My right hon. and noble Friend the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor, has made the following written ministerial statement:

"On 1 April 2006, I will launch the Tribunals Service. The new agency brings together the tribunals already administered by DCA with five others from across central Government. It is the culmination of a major programme of work that has involved extensive engagement with tribunals, other Government Departments and stakeholders to ensure a seamless transition and minimal disruption to users. The formation of the agency is the first major shake-up of the UK tribunals system for over fifty years and will ensure the manifest independence of the tribunals from those whose decisions they are reviewing.

The Tribunals Service will work to make the whole system of administrative justice more efficient, effective and accessible for users. Over time, it will test a range of methods of dispute resolution to create a service that ensures the public can get their problems addressed by the most suitable means.

The following table sets out the key performance targets which I have set for the Tribunals Service for 2006–07:

Copies of the Tribunals Service framework document and the Business Plan for 2006–07 have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses."

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs, my noble Friend the Baroness Ashton of Upholland, has made the following written ministerial statement.

"The following list sets out the key performance targets that have been set for the Public Guardianship Office for 2006–07.

KPI 1: To increase the satisfaction of its customers in the delivery of its services as measured by customer surveys throughout the year.

Targets:

(a) To achieve an overall satisfaction rating of 75 per cent.

(b) To reduce dissatisfaction amongst each of the PGO's different customer groups (lay, local authority and professional receivers, and EPA attorneys) by 10 per cent.

KPI 2: To increase the proportion of effective visits by the Lord Chancellor's Visitors.

Targets:

Effective visits

(a) To achieve 80 per cent. effective visits over the year. An effective visit is one where:

(i) the visit is carried out within six months of the request being made; and

(ii) recommended action is initiated within one calendar month of the visit.

New clients

(b) To visit all new clients within six months of the Order appointing the Receiver being sent and to initiate any necessary action arising from the visit within one calendar month.

(c) To visit 10 per cent. of clients within 12–18 months of a Short Order direction.

Existing clients

(d) To undertake visits to existing clients as follows:

(i) 10 per cent. of clients within 18 months of a Case Transfer direction;

(ii) annually where the Chief Executive of the PGO is the receiver;

(iii) a repeat visit after three years where the receiver is still in place;

(iv) a repeat visit when necessary based on recommendations made by a Lord Chancellor's Visitor; and

(v) other visits as directed by the court of protection or requested by the PGO.

In total, the PGO anticipates that these criteria will result in approximately 9,500 visits.

KPI 3: To maintain an effective system to collect and review accounts, and use this process to review the case management regime to ensure that it is meeting the needs of each customer and client.

Targets:

(a) To collect 60 per cent. of accounts, in all cases where an account is properly due, within two calendar months of the accounting end date; 85 per cent. within four calendar months of the accounting end date; and 95 per cent. within six calendar months of the accounting end date.

(b) To complete the review of, or to have requested further information for, 100 per cent. of accounts within 20 working days of receipt.

(c) To complete the review of 75 per cent. of furthered-on accounts (that is, those where further information is needed) within 30 working days of the request for additional information.

(d) No case will have two accounts outstanding unless the court of protection has directed otherwise.

KPI 4: To deliver an improved service to clients.

Targets:

Correspondence

(a) To respond to

— 60 per cent. of correspondence within 5 working days of receipt;

— 80 per cent. of correspondence within 10 working days of receipt; and

— 98 per cent. of correspondence within 15 working days of receipt.

Release of funds

(b) To work with receivers to ensure they have access to funds to support the client for a year at a time. Where requests for release of funds are made over and above this, PGO will give directions to the Court Funds Office (CFO), or dispatch directions to the receiver within five working days in 80 per cent. of cases and within 10 working days in 95 per cent. of cases; or explain why it cannot release funds.

Applications for Receivership

(c) Providing it has all the appropriate forms and information required in support of an application, PGO will list a case for hearing and notify the applicant within 10 working days in 95 per cent. of cases.

(d) The hearing date will be within 35 working days of the date the hearing was listed in 95 per cent. of cases.

