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Official Receiver

Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many (a) bankruptcy and (b) winding-up orders were made during the 12 months ended 31 January; and how many were administered by each Official Receiver's office during the 12 months ended 31 January. [17463]

Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 27 February 1996]: The number of bankruptcy and winding-up orders made in the 12 months to 31 January 1996 and the number of cases in which the administration was completed in each Official Receiver's office are as set out in the table.

Office	Bankruptcy orders		Winding-up orders
	Made	Administration completed	Made	Administration completed
Birmingham	1,144	1,316	269	387
Brighton	958	1,610	191	453
Bristol	696	819	173	201
Gloucester	497	423	48	47
Canterbury	366	412	56	84
Rochester	473	720	93	165
Cardiff	407	747	111	199
Croydon	1,243	1,912	373	552
Hull	469	598	84	103
Leeds	920	733	270	200
Liverpool	353	331	79	75
Manchester	1,006	832	271	345
Newcastle	496	1,142	123	169
Stockton	335	269	81	52
Northampton	616	522	95	104
Cambridge	364	572	66	97
Norwich	589	668	107	156
Ipswich	397	346	48	78
Nottingham	718	779	86	111
Leicester	398	410	47	75
Plymouth	1,036	971	74	67
Exeter	569	780	43	87
Reading	805	867	229	260
St. Albans	817	827	195	184
St. Annes	684	538	114	76
Sheffield	488	554	68	69
Southampton	660	504	130	207
Bournemouth	520	568	84	105
Southend	804	1,017	154	163
Stoke	440	423	54	79
Chester	415	454	66	81
Swansea	499	542	96	139
London A	3	25	75	115
London B	936	154	738	102
London C	938	123	734	99
Manchester closing unit	0	6,292	0	876
London support unit	0	2,499	0	2,241
Total	22,059	32,299	5,525	8,603

USA (Inward Investment)

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what has been the level of inward investment into the USA by United Kingdom firms in each of the last 20 years; [18202]

(2) what have been the levels of inward investment into the United Kingdom by (a) German firms, (b) EU firms and (c) US firms in each of the last 20 years. [18159]

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Mr. Oppenheim: Information on foreign direct investment is published regularly by the Central Statistical Office in "Business Monitor MA4, Overseas Transactions", which is available in the Library of the House. The latest information, for 1994, was published by the Central Statistical Office on 18 December 1995 in "First Release", CSO(95)296.

United States-United Kingdom Trade

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the mutual United Kingdom-United States balance of trade in each year since 1975. [18157]

Mr. Oppenheim: The information is published by the Central Statistical Office in the "Monthly Review of External Trade Statistical" which is available in the Library of the House.

United States-United Kingdom Relations

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on United States-United Kingdom relations; and what proposals he has to develop closer relations. [18160]

Mr. Oppenheim: Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States are excellent. Our exports to the United States continue to grow and we remain the largest foreign investor there, while the US sends the largest share of its overseas investment here. Relations will be enhanced by the action plan agreed last December by the European Union and the United States which provides for co-operation on issues of international importance including further trade liberalisation. In addition, the Department of Trade and Industry will launch in May the second phase of the "North America Now" campaign, which will seek to achieve even more business in the United States for British companies.

Germany (Balance of Trade)

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the balance of trade with Germany in each year since 1975. [18158]

Mr. Oppenheim: The information is published by the Central Statistical Office in the "Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics", which is available in the Library of the House.

W H Smith

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will refer W H Smith to the Director General of Fair Trading in respect of discrimination against smaller circulation periodicals. [18344]

Mr. John M. Taylor: The Director General of Fair Trading--DGFT--is responsible for investigating allegations of anti-competitive behaviour, abuse of monopoly power or restrictive trade practices. If anyone has firm evidence that W H Smith may be breaching competition law, they should bring it to the attention of the DGFT.

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Magnox Reactors

Mrs. Beckett: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 29 January, Official Report, column 511, if the fossil fuel levy after 1988 will cover British Nuclear Fuels plc's liability for the Magnox reactors; and if he will make a statement. [17833]

Mr. Lang [holding answer 29 February 1996]: The fossil fuel levy will cover British Nuclear Fuels plc only until the end of the nuclear non-fossil fuel obligation-- NFFO--in 1998.

Battery Technology

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assistance he has given to universities and other research institutions engaged in battery technology. [18772]

Mr. Ian Taylor: Financial support from my Department to universities and other research institutions is by means of science budget allocation to the six UK research councils and subsequently by research grants to individual researchers or research units. Funds are available for research in batteries technology through the responsive grant mode in the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council. Detailed information on project expenditure for specific technologies that rely on a diverse range of underlying science is not collated centrally. The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council--EPSRC--has identified in its February 1996 publication "Response to Foresight" that a number of its programmes contribute to underpinning research in fuel cells and photovoltaics. It is intended that a specific managed programme in energy storage will be developed by the EPSRC across the materials, chemistry, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and clean technology programme, with a view to launching it in 1997.

Mr. Prentice: To ask the President of the Board of Trade to what extent the technology foresight initiative focused on battery technology; and what policy changes resulted. [18771]

Mr. Taylor: Battery technology emerged as a technology worthy of emphasis for the energy sector in the technology foresight exercise. The energy panel considered that the challenge to manufacture electricity storage systems with, say, four times the energy density and comparable life cycle of the traditional lead/acid battery at competitive cost, remained formidable. It identified additional requirements for advanced high-energy batteries, including improved state-of-change sensors and electronics for thermal management.

Following the recommendations of the technology foresight panel, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is proposing a directed research activity in energy storage, particularly batteries, which is expected to be launched in late 1996/early 1997. The main applications will be for uninterruptable power and for transport applications.

Bankruptcy

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will introduce legislation to make it an offence to seek to induce a creditor to delay instituting

5 Mar 1996 : Column: 136

an action for bankruptcy against a debtor solely for the reason that a successful action would disqualify the debtor from membership of the House. [18863]

Mr. Oppenheim: No. It is for creditors to decide if and when they should institute bankruptcy proceedings.

Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many people have been declared bankrupt in the past three years for debts totalling (a) less than £5,000, (b) £10,000, (c) £20,000, (d) £50,000, (e) £100,000 and (f) £1,000,000 or over or such classification as is available. [18557]

Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 1 March 1996]: The number of bankruptcy orders in England and Wales in the last three years was as follows:

1993: 31,016
1994: 25,634
1995: 21,933.

Information on the size of debts could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

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