Lords Hansard text for 16 Dec 2003 (231216w04)

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Democratic Republic of Congo: Arms Embargo

Lord Berkeley asked Her Majesty's Government:

Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean: Following consultations with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, the Department of Trade and Industry issued a licence for the export to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of body armour and military helmets. This equipment will be used by the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who are part of the United Nations operation in the DRC.

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UN Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1493 (2003), adopted on 28 July 2003, implemented an embargo on the provision of arms and any related material to all armed groups operating in the east of the country. Operative Paragraph 21 of the SCR provides an exemption to the embargo for "supplies of non-lethal equipment intended solely for humanitarian or protective use . . . ".

Service Attributable Pensions

Baroness Turner of Camden asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach): The report of the internal inquiry into the incorrect deduction of tax from Service attributable pensions recommended that, in addition to the Inland Revenue refund and repayment supplement, consideration should be given to further compensation for those affected by the error. The Inland Revenue allowed a significant concession in waiving the time limits that normally apply in refunds of tax. However, representations have been made that the Ministry of Defence should pay further compensation to those pensioners for whom the effect of the error persisted over a considerable number of years. The Government accept that, where individuals suffer a financial loss as a result of the Government's administrative errors, then the onus is on that department to restore those individuals to the position they would have enjoyed had the errors not occurred. The Ministry of Defence has already accepted responsibility for the errors which led to tax being wrongly deducted and has apologised unreservedly. We further accept that, in certain cases, payments made so far have not provided full compensation for the cost of the errors to individuals.

We have therefore decided that further ex-gratia compensation will be paid to those who were in receipt of pensions outside the normal six-year Inland Revenue repayment period. Compensation will be calculated by applying compound interest, using the retail prices index plus 2 per cent, to the tax wrongly deducted, net of the estimated repayment by the Inland Revenue. We will also pay ex-gratia compensation, calculated in the same way, to those who suffered from the related error of delays in payment of benefits under the Armed Forces pension scheme, including using the Inland Revenue repayment formula for compensation for errors within the normal six-year period. Payment will be made as quickly as possible.

It will, however, take some months to complete all payments because the necessary data on each individual are held mainly on manual records. We deeply regret the errors made but we hope that this offer of compensation will draw matters to a satisfactory conclusion.

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Finally, I would like to express my considerable gratitude to those pensioners, in particular Major John Perry and Captain John Lewis, who have worked tirelessly to bring this matter to our attention and to help with its resolution.

Armed Forces' Pay Review Body: Service Medical and Dental Officers

Baroness Hilton of Eggardon asked Her Majesty's Government:

Lord Bach: The supplement to the 2003 report of the Armed Forces' Pay Review Body making final recommendations on the pay of Service medical and dental officers has been published today. Copies of the supplement are available in the Vote Office and the Library of the House.

The review body recommends a final increase of 6.8 per cent for all Regular and Reserve defence medical services medical and dental officers, in addition to the 3.2 per cent interim award already implemented on 1 April 2003, representing a total increase of 10 per cent. The review body also recommends a pay increase of 3.225 per cent for medical and dental cadets and an out-of-hours supplementary payment of £8,500 to junior doctors. In addition, the review body recommends that there should be no further increase in the values of sustained

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quality payments, trainer pay and distinction awards, above the interim 3.2 per cent increase already implemented.

The cost of these recommendations to the defence budget, including the interim award already implemented, will be some £14.5 million. This will be met within existing departmental expenditure limits.

The review body's final recommendations are to be accepted in full, with implementation effective from 1 April 2003.

