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Highway Works (Compensation)
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what discretion the Highways Agency has to compensate individual organisations for loss of trade as a result of highway works. [65270]
Ms Glenda Jackson: Where works have been properly carried out by a highway authority under a statutory power, there is no legal liability to compensate for loss of trade. Only in extraordinary circumstances would the Highways Agency consider a discretionary or ex-gratia payment. Where works are carried out on land which has been compulsorily purchased, there may, in certain circumstances, be compensation for injurious affection but not for loss of trade.
LORD CHANCELLOR'S DEPARTMENT
Legal Aid (Funding Code)
Jacqui Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Lord Chancellor's Department when the legal aid board will publish its consultation document on the proposed funding code. [66360]
Mr. Hoon: The consultation document, "The Funding Code--a new approach to funding civil cases", will be published tomorrow. Copies will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Consultees have until 30 April 1999 to respond.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Industrial Tribunal Claims
Mr. Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications to industrial tribunals in respect of pensions claims have been abandoned since 1994 because the claimant has died. [64233]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
The Employment Tribunals Service does not record the reasons why cases are withdrawn and cannot therefore provide any information on the number of pension claims that have been abandoned because the claimant has died.
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Mr. Pike:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received from the home shopping industry in relation to consumer credit agreements; and if he will make a statement. [65306]
Dr. Howells:
I have received a number of representations from the home shopping industry, both independently and in response to the question posed in a consultation paper the Department issued last year on whether the legislation should be changed to make unsigned consumer credit agreements for mail order sales enforceable.
I have carefully considered the evidence which all consultees representing many interests put to the Department. I have decided not to make unsigned agreements enforceable since I have been given clear evidence that some consumers are suffering detriment from the practices adopted by some mail order firms. In addition to signing nothing, some consumers are not receiving copies of mail order credit agreements. This leads to confusion about the debt owed and the terms and conditions on which the credit has been provided, which can also reflect unfairly on credit worthiness. I am concerned that some mail order companies may not be satisfying the requirements of the European Consumer Credit Directive and the Distance Selling Directive on giving written information to consumers.
Mr. Evans:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the consequences of the introduction of Social Chapter legislation for employment in the UK; and if he will make a statement. [64054]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Wilkinson) on 12 December 1997, Official Report, columns 725-26.
Mr. Alasdair Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what guidelines have been issued to the manufacturing and retail industries regarding the millennium bug; what steps have been taken to ensure that new products are millennium compliant and are labelled as such; and if he will make a statement. [65085]
Mr. Wills:
Information on the Millennium Bug and guidance on how to deal with it is available to businesses from Action 2000. My Department set up Action 2000 last year to lead the work on behalf of the Government in raising awareness of the private sector of the need to take action and to provide help to companies.
Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, goods sold by traders must among other things "correspond with description" as to fitness for purpose and satisfactory quality. The description of the goods includes any information given about them, by the seller directly or by any other means. Controls already exist to prevent new products being falsely described or labelled as millennium compliant. The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 makes it a criminal offence to apply false or misleading statements to products.
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Mr. Alasdair Morgan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what sums of money have been invested by the Government since May 1997 in (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom as a whole, into (i) the nuclear industry, (ii) the coal industry, (iii) the oil and gas industries and (iv) the renewable energy industry, in each case including funds for research and development. [65083]
Mr. Battle:
Most of my Department's programme expenditure is in support of national objectives, with expenditure not separately identified for Scotland. Exceptions are DRAWMOPS (decommissioning of nuclear facilities) and nuclear safeguards R&D (although the latter is spent in the UK, its objectives are to provide services for the International Atomic Energy Agency). Between May 1997 and December 1998, programme expenditure in the categories mentioned was as follows (in £ million, includes estimates for Q4 1998):
| Scotland | UK | |
|---|---|---|
| Nuclear | ||
| Fusion | -- | 23.78 |
| DRAWMOPS | 127.94 | 255.88 |
| Safeguards | 0.14 | 2.05 |
| Coal | ||
| Clean coal combustion(5) | -- | 4.42 |
| Oil and Gas | ||
| Offshore environmental programme | -- | 0.14 |
| Hydrocarbon Additional Recovery programme | -- | 5.30 |
| Renewables(6) | -- | 15.70 |
(5) Other clean coal technology related projects are being supported via the Foresight Challenge competition and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
(6) Support for renewables research via the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council was £4.04 million between May 1997 and December 1998.
HEALTH
Emissions (Mortality and Morbidity Rates)
Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the effect on mortality and morbidity rates which would result from annual reductions in emissions of (i) 425,000 tonnes of SO 2 , (ii) 137,000 tonnes of NOx, (iii) 14,000 tonnes of fine particulates and (iv) 6,000 tonnes of black smoke; and what evaluation he has made of the estimates of mortality and morbidity given in quantification of the effects of air pollution on health in the United Kingdom (Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants, 1998). [65334]
Ms Jowell:
A detailed estimate of the effects of air pollution on health was published in a Report issued last year by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), Quantification of the Effects of Air Pollution on Health in the United Kingdom. The Committee concluded that current levels of air pollution probably play an important role in bringing forward the deaths of at least between 12,000 and 24,000 vulnerable people each year and a similar number of hospital
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admissions, though it stressed that air pollution is likely to be one of a number of factors affecting the clinical condition of seriously ill people.
The review of the national air quality strategy, as announced by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 13 January 1999, Official Report, columns 214-15, re-examines the prospects for reducing emissions of eight pollutants covered by the Strategy and the effect that this would have on ambient levels of air pollution. This Department's Report, Economic Appraisal of the Health Effects of Air Pollution, also published yesterday in association with the review, contains an overview of the health effects of air pollution adding to that presented in the COMEAP Report.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research commissioned by his Department has been carried out into attention deficit disorder syndrome in the last three years. [64910]
Ms Jowell:
We fund health and medical research in a number of ways:
The Department funds research and development to support its work on policy development and evaluation in health and social care. The Department also manages the National Health Service research and development levy which is used to support research and development of relevance to the National Health Service in hospitals, general practice and other health care settings, and to fund the NHS research and development programme. In addition, the Medical Research Council--which receives most of its income via grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology in the Department of Trade and Industry--funds medical research as part of the Government's funding of the science and engineering base.
Details of projects directly funded by the Department or supported through the NHS research and development levy can be found on the National Research Register (NRR). This is available in most medical libraries and in the Library on CD Rom, and on the Internet: http://www.doh.gov.uk/nrr.htm. The NRR also contains many details of projects/trials funded by the MRC and other funders.
NHS Executive, South Thames have commissioned a project "Pathways to treatment in children at risk of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and hyperkinetic disorder" at Kings College Hospital.
The MRC supports a number of studies into the causes and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Current support is centred on cognitive and behavioural strategies carried out at the MRC Child Psychiatry Unit in London. There have also been some recent MRC funded genetics studies carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry and the University of Manchester.
The NRR indicates that other NHS trusts are undertaking research in the field.
Priorities for Departmental research and development support for the development of policy are determined through discussion with policy colleagues, the Departmental Research Committee and Ministers. In the NHS research and development programme, priorities
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take account of widespread consultation with those using, delivering and managing services, with a framework overseen by the Central Research and Development Committee for the NHS. In all cases, priorities for our budgets reflect analysis of the burden of disease, potential benefits, Government priorities and take account of the responsibilities and work of other funders.
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