The House will wish to know that, after consultation through the usual channels, I have today sent the following letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons:"On behalf of the whole House of Lords, I write to let you know that we utterly condemn the invasion yesterday of the Chamber of the House of Commons.Please be assured of this House's full co-operation in considering the implications of this incident for the security of Parliament. I look forward to continuing to work with you and others on this.The House of Lords is fully committed, with you and the House of Commons, to maintaining the parliamentary process in the face of disorder and disruption".

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Hilary Benn) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.On 14 September 2004 I provided the House with an oral Statement on the impact that Hurricane Ivan was having on a number of islands in the Caribbean. I would like to update the House today, in advance of the recess, on the latest situation and the international relief effort being undertaken. I will provide a further Written Statement following the return of the House.Hurricane Ivan has now passed through the Caribbean and is in the Gulf of Mexico. It was downgraded to a category 4 hurricane and made landfall along the United States coast on 15 September. It took one week, from 7 to 14 September, for the hurricane to travel from Grenada, to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and finally western Cuba, causing over 60 deaths and severe damage along its way.The situation in Grenada continues to be serious. The latest reports from the island indicate that 37 people died and over 300 were injured as a result of the hurricane. Two-thirds of the population (60,000 people) are reportedly affected and it is estimated that between 4,000 and 5,000 people are living in shelters. The range of figures reflects that many of these shelters are private houses of which there are up to 200. Electricity supply continues to be a problem and piped water is available to only about a third of households across the island. In the mean time water tankers are operating, but fuel is in short supply. This is hampering both transport and emergency electricity generation. The main hospital is working and sustained only minor damage. Drugs are in short supply as the main stock was destroyed. Other hospitals on the island suffered more extensive damage. There is a dawn to dusk curfew following the looting that occurred immediately after the hurricane had hit the island.The relief operation is scaling up quickly but continues to face problems with co-ordination and communications. The emergency operation centre building was destroyed in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane but was brought back into operation by the efforts of HMS "Richmond". It is now fully operational with assistance from the regional Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency and a recently arrived United Nations disaster assessment and co-ordination team. Roads and airports are now open. Distribution of food and other relief items is proceeding slowly, in part due to fuel shortage and in part due to the scale of properly assessing where need is greatest. The United Nations team will help in prioritising the delivery of supplies. Communicating with the population is also a constraint. There are only FM broadcasts operational, and these do not reach the whole island. The two dependencies of Carriacou and Petit Martinique have yet to be assessed.As I reported to the House on 14 September, the Department for International Development delivered plastic sheeting for 1,400 families and water containers for 11,000 people on 11 September and made an immediate contribution of some £83,000 to the Pan American Health Organisation. We have since made a contribution of £132,000 to the preliminary appeal for Grenada of the International Federation of the Red Cross. The Pan American Health Organisation and the International Federation of the Red Cross are both active in Grenada. The Pan American Health Organisation has deployed medical personnel and vaccines. The International Federation of the Red Cross has sent a number of relief flights with basic relief items, including shelter materials. The Department for International Development is continuing to monitor the situation closely, in particular the level of medical supplies on the island, and will consider providing further relief assistance as needs become clearer. We are in daily contact with the Pan American Health Organisation concerning health needs.The United States Agency for International Development has provided plastic sheeting for 25,000 people and other relief items in Grenada. The Canadian International Development Agency has approved support of £211,100 and the European Community's Humanitarian Office has approved an allocation of £1.03 million for Grenada. The bulk of this allocation will go towards the Red Cross operation and Oxfam who are assisting with emergency water and sanitation work. The United Kingdom's share of this European Community support is about £200,000.The two-person humanitarian assessment team sent to the region by the Department for International Development arrived in Kingston, Jamaica on 13 September. On 14 September, they met with representatives from the Government of Jamaica, national and international organizations, and other donors. They report good co-ordination between the Government's Office for Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, the Jamaican Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the United Nations disaster assistance and co-ordination team. Joint rapid assessments are under way with several areas of the island already identified as the most severely affected. These areas include Westmoreland, Claredon, Morant Bay, May Penn and the north-east Blue Mountains. It is not thought