On 29 September 2004 the Economic Secretary informed the Treasury Select Committee that

"In parallel with the Operation Gestalt investigation the Metropolitan Police have also provided advice on a number of other Customs and Excise investigations concerning money service bureaux (MSB). David Varney, Chairman has asked the police to extend their investigation to cover these additional issues."

The police are examining the preliminary material and will soon be ready to start the investigation. In order to progress the investigation most efficiently, the police have proposed using a joint team. This would mean a team of Customs investigators working with the police. Departmental accommodation will also be made available.

Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £5,000 for this new service has been sought in the spring supplementary estimate for HM Customs and Excise. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure of this £5,000 has been met by repayable cash advances from the contingencies fund.

My noble Friend the Baroness Ashton of Upholland, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, has made the following written ministerial statement:

"With the agreement of the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, I am pleased to inform the House that I have today placed in the Libraries of both Houses a copy of the Government's response to the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee's report of their inquiry into the operation of the family justice system".

I am announcing today the publication of a consultation document on draft regulations to amend the town and country planning regulations that give effect to the land use planning requirements of council directive 96/82/EC on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances, as amended by directive 2003/105/EC. Amendments are proposed to the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992 No 656) and the Town and Country Planning (Development Plan) (England) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999 No 3280).

The main change is an amendment to schedule 1 of the Planning (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 1992 to reflect changes to some definitions and qualifying quantities of dangerous substances that fall within the ambit of the Seveso II directive and for which hazardous substances consent may now be required. A minor amendment is proposed to the Development Plan Regulations 1999. Similar, relevant changes have already been incorporated in the Development Plan Regulations made in 2004 for the new local and regional plan systems.

The consultation will run until 16 June 2005 and will apply to England only. Copies of the consultation document will be made available in the Libraries of both Houses and from The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website www.odpm.gov.uk.

I am announcing today my intention to prepare and consult on a revision of Planning Policy Guidance note (PPG) 25, development and flood risk, and a direction in respect of certain development in areas at risk of flooding.

PPG25 was published in July 2001. Its key aim is to ensure that flood risk is properly taken into account in the planning of new developments, so as to reduce the risk of flooding and the damage which floods cause. Since it was published it has succeeded in raising the profile of flooding matters in the planning process. A review of its working last year, after three years of operation, showed that its core policies remain valid, but that more needs to be done to implement them fully.

I therefore plan to issue a draft of a new Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 25 for consultation later in 2005. In particular, the new version will clarify the core sequential test that matches types of development to levels of flood risk. It will also strengthen the requirement for flood risk assessments to be prepared to inform the consideration of development plans and of individual development proposals in flood risk areas.

The consultation draft of PPS25 will be prepared on the basis that a standing planning Direction in respect of certain proposed developments in areas at risk of flooding will be made under article 14 of the General Development Procedure Order 1995. This would require an application for major development to be referred to the Government Office, to consider whether it should be called in for decision by the First Secretary of State, if the Environment Agency sustains an objection to it on flood risk grounds, after having been re-consulted following an initial objection.

This consultation forms an important component in the Government's wider response to their general consultation last year on their forward strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management in "Making space for water". My right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Environment and Agri-environment is making a separate statement on this today.

I am pleased to announce that the Ministry of Defence has agreed a Heads of Agreement with Agusta Westland which commits us to working together towards a long-term partnering and business transformation arrangement. Although the details are subject to further negotiation with the company over the coming months, we expect this to provide significant efficiency and effectiveness improvements in how we support our helicopter fleet.

Competition remains the cornerstone of our procurement policy. This applies to our Future Rotorcraft Capability requirements, as elsewhere, in particular for the Land Lift (Medium) element. As the Defence Industrial Policy makes clear, however, value for money judgments can sometimes suggest different approaches. Since the Agusta Westland Future Lynx project has already benefited from extensive assessment work and de-risking, it would be our preferred procurement option for meeting the Land Find and Maritime (Surface) Attack element. This is, however, subject to continuing negotiations with the company to agree acceptable contract conditions and prices, which must meet clearly defined parameters.

This approach is excellent news for Agusta Westland, for the highly skilled staff at its Yeovil plant, and for the British defence industry. Other key partners include Smiths Industries in Cheltenham and Thales(UK) in Raynes Park and Taunton, GD(UK) in St Leonards-on-Sea and South Dorset Engineering Ltd. in Weymouth.

