A revised edition of the "List of Ministerial Responsibilities" (January 2005) has been published today and copies placed in the Library. It can also be obtained electronically at: www.knowledgenetwork._gov.uk/elmr/minister.nsf

Improving safeguards for children and vulnerable adults in relation to gambling is a Government priority. As outlined in the Gambling Bill, we intend to introduce greater safeguards than are available under the present law. We need to address the challenges that are caused by new technology, by the internet and by the steady growth in consumer demand. Without the Bill, problem gambling is likely to increase. The safeguards will allow the regulator—the proposed new gambling commission—and the Government to keep the position firmly under control and to act swiftly to cut the supply of gambling opportunities, should that prove necessary.

Our intention, subject to parliamentary approval, is that we protect as many individuals as we can, from as early a date as possible. In order to do this we need to carry out essential activities to set up the gambling commission, which will require some expenditure in advance of the legislation achieving Royal Assent. Delay in funding the setting up of the gambling commission would undermine good progress being made in this area and would be contrary to the public interest.

An advance from the contingencies fund has therefore been sought and approved. Without this advance, work on the technology to support the commission's operation, accommodation and appointment of certain senior staff would suffer. This would set back plans to introduce the new safeguards that are urgently required.

Parliamentary approval for additional resources will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport following Royal Assent of the Gambling Bill. Pending that approval, urgent cash expenditure of £367,533 will be met by a repayable cash advance from the contingencies fund.

As part of the Government's continuing commitment to openness and transparency on Gulf veterans' illnesses I am today publishing the regular data on the mortality of veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf conflict. The most recent figures for the period 1 April 1991 to 31 December 2004 were published on 17 January 2005. The tables from that publication are set out below. Table 1 gives the causes of death to UK Gulf veterans over that period; table 2 shows the deaths due to neoplasms (cancers) among Gulf veterans.

As with previous information, the data for Gulf veterans are compared to that of a control group known as the Era cohort, which is made up of armed forces personnel of a similar profile in terms of gender, service, regular/reservist status and rank, who were not deployed to the Gulf. Subsequent to the previous release of this data, further examination of trends in some cause-groups has revealed differences between the Gulf and Era cohort age groups: although each Era cohort age group was randomly sampled to have the same size as the corresponding Gulf cohort age group, those who were aged 40 years or over on 1 January 1991 who deployed to the Gulf were often younger than those sampled for the Era cohort. All figures for the Era cohort have therefore been adjusted to the single years of age structure of the Gulf cohort, as at 1 January 1991, to ensure appropriate comparisons. The main impact is slightly to reduce the previously noticed excess of deaths in the Era cohort caused by disease-related conditions, and cancer in particular, increasing the similarity between the two cohorts. The effect on accidental deaths is minimal.

Key points to note in the data are:

There were 687 deaths among Gulf veterans, compared with an estimated 688 deaths in the age-adjusted Era comparison group.

Approximately 1,085 deaths would have been expected in a similar sized group of individuals from the UK general population of the same age and gender profile.

Table 1: Deaths to UK Gulf Veterans (1) 1 April 1991–31 December 2004

Notes:

(1) Service and Ex-Service personnel only.

(2) Causes have been coded to the World Health Organisation's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision (ICD-10), 1992.

(3) Adjusted for age of the Gulf cohort at 1 January 1991. The numbers may not add up to the totals shown due to rounding.

(4) Includes cases with insufficient information on the death certificate to provide a known cause of death.

(5) The MoD's casualty branches have notified DASA that one of the personnel who died in a road traffic accident was riding a motorbike rather than being a car occupant. This change has been reflected in the numbers.

(6) Under ICD-10 coding if the death certificate does not specifically mention the type of vehicle that was involved in the accident, the death is coded to "motor- or non-motor vehicle accident, type of vehicle unspecified". There were 36 deaths to Gulf veterans compared to 33 in the Era group.

