The Cabinet Office Performance Report 2002 has today been published and laid before Parliament. Copies have been placed in the libraries of both Houses.

The report 'Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service 2001' prepared for my department by Aon Limited shows that by applying the same methodology as in previous years the average level of sickness absence was 9.2 days per staff year. This represents a 7 per cent. decrease over the equivalent figure of 9.9 days set out in the report for 2000. The report contains a comprehensive analysis of the 2001 figures.Calculated on the basis of absence per person, the figure for the Civil Service was 8.0 days. According to the CBI survey for 2001, this compares favourably with a figure of 10.1 days for the public sector as a whole and is only slightly more than the average rate of 7.1 days for all sectors.Departments have published Service Delivery Agreements which contain their individual targets for reducing sickness absence. Overall the Civil Service has been targeted to reduce sickness absence by 30 per cent. (to 7.2 days per staff year) by 2003 against the 1998 baseline. My department is continuing to work with other departments and agencies as they take forward their plans to reduce sickness absence.I have placed copies of the Aon report in the Libraries of the House.

The number of records released under the Open Government Initiative since its introduction in 1992 now stands at over 124,000 and relates to releases up to 31 December 2001. The breakdown of releases is as follows:

The level of support available to students in the academic year 2003–04 will be 2.4 per cent. higher than for 2002–03, in line with forecast price increases. I am placing a Memorandum in the Library giving details of the new loan, grant and fee rates for 2003–04. These rates will be incorporated in the Education (Student Support) Regulations, which cover support for eligible students under the current arrangements, and in the Education (Mandatory Awards) Regulations and the Education (Student Loans) Amendment Regulations, which cover the decreasing number of students who are still receiving awards and loans under the pre-1998 arrangements. These regulations will all be laid before Parliament in due course.

On 9 December I set out, Official Report col. 22, our outline investment and reform plans for the education and skills sector, except for higher education. This statement gives the House some further details of spending, within the totals already announced, in a number of key areas. I also attach a table which sets out in detail the allocations I have made. I will announce our plans for Higher Education in January.

As requested during the final stages of the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons on Monday night, I wish to respond by written statement to the debate.The Government has a specific manifesto commitment to enable Parliament to reach a conclusion on hunting with dogs. The manifesto also made it clear that we have no intention whatsoever of placing restrictions on the sports of angling and shooting.Many of the questions raised in the debate can be answered by a careful reading of the Bill itself, it seeks to be tough but fair. It seeks to resolve the issue in a way which is based on the right principles tested against evidence, that will make good law, that is enforceable and that will stand the test of time. But as well as being practical it deals clearly with the moral issue. At the heart of the Bill is the key purpose—to prevent cruelty associated with hunting with dogs. It tackles cruelty but it also recognises the need to deal with pests and to protect livestock and crops.

Today I have placed in the Library a copy of the Report on the third phase of the research programme into alternative policing approaches towards the management of conflict. Copies of the reports on the previous two phases of the programme were placed in the Library of the House on 4 April and 30 November 2001.The programme was set up, in response to the Patten recommendations on public order equipment, to:

Copies of the second report of the Northern Ireland Census 2001—Northern Ireland Census 2001 Key Statistics' have today been laid in the Northern Ireland Assembly as required by statute. Copies have also been lodged in the House of Commons Library and the House of Lords Library.

On 12 September 2000, the European Court of Justice ruled that privately operated tolls should bear VAT. The Government will implement this ruling with effect from 1 February 2003, once consultations with toll operators have been concluded.At the time of this ruling, the Government made clear its intention that motorists should not pay higher toll charges as a result of the imposition of VAT. Our intention remains that tolls will not increase on account of VAT being levied from 1 February.

The second published Debt Management Account covering the year to the 31 March 2002 is being laid before the House and published today. Copies will be available in the Libraries of both Houses.

The tonnage tax was introduced in 2000 as part of a package of measures designed to help revive the UK shipping industry. In order to place a check on the cost of the tonnage tax, there are rules that restrict the amount of capital allowances that can be claimed by a lessor for expenditure on a ship that is used for activities within the tonnage tax. These rules apply only to finance leases. Some lessors are, however, now offering long-term leases for ships that have the many of the characteristics of finance leases without being finance leases in form. Such leases can be used to allow lessors to claim significantly more in capital allowances than had been intended when the tonnage tax was introduced. The extra cost is not justified and does nothing to further the objectives of the regime. The next Finance Bill will, therefore, contain a provision extending the restrictions. The provision will take effect for leases entered into on or after today.The Inland Revenue are today publishing further details of the proposal. Draft legislation containing the provision will be issued shortly and the Inland Revenue will consult with those concerned on the details of that legislation.

The introduction of state registers for domiciliary care agencies provides the Government with the opportunity to extend the VAT exemption for welfare services to those services provided by state-regulated private welfare agencies. I am pleased to announce that when the House returns from the Christmas recess the Government will lay the necessary change before Parliament.