that there is widespread devastation but there are a number of pockets of devastation.Until the assessments are completed, exact figures are difficult to come by but there are reported to be 200 to 245 shelters open, serving between 4,000 to 13,000 residents across the island. Water is the key issue in many of the hardest hit communities. Food stocks in the Blue Mountain region were reported as running low. Heavy flooding in the surrounding area is delaying assessments. As an interim measure, the Government of Jamaica through their defence forces have airlifted an initial stock of food to the region. The Red Cross has also delivered relief supplies. Although most of the hospitals are operational, they report a lack of power and water supplies with much of the ground water contaminated. The Pan American Health Organisation is working with the Ministry of Health to identify specific needs in the health sector and resolve these problems. A number of non-governmental organisations have undertaken preliminary assessments to address short-term relief needs. The Department for International Development has received requests for funding support from Save the Children, Oxfam and ADRA. These proposals are being urgently considered.The Department for International Development assessment team arrived on the Cayman Islands, from Jamaica, on 15 September. They are assisting the Government in undertaking urgent humanitarian needs assessments, which will determine what further urgent supplies are required. Initial estimates indicate 15–20 per cent of residential houses completely destroyed and 20 per cent with major damage. The Department for International Development had already responded to an earlier request for assistance by procuring 3 million water purification tablets, 50 chainsaws, 500 camp cots for children and 5,000 pieces of plastic sheeting. These supplies are on their way to the island, with our first relief flight arriving today. The International Federation of the Red Cross is also planning a relief flight.The Governor is concerned about maintaining security on the islands and is looking to obtain additional security support. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is considering the request. The Governor is not aware of medical supply problems but the assessment being undertaken will confirm these and other needs. The main concern appears to be water supply and the need to deliver water purification tablets, which the Department for International Development is supplying. A water trucking system is being set up. HMS "Richmond" sent a 17-person party on shore on 14 September. They have repaired generators, attended to damaged buildings and have been providing food distributions. Of a population of 42,000, approximately 3,000 people remain in shelters.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made the following Statement.I visited Baghdad and Basra from 31 August to 1 September to learn for myself about progress with reconstruction on the ground. I met Prime Minister Allawi, development Ministers, representatives from the United Nations, civil society and the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, and representatives from local government.The interim Iraqi Government are now clearly in charge, although recent events in Najaf have dominated their first months in power. The difficult security situation has inevitably slowed down the reconstruction effort of not just the UK, but also other donors and the multilateral agencies. However, it was clear that progress is still being made. 45 kilometres of water pipes have been laid in Basra since my last visit in February and electricity distribution is now more equitable across the national grid. Partially due to these efforts, the riots that happened in Basra last summer because of the lack of basic services have not reoccurred this year.While in Iraq I announced a number of new UK bilateral projects, focusing on building the capacity of the Iraqi administration, and promoting employment creation, in southern Iraq. These projects mark an important step forward in our reconstruction efforts in southern Iraq as we move from meeting short-term humanitarian and immediate infrastructure rehabilitation needs towards addressing longer-term development challenges. Southern Iraq should receive massive reconstruction funds over next two to three years from a range of sources, including the USA, Japan and the World Bank and UN trust funds. One of DFID's aims is to help the Iraqi administration to ensure that this money is spent quickly and well, and that the benefits of reconstruction are widely shared across the population. We are investing £20.5 million in strengthening local management, planning and financial capacity in the four southern governorates of Basra, Muthanna, Dhi Qar and Maysan, including £15 million for projects developed by the governorates. We have also started a new £16.5 million programme to finance employment programmes and further emergency infrastructure repairs.DfID has committed £331 million to humanitarian and reconstruction assistance in Iraq since March 2003. Of this total £78 million has been allocated to bilateral reconstruction projects in southern Iraq; £19 million to support for the new interim Iraqi Government, the justice sector, independent media, civil society and political participation; and £28 million for consultants and secondments to the Coalition Provisional Authority while it was in office up to 28 June. £70 million has been paid into the trust funds managed by the United Nations and the World Bank, to be spent primarily on health, education, water and sanitation projects, assistance for refugees and strengthening governance; and nearly £12 million has been committed to IMF and International Finance Corporation programmes for economic governance support and small business development. Updates on DfID's programmes can be found on the Internet at

