At its meeting of 24 January 2006 the Economic and Financial Affairs Council took note of a presentation from the current Austrian and future Finnish presidencies on a work programme for ECOFIN for 2006.

The Council adopted opinions on the stability and convergence programmes for Finland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Slovakia and Sweden and adopted a decision under article 104(6) and a recommendation under article 104(7) of the EC Treaty with regard to the UK.

The Council discussed procedures for following up matters relating to the forthcoming Commission annual progress report on the Lisbon Strategy in the run-up to the spring European Council.

The Council adopted conclusions on an Economic Policy Committee report regarding the quality of public finances in the EU.

The Austrian presidency concluded that, subject to confirmation by the Czech Republic, Poland and Cyprus, political agreement could be reached on an extension of the arrangements for reduced rates of VAT for labour intensive services until 2010. The presidency subsequently announced on 30 January that the Czech Republic and Cyprus had agreed the proposal. Discussions are ongoing between the presidency and Poland.

The Council held an exchange of views on issues related to energy markets.

My right hon. Friend the Paymaster General, represented the UK.

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

"The Judicial Appointments Annual Report, covering the period 1 April 2004 to 30 September 2005, is published today, 31 January. This year the report continues to focus on developments and achievements within the judicial appointments process and the work undertaken ahead of the new Judicial Appointments Commission. We have placed the full statistical tables, which give the results of the various competitions held within the period of the report and their supporting narrative, on the departmental website at: www.dca.gov.uk. The report also shows that:

Some 549 appointments were made during 2004–05 from around 3,500 applications.

Appointments, including lay appointments, of minority ethnic candidates accounted for 12 per cent. of those made over the 18 month period.

Women accounted for 37 per cent. of appointments.

Since 1 April 2005 women have made up 46 per cent. and minority ethnic groups 17 per cent. of all appointments.

The report also outlines improvements made to the judicial appointments process, including the introduction of competence based selection for all judicial appointments and the pilots of assessment centre-based recruitment for Recorder and Employment Tribunal appointments.

Copies of the report will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and is also available on the Department's website at: www.dca.gov.uk".

I am pleased to announce to Parliament my decision on the future of the Met Office forecast production network.

The Met Office has a responsibility to provide value for money to the taxpayer, to deliver the UK's public weather service in the most efficient and effective manner and to provide the best possible service to all its customers. A thorough review and analysis of the Met Office's production network has been carried out. This included an extensive consultation exercise which took place between July and November 2005 involving customers, parliamentarians, trades unions, staff and other interested parties.

I am grateful to the many individuals and groups who took part in this consultation. It generated a great deal of useful feedback. Indeed, based on a number of the constructive comments received, the Met Office was able to produce an additional option for consultation, as a result of which I agreed an extension to the consultation period.

Having carefully weighed the various issues and arguments, I have decided that the best solution for the future of the Met Office and its customers is to centralise more forecast production at the Met Office HQ in Exeter, while retaining production capability in Aberdeen and a reduced regional network focusing primarily on service delivery. Forecast advisers within the regional network will take a proactive role with customers to identify regional weather impacts, and deliver the Met Office's open road, marine and public weather services.

I am confident that this decision will deliver significant benefits to the Met Office, the UK taxpayer and all the Met Office's customers.

The Department is today publishing the report of the end to end review of the arrangements for the delivery of financial support to higher education students, and its collection from borrowers, in England. The start of the review was announced on 7 June. Copies of the report are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Department welcomes the report. Its initial response is set out below.

The principles underpinning the report are that student finance delivery arrangements must meet demand from customers for clear information about their entitlement to support; faster decisions once applications have been made; timely payments upon starting a course; and accurate repayments when these come to be made. They must also meet taxpayers' expectations that value for money is being achieved. While much has been achieved in recent years, the report makes clear that significant further improvements in performance are required. The Department agrees with this analysis and with the challenging new objectives and targets the report recommends.

The report makes 44 specific recommendations. The Department accepts these in principle, subject to the further detailed work on costs and practicalities which some will require. In particular the Department supports the report's vision of a future in which a large majority of students will apply for financial support online, and the changes which will be needed to achieve this. It welcomes the report's identification of changes which will increase repayments, and it will respond actively to the report's call for DfES leadership to ensure accessible, accurate and consistent information, advice and guidance at national and local level.

The report also sets out options for a new delivery structure. In the case of assessments and payment, delivery will need to reflect the move to online applications. It will also need to improve the current variability of customer service, and to achieve efficiencies. For these reasons the Department is attracted to the option of a centrally-provided service for which a single organisation would be responsible., working with others to ensure we meet the needs of individuals requiring local assistance. However, this needs to be discussed with local authority representatives given the impact on their staff.