(e) After the hearing, PGO will notify applicants of the outcome of the hearing and request any further information the court requires within five working days in 95 per cent. of cases.

(f) PGO will issue orders within 10 working days in 95 per cent. of cases where all information and documents have been received.

Closing cases

(g) Where a client dies and PGO has a complete application for final directions, PGO will prepare and dispatch directions to transfer assets to personal representatives within 15 working days in 80 per cent. of cases, within 20 working days in 98 per cent. of cases.

Enduring Powers of Attorney

(h) PGO will register and return 98 per cent. of correctly lodged EPAs, where there are no objections, within five working days of the end of the statutory waiting period.

Accuracy of Orders

(i) PGO will ensure that in at least 98 per cent. of cases, orders will not be returned because of errors.

Case Transfer to Short Order Regime

(j) In 85 per cent. of cases identified for consideration for a short order regime, the case will be referred to the court of protection within 15 working days for a decision to be made.

(k) Where the Court directs a transfer, initiating action will be effected within 10 days of the decision in 95 per cent. of cases.

KPI 5: To demonstrate improvements in efficiency in value for money terms by meeting a Unit Cost target for undertaking each case in each of the main business streams as follows:

Targets:

— Enduring Powers of Attorney—£114 per case; and

— Appointing and Supervising Receivers—£580 per case".

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

"The following list sets out the key performance targets that have been set for Her Majesty's Land Registry for 2006–07.

Customer Service

Speed:

Percentage of official copy and search applications processed within two working days: 98 per cent.

Percentage of all registrations processed within 18 working days: 80 per cent.

Accuracy:

Percentage of registrations processed free of any error: 98.5 per cent.

Overall Satisfaction ¹ :

Percentage of customers who, overall, are very satisfied/satisfied with the full range of services provided by land registry: Better than 95 per cent.

Financial:

Percentage return on average capital employed: 3.5 per cent.

Efficiency ² :

Cost per unit in cash terms ³ (real terms) ⁴ : £29.77 (£21.17)

Critical Action Points

Customer Service: Introduce imagery-based access to land register online;

Land Registration: Add a further 700,000 hectares of land to the total areas of registered freehold land in England and Wales;

Electronic Service Delivery: Introduce a prototype chain matrix service to provide transparency to residential conveyancing chains;

Other Business Development: Establish a Land Registry Portal as a first step in implementing a single integrated customer interface for all online Land Registry information and services."

More information on these and other key targets is published in the Strategic and Business Plans.

1 Result from quarterly satisfaction survey.

2 This is a final year target towards the HM Treasury-agreed cost per unit target for 2006–07 of £29.94 in cash terms (£21.17 in real terms). Target adjusted for revised pension costs.

3 Based on the GDP deflator issued by HM Treasury on 23rd December 2005 (base year 1992–93).

4 The real term unit cost in the base year of 1992–93 was £30.65.

I have today placed in the Library of the House the structured plan for the phased reduction of troops to peacetime levels, assuming the continued maintenance of an enabling environment, which the Government agreed to produce as part of the programme for security normalisation in Northern Ireland announced last year.

Tranche 1 of the plan has been completed ahead of schedule, including the removal of the three hilltop observation posts, the dismantling of the military supersanger in Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Newtonhamilton and the removal of the military observation posts in Masonic Base and on Divis Tower. Forkhill has been vacated and closed, and the Army has withdrawn from the PSNI stations at Kinawley and Rosslea. The six month roulement Battalion known as Northern Ireland Battalion 1 (NIBAT 1) was withdrawn from Northern Ireland on 16 January. This marked the withdrawal of the last roulement Battalion deployed in Northern Ireland.

We shall be consulting with the trades unions on the implementation of this plan once the full impact of the normalisation programme on civilian staff has been established.

My statement to the House on 2 December 2005 set out the process by which the Government proposed to amend the local government pension scheme in England and Wales, subject to the outcome of the statutory consultation exercise which began on 5 December 2005 and which ended on 28 February 2006. A summary of the responses received will be placed on the ODPM/LGPS website.

