That this House welcomes the 10,000-strong petition being presented to Parliament on Tuesday 8th March 2005 by trade unionists, for International Women's Day to become a paid bank holiday; recognises that International Women's Day is when women in all countries come together to commemorate their achievements, and to continue to organise for change to improve women's rights; notes that there are fewer bank holidays in the UK than in the rest of the European Union; and therefore calls on the Government to establish International Women's Day as an additional paid bank holiday.

That this House welcomes the 10,000-strong petition being presented to Parliament on Tuesday 8th March 2005 by trade unionists, for International Women's Day to become a paid bank holiday; recognises that International Women's Day is when women in all countries come together to commemorate their achievements, and to continue to...

That this House notes with concern that more than 100 million children around the world are unable to go to school, almost 60 per cent. of whom are girls; is very disappointed that the Millennium Development Goal for Eliminating Gender Disparity in Primary and Secondary Education by 2005 has been missed; looks forward to the UK presidencies of the G8 and EU this year and the chance this holds for the UK Government to make a significant difference to gender inequality in education, by consolidating the influence and resources of prosperous countries around this issue; welcomes the new Department for International Development strategy, launched this month by the Chancellor and the International Development Secretary, Girls' Education - Towards A Better Future For All; and hopes this will provide the education so many girls have a right to receive, in order for them to lead healthy, productive, rewarding lives and play a role in decision making and government in their countries.

That this House notes with concern that more than 100 million children around the world are unable to go to school, almost 60 per cent. of whom are girls; is very disappointed that the Millennium Development Goal for Eliminating Gender Disparity in Primary and Secondary Education by 2005 has been...

That this House recognises the successful efforts of the Government to tackle pensioner poverty and that pension credit benefits many thousands of pensioners, especially women; is nonetheless concerned at the financial position of women pensioners in the 21st century, and notes that on retirement only 14 per cent. of women are entitled to the full basic state pension in their own right; further recognises that this stems from the different pattern of women's working lives, requiring the need to balance work with caring commitments, both when their children are young and also later in life as they help look after the older generation; believes that such commitments should not affect their eligibility for a state pension; and urges the Government now to consider how best to meet this inequity, for example through a universal entitlement to a basic state pension based simply on age and residency, combined with a contributory state second pension which can meet the flexible requirements of modern employment patterns.

That this House recognises the successful efforts of the Government to tackle pensioner poverty and that pension credit benefits many thousands of pensioners, especially women; is nonetheless concerned at the financial position of women pensioners in the 21st century, and notes that on retirement only 14 per cent. of women...

That this House recognises that education is the key to fighting poverty and is a human right; notes with concern that over 100 million children around the world, the majority girls, are not enrolled in primary education; welcomes Her Majesty's Government's pledge of an extra ??12 million to support low-income countries' efforts towards universal primary education through the Catalytic Fund of the Fast Track Initiative designed to support countries neglected by other donors; acknowledges the UN calculation that at least US$5 billion will be needed per annum to realise universal primary education; therefore calls on the Government to demonstrate further commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals of gender equality in education by 2005 and universal primary education by 2015 by mobilising all possible resources, including political will, necessary to the achievement of these goals; and supports the Global Campaign for Education's efforts to raise the profile of this important issue through its Week of Action 19th to 25th April 2004.

That this House recognises that education is the key to fighting poverty and is a human right; notes with concern that over 100 million children around the world, the majority girls, are not enrolled in primary education; welcomes Her Majesty's Government's pledge of an extra ??12 million to support low-income...

That this House welcomes the recent publication of the draft Housing Bill; calls on the Government to include an incentive scheme for landlords and owner occupiers to adapt bathrooms to include easy or level access showering; believes this will lead to more elderly and disabled people being able to stay in their own homes and live independently when their mobility becomes restricted; and further notes that such a scheme would be very popular, would maintain skilled jobs in the plumbing and building industry and would offer good value for money, by relieving the indignity of strip washes suffered by the elderly and disabled, while they wait for the necessary adaptions.

