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Arthog Bog, GwyneddCors Goch, Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd
Rhosgoch Common, Powys
Craig-y-Ciliau, Powys
Nelson Bog, Mid Glamorgan
There may be some additional small mires which would fall into this category but these will require further investigation.
Traffic Calming
Mr. Llwyd : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make a statement outlining the main findings to the formal consultation arranged by his Department on traffic calming measures.
Sir Wyn Roberts : On 23 February, in conjunction with the Department of Transport, we wrote to interested parties, including Welsh local authority associations and county surveyors, inviting comments on draft traffic calming regulations. The few comments received were of a technical nature and the proposals were generally welcomed. The Highways (Traffic Calming) Regulations 1993 came into force on 27 August.
Youth Training
Mr. Ieuan Wyn Jones : To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will make it his policy to include references to evaluation targets for youth training within his Department's annual expenditure plans.
Sir Wyn Roberts : The Department's annual expenditure plans are currently being prepared. It is my intention that these will include reference to agreed targets for youth training.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Konver Programme
Ms Janet Anderson : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will re-examine the instruction currently being given by regional offices of his Department that funds under the EC Konver programme are only available to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr. Sainsbury : The Commission's list of the types of measures which Konver may part-finance includes
"diversification of the region's economic structure, particularly through aid for the development of small and medium-sized firms". Assistance from European structural funds community initiatives, such as Konver, is allocated in each member state in accordance with a national "programme" which may stipulate narrower priorities. The United Kingdom is one of those member states in which Konver grants to companies will be limited to small and medium sized enterprises. This accords with the Government's priorities for the use of the sums of grant available from the funds generally.
Post Office Pension Schemes
Ms Estelle Morris : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what directions the Government propose to give to the trustees of the Post Office superannuation and Post Office pension schemes about division of their funds and assets in the event of the privatisation of Post Office Counters Ltd., Royal Mail Ltd., and Parcelforce Ltd.
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Mr. McLoughlin : The Government are continuing their review into the future structure and organisation of the Post Office. Once the Government have decided on the future of the Post Office and its constituent businesses, it will be able to consider any implications for pensions in detail. Until then, this question is hypothetical.
Ms Estelle Morris : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what changes in the Post Office superannuation and Post Office pension schemes he expects to make in the light of the recommendations of the Goode report.
Mr. McLoughlin : Operational responsibility for the Post Office pension schemes rests not with Ministers but with the trustees of the schemes, together with the Post Office. The Goode report is being considered by Government, and the trustees of the Post Office schemes will no doubt wish to consider any implications which may arise in due course.
Wave Power
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made, in conjunction with the European Communities, in establishing an offshore wave power generator project.
Mr. Eggar : Two United Kingdom proposals, from the Queen's university Belfast, and from Applied Research and Technology Ltd. (ART), of Inverness, for wave energy pilot plants with a power rating between 0.4MW and 2.0MW have been offered support from the Commission of the European Communities' JOULE programme. Both received assistance from the energy technology support unit (ETSU), acting on behalf of DTI, in preparing their proposals.
Nuclear Reactor, Sizewell
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what response he has made to the recent application by Nuclear Electric plc to build a third nuclear plant at Sizewell.
Mr. Eggar : My Department directed Nuclear Electric plc to advertise its application pursuant to the terms of the Electricity (Applications for Consent) Regulations 1990 and the Electricity and Pipe-line Works (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1990.
Telephone System
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received from Oftel to be given overall responsibility for the change in telephone codes due to take place in 1995 ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. McLoughlin : We have not received any such representations. Oftel is already working to ensure that, wherever possible, telecoms operators and the manufacturers and maintainers of telephony equipment discharge their responsibilities to their customers in relation to the national code change in a timely and co-ordinated way so as to minimise any costs and disruption to the end-user.
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to enable Oftel to take over control and allocation of telephone numbers ; and if he will make a statement.
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Mr. McLoughlin : The 1991 White Paper, "Competition and Choice : Telecommunications Policy for the 1990s" (Cm 1461) made it clear that Oftel would be taking action to enable it to administer a national numbering plan. Operators' licences were subsequently amended to provide Oftel with the necessary powers once numbering conventions had been published and a specified numbering scheme determined. Oftel intends to take over responsibi-lity for the allocation of numbers during the first half of 1994.
Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list thehlin : Since the publication of the 1991 White Paper, "Competition and Choice : Telecommunications Policy for the 1990s" (Cm 1461), licences have been granted, in addition to those already granted to BT and Mercury Communications Ltd, to the following companies to run fixed- link public telecommunications systems throughout the United Kingdom : Ionica L3 Ltd ; Energis Communications Ltd ; Scottish Hydro-Electric plc ; ScottishPower Telecommunications Ltd ; Torch Communications Ltd ; and MFS Communications Ltd. Applications for similar licences are also under consideration.
