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Private Finance Initiative
Ms Janet Anderson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of funding to be made available to his Department through the private finance initiative in (a) 1995-96, (b) 1996-97 and (c) 1997-98. [26169]
Mr. John M. Taylor: The capital value of PFI projets being planned by my Department is estimated to be as follows:
| Year | £ million |
|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 12.2 |
| 1997-98 | 4.1 |
For the period 1995-96, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor on 7 November 1995, Official Report, column 705, to a question from the hon. Member for Sheffield, Attercliffe (Mr. Betts).
Rural Post Offices
Mr. Illsley: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many post offices in rural areas have been closed in Northern Ireland since 1979. [26232]
Mr. Oppenheim [holding answer 22 April 1996]: I understand from Post Office Counters Ltd. that records are available only from 1987. The total number of post offices in rural areas of Northern Ireland in March 1987 was 515. In March 1996, the corresponding number was 460, a net change of 55. Some of this change was due to some rural offices being reclassified as urban offices. The majority of rural closures are due to the difficulty of finding a suitable applicant to take over the office.
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Nuclear Industry
Ms Walley: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library a copy of his reply to the European Commission's request for the United Kingdom's response to the Consortium of Opposing Local Authorities and Friends of the Earth reports relating to competition policy and the nuclear industry. [26524]
Mr. Eggar: The Government are aware of only one report sent by the Consortium of Opposing Local Authorities and Friends of the Earth to the European Commission. This report is entitled "UK Nuclear Privatisation and Public Sector Liabilities".
The Commission is aware of the Government's view that there is no basis for the concerns which were expressed by COLA on publication of that report.
Deregulation
Mr. Steen: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the estimated annual saving to business from the Deregulation (Insurance Companies Act 1982) Order 1996. [25763]
Mr. Oppenheim: The order has three main purposes:
- (a) the abolition of section 18(3) of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 ("the Act") which requires a five-yearly statement of a life assurance company's business. The life assurance industry has estimated that these measures will save £6 million for the industry over a five-year cycle;
(b) the abolition of section 22(2) of the Act which requires each insurance company to return a statement of connected intermediaries. This measure is estimated to save the insurance industry in excess of £500,000 annually; and
(c) amendment of sections 22(1), 42(4) and 82 of the Act in order to allow insurance companies to submit copies of their annual returns in an electronic format. This measure is for the convenience of the industry and cost savings will be small, representing the difference between the cost of production and submission of four paper copies of the return, and that of producing a diskette. The administrative cost to companies of taking corrective action, if required to do so under section 22(5) of the Act, should also be reduced.
Women (Unfair Dismissal)
Mr. Dafis: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many cases of unfair dismissal of women have been recorded in Scotland during the last three years; and if he will make a statement; [25213]
- (2) how many cases of unfair dismissal of women have been recorded in England during the last three years; and if he will make a statement; [25215]
(3) how many cases of unfair dismissal of women have been recorded in Wales during the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [25211]
Mr. John M. Taylor: The numbers of unfair dismissal cases brought by women and registered by the industrial tribunals for 1994 and 1995 are set out. Figures for 1993 can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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| Year | Region | Total registered |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | England | 11,592 |
| Scotland | 1,338 | |
| Wales | 834 | |
| 1995 | England | 8,601 |
| Scotland | 1,122 | |
| Wales | 687 |
The tribunal area for Wales includes the following neighbouring parts of England--Crewe and Congleton; county of Shropshire except southern part of Bridgenorth; south Herefordshire; Leominster; Hereford and Malvern Hills; Newcastle upon Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Moorlands.
Gas Prices
Mr. Nigel Griffiths: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the percentage change in (a) gas beach prices and (b) the price of gas to domestic consumers since 1986. [26023]
Mr. Eggar: Between 1986 and 1995 the price of gas to domestic consumers excluding VAT fell by 24 per cent.--15 per cent. including VAT--in real terms. The DTI does not publish a similar series for beach prices.
Insolvency Service
Mr. Waterson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what targets he has set the Insolvency Service executive agency for 1996-97. [26723]
Mr. Oppenheim: Against the Insolvency Service's planning assumption that compulsory insolvencies will total 27,500 cases in the year to 31 March 1997, I have set it the target of completing 26,500 cases with no more than 9 per cent. of uncompleted cases being more than 36 months old. I have also set it the target of reducing the unit cost of bankruptcy and compulsory liquidation case administration in 1996-97 by 8 per cent. Resources will increasingly be concentrated on the service's investigative effort and I expect the number of proceedings taken for the disqualification of directors of failed companies to exceed last year's outcome of 1,390, itself an increase of some 50 per cent. on the previous year. In concentrating on the more
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serious and resource-intensive criminal investigative work, I shall expect the service to contain the effect that this will have on the other prosecution action it carries out. I shall also expect the service to operate within its agreed gross running cost provision for 1996-97 of £51,197 million and its programme budget of £3,689 million.
In addition, I have set the service the following quality of service targets for 1996-97:
In addition, I expect the service to action all invoices for payment within 30 days of receipt and the agency chief executive to continue to reply within 10 working days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to him for reply.
to report to creditors on assets and liabilities within eight weeks in at least 90 per cent. of cases and within 12 weeks in 98 per cent. of all cases;
to hold the initial meeting of creditors within 12 weeks in 90 per cent. of all cases and within four months in 98 per cent. of all cases;
to submit reports within 10 months in at least 90 per cent. of bankruptcy cases and 80 per cent. of company liquidation cases where there is evidence of criminality;
to submit disqualification reports within 15 months in at least 80 per cent. cases where there is evidence of unfit conduct by directors;
to check and action at least 95 per cent. of insolvency services account payment requisitions within five days or by the due date;
to process 95 per cent. of official receivers' receipt and payment transactions within 24 hours;
to give notice to insolvency practitioners of interest credited to estates within four weeks.
Wages Councils
Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many new jobs have been created in each region of the United Kingdom in those industries where rates of pay were previously determined by wages councils in each year since 1992. [24948]
Mrs. Angela Knight: I have been asked to reply.
| Industry | SIC92 Code | 1991-92 | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | 52 (except 52.7) | -11 | 61 | 18 | 1 |
| Restaurants, cafes, takeaway food shops | 55.3 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 12 |
| Hotels and other residential accommodation | 55.1-55.2 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 23 |
| Bars | 55.4 | -24 | -30 | 4 | 21 |
| Manufacture of wearing apparel, dressing and dyeing of fur | 18 | -11 | 11 | 1 | -1 |
Source: ONS.
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