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ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Public Interest Immunity

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Attorney-General, pursuant to his oral statement on 18 December, Official Report, columns 949-50, if he will indicate how the law relating to PII certificates in Great Britain will differ from that in Northern Ireland. [10821]

The Attorney-General: The law on public interest immunity has been developed by the courts in each of the jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. This will continue to be the case in both civil and criminal proceedings,

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including proceedings in coroners' courts. Practice differs as between the different jurisdictions but in all cases where public interest immunity is claimed, the final decision on disclosure is taken by the court, which will order documents to be disclosed where the public interest in the administration of justice in the proceedings requires it.

PRIME MINISTER

Engagements

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 14 January. [9230]

Sir Peter Tapsell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 14 January. [9228]

The Deputy Prime Minister: I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister is returning from an official visit to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Staff

Mr. Hain: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent staff there have been in (i) his Department and (ii) executive agencies of his Department in each year since 1992. [9631]

Mr. John M. Taylor: Details of the numbers of permanent and casual staff employed by the Department and its agencies are available from the staff numbers table, pages 120 and 121, of the Department's expenditure plans report, Cm 3205, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. The staff numbers for the Insolvency Service executive agency are not shown separately in the report but are included with the numbers for the gross control area of the Department.

The information for the Insolvency Service is as follows:

Year	CS FTEs	Casuals
1990-91	1,439	25
1991-92	1,509	79
1992-93	1,551	160
1993-94	1,614	229
1994-95	1,573	289
1995-96	1,413	176

Mid-Kent Water

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he expects to make a decision on the proposed takeover of Mid Kent Water by General Utilities and SAUR Water Services. [9952]

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Mr. Harvey: To ask the President of the Board of Trade when he plans to make a decision on the takeover proposal for Mid Kent Water by General Utilities and SAUR Water Services. [10344]

Mr. John M. Taylor: My right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade is currently considering the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's report. It will be published as quickly as practicable.

Child Labour

Mr. Parry: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will make a statement about the recent meeting of the World Trade Organisation with particular reference to child labour. [10302]

Mr. Nelson: The recent World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Singapore agreed that the International Labour Organisation was the competent body set up to deal with internationally recognised core labour standards, including those related to child labour. Ministers agreed that economic growth and development fostered by trade and further trade liberalisation contributed to the promotion of these standards.

Research Councils (Equal Initiative)

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the impact of the equal initiative on the overall research council budgets. [9888]

Mr. Ian Taylor [holding answer 13 January 1997]: The equal initiative has had no impact on the overall Research Council budgets, but it is influencing councils' prioritisation. Government funding for research is to support excellence and to refocus and reorientate effort into areas relevant to the well-being of the nation in order to get the best value for every pound invested. Foresight is an important input into the councils' priority setting and equal is an excellent example of Foresight in action. Examples of projects supported that are relevant to equal include: research into ways of detecting and preventing Alzheimer's disease, the influence of diet on health, medical engineering, robotics, and research into the design and utility of technologies for maintaining personal independence.

Mr. Ingram: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will place in the Library copies of the instructions from the Office of Science and Technology to the research councils on the implementation of the equal initiative. [9887]

Mr. Taylor [holding answer 13 January 1996]: No specific instructions have been issued to the research councils on the implementation of the equal initiative. However, equal is an integration of a very large number of individual priorities identified by the technology foresight sector panels. Research councils already support a number of activities relevant to the equal initiative and we are in the process of developing a more well-defined research agenda involving the research councils, other Government Departments, charities and industry. I addressed a seminar on 25 November 1996 which contributed to refining this process.

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Energy Consumption

Mr. Meacher: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how much energy was consumed in generating each unit of gross domestic product, on a standard basis, in 1980, 1990 and 1996 in (a) the UK, (b) Germany, (c) France, (d) Italy, (e) the United States of America, (f) Japan and (g) Sweden. [10759]

Mr. Page [holding answer 13 January 1997]: The available figures for total primary energy supply per unit of gross domestic product are as follows:

Total primary energy supply/gross domestic product(1) (tonnes oil equivalent/thousand 1990 US dollars)

	1980	1990	1995
UK	0.27	0.22	0.21
Germany	0.27	0.22	0.19
France	0.20	0.19	0.19
Italy	0.16	0.14	0.14
USA	0.43	0.35	0.33
Japan	0.18	0.15	0.16
Sweden	0.22	0.21	0.22

(1) Source: International Energy Agency.

Consultants

Mr. Milburn: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list the actions his Department has taken on each of the recommendations contained in the Cabinet Office report "The Government's Use of External Consultants". [10183]

Mr. John M. Taylor [holding answer 13 January 1997]: My Department has implemented 28 of the 34 recommendations in the Cabinet Office report, "The Government's Use of External Consultants".

Recommendations 14 and 15 were rejected on the grounds that business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises would be reduced.

It was not possible to implement recommendation 10, 21 and 34 due to a decision to replace the proposed national consultancy database with regional lists serving the needs of local industry.

Action on recommendation 19 was for the Treasury.

I have asked the chief executives of the Patent Office and the Radiocommunications Agency to reply separately to the question, as they have produced independent action plans.

Letter from Jim Norton to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 14 January 1997:

I am writing to you in response to your Parliamentary Question to the President of the Board of Trade about actions taken on the recommendations contained in the Cabinet Office report. The Government's Use of External Consultants. This letter relates to the action taken by the Radiocommunications Agency.

The Agency has implemented most of the recommendations of this report (where they were not already part of RA policy) in line with its policy of shadowing DTI policy on procurement, including the use of consultants. Two recommendations were rejected, numbers 14 and 15, which related to limiting the numbers of firms invited to tender, on the grounds that these would reduce effective competition, possibly excluding small and medium enterprises, and introducing excessive bureaucratic procedures. In addition a number of the action points stemming from the recommendations were for Treasury or DTI to take forward.

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Letter from P. R. S. Hartnack to Mr. Alan Milburn, dated 14 January 1997:

I am replying for the Patent Office to your Parliamentary Question to the President of the Board of Trade about the Cabinet Office's recommendations on the use of consultants.

The Patent Office reconsidered its approach to the use of external consultants in response to the Cabinet Office report. It found that in practice it already followed the recommendations either through its close observation of the guidance in the Department of Trade and Industry Procurement Manual or through the mechanisms it had in place for the preparation of its Corporate Plan and Estimates. To reinforce the message of the Report the main recommendations were incorporated in a statement of the Patent Office's strategic approach to the use of external consultants which was circulated to senior managers across the Office. The Patent Office has its own Procurement Section which is staffed by trained officers and which oversees and advises on all procurement activities including the use of external consultants.

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