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Mr. Byers: To ask the President of the Board of Trade on how may occasions between 1985 and 1990 his Department received representations from right hon. or hon. Members in support of applications for export licences in respect of military list goods for export to Iran and Iraq. [27550]
Mr. Ian Taylor [holding answer 9 June 1995]: It would be possible to determine on how many occasions between 1985 and 1990 my Department received representations from right hon. or hon. Members in support of applications for export licences in respect of military list goods for export to Iran and Iraq only by combing a very large number of files, and each individual export licence over the period. This exercise could be undertaken only at seriously disproportionate cost.
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Mr. Byers: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 24 May, Official Report , column 676 , how many applications for export licences in respect of military list goods to Iran and Iraq between 1985 to 1990 were specifically drawn to the attention of Ministers; and how many of those approved by Ministers did not provide end-use certificates, end-use statements or international import certificates. [27702]
Mr. Ian Taylor [holding answer 9 June 1995]: It would be possible to determine how many applications for export licences, in respect of military list goods to Iran and Iraq between 1985 and 1990, were specifically drawn to the attention of Ministers only by combing a very large number of files, and each individual export licence over the period. This exercise could be undertaken only at seriously disproportionate cost and time.
Mr. Cousins: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many military list export licences applications were the subject of his recent internal inquiries into the possible absence of full documentation; and if that sample was focused on particular countries or types of product. [29166]
Mr. Ian Taylor: The full results are set out of the sample survey commissioned last month by the President of the Board of Trade into the supporting documentation supplied with export licences. The survey was set up as follows. A randomly selected sample was taken of 10 per cent. of all military list export licence applications for the following destinations: Pakistan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Portugal, Thailand and Cyprus. There was no focus on particular types of product. The figure of 74 per cent. quoted in the President's statement was an average of the figures for 1986 to 1989.
Military list licences 1986-90
|1986|1987|1988|1989|1990
----------------------------------------------------
Government
applications |19 |24 |20 |23 |7
Private applications |25 |37 |45 |29 |25
Total |44 |61 |65 |52 |32
Number supporting
documents
(Governments) |13 |19 |12 |7 |4
Number supporting
documents (private) |25 |30 |40 |19 |22
Number supporting
documents (total) |38 |49 |52 |26 |26
Percentage of
applications with
no supporting
documents |86 |80 |80 |50 |81
The results are also set out of a similar survey commissioned last month by the President of the Board of Trade for all BMARC export licence applications between 1986 and 1989. The figure of 36 per cent. quoted in the President's statement is an average of the figures for BMARC for 1986 to 1989.
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BMARC licences 1986-89
|1989 |1989
|1986 |1987 |1988 |(BMARC)|(ASTRA)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Government applications |59 |96 |70 |31 |24
Private applications |65 |73 |58 |15 |13
Total |124 |169 |128 |46 |37
Number of supporting
documents (Government) |14 |8 |4 |5 |3
Number of supporting
documents (private) |43 |46 |42 |9 |9
Number of supporting
documents (total) |57 |54 |46 |14 |12
Percentage of applications
with no supporting
documents |46 |32 |36 |30 |32
Mr. Miller: to ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his oral statement of 13 June, Official Report , columns 595 606, if he will list those cases amongst the 74 per cent. of the applications to which he referred which have subsequently been discovered to have an end use in a nation with which his Government have an arms embargo. [29102]
Mr. Ian Taylor: I refer the hon. Member to my answer given today to the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Mr. Cousins) for further details of the sample survey commissioned last month by my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade into the supporting documentation supplied with export licence applications for military list goods during the period 1986 90.
All licence application forms contain a question requiring a statement of end use and the ultimate consignee.
The purpose of my officials in examining this relatively small random sample of 254 export licences was to take a quick check on the state of export licence administration in the DTI over the period 1986 90. They were not asked to investigate the final destination of the goods covered by the licences. This would not have been part of their duties. The investigation of alleged breaches of export controls is a matter for Customs and Excise in its role as an independent prosecuting authority of the Crown.
There are boxes on the export licences application forms which ask the applicant to state both the end use and the end user of the goods in question. My Department has no evidence to suggest that the goods relating to any of the licences sampled ended up anywhere other than as stated on the application form. It would be entirely wrong to assume from the figure of 74 per cent. given in my right hon. Friend's oral statement on 13 June that a large proportion of exporters misled my Department.
Scott Inquiry
Mr. Byers: To ask the President of the Board of Trade which Minister, former Minister or civil servants in his Department have sought independent legal advice in assisting their response to draft extracts from Sir Richard Scott's report; in each case from whom the advice has been sought; and what limit has been placed on the cost of such advice to public funds. [28384]
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Mr. Heseltine [holding answer 13 June 1995]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 14 June 1995, Official Report , column 530 .
