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Export Licences
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers the Government have to revoke export licences; and if he will list the occasions on which licences have been revoked. [90694]
Dr. Howells: Powers to revoke export licences are contained in Regulation 3(2) of the Dual-Use and Related Goods (Export Control) Regulations 1996 and in Article 7(1) of the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1994.
Over the years, a large number of standard individual export licences have been revoked for a range of reasons; for instance, because of the introduction of UN trade sanctions or arms embargoes or in response to wrongdoing. It would entail disproportionate cost to provide details of all these licences.
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Details of licences revoked between 2 May and 31 December 1997 were set out in the annual report published on 25 March by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This information would also be included in future annual reports.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on progress with the Information Society Directive. [90398]
Dr. Howells:
The draft EC Directive on copyright and related rights in the Information Society is still under discussion in a Working Group of the Council of Ministers. The European Parliament gave its Opinion in February, and the European Commission have recently published their amended proposal which takes on board many of the Parliament's amendments. As the outgoing German Presidency reported at the Internal Market Council on 21 June, progress has been made on the Directive. However, the common position of the member states is not expected for some time owing to the complex and controversial nature of some of the proposals.
The electronic environment necessitates international harmonisation of copyright laws, and the Government therefore welcome the broad thrust of this Directive and wish to see it adopted as soon as possible. However, there are concerns about certain aspects of the Directive, including the treatment of temporary copies, the approach on exceptions to rights for a broad range of users, and provisions on technical measures. We are pressing in the Council for solutions on these issues which will allow a fair and reasonable balance to be maintained between the interests of all the key players.
Dr. Whitehead:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what evidence he has assessed of the existence of a preference system for property purchases linking estate agents, mortgages and the availability of purchase options to clients agreeing to take part. [90765]
Dr. Howells:
Discrimination against a prospective purchaser by an estate agent on the ground that the purchaser will not be, or is unlikely to be, accepting services is an undesirable practice under the Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991. I understand that the Office of Fair Trading is currently considering a number of complaints it has received on this issue.
Ms Kelly:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the number of employers, broken down by size of firm, who have been fined for paying less than the statutory minimum wage. [91166]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
No employers have been fined. The overwhelming majority of the non-complying employers discovered by the minimum wage inspectors have subsequently agreed to make good the underpayment, without the need for further action. But we expect a number of enforcement notices to be issued shortly against recalcitrant employers. If these are not complied with, they will be followed by financial penalty notices.
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Mr. Luff:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if it is his policy to make it a criminal offence after 1 January 2000 for butchers and greengrocers to sell loose goods using imperial measures; and if he will make a statement. [91076]
Dr. Howells:
The Weights and Measures Act 1985 prohibits the use, for trade, of units of measurement other than those defined and authorised by the Act. The Act was amended in 1994 to authorise metric units only for the sale of loose goods by weight after 31 December 1999. Imperial units are authorised after that date only as optional supplementary indications of quantity and price, alongside the mandatory primary indications in metric units.
Miss McIntosh:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with (a) British Aerospace and (b) his French counterpart concerning the potential sale or merger of the United Kingdom interest in Airbus. [91204]
Mr. Battle:
I have regular discussions with both industry and my European counterparts on the future structure of Airbus. All sides are committed to transforming the existing Airbus consortium into a single corporate entity working along fully commercial lines in order to maximise its competitiveness. The Government hopes this will happen in the near future. However, it is for the industrial partners to lead the process and to determine what steps are necessary. At a meeting of the Airbus Governments and industry at the Paris Airshow last month, Ministers asked the partner companies to report by the end of the Summer on their proposed way ahead in transforming Airbus.
Mr. Cox:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) men and (b) women have appealed to an industrial tribunal for unfair dismissal during the last 12 months. [90766]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
Between 1 July 1998 and 30 June 1999, the Employment Tribunals received a total of 35,017 applications for unfair dismissal. The gender breakdown was as follows:
Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of mail received in the last 12 months for which figures are available from right hon. and hon. Members was replied to by him within, (a) up to 20 days, (b) 21 to 30 days, (c) 31 to 40 days and (d) over 40 days. [90149]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 12 July 1999]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron) on 11 June 1999, Official Report, columns 403-06, which sets out
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departmental performance against the target set for answering correspondence from right hon. and hon. Members, in the 1998 calendar year.
The percentage of mail received in the last 12 months from right hon. and hon. Members which are replied to within the time scales specified could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Caton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to encourage the Royal Mail to increase the proportion of post transported by rail. [90752]
Mr. Ian McCartney
[holding answer 12 July 1999]: Decisions relating to the transport arrangement for mail are the operational responsibility of Royal Mail management whose business policy is continually to review its methods of transportation in order to improve service to customers.
I understand that Royal Mail are currently looking at a number of initiatives for transferring letter mails from road to rail and the first of these will be introduced between London and Glasgow at the end of August. In addition, a dedicated rail terminal at Bristol is scheduled for completion by Easter 2000, which will transfer an annual 250,000 kilometres of road journeys to rail.
Mr. Caton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage by volume of Royal Mail parcels and letters have been transferred from rail to road transport in the past five years. [90852]
Mr. Ian McCartney:
I understand from the Post Office that there has been no net movement of Royal Mail letter traffic from road transport to rail in the past five years. Over the period, conveyance of letter traffic by transport mode has remained constant at 70 per cent. road, 23 per cent. rail and 7 per cent.
Parcelforce have transferred 0.5 per cent. of national traffic from road to rail via the intermodal service introduced in June 1998.
