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Mr. Gummer : There are currently two veterinarians on detached duty in Humberside ; one from the Leeds animal health office and one from Carlisle.
Spongiform Encephalopathy
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of feline spongiform encephalopathy have been confirmed in cats to date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : Feline spongiform encephalopathy is not a notifiable disease, but I am aware of 16 confirmed cases in the United Kingdom.
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of canine spongiform encephalopathy have been confirmed in dogs to date ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : No case of a spongiform encephalopathy in a dog has been reported anywhere in the world.
Food Safety
Dr. David Clark : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he intends to make a response to the report entitled Priorities Board : Food Safety on Applied Nutrition Research Consultative Committee of November 1988; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Gummer : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him on 30 October 1990, Official Report, column 426.
Salmon
Mr. Colvin : To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he will take steps to limit the importation of Norwegian salmon ; and if he will make a statement ;
(2) if he will discuss with European Community Agriculture Ministers the effect that unlimited imports of salmon from outside the Community will have upon United Kingdom and other European salmon farmers ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Michael Forsyth : I have been asked to reply.
I refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Mrs. Michie) on 17 June.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Manufactured Goods
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage share of the United Kingdom market for manufacturing goods was filled by imports from the EEC in 1970 ; and what was the percentage share in the last 12 months for which figures are available.
Mr. Sainsbury : My Department does not make regular estimates of import penetration ratios for particular groups of trading partners. Estimates broadly comparable to the published statistics for the percentage share of the United Kingdom market for manufacturing goods filled by imports are as follows :
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EC imports as a proportion of home demand (manufacturing): |percentage ---------------------------------1970 |5 1990 |20
European Single Market
Sir Richard Body : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many EC directives for the single market have been agreed at meetings of the Council of Ministers that he has attended ; how many of these directives have been given legislative effect in the United Kingdom ; and how many have been put into legislative effect by all member states.
Mr. Sainsbury : Following the Internal Market Council on 18 June some 202 of the 282 measures in the Commission's single market programme have been adopted, agreed in principle, or had common positions agreed for submission to the European Parliament. The Commission presented to the 18 June Council its sixth annual progress report concerning the completion of the single market. This reaffirmed the United Kingdom's excellent record on implementation. Of the 126 individual provisions which are required to have entered into force by the end of May the report recorded the United Kingdom as still needing to implement only 20. This was bettered only by Denmark (12 not implemented) and France (18).
Although only 33 directives have been implemented in all member states, the Commission report noted an improvement in the overall level of implementation. This has increased from 69 per cent. in December 1990 to more than 73 per cent. in May 1991.
Bryanston (Report)
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby on 22 May, Official Report, column 477, if he is now in a position to make a statement on what representations he has received seeking the publication of the final report on Bryanston.
Mr. Redwood : From the papers which are now available, I am advised that there is no indication that my right hon. Friend received any representations seeking publication of the inspectors' final report.
Disclosure of Non-audit Fees
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the parties who responded to the draft of the statutory instrument relating to the disclosure of non-audit fees and opposed it.
Mr. Redwood : A number of responses were received, some of which expressed opposition to the use at the present time of the Secretary of State's power to require the disclosure of non-audit fees paid to a company's auditors and their associates. It would not be appropriate to disclose the views of identified respondents, since they were not told beforehand that their views would be made public.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Great Grimsby on 20 May, Official Report,
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column 333, on what date he intends the statutory instrument relating to disclosure of non-audit fees would come into operation.Mr. Redwood : No date has yet been decided.
Auditors
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will propose legislation under which the auditing firms criticised by his Department's inspectors will be required to file a statement with the regulators stating that they have read and understood the criticisms made of their practices.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will propose legislation under which banks in their annual corporate reports will be required to publish the number of times their auditors have acted as receivers for any of the bank's clients.
Mr. Redwood : I have no plans to do so.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will indicate the dates on which his representative has attended the meetings of the Auditing Practices Board.
Mr. Redwood : The first meeting of the Auditing Practices Board is due to take place on 3 July.
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his representative on the Auditing Standards Board has taken to bring about a reduction in the influence of the six largest auditing firms in setting auditing standards.
Mr. Redwood : My Department has no role in the selection of voting members of the Auditing Practices Board.
Recognised Supervisory Bodies
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether under the Companies Act 1989 the recognised supervisory bodies will enjoy any immunities from prosecution.
Bank Loans
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he will propose legislation under which banks in their annual corporate report will be required to publish the loans they have advanced to small, medium and large companies.