That this House welcomes the recent publication of the draft Housing Bill; calls on the Government to include an incentive scheme for landlords and owner occupiers to adapt bathrooms to include easy or level access showering; believes this will lead to more elderly and disabled people being able to stay...

That this House welcomes the launch of the Safer Streets Coalition which brings together 25 organisations to voice their common concerns about speeding drivers; notes that these organisations represent millions of people from around the country, young and old, able-bodied and disabled people, who are negatively affected by speeding traffic; recognises that speed is a factor in at least one-third of road crashes and that it negatively impacts on the quality of life of both urban and rural communities; is concerned that the Railways and Transport Safety Bill currently contains no provision to reduce traffic speeds or to tackle other road safety issues; and supports the Safer Street Coalition's call for more government leadership on this issue to deliver reduced speed limits, better enforcement of traffic law, more funding for traffic calming schemes, a more accurate system for the collection of road death statistics, and a change in attitudes towards dangerous driving.

That this House welcomes the launch of the Safer Streets Coalition which brings together 25 organisations to voice their common concerns about speeding drivers; notes that these organisations represent millions of people from around the country, young and old, able-bodied and disabled people, who are negatively affected by speeding traffic;...

That this House recognises the importance of achieving highly skilled steel and metal industries for the United Kingdom economy; welcomes the Government's commitment to improving the skills level of all employees as represented by the recently published report, Developing Workforce Skills: Piloting a New Approach; and calls on the departments for Education and Skills and of Trade and Industry to establish a steel and metal skills council at the earliest opportunity.

That this House recognises the importance of achieving highly skilled steel and metal industries for the United Kingdom economy; welcomes the Government's commitment to improving the skills level of all employees as represented by the recently published report, Developing Workforce Skills: Piloting a New Approach; and calls on the departments...

That this House expresses its wholehearted welcome for the announcement this week by the International Commission for Decommissioning and the IRA that decommissioning of the IRA's arsenal has now commenced; pays tribute to the huge efforts made by the leaders of all the political parties supporting the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement, the persistence of successive Secretaries of State in this Government and the previous administration, and in particular to the commitment of the Prime Minister and the Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to settle this historic issue; and looks with optimism to a safer future for Northern Ireland, envisaged by the Good Friday Agreement and endorsed overwhelmingly by the people in the North and South of Ireland, where all political parties settle their differences through political argument not sectarian violence.

That this House expresses its wholehearted welcome for the announcement this week by the International Commission for Decommissioning and the IRA that decommissioning of the IRA's arsenal has now commenced; pays tribute to the huge efforts made by the leaders of all the political parties supporting the Good Friday (Belfast)...

That this House is extremely concerned that a mere 3.8 per cent of the 1,139,799 cattle slaughtered under the over 30 month scheme have been disposed of by high temperature incineration; notes that a quarter of a million carcasses are still in cold storage and that the meat and bone meal rendered from 848,798 cattle is still in 11 warehouses, that storage costs are over a quarter of a million pounds per week, that at this incineration rate the process could take years; notes with concern that 30,000 tonnes of beef and 9,000 tones of products such as beef burgers have been landfilled; recognises that the official Government view, backed by European Commission Regulations 716/96 and 1484/96, is that the only safe way of disposing of potentially infected material is by high temperature incineration; believes that dither and mismanagement has led to this disgraceful situation which will be exacerbated by any further cull; and calls for the Government to make a statement to the House on the disposal of BSE-related waste at the earliest opportunity.

That this House is extremely concerned that a mere 3.8 per cent of the 1,139,799 cattle slaughtered under the over 30 month scheme have been disposed of by high temperature incineration; notes that a quarter of a million carcasses are still in cold storage and that the meat and bone...