The local government pensions scheme is a guaranteed, final salary pension scheme open primarily to employees of local government but also to those who work in other organisations associated with local government, including, higher and further education institutions. It is also a funded scheme, with its pensions funds being managed and invested locally within the framework of regulations provided by Government. In deciding on the regulations needed to ensure that all members' pensions are safe, and prudently funded, the Government have to take account of the advice of actuaries, as well as the views of representatives of employers and members, and other interested parties.

My 2 December statement made clear the Government's intention to secure the scheme's continued affordability and viability, without placing an unfair burden on taxpayers. The Government remain committed to that objective, and also to providing an equality-proofed scheme which is flexible and attractive in its provisions to employees and employers, both now and in the future.

To fulfil the Government's objective for the scheme, considerable efforts have been made to reform and to plan its future, within the framework provided by the Tripartite Committee. The Government, with the cooperation of the local authority employers and trades unions, want to see the provision of good quality pensions for all local authority workers. The Tripartite Committee provides the right framework for key interests to seek agreement, through analysis and transparent discussions, on the way ahead for the scheme and for any new benefit structure. However, in regulating the scheme, the Government are required by the scheme's governing regulations to secure its on-going solvency and compliance with the law.

It is intended to place before Parliament the necessary amending regulations to implement what was outlined in my 2 December statement. These will introduce significant and well supported flexibilities into the scheme's legal framework to reflect the simplified tax regime provided by the Finance Act 2004. It is the Government's wish also to strike a fair and proportionate balance between the extent and the cost of any affordable and legal safeguards for existing scheme members. To ensure compliance with European Union age discrimination legislation, set out in Council directive 2000/78/EC, and to secure ongoing cost stability, the rule of 85 will be removed from the Scheme with effect from 1 October 2006. We remain firmly committed to ensuring the protection of those members born before 31 March 1953 who would have satisfied the rule by their 60th birthday.

Such an approach, within the current scheme's framework, is seen as being both affordable and legal, and it maintains the consistent stance taken by the Government that no additional costs associated with these regulations should fall on taxpayers.

Looking ahead, the Government are committed to reforming the scheme to ensure it meets the challenge of a changing workforce both within and around local government in England and Wales. Discussions with scheme interests are proceeding to support the preparation of a policy discussion paper on a new-look scheme for consultation later in the year. Any reforms of the scheme must recognise, of course, that it already has a normal retirement age of 65, that it is funded and financed in a specific way and, crucially, that any new arrangements must continue to be both affordable and legal.

A key element of these discussions, which have already begun within the framework provided by the Tripartite Committee, will be to address positively the concerns expressed about the position of existing scheme members who contrast their particular circumstances with the agreement reached in October 2005 by other, but unfunded, public service pension schemes. The Government intend that these reforms can be guided by the principle that up to half of the savings achieved by the final removal of the rule of 85 can be recycled into the development of whatever benefit package is felt by the stakeholders and membership to be appropriate for the new-look 2008 scheme.

Going forward, the Government, given their regulatory responsibilities for the solvency and viability of the scheme, remain firmly committed to the provision of affordable and sustainable, good quality pension arrangements in the local government pension scheme, as indeed it believes so too are all the interested parties connected with its present and future.

I am pleased to announce that the Government and the devolved Administrations have today published the "UK Climate Change Programme 2006", to update the programme that we introduced in 2000.

The UK has one of the best records of any country in tackling greenhouse gas emissions, and we have already met our Kyoto target for 2010. The programme sets out the Government's commitments at international and domestic levels to meet the challenge of climate change. It also sets out our approach to strengthening the role that individuals can play. Progress in all three areas is regarded by the Government as essential.

Our review over the past eighteen months has evaluated how effective our existing policies have been and analysed a range of possible new policies to contribute towards our national climate change goals. We are introducing a range of policies to strengthen our domestic delivery. Among these are measures to support increased generation from renewable sources, encourage the installation of energy efficiency measures in households, provide more reliable consumer product information, support more sustainable transport choices, introduce higher standards for efficiency in buildings and finance energy efficiency measures for public sector organisations.

