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Scottish Gas

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the President of the Board of Trade when the hon. Member for Cunninghame, South may expect a reply to his letter of 24 April to the Director General of Gas Supply concerning complaints from

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constituents about the delays and difficulties they are encountering in contacting the telephone inquiry lines for Scottish Gas; and what factors have led to the delay so far in replying. [36569]

Mr. Eggar: The Director General of Gas Supply is independent of my Department. These issues should be addressed to her.

Indonesia

Mrs. Clwyd: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the companies which participated in trade missions supported by his Department to Indonesia on 19 February, 15 April and 24 June indicating the nature of the products which they were promoting, the names of the company personnel who attended and the names and designation of staff from his and other Government Departments who attended the missions. [36764]

Mr. Nelson: The following is the information:

Participants in mission of 19 February

	Personnel who attended	Product
Mitchell Cotts Chemicals Ltd.	Mr. S. J. Wilson	Agrochemical and pharmaceutical
HNE Nesbit Evans	Mr. G. Gladwin	Medical equipment
Brandon Medical Ltd.	Mr. G. Hall	Surgical lighting
Associated Architects and Engineers Ltd.	Mr. I. Scott	Architects and engineers
Radyne Ltd.	Mr. A. Hine	Process heating
Waldon Precision Aparatus Ltd.	Mr. P. Watson	Analytical instruments
Overseas Devpt. (Health) Education Training Unit	Mr. H. Brewer	Training and education
Dental Manufacturing Engineering	Mr. D. Greham	Dental turbines and chemicals
Leeds and Bradford Chamber of Commerce and Industry	Mr. M. Sewell	(3)--

(3) No government officials participated in the mission.

Participants in mission of 15 April

	Personnel who attended	Product
Intek Training Ltd.	Mr. J. Wright	Traing materials and consultancy
Millingford International Ltd.	Mr. R. Farrow	Pumps
Mott MacDonald Ltd.	Mr. A. Shaukat	Engineering consultancy
Northern Electric plc	Mr. T. Mair	Technical consultancy and software
Reyrolle Ltd.--Protection	Mr. P. Townes	Electrical protections and Reyrolle systems for use on power system networks
Royston Engineering	Mr. S. Goodchild	Marine and industrial engines
Teknek Electronics Ltd.	Mr. K. Munro	Cleaning and static eliminating solutions for delicate and rigid high value substrates e.g. CDs, printed circuit boards, medical packages
Vokes Ltd.	Mr. G. Martin	Air and liquid filtration technology
Railway Industry Association	Mr. D. Gillan	Tade Association
TMB International Ltd.	Mr. P. Wootton	Engineering consultancy for rail industry
ABB Daimler Benz Transportation	Mr. I. McCullough	Railway Signals and (Signal) Ltd. Communications systems
Adtranz UK Ltd.	Mr. A. Dare	Railway rolling stock
Balfour Beatty Railway Engineering	Mr. M. Newman	Railway contractors
Davy British Rail International	Mr. P. Green	Railway infrastructure projects
GEC Marconi S31 Ltd., Simulation Ltd.	Mr. G Boon	Simulation products for and Training the railway indsutry and computer based training
Hygate Transmissions Ltd.	Mr. N. Crossley	Railtraction gearboxes and gear couplings for mass transit systems
Rotabroch Ltd.	Mr. P. Dorsett	Rail drilling and hle cutters
Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners Ltd.	Mr. T King	Railway consultancy
Stone UK Ltd.	Mr. M. Falshaw	Air conditioning for railway vehicles
Tarmac Construction	Mr. T Ogilvie	Railway construciton
Thorn Transit Systms Int. Ltd.	Mr. S. Wright	Automatic fare colelcitons systems
Westinghouse Brakes Ltd.	Mr. C. Loader	Railway brake equipment
Westinghouse Signals Ltd.	Mr. D. Hannah	Railway signals
Northern Development Company	Mr. J. Marks	Regional develoment agency
Department of Trade and Industry Projects Exports Promotions Directorate	Mr. G. Thomas	Higher Executive Officer

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Participants in mission of 24 June

	Personnel who attended	Product
BCB International Ltd.	Mr. A. Howell	Marine and personal safety equipment
Comet Enterprises (UK) Ltd.	Mr. R. Molavi	Telecommunications technology
Denlab International (UK) Ltd.	Mr. Graham Ellis	Coffee plantation and food processing equipment
F. Bode and Son Ltd.	Mr. C. Bode	Welding positioning equipment
Joanne Lamey Consultant	Mrs. J. Lamey	Research consultant
Landham Produce	Mr. W. Bryant	Food produce
Panache Lingerie Ltd.	Mr. A. Power Mr. J. Power	Lingerie
Park Tonks Ltd.	Mr. W. Park Tonks	Animal feeds and proteins
Prisma Market Analysts Ltd.	Mr. D. Booth	Foreign exchange market technical analysis
Staffordshire Tableware Ltd.	Mr. D. Lawton Mr. R. Quipp	Tableware
Strachan Henshaw Machinery Ltd.	Mr. R. Harders	Printing equipment
London Chamber of Commerce and Industry	Ms L. Bishop-Clark	--

No officials accompanied this mission.

