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Written Answers to Questions
Thursday 11 March 1999
HOUSE OF COMMONS
Admission Charges
Mr. Tyler: To ask the President of the Council if she will ensure that no charges are imposed for admission to the Palace of Westminster which could affect British citizens without a debate and decision on the floor of the House. [75943]
Mrs. Beckett: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given by the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood), on behalf of the House of Commons Commission, on 3 February 1999, Official Report, column 625.
Contracts
Mr. Love: To ask the Chairman of the Finance and Services Committee what assessment is made of the industrial relations record of private contractors as part of the tendering process for contracts to provide services to the House; and if he will make a statement. [75443]
Dr. Moonie: No formal assessments are made of the industrial relations records of private contractors tendering for contracts to provide services to the House. The supplier appraisal process can, however, cover such matters as recruitment procedures to avoid discrimination, training policies, quality standards and good employment practices.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
River Tigris Dam
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the economic impact on British companies of the bidding process for dam construction on the River Tigris in Turkey. [74873]
Mr. Wilson [holding answer 8 March 1999]: The contract is the subject of continuing negotiations and, until these are complete, the actual values will not be known, but the company concerned expects that very substantial procurement of UK goods and services would take place as a result of the Ilisu hydro-electric project on the River Tigris in Turkey.
Internal Market Council
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish the Conclusions of the EU Presidency on Economic Reform which were debated at the EU Internal Market Council on 25 February. [75724]
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Mr. Wilson:
The Conclusions on Economic Reform agreed at the Internal Market Council of 25 February were published as part of a Council press release (document No. 6215/99), following the meeting. They are available on the Council's website at http://ue.eu.int/newsroom/
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish the Conclusions of the Internal Market Council on 25 February. [75725]
Mr. Wilson:
The Conclusions of the Internal Market Council of 25 February were published as part of a Council press release (document No. 6215/99), following the meeting. They are available on the Council's website at http://ue.eu.int/newsroom/
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish the conclusions of his Department's inquiry into the disappearance of weapons grade uranium in the 1960s from Dounreay; and if he will make a statement. [75942]
Mr. Battle:
I refer my hon. Friend to my reply of 28 January 1999, Official Report, column 315, to my hon. Friend the Member for Linlithgow (Mr. Dalyell).
Ms Kelly:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he is yet in a position to make his decision on AES Fifoots Point Ltd's application to extend the Fifoots Point coal-fired power station near Newport in South Wales. [76735]
Mr. Battle:
I have today granted consent under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 to AES Fifoots Point Ltd.'s application to construct a re-circulating cooling water system (the extension) at its existing power station at Fifoots Point. The decision has been taken in accordance with the policy set out in the White Paper entitled 'Conclusions of the Review of Energy Sources for Power Generation and Government response to fourth and fifth Reports of the Trade and Industry Committee' (Cm 4071).
The relevant planning authority, Newport County Borough Council, has not objected to the application.
Decisions on other applications under consideration will be announced in due course.
Copies of the Press Notice are being placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what discussions he has had with the regional electricity companies to encourage them to use more renewable energy; [75686]
Mr. Battle:
Orders placed under the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) arrangements require the Regional Electricity Companies (RECs) to contract collectively for specific amounts of renewable generation.
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As an illustration of the progress made to date, in calendar year 1997, NFFO projects supplied 2.63 Terra Watt hours (TWh) of electricity. In calendar year 1998, that rose to 3.29 TWh, an increase of 25 per cent.
In September last year I laid the fifth NFFO Order--NFFO-5--which followed immediately on from a consultation with the RECs. That Order is the largest to date, for a total of 261 projects with a total Declared Net Capacity (DNC) of 1177 Mega Watts (MW).
Mr. Page:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the total value of missile purchases other than Rapier which the USA has made from the United Kingdom in the past decade. [75018]
Mr. Spellar:
I have been asked to reply.
I wrote to the hon. Member about this matter on 8 March 1999, in reply to his earlier question on 2 March 1999, Official Report, columns 659-60, and a copy of my letter has been placed in the Library of the House.
Ms Moran:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what response she has made to the Fourth Report of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of session 1997-98 on the Prison Service in Northern Ireland. [76587]
Marjorie Mowlam:
A copy of my response has, by the Committee's leave, been placed in the Library.
Yvette Cooper:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the pilot projects instigated by his Department since 1 May 1997, indicating the area in which each pilot took, or is taking, place. [72633]
Mr. Mudie:
Since 1 May 1997 the Department has instigated a number of pilot projects, a list of which has been placed in the Library.
Mr. Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list for each (a) metropolitan district council, (b) shire district council, (c) unitary council, (d) shire county council and (e) London borough council the sums of money they will be required to pay towards the education standards fund in the 1999-2000 financial year. [74771]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The following table lists the allocations offered so far to each local education authority in England for the 1999-2000 Standards Fund programme, including the contribution to be made by each authority and by the Government if the allocations are accepted in full.
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The number of individual Standards Fund grants (previously Grants for Education Support and Training) fully funded by the Government has increased from two under Grants for Education Support and Training in 1996-97 to nine so far allocated under the Standards Fund for 1999-2000. The Government's contribution has increased from £163 million to £493 million over the same period.
(2) what target, in terms of the percentage of electricity provided through renewables, each of the regional electricity companies has set themselves; and what progress was made in achieving this in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [75687]
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