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Harvey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what criteria for determining increased effectiveness apart from the issue of benchmarking costs, will be applied in awarding contracts for work currently carried out by civil servants in his Department. [29191]
Mr. Heseltine: The criteria vary depending on the particular exercise but commonly include the quality of service offered, the bidder's understanding of the Department's needs, their ability to bring new innovative approaches to the delivery of the services, the continuity of service offered on taking over the work, their commitment to developing a co-operative partnership with the DTI, and the overall value for money offered.
Insolvency Service
Mr. Harvey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the projected cost of the Insolvency Service's local office ledger accounting computer system. [29245]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: The set-up cost of the LOLA--local office ledger accounting system--is estimated to be £1,543,000.
Mr. Harvey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what measures he proposes taking to ensure creditors' meetings take place in areas affected by particular insolvencies in the event of official receivers' offices being closed as a result of contracting out. [29189]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: The venue of a creditors meeting will still be governed by rules 4.60 and 6.86 of the Insolvency Rules 1986, which states:
"the person summoning the meeting is to have regard for the convenience of persons (other than the chairman) invited to attend".
There is no obligation to hold meetings at official receivers' offices; and they may be held at any convenient venue considered appropriate.
Mr. Harvey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he plans to take to conserve the training investment in the specialist accountancy staff in the organisation in the event of the work of the Insolvency Service being contracted out. [29192]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: In the event of any contracting out of official receiver's functions, the residual work of the Insolvency Service would require the continued employment of the bulk of its specialist staff.
Mr. Harvey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, following the implementation of current proposals to contract out the work of the Insolvency Service, which offices he proposes to close. [29190]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: No decisions have yet been taken in relation to the size and location of the Insolvency Service. It is not expected that such decisions will be made until conclusions on contracting out have been reached.
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Mr. Harvey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to raise the standards of conduct for private insolvency practitioners to (a) the current performance level and (b) the current targets set for official receivers' staff as condition for proceeding further with contracting out proposals for the Insolvency Service. [29186]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: The requirement scoping document recently issued to potential bidders set out levels of experience and competencies of staff that will be required. Any provider, who may or may not be an insolvency practitioner, must satisfy these requirements. In addition, the performance of contractors would be closely monitored to ensure that standards were being consistently maintained to an equal or better level than the standards of expertise and performance currently achieved by the Insolvency Service.
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many (a) bankruptcy orders and (b) winding up orders were dealt with by the Sheffield official receiver's office during each of the last five years. [28797]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: The total numbers of bankruptcy orders and winding up orders dealt with by the official receiver's Sheffield office in each of the last five years were as follows:
Financial year |Bankruptcy |Winding up ------------------------------------------------------------ 1990-91 |288 |102 1991-92 |570 |110 1992-93 |640 |120 1993-94 |559 |94 1994-95 |488 |98
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, what plans the Insolvency Service has to administer those cases not finalised by 31 March 1996 following contractorisation of the official receiver. [28799]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: Official are exploring arrangements which would enable existing cases at 1 April 1996 to be transferred to contractors to complete their administration.
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if staff of the official receiver's office transferred to the private sector will have their salaries enhanced to compensate for the absence of non- contributory pensions for the purpose of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981. [28827]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: Although TUPE does not cover the transfer of occupational pension rights, a new employer will be required to provide broadly comparable pension arrangements. These arrangements would be considered by the Department as part of the preparations for any transfer. The Government Actuary will provide an independent analysis of comparability and will need to approve the new arrangements as offering broadly comparable benefits. The Government Actuary will assess the arrangements as a whole to ascertain their comparability to the principal civil service pension scheme and these arrangements may
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include compensation, for example, for employee contributions or different levels of benefit.Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many permanent staff were employed by the Insolvency Service in the Sheffield office on 31 March for each year since 1990. [28795]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: Numbers of permanent staff employed at the official receiver Sheffield office as at 1 April in each of the last five years were as follows:
|Number of
Year |permanent staff
------------------------------------------------
1 April 1990 |24
1 April 1991 |23.5
1 April 1992 |22.5
1 April 1993 |23.5
1 April 1994 |21.5
1 April 1995 |20
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many members of the Insolvency Service are solely engaged on work surrounding the contracting out proposals; and what is the cost of their work. [28803]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: There are currently five members of the Insolvency Service solely engaged in work concerning the proposed contracting out of the functions of the official receiver. Other members of staff spend varying proportions of their time dealing with the issues associated with this work.
It is estimated that the cost to the Insolvency Service of the options exercise will be approximately £1.35 million in the 1995 96 financial year.
