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Mr. Redwood : My colleagues and I keep in close contact with our West German counterparts on a range of issues.
Aerospace Industry
84. Mrs. Maureen Hicks : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the contributions being made by British companies to the aerospace industry in Europe and the United States of America.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I am well aware of the significant contribution made by United Kingdom companies to the aerospace industry worldwide ; indeed the United
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Kingdom has a large trade surplus in aerospace products. United Kingdom firms are prominent in all areas of the industry--as aircraft and aero-engine manufacturers, as partners in international collaborative programmes such as Airbus, EFA and the V2500 engine, and as major suppliers of equipment and components to other European and United States manufacturers such as Fokker, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas.Electronics
86. Mr. Worthington : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has had from the electronics industry on the subject of skills shortages.
Mr. Forth : There have been no direct representations from the electronics industry on skills shortages during the past two months, but there have in the past been approaches with regard to IT skills shortages. My Department supports a number of programmes aimed at increasing skills in the sector.
100. Mr. Allan Roberts : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what is the latest annual estimate of the balance of trade in electronic components.
Mr. Forth : Estimates based on figures published by the Central Statistical Office suggest that the United Kingdom had a crude trade deficit in electronic components of £1.1 billion in 1989. Notes :
Imports (cif) less Exports (fob).
Principal Products of Activity Headings 3444 and 3453 of the Standard Industrial Classification (Revised 1980).
Financial Regulations
89. Mr. Gareth Wardell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of self- regulation of the financial regulations.
Mr. Redwood : The Securities and Investments Board is responsible for ensuring that the appropriate standard of protection for investors is provided by the self-regulating bodies recognised under the Financial Services Act.
Rover Group
91. Mr. Andrew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has any plans to meet representatives of the Rover Group concerning the future of Cowley.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : I have no plans to meet representatives of the Rover Group concerning the future of its operation at Cowley.
Fur Exports
92. Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the export of British furs and pelts.
Mr. Redwood : Available statistics show that exports (including re- exports) of furs and pelts (group 212 of the SITC) from the United Kingdom amounted to £53 million in 1989.
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Bankruptcy
102. Mr. Menzies Campbell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what are the latest figures for the level of bankruptcies.
Mr. Redwood : A total of 8,115 bankruptcy orders were made in England and Wales in 1989. In the same year, 2,294 sequestrations (the equivalent of bankruptcy orders in England and Wales) were awarded in Scotland and 146 bankruptcy adjudication orders were made in Northern Ireland.
Hulme and Moss Side Development Projects
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give details of (a) the present membership of the Hulme and Moss Side community economic development trust and the means by which they were selected and (b) the mechanism by which elections will take place for the trust board including details of how voting will be conducted.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : The information requested is a matter for the trust itself.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will give details of projects assisted by the Hulme and Moss Side task force which involve a training element and which do not involve employment training.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Since the introduction of employment training the task force has assisted the following projects for unemployed adults involving a non-ET training element :
Roots Oral History--20 trainees--Basic editorial skills in producing a book
Community Computing--30 trainees--Equipment for a "drop-in" training centre for Information Technology (re) familiarisation.
In both cases, the training offered is of an informal nature and aimed at unemployed people who are not yet ready to follow an ET training course.
Mr. Tony Lloyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in what way the Hulme and Moss Side task force makes applicants for assistance aware of Department of Trade and Industry encouragement of the use of employment training.
Mr. Douglas Hogg : Employment training is recommended to applicants as a source of funding whenever it seems appropriate.
Company Accounts
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the checks which Companies house staff perform upon receipt of annual company accounts.
Mr. Redwood : The basic checks carried out by the Registrar of Companies vary according to the type of accounts filed. For full accounts, these include confirmation that the accounts comprise the company's profit and loss account and balance sheet, the directors' report, the auditors' report and, where appropriate, the company's group accounts. The basic checks are supplemented by such other checks as the registrar considers are appropriate. Companies house is not responsible for the contents of the accounts.