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for International Development has made the following Statement.Together with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Defence, I wish to inform Parliament of the Government's intention to improve the United Kingdom's capacity to deal with immediate post-conflict stabilisation, including by integrating civilian and military policy, planning and operations. In recent years, the United Kingdom, with the international community, has been increasingly involved in helping countries to stabilise after conflict. We need to deal better with conflict and instability, learn lessons and improve our capability to respond. Within this broader context, there is particular scope to improve the way in which we deal with immediate post-conflict situations, especially those which include military and civilian components. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Ministry of Defence and Department for International Development are working closely to develop the capabilities that are needed. The Foreign Secretary will chair a new Cabinet Sub-Committee on Post-Conflict Reconstruction. My right honourable friends and I expect to be in a position formally to establish an inter-departmental Post-Conflict Reconstruction Unit later this year to lead this work. It will have a policy and operational role. In spring 2005 we anticipate being able to inform Parliament about its initial capabilities. Meanwhile, my right honourable friends and I have placed a note in the House of Commons Library which provides more detail about the Government's aims and plans.

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development (Mr Gareth Thomas) has made the following Statement:On 15 September 2004, The Secretary of State for International Development wrote to Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, to notify him that DfID has now cancelled Pakistan's ex-CDC debt amounting to £19 million.The outstanding loans made by the former Commonwealth Development Corporation to public sector bodies in developing countries were removed from the newly formed CDC Capital Partners balance sheet on 31 August 2000 and transferred to DfID. In the case of Pakistan, the loan concerned was to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.The only other inter-governmental debt between the UK and Pakistan relates to export credit guarantees. Following the Paris Club agreement, this debt was rescheduled and is now valued at only £9 million.In 2001 DfID agreed to cancel the ex-CDC debt, subject to Pakistan completing the second review of the poverty reduction growth facility (PRGF) with the International Monetary Fund. In the interim, the debt was suspended with no interest payments required from Pakistan to DfID. On 23 June 2004 the IMF executive board successfully completed the second annual review of Pakistan's PRGF, implying the ex-CDC debt can now be cancelled.The Pakistan programme continues to be a high priority for DfID. As announced to the House in March 2003, during 2003 DfID provided Pakistan with £55 million to cancel debt held with the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Over the next two years (2004–05 and 2005–06), DfID's assistance to Pakistan will be £70 million and £74 million respectively. This will support the Government of Pakistan in achieving the millennium development goals through the implementation of their poverty reduction strategy (published in December 2003). Priorities for DfID are increasing the incomes of poor people, improving service delivery to poor people and increasing accountability of the state to poor people.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has made the following Ministerial Statement.The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland, Mr Denis Stanley, is responsible for all aspects of electoral administration in Northern Ireland, including the conduct of all elections and referendums; and for electoral registration. In accordance with Section 14 of the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962, the Chief Electoral Officer is required to submit an annual report to the Secretary of State.I am pleased to announce that the annual report of the Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland for the year 2003–04 has been laid before Parliament. Copies are available in the Library.