We believe that, subject to negotiating the precise commercial details, the Future Lynx represents a highly capable, value for money, solution to our requirement. We expect to make a final "Main Gate" procurement decision later this year. The contract is potentially worth over £1 billion.

This is a key first milestone for the Future Rotorcraft Capability programme, and is part of the commitment we made in last year's supplement to the Defence White Paper to invest some £3 billion in our helicopter fleet.

With effect from 1 April 2005, the Defence Geographic and Imagery Intelligence Agency and the Defence Intelligence and Security Centre will both cease to have agency status. This change will facilitate improved management across current agency boundaries, enable simpler management and budgeting processes, reduce overheads, and enable a more effective response to customers' strategic and operational requirements.

In my previous statement, 16 September 2004, Official Report, column 162WS, I gave an undertaking to keep the House informed of the progress with regard to the creation of the Ministry of Defence Medal Office.

I am pleased to report that on 22 March I officially opened the MOD Medal Office which is now established at a single location within the Armed Forces Personnel Administration Agency (AFPAA) at Innsworth, Gloucester.

The change from separate offices for each service to the new office is affording the opportunity to adopt common procedures based upon best practice. The significant investment in personnel, laser engraving and computer technology has already led to a substantial reduction in the backlog of medals assessment and engraving and underlines the priority and commitment MOD attaches to the prompt delivery of medals to veterans, their relatives and serving personnel. Indeed, since the introduction of a new laser engraving facility at Innsworth, around 40,000 extra medals have been handed out to recipients.

AFPAA assumed full responsibility for the management of medal output, target setting and performance monitoring with effect from 1 October 2004 and has successfully filled all of the 61 medal-related posts. Whilst the introduction of the Suez Canal Zone and Iraq medals has resulted in unprecedented numbers of medal applications (117,425 since 10 April 2004), the backlog for the Canal Zone medal today is 13,275 compared with 21,371 as at 24 September 2004 and for the Iraq medal is 13,382 compared with 25,178.

The formation of the MOD Medal Office is already producing significant benefits and I should like to pay tribute to the staff of the single service medal offices and the MOD Medal Office for their part in bringing about this improvement.

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced last week in his Budget statement that there would be a change to the tax regime for the new compensation scheme which will commence on 6 April 2005.

I am pleased to confirm that because of the special demands of service in our armed forces, the Government have now decided that lump sums awarded to those who are able to remain in service after their injury or illness will be paid tax-free.

This change reflects the importance that this Government attach to our armed forces in the event of injury or disability.

Over the autumn of 2004 the Government carried out a proactive consultation exercise on "Making space for water", a new Government strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management. There were 268 formal responses to that consultation, and overall they were very supportive of the proposed new strategic direction.

I am pleased to announce that I am today publishing a First Government response to the points made during the consultation. Copies of the response "Making space for water: Taking forward a new Government strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management in England, First Government response to the autumn 2004 Making space for water consultation exercise, March 2005", have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Government response confirms that strategic direction of travel on key issues, taking account of the points made during the consultation exercise.

The programme of work set out in the response will make a significant contribution to our ability to adapt to climate change, in line with the recently published UK sustainable development strategy, "Securing the future", and Defra's five-year strategy, "Delivering the Essentials of Life". The response considers how we should continue to incorporate allowances for climate change and build adaptability into our risk management measures.

The new strategy encompasses all types of flooding and a range of Government policies relevant to flooding and coastal erosion. We will be adopting a more holistic approach so as to achieve a better balance between the three pillars of sustainable development (economic, environmental and social). We will also make more use of a portfolio of measures so as to achieve multiple objectives from the way we identify and implement solutions. We will be seeking to make the involvement of stakeholders more effective at all levels of decision making.

To facilitate the new approach we will work towards extending the strategic role of the Environment Agency to cover all sources of flooding as well as coastal erosion.

The response covers a wide range of important issues. In relation to land use planning policies on development and flood risk, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Housing and Planning is today making a separate statement which supports the direction of travel and which I strongly welcome.

The response commits the Government to piloting a range of different approaches to improve the integration of the management of urban drainage, an area identified as a potential source of major future risk.

In response to the call for more attention to social impacts, we will be expanding our risk management tools to put greater emphasis on flood warning and flood awareness, and on developing measures to promote resistance and resilience to flooding, including the funding of a pilot scheme.

