Following the Home Secretary's decision not to extend further the life of the Firearms Consultative Committee, we have been considering how best to establish a forum for consultation and to assist in the current review of legislation. We have decided to establish a broad-based Firearms Advisory Committee with around 21 members to be drawn in equal measure from shooting interests; law enforcement/regulation; and organisations and community groups with an interest in the social consequences of firearms use and misuse.The committee's terms of reference will be:

I have today laid before both Houses, in draft, two codes of practice concerning the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) relating to employment and associated matters. The codes have been prepared by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) under section 53A of the DDA.The issue of the new codes is necessitated by changes to the legislation by virtue of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations 2003 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Pensions) Regulations 2003, which transpose requirements of European Council Directive 2000/78/EC concerning disability discrimination, and come into force on 1 October this year.The draft code on employment and occupation covers the provisions of the DDA (as amended) relating to disabled employees, contract workers, police officers, partners in firms, barristers and advocates and persons undertaking practical work experience. The other draft code concerns the duties, under the amended Act, of Trade Organisations and Qualifications Bodies.The new codes will replace the existing ones issued by the Secretary of State in 1996 and 1999, which deal only with employment and trade organisations, respectively. The codes are issued by the DRC, subject to approval by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and after laying them in draft before Parliament for 40 sitting days. The codes are intended to give practical guidance to those to whom the relevant provisions of the DDA apply.Section 53A of the DDA provides that failure to observe any provision of a code of practice does not of itself make a person liable to any proceedings, but that any provision of a code which appears to a court or tribunal to be relevant to any question arising in any proceedings under the Act shall be taken into account in determining that question.The draft codes have undergone public consultation, and a report of the process has been published by the DRC on its website.The changes to the legislation from October will bring significant improvements in the rights of disabled people in employment and in vocational training. In particular, they will extend the employment provisions of the DDA to one million additional employers and seven million further jobs, including 600,000 in which disabled workers are already employed, Employers and others with new duties from 1 October have no need to be apprehensive about these new duties, as they will not be required to make unreasonable changes. The new codes of practice will help them to decide what is reasonable in particular circumstances.The Commission will be publishing the codes in advance of the legislative changes coming into force, so that those with new duties under the DDA can consider what reasonable adjustments they may need to make.The intended commencement date is 1 October 2004, to coincide with the date on which the changes to the legislation come into force.

The Government has today issued a consultation paper seeking the views of social landlords and tenant groups on its proposals to update guidance issued in 1993 on the exception from the right to buy scheme of homes that are particularly suitable for occupation by elderly persons.From the inception of the right to buy in 1980, certain kinds of property have been excepted from the scheme. These are listed in paragraph 11 of schedule 5 to the Housing Act 1985. One of these exceptions is that a landlord may deny a tenant the right to buy if his home is particularly suitable for occupation by elderly persons, having regard to its location, size, design, heating system and other features paragraph 11 also provides that a tenant denied the right to buy on these grounds may appeal to the Secretary of State. A joint Department of the Environment and Welsh Office circular, issued in 1993, provides guidance on the main points on which the Secretary of State will normally expect to be satisfied when determining such appeals.The Government's Housing Bill proposes that such appeals by tenants living in England should, in future, be determined by a residential property tribunal rather than by the Secretary of State. This will provide administrative benefits but will make no substantive difference to landlords or to tenants who appeal under paragraph 11. Such appeals in Wales will continue to be determined by the National Assembly for Wales. The Government do not propose to change the terms of the exception in paragraph 11 in any way.In support of this transfer of jurisdiction, the Government proposes to review and update the guidance in the 1993 circular. Clearer guidance will benefit both tenants and landlords by reducing ambiguities that have led to unnecessary work, disagreements, and disappointment. Among other things, the Government proposes that landlords should explain the effect of the paragraph 11 exclusion to their tenants, and that elderly tenants who are being rehoused should be advised if in their landlords' view the right to buy would be unlikely to apply to the properties that they are being offered.The responses to the consultation paper will be taken into account in preparing the revised guidance. It is intended that the new circular will be issued by the end of 2004.

On 30 October, I announced to the Health Committee that the Department would be conducting a review of its arm's length bodies (ALBs). The first stage of this has now been completed. I wanted to update the House on the decisions that I have taken and how the review will move forward to the next stage.In his Budget speech, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer remarked on the importance the Government attach to improving public sector efficiency and reducing bureaucracy. In the Budget report, he set out that "the pursuit of efficiency also includes reducing bureaucracy, that both cuts headquarters' administration costs and frees up time of front line professionals to respond better to the needs of their customers". The Department's ALB review needs to be seen in this context and related to the work of Sir Peter Gershon in reviewing public sector efficiency. It is about putting the frontline first, and it is clear from the first stage of the ALB review that, although much good work continues to be done by ALBs, there is considerable scope for improving efficiency and reducing bureaucracy.

The Government is committed to ensuring that regulations are necessary, give effective protection, balance cost and risk, are fair and command public confidence. In accordance with this, we require Departments to produce and publish regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) for all regulatory proposals likely to have an impact on business, charities or voluntary bodies.I have today presented to Parliament a Command Paper listing RIAs published between 1 July and 31 December 2003. Copies of those RIAs listed are available in the Library. This is the twentieth such Command Paper.

I am today publishing a report on Departments' and Agencies' performance on handling Members' and Peers' correspondence for 2003. Details are shown in the table. Departmental figures are based on substantive replies unless otherwise indicated.The footnotes on the table provide general background information on how the figures have been compiled.