| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
School and College Inspections
Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department and its agencies spent in each of the last three years on (a) school inspections and (b) further education inspections; and if he will make a statement. [7236]
5 Dec 1996 : Column: 752
Mr. Jonathan Evans: This is a matter for the Chief Inspector of Schools in Wales. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member, and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library of the House.
Maindy Road Rail Depot, Cardiff
Mr. Jon Owen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he plans to make a decision on the planning appeal submitted by Railtrack over Cardiff county council's order to remove an office block from Maindy road rail depot. [7679]
Mr. Gwilym Jones: My right hon. Friend will issue his decisions on the appeal as soon as possible.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Child Labour
Mr. MacShane: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he proposes to make about child labour at the forthcoming World Trade Organisation conference in Singapore. [7010]
Mr. Nelson: I will strongly support calls to encourage the International Labour Organisation in its efforts to promote the elimination of exploitative child labour worldwide.
Mr. MacShane: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps he is taking to ensure that goods imported into the United Kingdom are not produced by child labour. [7182]
Mr. Nelson: The Government are as strongly opposed to the exploitation of child labour as anyone, but we believe that import restrictions and other trade measures are not the way to deal with social issues.
Mr. MacShane: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what representations he has made to European Union member states about European Union policy on child labour at the World Trade Organisation interministerial conference in Singapore. [7008]
Mr. Nelson: We have made it clear to our European partners that we do not support the inclusion of trade and labour standards in the work programme of the World Trade Organisation or the establishment of a WTO working party on the issue, and the Council of Ministers has agreed to promote the primacy of the International Labour Organisation in this area.
Publicity
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what promotional and public information campaigns his Department is (a) currently running and (b) planning to run during the next six months; and for each campaign (i) how much it will cost, (1) in total and (2) to his Department, (ii) what agencies or bodies are undertaking the work and (iii) what is its planned duration. [7405]
Mr. John M. Taylor: For the purpose of this question, promotional and publicity campaigns are defined as being multi-media campaigns containing above-the-line advertising.
5 Dec 1996 : Column: 753
| Cost | Agencies/Bodies undertaking the work | Planned duration |
|---|---|---|
| (a) Currently running Biotechnology Means Business | ||
| (1) £1,400,000 (over 3 years) | Cogent (via COI) | 3 years (1995-98) |
| (2) as above | De Facto (marketing) | -- |
| Languages for Export(7) | ||
| (1) £100,000 | Leo Burnett (via COI) | ongoing |
| (2) as above | -- | -- |
| (b) Planned Queens Awards 1998(7) | ||
| (1) £315,000 | Leo Burnett (via COI) | Six months from April 1997 |
| (2) as above | -- | -- |
| Employment Agency Standards | ||
| (1) £25,000 | tbd | tbd |
| (2) as above | -- | -- |
(7) Funded from centrally-managed budgets.
tbd--to be decided.
On business link, the Department is currently taking stock of its promotional effort, having just completed a third wave of business link advertising. No further plans have been confirmed although it is possible that a fourth wave might be considered.
In addition to campaigns, the Department undertakes publicity projects across a wide range of media to publicise particular programmes.
Mr. Donohoe:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much his Department has spent on promotional or public information campaigns in each of the last five years; and how much he estimates will be spent on these campaigns during the (i) current and (ii) next financial years. [7541]
Mr. Taylor:
Expenditure from centrally managed budgets for multimedia campaigns containing above-the-line advertising has been as follows:
Mr. Austin-Walker:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what assessment he has made of the possible impact of amendment 8 to the proposed EU pressure equipment directive upon companies employing an automatic process for the building of pressure vessels; [7729]
5 Dec 1996 : Column: 754
Mr. Ian Taylor:
The proposed EU pressure equipment directive is one of a series creating a free market in products. In negotiations on the directive, the Government have been seeking to maintain health and safety, while ensuring that the requirements are no more onerous or complex for manufacturers than necessary. One important principle has been to provide manufacturers with as wide a choice of conformity assessment procedures as possible, including the use of properly assessed and monitored quality assurance systems.
The European Parliament's amendment No. 8 seeks to restrict the use of quality assurance by requiring additional, independent product inspection for equipment in the higher risk categories. The Government are not persuaded that the amendment has benefits for health and safety but consider that increases in costs are likely for a large number of manufacturers, including those employing automatic processes for the building of pressure vessels. The Council did not agree with the European Parliament's amendments and the proposal has been referred for conciliation. During conciliation the Council will seek to persuade the European Parliament that the conformity assessment provisions of the common position text are adequate as they stand and that this amendment should be withdrawn.
Mr. Hardy:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will prevent the (a) construction and (b) conversion of electricity generating stations for the use of petro-coke. [5584]
Mr. Page
[holding answer 25 November 1996]: Any power station proposal which requires consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 is considered on its individual merits against the background of a policy that, as a general rule, matters such as the need for a generating station, its capacity, choice of fuel used and type of plant are commercial matters for the applicant. Such proposals must also satisfy the requirements of the Environment Agency. It would not be appropriate for me to prejudge what decision will be taken on a particular application.
Mr. Maclennan:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what steps the Government are taking to ensure that members of the public will be able to purchase a single set-top box capable of delivering all digital television services. [6576]
Mr. Ian Taylor
[holding answer 28 November 1996]: Regulations which came into force on 23 August ensure that the provision of a common interface cannot be excluded from digital set-top boxes and that conditional access providers cannot favour boxes which exclude such an interface. A common interface allows connection of alternative conditional access modules and other elements of the digital decoder such as tuners for other delivery means, thus allowing extension to all digital services.
5 Dec 1996 : Column: 755
However, as was made clear during the passage of the Broadcasting Act 1990, the Government do not consider it appropriate to mandate a common interface, a common set-top box, or provision for consumers to add additional tuner modules for cable, terrestrial or satellite to a digital set-top box. Indeed, the terms of the directive through which conditional access regulation is being implemented, and the single market regulations, do not allow the Government to mandate any such technical features. The Italian Government recently attempted to mandate technical specifications including a common interface but have been stopped by intervention from the European Commission under single market rules.
Mr. Tony Banks:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what support he is providing for microsystem research in the United Kingdom in the current year. [7284]
Mr. Ian Taylor
[holding answer 3 December 1996]: Research support for microsystems in the current year is provided from several sources.
The Government contribute to the EU framework programme for information technologies, Esprit, which has so far committed 13.5 million ecu on microsystems projects, in half of which UK companies and academia are participating.
The Engineering and Physical Science Research Council's programmes for nanotechnology have a projected spend of £1.2 million in 1996-97 for academic research, supported by industry. Projects have also been funded under EPSRC's mechanical engineering programmes, which have a projected spend of £9.1 million in 1996-97.
The Department's nanotechnology programme has a projected spend of £2.5 million in 1996-97 for industrial support.
Mr. Banks:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of the financial support for microsystem research provided by European Union Governments. [7283]
Mr. Taylor
[holding answer 3 December 1996]: Microsystems are specifically included in the European Union's current fourth framework programme for information technology. I have made no assessment of the support provided by individual member states.
Comparable figures for this year and next are not yet available.
1991-92: £3,916,000
1992-93: £4,997,000
1993-94: £3,902,000
1994-95: £4,570,000
1995-96: £4,636,000.
(2) what representations he has received regarding the proposed EU pressure equipment directive; and if he will make a statement. [7728]
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |