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European Structural Funds
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much funding has been received from European structural funds over the past five years by (a) each of the regions of England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland. [89188]
Mr. Wills: European structural funds allocations for the years 1994-98 are given in the table. They are for objectives 1, 2, and 5b in the United Kingdom. Allocations for the Community Initiatives and for the objectives 3, 4 and 5a are given separately because they are national programmes.
| Million euro | ||
|---|---|---|
| Allocations 1994-98: Objective 1, 2 and 5B--1998 prices | ||
| England: of which | ||
| East Midlands | 207 | |
| Eastern Region | 53 | |
| London | 143 | |
| North East | 594 | |
| North West(14) | 1,491 | |
| South East | 27 | |
| South West | 247 | |
| West Midlands | 651 | |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 580 | |
| England (total) | 3,993 | |
| Wales | 494 | |
| Scotland | 1,096 | |
| Northern Ireland | 1,049 | |
| Total UK | 6,632 | |
| National programmes: UK allocations--1994-99 | ||
| Objective 3 | 3,202 | |
| Objective 4 | 248 | |
| Objective 5a | 212 | |
| Community Initiatives | 1,513 | |
| Total National Programmes | 5,175 | |
(14) Includes Northern Uplands 5b SPD, which also covers areas of North East and Yorkshire and The Humber
Assisted Areas
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans the Government have to introduce operating aid to assist the viability of commercial and industrial concerns in Assisted Areas; and if he will make a statement. [89183]
Mr. Wills: I have no such plans. The Government will, however, continue to offer selective financial assistance to firms investing in the Assisted Areas and creating or safeguarding jobs.
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects to announce the Government's proposals for new regional selective assistance maps and regulations; and if he will take steps to expedite this matter. [89257]
Mr. Wills: The Government will announce their proposals for new Assisted Areas as soon as possible.
Bulgaria
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to promote trade with Bulgaria. [89302]
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Mr. Wilson:
My Department is actively involved in a number of initiatives to promote Bulgaria. Earlier this month the London Chamber of Commerce, supported by my Department, took 19 companies to Bulgaria. This was the largest ever trade mission to the market. Companies from the British Nuclear Industries Forum visited Bulgaria last week and my Department is also supporting the Department for the Environment's July mission of water sector companies. We will also be supporting the British stand at the annual Plovdiv Fair in September. Over the last year, we have assisted in strengthening bilateral trade and commercial relations by hosting visits to the UK by the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and the Bulgarian Minister for Trade and Tourism. I had a bilateral meeting in March with the Bulgarian Minister for Trade and Tourism, which was then followed by a well attended business seminar at which we both spoke.
Under the Export Promoter initiative, my Department currently employs a private sector secondee to assist with our efforts to promote trade and investment with Bulgaria.
Mr. Loughton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many firms in the UK have ceased trading since May 1997. [89315]
Dr. Howells
[holding answer 1 July 1999]: Companies House maintain statistics on the number of companies in liquidation and/or dissolution in England, Wales and Scotland. During the period from 5 May 1997 to 27 June 1999, 105,540 companies were reported as dissolved by means of the voluntary procedures contained in Section 652A of the Companies Act 1985 and 1989. 118,227 were dissolved other than by Section 652A and 38,554 were dissolved following liquidation, making a total of 262,321. As of 27 June 1999, 69,479 companies were in course of liquidation. (The corresponding figure for 4 May 1997 was 76,763.)
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which Minister in his Department plans to attend the Telecom '99 Conference to be held in Geneva from October 10 to 17. [89419]
Mr. Wills:
Telecom '99 is an international trade fair which serves primarily as an opportunity for industry to meet and do business. There are no plans for a DTI Minister to attend this year's event. Officials from the Department will be present to provide support for UK industry members.
Mr. Laurence Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers the trading standards officers have to regulate the provision of services; and if he will make a statement. [89661]
Dr. Howells:
Trading standards officers have powers to regulate the provision of services in a variety of sectors and transactions under existing consumer protection legislation. These cover services provided through retail outlets i.e. price marking legislation, legislation with respect to package travel etc. They are also responsible for monitoring the provision of services and transactions
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which may take place outside the retail environment--i.e. the Trade Descriptions Act, the provision of consumer credit, doorstep selling, time share schemes etc.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to his answer of 10 May 1999 to the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie), Official Report, column 34, on what dates special advisers from his Department visited the United States of America; which of his special advisers took part in this visit; and if he will list the meetings which these special advisers held with members and officials of the US Government during this visit, specifying the dates and locations of each meeting and the names of the US ministers and officials at each meeting. [88438]
Mr. Chris Smith:
From 21 to 25 January 1998, special adviser Mr. John Newbigin visited the USA. He held no meetings with US Ministers or officials, but did meet with my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge and Chryston (Mr. Clarke) and Steve Norris in Los Angeles. He also had meetings with John Calley, CEO of Sony Tristar, Bill Mechanic, CEO of 20th Century Fox, and senior executives at Paramount to discuss the emerging proposals from the Film Policy Review, in particular the idea of the All Industry Fund.
He also had meetings with Jack Valenti and most of the senior staff of the Motion Picture Association, also to discuss the Film Policy Review, and a meeting with Jeff Berg, the CEO of ICM who made his offer to help "sell" the film policy review to the US studios.
He had a presentation by Polygram of their activities in and plans for the US distribution market.
He had meetings with Paul Dimond, the UK Consul-General and with John Houlton to discuss the setting up of the LA Film Office. He attended a dinner at the Consulate to meet senior executives drawn from various sections of the US film industry.
Mr. Fearn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if governing bodies of sports currently with a unified Great Britain governing body will need to split into English, Scottish and Welsh bodies in order to have guaranteed eligibility for funding for the World Class Start and World Class Potential programmes from the English, Scottish and Welsh sports councils. [89141]
Mr. Banks:
The World Class Potential and World Class Start development programmes have been formulated by Sport England to support young athletes in England. Other home countries have developed their own Lottery Sports Funded talent development programmes. British or UK governing bodies will not need to separate into English, Welsh, or Scottish bodies in order to secure such development funding. They will need to identify the home country of each nominated athlete in order to direct a funding request to the relevant Sports Council.
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Mr. Fearn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what are the criteria set by the Government and the United Kingdom Sports Council for sports bodies to be included in the World Class Potential Programme; and on what basis basketball and hang-gliding are excluded. [89140]
Mr. Banks:
Both basketball and hang-gliding are eligible to apply for Lottery Sports funding from the World Class Potential Programme. However, as World Class Potential funds are limited it may not be possible to meet the demands from all eligible sports, and priority will be given on the basis of criteria established by Sport England as the statutory distributor of Lottery Funds for Sport.
I understand that Sport England's criteria include: the status of the primary competition; the likely degree of sporting success to be achieved within 10 years; and the significance to the public of both a particular sport and any likely competitive success.
Mr. Fearn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if the new financial directions for the allocation of Lottery funding will permit commercial organisations to obtain funds from the Lottery in order to fund non-commercial sporting activities; [89144]
Mr. Banks:
Commercial organisations and professional sporting bodies are eligible to receive Lottery funds provided the projects for which Lottery funding is sought are intended to promote the public good, and are not intended primarily for private gain.
(2) if, under the terms of the new financial directions for the allocation of Lottery funding, professional sporting bodies will be able to obtain funds for the non-professional side of their game. [89143]
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