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the effects the contracting out of the administrative functions of the official receiver will have on the Sheffield office. [28798]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: Any decisions and any effects of contracting out in relation to the Sheffield office of the official receiver will be known only once decisions are reached regarding the whole of the Insolvency Service.
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many directors were disqualified from managing a limited company under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 in the courts covered by the official receiver's office, Sheffield during the past eight years. [28794]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: The numbers of disqualification orders made under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 in the Sheffield, Doncaster, Chesterfield and Barnsley courts covered by the official receiver Sheffield office in each of the last eight years were as follows:
|Number of
Financial year |orders made
---------------------------------------------------------
1 April 1987-31 March 1988 |0
1 April 1988-31 March 1989 |3
1 April 1989-31 March 1990 |1
1 April 1990-31 March 1991 |6
1 April 1991-31 March 1992 |2
1 April 1992-31 March 1993 |3
1 April 1993-31 March 1994 |0
1 April 1994-31 March 1995 |1
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many members of the Sheffield office will be surplus of requirement following contractorisation of the functions of the functions of the official receiver. [28826]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: Any decisions in relation to the staff in the official receiver's office in Sheffield will be made in the light of decisions taken on contracting out.
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many firms or companies resident in Sheffield have expressed an interest in bidding for some of the functions of the official receiver. [28800]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: No firm responding to the advertisements calling for expressions of interest in the contracting out of functions of the official receiver listed a Sheffield address.
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans his Department has for providing information to staff regarding their future employment options following contractorisation of the functions of the official receiver. [28824]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: A communications strategy is currently in place within the Insolvency Service with the aim of keeping the staff as up to date with the status of contracting out as possible. The intention is to provide information on the options available to staff as it becomes known.
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many casual and short-term contract staff were engaged at the official receiver's office in Sheffield in each of the past four years. [28796]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: The number of casual and short-term contract staff employed at the official receiver Sheffield office as at 1 April in each of the last four years was as follows:
|Staff on loan from
|other
Year |Casual staff |Government
|Departments
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 April 1992 |3 |0
1 April 1993 |1 |0
1 April 1994 |2 |2
1 April 1995 |0 |2
Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what additional resources the Insolvency Service has been given to enable the contracting out process to be completed. [28804]
Mr. Jonathan Evans: Approximately an additional £1.3 million has been allocated to cover the Insolvency Service's costs for the contracting out exercise.
Departmental Grants
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the amounts received by each organisation which receives a grant from his Department for each of the last five years. [28967]
Mr. Heseltine: The information sought could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Patent Office
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of potential (a) conflicts of interest and (b) breaches of confidentiality in respect of the contractorising of functions of the Patent Office. [28684]
Mr. Ian Taylor: The Patent Office is looking at the potential for contractorisation where that is compatible with its statutory role and good value for money. Issues such as possible conflicts of interest and risks to confidentiality are considered when areas which might in principle be handled by the private sector are assessed and, if appropriate, will be addressed when detailed specifications are drawn up.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if all areas within the Patent Office apart from the core functions will be considered for contractorisation; and if he will make a statement. [28688]
Mr. Ian Taylor: As my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade stated in his announcement of 14 December 1994, Official Report , columns 657 58 about the Patent Office review, the Patent Office will be encouraged to contract out activities wherever this is compatible with its statutory role and good value for money.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many representations he has received during the last six months on the question of the contractorisation of the Patent Office; of those, how many were (a) in favour and (b) against the proposals; and if he will make a statement. [28682]
Mr. Ian Taylor: Since my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade announced the outcome of the Patent Office review on 14 December, Official Report, columns 657-58 , he has received 11 letters specifically referring to the contractorisation of Patent Office functions. Of these, three asked for information about the process of contractorisation, and eight covered correspondence from the Patent Office trade unions expressing their concerns.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, how many members of staff are currently employed in the registration of trademark section of the Patent Office; what was the figure for 1991; and if he will make a statement. [28686]
Mr. Ian Taylor: A total of 237 Patent Office members of staff are currently engaged in the administration of trademarks. The equivalent figure in June 1991 was 308.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many members of staff were employed in the core functions of the Patent Office in 1990; and if he will make a statement. [28681]
Mr. Ian Taylor: In June 1990 the Patent Office employed 1,134 staff. The number of staff in branches which award intellectual property rights under statutory powers was 851.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many members of staff are currently employed in the core function activities of the Patent Office. [28685]
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Mr. Ian Taylor: In June 1995 the Patent Office employs 954 staff. The number of staff in branches which award intellectual property rights under statutory powers is 673.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what factors precluded the staff at the Patent Office from eligibility to form an in- house bid; and if he will make a statement. [28689]
Mr. Ian Taylor: Since bids for contracted-out services will be assessed against benchmarks for the forecast cost and quality of service from in-house provision, staff already have the opportunity to prove that they can match or beat the private sector if the services remain in-house. Additionally, staff may choose to enter a bid on the same basis as the private sector, with the corollary that they will cease to be civil servants if their bids is successful.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many members of staff are employed in the patents and deigns section of the Patent Office; what was the figure for 1992; and if he will make a statement. [28687]
Mr. Ian Taylor: A total of 436 Patent Office members of staff are currently engaged in the administration of patents and designs. The equivalent figure in June 1992 was 474.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the private consultants engaged in respect of the Patent Office; what are their precise terms of reference and their agreed remuneration for carrying out those functions; and if he will make a statement. [28683]
Mr. Ian Taylor: Three firms of private sector consultants are currently engaged by the Patent Office.