Today we are also consulting on the draft of the "UK's National Allocation Plan" for the second phase of the EU emissions trading scheme. The scheme is a central element of the energy supply and business sectors' contribution to our policies to tackle climate change. It will be used to make a significant contribution to our national emissions reduction target.

These policies are expected to reduce the UK's emissions of the basket of greenhouse gases to 23–25 per cent. below base year levels, around twice our commitment to reduce emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. It is also expected to reduce the UK's carbon dioxide emissions to 15–18 per cent. below 1990 levels by 2010. The review, and policies introduced already, could reduce carbon emissions by 7–12MtC by 2010. This would take the Government close to their domestic target of a 20 per cent. reduction by 2010. The Government still believe that the UK can achieve this target. This is an on-going process and the Government will in future report annually to Parliament on emissions, future plans and progress on the domestic climate change agenda. We believe we can reach the 20 per cent. target with support from all sections of the economy and society, not least by the collective action of individuals.

At international level, we will maintain our leadership role, and build on progress achieved through the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, the European Union and the Montreal Climate Change Conference. Our aim is to secure agreement to the action and long-term goal needed to establish an effective future international regime to tackle climate change. As part of this, in partnership with the European Union, we will enhance our efforts to help India, China and other developing countries evolve as low carbon economies.

Copies of this document will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament and of Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly Government, and Northern Ireland Assembly. Copies can also be found at DEFRA's website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/pubs/ukccp/index.htm and the TSO offices.

I am today laying before Parliament Government White Paper Command 6762, "Active Diplomacy for a Changing World: the UK's International Priorities".

In a world of global communications and markets, our security and prosperity depend more than ever on what happens in other parts of the world. "Active Diplomacy for a Changing World: The UK's International Priorities" updates the FCO's 2003 White Paper, "UK International Priorities: A Strategy for the FCO". It identifies the trends we expect to shape the world in the next 10 years, sets out the UK's role in the international system, and identifies the strategic international priorities for the Government as a whole.

The world in the next 10 years

Based on extensive consultation with partners around Government and beyond, some of the trends and their implications for the UK outlined in the White Paper are:

The gathering pace of globalisation. The flow of people, goods, money and knowledge, and the rapid growth of Asia, present new opportunities and risks. We will need to adapt our economy, and work with others to support global economic openness. And we must also help build effective states able to provide security, opportunity, justice and basic services for their citizens.

Pressures on natural resources. Economic demand, population growth and climate change are putting the world's natural resources under new pressure. We will need to manage increasing competition for energy in particular.

An uncertain security environment. Terrorism will remain the primary security threat to the UK. The fight to control the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons will be crucial over the next ten years. There will be new risks to fragile states and uncertainty about developments in key parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The UK Government's response

To meet these and other challenges, the British Government:

Must be engaged around the globe to shape developments at a time of rapid change.

Must strengthen its partnerships and international institutions to build a future based on common values and interests.

Must secure closer co-operation across Government and with others as the impact at home of events overseas continues to grow.

The UK's International Priorities

The 2003 White Paper introduced a set of strategic priorities to guide the Government's international policy. This new White Paper builds on these strategic priorities, and introduces some new ones.

The provision of public services to UK citizens abroad has always been a core activity. The continuing importance of delivering high quality consular support, against a backdrop of increasing demand, has led to our decision to introduce a new strategic priority to cover this activity.

We have also introduced a new strategic priority on managing migration and combating illegal immigration. The pressures driving migration are significant. Managing our economic, social, security and development objectives will be an important task for Government in the years ahead.

On the basis of this assessment, the strategic international priorities for Government identified in the White Paper are:

1. Making the world safer from global terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

2. Reducing the harm to the UK from international crime, including drug trafficking, people smuggling and money laundering.

3. Preventing and resolving conflict through a strong international system.

4. Building an effective and globally competitive EU in a secure neighbourhood.

5. Supporting the UK economy and business through an open and expanding global economy, science and innovation and secure energy supplies.

6. Promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction underpinned by human rights, democracy, good governance and protection of the environment.

