| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Belize (Banking Regulations)
Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what occasions since 1993 his Department has received written or oral approaches from the hon. Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr. Wells) on matters relating to banking regulations in Belize. [92073]
Mr. Byers [holding answer 20 July 1999]: I will write to my hon. Friend shortly and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
Departmental Expenditure (Leeds)
Mr. Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the programmes funded directly by his Department, relating to social exclusion, regeneration, community development, employment or education, currently operating in (a) the City of Leeds and (b) the Leeds Central parliamentary constituency, listing for each programme the amount of such funding for each of the last three years and the amount planned to be spent in each of the next three financial years. [92910]
Mr. Wills: The information requested is not held by my Department centrally. The Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber (GOYH) has provided the following details. Information at a constituency level is not available.
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| 1997-98 | 947,810 |
| 1998-99 | 985,627 |
| 1999-2000 | 1,200,722 |
27 Jul 1999 : Column: 323
Pump priming funding of £97,500 has been awarded to Business Link Leeds under the Information Society Initiative (ISI) programme for Business Local Support Centres, designed to encourage and support SMEs in the use of IT. BL Leeds has had a number of successful ERDF bids for projects to increase provision, cohesion and quality of service to the micro and small business and start up client groups, £445,575 has been awarded in the last three years.
SMART awards totalling £448,337 were given to Leeds based companies between 1997 and the present and it is projected that at least the same amount will be awarded for 1999-02.
There are 17 "IT for All" Centres in Leeds. IT for All is a DTI funded national programme designed to promote the wider use of IT among the general public.
There is no direct funding by DTI to individual centres.
Mr. David Atkinson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment his Department has made of the results of the Business Link network's ComplY2K scheme offering computer millennium compliance tests to small businesses; and if he will make a statement. [92907]
Mr. Wills:
ComplY2K is a risk assessment diagnostic tool offered by the National Computing Centre to enable businesses to address their millennium bug problems. It is one of a number of tools available for this task and some BLs are using it as part of their response to addressing Y2K issues with their client base. My Department has not made any specific assessment of the use of this particular package. However, Business Links continue to work closely with Action 2000 to ensure that they are providing appropriate Y2K support services. Action 2000 continue to monitor the national picture of the state of readiness of UK companies.
ComplY2K and other tools like it, when applied to an individual company, deliver a report which identifies areas of high risk and offers an action plan for addressing them. Some Business Links have developed their own packages and all have some structured approach or toolkit to engage their client base. These have been offered along with the DfEE's highly successful Bug Buster training programme. Business Links will assist with some action areas identified by these tools, perhaps project manage the process, and signpost to local suppliers who can address other specific items identified in the report.
Mr. Alan Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate has been made of the value of inward investment projects into the area covered by the Government Office for the North-East in the last year for which figures are available. [93434]
27 Jul 1999 : Column: 324
Mr. Wills:
The figure given is based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of their decision to invest in the UK. It is based on the companies' best estimate, at the time, of the capital expenditure involved.
There is no requirement to notify the Department of inward investments, so the figure includes only those projects where the Department's Invest in Britain Bureau and its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice.
Estimated value of investment: £646,824,000.
Mr. Alan Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs have been (a) created and (b) safeguarded by new inward investment projects in the area covered by the Government Office for the North East in the last year for which figures are available. [93433]
Mr. Wills:
The figures given below are based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of their decision to invest in the UK. It is based on the companies' best estimate, at the time, of the capital expenditure involved.
| Year | Number of projects | Number of new jobs | Number of safeguarded jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 1998-March 1999 | 35 | 2,304 | 6,953 |
Genetically Modified Cotton
Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to ensure importers of cotton are able to determine whether cotton has been genetically modified. [93150]
Mr. Wilson [holding answer 26 July 1999]: Under the "gmo" Directive (Directive 90/220/EEC) and the "novel foods" Regulation (Regulation (EC) 258-97), genetically modified cotton plants may not be cultivated in the EU, and products derived from such plants that enter the human or animal food chains may not be imported into the EU.
Raw cotton, cotton textiles and made-up cotton textiles derived from genetically modified cotton plants fall outside the scope of that legislation. In these circumstances it is for importers wishing to establish whether or not such products are derived from genetically modified cotton plants to do so in the course of their commercial dealings with the exporter.
Civil Servants' Expenses
Mr. Campbell-Savours:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library a list of the travel and subsistence expenses rates payable to senior civil servants in his Department. [92857]
27 Jul 1999 : Column: 325
Mr. Byers:
I will write to my hon. Friend shortly and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
Ann Clwyd:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will extend the commitment not to provide defence-related export credits to poor highly indebted countries to cover those (a) at risk of conflict and (b) engaged in post-conflict reconstruction. [93294]
Mr. Wilson:
In 1997 the Chancellor announced a five-point plan to resolve the debt problems of poor countries and set them on a path to sustainable growth. This included an undertaking that export credits for poor, highly indebted countries would support only productive expenditure. This policy does not extend beyond the, so called, Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs).
Dr. Lynne Jones:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the (a) outstanding contracts and (b) contracts under negotiation for the import of irradiated spent research reactor fuel from Spanish reactors. [93613]
Mr. Battle:
I understand that BNFL have no contracts either outstanding or under negotiation for reprocessing Spanish research reactor fuel. On 5 June 1998, Official Report, column 385, I announced that UKAEA would not accept any new contracts for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel at Dounreay, so there are no contracts under negotiation with Spain or any other country. Nor does UKAEA have any outstanding contracts with Spain.
Sir Nicholas Lyell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many public interest immunity certificates or equivalent documents have been provided by Ministers or officials in his Department since 3 May 1997; and at what level each such certificate or other document has been signed. [93532]
Mr. Byers:
I will write to the right hon. and learned Member shortly and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |