches of trust in the past and during the course of his present sentence. This omission has been rectified.

The new Directions require the Parole Board to take account of an actuarial risk predictor tool, where such a tool is available.

In conclusion, the new Directions provide a sharper focus on risk assessment and, for the first time, formally recognises the role of victims in the parole process. They will come into force on 1 May 2004.

Copies of the Directions are available in the House Library.

Restrictions on the numbers of taxis

In England and Wales outside London, local authorities (district/borough councils or unitary authorities) have been able to restrict the number of taxi licences that they issue since at least 1847. In practice, some 45 per cent. of authorities do so at present, but the legislation allows them to control numbers only if they are satisfied that there is no significant unmet demand.

Local authorities with quantity restrictions must be able to justify their policy in the event of an appeal by a taxi licence applicant who has had his application refused on the grounds of quantity controls. The usual method of ascertaining the level of demand is by means of a survey. The legislation does not stipulate any specific frequency for the surveys, but any licensing authority that controlled taxi numbers would want to ensure that its policy was based on up-to-date and sound information.

The OFT recommended that local authorities should not retain this power because they considered that such restrictions can:

• reduce the availability of taxis
• increase waiting times for consumers
• reduce choice and safety for consumers
• restrict those wanting to set up a taxi business.

The Government agree that consumers should enjoy the benefits of competition in the taxi market and considers that it is detrimental to those seeking entry to a market if it is restricted. The Government are therefore strongly encouraging all those local authorities who still maintain quantity restrictions to remove restrictions as soon as possible. Restrictions should be retained only if there is a strong justification that removal of the restrictions would lead to significant consumer detriment as a result of local conditions.

However, the Government received a significant number of representations expressing the view that ultimately local authorities remain best placed to determine local transport needs and to make the decisions about them in the light of local circumstances. The Government believe that local authorities should be given the opportunity to assess their own needs, in the light of the OFT findings, rather than moving to a legislative solution.

Nevertheless the Government believe that local authorities should publish and justify their reasons for restricting the number of taxi licences issued. The Government will therefore write shortly to each district/ borough council or unitary authority maintaining quantity restrictions and ask them to review by 31 March 2005 the local case for such restrictions, and at least every three years thereafter, and make their conclusions available to the public.

The Government intend that the letter will include guidelines on quantity restrictions, including a review of the level of service available to consumers and consumer choice. The guidelines will cover:

effective surveys to measure demand, including latent demand, for taxi services;

consultation with:

• all those working in the market;
• consumer and passenger (including disabled) groups; groups which represent those passengers with special needs; the police;
• a wide range of transport stakeholders e.g. rail/bus/coach providers and traffic managers.

publication of conclusions. This will include an explanation of the particular local circumstances that justify restrictions, what benefits they deliver to consumers and how decisions on numbers have been reached. Authorities will be encouraged to make all the evidence gathered to support the decision-making process available for public scrutiny.

This is to ensure that decisions to impose restrictions are based upon strong up-to-date evidence of benefits to consumers locally for their retention, and that the decision-making process is transparent and consultative. The Government consider that this would help local authorities with quantity restrictions to justify their policy if they were challenged about refusing to issue a taxi licence in the courts. If restrictions are not shown to be delivering clear benefits to consumers, it is the view of Government that local authorities should remove them.

The Government will review in association with the OFT the extent of quantity controls in three years' time to monitor progress towards the lifting of controls. If necessary, the Government will then explore further options through the RRO or legislative process if insufficient progress has been made.

The Local Transport Plan process requires local transport authorities to look holistically at how the transport provision for their area contributes to wider objectives such as economic growth, accessibility and the environment. Taxis and private hire vehicles are an integral part of local transport provision and should be properly taken into account in this process. The Government intends that the next five-year Local Transport Plans, due to be submitted by authorities in 2005, will include justification of any quantity restrictions in the wider local transport context¹ .

¹Those few authorities that will not be required to produce a Local Transport Plan will still be expected to justify their quantity restriction policy if any of the districts in their area have such restrictions.

The Government will also include guidelines on quantity restrictions in its best practice guidance on taxi licensing.

Maintaining quality in service provision

The OFT states that there is a strong case for regulating quality and safety both for taxis and PHVs as:

consumers cannot judge certain standards when getting into a taxi or PHV; and

taxi services can have a role to play in broader social welfare policy.