The number of licensed operators is expected to have increased by April 1995, but my Department does not produce estimates of the likely number of operators in future years. This will depend on the number of future applications and whether these meet the considerations which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has to take into account under the Telecommunications Act 1984 before granting a licence.
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Mr. Austin-Walker : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the costs, both private and public, of reprogramming of telephone equipment due to the proposed code changes in 1995.
Mr. McLoughlin : This is a matter for Oftel. In July 1992 it published a study carried out by Ovum which estimated that the direct costs of modifications to customer premises equipment as a result of the national code change were likely to be in the order of £200 million.
Insolvency Service
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent representations he has received about the competence of insolvency service staff.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : No recent representations have been received.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many staff are employed in the insolvency service
disqualification unit ; and what was the average number employed in the unit for each year since 1987.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : The insolvency service's disqualification unit currently employs 49.5 persons. The number averaged 47 in each year from 1987 to 1990, 49 in 1991 and 49.5 in 1992.
Mr. Nigel Griffiths : To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many insolvencies, identifying companies and bankruptcies were dealt with by the insolvency service together with the average number of staff, identifying permanent and casual, in post for each year from 1987.
Mr. Neil Hamilton : The insolvency service dealt with the following number of cases :
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|1987-88|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Company winding-up orders |3,952 |3,554 |4,431 |6,777 |8,911 |9,540
Bankruptcy orders |7,365 |7,607 |8,679 |14,359 |26,186 |33,152
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |11,317 |11,161 |13,110 |21,136 |35,097 |42,692
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The average number of staff were :Column 647
|1987-88|1988-89|1989-90|1990-91|1991-92|1992-93
------------------------------------------------------------------
Permanent |1,516 |1,443 |1,395 |1,431 |1,500 |1,531
Casuals |<1>n/a |<1>n/a |10 |24 |85 |158
|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Total |1,516 |1,443 |1,405 |1,455 |1,585 |1,689
<1> Note: No separate record of casuals, numbers insignificant.
Energy Review Panel
Dr. Michael Clark : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he will appoint members of the energy review panel which he announced in the coal White Paper.
Mr. Eggar [pursuant to his reply, 26 October 1993] : I announced to the House on 20 October that Dr. Martin Holdgate had agreed to chair the new energy advisory panel and that I had invited a number of independent experts in the energy field to serve as members. I am pleased to be able now to announce the full membership of the panel and look forward to the input which they will
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make to the energy report next year. I am sure that the report will be an invaluable document to all those with an interest in energy. With the arrival of the panel, I have decided to dissolve the Department's former advisory council on research and development. ACORD has provided valuable technical advice to a succession of Ministers and Departments since it was first set up 45 years ago but major changes to the energy scene in recent years--particularly the privatisation of the nationalised energy industries--have meant that ACORD's main original function--a detailed technical overview of those industries research plans--is no longer necessary.Column 649
The council had itself recently suggested to me that its ambit might usefully be extended to issues of energy policy--an area where it would have overlapped directly with the panel.I have written to ACORD members thanking them for their service. The full membership of the energy advisory panel is as follows : Chairman--
Martin Holdgate
Currently Director General, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources ; formerly Chief Environment Scientist, Department of the Environment. Recent chairman of the Renewable Energy Advisory Group (REAG).
Members--
Lady (Mary) Archer
Chairman of the National Energy Foundation, formerly a member of REAG.
Ron Campbell
Former Managing Director of Babcock Energy and Director of the Nuclear Power Group, now a consultant. Member of the Department's former Advisory council on Energy Research and Development (ACORD) and of the NII's Advisory Council on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (ACSNI).
Tony Cooper
General Secretary, Engineers' and Managers' Association. Nigel Evans
Managing Director, Caminus Energy Ltd. former member of ACORD. David Green, MBE
Director, Combined Heat and Power Association.
Dieter Helm
Oxford Economic Research Associates.
Peter Ibbotson
Director of Construction, Sainsbury plc.
Professor Alexander Kemp
University of Aberdeen Department of Economics.
Sam Laidlaw
Managing Director Amerada Hess (UK) Ltd., former president of the UK Offshore Operators' Association.
Mike Parker
Consultant, former Director of Economics, British Coal.
Paul Rich
Managing Director, Allied Steel and Wire.
Lynda Rouse
Director, Public Sector Unit, Barclays de Zoete Wedd Ltd. Ann Scully
Vice-Chairman, National Consumers Council and Chairman, Domestic Coal Consumers' Council.
