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Heavy Goods Vehicles (Testing)
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what discussions have taken place between his Department and the legal authorities in England, Wales and Scotland in relation to the prosecution of offences involving HGVs reported by the Vehicle Inspectorate; [6359]
- (2) if he will list for each of the last five financial years for (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland (i) how many HGV offences have been reported to the legal authorities, (ii) how many of these offences have been pursued and (iii) how many HGV inspections in total have taken place.[6360]
Mr. Bowis [holding answer 28 November 1996]: I have asked the chief executive of the Vehicle Inspectorate to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Ron Oliver to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 29 November 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your questions concerning:
29 Nov 1996 : Column: 420
1 What discussions have taken place between his Department and the legal authorities in England, Wales and Scotland in relation to the prosecution of offences involving HGVs reported by the Vehicle Inspectorate; and
2 The number of HGV offences reported to the legal authorities for each of the last 5 financial years for (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Scotland; (i) how many HGV offences have been reported to the legal authorities; (ii) how many of these offences have been pursued; and (iii) how many HGV inspections in total have taken place.
In England and Wales prosecutions are undertaken by the Vehicle Inspectorate's own Prosecution and Legal Services department. Therefore no discussions have taken place with legal authorities regarding HGV offences. In Scotland, offences are reported for prosecution to the Procurator Fiscal and discussions are underway between the Inspectorate and the Crown Agent in Scotland about cases referred to the Procurator Fiscal which are not pursued.
Details of HGV offences reported for prosecution for each of the last 3 financial years are shown on the attached table.
European Rocket Project
Mr. Dalyell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will report progress on the Ariane project; what representations he has received from (a) Professor David Southwood of Imperial college, London, and (b) Professor Stephen Schwartz and other plasma physicists at Queen Mary and Westfield colleges, London on this matter; what reply he sent; and if he will place copies of the correspondence in the Library. [6106]
Mr. Ian Taylor: Following the failure of Ariane 501, a second qualification flight is planned for April 1997. A third qualification flight, which might also carry a commercial payload, is planned for September 1997.
I have received letters from Professor Schwartz and, via the hon. Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell) from Professor Southwood about the Cluster mission. Copies of the correspondence have been placed in the Library of the House.
EU Working Time Directive
Sir Michael Grylls: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has received from business organisations in respect of the European Court of Justice's ruling on the working time directive. [5821]
Mr. John M. Taylor: My Department has received a wide range of representations about the working time directive. Many of these have been from employers or employer organisations concerned about the directive's potential implications for industry.
Ms Quin: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his Department's estimate of the number of employees who will receive new entitlements to paid holidays as a result of the introduction of the working time directive. [4690]
Mr. Taylor [holding answer 25 November 1996]: The number of employees who might receive the entitlements proposed in the directive would depend on the conditions of entitlement set by implementing measures.
Personal Insolvencies
Mr. William O'Brien: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many personal insolvencies was recorded over each of the past five years; and how many of these were recorded as being caused through the action of the Child Support Agency. [6239]
Mr. John. M. Taylor: The number of individual insolvencies in each of the last five years is shown in the table. Individual insolvencies include business insolvencies applying to individuals and are therefore not strictly personal insolvencies. Information on cause of insolvency is not available, but child support is not a provable debt in bankruptcy.
| 1991-95 | |
|---|---|
| Number | |
| 1991 | 25,640 |
| 1992 | 36,794 |
| 1993 | 36,703 |
| 1994 | 30,739 |
| 1995 | 26,319 |
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European Union (Employment Protection)
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what employment protection is available to British nationals working in other European Union states, with particular reference to Germany. [6145]
Mr. John M. Taylor: Employment protection arrangements in other European Union states are primarily a matter for the Governments of those states.
South Africa
Sir David Steel: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the current policy of Her Majesty's Government in respect of trade access for British companies in South Africa. [6398]
Mr. Lang: The Government support the conclusion of a trade agreement between the European Union and South Africa, which will open market access in both directions. To maximise the benefits for both parties, the agreement should aim at comprehensive product coverage in line with World Trade Organisation rules on free trade areas.
That was the position taken by the Government at the General Affairs Council on 25 March 1996 when the EU's negotiating position on a free trade area with South Africa was adopted. South Africa's formal response to the EU's offer of a free trade area is still awaited.
Internet
Rev. Martin Smyth: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what decisions were made at the recent meeting of the Telecommunications Council on practical measures to deal with illegal and harmful content on the Internet.[6328]
Mr. Ian Taylor: The UK's "Internet Watch" self-regulatory framework for dealing with illegal and harmful content on the Internet was well received at recent meetings of the Commission ad hoc working group on this subject. In its report to the EU Telecommunications Council, the working group advocated the establishment of self-regulatory frameworks along the lines of "Internet Watch" in all EU member states.
At its meeting on 28 November, the Telecommunications Council welcomed this report. It adopted conclusions inviting member states to encourage and facilitate self-regulatory systems, possibly including reporting hotlines, and encouraging the provision of Pics-enabled software, to assist in the establishment of rating and filtering system. The Council also called on the Commission to foster co-ordination of self-regulatory bodies at Community level.
This is a highly satisfactory outcome, which will enhance the effectiveness of the "Internet Watch" approach.
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Lady Olga Maitland:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement on the outcome of the EU Industry Council held in Brussels on 14 November. [7384]
Mr. Greg Knight:
The Council agreed a new steel aid code which meets main UK objectives, subject to UK parliamentary scrutiny. The negotiations secured a tightening of aid for partial closures and confirmation of the legal status of annex applying environment aid. The Commission gave a presentation of the sixth report on the control of aid to the steel industry.
The Council agreed the budget for a new multiannual programme for SMEs of 127 mecu. It agreed the text of a resolution on small and micro enterprises.
On state aids more generally, Council conclusions were adopted which were based on one section of the draft resolution. The conclusions recognised that the application of state aid rules requires continuous endeavours to increase legal certainty, predictability and consistency, noted the Commission's orientations regarding possible future proposals under article 94 regarding procedural rules and block exemptions in specified fields, and supported the early commencement of detailed work.
The main issues of the EC merger regulation, threshold reduction and treatment of multiple notifications were discussed. The presidency noted that no qualified majority existed for reducing thresholds. Most member states agreed on the need to solve the problems for business caused by multiple notification. They agreed that further work would be done at working group level.
The Council adopted conclusions on benchmarking, the competitiveness of the European automotive industry, an industrial competitiveness policy for the European chemical industry, and on the competitiveness of sub-contracting in the European textile and clothing industry.
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