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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Coal Miners (Public Safety)

Ms Walley: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what investigations have been undertaken by the Coal Authority in respect of the 18 ft hole reported to have opened up in Wednesbury on 15 January; and if he will make a statement. [14322]

Mr. Page: The Coal Authority is aware of what has been described as a mineshaft collapse on the site of a construction project on the Holyhead road, Wednesbury. It has not been asked to investigate the collapse, which they understand has been dealt with by a contractor acting on behalf of the black country development agency.

I have asked the Coal Authority to write to the hon. Member about this in greater detail.

Regional Assistance

Mr. Pearson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will list for each region the number and value of outline bids submitted for (a) sector challenge funds and (b) the local competitiveness challenge funds; and if he will list each region's budget allocation. [14227]

Mr. Page: The following tables show the number of bids received and funding sought at outline stage for both the local and sector challenge. While regional allocations have been drawn up for local challenge these are only indicative, as it is Ministers who take decisions on funding on challenge projects. No such indicative allocations apply under sector challenge as bids are expected to benefit the UK as a whole.

Local challenge

Government Office	Number of bids	Total funding sought £
East Midlands	53	8,558,648
Eastern Region	114	22,092,267
London	37	10,840,784
Merseyside	22	3,719,516
North East	41	10,468,490
North West	59	14,494,633
South East	61	10,737,867
South West	70	12,269,953
West Midlands	48	9,420,175
Yorkshire and Humberside	40	11,870,825

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Sector challenge

Region	Number of bids	Award sought £
East Midlands	36	6447,030
Eastern	45	6,761,218
London	209	42,041,930
Merseyside	1	100,000
North East	9	1,393,724
North West	22	3,644,330
Northern Ireland	7	1,623,230
Scotland	18	2,673,651
South East	87	13,988,461
South West	38	10,560,648
Wales	17	6,560,911
West Midlands	83	16,463,997
Yorkshire and Humberside	34	5,595,575

Fireworks

Mr. Pike: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what further consultation he proposes to conduct in relation to the use and control of fireworks; what is his timetable; and if he will make a statement. [14415]

Mr. John M. Taylor: I expect to make an announcement shortly of the conclusions arising from my review of the voluntary and statutory controls on fireworks. If it is considered appropriate to tighten the existing statutory controls, a public consultation on specific proposals will be undertaken.

Non-fossil Fuel Obligation

Mr. John Greenway: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what progress has been made in the competition for contracts to supply electricity generated by renewable sources of energy under the fourth renewables non-fossil fuel obligation order, NFFO4; and if he will make a statement. [15118]

Mr. Page: I have today laid before Parliament an order requiring the regional electricity companies in England and Wales to make arrangements to secure 843 MW of new electricity generating capacity from a range of renewable energy sources. This is the fourth and largest renewables order under the non-fossil fuel obligation arrangements and covers the period 1 May 1997 to 30 December 2016.

Responses by bidders to the tender invitation were very impressive. The industry has achieved an average price for these projects of 3.46p per kilowatt hour, almost one penny better than the 4.35p achieved in NFFO3. Real convergence with market prices is clearly now within reach and our strategy of stimulating a competitive renewables market is working well. This has allowed me to do more and set an order which is larger than I envisaged when announcing NFFO4 in November 1995.

I now expect the RECs to meet their obligations arising from this NFFO4 order by signing contracts, through their agent the Non-Fossil Purchasing Agency Ltd., for 195 projects, details of which are tabulated.

Summary of fourth renewables order (NFFO4)

Technology	Contracted capacity for NFFO4	Number of projects	Lowest contracted price	Capacity weighted average price	Highest contracted price
	MW DNC		p/kWh	p/kWh	p/kWh
Landfill Gas	173.7	70	2.8	3.01	3.2
Waste-Fired Combined Heat and Power	115.3	10	2.79	3.23	3.4
Waste-Fired Fluidised Bed Combustion	126.0	6	2.66	2.75	2.8
Small Scale Hydro Electricity	13.3	31	3.8	4.25	4.4
Wind Energy larger than 0.768 MW DNC	330.4	48	3.11	3.53	3.8
Wind Energy 0.768 MW DNC or less	10.4	17	4.09	4.57	4.95
Anaerobic Digestion of Agricultural Wastes	6.6	6	5.1	5.17	5.2
Biomass Gasification of Pyrolysis	67.4	7	5.49	5.51	5.79
Total	843.1	195	--	3.46	--

Note:

DNC is declared net capacity, the maximum power available, and takes into account the intermittent nature of wind energy.

