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Enterprise Fund
Mr. Ron Davies: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his announcement of a new £50 million enterprise fund on 6 July, what provision is being made for Wales. [91420]
The Prime Minister [holding answer 15 July 1999]: On 6 July, I launched a consultation on proposals for support for the creation of Regional Venture Capital Funds in England. The proposed support will form one element of a package of measures to support small and medium enterprise finance. This package will be funded through the Department of Trade and Industry's Enterprise Fund, announced in the 1998 Competitiveness White Paper (Cm 4176).
The legal basis for the new support is Sections 7 and 8 of the Industrial Development Act 1982. The power to provide support is a concurrent power, that is, it is shared by the Secretary of State and the devolved
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administrations. Each administration therefore has the power to make similar assistance available to that proposed for England. Mechanisms to support venture capital in Wales are a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.
Other elements of the Enterprise Fund package of measures (including the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme) will be made available by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry across the United Kingdom, in consultation with the devolved administrations.
Company Director Disqualification
Mrs. Browning: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what changes he intends to make to (a) section 8 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and (b) section 83 of the Companies Act 1989. [90328]
Mr. Byers [holding answer 8 July 1999]: I have no specific intentions to amend section 8 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 but subject to available parliamentary time it would be my intention to introduce legislation to provide for a consent order regime.
I have no intention at present to seek to amend section 83 of the Companies Act 1989.
Data Series
Jackie Ballard: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what new data series separated by gender, race, disability and age have been commissioned by his Department since June 1997. [90827]
Mr. Byers: In early 1999, DTI conducted a survey of the caring and child care responsibilities of its headquarters staff. This survey separated respondents by gender.
In addition, since June 1997 data have been collected and analysed by gender, race and disability on recruitment, the operation of the Department's staff appraisal system and special bonus scheme, its system for deploying staff within the Department and on participation rates on in-house training courses.
Information collected for the Department's Equal Opportunities Annual Report, which includes the composition of the Department and application and success rates for progression/promotion, is separated by gender, race, disability and age.
A travel to work survey was carried out in July 1997 for Victoria street area HQ staff and is currently being carried out for some dispersed HQ staff. The data are separated by gender, disability and age.
This excludes the Department's Executive Agencies.
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Mr. Gibb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the statutory instruments introduced into Parliament by his Department in (a) 1997, (b) 1998 and (c) 1999 which gave effect to European Union legislation. [90745]
Mr. Byers:
This question cannot be answered without incurring disproportionate cost.
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what environmental targets he has set for the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils. [91010]
Mr. Battle:
The Secretary of State for Trade and Industry does not set environmental targets additional to those set by the Environment Agency. CCLRC conforms to limits for emissions set by the Environment Agency, and has reduced its annual spending on utilities.
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had this year with the European Commission about the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Airlines. [91218]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 13 July 1999]: Shortly after I took office I met Commissioner Van Miert and discussed a number of topics including the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Airlines. Since then I have not had any discussions with the European Commission about the proposed alliance.
Mr. Chope:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list each occasion since he took office when he has met (a) British Airways and (b) Virgin Atlantic to discuss the proposed British Airways alliance with American Airlines. [91221]
Mr. Byers
[holding answer 13 July 1999]: Since I took office I have met neither British Airways nor Virgin Atlantic to discuss the proposed British Airways alliance with American Airlines.
Mr. Bercow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what involvement his Department has had in the Ambassadors for British Business project. [91841]
Mr. Wilson:
The Ambassadors for British Business scheme was launched by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in November 1997 and was administered by the Joint Export Promotion Directorate, a joint FCO/DTI directorate in the Export Command of the DTI. It is now administered by the new unified DTI/FCO operation, British Trade International.
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Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans his Department has to monitor the movements of the imminent shipment of MOX fuel to Japan. [90200]
Mr. Battle:
As part of the security plan for the shipment of MOX to Japan, the UKAEAC control centre in the UK, which is manned 24 hours per day, will receive reports from the ships every hour, via secure communications, detailing the position of the ships.
