The Government are 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 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 [Cm 6552] listing RIAs published between 1 July and 31 December 2004. Copies of those listed have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. This is the 22nd such Command Paper.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, has made the following written ministerial statement in the other place today, 26 May 2005.

"On 25 May my Department published a policy paper on electoral administration which seeks views on a number of issues relating to the way elections are run. My hon. Friend, the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs, Ms Harriet Harman has also written to all hon. Members enclosing a copy of the paper and inviting them to respond as part of the consultation process. Copies of the paper have also been placed in the Libraries of both Houses

The paper seeks views on our proposals for changes to the administrative arrangements for elections, in particular on those which relate to postal voting and registration. We intend to implement these measures in time for the local elections due next May, so to meet the legislative timetable the time for responses is short. But we are keen to engage all stakeholders in the process so that effective and workable solutions are developed".

I am pleased to inform the House that the UK Film Council has today announced the 209 cinemas that will be part of its £11.7 million lottery funded digital screen network.

This digital screen network is a world first that puts the UK at the forefront of digital cinema technology. In return for digital projection equipment, cinemas have committed to the showing of more specialised, non-mainstream, films. The result will be an additional 75,000 specialised film screenings in the first full year of the initiative, rising to 165,000 in year four. The digital screen network will ensure that people right across the UK, and not just those in the major cities, will be able to access a broader range of films.

This initiative is in addition to the UK Film Council funding of £2 million a year to support the distribution of specialised films and the £1 million already spent to ensure that more cinemas are able to show films in formats accessible to cinemagoers with sensory disabilities.

Today over 6 million families and 10 million children are benefiting from tax credits. The tax credits introduced in April 2003 are more generous and more inclusive than any previous system of income-based financial support.

The introduction of a system of tax credits has been a huge undertaking. For the vast majority of families the new system is working well, providing important advantages over previous systems of support. In particular, the new system is more responsive than previous "snapshot" systems: it allows awards to be adjusted in-year when a family's income or other circumstances change.

I am determined that the tax credit system will do the job it was designed for—to deliver to all families the financial support they are entitled to, providing the right amount of support at the right time. However, at the point when the new tax credits were introduced, problems arose affecting a small proportion of families. Many Members have raised specific cases with me and there has been much discussion and debate in the House, most recently in the Westminster Hall debate that I was unfortunately unable to attend due to illness. I am, therefore, taking this opportunity to provide the House with an update on the steps that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is taking to address these problems.

It is now well known that in the early months of 2003–04 the Inland Revenue encountered serious problems with the new IT system, resulting in over-payments and other difficulties. Some families have also found the information provided to them on the status of their awards unclear, which has made the process more difficult.

In response to these challenges I have agreed with David Varney, the chairman of HMRC, that HMRC will take a series of important steps to improve the administration of tax credits. The Department has been working hard with its new IT contractor to improve the performance of the tax credits IT system. The accuracy with which tax credits information is processed is improving. Officials have been working closely with representative bodies, for example, to improve the clarity of the information provided to families on their tax credit awards. Further, new streamlined procedures have been introduced to decide cases where the recovery of an over-payment is disputed.

These are all important steps forward but there remain key challenges for the Department in delivering tax credits. I am therefore setting out six measures to improve significantly the tax credits system, with particular regard to how the Department communicates with families about their tax credit award; reducing the risk of errors adding to the number of over-payments; improving procedures for recovering over-payments.

1. Building on the work already undertaken to improve the clarity of the tax credit award notice and in consultation with the voluntary sector, HMRC will review the effectiveness of information provided to claimants, to support them in understanding the responsive nature of the tax credit system and the risk of over-payments. In particular the Department will develop solutions to reduce the number of cases where people receive unnecessary duplication of award notices.

2. HMRC will test out new methods of reminding tax credit claimants of the importance of providing up to date information in year on changes in their income and circumstances. The Department will consider options to identify families most at risk of an over-payment and support them through better targeted contacts to ensure their stated circumstances and income are up to date.