My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Northern Ireland Office has made the following Statement.The Compensation Agency will publish today its corporate plan for 2004–07 and business plan for 2004–05. I have set the agency the following key performance targets for 2004 to 2005:

The Treasury Solicitor's annual report and accounts 2003–04 have today been published and laid before Parliament. Copies have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

My honourable friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Bill Rammell) visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) from 11 to 14 September. It was the first ever visit by a British Minister. He undertook the trip because the North Koreans had agreed, for the first time, to substantive discussions on the nuclear issue and human rights. He met Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, Chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly Chae Thae Bok, Human Rights Minister Choe Su Hon and Kim Gye Gwan, head of the DPRK's delegation to the six-party talks on dismantling North Korea's nuclear programme.Mr Rammell stressed to Foreign Minister Paek and chief negotiator Kim Gye Gwan the importance which the UK and the international community attach to the continuation of the six-party talks. For some time, it has been clear that the North Koreans might not proceed with the scheduled fourth round of talks by the end of September. The Foreign Minister restated the DPRK's commitment to the talks process, but admitted the DPRK's reluctance to meet again in September. Mr Rammell also impressed the need for the DPRK to admit its uranium enrichment programme, and encouraged the regime to look to the example of Libya.Before the visit, the FCO delegation consulted on the human rights situation with three leading NGOs—Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Christian Solidarity World-wide. Armed with detailed information on individual cases, Mr Rammell was able to hand to Human Rights Minister Choe Su Hon a list of 18 named individuals, and asked for a full written response. In particular, he raised the cases of two South Korean pastors reportedly abducted to the DPRK from China whose details we learnt about from Christian Solidarity World-wide. He handed over satellite photographs of what appear to be a number of large prison camps in the DPRK and asked for both an explanation and access to them by diplomats resident in Pyongyang. He also pressed for the North Koreans to allow visits, so far barred, by the recently appointed UN special rapporteur for human rights in the DPRK and by other thematic UN human rights special rapporteurs; and further visits by Foreign Office human rights experts. Mr Rammell hopes to hear more about this at the UN General Assembly next week when he will meet Choe Su Hon again to continue discussions. He repeatedly made the points that blanket denials by the North Koreans of alleged human rights violations were simply not credible.Mr Rammell's visit coincided with reports of a large explosion in the north of the country. Having asked for an explanation, Foreign Minister Peak said it was a planned explosion of a mountain for the construction of a hydro-electric power plant. He agreed to the request that diplomats might visit to see for themselves. The arrangements are now in hand. The British Ambassador visited the blast site today, we have asked for an urgent report on the visit.