As far as coastal issues are concerned, the Government will take forward work both to improve the evidence base in relation to, and to investigate the practical implications of considering, a wider portfolio of coastal erosion risk management tools. We will also be exploring different models to ensure there is appropriate democratic input into future decision-making on the management of coastal risks.

The Government are committed to ensuring that the flood risk management programme takes proper account of the environmental impacts of our interventions. As a practical example of this I am pleased to announce that we shall be taking measures to offset damage occurring to the Ouse Washes Natura 2000 site. This will allow the site to continue to protect people and property from flooding at the same time as addressing the environmental value it provides for birds.

We will be announcing shortly details of a new challenge fund to stimulate innovative approaches to achieving multiple objective schemes, and we are also developing broadly based performance measures to track the impact of our programme and to ensure our management of flood and coastal erosion risk contributes to sustainable development.

Our new strategy will provide an excellent basis for guiding how we spend the record levels of funding we will be making available for flood and coastal erosion risk management so as to maximise the social, economic and environmental benefits. Over the next three years this will be at £570 million per year compared with a total of £310 million in 1996–97.

Last week the UK held an Energy and Environment Ministerial round table, attended by Ministers from 20 countries and representatives from international organisations, business and non-governmental organisations.

Participants welcomed the opportunity to consider the key practical approaches to climate change and energy policy in an informal and innovative forum and contributed positively to the discussions which identified areas of common interest around the issues of the accessibility and affordability of modern energy systems, security of energy supply and the need for local and global environmental protection. The discussions also identified a range of priorities for further working, both in terms of methodology and in relation to specific issues such as energy efficiency.

The wide and committed participation of all concerned enabled the round table to provide a real opportunity to build trust and to look for ways in which the international community might continue to work together in future.

A record of the discussion has been captured in the co-chairs summary, which can be found on the DEFRA website at: www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/international/energy-env/index.htm

I am pleased to advise that DEFRA and the Scottish Executive have today published a joint report on the policy review of British Waterways.

The report confirms the prime purpose of British Waterways is to deliver public benefits and promote social inclusion. It provides a firm foundation for developing these objectives further as well as proposing a framework within which British Waterways can work towards its aim of become largely self sufficient.

DEFRA will now work with the Scottish Executive and British Waterways to consider how best to implement the review's recommendations and formalise a development plan for taking them forward.

A public consultation exercise formed part of the review.

Copies of the report on the review and the report on the analysis of responses to the public consultation exercise will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The reports can also be viewed on DEFRA's website at:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/

Under the UK's Presidency of the Group of Eight countries, the Secretary of State for International Development and I co-hosted a meeting of G8 Environment and Development Ministers in Breadsall, Derbyshire on 17 and 18 March. Also attending were Luxembourg Ministers (representing the EU Presidency) and senior officials from the World Bank, United Nations Environment Programme, United National Development Programme, the European Commission and the World Conservation Union. This was the first time that G8 Environment and Development Ministers have met in this formation.

Ministers discussed two main items, climate change in Africa and action to tackle illegal logging. On climate change in Africa, Ministers considered a report, commissioned by my Department and the Department for International Development which outlined the lack of African capacity to monitor and make effective use of climate information and what more needs to be done to improve the scientific basis for adaptation to help "climate proof" Africa's development.

Ministers agreed that African countries are particularly vulnerable to climate variability and climate change, and noted that like many developing countries, they are already experiencing more frequent dangerous climate effects. Ministers then discussed what more needed to be done, including assisting Africa in reducing vulnerability by building resilience to climate variability and by developing capacity to adapt to climate change. Ministers then identified the key elements needed for an effective international response as building scientific capacity and integrating measures to address the impact of climate change in international development assistance and regional and national development plans. The vulnerability of developing countries to climate change in Africa and throughout the developing world will be discussed by Heads of State and Government at the Gleneagles summit. This meeting helped to define the priorities and options for international responses to these issues.

In response to this, my Department announced a further £100,000 towards regional predictions of climate change for Africa and £400,000 over the next three years towards a new multi-country initiative on advancing knowledge, capacity and networks in support of climate change in Africa.