Schools: Attainment of Pupils

Lord Northbourne asked Her Majesty's Government:

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland): The tables below show, for pupils in maintained schools in England, the attainment of boys, girls and all pupils from different ethnic backgrounds at key stages 1, 2 and 3 and GCSE/GNVQ in 2002. The figures indicate the proportions of pupils achieving:

(a) level 2 or above at key stage 1

(b) level 4 or above at key stage 2

(d) 5 or more grades A*–C GCSE/GNVQ

	Reading			Writing			Maths
Ethnic Group	Boys	Girls	All	Boys	Girls	All	Boys	Girls	All
	(a) Key Stage 1—Percentage of pupils achieving level 2 or above
White	81	89	85	83	91	87	90	92	91
Black Caribbean	75	85	80	75	86	80	83	88	85
Black African	75	82	79	76	84	80	82	86	84
Black Other	77	86	82	77	88	82	86	88	87
Bangladeshi	70	76	73	73	81	77	81	83	82
Pakistani	72	79	75	74	83	78	81	83	82
Indian	86	90	88	87	93	90	91	93	92
Chinese	87	92	89	88	94	91	95	97	96
Other	77	83	80	79	87	83	87	89	88
Unclassified	73	80	76	74	82	78	83	85	84
New Codes	81	89	85	83	92	87	90	92	91
All ethnic groups	80	88	84	82	90	86	89	91	90
	(b) Key Stage 2—Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above
White	71	80	75	73	74	74	87	87	87
Black Caribbean	58	73	66	59	63	61	78	82	80
Black African	62	72	67	64	66	65	76	79	77
Black Other	62	75	69	64	67	65	82	84	83
Bangladeshi	60	70	65	63	63	63	76	77	77
Pakistani	55	64	59	61	58	59	72	72	72
Indian	74	82	78	79	79	79	87	88	88
Chinese	79	87	83	90	90	90	91	94	92
Other	66	76	71	71	73	72	83	84	83
Unclassified	66	74	69	68	68	67	81	81	80
New Codes	71	80	76	73	74	74	87	87	87
All ethnic groups	70	79	74	73	73	73	86	86	86
	(c) Key Stage 3—Percentage of pupils achieving level 5 or above
White	59	76	67	68	69	68	68	68	68
Black Caribbean	40	64	52	45	50	47	43	50	47
Black African	48	65	56	49	53	51	47	52	49
Black Other	47	69	58	52	55	53	48	56	52
Bangladeshi	46	67	57	53	51	52	44	44	44
Pakistani	46	63	54	50	49	50	43	44	43
Indian	69	83	76	74	74	74	69	70	70
Chinese	73	86	79	87	88	87	79	81	80
Other	54	71	62	62	64	63	59	62	60
Unclassified	54	73	63	65	66	65	64	66	65
New Codes	58	71	63	64	64	63	65	63	62
All ethnic groups	58	75	66	67	67	67	66	67	66

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	5 A*–C
Ethnic Group	Boys	Girls	All
	(d) GCSE/GNVQ—Percentage of 15 year-old pupils achieving
5 or more grades A*–C
White	46	57	52
Black Caribbean	23	38	31
Black African	34	47	40
Black Other	30	45	38
Bangladeshi	40	50	45
Pakistani	34	46	40
Indian	58	70	64
Chinese	71	77	73
Other	44	58	50
Unclassified	43	55	49
New Codes	21	29	25
All ethnic groups	44	55	49

Schools: Parenthood Education

Lord Northbourne asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they consider that young people are adequately educated and prepared for responsibilities of parenthood.[HL327]

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: Through personal, social and health education (PSHE) all pupils should learn about taking on responsibility and the consequences of their actions in relation to sexual activity and parenthood. Sex and relationship education should give young people a clear understanding of the arguments for delaying sexual activity. There has been a 10 per cent fall in the under-18 conception rate since 1998. This is an encouraging sign of progress in implementing the teenage pregnancy strategy, a key element of which is improved sex and relationship education.

The Government believe that parents are the principal providers of guidance about parenting and family life. The introduction of citizenship education alongside the PSHE framework, providing for pupils to be taught about responsibilities whether moral, social, or parental,

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effectively complement the personal and social development of pupils provided at home.

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