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Redundancies
Mr. Ingram : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will give details of the compensation payments given to members of staff at the National Engineering laboratory and Warren Springs laboratory who have been made redundant in the last year.
Mr. Heseltine : There have been no redundancies at either the National Engineering laboratory or Warren Spring laboratory. At both laboratories, staff numbers have been reduced through voluntary early retirement, voluntary early severance and through placement in other posts in the Department.
Regional Selective Assistance
Mr. Mike O'Brien : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) to what extent administrative delays have resulted in a delay in his Department making a decision about regional selective assistance grants to Stone Plastics Ltd. and Tape Seals Ltd. of Atherstone, Warwickshire ;
(2) whether his Department has investigated the effect on jobs and exports of delays in approving regional selective assistance grants for Stone Plastics and Tape Seals Ltd.
Mr. Needham : There have been no delays in reaching decisions on the regional selective assistance applications from Stone Plastics Ltd. and Tapeseals Ltd. Both cases are currently undergoing appraisal to determine whether the criteria for assistance are met.
Electricity Tariffs
Mr. Thurnham : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the different domestic electricity tariffs throughout the United Kingdom, in descending order of price.
Mr. Eggar : The information is set out in the table :
Domestic Electricity Tariffs 1 April 1994
Standard tariff Economy 7
|Standing |P/kwh |Standing |P/kwh |P/kwh
|charge per |charge per|(day) |(night)
|quarter |quarter
|(£) |(£)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Electricity Supplier
South Wales |11.25 |8.08 |14.10 |8.66 |2.65
Northern |11.04 |7.95 |13.92 |8.37 |2.65
Manweb |11.55 |7.78 |14.80 |8.15 |2.81
Northern Ireland |13.95 |7.75 |18.55 |8.21 |2.68
Eastern |9.10 |7.42 |14.30 |7.42 |2.74
East Midlands |9.30 |7.34 |13.08 |7.34 |2.70
Southern |10.33 |7.27 |13.25 |7.90 |2.64
Yorkshire |10.13 |7.22 |13.21 |7.63 |2.83
Seeboard |10.84 |7.21 |13.92 |7.21 |2.68
Midlands |8.79 |7.18 |12.65 |7.75 |2.75
Scottish Power |10.11 |7.13 |15.22 |7.70 |2.93
South Western |11.45 |7.11 |15.00 |8.52 |2.84
London |12.22 |7.08 |15.31 |7.67 |2.76
Scottish Hydro |11.03 |6.78 |14.00 |7.18 |2.68
Norweb |10.84 |6.60 |14.27 |7.07 |2.61
NB. Companies are listed in descending order of unit cost per kilowatt hour under
the standard tariff.
Other Notes:
Manweb are giving a £10 rebate, Seeboard a £8 rebate and SWEB a £4.50 rebate.
Most companies offer a set reduction for payments by direct debit.
There are other tariffs by domestic consumers such as power key and special
tariffs for storage heaters.
Coal Privatisation
Mr. Tipping : To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 19 January, Official Report, column 648, if he will update his list of consultants commissioned to provide advice on the privatisation of British Coal.
Mr. Eggar : Brodies WS was appointed on 22 March 1994 to provide legal advice in connection with Scottish aspects of the privatisation of British Coal.
Mr. Brazier : To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he proposes to make further information available about coal privatisation.
Mr. Eggar : N. M. Rothschild will issue a preliminary memorandum on behalf of Her Majesty's Government on 13 April at 11 am. Copies will be placed in the Library of the House.
THORP
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information he has received from (a) British Nuclear Fuels and (b) Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution as to the awarding of licensing instruments by Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution in the commissioning process for THORP at Sellafield.
Mr. Eggar : The issuing of a licensing instrument--LI--is a matter for the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear installations inspectorate, the NII. I understand that the NII, on completion of its assessment of the results of uranium testing at the THORP plant at Sellafield, issued an LI on 25 March. Reprocessing at THORP subsequently started on 27 March.
Arms Exports
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what type, quantity and value of arms have been exported to south-east Asia in aggregate, without detailing country by country information, by the United Kingdom, in each year since 1985.
Mr. Needham : The available information is published regularly by the Ministry of Defence in "UK Defence Statistics" which is available from the Library of the House.
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade which banks backed the ECGD credits on the successive Government to Government arms deals with Jordan.
Mr. Needham : It has been the policy of successive Governments not to make public details of individual defence export orders or the related financing arrangements unless the relevant parties have agreed to this. No such agreement has been given in these cases.