On illegal logging, G8 Ministers agreed what would be done by both producer and consumer countries to tackle the problem. Ministers looked at what more would be done by G8 countries to support timber producing countries to improve governance of their forest resources and tackle wildlife trafficking. Ministers also agreed what G8 countries as major consumers of timber, would do to tackle the demand for illegally logged timber, including action such as halting the import and marketing of such timber, and using public procurement policies. There was also agreement that illegal logging policy experts would meet to review progress towards these commitments in 2006.

To help tackle illegal logging, the Secretary of State for International Development and I, committed extra resources to support producer countries, particularly those in west and central Africa. We have allocated up to £500,000 over three years to extend my Department's central point of expertise on timber to encourage the wider public sector to procure legal timber; and undertook to share our knowledge on procurement with the G8 and other countries. My Department also announced additional spending of over £1 million for forestry biodiversity projects under the Darwin Initiative spread over three years.

Ministers agreed that the outcomes on illegal logging will be forwarded as a statement to the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, while the discussions on Africa and climate change will be forwarded as a Chair's Summary for further consideration.

In addition, Ministers had an interactive meeting with civil society representatives (non-Governmental organisations, industry representatives and research institutes). Ministers also had informal discussions on the Commission for Africa Report, which was widely welcomed, reform of humanitarian aid and the importance of biodiversity for sustainable livelihoods.

Copies of the report on "Climate Proofing Africa" and the outcome paper from the G8 Environment and Development Ministerial will be available in the Libraries of both Houses.

In his written statement of 2 March 2005, Official Report, column 89WS, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs informed hon. Members of the outcomes of the 1 March London meeting in support of the Palestinians. In respect of security sector reform the international community committed itself to providing financial support to re-equip the security services; establishing a fund for early retirement of security personnel; and helping to address the cost of pensions for security officers.

In his written answer to the hon. Member for Moray (Angus Robertson) on 3 February 2005, Official Report, column 1109, my hon. Friend the Minister for Trade and Investment set out our on-going assistance to the Palestinians to improve the performance of their security forces, through provision of technical assistance and equipment. On 23 December we informed Parliament, by means of a Departmental minute, of a gift of equipment to the Palestinian Central Intervention Forces (CIF) to help them provide public order security for the 9 January Presidential elections and beyond. In the event, the CIF were disbanded as part of Palestinian moves towards rationalising their security services and members returned to their original units, notably the national security forces. Officials from the Consulate General in Jerusalem and the Embassy in Tel Aviv have kept in close contact with Palestinian security officials to ensure that the equipment supplied (communications equipment, tents, uniforms and office equipment) will be used effectively by Palestinian security forces.

The Palestinian security forces, including the civil police, with whom we have also been working, performed well in the run-up to, and during, the 9 January elections, when security was good.

We had intended to donate twenty cars to the CIF but the delivery of these was delayed and did not take place before disbandment of the CIF. We have waited until after the London meeting to see how Palestinian security sector reform was likely to progress and have now decided to give the cars to the national security forces, units of which will play a security role similar to that envisaged for the CIF. We have received assurances from the Palestinian Minister of the Interior on the use to which these cars will be put. A recently appointed military liaison officer from the MOD is working closely with the NSF to improve their capacity. He has identified a shortage of transport as one of their strategic weaknesses and will monitor closely the deployment of these vehicles.

We are working closely with US security co-ordinator General Ward who is leading the Quartet's oversight committee on security. We will continue, in co-ordination with General Ward and the rest of the international community, to assist the Palestinian security sector to improve its capacity to maintain public order security and prevent terrorist attacks, in the crucial period leading up to the proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in July, and beyond.

The eighth report to Parliament on the pharmaceutical price regulation scheme (PPRS) was published today.

The report, entitled "PPRS: Eighth Report to Parliament", covers the negotiations and the 2005 scheme and the management and operation of the 1999 scheme including the delivery of the 4.5 per cent. price cut and consolidated information on company annual financial returns. The report sets out the contribution made to the economy by the UK based pharmaceutical industry and gives an update on international price comparisons.

Copies of the report have been placed in the Library.

The United Kingdom Passport Service has today published its corporate and business plans for 2005–10. Copies of the plans have been placed in the Library of the House.

The prison service business plan for 2005–06 (including the previously agreed key performance indicator targets) has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

We have today published a consultation paper which sets out detailed proposals for implementing a reformed system of police pensions financing. We intend that the new system should be in place by April 2006 in line with the introduction of a new police pension scheme.