7. Managing migration and combating illegal immigration.

8. Delivering high-quality support for British nationals abroad, in normal times and in crises.

9. Ensuring the security and good governance of the UK's Overseas Territories.

The role of the FCO

The White Paper also sets out how the FCO will continue to adapt to take forward the strategic priorities, working with others in Government. The role of the FCO is to exercise judgment and influence in order to shape the future for the benefit of our citizens and others. We must be engaged on the ground with the knowledge, experience and skills to effect change.

Our network of posts must continue to adapt to new opportunities and risks. We are moving resources to priorities in Asia and the Middle East; tackling issues such as conflict, energy security and economic and political reform in key regions; developing rapid deployment teams for crisis response; and using information and communications technology to help us work more flexibly and effectively.

This White Paper and the strategic priorities will provide the framework for deploying our efforts as resources remain tight and demand for our services grows.

The Department has set up a review group to consider the concerns that were set out in the case closure report from Ofcom, following its investigation into the price of telephone calls to hospital patients.

The group will be chaired by Ms. Melanie Kay of the Department of Health. Its membership will include the providers of bedside communications and entertainment services, patient representation, and National Health Service trusts. The group will report later this year.

The terms of reference for the group are as follows:

Purpose

The patient power review group will be responsible for reviewing existing contracts with the NHS and service providers to identify ways of addressing the concerns expressed in the recent Ofcom investigation. In summary, these were to ensure that patients and the NHS get best value from the contracts while the service providers are not disadvantaged in the market place. The intention is to produce an agreed framework that would enable NHS trusts and the providers of the service to modify their existing agreements.

Terms of Reference

1. Review all aspects of the charging structure:

Level of inbound call charges,

Requirement to cap outbound call charges at the standard national call rate,

The availability of some free television and radio, and free TV for children,

Whether the cross subsidisation across the various services is appropriate or desirable,

Whether it is appropriate for a recorded message to be played in its entirety at the outset of each and every call.

2. Review the requirement to install, with limited clinical exceptions, units at every bedside within a hospital site, irrespective of use. Could this be altered in respect of all new installations and the repair and renewal ofunits already installed?

3. Review the requirement to offer services through a combined unit, offering television and telephone and capable of offering added value services. It should consider not only the extent to which NHS trusts have made use of the added functionality (or could make use in the future) but should consider what the appropriate minimum standards should be for all future installations and renewals.

4. Review and clarify the guidance issued by the Department in respect of NHS trusts exercising their own discretion in determining the local policy on the use of mobile phones in hospitals.

On 17 November 2005 I made a statement about developments at Styal prison following the tragic series of deaths of six women there and further work planned relating to women offenders. I outlined in that statement a great deal of work that is underway in respect of women who come into contact with the Criminal Justice System, in particular, changes made at Styal and other women's prisons and the Women's Offending Reduction Programme (WORP), which is co-ordinating and implementing a comprehensive programme of work to address the complex range of factors that affect women's offending.

I said that it was timely to take stock of the work being done and to look again at the measures in place to ensure that we are doing everything possible for the especially vulnerable group of women who come into contact with the criminal justice system. I undertook to make a further announcement when the scope of this review had been determined and I am now able to make that further announcement.

I am pleased to announce that Baroness Jean Corston has agreed to undertake this review. Jean recently chaired the Joint Committee on Human Rights and instigated its valuable and comprehensive Inquiry into Deaths in Custody in 2003.

The review will be focused on those women in whom a multitude of risk factors coexist and which could lead them to harm themselves in prison. This could, for example, encompass women with serious mental illness or serious drug addictions; women with other mental health problems such as personality disorder, which can be exacerbated by prison and increase their vulnerability; and those women who are persistent low-level offenders, living chaotic lives. It will look at provision for such women at each occasion they come into contact with the criminal justice system, for example, at police stations, at court, on remand, on sentencing, during sentence in the community, in prison and on release.