3. HMRC will develop options to improve the quality of service on the helpline, in particular to ensure that helpline operators can track the progress of individual cases in the system, reducing the need for families to contact the helpline on multiple occasions.

4. HMRC will improve the speed with which it identifies IT system problems and processing errors so that they can be resolved more quickly.

5. Tax credits are working well for millions of families but the system is new and requires active engagement from claimants. The role of the voluntary sector in providing advice to families receiving tax credits is crucial. I have asked HMRC to develop innovative ways of working with the sector to target more active support on vulnerable families.

6. HMRC will review the operation of the code of practice on over-payments. Meeting the commitment made by HMRC's chairman to the Public Accounts Committee in January 2005, the Department will ensure that in cases of genuine hardship where the recovery of an over-payment is disputed, recovery can be suspended while the dispute is resolved.

Europe must adapt to the changing balance of global economic activity and the rise of fast-growing emerging economies. Only a globally-orientated Europe—focused on macro-economic stability, marrying flexibility and fairness in employment markets, championing enterprise and innovation, and open to trade—can forge a new route to social justice in a global age.

Among the reform initiatives we wish to move forward to help equip Europe to meet the global economic challenge:

Competitiveness and Regulation

Reaching agreement among all 25 member states to the six presidencies initiative, putting regulatory reform at the heart of ECOFIN's work programme.

A risk-based approach to EU regulation that cuts down on administrative burdens.

All regulatory proposals to be tested for their impact on competitiveness.

Setting up an independent business-led advisory group to give business a central role in the EU rule-making and simplification process.

The European Lamfalussy Committees on banking, securities and insurance to report annually to ECOFIN, starting during the UK presidency, on proposals to reduce burdens on business.

Jobs

Member States to publish Lisbon National Reform Programmes explaining how they will each implement further structural reform, including reform of their labour markets.

Competition, State Aid & Innovation

Delivering full energy market liberalisation by 2007.

A new framework for an ambitious, in-depth approach to market investigations and a clear timetable for identifying priority sectors for investigation.

The UK will chair a conference in London in July to reinforce commitments to reduce distortive state aids.

Progress on a more cost-effective European intellectual property regime.

International co-operation

An EU-lndia financial markets regulatory dialogue, parallel to the EU-China dialogue.

USA-EU co-operation

Calling on the EU-US summit in June to set out an ambitious new economic partnership including creating a barrier free transatlantic financial market.

And because I believe this aim of European economic reform is one around which we can build a national consensus and one that all parties will want to support, I have written to my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Mr. Sheerman), to ask whether his Committee on Europe can take the lead in this work. I urge all parties to participate.

Extensive discussions aimed at setting clear key targets for the pay and personnel agency have been concluded. My objective was to focus on customer service and satisfaction, process and efficiency.

I have, therefore, agreed with the chief executive of the PPA the following key targets:

Customer Service and Satisfaction

Key Target 1:

Achieve 99.0 per cent. average timeliness and 97.3 per cent. average accuracy for salary payments, expenses payments and pension awards.

Key Target 2:

Achieve 93 per cent. average responsiveness against key service standards.

Key Target 3:

Improve customer satisfaction index score from 72.6 per cent. in 2002–03 and 78.5 per cent. in 2004–05 to 80 per cent. in 2006–07. [Note: not measured in 2005–06; measured in alternate years.]

Processes

Key Target 4:

Implement programme for future pay system, achieving systems integration testing by January 2006, and user acceptance and PPA business readiness by March 2006.

Key Target 5:

Migrate Agency into future People, Pay and Pensions Agency, supporting agreed package of early services by April 2005; interim recruiting service by September 2005; and PPA systems and processes ready to migrate by March 2006.

Efficiency

Key Target 6:

Reduce unit costs in real terms by: salary payments 10 per cent.; expenses payments 25 per cent.; pension awards 10 per cent.

Members would wish to be aware of changes to the base ports of the Royal Navy's mine counter measures squadrons.