Mr. Redwood : As we made clear during the public consultation on the forthcoming implementation of the bank accounts directive, the Government support the principle of fuller disclosure aimed at benefiting users of accounts. Where possible, however, we prefer to allow the banking industry to develop its own response to the need for disclosure additional to the directive's requirements.
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Bankruptcy
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will bring forward proposals for legislation to ensure that banks rank with all other creditors in bankruptcy and are prevented from imposing conditions which put them in a preferential position.
Mr. Redwood : I have no plans to propose any such legislation.
Recognised Professional Bodies
Mr. Austin Mitchell : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what conditions he has laid down as to the number of visits to be made by each regulator to their members in respect of the recognised professional bodies listed in his answer of 22 May, Official Report, column 476.
Mr. Redwood : This is a matter for the Securities and Investments Board.
European Regional Development Fund
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will outline the procedure required for lodging an application for European regional development grant.
Mr. Leigh : Applications for European regional development fund (ERDF) grants are made to the secretariat of the monitoring committee of the appropriate ERDF programme. The secretariats for programmes in the north-west are provided by the Department of the Environment's regional offices in Manchester and Liverpool.
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the North-West region's share of European regional development grant in each year since the United Kingdom joined the EC.
Mr. Leigh : The north-west's share of European regional development fund grants is shown in the table.
|North West's |North West's |per cent. share|per cent. |of England's |share |ERDF |of United |Commitments |Kingdom |ERDF |Commitments ----------------------------------------------------------------1975 |25.1 |8.5 1976 |23.7 |11.6 1977 |19.6 |9.1 1978 |44.9 |19.8 1979 |26.3 |9.1 1980 |23.0 |12.6 1981 |19.1 |7.1 1982 |24.3 |11.1 1983 |38.3 |16.0 1984 |28.9 |15.5 1985 |38.1 |21.6 1986 |24.9 |13.8 1987 |16.3 |8.4 1988 |20.5 |9.4 <1>1989 to 1991 |26.7 |12.5 <2>1975 to 1991 |26.4 |12.7 <1>Three year allocation from Community Support Framework. <2>There are no figures for 1973 and 1974 as the ERDF did not start until 1975.
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Data Protection
Sir Gerard Vaughan : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Romsey and Waterside, 3 June 1991 Official Report, column 32, (1) if he will arrange for the study being carried out by Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte to be extended to consider electronic raids on medical data ;
(2) if he will arrange for the study being carried out by Coopers and Lybrand Deloitte to be extended to consider electronic raids on research data compiled by academic institutions as distinct from businesses.
Mr. Leigh : The focus of the study is on the requirements of business and the police. It would not be practicable for a relatively short -term study of this kind to collect material directly from all sectors. However, it is expected that the findings of the study would be applicable to the needs of most organisations which use information technology, and would therefore be likely to be relevant to those institutions which hold medical and research data in electronic form.
Insolvency Reports
Mr. Gregory : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list his responsibilities in respect of the insolvency service.
Mr. Redwood : The insolvency service is an executive agency within my Department. Its day-to-day management has been delegated under the terms of its framework document to its inspector general and chief executive. He is accountable to and reports to me on its performance. I remain answerable for the policy governing the service's work generally and determine the policy framework within which it operates.
A copy of the agency framework document is available in the House Library.
Synergistic Air-breathing and Rocket Engine
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support his Department is proposing to provide for the research and development of the synergistic air-breathing and rocket engine ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Leigh : At present my Department has no plans to support the research and development of the synergistic air-breathing and rocket engine. There are many concepts for re-usable space launchers currently under study within Europe. What is clear is that any eventual development of such a vehicle will have to be collaborative, probably on a Europe-wide basis, if it is to be affordable. If, in the context of European collaboration, the European Space Agency were to propose a new optional technology support programme to explore such concepts as the synergistic air-breathing and rocket engine, the Government would be prepared to consider United Kingdom participation in such a programme.
Health Insurance Companies
Mr. Atkinson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations he has received from United Kingdom health insurance companies in seeking business opportunities in France, Italy and Germany ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. Redwood : United Kingdom health insurance companies were among the organisations which responded to my Department's consultative document on the proposed EC third non-life insurance directive published in February this year. They welcome the proposed directive and its liberalising provisions for the marketing of insurance throughout the Community. Our aim is to secure in the directive the maximum possible freedom in the single insurance market.Buses
Mr. Steinberg : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the number of buses (a) manufactured in the United Kingdom and (b) imported into the United Kingdom for each year since 1980.