I stress that the review will complement rather than replicate the work underway and will seek to build on the vast amount of work and knowledge that already exist. For example, WORP aims to provide a more appropriate and joined-up response in the community to the particular factors that impact on women offenders. The Together Women Programme will trial an integrated approach to routing women to appropriate services to meet their needs at various stages of their offending history. Baroness Corston's review will seek to build on this work, focusing on identified gaps in provision.

Part of the review will profile the characteristics and histories of some of the women who have died in custody in recent years (particularly those at Styal) and look at the pathway through the criminal justice system that led them to that point. It is hoped that some of those families sadly bereaved by these deaths might be willing to share their experiences with the review and provide an insight into the events that led to custody. This element of the review could provide a strong contribution to learning lessons and may be of some small comfort to those bereaved families.

The review will be assisted by a small advisory reference group, with some wider groups and themed seminars. Baroness Corston is establishing her advisory group, which is likely to include, for example, Prison Reform Trust, Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Women in Prison, INQUEST and NIMHE. Senior officials from the Home Office Women's Offending Reduction Programme, the Prison Service Women's group and the National Offender Management Service Safer Custody Group will also sit on the reference group. A wider group of people and organisations, whose expertise will be vital to the review, will also be invited to contribute both directly and through meetings and seminars. Many other individuals and organisations with specialist knowledge are being identified and will also be invited to contribute to the review.

My right hon. Friend Baroness Scotland has asked Baroness Corston for a progress report by the end of June 2006 and for her final report to reach us by 31 December 2006. The final report will be published.

On the 28 March 2006, I am publishing the Government's "Microgeneration Strategy". Publication fulfils the requirement under the Energy Act 2004 to publish a strategy for the promotion of microgeneration within 18 months of commencement of the relevant section.

Microgeneration is generally defined as the small-scale production of heat and/or electricity from a low carbon source. The suite of technologies caught by this definition includes solar (PV to provide electricity and thermal to provide hot water), micro-wind (including the new rooftop mounted turbines), micro-hydro, heat pumps, biomass, micro combined heat and power and small-scale fuel cells.

A study commissioned by the DTI from the Energy Saving Trust (EST) suggested that by 2050, microgeneration could provide 30–40 per cent. of the UK's electricity needs and help to reduce household carbon emissions by 15 per cent. per annum. In 2004 there were approximately 82,000 microgeneration installations in the UK.

The objective of the microgeneration strategy is to create conditions under which microgeneration becomes a realistic alternative or supplementary energy generation source for the householder, for the community and for small businesses. If this can be achieved we will start to see the level of growth in installations required for microgeneration to make the significant contribution to our energy goals that is its potential.

The strategy contains a wide range of actions, varying from the £80 million low carbon buildings capital grant programme, improvements to existing communications activity, a review of the permitted development regime to a pilot to assess the benefits of smart metering combined with microgeneration.

The Greater London Authority Transport Grant for 2006–07 has today been determined by the Secretary of State for Transport at £2,389 million, following consultation with the Mayor of London. This is a block grant provided by the Government to Transport for London to support and improve transport services in London, including London Underground. This grant determination is based on the Government's five-year settlement for TfL which was announced in July 2004, and includes the residual £6 million which is the Department's remaining share of the original £154 million development budget for Crossrail.

The Greater London Authority Transport Grant for 2005–06 has also been re-determined by the Secretary of State for Transport at £2,180.468 million. This re-determination increases the Government's grant this year to TfL by £19.453 million, and primarily reflects my Department's contribution to Crossrail costs in 2005–06, additional funding for TfL's Urban Bus Challenge projects in 2005–06, and the residual balance of the SRA's budget for the East London Line extension from 2004–05.

On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection reports on the following councils were published today: Ceredigion county council, Clackmannanshire council, Durham City council, Havant borough council, the Highland council (two separate reports), Royal borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council, Thurrock borough council, West Devon borough council and Weymouth and Portland borough council. Copies have been placed in the Library.

The BFI reports detail a range of strengths and weaknesses in the housing benefit services provided by councils and make recommendations to improve the security and efficiency of benefit delivery.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is considering the reports and may ask the councils for proposals in response to BFI's findings.