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Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons he was not able to provide a figure for expenditure on public opinion research in his answer to the hon. Member for Bath of 28 January 1999, Official Report, column 315; and for what reasons this did not apply to his answer to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) of 17 February 1998, Official Report, columns 567-69. [70669]
Mr. Byers [holding answer 11 February 1999]: Information on the cost of public opinion research is not separately identified. The list of surveys and cost given in the answer to the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) on 17 February 1998, Official Report, columns 567-69 included all surveys which involved an element of public opinion gathering but it is not possible separately to identify the costs of that element.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the expenditure incurred by his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on (a) the setting up and (b) the operation of web sites, indicating the cases in which the expenditure has been above that budgeted; and if he will list for each web site (i) the topics covered, (ii) the current average number of hits per month and (iii) the estimated expenditure on each web site for each of the next three years. [70965]
Mr. Byers [holding answer 15 February 1999]: Management of the web sites of my Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies, and Government Offices for the Regions is devolved to those with responsibility for particular areas. The costs associated with setting up and on-going operation of sites are not held or collected centrally and therefore the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The same is true both for future expenditure plans and for information on final costs versus initial budget estimates.
In terms of topics covered, the DTI site and associated sites now offer information on nearly every area of the Department's responsibilities and the central DTI site (those within the Web domain "www.dti.gov.uk") received an average of just over 3,000,000 hits per month over the last six months. Again, hits for all the sites for which my Department is responsible could be calculated only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 28 January 1999, Official Report, column 315, if he will list the expenditure not included in his answer incurred by (a) his
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agencies and non-departmental public bodies and (b) the Central Office of Information for relevant work carried out for his Department. [71018]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 15 February 1999]: Expenditure on direct mail and advertising incurred through the COI and not included in my previous answer was £26,000 and £1.14 million respectively.
Chief Executives of the Department's Executive Agencies have been asked to write to the hon. Member direct. Expenditure for non-departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 28 January 1999, Official Report, column 315, if he will list the expenditure not included in his answer incurred (a) by task forces and review bodies, (b) by focus groups, (c) on market research and (d) for publications and publicity; and if he will list the bodies which incurred the expenditure. [71019]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 15 February 1999]: Information on expenditure by task forces, review bodies and focus groups is not held centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Expenditure from DTI's centrally-managed budgets for publications and all other forms of publicity, except advertising and direct mail, since May 1997 has been £6.59 million.
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what restrictions apply to the sale of privatised research establishments to new owners. [69663]
Mr. Battle:
Because research establishments provide a wide range of outputs and services, Government considered the details of each potential sale on a case by case basis. Restrictions relating to the re-sale of privatised researched establishments will depend on the original terms of sale of each privatised research establishment.
Mr. Nigel Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment has been made of the potential impact on the natural environment around St. Kilda following the decision to grant a licence for oil exploration. [70990]
Mr. Battle:
The advice of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC, the Government's statutory advisers on environmental matters) was fully taken into consideration in the decision about which blocks should be offered for licence in the 17th Round of offshore petroleum licensing. In the light of the JNCC's advice, no blocks were offered for licence within 25 miles of St. Kilda. In the event, the nearest block for which a licence was awarded is 45 miles from the island.
Any deep drillings, as well as developments for the commercial extraction of oil or gas and the construction of pipelines, are also subject to project-specific consent under the Offshore Petroleum Production and Pipe-lines (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1998. These implement the Environmental Impact Assessment
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Directive (85/337/EEC) across the whole of the UK Continental Shelf. They require that before making any decision about the granting of consent for specific petroleum projects, the Secretary of State must consider the likely environmental impact of those projects. Under the Regulations, the JNCC and the relevant fisheries departments are consulted about all applications for consent and where they recommend that a full environmental statement be required, that statement must be made available to the public for their comments and the Secretary of State must take into consideration any comments when making his decision about consent for the relevant project.
Companies carrying out seismic surveys on the UK Continental Shelf are required to follow guidelines produced by the JNCC to reduce the possible impact of noise during surveys. Reports of cetaceans sighted during these surveys are published by the JNCC annually.
Mr. Livsey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will designate the Ystradgynlais area in Powys as having assisted area status under derogation 92/3c. [71323]
Mr. Wills:
No decisions have been taken on the review, but careful consideration will be given to the needs of all areas.
Mr. Paul Marsden:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on Government policy on the use of the Business Excellence Model in SMEs. [70150]
Mr. Wills:
The Government are supporting the use of the Business Excellence Model as a framework for businesses to adopt a systematic approach to business improvement. DTI is a founder member of the British Quality Foundation, which is responsible for developing and disseminating the model in the UK. DTI best practice materials have been developed around this model and also promote its use. Furthermore, the Department is encouraging Business Links to use the Business Excellence Model in their work with SMEs and it will also form part of the recently announced CBI/DTI "Fit for the Future" campaign.
Dan Norris:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects details to be announced of the scheme to enable corporate subscribers to opt out of receiving unsolicited direct marketing faxes. [71068]
Mr. Wills:
Under the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) (Direct Marketing) Regulations 1998, the Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL) is responsible for establishing a scheme to enable corporate subscribers to opt out from receiving unsolicited direct marketing faxes. The Director General
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of Telecommunications has issued invitations to tender to run the scheme, and expects to award a contract at the end of March. The successful tenderer will announce details of the scheme shortly thereafter.
Dan Norris:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to regulate unsolicited direct marketing telephone calls to private individuals. [71069]
Mr. Wills:
The Government have addressed this issue in the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) (Direct Marketing) Regulations 1998, which come into force on 1 May. The Regulations establish an "opt-out" scheme for individual subscribers (private individuals and sole traders in the UK, as well as partnerships in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) who do not wish to receive unsolicited direct marketing calls. The Office of Telecommunications (OFTEL) is responsible for establishing the opt-out scheme. The Director General of Telecommunications has issued invitations to tender to run the scheme, and expects to award a contract at the end of March.
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