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Redundancy Claims
Liz Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures he is taking to improve the efficiency of the Redundancy Pay Services Department offices in processing redundancy claims. [64519]
Mr. Ian McCartney: The Redundancy Payments Service has considerably simplified the process of handling claims with a new computer system. This has enabled claims to be sent direct to the Service rather than through insolvency practitioners, cutting out delays and also saving about £1 million a year in administrative expenditure, while allowing for a small increase in the number of staff handling claims. It has also enabled claims for different types of payment to be combined, which were previously made separately. Improvements to the new system are still being made in the light of subsequent operational experience. An officer has also been nominated in each office to ensure that complaints from customers are addressed quickly and any necessary lessons learned. Their direct telephone numbers will be published in the Service's Charter leaflet in the New Year and issued with every redundancy claim form.
Heat and Power Plants
Mr. Boswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on his policy on the sanctioning of combined heat and power plants, with particular reference to distributed heating schemes. [64108]
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Mr. Battle
[holding answer 15 December 1998]: I refer the hon. Member to paragraphs 10.42 to 10.51 of the Energy White Paper, "Conclusions of the Review of Energy Sources for Power Generation and Government response to fourth and fifth Reports of the Trade and Industry Committee". Decisions since the White Paper have demonstrated our positive commitment to combined heat and power:
Grangemouth CHP announced 30 October
Shotton and Castleford CHPs announced 3 December.
Export Missions
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what criteria he adopts in (a) selecting and (b) carrying out or aborting export missions. [62401]
Mr. Mandelson [holding answer 7 December 1998]: Export missions are selected on the basis of furthering my Department's objectives.
They are aborted only as a result of unforeseen circumstances such as unexpected Parliamentary business.
Science Spending
Mrs. Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the relationship between science spending and industrial productivity. [60971]
Mr. Battle [holding answer 3 December 1998]: Investment in scientific research is essential to increasing industrial productivity: that is why we have secured an extra £1.4 billion for the Science Base. We must also harness better the assets of our excellent knowledge base and secure them for competitive advantage. The Competitiveness White Paper highlights this need to enhance exploitation of technology and knowledge as a key feature of a modern industrial policy.
Initiatives taken this year to enhance the exploitation of science and technology and so to encourage industrial productivity include:
a doubling of funding for the Teaching Company Scheme to promote the movement of people and knowledge between industry and the science base
an extension of the SMART scheme to stimulate business R&D in new products and processes
three new LINK programme this year, in response to priorities identified by Foresight and representing Government funding of up to £15 million.
the University Challenge Fund scheme, a competition set up by Government, the Wellcome Trust and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation offering £40 million to help universities set up seed funds to turn good research into good business.
Science Enterprise Challenge, a £25 million scheme to support up to 8 Institutes for Enterprise in universities and to introduce courses in enterprise in science and engineering curricula.
the new Higher Education Reach Out fund (HERO) providing £50 million over 3 years to ensure students acquire the skills that business needs, and to improve business access to universities' resources and services.
Utilities (Competition)
Dr. Cable:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the United Kingdom Government regard competition in United Kingdom utilities as fair when it
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involves competition between a British plc responsible to its shareholders and an overseas state owned company. [62193]
Dr. Howells:
The European Commission has exclusive competence as regards illegal state aids, including financial advantages which might be thought to arise from state-ownership. If the British Government had concerns in a particular case, they would make them known to the European Commission.
Any merger involving a state owned enterprise would be considered impartially on its merits by the relevant competition authorities.
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses were received by the deadline of 4 September to his invitation for comments on the Director General of Fair Trading's advice on the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Airlines. [64713]
Mr. Mandelson:
The Office of Fair Trading received forty one written representations following my invitation on 6 August for comments to be sent to them on the Director-General of Fair Trading's advice.
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reason he has delayed announcing a final decision on approval of the alliance between British Airways and American Airlines beyond the Autumn as announced in a Departmental press release of 8 July. [64714]
Mr. Mandelson:
No announcement has been delayed. I have not yet reached a final decision.
