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Assisted Areas

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage of Wales currently has assisted area status; and if he will make a statement. [63935]

Mr. Hain: The map of the Assisted Areas established in 1993 covers approximately 74 per cent. of Wales's population.

Busway (Shotton Steelworks to Chester)

Mr. Barry Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he estimates that the former railway from

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Shotton Steelworks to Chester will be converted into a dedicated bus route; at what cost; and if he will make a statement. [63941]

Mr. Hain: I understand that Flintshire County Council are developing proposals to convert into a guided busway the disused railway line which runs from Chester into the Deeside Development Zone. The authority has bid for Transport Grant support for preliminary design work on the project, which has an estimated total cost of £7.5 million. I will shortly be announcing my decisions on Transport Grant support for 1999-2000, and I will be writing to my hon. Friend at that time.

Ethnic Monitoring

Mr. McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to include Irish as a category in his Department's ethnic monitoring of staff recruitment. [63877]

Mr. Michael: The overriding principle of Civil Service recruitments is that they should be fair, and selection should be on merit at each stage.

Monitoring in this area is based on ethnic origin, and not nationality. The nine ethnic minority origin categories monitored by my Department are based on those used in the 1991 census which did not include an Irish category. They will be reviewed in the light of any suggested changes for the 2001 Population Census.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what provision was made in the Local government settlement for Wales to enable local authorities to meet their obligations in terms of the implementation of the single status agreement for their employees. [64390]

Mr. Michael: The local government settlement for Wales is generous and allows local authorities a degree of flexibility to deal with issues that affect them. The single status deal was agreed directly between the unions and local authorities. The Government did not require it and I am therefore not providing specific funding for it through the local government revenue settlement.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Fairness at Work

Ms Rosie Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress he is making on the consultation on the Fairness at Work White Paper. [64242]

Mr. Mandelson: The White Paper on Fairness at Work was published in May and the consultation period ended in July. Since then, the Government have been developing the policies in the White Paper to form legislative proposals.

We remain fully committed to the principles in the White Paper, but have also listened closely to the concerns expressed in the consultation to develop sensible, balanced legislation that will represent a settlement for the whole Parliament and endure beyond.

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As the Competitiveness White Paper highlighted, a key feature of our top performing companies is a culture which promotes fairness and trust and creates the right conditions for business success. This Bill will promote in all UK companies the standards of the best modern employment relationships.

I intend to bring forward a Bill in the New Year. The Government are committed to action or have taken action on all 29 of the proposals in the White Paper.

I am depositing in the Library of the House copies of letters which I have written to the TUC and CBI which contain a detailed summary of our intentions for the Bill.

The following are the key points:

Trade union recognition will essentially follow the procedure within the White Paper. However, we intend to build in measures to ensure that the recognition procedure functions effectively and credibly. A revitalised Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) will have discretion in cases involving automatic recognition and the Secretary of State will also be able to issue guidance to the CAC. We also intend that employees campaigning for recognition should have protection from dismissal or action short of dismissal.

We intend to offer a real incentive to employers to put in place proper voluntary systems to avoid unfair dismissals. We will therefore be raising the limit for compensation for unfair dismissal from £12,000 to £50,000 and index linking that sum in the future.

The Bill will safeguard the fundamental right of employers and employees to reach individual contracts which differ from the terms of any collective agreement. However, we will protect employees from being forced into signing individual contracts where a collective agreement exists.

We will also provide protection for those engaged in lawfully organised official industrial action. It will be automatically unfair to dismiss employees for the first eight weeks of the action. Thereafter dismissal will be fair provided that the employer has taken all reasonable procedural steps to resolve the dispute.

As outlined in the White Paper we will be bringing forward a package of Family Friendly measures to ensure that as many people who want to work should have the chance to do so.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many written parliamentary questions on the Millennium Experience he has responded to since assuming responsibility for the New Millennium Experience Company; and in how many cases he has issued holding replies. [63321]

Mr. Mandelson [holding answer 10 December 1998]: From the records kept by my officials the best estimate is that I have answered 382 written parliamentary questions since assuming responsibility for the New Millennium Experience Company in July 1997. 68 of those answers received holding replies.

Millennium Exhibition

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what agreements exist between the New Millennium Experience Company and IMG in relation to IMG's work on attracting sponsors for the Millennium Exhibition. [62777]

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Mr. Mandelson [holding answer 7 December 1998]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope) on 14 December 1998, Official Report, column 363.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library a copy of the standard terms and conditions of sponsorship in respect of the New Millennium Experience Company. [62002]

Mr. Mandelson [holding answer 1 December 1998]: I have today placed copies of the New Millennium Experience Company's (NMEC) outline approach to official sponsors in the Library of the House. This paper sets out the NMEC's approach to the rights and benefits applicable to Official Sponsors of the Millennium Experience and provides the basis on which sponsorship discussions, leading to contractual arrangements are taken forward. Contractual documents between the NMEC and sponsors are commercially confidential.

Mr. Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of the building materials used at the Millennium Site for National Celebration has been transported to the site by river. [62039]

Mr. Mandelson: In the initial stages of the Dome's construction and site preparation, aggregates were delivered to the site by river. The New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) considers the use of the river for transportation of building materials at every opportunity, taking account of cost.

Parts of the new piers at the site are being manufactured in the Medway and will be brought up the Thames to be put in place.

Research Awards

Mr. Bennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list for each of the last five years the percentage of (a) money awarded as research grants and (b) actual grants to former polytechnics and colleges of higher education by each of the national research councils in relation to the total moneys allocated as research awards to higher education institutions. [63174]

Mr. Battle: The available data are shown in the following table:

	Expenditure on research grants to former polytechnics/colleges of higher education as % of total expenditure at higher education institutions	Number of research grants to former polytechnics/colleges of higher education as % of total grants awarded to higher education institutions
	Economic and social science research council
1993-94	(17)n/a	2.30
1994-95	4.00	3.40
1995-96	(17)n/a	10.20
1996-97	4.00	7.20
1997-98	4.90	7.70
	Particle physics and astronomy research council
1993-94	0.38	2.81
1994-95	0.63	1.56
1995-96	1.47	1.72
1996-97	0.48	2.06
1997-98	0.76	3.50
Medical research council
1993-94	(18)n/a	(18)n/a
1994-95	0.17	0.45
1995-96	0.35	0.27
1996-97	0.21	0.25
1997-98	0.08	n/a
	Biotechnology and biological sciences research council
1993-94	*n/a	*n/a
1994-95	0.92	0.80
1995-96	1.34	1.00
1996-97	1.42	1.10
1997-98	1.25	0.90
	Engineering and physical sciences research council
1993-94	(19)n/a	(19)n/a
1994-95	7.1	8.9
1995-96	4.4	6.2
1996-97	4.1	5.2
1997-98	3.9	5.0
	Natural environment research council
1993-94	0.72	2.80
1994-95	0.67	3.10
1995-96	0.37	2.90
1996-97	0.86	3.80
1997-98	0.81	3.30

(17) These figures are not available due to an error on the database which will be rectified when it is replaced in 1999.

(18) Figures prior to 1994-95 are not comparable due to changes in recording and indexation.

(19) EPSRC commenced operations on 1 April 1994.

* BBSRC commended operations in 1994.

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