I am pleased to announce that 88 of the 135 bids submitted to the Help Fund have been successful. As around a quarter of these are joint bids from groups of Local Authorities, the Fund will help 272 Authorities overall. The Help Fund was set up to address core problems in Housing Benefit delivery at a local level and is a practical demonstration of the Government's commitment to working with local authorities to improve the standard of Housing Benefit administration. The funded projects totalling over £4.6 million will make significant improvements in areas such as training, customer service and IT capabilities. I am placing a full list of the successful bids in the library today.

The joint DCMS/Strategy Unit report on sport and physical activity will be published today.Sport is an important part of many people's lives. It defines us as a nation. It teaches us about life. We learn self-discipline and teamwork from it. We learn how to win with grace and lose with dignity. It gets us fit. It keeps us healthy. It forms a central part of the cultural and recreational parts of our lives. Millions of us are involved in one way or another: as players, as coaches or officials, organising clubs, teams and fixtures, or just watching.Sport and physical activity can help the Government achieve key objectives. Crucially, it can help us tackle serious health issues. It can also help to contribute to other areas, such as crime reduction, social inclusion and help with the development of young people in schools.Because of our commitment to sport it is now receiving unprecedented levels of public funding—through both the Lottery and the Exchequer. This joint report on sport and physical activity is about how to get more of that cash to the front line and spend less on bureaucracy, on box ticking and procedures. It makes some fundamental recommendations of how to reform the public and other structures which handle money in sport. And it presents our view of how we would like the sporting world to develop over the next 15 to 20 years.The key messages in the report are that we should:

I am pleased to announce that the videoon-demand industry has made excellent progress with the development of a binding code of practice to apply when video-on-demand services are de-regulated, and have written to me with details of that Code. I am satisfied that the Code represents a system that will provide adequate protection for children, and to subscribers to video-on-demand services. I have asked the industry to keep me informed of its progress in establishing the self-regulatory system set out in the Code, so that it can come fully into effect on enactment of the relevant provisions of the Communications Bill.I have placed copies of the Code of Practice in the libraries of both Houses and the text is also available on the DCMS Departmental website at www.culture.gov.uk.

I have decided to retain the current limit of tint for visors at 50 per cent. following a three month consultation on possible options.The large majority of motorcyclists were in favour of dark visors which they regard as the best way to reduce glare. Road safety organisations expressed concerns about the safety of other vulnerable road users, given the potential for misuse of dark visors at dusk or at night.My decision has not been taken lightly and I considered the views and contributions from everyone who responded to the consultation. However, I remain unconvinced that the wearing of dark visors would not present dangers to road safety.A technological solution may provide the best way forward. I would urge standards bodies to encourage the development of such solutions so that in the longer-term visor designs lend themselves equally to both day and night time use.

The UK aviation security regime is one of the most developed in the world. It was further tightened in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in the United States, and is kept under permanent review.Earlier this year that process of review led the Government to decide that the existing package of measures for in-flight security should be reinforced, and deterrence increased, by the development of a capability to place covert, specially trained armed police officers aboard UK civil aircraft, should that be warranted. That capability now exists, and is a sensible and measured addition to the range of security measures we have available for addressing the threat to UK interests and to UK aviation. That threat remains a real one, but this new capability has not been developed and is not being announced now in response to any new or specific intelligence.This further security measure joins others the Government has taken to increase security both on the ground at airports and in flight since the attacks in the USA. We have stepped up the search regimes for staff, passengers and their hand and hold baggage, vehicles, cargo and catering, with a particular emphasis on flights going to key destinations such as the USA; added to the range of articles not able to be taken aboard aircraft; and extended the National Aviation Security Programme to smaller aircraft and aerodromes. Additional funding has been made available for airport policing. We have also accepted in principle all of the recommendations of Sir John Wheeler's recent review of airport security, which will in particular enhance the co-ordination of the security effort across different departments and agencies. On in-flight security, we are moving faster than the international community at large to ensure UK aircraft are fitted with intrusion-resistant flight deck doors, and last month we acted to ensure that flight deck doors on foreign aircraft are kept locked, as they have been on UK aircraft since very soon after the US attacks. We have also placed strict limits on those able to be on the flight deck of UK aircraft.The Government will continue to work with the UK airline industry on sustainable measures for responding to the terrorist threat.

The sixth report to Parliament on the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme (PPRS) was published today.The report, entitled "PPRS: Sixth Report to Parliament", covers the management and operation of the 1999 scheme, which was introduced in October 1999 including the delivery of the 4.5 per cent. price cut. It explains the Government's objectives for the scheme and gives consolidated information on company annual financial returns. The report sets out the contribution made to the economy by the UK based pharmaceutical industry and sets out the conclusions of the joint Department of Health and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) study into the extent of competition in the supply of branded medicines to the National Health Service.Copies of the report have been placed in the Library.

