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Telecommunications (Key Escrow)

Mr. Michael Brown: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his answer of 6 March, Official Report, column 229, if he will make an assessment of the impact on Britain's civil liberties of the adoption of a telecommunications key escrow. [20467]

Mr. Ian Taylor: The rights of the individual, and those of civil liberties, will be fully taken into account, as will the responsibility of the Government to protect the interests of the state and its citizens against serious crime, in any decisions the Government may make concerning the provision of confidentiality services on public networks.

Nuclear Industry (Privatisation)

Mr. Clapham: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the current state of negotiations to sell the United Kingdom nuclear industry to Duke Power. [18692]

Mr. Eggar: There are no negotiations with Duke Power.

Local Enterprise Councils

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many local enterprise councils are currently supported out of public funds; how much money is involved; and if he will make a statement. [18981]

Mr. Page: Local enterprise agencies are private sector companies and are not directly supported from public funds. Many, however, will have contracts with their local training and enterprise council or business link to deliver a range of services to the local business community.

Fireworks

Mr. Nigel Griffiths: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many people were killed or injured as a result of accidents involving fireworks in each year since 1966 by region and firework type. [20206]

Mr. John M. Taylor: The numbers of firework injuries since 1966, in total and by firework type, are given in the figures.

Analyses of firework accidents by region have been published and are available for 1990 and succeeding years until 1994. Copies of these analyses have been deposited in the Library of the House.

For years earlier than 1990, obtaining regional data would incur disproportionate cost.

	Others	Bangers	R Candles etc.	Rockets	Sparklers	Total accidents
1967	803	638	568	317	--	2,326
1968	897	798	586	385	--	2,666
1969	624	533	363	206	--	1,726
1970	410	379	257	167	--	1,213
1971	414	334	232	134	--	1,114
1972	531	391	270	132	--	1,324
1973	447	379	294	129	--	1,249
1974	452	237	159	79	--	927
1975	350	208	119	89	--	766
1976	274	159	89	91	72	685
1977	291	178	112	87	65	733
1978	388	212	160	122	71	953
1979	310	190	124	73	48	745
1980	240	135	81	66	33	555
1981	257	167	107	102	48	681
1982	284	147	84	71	40	626
1983	333	184	114	107	95	833
1984	320	175	103	115	65	778
1985	373	241	90	197	67	968
1986	358	161	88	159	80	846
1987	432	163	96	174	95	960
1988	366	162	83	164	102	877
1989	361	136	89	131	83	800
1990	344	158	66	144	93	805
1991	316	146	68	92	101	723
1992	355	170	71	169	177	942
1993	504	169	40	156	189	1,058
1994	743	268	95	215	253	1,574

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13 Mar 1996 : Column: 669

Mr. Griffiths: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what was the volume of firework sales in each of the last five years. [20208]

Mr. Taylor: The number of individual fireworks sold to consumers throughout Great Britain in the years 1991 to 1995 is estimated by my Department as follows:

Year	Million
1991	134
1992	138
1993	141
1994	154
1995	(12)172

(12) Provisional.

These figures have been drawn from discussions with all parts of the industry.

Mr. Griffiths: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the latest firework injury statistics; and what evidence he has as to how they relate to the changing volume of fireworks on the market. [20207]

Mr. Taylor: The firework injuries statistics from the 1995 census in Great Britain are not yet available but should be so by the end of this month. Analysis of the relation of accident numbers to sales volume will be possible when the statistics are available.

Mr. Griffiths: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many firework injuries occurred on new year's eve 1995. [20205]

Mr. Taylor: An estimate of the number of firework accidents occurring on 31 December 1995 would have to be based on data collected in a sample of hospital accident and emergency units by the home accident surveillance system. These data are not yet available.

Mr. Griffiths: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will set out the latest firework injury statistics for 1995 by region and by firework type. [20204]

13 Mar 1996 : Column: 670

Mr. Taylor: Statistics from the 1995 census of fireworks injuries are not yet available but my Department hopes to publish them before the end of this month.

Mergers

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the proposals by the European Commission to reduce the thresholds according to which mergers are brought under European Commission jurisdiction. [20335]

Mr. John M. Taylor: The Commission has issued a Green Paper outlining various proposals for reform of the EC merger regulation, including possible threshold reductions. Once the United Kingdom and other member states have made their views known it will be for the Commission to decide whether it wishes to proceed with formal proposals to the Council.

"Employers Guide to Stress"

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what costs his Department incurred in the production of the employers guide to stress. [20547]

Mr. John M. Taylor: The Department of Trade and Industry incurred no costs in connection with the production of the Health and Safety Executive's document 'Stress at Work: A Guide for Employers'.

Employment Rights

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the Green Paper, "Resolving Employment Rights Disputes: Options for Reform." [21080]

Mr. John M. Taylor: The Government intend to publish, for consultation, a draft Bill on industrial tribunals. The draft Bill will contain important reforms to streamline the industrial tribunals system. It will also aim to increase the proportion of employment rights disputes

13 Mar 1996 : Column: 671

resolved by employees and employers themselves, or through conciliation by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service or by other third party means. These proposals were widely welcomed in our consultation on the Green Paper, "Resolving Employment Rights Disputes: Options for Reform".

We intend to publish and consult on the Bill in the summer. Consultation on an advance draft of the Bill will help give tribunal users a better opportunity to comment on legislation of direct interest to them; identify any remaining areas of contention so that they can be considered before the Bill is introduced and so aid implementation of changes to the tribunal system. This will help us to produce better legislation and ensure that the changes we are proposing to make are of benefit and are workable.

Robotics (Nuclear Plant Decommissioning)

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on robotic technology used in the decommissioning of nuclear power stations; and if he will make a statement. [18706]

Mr. Page: None. Operations at licensed nuclear sites must be carried out to the satisfaction of the nuclear installations inspectorate. The procurement and evaluation of research into the decommissioning of nuclear power stations is the responsibility of the operators of those stations.

Orimulsion

Mr. David Nicholson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has had since 15 February alleging orimulsion to be toxic and advocating a ban on its importation into the United Kingdom; and what studies his Department has undertaken of the arguments adduced in those Organisations for Economic Co-operation and Development countries which have (i) considered and (ii) implemented such a ban. [19648]

Mr. Ian Taylor: Since 15 February my Department has received no such representations; nor has my Department undertaken any studies of OECD countries' decisions concerning orimulsion. However, in 1992 a research study was carried out on behalf of the Department of the Environment which reviewed the impacts of orimulsion and the pollution abatement technologies which may be applied to orimulsion-fired boilers.

I understand that Milford Haven port authority has produced a report about the likely effects of spillages of up to one thousand tonnes of orimulsion into the Haven. This report is on the planning public register.

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