The press notice of 8 July made clear that the next steps in the process were public consultation on both the Commission's proposals and the remedies proposed by my predecessor. It also made clear that the alliance would need approval from the US competition authorities, and that there would need to be a new UK/US bilateral air services agreement before the alliance could come into effect.
I sought comments on the DGFT's interim advice to me, which was published on 6 August. The DGFT's advice stated that the Commission had not reached a firm view on the appropriate remedy in some areas, and that a number of important matters remained uncertain.
Meanwhile, progress has been slower than expected in the negotiations with the US towards a new air services agreement.
I have told BA, in reply to a letter dated 2 December which said that a final decision on the alliance should be deferred (at least until the position on open skies was clearer), that there were a number of issues on which more progress had to be made before I could reach a final decision.
Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the export to South Africa of British
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Aerospace Gripen fighters and Hawk aircraft and GKN Westland Maritime helicopters will be supported by export credit guarantees. [64498]
Mr. Mandelson:
ECGD has been approached with a view to providing finance support in respect of these prospective transactions and if ECGD were to provide any such support it would be subject to ECGD's procedures and continuing cover availability.
Ms Coffey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the Government proposes to replace the Fixed Rate Export Finance Scheme on its expiry on 31 December. [64786]
Mr. Mandelson:
Following a conference chaired by Lord Clinton-Davis on 24 June, ECGD, along with banks, exporters, and their representative associations have been working to identify possible ways to enhance the competitiveness of UK exporters and to improve the cost-effectiveness of ECGD interest rate support. In order to allow the outcome of these discussions to be taken into account in negotiating a successor scheme, and to ensure continuity of service to exporters and banks in the meantime, the Government have decided to extend the validity of the current Scheme for a further three months until 31 March 1999.
Ms Roseanna Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps are being taken to ensure that all nuclear installations worldwide are fully millennium-compliant; and what contingency plans are in place in the event of multiple nuclear emergencies overseas. [64453]
Mr. Battle:
Responsibility for ensuring safety at nuclear installations, and for dealing with any emergencies which might arise at those installations, rests with the state in which the installation is situated. At the international level, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and the Nuclear Energy Agency in Paris are acting as co-ordinators of millennium information for the nuclear sector worldwide, and have already held sessions on millennium preparedness, with further major workshops planned. Other nuclear organisations are contributing as appropriate.
In multilateral and bilateral contacts with overseas nuclear safety regulatory authorities, the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Executive--which for some years has been overseeing the preparations of the UK's nuclear installations for the millennium--has been encouraging other states to take appropriate action to address this issue. Mr. Laurence Williams, the UK's Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, presented a well received paper on millennium preparedness to the IAEA Senior Regulator's meeting in Vienna in September 1998. A copy of that paper will be placed in the Library of the House shortly.
Both the IAEA and European Union have established and tested international systems for the early notification of any overseas nuclear accident. The UK also has bilateral arrangements for the early notification of such accidents with a number of overseas governments. The Government's National Response Plan, co-ordinated by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the
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Regions, makes arrangements for the UK's response in dealing with any consequences of an overseas nuclear accident. The Plan draws on the RIMNET national radiation monitoring and nuclear emergency response system, which also provides the UK with a second independent line of defence, should for any reason the early notification systems fail. RIMNET also links into the Meteorological Office's predictions of the areas of the UK likely to be affected by any overseas accident.
Ms Roseanna Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to ensure that all UK nuclear installations are fully millennium-compliant; and what contingency plans are in place in the event of a millennium-related nuclear emergency. [64452]
Mr. Battle:
All UK nuclear operators have initiated major programmes of work to identify and address potential problems associated with the century date change issue. Those aspects of these programmes that address potential safety concerns are being monitored closely by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The HSE is satisfied with the actions being taken. If the HSE were not satisfied it would take robust enforcement action if it were appropriate, but if the licencees continue to make good progress in tackling the issue, the HSE anticipate this will not be necessary.
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