A key element in the Government's strategy to speed up the processing of asylum claims has been the introduction of the fast-track asylum processes operated initially at the Oakington Reception Centre and now also at Harmondsworth Removal Centre and other locations. The use of detention to fast-track suitable claims under these processes is necessary to achieve the objective of delivering decisions quickly. This ensures, among other things, that those whose claims can be quickly decided can be removed as quickly as possible in the event that the claim is unsuccessful.The lawfulness of detaining asylum claimants for the sole purpose of deciding their claims quickly was upheld by the Court of Appeal and by the House of Lords in the case of Saadi.When we began the fast-track process we said that it was our intention to detain asylum claimants suitable for a quick decision for a period of about seven to 10 days. If we could not decide the claim within that timescale, the claimant would be released or moved to another place of detention with the facilities to support people detained for longer periods. In the vast majority of cases, we have been able to do exactly that. However, the need to ensure a really sharp focus on quality decision making, including for example in non-suspensive appeal (NSA) cases the need for a second pair of eyes, means we cannot always make decisions and serve them on claimants within the original seven to 10 day target timescale. While we are able to do this in over 95 per cent of non-NSA Oakington claims, our experience has shown us that NSA claims take slightly longer, with the majority of decisions being made and served within 14 days. The purpose of this announcement is to set out our revised fast-track process detention policy.The fast-track process has scheduled days set aside for specific activities (interviewing, serving the decision etc) but we intend this to be a guide to how the process will generally operate. There will always be occasions when for operational or other reasons it is not possible to undertake certain activities. This may be because the claimant is temporarily unwell, there is an interpreter problem, the claimant requires longer to obtain further evidence or wishes to submit late representations for example. The process must be flexible enough to accommodate such circumstances. We would not necessarily release people from detention or from the process or move them to another place of detention simply because the timetable cannot he adhered to, if the indications are that we can make and serve a decision within a reasonable timescale. However, the period of detention for making a quick decision will not be allowed to continue for longer than is reasonable in all the circumstances. We will aim to make decisions within 10 to 14 days, but there will be occasions where it is quicker, for example at Harmondsworth or a non-NSA decision at Oakington. However, we will continue to detain for the purpose of deciding the claim quickly, even beyond the 10 to 14-day timescale, unless the length of time before a decision can be made looks as if it will be longer than is reasonable in all the circumstances. Continued detention may also be merited in some cases irrespective of decision timescale, where our general detention criteria apply. We may also detain claimants after we have made and served a decision in accordance with our general detention criteria.Applicants with dependants may be detained for the purposes of making a quick decision on their claim, but there may be operational constraints on who can be detained from time to time. For example, the acceptance of families or pregnant females into Oakington may be halted temporarily if there is an illness circulating which might be harmful to them—chicken pox for example. The criteria for acceptance are applied equally to those entering the Oakington and Harmondsworth processes. The principal difference is that at Oakington, individuals with dependants on their asylum claims can be detained at the centre and at Harmondsworth they cannot. Separating dependants on a claim from the claimant can present operational difficulties and for that reason and the fact that it has no female or family accommodation, Harmondsworth will, in general, only accept male claimants who have no dependants on their claims. That is not to say that, at Oakington or Harmondsworth or any other location where fast-tracking is carried out, we will never detain a claimant who has dependants on their claim, even where it is not possible to detain the dependants with the claimant. There may be occasions when we believe it is necessary and right so to do.When deciding who to accept into fast-track processes, account is taken of any particular individual circumstances known to us which might make the claim particularly complex or unlikely to be resolved in the timescales, however flexibly applied. The existence of UK-based family ties (such as a spouse, partner or child) would not automatically exclude a claimant from the process as some issues, such as Article 8 family life ones, can be relatively easy to decide quickly given the case law and the individual's actual circumstances.We will continually review how our fast-track processes are operating, the criteria for acceptance into them and the indicative process timescales we aim for. This will apply equally to those we are presently operating and to any we may seek to introduce as part of our overall strategy of speeding up the asylum process and making it more effective.

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ivor Caplin) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.During Defence Questions on 19 July 2004, I gave an undertaking to the House to make a Statement about progress made during the summer in the issuing of the Canal Zone Medal to Suez veterans.As at the week ending 10 September 2004, 41,314 applications had been received and acknowledged, and 14,761 medals dispatched. The Royal Navy is now assessing applications as they are received (5 February 2004 as at 19 July 2004), the Royal Air Force is assessing applications received on 30 December 2003 (26 November as at 19 July), and although the Army Medal Office is still assessing applications from 31 October 2003, this is due to some 4,300 applications being received during that week. This peak in applications, which occurred following my Statement to the House on 23 October, is nearly cleared and the assessment of applications received during November will begin very shortly.

My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Defence (Mr Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.I have today agreed that the Ministry of Defence should retain its in-house disposal expertise and that the two in-house disposal organisations, the Disposal Services Agency and Head of Specialisation (Disposal and Sales) of the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO), should merge under the ownership of the DLO with effect from 1 April 2005, retaining agency status and where appropriate relocating. The relocation will form part of the Ministry of Defence's contribution to the Government's independent review of public sector rationalisation, the Lyons review. I have directed work to begin on implementing the review's recommendations, and I will make arrangements to place a copy of the review in the Library of the House.