The OFT concludes that quality and safety standards should be maintained and supported by effective enforcement. The Government agree.

The OFT recognises that local authorities should be able to apply quality and safety regulations to suit their needs. In doing this, local authorities should ensure that any quality and safety specifications set do not go beyond what is required to achieve their policy aim. To help them, OFT recommended that the Department for Transport promote and disseminate local best practice in applying quality and safety regulations.

The Government agree with OFT that quality standards have an important role to play in securing the safety of the travelling public and ensuring that they are provided with a high level of service. The Government also agree that these decisions should continue to be made by local authorities, but considers that there is scope for more sharing of best practice, particularly in ensuring proportionality.

The Government will therefore consult local authorities and other stakeholders in order to develop and publish best practice guidance as OFT recommend. The Government intend that this will comprehensively cover licensing issues, including suitable criteria for licensed vehicles, drivers and PHV operators; driver training; safety; security and other topical issues. The draft guidance will also include sections on quantity controls; fares (see below); enforcement; taxi zones; flexible transport services; and a model taxi/PHV policy for the Local Transport Plan process.

The aim would be to consult on draft guidance later this year, with a view to publication by the end of the year.

Fares

The OFT recommends that local authorities should not set fixed or minimum fares. They should only set taxi fare tariffs which represent the maximum that can be charged:

• to protect vulnerable consumers;
• to address a lack of price competition; and
• to allow consumers to negotiate lower fares in certain situations.

The Government agree that where taxi fares are set by local authorities they should be a maximum. As the OFT notes, this is already the case in England and Wales outside London. The Government agree that the situation in London should be clarified and is therefore grateful that the licensing authority for London has agreed to make clear through secondary measures that fares set in London are a maximum rather than mandatory as soon as it is feasible to do so.

The Government also note OFT's advice that consumers should be encouraged to negotiate for lower fares, particularly when booking taxi services over the telephone. In promoting more competition in the market, the Government will ask the OFT to advise on guidance as part of the Government's best practice guidance for local authorities (which will also encompass best practice on quality and quantity controls including unmet demand surveys as outlined above). The guidance will make clear that initiatives to promote greater competition should not jeopardise the safety of consumers or drivers, or create enforcement issues. There is scope to encourage some firms to differentiate their services thereby providing a greater range of choice for consumers (for example by providing a "happy hour" of lower cost journeys for, say, pensioners).

Further issues

The OFT also commented on several further issues that concern taxi and PHV licensing but which are outside the remit of the report:

Regulatory Reform Action Plan

The Government's Regulatory Reform Action Plan published in 2002 contained a number of proposals to use the streamlined order-making procedure in the Regulatory Reform Act 2001 to amend burdensome primary legislation. The plan included four proposals for taxi and PHV legislation in England and Wales outside London, which were subject to Ministerial decision. These were:

removing the requirement for Secretary of State approval of local authority resolutions to amalgamate taxi zones;

standardising driver and operator licence duration;

removing local authority powers to restrict taxi licence numbers in their area; and

clarifying/simplifying the position on PHV cross border hirings across the borders of different licensing authorities.

The OFT considered that these proposals represented areas of concern and recommended that they should be addressed. The issue of restrictions of taxi licences is covered earlier in this action plan. The Government are taking forward the repeal of the need for the Secretary of State to approve taxi zone amalgamation resolutions in the regulatory reform order that will repeal various local authority consent regimes. The Government will include the issues of driver and operator licence duration and cross border hirings of PHVs (and taxis) for consultation in the draft best practice guidance.

Taxi Licensing Zones

The OFT considers that where taxi licensing areas are divided into more than one zone, greater clarity would be brought to the market if local authorities removed the zones and established a single licensing area. The Government agree and will include a statement to this effect in the draft best practice guidance.

Children

Over 1.6 million children have benefited from free part time nursery education for three and four year olds; and 400,000 children and their families in deprived area have been helped by 524 Sure Start centres.

As a result of this settlement, the number of children's centres will rise to 1,700 by 2008, covering all 20 per cent. of the country's most disadvantaged wards. We will also announce in due course an expansion of childcare places, family support services, and an expansion of extended schools, which bring together education, health, children's social services and childcare.

This settlement will provide the funding necessary to address the agenda set out in the "Every Child Matters: The Next Steps", including the establishment of Children's Trusts to develop in each locality integrated services for children and families and improved care and life chances for children in care.