British Coal Superannuation Scheme
Ms Rachel Squire : To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if there will be an evaluation of the British Coal staff superannuation scheme prior to privatisation ; and if the Government will provide funds to meet the costs ;
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(2) whether the three-year evaluation of the British Coal staff superannuation scheme will continue ; when the next evaluation will take place ; and if Her Majesty's Government will provide funds to meet the cost of such an evaluation.Mr. Eggar : It is proposed that after the privatisation of British Coal the industry pension schemes should have valuations at intervals of not more than three and a half years. The possibility of a further valuation of the staff superannuation scheme before privatisation is a matter for the trustees. The costs of valuations will continue to be met from scheme funds.
Electricity (French Interconnector)
Mr. Jack Thompson : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the ratio of United Kingdom imports to exports of electricity supply via the electricity supply link between the United Kindom and France in each year since 1986 on a quarterly basis and in the first quarter of 1994 expressed in gigajoules.
Mr. Eggar : The information requested is set out in the table :
10‡<6> gigajoules
|Electricity |Electricity
|imported from|exported to
|France |France
--------------------------------------------------------
1986
Q1 |0.39 |0.03
Q2 |3.62 |0.01
Q3 |2.95 |0.30
Q4 |9.05 |0.35
1987
Q1 |7.96 |0.00
Q2 |11.88 |0.10
Q3 |10.12 |0.03
Q4 |12.07 |0.00
1988
Q1 |11.16 |0.00
Q2 |12.33 |0.04
Q3 |12.61 |0.01
Q4 |10.13 |0.00
1989
Q1 |11.35 |0.00
Q2 |14.28 |0.00
Q3 |12.68 |0.00
Q4 |10.40 |3.23
1990
Q1 |0.17 |0.16
Q2 |12.74 |0.00
Q3 |14.75 |0.00
Q4 |15.51 |0.01
1991
Q1 |15.46 |0.02
Q2 |13.41 |0.02
Q3 |14.81 |0.01
Q4 |15.45 |0.00
1992
Q1 |15.53 |0.00
Q2 |14.38 |0.02
Q3 |14.79 |0.08
Q4 |15.50 |0.02
1993
Q1 |15.43 |0.02
Q2 |14.48 |0.00
Q3 |14.78 |0.00
Q4 |15.49 |0.00
Note:
Information for the first quarter of 1994 is not yet
available.
Coal Industry Bill
Mr. Mullin : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received from the National Rivers Authority regarding the Coal Industry Bill ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Eggar : My Department has received no representations from the National Rivers Authority on the Coal Industry Bill. The NRA has, however, provided comments in the context of the consultation exercise on the Coal Authority explanatory note and draft model licensing and leasing documents.
New and Renewables Programme
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the projects approved under the new and renewables programme since its inception, together with the geographical distribution of the expenditure incurred.
Mr. Eggar : The list of projects approved under the new and renewable energy programme since its inception is very long and I will write to the hon. Member with a full list of approved projects in due course. I will place that letter in the Library of the House. I regret that it will not be possible for this listing to provide a geographical distribution of the expenditure incurred. This information is not readily available and its presentation would entail disproportionate cost.
Overseas Projects Board
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Burden) of 9 February, Official Report, column 323, if he will list all the members of the Overseas Projects Board since 1984 with the terms and conditions of the appointment, including any recompense, expenses or remuneration.
Mr. Needham : I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield (Mr. Burden) on 21 February 1994, Official Report, columns 22-23.
With regard to conditions of service, appointments are made by the Minister of Trade normally for a period of three years. Members are required to treat all commercially classified material which they may obtain during the course of their membership as strictly confidential. Members are reminded that Government information is subject to the provisions of the Official Secrets Act.
Members are asked to provide the Department of Trade and Industry with a list of companies in which they hold directorships and/or have financial interests and to update the information as necessary. This list is treated in the strictest confidence and is not made available outside the Department.
Column 107
The appointment does not carry rights to recompense, expenses or remuneration.I have placed a copy of the board's terms of reference in the Library of the House.
Carrier Technology Programme
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the projects approved under, and the regional distribution of expenditure incurred within, the carrier technology programme since its inception.
Mr. McLoughlin : One project on the application of chaos theory to the production of spring wire has been approved within the carrier technology programme. The project began in December 1993 and will last two years. It will cost £156,000 and has a DTI grant of £76,000. The Spring Research and Manufacturers Association of Sheffield, and the university of Warwick are the main collaborators.