(7) These events include those given a coroners verdict of suicide or open verdict death by a Coroner in England and Wales and similar causes in Scotland and Northern Ireland. It includes one death which has been coded to the ICD-10 code F11.1 ("Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of opoids") by the ONS. This death has been excluded from the mental and behavioural disorders.

(8) ONS have recently informed DASA that deaths where the inquest has been adjourned are coded to Y33 ("Other specified events, undetermined intent"). Historically these have been included with the intentional self-harm and events of undetermined intent.

Notes:

¹ Adjusted for age of Gulf cohort at 1 January 1991.

Today I am announcing the launch of the race equality and community cohesion strategy and we are publishing race equality data for key public service areas—race equality in public services. The following documents related to this area will also be published today (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk): "Race Equality", the "Home Secretary's Employment Targets" and "Non-Agency Home Office Diversity and Equal Opportunities Report 2003–04".

We are also publishing the Home Office overarching race equality scheme and core—Non Immigration and Nationality Department (IND)—Home Office Associate Race Equality Scheme.

The Race Equality and Community Cohesion Strategy sets out one strand of the Government's overall drive to improve fairness and opportunities for all in Britain; how we will ensure that a person's ethnicity is not a barrier to their success and how we will foster the cohesion necessary to enable people from minority and majority communities to work together for social and economic progress. Many members of black and minority ethnic communities are very successful in Britain today, but the picture is not uniform, as certain communities still generally experience poorer outcomes than the majority—for example, in education, health and employment. Given this variation, the way we are addressing black and minority ethnic disadvantage is changing. The Government will give greater emphasis to tailored initiatives that meet the specific needs of particularly disadvantaged communities, rather than treating all black and minority ethnic communities in the same way—for example addressing specific health conditions such as heart disease in south Asian communities.

A cohesive society relies on more than equal opportunities for individuals. A number of social conditions also help people to come together from all backgrounds and develop a sense of inclusion and shared British identity. This strategy heralds the Government's intention to give greater emphasis to promoting a sense of common belonging and cohesion among groups through programmes with outcomes which include, making racism unacceptable, young people from different backgrounds to grow up with a sense of common belonging, integrating immigrants, people having opportunities to develop a greater understanding of the range of cultures that contribute to our strength as a country, people from all backgrounds having opportunities to participate in civic society and marginalising extremists who promote hate. Examples of new initiatives include a pilot citizenship day and exploring options for celebrating the transition to adulthood.

In order to drive progress, the strategy highlights the importance of the Government's overarching public service agreement to reduce race inequalities and build community cohesion. The Commission for Racial Equality will continue to develop ways to ensure that the duty on all public bodies to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote equal opportunities and good relations is adhered to. The strategy outlines our intention to introduce new legislation against discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief in the provision of goods, facilities and services.

This is a cross-government strategy which draws together and consolidates existing programmes and introduces new measures where necessary. The focus is on practical steps which can be taken by central and local government, public services, the voluntary sector, business, local communities and citizens to make a difference.

Race Equality in Public Services brings together race equality data for the key public service areas and provides the statistical background to the Government's strategy to increase race equality and community cohesion, and for our PSA targets to tackle inequalities in public services. It includes data on the labour market, educational attainment, housing, the criminal justice system, perceptions of racial inequalities and health inequalities. It will continue to monitor outcomes in this way so that we can ensure that services are provided in a way that caters for the needs of those from difference ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Home Secretary's Employment Targets report details progress against the targets set in 1999 to measure the recruitment, retention and career progression of minority ethnic staff in the Home Office, IND, UK Passport Agency, Forensic Science Service, Prison Service, Police Service and National Probation Service. This is the fifth such annual report and marks the halfway point towards the 2009 targets. Considerable progress has been made over the last five years, the proportion of minority ethnic staff in the core Home Office has risen from 20 per cent. in 1999 to 36.3 per cent. in 2004 exceeding the 25 per cent. target set for 2009. In the Immigration Service the proportion has risen even more from 7 per cent. to 25.9 per cent., far in excess of its 7 per cent. national target. The Police Service has worked hard to increase recruitment and ensure the progression of minority ethnic staff and has seen a rise in representation from 3 per cent. in 1999 to 4.3 per cent. in 2004, narrowly missing the 2004 milestone target of 4.6 per cent.