Missile Exports

Mr. Meacher: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) which Ministers approved the renewal in 1990 of export licences, using the form F680 process, to Ferranti/ISC in respect of precision guided missiles; [36607]

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(2) which Ministers approved the issue in 1986 of export licences, using the form F680 process, to Ferranti/ISC in respect of precision guided missiles; [36609]

(3) if Defence ministers were informed when approving an export licence for ISC/Ferranti to supply precision guided missiles to the United Arab Emirates that the missiles were capable of conversion to nuclear use; [36851]

(4) which Ministers approved the renewal in 1988 of export licences, using the form F680 process, to Ferranti/ISC in respect of precision guided missiles; [36608]

(5) if restrictions were placed on the licence to ISC/Ferranti to export precision guided missiles to the United Arab Emirates following consultation between his Department and the Government of the United States of America. [36817]

Mr. Oppenheim: To supply the information requested requires more detailed historical research. I shall write to the hon. Member when investigations are completed.

Foreign Companies (Investment)

Mr. Hawksley: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the levels of investment made by British companies in purchasing foreign companies in each of the last four years. [37080]

Mr. Oppenheim: Information on direct investment overseas by United Kingdom companies and public corporations is published by the Office for National Statistics in "The Pink Book, United Kingdom Balance of Payments", which is available in the Library of the House.

Inward Investment

Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the total amount of inward investment into (a) the United Kingdom and (b) Yorkshire for each of the last three years; if he will list the figures by country of origin; and if he will make a statement. [36885]

Mr. Eggar: Data on the value of inward direct investment into the United Kingdom as a whole, broken down by the country of origin, are regularly published by the Office for National Statistics in "Business Monitor MA4, Overseas Direct Investment" (table 2.4), a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. These figures are not collected on a county basis.

Wages Councils

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what recent assessment he has made of the trend in wages in those industries previously covered by the wages councils. [36891]

Mr. John M. Taylor: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to him on 24 April 1996, Official Report, column 180.

Samsung

Sir Irvine Patnick: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what public funds were made available to Samsung for its investment in the north-east; and if he will make a statement. [37224]

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Mr. Oppenheim: My Department offered regional selective assistance grant and loans totalling £58 million against a proposed investment of £450 million by the company. The assistance will be paid over the next 10 years as the various elements of the Samsung investment proceed and jobs are created. In addition a number of other agencies are providing support for infrastructure development, job creation and training. Some of this support will not be in the form of grant aid to Samsung but will fall within the current and future work programmes of the agencies concerned.

Insolvency (Reviewers of Complaints)

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list by location each of the reviewers of complaints appointed by each of the insolvency regulators, indicating who is responsible for (a) appointing, (b) dismissing and (c) retiring them and on what basis; and what remuneration each reviewer receives. [37334]

Mr. Oppenheim: The information requested by the hon. Member is as follows:

Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales--the current reviewer of complaints for the institute is Mr. A. C. Surtees, P.O. Box 51, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 5TA. The reviewer of complaints is appointed by the Council of the institute for a period of not less than three years and his appointment is renewable. The terms of his appointment are a matter for the institute.
Chartered Association of Certified Accountants--the Association appoint a lay observer who is presently Mr. Simon Loveless of Potter Owtram and Peck, 42 West street, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 2AN. The lay observer is responsible for co-ordinating the reviewing of complaints. He is appointed by the council of the association. The terms of his appointment are a matter for the association.
The Law Society--complaints against solicitor insolvency practitioners are dealt with in the first instance by the Solicitors Complaints Bureau, an independent arm of the Law Society. A dissatisfied complainant may refer the matter to the legal services ombudsman who is presently Mr. Michael Barnes, 22 Oxford court, Oxford street, Manchester M2 3QW. The legal services ombudsman is appointed by the Lord Chancellor, normally for a period of three years. The remuneration for the office is a matter between the Lord Chancellor and the appointee.
The Law Society of Scotland--a dissatisfied complainant may ask for the matter to be referred to the Scottish legal services ombudsman who is presently Mr. Garry S. Watson, 2 Greenside lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3AH. The Scottish legal services ombudsman is appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland after consultation with the Lord President of the Supreme Courts of Scotland. The appointment is for a period of three years. The remuneration for the office is a matter between the Secretary of State for Scotland and the appointee.

The three remaining professional bodies are the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland and the Insolvency Practitioners Association. These bodies do not have an independent reviewer of complaints although in the case of the Scottish institute, a complaint about the institute itself may fall to be considered by a committee appointed from a panel of lay members of institute committees. This committee may report to the institute's council on its findings.

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Each of the professional bodies have recognised the importance of independent input in regulatory matters and all have lay representation on their various regulatory and disciplinary committees.

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