That this House believes that the free access to information about environmental impact is the basis for sound environmental monitoring and regulation; concurs with the report of the House of Lords European Communities Committee on Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment, HL Paper 9, published on 4th December that public responsibility does not cease if it is exercised by a private body for a public purpose, that transfer of ownership of a public utility or statutory undertaker to the private sector should not remove that body from the ambit of these regulations, and that public utilities clearly fall within the remit of the Directive; and calls on the Government to insert into all privatising legislation the duty to comply with these regulations.

That this House believes that the free access to information about environmental impact is the basis for sound environmental monitoring and regulation; concurs with the report of the House of Lords European Communities Committee on Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment, HL Paper 9, published on 4th December...

That this House endorses the view of the Water Regulator at the launch of his Annual Report on Friday that the water industry is experiencing a loss of public confidence; expresses surprise that he did not accept the Regulator's role in this; deplores the record of the industry since privatisation of increasing prices, decreasing investment in infrastructure renewals and repair and company leakage figures which have actually increased; believes that Mr Byatt's continued obsessive campaign on metering ignores the concerns over the social and health costs of water metering installation, and constitutes undue discrimination against 90 per cent. of domestic customers who pay on the basis of their property value which is an effective way of distributing the cost of the service fairly between rich and poor; and is seriously concerned that the regulatory regime is becoming more concerned to defend its past record than to bring forward tighter regulation in order to restore public confidence.

That this House endorses the view of the Water Regulator at the launch of his Annual Report on Friday that the water industry is experiencing a loss of public confidence; expresses surprise that he did not accept the Regulator's role in this; deplores the record of the industry since privatisation...

That this House congratulates and welcomes the initiative supported by a growing number of individual women and women's organisations throughout the United Kingdom, to create a project to celebrate the past, present and future contributions of women throughout society in business, sports, the arts, politics, science, technology, architecture and the family, to develop a site in central London, linked to regional centres which will be commercially viable thus supporting the charitable aims of the project, and consequently calls on the Millennium Commission to offer the maximum amount of funds and advice to this project from the National Lottery good causes fund.

That this House congratulates and welcomes the initiative supported by a growing number of individual women and women's organisations throughout the United Kingdom, to create a project to celebrate the past, present and future contributions of women throughout society in business, sports, the arts, politics, science, technology, architecture and the...

That this House believes that the present rules which entitle only the first name on a building society joint account to share options or other benefits arising out of mergers or takeovers is unfair to the other party; recognises that the one discriminated against is invariably a women and that where separation or divorce has not led to the splitting of a joint account, the woman can lose all rights to her share of the joint investment; and calls on the Government to redress this anomaly at the earliest opportunity so as to ensure that in all cases such rights are divided equally between divorced couples.

That this House believes that the present rules which entitle only the first name on a building society joint account to share options or other benefits arising out of mergers or takeovers is unfair to the other party; recognises that the one discriminated against is invariably a women and that...

That this House is concerned at the increasing use by water companies of the prepayment water key timing device, which shuts off the water supply to a dwelling when the payment card has not been recharged, thus making it technically unfit; stresses that other chargecard easy payment systems are available which do not disconnect; notes that the National Consumer Council, the Consumers Association, the National Federation of Housing Associations, local authorities, and the Institute of Environmental Health are all opposed to the use of these devices, believing them to constitute a threat to public health and an attack on the poor; is very concerned that information about how often households with this device disconnect themselves is not made public; and calls on the Government to ensure that the numbers are published by the Water Regulator, along with the disconnection figures due out next month.

That this House is concerned at the increasing use by water companies of the prepayment water key timing device, which shuts off the water supply to a dwelling when the payment card has not been recharged, thus making it technically unfit; stresses that other chargecard easy payment systems are available...

That this House congratulates the Second Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation in voting decisively against the proposals to increase precription charges and optical charges and payments; and insists that the Government takes due note of this important vote and makes no attempt to reverse the decision without a full debate on the floor of the House.

