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Research Councils

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is the estimated cost of guaranteeing the pension rights of employees on privatisation of research council laboratories; and who bears these costs. [2468]

Mr. Ian Taylor: Privatisation does not increase the costs of the pension entitlements of research council employees, which are the responsibility of the relevant pension scheme. It may however result in the crystallisation of some existing staff pension liabilities, and these considerations will be taken into account in the relevant prior options reviews.

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what are the legal fees incurred so far by (a) Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, (b) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, (c) Medical Research Council, (d) Natural Environment Research Council and (e) Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council in the course of the prior options review of their laboratories; if these costs are borne out of current budgets; and what assessment he has made of the effect of meeting such charges on the funding of research by the research councils. [2467]

Mr. Taylor: BBSRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC and PPARC have so far incurred no legal fees in the course of the prior options reviews of the research establishments they sponsor.

Following my announcement in April that the Government accepted the conclusions and recommendations of the prior options review of the Royal Observatories, PPARC has incurred legal fees amounting to £270,000 in taking forward implementation of the recommendations.

Such charges form part of the normal administrative expenditure of the research councils, and therefore feed into the councils' established planning systems.

Chernobyl

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade, pursuant to his letters of 12 June and 27 September on the European Union funded report on options for dealing with the sarcophagus at Chernobyl, what action is being taken. [1004]

Mr. Page: Results of the European Union funded study are expected shortly. Action will be decided in the light of discussions of the study's findings with the Ukrainian Government.

Nuclear Fuel

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what arrangements have been made to ensure that contracts signed with British Nuclear Fuels plc by foreign customers for the production of mixed oxide--MOX--nuclear fuel at the Sellafield MOX plant include a stipulation that plutonium contaminated wastes arising from the MOX manufacture are returned to the country of origin of the external contract for the fuel. [2140]

Mr. Page [holding answer 4 November 1996]: BNFL has confirmed that there will be no additional quantity of plutonium remaining in the UK as a result of contracts with foreign customers for the production of MOX nuclear fuel at the Sellafield MOX plant.

5 Nov 1996 : Column: 447

"The Social Chapter: British and Continental

Approaches"

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many copies of his Department's publication, "The social chapter: British and Continental Approaches", have been printed; what was the cost (a) per copy and (b) in total; and how many requests his Department has received for copies. [1232]

Mr. John M. Taylor [holding answer 4 November 1996]: A total of 40,000 copies of the booklet have been printed. The printing cost per copy was approximately 32p, and the total printing cost £12,840. The total costs including design, storage and distribution is approximately £17,000. The text was prepared internally and it is not possible to quantify the staff costs involved. In addition to the original distribution of approximately 18,500 booklets, my Department has to date-- 30 October--received a further 244 requests for more than 6,000 booklets.

A smaller number of copies are being prepared in French, German, Italian and Spanish for distribution in other EU member states. The estimated cost of these booklets is £6,500.

Public Relations

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much his Department spent on (a) advertising, (b) public relations and (c) entertainment in each of the last five financial years. [1261]

Mr. John M. Taylor [holding answer 4 November 1996]: Total departmental spend on advertising is not held centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost. The advertising expenditure from centrally managed budgets for the years in question is as follows:

1991-92: £966,000
1992-93: £1,139,000
1993-94: £784,000
1994-95: £561,000
1995-96: £1,088,000.

While DTI has no expenditure on public relations from centrally managed budgets, its information directorate is responsible for providing information about my Department's policies and activities to businesses, the public and the media. It does this through a wide range of communications means including news releases, answering inquiries from the media, publicity campaigns, briefings, exhibitions and publications.

For the expenditure on official hospitality I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Newport, West (Mr. Flynn) on 16 October 1996, Official Report, columns 955-56.

Female Staff

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many women are currently employed by his Department; and what proportion this is of the total. [1244]

Mr. John M. Taylor [holding answer 4 November 1996]: On 29 October the DTI, excluding its executive agencies, employed 2,665 female staff, which is 44 per cent. of the total of staff employed.

5 Nov 1996 : Column: 448

I have asked the chief executives of the DTI's executive agencies to respond directly to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your question about the employment of women in The Insolvency Service.

Number of permanent staff	Number of permanent female staff	Proportion of female staff to total staff
1,336	649	48.5 per cent.




Information source:

DTI PERMIS Computer Records

Date: October 1996.