Mr. Leigh : The available figures are as follows :
United Kingdom production and imports of buses Year |Production|Imports |number |number --------------------------------------------1980 |21,572 |417 1981 |12,444 |678 1982 |13,107 |1,041 1983 |15,616 |1,616 1984 |4,726 |1,301 1985 |3,885 |1,174 1986 |2,514 |1,493 1987 |2,178 |1,067 1988 |2,511 |1,045 1989 |2,171 |1,056 1990 |1,504 |665 Notes: 1. Prior to 1984 production figures include mini buses. 2. Imports figures are as defined by SITC( R3) 783.11 and 783.19 (New Buses and Coaches. Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd. Her Majesty's Customs and Excise.
Steel
Mr. David Porter : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the rules governing the import and export of steel for British manufacturing companies with subsidiaries in (a) EC countries and (b) non-EC countries with particular reference to the end-user costs.
Mr. Leigh : Steel prices within the European Community are governed by the pricing rules in articles 60 to 64 of the treaty of Paris. These rules are enforced by the European Commission and impose certain constraints on producers' pricing policies. However, producers are still free to compete on price. Hence prices for a given product will vary across the Community and within any individual member state, for example : on the basis of the range of products and services provided ; on whether metric or imperial standards are involved ; and on whether sales are direct from the mill or through a stockholder.
Enterprise Initiative
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many enterprise initiative consultants also contract for business arising from firms seeking enterprise initiative grants ; and what proportion of the total grant allocation funding to these consultants represents.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 20 June 1991] : Of the 3,298 consultancy practices listed with DTI contractors in the
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financial year 1990-91 to carry out work under the enterprise initiative assisted consultancy scheme, 2,239 undertook consultancy projects during that period. Payment of consultancy fees by the DTI represents either one half or two thirds of an individual project's cost, depending upon the location of the client business.Shipbuilding
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the legislative basis for the Government's decision to privatise British Shipbuilders ; and what parliamentary approval was either required or given before the privatisation took place.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 20 June 1991] : The legislative authority for the privatisation of British Shipbuilders' subsidiaries is the British Shipbuilders Act 1983. No further parliamentary approval was required for these privatisations, but Parliament was informed on each occasion.
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the Government's reasons for closing the North East Shipbuilders Ltd yards in Sunderland as opposed to any other United Kingdom yards at the time of the 1988 agreement with the European Commission to reduce Britain's merchant shipbuilding capacity.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 20 June 1991] : The decision to close the remaining NESL shipyards in Sunderland was taken by the Government in December 1988 because no acceptable bids had been received for them. In contrast, sale negotiations for British Shipbuilders' other remaining shipbuilding subsidiaries had by that time reached an advanced stage.
The package notification made in December 1988 to the European Commission of the proposed closure aid at NESL, the proposed terms of sale of the other British Shipbuilders' subsidiaries and forecast British Shipbuilders' results for 1988 and 1989 was to seek the Commission's approval of the overall level of subsidy to British Shipbuilders as conforming to the relevant Community shipbuilding aid ceilings, rather than a specific agreement to reduce United Kingdom merchant shipbuilding capacity.
Exports
Ms. Quin : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the average annual growth in the volume of exports for the United Kingdom and other EC countries over the period 1979 to 1990.
Mr. Sainsbury [holding answer 20 June 1991] : The information is in the table. There are no data for Luxembourg or Portugal.
Annual average growth rates of the volume of total exports of goods 1979-90 |Per cent. -----------------------------------Belgium<1> |3.9 Denmark |4.8 France<2> |3.6 Germany |4.3 Greece<2> |4.7 Ireland<2> |8.7 Italy<2> |3.2 Netherlands |3.9 Spain |6.7 United Kingdom |3.9 <1> Average for the period 1979-87. <2> Average for the period 1979-89. Source: OECD Monthly Statistics on Foreign Trade. Notes: (1) The average annual growth rate is the rate which, when compounded over the 11 calendar years from 1979 to 1990, gives rise to the observed change in export volumes. (2) Total exports' include goods ( including oil and erratics) but not services.
Energy Efficiency
Mr. Dobson : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will be able to give 1989-90 figures and 1990-91 figures on energy consumption and energy spending to update the 1988-89 figures given in the answers of 14 May 1990, Official Report, columns 277-78, and 30 April 1990, Official Report, column 387.
Mr. Leigh [holding answer 20 June 1991] : Some estimates have been prepared for 1989-90 :
|Million |£ million --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Electricity |10.4 Kilowatt hours|3.3 Gas |2.6 Therms |0.8 Oil |3.6 litres |0.4
However, it should be noted that these figures and previous figures given have been compiled from global billing of the Property Services Agency. This billing was not broken down in a way which readily identified the consumption of individual Departments. The figures are therefore only broad indicators and are not comprehensive.