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6 Feb 1997 : Column: 695

Successful generators will need to obtain planning permission for their projects if they have not already done so. Award of a NFFO contract does not confer any special privilege in the planning approval process which must be carried out in the normal way. I expect generators to develop their projects with care and sensitivity and so ensure the long-term prosperity of their industry.

NFFO has a very high international reputation as a process that works well in stimulating the renewables market for the most promising renewables and encouraging manufacturing industry. Over 428 MW of capacity is already operational under NFFO1, NFFO2 and NFFO3.

Our aim is to work towards 1,500 MW of new renewables-based generation capacity by 2000. This objective requires steady convergence under successive orders between the price paid under the NFFO and the market price, which is being achieved through effective competition in the allocation of NFFO contracts.

The Government took this into account in determining the size of the bands. In particular, they took into account the cost and quality of proposals received, and the assessment of the implications for the policy objective of helping the different renewable technologies to enter the commercial electricity generating market.

By having separate bands, we have ensured that the technologies involved have the opportunity of contributing to the capacity required under the order, to the extent that is appropriate to each particular technology.

Policy will be reviewed prior to the fifth order, NFFO5, in 1998 and will take into account progress under NFFO3 and this larger order, NFFO4. Over the next few years, I expect increasing numbers of renewable projects to be developed and be able to generate in the liberalised electricity market without needing support under the NFFO arrangements.

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This will illustrate the success of our strategy to develop renewables-based technologies which bring with them environmental benefits from using sustainable energy sources; help to secure diversity of energy supplies; and develop an internationally competitive industry.

I have made the order after consultation with the RECs and the Director General of Electricity Supply. His advice has been deposited in the Library of the House and was published by the Office of Electricity Regulation on 31 January 1997.

Directors' Emoluments

Mr. John Greenway: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what plans he has to amend the statutory disclosure requirements on directors' emoluments. [15119]

Mr. John M. Taylor: Following extensive consultation, I have today laid draft regulations before Parliament to amend the statutory disclosure requirements on directors' emoluments.

The main Greenbury recommendations, which were implemented in December 1995 when they were incorporated in the stock exchange listing rules, have done much to improve disclosure of directors' pay and to increase the accountability of directors to their shareholders. These draft regulations will bring the Companies Act into line with the Greenbury recommendations and will ensure that listed companies will not have to make two sets of disclosures to comply with the listing rules and Companies Act respectively.

In the case of unlisted companies, the new provisions will streamline present disclosure requirements.

Computer Crime

Mr. Derek Foster: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many cases of computer hacking, fraud and theft, including theft of computer chips, his Department has recorded in the last five years. [14561]

Mr. John M. Taylor: Central records of IT security incidents reported within my Department for the period in question show:

	1992-93	1993-94	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97
Hacking incidents (excluding minor instances of computer misuse)	0	2	1	0	0
Fraud	0	0	0	0	0
Theft (including theft of computer chips and components)	10	13	31	44	15

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None of the hacking incidents resulted in a successful attack. The figures include next step agencies only for years where they were covered by central records.

Mr. Foster: To ask the President of the Board of Trade on how many occasions in each of the past five years computer systems have been illegally accessed by computer hackers in his Department. [14560]

Mr. Taylor: Over the past five years, there have been no reported incidents where my Department's computer systems have been illegally accessed by computer hackers. There were three recorded unsuccessful hacking attempts, two of which were by attackers external to the Department. These figures include next steps agencies only for the years where they were covered by central records.

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