In 2001 a working party from the Treasury, Home Office and the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions completed a joint review of arrangements for the financing of police and fire pensions. The police pension scheme is currently financed on a pay-as-you-go basis. This means that officers' pension contributions go into police authorities' operating accounts from which the pensions of retired officers are paid. Authorities receive central Government funding support to pension payments as part of police grant.

The joint review recommended revised financial arrangements based on officers' contributions and a new employer's contribution being paid into a separate pensions account from which pensions payments would be made. The new pensions account would be locally administered but central Government would either top up the account or recover any surplus as necessary. The recommended system is similar to those used for other unfunded public service pension schemes such as for NHS staff, teachers and civil servants. Similar changes have been proposed for the firefighters' pensions.

The new arrangements would cover the financing of both existing and new police pension schemes, but would have no impact on their terms and conditions. The arrangements would benefit police authorities by removing year-to-year volatility in pensions expenditure arising from the uneven incidence of lump sum retirement payments. They would also enable the rising burden of police pensions expenditure due to increasing numbers in retirement over the coming years to be kept separate from police forces' operational expenditure.

While welcoming the recommendations of the joint review it was recognised that work was still needed to map out the details of how the new system could be successfully implemented. A Home Office led working group has now considered these issues in the context of the police pension scheme and has produced a report with recommendations. A key point of the report is that the changes, at an aggregate level, will be cost neutral and will have no impact upon either the local or national tax payer. However, we recognise the need for police authorities, forces and other stakeholders in the police service to contribute to the debate on these detailed proposals before we come to a final decision on implementation.

Copies of the consultation document are available in the House Library and on the Home Office website www.homeoffice.gov.uk/.

The consultation period will last for 12 weeks and will close on 17 June 2005.

The third report of the Prison Service Pay Review Body (PSPRB) on the pay of governor and officer grades in the Northern Ireland Prison Service has been published today and copies placed in the Library. I would like to thank the chair and members of the PSPRB for their hard work in producing their recommendations.

This completes the PSPRB's work for the current year, their recommendations for HM Prison Service having been published and accepted by the Government last month.

My right honourable Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has decided that the recommendations will be implemented in full, with effect from the operative date of the award of 1 April 2005. The cost of the award will be met from within the existing budget allocation for the Service.

On 16 November 2004, I announced the terms of reference for the inquiries into the deaths of Robert Hamill, Rosemary Nelson and Billy Wright. All three inquiries have now begun their work.

In the light of its considerations so far, the Rosemary Nelson inquiry has asked me to consider amending its terms of reference in order to make clear beyond any doubt that the actions of the Army and the security and intelligence agencies fall within their scope.

I am happy to do so and I am giving notice today that I am amending the Inquiry's terms of reference at their request so that they now read as follows:

"To inquire into the death of Rosemary Nelson with a view to determining whether any act or omission by or within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northern Ireland Office, Army or other state agency facilitated her death or obstructed the investigation of it, or whether attempts were made to do so; whether any such act or omission was intentional or negligent; whether the investigation of her death was carried out with due diligence; and to make recommendations".

Against a planning assumption of dealing with 45,000 new insolvencies and 81,000 new claims for redundancy payments, I have set the Insolvency Service the following targets for the year 2005–06.

* Not adjusted for inflation

In addition to the above targets I have asked that, as part of its efficiency promise, the service looks to reduce the costs of accommodation and procurement by 8 per cent. by 31 March 2006 from the 2003–04 baseline and further reduce the costs of redundancy payment processing by 2.5 per cent. by 31 March 2006. Overall I have asked the Service to produce efficiency gains of at least £6 million over the period to 2007–08.

The Service will also be seeking re-accreditation to the Investors in People standard by January 2006. The Service is also required to meet centrally promulgated targets relating to replying to correspondence from hon. Members, reducing the level of sick absence and processing payments to suppliers. From 1 April 2004 the Service's case administration work has been funded by its fee income and the Service is also required to ensure that it balances its costs and income over a three-year period.

I have set Companies House the following targets for the year 2005–06:

By March 2006 to provide the capability for 80 per cent. of documents, ¹ which it would be possible to e-enable, to be submitted on line.

To ensure that the following services: Companies House Direct; WebCheck; and webfiling, are available for 99 per cent. of the time between the hours of 7 am and midnight, Monday to Saturday.