Anthony White
National Grid Company (NGC).
Professor Alan Williams
Leeds University Department of Fuel and Energy.
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ENVIRONMENT
Accommodation Agencies Act 1953
Mr. Rowe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what conclusions he has reached as a result of the consultation carried out by his Department on whether there is a case for abolishing the Accommodation Agencies Act 1953.
Sir George Young : Following consultation, we have decided that the Accommodation Agencies Act 1953 should be retained. It is clear that the need to protect those seeking accommodation from unscrupulous or bogus agencies outweight the benefit which might come from allowing agencies to adopt new patterns of business by charging fees in advance to those seeking accommodation.
Sea Mammals
Mr. Morley : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of recorded fatalities of (a) dolphins and (b) whales and other cetaceans in United Kingdom waters in each of the last five years.
Mr. Yeo : The available figures on cetacean deaths come from a DOE- sponsored scheme for co-ordinated reports of stranded cetaceans around Great Britain. The scheme does not extend to Northern Ireland. The figures are :
Year |Dolphins |Whales and other
|cetaceans
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1988 |44 |63
1989 |43 |95
1990 |52 |98
1991 |78 |116
1992 |256 |159
The 1992 figures appear to reflect an unusual series of strandings of common dolphins off the south-west coast of England in spring 1992 and additional information for Scottish waters following the appointment of a co-ordinator for Scottish reports.
Drinking Water Inspectorate
Mr. Brazier : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements he proposes to make to provide a more independent role for the drinking water inspectorate.
Mr. Yeo : We propose to transfer to the chief drinking water inspector certain statutory responsibilities of the Secretaries of State for the Environment and for Wales. These include the power to prosecute if water were to be supplied that was unfit for human consumption. We believe that the chief inspector should exercise these responsibilities independently. Legislation will be needed to make the change.
Overseas Staff and Premises
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the cost for the current financial year of his Department having (a) premises and (b) personnel overseas ; and what were the comparable figures for (a) 12, (b) 24, (c) 36 and (d) 48 months ago.
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Mr. Gummer : DOE (central) has one member of staff stationed in Germany. Personnel and premises costs are covered by payments received for the work carried out ; hence, DOE (central) incurs no net expenditure.
In addition, the international arm of PSA Services had premises and personnel overseas in the past four years and the costs incurred were as follows :
|(a) Premises |(b) Personnel
|£'000 |£'000
--------------------------------------------------------
1993-94 |17 |2,891
1992-93 |167 |17,648
1991-92 |183 |14,431
1990-91 |594 |64,680
These costs were fully met by receipts from the Ministry of Defence and other customers. PSA International closed on 30 September 1993, and no further costs will be incurred. Residual tasks are being completed by units in PSA Services.
Orimulsion
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what factors were taken into account in his decision to grant licences to Ince and Richborough power stations to burn orimulsion ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Yeo : The recent authorisation by HMIP is a registration of the existing process under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, rather than approval to a new use of orimulsion. Richborough and Ince power stations are now under integrated pollution control as applied to other large power stations earlier this year.
At Richborough and Ince, the limits on the release of sulphur dioxide have been set to ensure that emissions will be no higher than if heavy fuel oil was being burnt.
All power station authorisations include limits on the release of the main pollutants, including sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emitted to air. These limits for releases to air vary from station to station depending on its environmental circumstances and are based on the consideration of the national plan, which aims progressively to reduce such emissions over a number of years, critical load, and local air quality.
The authorisations also contain controls on releases to water which accommodate the requirements of the National Rivers Authority. Plants are required to use BATNEEC--best available techniques not entailing excessive cost--in controlling releases, and authorisations require operators to provide an improvement plan to bring the station up to new plant standards. Unless PowerGen can demonstrate adequate reasons to the contrary, they will be expected to employ appropriate sulphur abatement techniques at Richborough and Ince by 1 April 1998. This is three years earlier than the normal objective for coal fired stations because of the economics of burning orimulsion.
HMIP is satisfied that there are no environmental grounds for refusing authorisation for full scale burning of orimulsion.
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Conservative Party Conference
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what costs were incurred by his Department for arrangements associated with the 1933 Conservative party conference in Blackpool.
Mr. Gummer : The only identifiable costs incurred by my Department were those in arranging for urgent Government papers to be sent to Ministers attending the Conservative party conference.
Sulphur
Mr. Dafis : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what progress has been made to date on reviewing the United Nations Economic Commission on Europe protocol on sulphur ; and if he will make it his policy to sign the revised protocol.
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