The report offers three options for the national organisation: an NDPB, a private sector contractor chosen through procurement, and a new relationship with the Student Loans Company. In considering these the Department will focus not only on delivery capability and value for money, but also on which option is most likely to produce the significant cultural shift which the report rightly calls for if the service is to become truly customer-focused. The Department will consider the options in the report for the collections process.

The Department will now discuss the report with key stakeholders and will make a detailed response in the spring.

On 19 January 2005 the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) announced that payments under the new CAP Single Payment Scheme (SPS) were expected to commence in February 2006, well within the EU regulatory window of 1 December 2005 to 30 June 2006. Over the past year, staff at the RPA have worked exceedingly hard to ensure that this expectation was turned into a reality.

At the EFRA Select Committee hearing on 11 January my noble Friend Lord Bach made it clear that payments would begin, in line with the RPA's forecast, before the end of February and that an announcement would be made by the end of this month on whether they would be full or partial payments. Having considered the latest progress reports on the processing of farmers' claims I am pleased to confirm today that the RPA will now proceed to make full payments. The contingency system to make partial payments will not, therefore, be invoked.

The RPA will now proceed to definitively establish entitlements on 14 February, details of which will be communicated to individual farmers within two weeks of that date. This will allow for the trading of entitlements to commence in preparation for the 2006 scheme.

Where 2005 SPS applications have been fully validated, payments will start before the end of February, with the bulk being made in March. In the minority of cases where queries remain unresolved, the validation process will continue beyond March, but farmers may be assured that the RPA will make every effort to complete the task in the shortest possible timeframe.

I hope this statement will provide some reassurance to the farming industry about the progress of the scheme. I want to acknowledge the co-operation and patience of everyone who has made a claim.

The Pingat Jasa Malaysia (PJM) is a commemorative medal which the Government of Malaysia would like to award to eligible British citizens, for their service in Malaya or Malaysia between 31 August 1957 and 12 August 1966.

The Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals (the official Committee which advises Her Majesty the Queen on matters of honours policy) has recommended that an exception to two of the long-established rules governing the accepting and wearing of foreign (including Commonwealth) awards be made, to enable the Malaysian Government to present the PJM. Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve this recommendation.

This exception to the rules means that all of the many thousands of eligible former members of the armed forces/veterans, and others, may receive the PJM. This will be in addition to the British General Service Medal (with appropriate Malaya/Borneo clasp) that many veterans will have been eligible to receive for their service in Malaya/Borneo.

Permission to wear the PJM will not, however, formally be given. It is long standing Government policy that non-British medals will not be approved for events or service:

that took place more than five years before initial consideration, or in connection with events that took place in the distant past (e.g. commemorative medals);

if the recipient has received a British award for the same service.

However, Her Majesty's Government welcome, and believe it is important to recognise, the generous gesture by the King and Government of Malaysia, and their wish to acknowledge the service given by veterans and others in the years immediately after Malaysian independence. The exception recommended reflects this and our strong and important relationship with Malaysia.

The Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals reviewed the five-year and double medalling rules, and considered that, while there were sound reasons why they should be retained, there will be occasions when specific circumstances require exceptions to the rules to be recommended. When such exceptions are contemplated, the Committee will consider each request on a case by case basis, taking into account any special circumstances at the time. The fact that a similar request has been approved in the past will not mean that permission will be granted in future cases.

Applications for the PJM, and its subsequent distribution will essentially be a matter for the Malaysian authorities, in collaboration with the relevant British Government Departments. Large numbers may be involved. It will take some time for the applications to be processed and for the medal to be distributed. The Malaysian High Commission and the relevant British Government agencies will work together to determine eligible applicants. Veterans' organisations and service and regimental associations will also be involved.

This afternoon I intend to make an oral statement to the House to launch the latest in the Government's series of White Papers on the European Union, "Prospects for the European Union in 2006 and retrospective of the UK's Presidency of the EU, 1 July to 31 December 2005". The White Paper will be available in the Vote Office from 11.00 am.

This White Paper is one of a series on prospects for the EU initiated by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary in 2004. White Papers were issued in April and September 2004 and in February and June 2005. These White Papers are intended to stimulate the closer and deeper involvement of Members of both Houses in EU affairs.

I have today placed in the Library a copy of the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2006–07 (HC 845). The report sets out my determination for 2006–07 of the aggregate amount of grants that I propose to pay under section 46(2) of the Police Act 1996, and the amount to be paid to each police authority and to the Greater London Authority for the Metropolitan Police Authority.

I have also placed in the Library copies of the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2004–05 (Amending Report 2005–06) (HC 847) and the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2005–06 (Amending Report 2005–06). (HC 846) to take account of changes to Office for National Statistics population data and pensions changes.