To achieve 35 per cent. take-up for electronic submission of documents ¹ by the end of 2005–06, 55 per cent. take-up by the end of 2006–07 and 75 per cent. take-up by the end of 2007–08.

To achieve, on average, a monthly compliance rate for accounts and annual returns submitted of 92 per cent.

To ensure that 97.5 per cent. of all forms submitted to Companies House are captured error-free.

To ensure that of 99.5 per cent. of images placed on the Companies House image system are legible.

¹ a document is an individual transaction that a company can make with Companies House to submit or register information.

To achieve for 2007–08 a reduction in real terms of 10 per cent. compared to 2004–05, in the unit cost of the range of transactions covering registration, company search and active register size.

To achieve a score of more than 85 per cent. in each quarterly Companies House Customer Satisfaction Survey.

To resolve 97 per cent. of complaints within five days.

To achieve, taking one year with another, a 3.5 per cent. average rate of return based on the operating surplus expressed as a percentage of average net assets.

To pay all bills due within 30 days, or on other agreed credit terms, on receipt of goods or services or a valid invoice whichever is later.

The Chief Executive to reply within 10 days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to her for reply.

The Highways Agency's 2005–06 business plan is published today and contains eight key targets for the agency to deliver by 31 March 2006. These are:

Explanatory notes against each of these indicators are provided in the business plan, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Dartford-Thurrock Crossing Road User Charging Scheme accounts for 2003–04 have been laid before Parliament today under section 3(1) of the Trunk Road Charging Schemes (Bridges and Tunnels) (Keeping of Accounts) (England) Regulations 2003. Copies of the accounts have been placed in the House Library.

I am today able to announce the annual performance targets in 2005–06 for each of the executive agencies of the Department for Work and Pensions.

The targets I have agreed are set out below.

Further information on the plans of each of the businesses in 2005–06 is contained in their individual business plans which have been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

Jobcentre Plus

Job entry target ¹

To achieve 6,659,148 points based on Job Entry outcomes achieved.

This excludes performance in the seven Jobcentre Plus Districts piloting a new Job Outcome Target (JOT) measure. As the existing target and the new JOT are completely different measures of performance, it is not appropriate to include the pilot areas in the national target. By way of comparison, the 2004–05 target would have been 6,580,647 points had the seven Districts been excluded. The pilots will be set separate performance targets.

Monetary value of fraud and error target

By March 2006, to reduce losses from fraud and error in working-age Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance to no more than 5.2 per cent. of the monetary value of these benefits paid during the year.

Employer outcome target

To ensure that at least 84 per cent. of employers placing their vacancies with Jobcentre Plus have a positive outcome.

Customer service target

To achieve an 81 per cent. customer service level in the delivery of the standards set out in the Customers' and Employers' Charters.

Business delivery target

To ensure that specified key Jobcentre Plus business processes are delivered efficiently, accurately and to specified standards in 90.3 per cent. of cases checked 2 .

Unit cost target

Targets for benefit processing and job-broking (cost per job entry point) are being finalised and will be published after the Easter recess.

Notes:

¹ This target is measured by a points score system, which focuses efforts and resources on helping people in priority groups into work such as lone parents and Incapacity Benefit customers. For each person that Jobcentre Plus helps into work, it earns from one up to 12 points. For example, earning one point for already employed customers to 12 points for a customer with a health condition or disability in receipt of an inactive benefit. ² These processes are: Income Support accuracy, Jobseeker's Allowance accuracy; Incapacity Benefit accuracy; Labour Market Interventions; attendance at an independent assessment following a Basic Skills referral; action taken with lone parent customers who are due a review/trigger Work Focused Interview.

The Pension Service

Pay the guarantee element of Pension Credit to at least 2.1 million pensioner households.

Reduce losses from fraud and error in Pension Credit, with a 20 per cent. reduction by 2006 against the 2001–02 Minimum Income Guarantee baseline.

Ensure that 92 per cent. of telephone calls to The Pension Service Centres are answered by Customer Advisors and less than 1 per cent. of attempted telephone calls receive the engaged tone or message.

Ensure Pension Credit applications are processed on average within 10 days.

Achieve a Pension Credit accuracy rate of 96 per cent.

Clear 95 per cent. of State Pension claims in 60 days (non-complex cases) ³ .