Mr. Hepburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement about the arrangements for the provision of additional ECGD support to facilitate the completion of the Ungaren Klaten transmission lines and sub-stations contract between VA Tech Reyrole Projects and PLN of Indonesia. [92224]
Mr. Byers:
I have been advised by the Export Credits Guarantee Department's Accounting Officer that, in his view, the risks involved in giving medium and long-term export credit guarantees for exports to Indonesia under Section 1(1) of the Export and Investment Guarantees Act 1991 do not currently meet ECGD's normal underwriting criteria.
In view of the importance that we attach to our relations with Indonesia, I have instructed ECGD's Accounting Office to make arrangements to provide an additional US$1.1 million of support to enable VA Tech Reyrolle
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Projects to undertake the necessary additional work to allow previously supplied equipment to become fully operational.
Mr. Lock:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many inspectors were employed or engaged by the Vehicle Inspectorate in each of the last 10 years; and how many vehicles were inspected in each year. [90413]
Ms Glenda Jackson:
Information in a consistent form is available only for the last five years. Prior to that date the data are not available, or could be obtained only at disproportionate costs. The information for the period since 1993-94 is presented in the table.
The Vehicle Inspectorate employs testers to carry out statutory annual tests on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), passenger service vehicles (PSVs) and some light goods vehicles (LGVs). This is a demand-led activity. Vehicle examiners (VEs) carry out enforcement inspections on all types of vehicles to check their mechanical condition and traffic examiners (TEs) check compliance with traffic regulations including weighing and tachograph charts. The Inspectorate's performance measures have, during the period covered, increasingly encouraged examiners to target those vehicles which are considered most likely to be committing offences. This has increased the effectiveness of the checks in terms of road safety and environmental protection.
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| 1998-99 | 1997-98 | 1996-97 | 1995-96 | 1994-95 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of testers employed | 438 | 394 | 393 | 448 | (1)273 |
| Number of vehicles tested(2) | 988,491 | 970,775 | 968,426 | 959,727 | 981,298 |
| Number of voluntary tests(3) | 38,016 | 36,902 | 29,965 | (4)25,124 | 10,224 |
| Number of vehicle examiners employed | 252 | 248 | 235 | 235 | 229 |
| Number of traffic examiners employed | 169 | 166 | 162 | 159 | 163 |
| Number of HGVs and trailers examined for roadworthiness(5) | 132,826 | 158,289 | 171,203 | 162,607 | 166,099 |
| Number of HGVs checked for traffic enforcement(6) | 161,268 | 192,573 | 214,924 | 248,674 | 267,217 |
| Number of HGVs checked at emission spot checks | 12,149 | 12,812 | 13,887 | 11,406 | n/a |
| Number of PSVs examined for roadworthiness(5) | 26,394 | 34,484 | 35,921 | 30,787 | 32,338 |
| Number of PSVs checked for traffic enforcement(6) | 18,183 | 30,436 | 30,435 | 38,306 | 39,036 |
| Number of PSVs checked at emission spot checks | 7,940 | 10,867 | 11,001 | 10,140 | n/a |
| Number of LGVs(7) examined for roadworthiness(5) | 13,810 | 17,481 | 19,964 | 18,326 | 19,992 |
| Number of LGVs checked for traffic enforcement(6) | 9,671 | 10,879 | 14,108 | 21,830 | n/a |
| Number of LGVs checked at emission spot checks | 76,253 | 93,156 | 99,446 | 108,757 | n/a |
(1) Figure does not include all grades of staff carrying out testing work due to the way in which information was recorded at the time.
(2) Includes tests and retests of HGVs, PSVs and LGVs. A vehicle may be retested more than once.
(3) Test carried out in VI's test stations designed to aid test preparation or for routine maintenance. Checks available for brake tests, headlamp aim, smoke check or multi-check.
(4) From 1995-96, voluntary brake tests were based on number of axles tested. Figures include brake checks on axles, headlamp aim checks, smoke checks and multi-checks.
(5) Figure includes vehicles inspected at the roadside and at operator's premises for mechanical condition. A vehicle will be counted in the figure for roadworthiness inspections and traffic enforcement inspections if it has been checked by both a VE and a TE.
(6) Figure includes documentation checks and weighings. Figure does not include the number of individual tachograph charts checked. TEs checked 1,417,646 tachograph charts in 1998-99.
(7) Cars, vans, taxis and non-testable vehicles (eg mobile cranes, mechanical diggers)
n/a Figure not available.
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