My honourable friend the Minister for Energy and E-commerce (Mike O'Brien) has made the following Statement.Following the acceptance of awards worth £41 million in the first of three planned CIA application periods, up to £19 million was available when bids in the second application period were invited in April 2004.When the deadline for applications passed on 1 June, 12 applications had been received for a total of £94.6 million. All but one were for projects at mines which are already eligible for support following awards in period 1.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Ms Hewitt) has made the following Statement.The Performance and Innovation Unit report on modernising the post office network, published in June 2000, recommended that the Government should support the rural network in the first instance to 2006. It also recommended that the Postal Services Commission, Postcomm, should advise the Government on options for the rural network after 2006. I have received that advice and have considered it very carefully.The Government are fully committed to supporting the Post Office's strategy for creating a viable and vibrant post office network that meets changing customer needs, providing reasonable access to services in rural communities.My honourable friend the then Minister of State for Energy, E-Commerce and Postal Services announced in the House on 2 December 2002 the Government's decision to make £450 million available to support the rural post office network through from 2003 to 2006. That three-year package was intended as a transitional measure, designed to help rural post offices through the changes in the network's business between 2003 and 2006.At this point in the transition rural post offices continue to face real challenges and a large part of the rural network continues to be unsustainable commercially. For many post offices the number of customers they serve is simply too small to make the business attractive or sustainable. With the prospect of customer numbers continuing to fall as people access services in different ways it is clear that there are challenges ahead and that new ways to deliver services more efficiently and effectively are needed.How and where people access services is changing. It is not clear that the present network best meets those changing needs, or whether because of that the current shape and scale of the rural network is a viable long-term prospect. A solution for the longer-term will need to take these changes fully into account.Against this background Postcomm has advised the Government to review the reasons for and nature of our support of the rural network in the longer term. They advise that the nature of that support may need to change substantially.Postcomm's advice recognises that such changes must be well informed and that further work will be necessary. Pilot activity by the Post Office, funded by the Government, to test new ways of ensuring access to post office services in rural areas is under way. The lessons that will emerge from these trials over the next 12 to 18 months will be crucial in informing longer-term decisions about the future shape of the rural post office network. At this stage it is simply too early to draw conclusions. The Government have therefore concluded that now is not the right time to take decisions about the long-term future of the rural network.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr Charles Clarke) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.In his Budget in March, my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer outlined continued growth in investment in education and children's services up to 2007–08, showing again the priority the Government give to children and learners.On 8 July, we published our five-year strategy for children and learners, setting out how the Government will use new reforms to build on substantial improvements in every stage of education and children's services since 1997—from the early years of a child's life to lifelong learning and adult skills.Today I am giving more detail of how the additional investment announced by my right honourable friend the Chancellor will support the reforms set out in the five-year strategy.

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health has made the following Written Ministerial Statement today.The Government's response to the Health Committee's fourth report of Session 2003–04 on palliative care, Cm 6327, has been published today. Copies have been placed in the Library.

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Community (Dr Stephen Ladyman) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement today.I am reporting on progress with investigations into cases where individuals may have been inappropriately denied fully funded National Health Service care since 1996. These cases relate only to matters of past financial injustice and all claimants had access to care services and NHS treatment.The majority of strategic health authorities (SHAs) have made considerable progress since December in the process of remedying any consequent financial injustice to patients (or the estates of such patients) who had wrongly been made to pay for the cost of their continuing care. In December, just over 22 per cent of cases received had been completed. Between December and March a substantial number of additional cases had been reported and by the end of March 57 per cent of cases had been completed. A percentage completion rate, of pre-31 March cases, of more than 85 per cent in July reflects the amount of work undertaken by all NHS and local authority personnel involved.The NHS has stressed the importance of all cases being investigated thoroughly and accurately and as such is committed to reviewing each application on its own merits. The process involved in undertaking an in depth review involves contact with many health and social care organisations and bodies, and as such there have been considerable delays in obtaining all the relevant records and patient data. In some cases data and information from aged cases have been lost and, wherever possible, they must be gathered from alternative sources.Delays should not automatically be attributed to the SHAs involved in particular cases. Occasionally the claimant themself is responsible for the delay. Many SHAs are now exceeding 95 per cent completion. In some cases, however, progress has been unsatisfactory, and the department will take up the matter directly with those SHAs.In total, almost 20 per cent of cases have been granted recompense. As stated previously, the NHS