Clear 91 per cent. of State Pension claims in 85 days (complex cases)³ .

Achieve a State Pension claims accuracy rate of 98 per cent.

Deal with State Pension Forecast requests in an average of 15 days.

Issue Winter Fuel Payments for 2005–06 (all automatic payments, and successful claims received before 24 September 2005) by Christmas 2005.

Unit cost targets are being developed and will be published later in the year.

Notes:

³ Complex claims are claims to State Pension from customers who have been widowed or divorced and the spouse's National Insurance contributions are taken into consideration.

Child Support Agency

The performance targets for 2005–06 will focus on progressing CSA's priorities. The targets set out below, with the exception of the debt target which is new, have been rolled forward from 2004–05. Ministers will review the overall package of targets once the new Chief Executive is in post and has had a chance to develop more detailed plans for the delivery of the child support service in 2005–06. Revised targets resulting from this review will be published as appropriate later in the year.

Disability and Carers Service

The Appeals Service

The average waiting time for an appeal to be heard will be no more than 11 weeks from the time of receipt by the Appeals Service 4 ;

The number of cases over 20 weeks old as at 31 March 2006 will be at the same level, or lower, than the projected number as at 1 April 2005 (It is assumed that the number of cases over 20 weeks old as at 1 April 2005 will reflect delivery of our 2004–05 target of a 15 per cent. reduction in these cases); 4 and

For cases returned by the Commissioner, the average waiting time for an appeal to be re-heard will be no more than eight weeks from the date of return to the Appeals Service. 5

Notes:

⁴ Excludes stayed cases awaiting decision in lead cases in a higher court (the effective date will commence from withdrawal of stay being notified). 5 Excludes cases requiring further evidence.

The Rent Service

Service delivery

I am pleased to announce that the gross discretionary Social Fund budget for 2005–06 will be £719 million. This includes a further increase in net treasury funding of £10 million compared with last year and means that net funding is now £40 million higher than 2002–03. It is the final one of three annual increases from a £90 million boost for the discretionary Social Fund announced in the autumn 2002 pre-budget report.

After careful consideration, I have decided to allocate all the extra net funding to community care grant needs. I have therefore increased the community care grant (CCG) budget by £10 million. This is a further significant increase that will help the most vulnerable. It has been distributed so that every district benefits by an increase in their CCG budget and districts move closer to meeting the same proportion of demand nationally.

My current priorities are for the grants budget. The net loans budget, however, received a significant investment of £10 million in the first year (2003–04) and this, plus higher loan recoveries have promoted steady growth in the gross loans budget. The gross loans budget for 2005–06 will be £580 million, which represents an increase of £20 million over the April 2004 allocation. To maintain fairness within the scheme, the gross loans budget will continue to be allocated to districts to support consistency of outcome for applicants wherever they live.

£1 million will be retained centrally as a contingency reserve. For example to provide additional help to districts facing unexpected and unplanned expenditure.

Details of individual district budget allocations have been placed in the Library.

The discretionary social fund budget is cash limited. Budgets are allocated to districts on 1 April each year.

The gross discretionary SF budget allocated for 2005–06 is £719 million made up of:

If the forecast for loan recoveries proves to be an underestimate, any additional recoveries can be allocated to districts during the year.

The contingency reserve is held centrally and allocations made from it re-imburse districts for expenditure resulting from a local accident or disaster (eg, flooding)

Since April 1997, the gross discretionary social fund budget has increased by £251.5 million from £467.5 million to £719 million, an increase of over 53 per cent.

Since April 1997, the community care grant budget has increased by £41 million from £97 million to £138 million, an increase of just over 42 per cent.

The new arrangements for child support came into operation for new cases and some linked old scheme cases from 3 March 2003. Despite recent progress, some significant problems remain with the new computer and telephony systems. These continue to slow progress on business recovery. The Department continues to retain substantial payments from EDS. The payment each year is determined by the contract and is linked to service levels and to the degree of functionality delivered. Between 27 January 2003 and 16 January 2005, the agency retained £13.3 million of payments otherwise due to EDS.