The Home Office Diversity and Equal Opportunities Report brings together the findings from a range of diversity monitoring processes in the non-agency Home Office to provide a comprehensive picture of the diversity make-up of the department. The report fulfils the requirements of the Race Relations Act (RRA) and extends the race employment monitoring required by that Act to the other diversity strands of gender, disability and age. It includes statistics for the core Home Office and IND. As well as satisfying our legal obligations this document provides a series of benchmarks such as grade breakdown of the diversity strands, against which we can measure the success of action and initiatives under the five-year race and diversity programme. The report shows that the department employed 19,000 people, 25 per cent. of whom were from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and 3.75 per cent. of staff in the senior civil service (SCS) were from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, exceeding our target of 3.2 per cent.

The revised versions of the Home Office Overarching Race Equality Scheme and Core (Non IND) Home Office Associate Race Equality Scheme set out how we will meet the duties on us set out in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and associated secondary legislation. Following the publication of the first Home Office race equality schemes in 2002, these revised version are produced in line with the requirement on all public authorities, set out in secondary legislation, to revise their race equality schemes before 31 May 2005. They are consultation documents—we are seeking views on our approach to these issues as set out in the documents.

I am pleased to announce that the 10th report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, "Getting the Balance Right: Implementing Standards of Conduct in Public Life" has been published today by the Committee. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses,

On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) has today announced its phase 11 programme of work.

BFI will be undertaking a number of shorter inspections focused on the areas of poor local authority performance in the administration of housing benefits. Seven inspections will focus on authorities that are slow in processing new benefit claims. The authorities are Dacorum Borough Council, South Ayrshire Council, Inverclyde Council, North Wiltshire District Council, Boston Borough Council, East Dunbartonshire Council and Perth and Kinross Council.

Inspections focusing on the adequacy of councils' counter-fraud arrangements will be undertaken at Falkirk Council, West Dunbartonshire Council and Brentwood Borough Council.

Two focused inspections on authorities' control of overpayments and the causes of those overpayments will be undertaken at Aberdeen City Council and Tandridge District Council.

BFI will undertake four full inspections. Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Slough Borough Council and Malvern Hills have been identified following a "fair" score in the recent Comprehensive Performance Assessments. The fourth authority, Bridgend County Borough Council, was identified as being at risk in the recent Wales Programme of Improvement.

BFI is an independent unit within the Department for Work and Pensions that inspects and reports directly to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the standard of benefits administration and counter-fraud activity in local authorities and the Department itself.

The Strategy Unit's report "Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People", is being published today as agreed Government policy. The report sets out an ambitious vision for improving the life chances of disabled people over the next 20 years.

The report focuses on four key aspects of disabled people's life chances: independent living, early years and family support, transition to adulthood, and employment. The practical measures are designed to:

increase disabled people's ability to live independently—to enjoy increased choice and control over how their needs are met through individualised budgets—and to have the opportunity of a full home, work and community life;

enable young disabled children and their families to enjoy ordinary lives, through access to childcare, early education and early family support, to enable them to care for their child effectively and remain socially and economically included;

support disabled young people and their families through the transition to adulthood. Transition will be better planned around the needs of the individuals and service delivery will be smoother across the transition;

increase the number of disabled people in employment while providing support and security for those unable to work. Employers will be able to access the right advice and information.

The Government will set up an office for disability issues—reporting to the Minister for Disabled People—to help coordinate disability policy across Government. There will be a Ministerial cross-government group on disability to lead and sustain the implementation process. Annual reports on progress will be presented to the Prime Minister and published on the internet.

Copies of the report have been placed in the Library and are available to hon. Members from the Vote Office.