Following on from announcements made in the July 2004 Defence White Paper, the Royal Navy has considered how best to reorganise mine counter measures squadrons to deliver the operational capabilities required in the future. Due to: the variations in the types of sonar on the two classes; the requirement for some Hunts, which can be used for fishery protection duties, to be co-located with the fishery protection squadron in Portsmouth; and because we wish to cause the minimum amount of disruption to individuals, it has been decided that the best long term option will be provided by the formation of two single class squadrons.

This means that, in the future, all eight Hunt class vessels will be based in Portsmouth while all eight Sandown class vessels will be based in Scotland (Faslane). The changes required to achieve this will be complete by March 2007.

Some 150 or so personnel are involved. For them and their families this change provides an opportunity to introduced long-term stability. No personnel will be made redundant as a result of the changes in basing arrangements.

The Government are today announcing plans for a new national, high-quality spatial address infrastructure building on the work already undertaken by Ordnance Survey and local government. The aim is to provide a single national database that will be maintained through a partnership approach and a collaborative framework of address and property identifiers. This will be developed and operated by Ordnance Survey in partnership with local and central government. The joint prospectus launched today is available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website describes the proposal in more detail. The Government seek comments from interested parties by the end of June.

The database, currently to be known as the national spatial address infrastructure (NSAI), will support a wide range of services delivered by central and local government and the private sector.

The infrastructure will build on local land and property gazetteers (LLPGs), the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG), the National Street Gazetteer, the postcode address file (PAF) and Ordnance Survey AddressPoint. NSAI will draw on the expertise of stakeholders including local authorities, Royal Mail Group plc, Office for National Statistics and Valuation Office Agency.

The main partners, Ordnance Survey and Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), have agreed heads of terms for the development process. A first cut of the NSAI will become available eight months after the full agreement is signed, paving the way towards a final structure after 18 months. The NSAI will initially relate to England and Wales. Longer term, the plan is to include information from Scotland and Northern Ireland to create a UK-wide infrastructure.

Stakeholders will have a continuing input to the process via a governance process that will encourage participation at a number of different levels. This group will be chaired by a senior official at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. £2.3 million is also being made available by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister from the local e-government programme to Surrey county council acting as lead authority for local government to enable the transfer of the NLPG database to the NSAI and to help facilitate local government's transition from one system to the other.

The Government have today published their response to the EFRA Committee report, "The Government's Rural Strategy and the draft Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill", published on 26 March 2005.

The Government's response includes detailed replies to the Committee's recommendations following its pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Bill.

The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 19 May 2005. Second Reading is provisionally scheduled to take place on Monday, 6 June 2005.

A copy of the EFRA Committee report is available on the House of Commons website. The Government's response and further information on the Bill are available at: www.defra.gov.uk/rural/ruraldelivery.

Lord Triesman, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, today arranged for copies of the second annual report by Fiona Lindsley, the independent monitor for entry clearance refusals without the right of appeal, to be placed in the Library of the House. Decisions taken in the calendar year 2003 were the subject of this review. I join Lord Triesman in welcoming Ms Lindsley's report and thanking her for her work.

The next meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council will be on 2–3 June. I will attend for the United Kingdom. Items on the agenda relating to health will be covered on 3 June. Items for discussion are: European Commission proposals for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on medicinal products for paediatric use; and the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims made on foods; the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the addition of vitamins, minerals and other substances to food; the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a programme of community action in health and consumer protection; obesity, nutrition and physical activity; combatting HIV/AIDS; and mental health.

Health Ministers will have an orientation debate on paediatric medicines. The UK can support the Commission's proposal for the articles under discussion.

There will be a public debate on the objectives of the European Commission's proposed programme of action in the field of health and consumer protection. The Presidency will ask the member states whether they support the health objectives in the proposal. The UK can support the general direction of the objectives.

Ministers will be asked to adopt draft council conclusions on obesity, nutrition and physical activity, calling on member states to develop initiatives aimed at promoting health diets and physical activity.

The Presidency will present draft council conclusions on HIV/AIDS, inviting member states to take further action in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Ministers will also be asked to adopt draft council conclusions on mental health, inviting member states to implement comprehensive mental health systems that cover promotion and prevention as well as treatment and care.