This report forms part of the Department's response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee report into the performance of the Child Support Agency. It therefore includes information up to the end of February 2005 (my last progress report covered the quarter ending September 2004). During this period the agency's performance has continued to improve. More families continue to benefit from the new scheme—a further 16,600 families have received child maintenance premium. The quarter ending December 2004 produced the highest quarterly total since the new arrangements were introduced and this upward trend is continuing. It brings the total number of beneficiaries to almost 50,000. Similarly, the number of first payments of maintenance received through the agency's collection service during the quarter ending December was the highest achieved so far.

The number of cases cleared during the period from October to February (both calculations and closures) was over 72,000, bringing the overall total of clearances to around 310,000. The position fell back somewhat in the run up to Christmas. However, this was not unexpected and the underlying position is recovering as we move through the next quarter. During both October and November, the monthly volume of clearances grew faster than at any other point in the year.

Based on regular monthly sampling the current level of accuracy (to the nearest penny) is estimated at around 78 per cent. against a target of 90 per cent. This is lower than the preceding quarter. The agency is taking urgent action to correct this trend but it is now clear that the end of year target is unlikely to be achieved. Regular monthly sampling will continue to be used to monitor accuracy levels and determine the end of year position. As a result of improvements with the agency's management information systems, case compliance performance will now be reported on a rolling last quarter basis. Previously published estimates of case compliance in the new scheme have been measured on a monthly basis. This is not consistent with either the definition used to measure old scheme compliance, or the basis on which the new scheme target was set. Both relied on a rolling last quarter measure. Reporting performance using a rolling last quarter basis provides a more accurate reflection of performance and gives a direct comparison between old and new scheme performance.

This change in reporting has resulted in an uplift in case compliance performance by around eight percentage points. At the end of February case compliance stood at 65 per cent. against a target of 78 per cent. Cash compliance at end of February stood at 58 per cent. against a target of 75 per cent. Focus on improving compliance continues, with activities targeted on core operational service teams together with the creation of the agency's enforcement directorate. Early indications show that for cases newly calculated in September and October 2004, case compliance in February 2005 has stabilised at around 75 per cent.

Although the rate at which work-on-hand is increasing has slowed down, clearances are still less than intake. An agency business transformation programme is being developed, which will contain short-term tactical initiatives and also places significant emphasis on ensuring medium to long-term sustained recovery.

The agency has made progress in investigating the anomalies in its management information. Some over counting of cases has been identified, which has reduced intake reported since March 2003 by 34,000 cases. Indications are that there is potential for further reductions in intake of around 12,000 cases and an understatement of around 17,000 clearances. Overall this is likely to equate to a downward revision in the work on hand of 63,000 cases. Some of these cases are still within the system and some operational intervention will be required. Work is continuing to identify and examine the full range of issues and apply necessary remedies. The revised data in the tables is the agency's best current estimate.

Summary of Agency Performance to February 2005

Table 2—Agency Quarterly Performance

Table 3—Agency Monthly Performance

Table 4—Agency Compliance Performance

The method by which these figures are calculated has been changed to include, in the calculation, those collections of child maintenance made (on behalf of the Secretary of State) in those cases in which the parent with care is on benefit.

Notes:

1. Average weekly child support maintenance payments to parents with care are shown in the table. The method by which these figures are calculated has been changed to include, in the calculation, those collections of child maintenance made (on behalf of the Secretary of State) in those cases in which the parent with care is on benefit. Figures are for February 2005 only and are calculated as the total amount received and allocated divided by the number of cases.

2. Based upon our best information on the extent of the double-counting of applications that has taken place and emerging findings from the management information improvement project. These figures may be subject to change.

3. Figures from quarter four 2003–04 onwards and scheme to date figures include clerical cases (new scheme cases unable to be progressed on the new system). Quarter two 2004–05 figures also incorporate some adjustments to take account of a reconciliation of clerical cases. The clerical case position is as follows:

4. Closures: Applications close for a variety of reasons. The main reasons are that the parent with care withdraws the application, perhaps due to reconciliation, or having agreed private arrangements with the non-resident parent.

5. Closures for February include 1,000 un-progessable cases that have been deleted from the IT system.

6. Figures for child maintenance premium payments include an estimate of the number of parents who receive the premium by way of a disregard to their income support/income-based jobseekers allowance.

7. Cash compliance is measured on a three-month rolling average basis, as this best illustrates performance. Case compliance is measured on a rolling-last quarter basis (in line with old scheme reporting).

8. A proportion of cases that have a maintenance calculation in place may already be receiving payment directly, but will not be reflected in the figures shown above.