From 1990-91 the Department will have figures based on direct billing which will be accurate and comprehensive. The 1990-91 figures will be available in October 1991.
Public Houses
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many public houses and inns there were in England in 1981 and the last year for which figures are available ; and if he expects the number to change significantly during the next two years.
Mr. Redwood [holding answer 21 June 1991] : The precise figures are not readily available. The number of full on-licensed premises- -about 70 per cent. of which are public houses--in the United Kingdom in 1980 was 76,403. By 1989 there were 83,000 full on-licensed premises in the United Kingdom. I cannot predict whether this figure will change significantly in the next two years. I would not, however, expect it to reduce significantly as a result of the Beer Orders introduced following the Monopolies and Mergers Commission report. These require brewers to free from ties half the pubs they own in excess of 2,000 ; however pubs which are closed do not count towards the number to be freed.
Mr. Hardy : To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the brewing industry and the licensees of public houses with regard to the future of their trade.
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Mr. Redwood [holding answer 21 June 1991 : In recent months the Secretary of State and I have had meetings with the Major brewers. I met the National Licensed Victuallers' Association in January this year and the Secretary of State has also recently offered to meet the NLVA. In addition officials are in regular contact with a wide range of representatives of the brewing industry.
ENVIRONMENT
Energy Use
Mr. Gould : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when the results of the survey on energy use, undertaken as part of the English house condition survey in 1986-87, will be published.
Mr. Heseltine : The results will be published this summer.
Consultancy Contracts
Mr. Morgan : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all consultancy contracts awarded in the past five years without competitive tender.
Mr. Heseltine : I have arranged for a list of the contracts awarded to management or computing consultants in the past five years without competitive tender to be placed in the Library.
Inner City Programme
Sir Thomas Arnold : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will specify the full range of grants currently available under his inner city programme with a brief technical description of each.
Mr. Portillo : Very important support is provided for the inner cities through the main programmes of the Home Office and the Departments of Trade and Industry, Employment, Education and Science, Transport, Health and Social Security and through support to local authorities and the Housing Corporation by this Department including the estate action programme.
My Department promotes inner city regeneration through a variety of programmes and initiatives, including the following grant measures. City Challenge
City Challenge is a new initiative under which local authorities are invited to draw up comprehensive plans in partnership with the private sector, voluntary organisations and local people, to bid for resources for the regeneration of key parts of their areas within a five-year period. Fifteen authorities have been invited to compete for a share in over £250 million from DoE programmes during the five years 1992-93 to 1996 -97.
Urban Development Corporations
Grant-aid is provided for the ten urban development corporations in England. Some £470 million will be available in 1991-92 to purchase and reclaim land, provide infrastructure, encourage development and improve the environment.
Urban Programme
Fifty-seven urban programme (UP) authorities in England receive 75 per cent. grant towards a wide range of projects with an emphasis on economic and environmental improvements as the key to self-sustaining regeneration in targeted inner city areas. In 1991-92, £268 million is available to support almost 9,000 projects.
City Grant
City grant is provided to support private sector capital projects which benefit run down urban areas and which
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cannot proceed without grant. Over £56 million has been committed to the city grant programme for 1991-92 and will be available for industrial, commercial, housing and leisure projects.Derelict Land Grant
Derelict land grant (DLG) is available throughout England to local authorities, other public bodies, voluntary organisations, private firms and individuals to promote the reclamation of land which has been so damaged by industrial or other development that it is incapable of beneficial use without treatment. The DLG programme for 1991-92 totals £88 million of which about £81.5 million is expected to be spent on local authority reclamation schemes. About 40 per cent. of the programme will be devoted to schemes in the inner cities.
City Action Teams
There are eight city action teams (CATs) operating in Birmingham, Cleveland, Leeds/Bradford, Liverpool, London, Tyne and Wear, Nottingham/Leicester/Derby and Manchester/Salford. The CATs are an important mechanism for co-ordinating and targeting Government programmes and harnessing the support of business and industry. Each CAT has a small budget, a total of £8.1 million in 1991-92, with which to prime action targeted on inner city problems of unemployment, environmental improvement and the need to promote enterprise.
London City Airport
Mr. Summerson : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to receive the report of the public inquiry into the planning application submitted on 12 September 1989 for the extension of the runway and the operation of jet aircraft at London city airport ; and when he expects to complete his consideration of the report.
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