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he plans to make an announcement on the proposed partial privatisation of BNFL. [91143]
Mr. Byers:
I am now in a position to make a statement about the future of BNFL.
On 11 November 1998, Official Report, column 222, my hon. Friend the Minister for Energy and Industry announced that KPMG were carrying out an initial review of the options for BNFL's future structure including, but not restricted to, some form of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
BNFL is pursuing an ambitious strategy designed to achieve global market leadership in nuclear business. Its objective should be to grow and flourish in a fast-growing global market by exploiting the benefits of its unique expertise in nuclear clean-up and decommissioning. The acquisition of Westinghouse and winning the opportunity to take part in two major nuclear waste clean-up contracts in the United States at the US Department of Energy's
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Hanford site in Washington and at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are an integral part of this strategy.
I have now considered KPMG's report and the subsequent work which my Department asked KPMG to undertake. The report states that the need for Government to approve these major transactions has thrown into sharp relief the difficulties which it can face in judging major commercial transactions of this nature. I agree with this analysis.
It is clear from KPMG's work that a public-private partnership, involving a partial transfer of BNFL to the private sector, possibly by a flotation of part of the equity of the company, would be the best way of injecting private sector expertise and entrepreneurial spirit, while holding to the Government's priorities of rigorous safety, health and environmental standards.
I have therefore decided that, in principle, a PPP would be good for the company, the employees, the taxpayer, and the wider community. Accordingly, I am asking my officials to tender for advisers to provide advice on a PPP for BNFL. Our current working assumption is that a PPP would involve BNFL as a whole. The KPMG report noted that there would be major operational and regulatory obstacles in separating the businesses and that such an approach would run counter to BNFL's vision as an integrated nuclear services provider. Existing legislation provides for the sale of up to 49 per cent. of the business.
Before a PPP is introduced into the business, I want to see BNFL achieve improved safety and environmental standards and I must be sure that the taxpayer will get proper value for money, reflecting the company's commercial performance.
I have therefore decided to take an innovative approach, which will set this PPP apart from the privatisations of the previous Administration, and which will focus on BNFL achieving improved safety and environmental standards, sustained and progressive improvement in its commercial performance, and a constructive partnership between management and workforce in developing the skills and capabilities of all those who work in the business. To this end, the Government will, together with the company, explore the scope for developing an employee partnership scheme, with the aim of ensuring that the employees share in the future success of the business, and that they are rewarded for their part in the progress the company makes towards achieving a successful PPP.
In considering my approach to this PPP, I have taken careful consideration of the recent work and advice of the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee and the Trade and Industry Committee about the lessons to be learned from past Government share offerings to enable the taxpayer to receive due value from the introduction of private capital, reflecting the company's performance and potential for future earnings.
I have therefore set BNFL a number of specific performance targets.
The targets relating to safety and the environment are being developed with the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agencies.
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Both BNFL and I attach great importance to the health of the company's workforce and to its safety. No less important is care for the environment and the need for BNFL to strive towards continuous improvement in this area with the aim of bringing work practices, culture and performance into line with world-class international standards.
The company will therefore build on its recent record in safety, health and environmental performance by aiming at continuous and measurable improvement in these areas against a new and challenging index, based on best practice and developed in consultation with the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agencies.
The new index will reinforce the efforts the company are making to achieve this sustained improvement in achievement in their record on safety, health and environmental protection.
The company, and all the trade unions representing the workforce, will build on their recent success in developing the concept of partnership. This has led to proposals for a new single contract which will enhance skill levels, introduce new competencies and create a flexible mobile workforce generating high value employment opportunities in the communities where BNFL operates. Under the existing Partnership Council involving union representatives, it is intended to monitor progress in implementing the new contract, including measuring targeted improvements in skill enhancement and productivity levels. The company and the unions are agreed that the introduction of a PPP into BNFL could help create a climate in which initiatives to improve productivity would be encouraged and which would underpin and enhance recent progress in establishing a partnership approach within the company. The company will also aim to achieve improvements in productivity as expressed in sales per unit of cost.
The company will seek to enhance its financial performance further through material and progressive growth in the profits generated from ordinary activities. It will also aim to increase the overall contribution made by its US business to BNFL profits, and increase towards 15 per cent. the proportion of BNFL profits derived from the US business. BNFL's progress in winning an increasing share of the US clean-up business will help contribute towards this goal.
In 1997 BNFL set itself the target of achieving cumulative reductions in controllable costs of 25 per cent. by March 2001. This remains the aim: thus far BNFL has achieved reductions in controllable costs of some 14 per cent.
The company has established a Liabilities Management Unit to reinforce the strategic management of its liabilities and will, without compromising safety and consistent with the regulatory framework within which it operates, seek to identify ways to manage them more efficiently and effectively through the development of new techniques, skills and strategies.
The company will also continue to sustain a Research and Technology capability which will contribute to the company's overall business performance and enable it to continue to meet high standards of safety and environmental protection.
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These targets reflect the company's commitment to high standards of safety, health and the environment; they focus on the key drivers of value in the business; and they acknowledge the importance of developing the skills of the workforce and of productivity gains. Each target is backed up by an understanding between my Department and the company of how it will be measured, the precise details of which must, for obvious reasons, remain commercially confidential. They form a balanced scorecard of stretching targets which provide BNFL--both management and the workforce--with the opportunity to demonstrate that the company can realise its full potential, in line with its "Beyond 2000" Strategy.
Male: 22,000
Female: 12,785
Not specified: 232.
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