Schools

As a result of the Government's class size pledge, 350,000 five, six and seven year olds are no longer in classes of 31 or more. There are around 25,000 more teachers and 80,000 more support staff than in 1997. In 1997, half of all 11 year olds went to secondary school unable to read, write and count well. Now it is a quarter. And the international PIRLS study in March 2003 showed that our 10 year olds are the third best readers in the world. This settlement will enable primary schools and teachers to continue to raise standards of literacy and numeracy supported by workforce reform and the recruitment of more teaching assistants.

In 1997, just 45.1 per cent. of pupils got five good grades at GCSE. Last year it was 52.9 per cent. And it is rising fastest in our toughest area—pupils in Excellence in Cities areas are improving at more than twice the rate of pupil everywhere else.

Half of all secondary pupils are now taught in specialist schools—there were just 257 specialist schools in 1997. And they are getting better results—56.7 per cent. of pupils in specialist schools get five good grades at GCSE. This settlement will continue the drive to achieve excellence and to narrow the gaps in attainment between schools and between pupils within individual schools. It will make a reality of our commitment that every school that meets the standard will have the opportunity to gain specialist status; and will allow a continued expansion in the number of academies.

The resources will also enable us to respond to the recommendations of the Tomlinson report, including ensuring that education equips young people for the world of work.

Over the spending review period total Departmental capital spending will rise from £3.85 billion in 2004–05 to £6.78 billion in 2007–08. This will ensure that, through our Building Schools for the Future programme, by 2015 every secondary school can be refurbished or rebuilt with world class technology in every school and the best state of the art learning in every classroom.

Accompanying this new investment, we will develop a new relationship with schools to help deliver personalised learning tailored to the talents and needs of every pupil, underpinned by a strengthened accountability framework, a simplified school improvement process and improved information and data management.

Higher Education

Publicly planned funding for higher education has risen dramatically under this government. Expenditure on science and research will have increased in 2005–06 by £1.25 billion a year compared to 2002–03—around 30 per cent. in real terms.

The settlement will allow investment in the sector to continue to grow in real terms. It will enable the Government to advance progress towards its target for 50 per cent. participation in higher education and at the same time maintain real terms student funding per head. It will provide the resources needed to deliver the reforms set out in our White Paper "The Future of Higher Education": improving and rewarding excellent teaching; increasing investment in science and research; enabling more people to enter higher education; and supporting those from disadvantaged backgrounds by restoring a grant worth up to £2,700 in 2006, and abolishing up-front tuition fees for all students.

Lifelong learning

In December 2003, 255,000 young people were studying Modern Apprenticeships, compared with just 75,800 in 1997. The number of working age people in England with no qualifications in 1985 was 10.5 million. In 2003 it was 4.6 million. Between 2001 and 2002 over 300,000 adults were helped to raise their numeracy and literacy skills.

The settlement will provide for new measures—through the New Deal for Skills—to tackle the UK's large number of adults with low skills in the workforce. It will offer, in job centres, for the employed and well as unemployed, a one-stop skills service with access to personal skills advisers and training. By 2007 1.5 million adults will have improved their basic skills as part of our longer term aim of ensuring that by 2010 that the number of adults in the workforce who lack NVQ2 or equivalent qualifications is reduced by at least 40 per cent.

We will take forward the measures set out in our Skills Strategy to meet the needs of employers, employees and individual learners; including a key role for the new Sector Skills Councils.

Efficiency

The front-line will al so see resources freed up and cost pressures reduced through efficiency gains worth at least 2.5 per cent. each year over the Spending Review period. These will be delivered through reducing administration costs, reforming procurement and unlocking productivity gains from technology and workforce improvements. For example:

There will be a 31 per cent. reduction in Department for Education and Skills headquarters staff by 2008–1,460 fewer staff.

On procurement, we will take a more pro-active role to help schools and colleges achieve savings through collaboration and wider agreements—the recent agreement with Microsoft which reduces the cost of software to schools by £46 million over three years shows what is possible.

We will work with our partners in children's services, education and training to ensure that resources—people and money—can be used as effectively as possible, for example through reduced bureaucracy and workforce reform.

The Government's aim is to achieve excellence in standards of education and levels of skills, and to give everyone the opportunity to develop their learning. This settlement provides the necessary resources to support and deliver these objectives.