Apex Planning and Design is advising the office on accommodation issues, and in particular on means to accommodate within the principal building-- Concept house--staff currently housed at two smaller locations.
Marketing Improvements plc has been retained to explore market potential for Patent Office services, focusing on demand for non-statutory serves such as commercial searches and technical advice, and means of realising it. Coopers and Lybrand has been retained to advise on the feasibility of contracting out the Patent Office's front office in London, which receives, logs and forwards incoming mail, and the terms on which such contractorisation might take place. In neither case have specifications to tender for the work involved yet been drawn up.
Levels of remuneration associated with these individual consultancy contracts are commercial in confidence.
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many letters were received by the Patent Office during 1994; how may of these were replied to within seven days; and if he will make a statement. [28699]
Mr. Ian Taylor: The Patent Office does not hold central records of individual letters received except in the case of letters from Members of Parliament to the chief executive, and letters of complaint under its chartermark procedures. The target for response in both of these cases is 10 working days. In 1994 six letters from Members of Parliament were received and five were answered within the deadline. Fourteen letters of complaint were received and all were answered within the deadline.
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Parliamentary Questions
Mr. McMaster: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what percentage of parliamentary questions, which would have been answered directly by him or his Ministers prior to the establishment of executive agencies, are now referred to the chief executive of such an agency. [28500]
Mr. Heseltine: Ministers are accountable to Parliament for all matters concerning their agencies. Written parliamentary questions concerning matters which have been delegated to the chief executive of an executive agency in its framework document, normally receive a reply from the Minister to the effect that he or she has asked the chief executive to reply direct to the Member by letter. The chief executive's letter is published in Hansard after the Minister's reply.
Mr. McMaster: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many written parliamentary questions were tabled for answer by his Department in each of the past five years; how many of these were not answered because the information (a) could be obtained only at disproportionate cost, (b) was not held centrally and (c) was not normally disclosed; how many of these could now be answered now due to computerisation, more effective and efficient operational systems or more open government; and if he will list each question along with the name and constituency of the right hon. or hon. Member who originally tabled it. [28517]
Mr. Heseltine: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Chernobyl Nuclear Plant
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what information Her Majesty's Government possess on the current safety of the Chernobyl nuclear plant; and if he will make a statement. [28603]
Mr. Page: The safety of the Chernobyl nuclear plant is the responsibility of the relevant Ukrainian authorities. Only they would be able to provide detailed information on the current safety situation at the plant.
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how much contaminated debris is estimated to be present inside the concrete sarcophagus built around the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor number 4; [28604]
(2) what is his latest estimate of the time necessary to clean up the Chernobyl nuclear plant. [28605]
Mr. Page: A recent interim report from an on-going EU funded study estimated that 500,000 cu m of short-lived radioactive waste and 40, 000 cu m of long-lived high level waste, including over 200 tonnes of the reactor's original fuel, lie inside the sarcophagus built over the destroyed unit 4 at Chernobyl.
While no precise estimate of the time necessary to clean up Chernobyl has been made, the same report indicated that it could take up to 100 years to complete the segregation, treatment, conditioning, storage and ultimate disposal of all the radioactive arisings from the remains of unit 4. Copies of the executive summary of this report--"Stabilisation of the existing shelter and the containment
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of both the existing shelter and the damaged remains of reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant"--have been placed in the Library of the House.Post Office
Mr. Wareing: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made with the Post Office performance review and if he will make a statement. [28705]
Mr. Heseltine [holding answer 15 June 1995]: Work started on the performance review on 22 May and is on schedule for completion by 31 August 1995.
Nuclear Industry Privatisation
Mr. Wilson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what restrictions he intends to impose on any foreign Government, corporation or individual purchasing shares in a privatised nuclear industry. [28665]
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