That this House congratulates the Second Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation in voting decisively against the proposals to increase precription charges and optical charges and payments; and insists that the Government takes due note of this important vote and makes no attempt to reverse the decision without a full debate...

That this House calls on the Secretary of State to explain why neither the Department of the Environment nor the Water Regulator will be participating in or giving evidence to the Public Inquiry which opened in Leeds on Monday 18th March, into Yorkshire Water's management of the water system last summer and in previous years; believes that the absence of proper evidence from two of the major players in the matter undermines the credibility of the whole inquiry; further believes that this is an attempt to absolve OFWAT and the Government from all responsibility for faults which might be uncovered by the inquiry; recognises that the Water Regulator's duties include undertaking assessments of each company's asset management plans, and monitoring leakage control; finds quite unacceptable the reason given that the Regulator is undertaking his own confidential investigation; and dem ands to know why Parliament has not been informed about this private inquiry.

That this House calls on the Secretary of State to explain why neither the Department of the Environment nor the Water Regulator will be participating in or giving evidence to the Public Inquiry which opened in Leeds on Monday 18th March, into Yorkshire Water's management of the water system last...

That this House is appalled at the case of Mrs Brown of Sheffield, aged 59 years whose second husband is 50 years, who will have no entitlement to a pension until she is 75 years and he is 65 years; is concerned at the unfairness of the situation, where, had she and Mr Brown not married, she would be entitled to ??19 per week, on the basis of her first husband's contributions through 22 years of marriage and caring for their four children, paying a reduced rate of stamp; notes that she will have lost ??14,000 by the age of 75 years; and urges the Secretary of State to amend the pension rules to redress this anomaly.

That this House is appalled at the case of Mrs Brown of Sheffield, aged 59 years whose second husband is 50 years, who will have no entitlement to a pension until she is 75 years and he is 65 years; is concerned at the unfairness of the situation, where, had...

That this House is dismayed that customers are being asked to pay a water rate increase which is twice the rate of inflation; believes that last year's problems of water distribution were caused by poor forward planning and management, not shortage of funds; and that, since the cost to the customer should reflect the service received, Yorkshire people are entitled to a rebate not an increase.

That this House is dismayed that customers are being asked to pay a water rate increase which is twice the rate of inflation; believes that last year's problems of water distribution were caused by poor forward planning and management, not shortage of funds; and that, since the cost to the...

That this House believes that the disastrous record of Yorkshire Water, and the ensuing hiatus in its board and management structure, presents an urgent and continuing threat to the water and sewerage service in the county; and asks the Secretary of State to take emergency powers, under sections 23 to 26 of the Water Act 1991, to intervene in the interests of the customers, and to apply to the High Court for a special administration order to take over the company until a new board and management structure is in place.

That this House believes that the disastrous record of Yorkshire Water, and the ensuing hiatus in its board and management structure, presents an urgent and continuing threat to the water and sewerage service in the county; and asks the Secretary of State to take emergency powers, under sections 23 to...

That this House notes that though the summer of 1995 was unusually dry it followed a winter of high rainfall; welcomes the report of the National Rivers Authority, Saving Water, which recognised the need for water demand management including leakage control and stated that leakage control and more efficient water devices in homes can be cheaper than developing resources for equivalent water volumes of water; notes that such measures could lead to a reduction of up to 20 per cent. in public water supply taken by water companies from the environment and that this would meet the dual objectives of conserving the natural environment and benefiting water consumers; and therefore calls for the introduction of mandatory leakage targets for water companies, a review of water abstraction licences which affect important wildlife sites and measures to encourage the installation of water efficient fittings in homes.

That this House notes that though the summer of 1995 was unusually dry it followed a winter of high rainfall; welcomes the report of the National Rivers Authority, Saving Water, which recognised the need for water demand management including leakage control and stated that leakage control and more efficient water...