General police grant allocations which include Home Office Police Grant and Revenue Support Grant for each police authority for 2006–07 are set out in Table 1. Amended allocations for 2004–05 and 2005–06 are set out in Tables 2 and 3.

Table 1: Police grant allocations by English & Welsh police authority 2006–07

Notes:

1. Rounded to the nearest £100,000. Grant as calculated under the Local Government Finance Report (England) and Local Government Finance (Police) Report (Wales). This includes the Metropolitan Police special payment, and the effects of floors and scaling.

2. Allocations made under the Amending Report 2005–06 are adjusted for the transfer of pensions and security funding.

3. Figures for the City of London relate to Home Office Grant only as calculated in the Police Grant Report (England and Wales). Revenue Support Grant is allocated to the Common Council of the City of London as a whole in respect of all its functions. The City is grouped with education authorities for the purposes of floors.

4. Welsh figures include Home Office floor funding.

Table 2: Amended allocations for each police authority against original allocations for 2004–05

Notes:

1. Rounded to the nearest £100,000. Grant as calculated under the Local Government Finance Report (England) and Local Government Finance Report (Wales). This includes the Metropolitan Police special payment, and the effects of floors and scaling.

2. Home Office Police Grant only.

3. Allocation figures include Home Office floor payments for Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales.

Table 3: Amended allocations for each police authority against original allocations for 2005–06

Notes:

1. Rounded to the nearest £100,000. Grant as calculated under the Local Government Finance Report (England) and Local Government Finance Report (Wales). This includes the Metropolitan Police special payment, and the effects of floors and scaling.

2. Home Office Police Grant only.

3. Allocation figures include Home Office floor payments for Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales.

The Afghan and UK Governments are signing a 10-year development partnership arrangement at an international conference on Afghanistan in London on 31 January and 1 February 2006. At the conference the Afghan Government will launch the Afghanistan Compact (a framework for the international community's engagement in Afghanistan over the next five years) and its interim national development strategy.

The purpose of the development partnership arrangement is to reaffirm the UK Government's long-term commitment to the Afghan Government's development plans, and set out the nature of this arrangement. Afghanistan has achieved good progress since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 under a Government committed to reducing poverty. But as a new democracy, emerging from conflict and constrained by weak capacity, low revenue and a dominant narcotics industry, Afghanistan risks regressing without long-term commitment from the international community. We hope a 10-year DPA will help build the Afghan Government's confidence and further strengthen its commitment to reducing poverty.

The DPA covers only UK commitments on international development assistance provided through the Department for International Development (DFID). The DPA also transparently sets out Afghan Government commitments needed for DFID to continue with substantial long-term development support. These include commitments on reducing poverty and the Millennium Development Goals; respecting human rights and other relevant international obligations; and strengthening financial management and accountability, which reduces the risk of funds being misused through weak administration or corruption. The DPA specifies what each Government will commit to, and what happens if the Afghan Government are in breach of a commitment. These commitments should help to strengthen the Afghan Government's planning and budgeting through more effective delivery and use of aid, resulting in greater impact on poverty. Through the DPA, the UK Government are outlining an indicative financial commitment of £330 million from DFID for 2006–09, as part of a larger UK spend in Afghanistan expected at around £500 million in total over a period of three years. DFID is committing to give the Afghan Government aid figures on a three-year rolling basis in future years to increase funding predictability; and to channel at least 50 per cent. of its funding through the Government's budget, in order to strengthen state capacity and institutions.

Along with Lord Rooker, I have deposited copies of the Annual Report and Financial Statements of Ilex URC Ltd. for the year ended 31 March 2005 incorporating the auditor's report in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Government have received a report from the Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice in Northern Ireland on the Compensation Agency in Northern Ireland. The report has been published today.

The Government welcome this report, which recognises the important service provided by the Compensation Agency. It comments favourably on the work being done in creating the balance between a strong performance culture and the needs of staff in a changing environment.

Copies of the Chief Inspector's Report have been placed in the Library.

The Department will be placing the figures for the United Kingdom's stocks of civil plutonium and uranium as at 31 December 2004 in the Libraries of both Houses. In accordance with our commitment under the "Guidelines for the Management of Plutonium," we have also sent the figures to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who will circulate them to member states. The figures will be available on the Department's and the IAEA's websites.

The figures show that stocks of unirradiated plutonium in the UK totalled 102.7 tonnes at the end of 2004. Changes from the corresponding figures for 2003 are a consequence of continuing reprocessing operations (e.g. as reflected in the increased quantity of "unirradiated separated plutonium in product stores at reprocessing plants"). The decrease in the civil depleted, natural and low enriched uranium figures reflects the change in requirements for these materials at fuel fabrication plants and reactors.