Letter from J. C. Octon to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

In the absence of the Chief Executive I am replying for the Patent Office to your Parliamentary Question about the number of women currently employed by the Department of Trade and Industry. Below are the figures for the Patent Office:-
Total number of established staff as at 1 October 1996: 725
Number of women employed: 284
Women as a percentage of employees: just over 39%

I hope this information is helpful.

Letter from Jim Norton to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November, 1996:

I have been asked to answer the question you raised on behalf of the Radiocommunications Agency.
Currently 116 women are employed in the Agency, representing 22 per cent. of employees.

Letter from John S. Holden to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

You recently tabled a Parliamentary Question for the President of the Board of Trade asking how many women are currently employed by his Department and what proportion this is of the total. I am responding as Chief Executive of Companies House Executive Agency.

Companies House currently employs a total of 1,056 staff, of which 679 (64.3%) are women.

Letter from Zelie Armstrong to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your question about the number of women employed and the proportion of the total. This agency employs 17 women. This represents 34% of the total number of staff employed.

Child Care

Mrs. Roche: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what proportion of the (a) women who are mothers and (b) men who are fathers who are employed by his Department have received assistance from the Department with child care. [1278]

Mr. John M. Taylor [holding answer 4 November 1996]: Although the civil service collects statistical information on staff employed in Government Departments and executive agencies, we do not collect information on the parental status of individual staff. It would be inappropriate for us to request this information from staff and difficult to justify the collection of such

5 Nov 1996 : Column: 449

data. The Department provides some assistance with child care, but is unable to monitor what proportion of staff who are parents have received such assistance.

I have asked the chief executive of the DTI's executive agencies to respond direct to the hon. Member.

Letter from John S. Holden to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

I have been asked to reply as Chief Executive of Companies House Executive Agency to your recently tabled Parliamentary Question for the President of the Board of Trade, asking about the provision of childcare assistance for mothers and fathers within DTI.
Companies House operates a holiday playscheme in Cardiff during the Easter and summer school holidays. During last Easter and this summer, 12 mothers and 5 fathers, and 27 mothers and 3 fathers, respectively, made use of this facility.
Companies House does not keep information on which members of staff are parents. It is therefore, not possible to provide you with the proportions of staff the above figures represent.

Letter from Zelie Armstrong to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your question about the number of women and men who are parents and receive help with childcare from this Agency. NWML contributes towards the management of a joint nursery at Teddington. The facility is available to all staff who wish to use it.

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your question about what proportion of women who are mothers and men who are fathers who are employed by The Insolvency Service have received any assistance from the Service with childcare.
The Insolvency Service does not collect statistics specifically showing the parental status of staff. This is personal information which would be supplied by members of staff on a voluntary basis and it would be difficult to justify the formal collection of such data. I am therefore unable to give an overall accurate assessment as requested.
The Service provides a facility whereby members of staff may apply for reimbursement of additional childcare costs incurred as a result of a temporary change to their working routine, or if they are attending Insolvency Service training courses. However such claims are not separately recorded. Staff who have domestic responsibilities involving childcare may also apply for periods of special leave without pay or for a career break--although this is not financial assistance.

Letter from Jim Norton to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

I have been asked to answer the question you raised on behalf of the Radiocommunications Agency.

The Radiocommunications Agency does not keep records of what proportion of the (a) women who are mothers and (b) men who are fathers.
Two members of staff took advantage of the DTI playscheme.

Letter from Paul Hartnack to Mrs. Barbara Roche, dated 5 November 1996:

I am replying for the Patent Office to your Parliamentary Question to the President of the Board of Trade about childcare.

I am unable to give you information about the proportion of staff who are parents since the Patent Office does not have this information readily available and could generate it only at disproportionate cost. The Patent Office is, however, sensitive to the needs of parents and has obtained access to a number of places in an on site nursery. We also operate a holiday play scheme during the Easter and summer periods. Both the nursery and play schemes

5 Nov 1996 : Column: 450

are subsidised by the Patent Office. The Patent Office is also sympathetic to requests for special leave without pay to allow parents to be with their children during school holidays and to requests for special leave with pay to meet short term domestic needs.
The figures on usage for the nursery and play schemes are detailed below for the last 3 years:

	Nursery		Playscheme
	Male	Female	Male		Female
	Number	Number	Number		Number
			Easter	Summer	Easter	Summer
1994	2	6	4	4	5	8
1995	2	8	3	4	4	6
1996	2	7	1	3	4	4




I hope this information is useful.

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