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Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether, prior to formulating section 15 of the Companies Act 1989, his Department estimated the average cost of printing a full set of accounts which are normally circulated to shareholders.
Mr. Redwood : No, but my Department's customary prior consultations showed that the proposal to give listed companies the option of providing summary financial statements instead of full reports and accounts was endorsed by a range of public companies and representative organisations.
Financial Services
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if persons who lose money on the basis of advice from persons with interim authorisation from FIMBRA or SIB have their interests protected in any way by these organisations ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood : Interim authorised persons are treated as though they had been granted authorisation and are effectively subject to the appropriate rules of FIMBRA or SIB. Interim authorised persons are not included in the investors' compensation scheme of SIB.
Mr. Adrian Ward
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will undertake discussions with the Securities and Investments Board on the trading as a financial adviser of Mr. Adrian Ward.
Mr. Redwood : No. The day-to-day operation of the regulatory system under the Financial Services Act is the responsibility of the Securities and Investments Board and the self-regulating bodies.
Statistical Divisions
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what are the latest figures for the number of staff presently employed, and the full complement of staff, including vacant posts, by grade, in the statistical divisions in his Department ; if he will differentiate between staff in statistical posts and staff in administrative posts ; and if he will give the staffing complements by grade, and differentiated between statistical and administrative posts, proposed for 1990-91.
Mr. Forth [holding answer 12 March 1990] : A major part of the Department's statistical work and associated staff were transferred to the Central Statistical Office on 31 July 1989. The remaining statistical work was distributed among a number of divisions within the Department. The following figures for 1989-90 relate to the statistics sections of these divisions. The manpower allocation for 1 April 1991 will be set later this month in the light of the Department's annual activity and resource management review.
|1 March 1990 |1 April 1990
Statistical posts
G5 |1 |1
G7 |11 |11
Senior assistant statistician |3 |6
Assistant statistician |1 |-
House of Fraser
Mr. Teddy Taylor : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what response he has had from the Bank of England to the submission to it of the House of Fraser report ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 12 March 1990] : None. The Bank of England is not accountable to the Secretary of State.
Garston Amhurst
Mr. McCrindle : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether, in view of the Garston Amhurst case, he will introduce legislation making the organisations appointing representatives liable for all the actions of these representatives, whether in the course of conducting authorised business or not ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 13 March 1990] : Under the Financial Services Act, a principal is responsible for its appointed representatives' actions in carrying on investment business for which the principal has accepted responsibility in writing. It is for the Securities and Investments Board and the self-regulating bodies to consider what requirements should be imposed on principals in relation to the activities of their appointed representatives. I have no plans to amend the Financial Services Act in this regard.
Multi-fibre Arrangement
Mr. Henderson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the quotas covered by the multi-fibre arrangement and indicate the proportion of each quota used.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 13 March 1990] : Details of current quotas for the United Kingdom under the European Community's bilateral multi-fibre arrangement agreements with third countries are set out in the notice to importers 2249 published in Lloyd's List International on 4 January 1990. This is available in the Library of the House.
Quota utilisation records for 1989 will not be finalised for some time yet. The DTI is currently preparing a summary of quota utilisation in 1988, a copy of which will be placed in the Library of the House when it is ready.
Enterprise Initiative Scheme
Mr. Alan Williams : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what examination he makes in considering a company's eligibility for assistance under the enterprise initiative scheme of (a) previous name changes by the company, (b) its record of payment of liabilities to redundant workers and (c) its record of payment of rates.
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Mr. Douglas Hogg [holding answer 12 March 1990] : The eligibility of companies applying for consultancy assistance under the enterprise initiative is the responsibility of my Department. Applicants are approved only after a visit by an enterprise counsellor who, after a broadly based review of the firm's business activities, is required to identify whether the firm would benefit from consultancy assistance and whether it has the resources to pay its share of a consultancy project.
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