The UK can support the three sets of draft conclusions as drafted.

Under any other business, the Presidency and the Commission will provide information on the international health regulations and on the framework convention for tobacco control. The European Commission will provide information on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, environment and health and the work of the Commission-led high level group on health care in the European Union. There will also be a progress report on the proposed directive modifying directive 95/2/CE on food additives and directive 94/35/CE on colourings used in food.

Ministers will also discuss preparation for an influenza pandemic and the health response to the tsunami in South Asia.

The 2005–06 business plan for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has today been presented to Parliament. The plan contains the agency's key targets for the year.

Copies of the plan have been placed in the Library.

Today I am publishing the third "Accession Monitoring Report" showing provisional management information from the worker registration scheme and data from Government monitoring of benefits, housing and national insurance number applications for the period 1 May 2004 to 31 March 2005. The report is available electronically on the Home Office website at: www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/ind/en/home/0/reports/accession–monitoring.html.

Also today, as part of the Government's commitment to monitor the impact of workers from eight of the new EU Member States on the UK labour market, the Department for Work and Pensions is publishing early evidence of the "Impact of the Free Movement of Workers from Central and Eastern Europe on the UK labour market". The report is available at: www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/wp18.pdf.

The evidence confirms earlier indications that the Government's decision to allow individuals from the new member states to work in the UK has been largely beneficial to the UK economy. We estimate that workers from the new EU member states contributed approximately £500 million to UK GDP between May 2004 and March 2005. New EU citizens continue to register employment throughout the UK, easing employer recruitment difficulties and helping to address labour shortages in key sectors. The number of people from the new member states seeking benefits remains exceptionally low. There appears to have been a significant reduction in illegal working amongst accession nationals, and an increase in employment and output in the sectors in which these workers are located, with minimal impact on resident workers.

In total 176,000 workers from the new member states applied to the worker registration scheme between 1 May and 31 March 2005, of who up to a third (59,000) were already in the UK before 1 May 2004. The level of applications has fallen since the peak in June and July 2004. Many workers only remain for short periods of time. A recent survey commissioned by the recruitment firm manpower found that of employers who had taken on workers from the new member states half had workers who had subsequently left their employment. On average, workers who had left were employed for between three and four months. In future the e-borders programme will allow us to monitor people leaving and entering the UK.

The accession monitoring report shows that workers from the new members states are continuing to find jobs in sectors where there are a high number of vacancies. For example, 8 per cent. of workers registered in the manufacturing sector, which according to the latest ONS vacancy survey had over 628,900 vacancies in the quarter ending April 2005. Significantly, there is evidence from the most recent labour force survey that demand for labour is still outstripping supply in certain sectors, despite the fact that high percentages of new EU nationals are registered as working in these industries.

Since enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004, macroeconomic conditions in the UK remain robust and the UK labour market continues to perform well. Individuals from the new member states make up just over 0.4 per cent. of the total working age population, and there is little evidence of widespread impacts on employment, unemployment or wages. UK employment currently stands at 74.9 per cent., unchanged from 12 months ago. In March 2005 the average earnings index, excluding bonuses, was up 4.6 per cent. on the year, unchanged from May 2004.

The early evidence from the "Impact of the Free Movement of Workers" study suggests that overall the effect of EU enlargement on the UK labour market has been broadly positive, reflecting the flexibility and speed of adjustment of the UK labour market. The employment rate of individuals from the eight new member states has increased substantially—from under 60 per cent. in 2003 to over 75 per cent. by the end of 2004—while employment has continued to rise to record levels for both the domestic population and other foreign born nationals. In particular, employment has grown significantly in the agriculture and fishing sector. There is some early, mixed evidence that wage inflation in this sector has been lower than in the rest of the economy; further analysis will be necessary to confirm this finding. There are some early suggestions from the analysis that employment of workers from the new member states has led to small localised increases in the claimant unemployment count. However these are preliminary findings, of small magnitude and are expected to be a short term effect. Further analysis will be undertaken to test these findings the effects will continue to be monitored closely over the coming months.