The joint Department of Health and Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) study into the extent of competition in the supply of branded medicines to the NHS was published today.An integral part of the current pharmaceutical price regulation scheme (PPRS) agreement that took effect on 1 October 1999 is a joint assessment by the Department and the ABPI of the scope, pace and change and practical impact of competition in the supply and use of branded medicines for the NHS. The results of this study will be available to both the Government and the pharmaceutical industry in considering the future direction of policy on the PPRS.The study comprised seven components and work on each of the components was undertaken jointly by the Department and the ABPI with some elements of the analysis contracted out to third parties. The study allowed an unprecedented level of shared data collection and analysis between the Department and the branded pharmaceutical industry in the UK.Copies of the study, entitled "PPRS: The Study into the Extent of Competition in the Supply of Branded Medicines to the NHS", have been placed in the

National Health Service franchising is a new approach being taken by the Department to find the best available managers to take over the functions of the chief executive and, where necessary, other senior management positions in, and to identify organisations which might be called upon to exercise the functions of, some of the most poorly performing NHS trusts in England. The prime goal under new franchised management arrangements will be to address the particular areas where a trust has performed poorly and to demonstrate its capacity to sustain improved performance.Franchising will bring in new management skills to trusts that have been under-performing, as part of the Government's wider drive to raise standards in all parts of the NHS.Until now, NHS franchises have only been awarded to suitably qualified people within the NHS. The Department has now widened these opportunities to other areas of the public sector, the voluntary sector and the private sector, as well as to suitably qualified individuals, by inviting formal applications from both within and outside the NHS for inclusion on the NHS franchising register of expertise.The names of the organisations on the National Health Service franchising register of expertise have been published today and a copy has been placed in the Library. It is also available on the Department of Health's website at www.doh.qov.uldnhsfranchisinq. The register includes 62 NHS trusts whose three star status gives them automatic inclusion on the register, Trent Strategic Health Authority, and eight private sector organizations—five of which are based in Britain, one in Germany, one in Canada and one has its parent company based in Sweden.The NHS Appointments Commission set up an independent panel, under the chairmanship of Sir William Wells, to assess the applications received from organisations and individuals who expressed an interest following national advertisements in May 2002. The criteria for entry to the register were designed to assess interested parties' expertise and commitment to the

public service ethos necessary to turn round failing NHS organisations and services in the future. The criteria included:

Scottish shop workers and betting workers who do not wish to work on Sundays are not protected in the same way as similar workers in England and Wales. I am therefore launching today a consultation exercise on a possible change in the law to end this discrimination.This follows representations to me about employers moving away from a voluntary arrangement which gave Scottish workers the same rights available under the law to workers in England and Wales. The consultation paper sets out a case for extending to Scotland legal protection in the Employment Rights Act 1996. It invites comments by Friday, 14 March 2003.I have written to key employer and employee organisations across Scotland inviting them to meet with Scotland Office Ministers to discuss our proposals.Copies of the consultation paper have been placed in the libraries of both Houses.

The current Chair of the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority—who is also the Chief Executive of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets—plans to step down in October 2003. My rt hon Friend the Secretary of State and I have decided that separate individuals should be sought for the two roles. Accordingly, we are seeking a non-executive Chair, who will provide leadership and direction to the other members of the Authority and to the Chief Executive, has an appreciation of how competitive markets operate, and be committed to Ofgem's social and environmental obligations. The Chair-designate will join the Authority on appointment initially as a non-executive member, and thereafter will take the lead in the selection of a Chief Executive.

The repeal of Section 19 of the Fire Services Act 1947 is an essential element of the move to risk based fire cover which is at the centre of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Fire Service—the Bain review. I announced on Monday 16 December that I would take the earliest opportunity to make the necessary amendment to the Fire Services Act. I am now announcing that I shall be proposing an amendment to the Local Government Bill which is currently before the House.This demonstrates the Government's commitment to fulfil our part of the programme of modernisation proposed by the Bain Review.

I am pleased to announce that the Armed Forces personnel deployed on firefighting duties have been given the extended break over Christmas they richly deserve. This does not imply any reduction in our commitment to the provision of emergency fire cover during any further industrial action.However, the FBU have called off the nine-day strike it had planned to start on 16 December and have not announced any plans to strike again until 28 January. The FBU would be required to give seven days notice of any further strike.

The first stage of the Quinquennial Review (QQR) of the Met Office has been completed. This has focused primarily on the future status of the Met Office and on the arrangements for strategic oversight by its parent department, the Ministry of Defence.The Stage 1 report examined a number of alternative status options for the Met Office but concluded that the Met Office should remain a Trading Fund Agency of the Ministry of Defence for the foreseeable future. It concluded also that there was a need for a substantial reform of the arrangements for oversight of the Agency by its Owner, the Secretary of State for Defence. The recommended reforms comprise the re-shaping of the Defence Met Board into a UK Met Board, including in its membership representatives of the three principal Civil Stakeholder interests in the Met Office's product (Environment, Transport and Civil Contingencies) alongside the existing Defence Stakeholder interest; the adoption of a more proactive stance by the new Board, with the focus on identifying in advance and resolving key strategic issues so as to provide a clear framework policy framework for Met Office management; and the provision of adequate administrative support to the new Board.I have today given my endorsement of these recommendations, and action is now in hand to give effect to them as soon as possible. It is planned that the UK Met Board should come into existence early in 2003. A copy of the QQR Stage 1 report has been placed in the Library of the House.