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Auditors
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on the auditors' duties in respect of reporting money laundering to the regulatory authorities. [31055]
Mr. Ian McCartney: Auditors are subject to the statutory duty in the Criminal Justice Act 1993 which requires all persons to report to the appropriate authorities any suspicions of money laundering related to drug trafficking or terrorist activity, gained in the course of their work. Further requirements on auditors in particular to report other instances of money laundering are applied through the guidance issued by the Auditing Practices Board (APB).
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will provide for a duty of care incumbent on auditors by audit regulations. [31199]
Mr. Ian McCartney: I have no statutory powers to impose on auditors a substantive duty of care to any person, or to modify the duties of care currently owed by auditors under the common law.
Regulatory Reform
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what proposals she has for regulatory reform following the publication of the Guinness plc 1985 report. [31072]
Mr. Nigel Griffiths: There are no proposals following directly from the publication of the Guinness report. However, the information gathered by the inspectors and their interim report have made a valuable contribution to the ongoing consideration of the corporate and financial regulatory systems.
Inspectors' Reports
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will list those of her Department's inspectors' reports which (a) are complete but will not be published and (b) are finalised and are being considered for publication, together with the total cost and fees paid to each of the inspectors in respect of each report. [31056]
Mr. Nigel Griffiths: There has been no publicly announced appointment of inspectors under the Companies Act 1985 where their final report has been completed and not published.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Duncan: To ask the President of the Board of Trade how many people employed by (a) her Department and (b) the agencies for which his Department is responsible earn (i) less than £3.20 per hour, (ii) between £3.20 and £3.60 per hour, (iii) between £3.60 and £4 per hour and (iv) between £4 and £4.62 per hour. [30758]
Mr. Nigel Griffiths
[holding answer 23 February 1998]: No staff employed by the Department or its Agencies earn less than £3.60 per hour. Five staff employed by the Department and 135 staff employed by
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its Agencies earn between £3.60 and £4 per hour. Nine staff employed by the Department and 88 staff employed by its Agencies earn between £4 and £4.60 per hour.
Sir Richard Body:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is her Department's policy on the adoption of a multiannual action plan on promoting safe use of the Internet as set out in COM (97) 582. [31284]
Mrs. Roche:
The Government support the actions to be promoted by the action plan, whose approach builds on the UK's successful experience with the Internet Watch Foundation. The Government consider that international co-operation between national hotlines, and in the development of filtering systems, is crucial to the control of illegal and harmful content on the Internet.
Jacqui Smith:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what has been the outcome of the Eighth Landward Round of Oil and Gas Licensing. [31750]
Mr. Battle:
I am pleased to announce the award of 35 licences to 27 companies for onshore oil and gas exploration covering 120 blocks. Licensees will now need to obtain any necessary consents from local planning authorities, who will take account of any environmental concerns, and to agree access terms with landowners before carrying out on-site activities under these licences.
The round has attracted particularly strong interest from companies targeting the UK's gas reserves, including conventional natural gas and coal-related methane resources.
I would like to see coal bed methane reserves--gas trapped in coal seams--exploited wherever possible, particularly in coal which is unlikely to be mined but also from potentially recoverable coal where extracting the gas beforehand can enhance mine safety. I recently consented to the UK's second coal bed methane development, at Arns Farm in Fife, and I hope to see further projects brought forward for approval in coming years.
I am concerned that interest by companies in coal bed methane has been hindered by the present licensing system which was designed to manage conventional oil and gas exploration. So I have asked my officials to open consultation later this year on proposals for a new form of onshore licence designed to encourage the exploitation of both conventional coal bed methane and other forms of coal-related gas.
There would be environmental benefits from using the considerable quantities of gas from abandoned coalworkings which escapes to atmosphere, where it is seventeen times more potent as a greenhouse gas than the exhaust from burning it would be. Although unsuitable as feed to the national gas grid, this gas can be burned locally to generate electricity or to power industrial processes and is a resource which the Government are keen to see used.
All exploitation of coal-related gases is carried out in consultation with the Coal Authority and the operators of active mines in the vicinity. The safety of properties on the surface is also taken fully into account.
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The majority of all the awards announced today are in the East Midlands and south-east England, areas which both have previous oil and gas discoveries, including the recent oil find at Fiskerton Airfield near Lincoln, and a number of producing fields.
The awards cover 43 out of 50 applications received for licences--some of which competed for the same blocks. Seven applications still have issues outstanding but I have decided not to keep other applicants waiting and will make a further announcement when these issues have been resolved.
Mrs. Ewing:
To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will list the procedures available for member states to request a European Commission investigation into (a) the impact on business of the abolition of intra-EU duty free and (b) the levels of spirit duty in EU states; whether it is her policy to request such investigations; and if she will make a statement. [29457]
Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 17 February 1998]: I have been asked to reply.
A European Commission investigation into the impact of abolition of intra-EU duty free is likely only if requested by the Council of Finance Ministers. The Government's position is as set out by the Prime Minister in his reply on 18 December 1997, Official Report, column 265.
The European Commission is already required under the relevant directive to examine the rates of excise duty on alcohol and alcoholic beverages every two years, and report to Council. The current report is overdue.
Mr. Duncan:
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the occasions in the last 10 years on which the Prime Minister has travelled abroad to meet heads of state or government and been accompanied by (a) the Foreign Secretary, (b) the Home Secretary and (c) other Ministers. [27155]
The Prime Minister
[holding answer 3 February 1998]: Since 1 May 1997 I have travelled abroad to meet Heads of State or Government and been accompanied by Ministers on the following occasions:
For January 1996-May 1997 my predecessor's overseas travel arrangements were as follows:
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| Date | Location | Ministers accompanying |
|---|---|---|
| 29 March | Turin | Minister of State, FCO |
| 20-22 June | Florence | Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer |
| 27-29 June | Lyon | Chancellor of the Exchequer |
| 7-8 November | Toulouse and Bordeaux | Minister of State, FCO Return travel: Chancellor of the Exchequer, Secretary of State Defence, Secretary of State, Department of Transport |
| 12-14 December | Dublin | Chancellor of the Exchequer, Minister of State, FCO. |
Details of overseas visits prior to these are available only at disproportionate cost.
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