Space and Satellite Industry
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade what review he is undertaking of the British space and satellite industry ; and whether the retention of a directly owned British satellite manufacturing capability forms part of his strategy for competitiveness.
Mr. McLoughlin : My officials are in regular contact with the British space and satellite industry, although no specific review is currently being undertaken. In encouraging the British satellite manufacturing industry to enhance its competitiveness, we work with the companies involved on the best means of achieving that objective.
Manufacturing, Planning and Implementation Scheme
Mr. Cousins : To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the projects approved under, and the regional distribution of expenditure incurred, within the manufacturing, planning and implementation scheme since its inception.
Mr. McLoughlin : A list of projects approved under the manufacturing, planning and implementation scheme that have reached grant status is attached. The approximate distribution of expenditure by region is as follows :
|£
|Thousand
North, West |900
North East |400
South West |550
South East |850
Yorkshire and Humberside |950
East Anglia |450
West Midlands |1,250
Scotland |500
Wales |300
East Midlands |800
List of Supported Projects
Platon International
Skippingdale Paper
Rainford Group
Hinckley Mouldings
CMK Treatments
KM-Comark
MDH Limited
Column 108
Sanmex InternationalPermoid Ind.
Dalepak Foods plc
Dewhursts plc
Elkay Electrical
Appor Limited
Mulberry Co. Ltd.
Bloxwich Engineering
Kirpac Ltd.
Helix
Airedale International
Gledhill Water Storage
The Dane Group
Hobart Rose
Carlton Int
Montan Group
Federation Breweries
Carver and Co.
Hillary's Blinds
Econ Engineering
Pulsafe Safety Products
Regent Belt Co.
Kitchen Range Foods
Hilden Manufacturing
Cherub Ltd.
Edward MacBean
Ebac Ltd.
Autonumis
Oxley Developments
Hocking NDT
Ambi-Rad
Safeline
Simon Jersey
Blowspeed Industrial Mouldings
Albion Concrete products
Hozelock
Lewis Woolf Griptight
M. R. Hadida Ltd.
Unipack Ltd.
Asme Lt.
GFE Bartlett and Sons
Craig and Rose
Souplex Ltd.
Weatherite Ltd.
East Yorkshire Glass
AM Paper Convertors
Meridian Foods
Regent Lock Ltd.
Cooke Bros Ltd.
Phostrogen Ltd.
Grower Marketing Services
MSP Ltd.
Manchester Circuits
Hayes Tubes
Aulds (Foods) Ltd.
Shering Weighing
Crane Electronics
Stemwest Produce Ltd.
Servomex plc
Silverscreen Print
Darron Tool and Engineering
Turner Brothers
P. and L. Suswin
Premier Pottery
Cambridge Optical
John Blackburn
W. Karp and Sons
Charles Walker
Crabtree
S. and A. Foods
Nusteel Structures
Redler
Stewart Buchanan Gauges
Leslie and Co. (Coventry) Ltd.
Progenitive Services
Circast Electronics
Thompson Carmichael
Chromalock
Zincast Foundry
Lancaster Glass Fibre
Self Serve Hygiene
FERMEC
Brookside Group (Meighs) Ltd.
Cardinal Broach
Foward Group plc
George Ward
Burall Plastec
Ford Component Manufacturing
Applied Security Design Ltd.
Welbeck (UK) Ltd.
Roberts Capsule Stopper
Morgan Motor Company
Porter Hopkins Ltd.
Metalformers Ltd.
CLF International
Brooke Tool Engineering
Reid Group plc
Wild Country Ltd.
Cranford Circuits
Assembly and Automation Ltd.
Concord Temperature Controls
Unwins Seeds Ltd.
Meteorway Ltd.
Plastic Developments
Blackburn Starling
Kleeneze plc
Swift
Atreus plc
HC Slingsby
Vedonis
Bode and Son Ltd.
Newport Technology Group
Fox Brothers and Co. Ltd.
The Michelmersh Brick and Tile Co. Ltd.
Langley Alloys Ltd.
C. H. Branham Ltd.
Envair Ltd.
Dagless Ltd.
Armeg Ltd.
Gilberts
Meridian House
Poole Pottery Ltd.
Storforth Engineering
C. C. L. Group plc
Eclipse Blinds
ETAL
Strathclyde Fabricators
William Baker (Leicester) Ltd.
Thwaites Ltd.
Kembrey Wiring Systems
Robor Cartons Ltd.
Danline Int. Ltd.
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