All the evidence from the accession monitoring report continues to reinforce earlier suggestions that individuals from the new member states are coming to the UK for the opportunity to work, not to claim benefits. Over 98 per cent. of applications for national insurance numbers made by individuals from the new member states between 1 May 2004 and 31 March 2005 were for employment purposes. Very few are receiving out of work support or housing and homelessness assistance. For example, between May 2004 and March 2005 there were 1,191 applications for income support, jobseeker's allowance and state pension credit, and of these fewer than 40 were allowed to go forward for further consideration. Over the same period there have been just 43 local authority lettings to tenants from the eight new member states and only 216 people were accepted for assistance under the homelessness legislation. The vast majority of recipients (70 per cent. and 80 per cent. respectively) were in the UK before 1 May 2004. Registered workers continue to be young (82 per cent. were aged 18 to 34) and only 2 per cent. of registered workers had dependants under the age of 17 living with them in the UK. This profile reinforces earlier evidence that the usage of hospital and education services by accession nationals is low.

The next set of figures, incorporating the second quarter of 2005 (April-June 2005) will be published in August.

I have today placed in the Library copies of "Overarching Race Equality Scheme" for the Home Office and the associate schemes for the Core (non-Immigration and Nationality Directorate) Home Office, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, the National Probation Directorate, the Prison Service, the UK Passport, the Forensic Science Service and the Criminal Records Bureau.

I am pleased to say that Lord Carlile of Berriew QC has completed the report on the operation of the Act, which will be laid before the House today.

At a donor conference in Addis Ababa for the African Union's monitoring mission in Darfur today, the UK announced that it was pledging a further £6.6 million worth of support to the mission. This is in addition to the £14 million of support made available to date. It is planned that the money be used to buy 4x4 vehicles, rapid deployment equipment including ration packs and shelters, and to support civilian policing.

At the conference the African Union announced that talks about a political settlement in Darfur would resume in Abuja, Nigeria on 10 June. The Foreign Secretary and I welcome this. The UK will be represented at the talks.

During 2004, on the basis of proposals for the reform of fraud law in England and Wales, my predecessor my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Warley (Mr. Spellar), commissioned a public consultation exercise on similar reforms in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland legislation on fraud generally mirrors the legislation in England and Wales and Government took the view that there would be considerable benefit in maintaining a consistent approach across both jurisdictions. The consultations in both jurisdictions produced broadly similar responses.

Today, I am pleased to announce the publication of the Government's response to consultation in Northern Ireland on the reform of the law on fraud. I am also pleased to announce my decision that the draft Fraud Bill, as introduced yesterday in the House of Lords, will extend to Northern Ireland.

The Government's proposals reflect the widespread public support for the proposed draft legislation across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is vital that police and prosecutors have a modern legislative framework to deal with fraud which will make the prosecution process simpler and more efficient for both juries and defendants. The reforms proposed in the draft Bill will make the law more relevant and effective in tackling the wide range of fraudulent activity.

I have placed copies of the Government's response to the public consultation in Northern Ireland in the Library of the House.

The Future of Rail White Paper (Command Paper 6233) published in July 2004, announced the intention to reform the Rail Passengers Council. As part of that process, I had recently appointed the current chairman of the RPC, Stewart Francis, as chairman of the new RPC for the remainder of his current term of office. This was due to be announced shortly alongside other new RPC board appointments.

Unfortunately, because of ill health, Stewart Francis has resigned from his position as Chair of the new RPC. I understand and support his decision. I am therefore writing today to Stewart Francis accepting his resignation from both his current appointment as chairman of the RPC and his recent appointment as chairman of the new RPC. Stewart has been the key architect of the organisation's reform and his contribution over the last year in particular has been vital. His involvement in the RPC network and advocacy on behalf of rail passengers over the last eight years must also be commended. I wish him well for the future.

I am still expecting the new RPC to come into existence in July and I shall keep the House informed of further developments as we continue to implement the proposals set out in the White Paper.