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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Staff

Mr. Donohoe: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list for his Department (a) how many people in total are employed, (b) how many of the total number of staff are (i) male and (ii) female and (c) how many (I) men and (II) women are employed on a (1) full-time and (2) part-time basis. [9484]

Mr. John M. Taylor: The Department employs 6,095 staff in the headquarters area, of whom 3,377 are male and 2,718 are female; 3,337 male staff are full-time and 40 are part-time; 2,314 female staff are full-time and 404 are part-time.

Ministerial Leave

Mr. Ian McCartney: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many days of leave he plans to take during the Christmas adjournment; [9815]

Mr. Lang: I refer the hon. Member to the answer made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on Wednesday 18 December 1996, Official Report, column 699.

Public Bodies

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many (a) United Kingdom, (b) European and (c) international committees include employees of the Babraham Institute as representatives of United Kingdom interests; and how many of these employees are leading the United Kingdom team on their committee; [10112]

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Mr. Ian Taylor: The staff at these institutes are employed by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council--BBSRC. The prior options process is designed to ensure that the interests of the United Kingdom are best served by these institutes. In most cases, membership of committees in fact reflects the professional or personal qualifications of the individual concerned. Although there are a number of questions of definition, the institutes have provided information on committee membership which is summarised in the table.

Committee membership of staff at BBSRC institutes

(a) UK(b) Europe(c) International
Babraham2
Institute of Food Research51
Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research (IGER)111
Silsoe Research Institute (SRI)1529

IGER has indicated that a UK and an international committee is chaired by staff. SRI has indicated that three international committees are chaired by staff.

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Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many (a) United Kingdom, (b) European and (c) international committees include employees of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories as representatives of United Kingdom interests; and how many of these employees are leading the UK team on their committee. [10128]

Mr. Taylor: The prior options process is designed to ensure that the interests of the United Kingdom are best served by research establishments.

Employees of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are members of a very large and diverse range of UK, European and international bodies. The total number of such bodies is in excess of 400. This includes some 45 European bodies, and some 40 international bodies, on which members of the laboratories' staff represent UK interests. In about a quarter of these, the member of the laboratories' staff leads the UK team.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many (a) United Kingdom, (b) European and (c) international committees include employees of the British Geological Survey as representatives of United Kingdom interests; and how many of these employees are leading the United Kingdom team on their committee; [10100]

Mr. Taylor: The staff at the British Geological Survey are employed by the Natural Environment Research Council. The prior options process is designed to ensure that the interests of the United Kingdom are best served by these bodies. In most cases, membership in fact reflects the professional or personal qualifications of the individual. However, information on committee membership is set out in the attached table.

ChairMember(42)
United Kingdom77
European62
International1015

(42) Those holding senior positions.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the British Geological Survey; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10098]

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Mr. Taylor: Work on this and other similar reviews has principally involved staff in the Natural Environment Research Council. The NERC estimates the Council's expenditure on the reviews covering the three NERC establishments: the British Geological Survey, the Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology as £0.4 million, borne by the NERC allocation from the science budget. It is not possible to quantify the costs related to the work by staff elsewhere, for example in Government Departments.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what estimate he has made of the future costs of the prior options review of the Toxicology Unit; and from which budget these sums will be paid; [10027]

Mr. Taylor: The reviews of these units have been completed. Any implementation costs would depend on decisions which have not yet been taken.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what estimate he has made of the future costs of the prior options review of the Roslin Institute; and from which budget these sums will be paid; [10107]

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Mr. Taylor: The reviews of these institutes have been completed. Any implementation costs would depend on decisions which have not yet been taken.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Toxicology Unit; and from which budget these sums were paid; [10026]

Mr. Taylor: Work on all these reviews has principally involved existing staff in the Medical Research Council and several Government Departments. It is not possible to quantify the costs relating to individual reviews. However, the MRC considers that overall expenditure on readily identifiable specific costs were £65,000 broken down as follows:


The overall figure specifically excludes staff time at the MRC units concerned and clerical support at head office.

These sums are paid from the MRC allocation from the science budget.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories; and from which budget these sums were paid. [10126]

Mr. Taylor: The cost of two prior options reviews of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories was £36,000, excluding the cost of time spent by existing members of the laboratories' staff. The cost was met from the laboratories' running costs budget.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the future costs of the prior options review of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories; and from which budget these sums will be paid. [10127]

Mr. Taylor: The prior options reviews of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories have been completed and announced, and there are no future costs to be met.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many (a) United Kingdom, (b) European

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and (c) international committees are chaired by employees of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. [10129]

Mr. Taylor: The approximate numbers of committees chaired by employees of the Daresbury and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories are as follows:


Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how much has been spent to date on the prior options review of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory; and from which budget these sums were paid; [9998]

Mr. Taylor: The prior options review of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory was announced on 29 September 1995. It formed part of an interdepartmental review of the options for the future of all of Government laboratories. NWML's review was carried out by DTI staff. Costs cannot specifically be disaggregated but are estimated to have been less than £10,000. The conclusions of the review were that NWML should remain an agency. There are no costs associated with the implementation of the review's findings.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many (a) United Kingdom, (b) European and (c) international committees include employees of the Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences as representatives of United Kingdom interests; and how many of these employees are leading the United Kingdom team on their committee; [10096]

Mr. Taylor: The staff at the Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences are employed by the Natural Environment Research Council. The prior options process is designed to ensure that the interests of the United Kingdom are best served by these bodies. In most cases, membership in fact reflects the professional or personal qualifications of the individual. However, information on committee membership is set out in the attached table.

ChairMember
United Kingdom324
European314
International1044

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what estimate he has made of the future costs of the prior options review of the British Geological Survey; and from which budget these sums will be paid; [10099]

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Mr. Taylor: The reviews of the three NERC establishments the British Geological Survey, the Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology have been completed. Any implementation costs will depend on decisions which has not yet been taken.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many (a) United Kingdom, (b) European and (c) international committees include employees of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory as representatives of United Kingdom interests; and how many of these employees are leading the United Kingdom team on their committee; [10000]

Mr. Taylor: I have asked the chief executive of the NWML executive agency to reply directly to the hon. Member.

Letter from Seton Bennett to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 13 January 1997:


Letter from Mr.Seton Bennett to Mr. Adam Ingram, dated 13 January 1997:



    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 employees as members of committees.
    The details for those appointed by the UK Government are:
    (a) 12 UK committees;
    (b) 8 European committees; and
    (c) 7 international committees.


    A total of 10 employees are leading the UK teams on their respective European or international committees.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) how many (a) United Kingdom, (b) European and (c) international committees include employees of the Dunn Nutrition Unit as representatives of United Kingdom interests; and how many of these employees are leading the United Kingdom team on their committee; [10040]

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Mr. Taylor: The staff at these institutes are employed by the Medical Research Council. The prior options process is designed to ensure that the interests of the United Kingdom are best served by these institutes. In most cases, membership of committees in fact reflects the professional or personal qualifications of the individual concerned. Although there are a number of questions of definition, the institute has provided information on committee membership which is summarised in the table.

Committee membership of staff at MRC units

(a) UK(b) Europe(c) International
Reproductive Biology Unit210
Virology Unit000
Dunn Nutrition Unit210
Toxicology Unit900
Radiation and Genome Stability Unit(43)200
Mammalian Genetics Unit(43)000

None of these committees are chaired by staff.

(43) The Radiation and Genome Stability Unit and the Mammalian Genetics Unit were formed in a reorganisation of the former Radiobiology Unit.

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