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Physical Education
Ms Kelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Education and Employment about the role of physical education and sport in the national curriculum. [95952]
Kate Hoey: Ministers and officials from DCMS and DfEE work closely together and share a common aim to improve the quality of Physical Education and sport provision in schools. DCMS was involved in the National Curriculum Review announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in September. We welcome the restoration of the PE programme of study for primary schools, to be re-introduced from September 2000.
On 5 October, the Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment, my hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Jacqui Smith), and I both spoke at the Sport England Conference "Education and Sport". We are also working together to develop the Active Schools Sports Co-ordinators initiative in schools. I have met with, and will continue to meet, my hon. Friend to discuss Physical Education and sport in schools.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL
RAF Menwith Hill
Mr. Baker: To ask the Solicitor-General what was the cost to public funds of the prosecution of cases, subsequently discontinued, for contravention of bye-laws relating to RAF Menwith Hill; and if he will make a statement. [95745]
The Solicitor-General:
The prosecution costs arising from these proceedings are estimated at £700, which includes the cost of case preparation, conferences, and court attendance by a senior Crown Prosecutor at the magistrates court. The figure does not include work undertaken for the test case at the Crown Court and subsequently in the Divisional Court, neither does it include the costs incurred by the Crown Prosecution Service in discussion with the Ministry of Defence police about prosecution policy in general.
29 Oct 1999 : Column: 1013
Holocaust Survivors
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has made to the banking industry concerning the amount of bank charges levied for the conversion to sterling from deutchmarks of sums awarded to holocaust survivors; what response he has received from the banking industry; and if he will make a statement. [94822]
Mr. Byers: I am pursuing this matter with the banking industry and will write to my hon. Friend in due course. I will place a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.
Tunisia
Mr. Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many licences for military, security and police exports to Tunisia have been approved by his Department in the last five years; and if he will list the nature of the equipment, together with any current applications being considered. [95098]
Dr. Howells:
The entry in the relevant legislation under which the export of goods is controlled is known as their rating. The Export Control Organisation's computer
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databases have been interrogated and the following results were obtained. Between 1 January 1994 and 12 October 1999, 57 Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) were issued for the export to consignees or end-users in Tunisia of goods subject to export control by being listed in Part III of Schedule 1 to the Export of Goods (Control) Order 1994, commonly known as the Military List. Between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1998, 71 Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) were issued for the export to Tunisia of such goods; no OIELs were issued for the export of such goods to Tunisia between 1 January and 12 October 1999.
Details of all SIELs and OIELs issued between 2 May and 31 December 1997 were set out in the Government's Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls, published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in March 1999. This Report gives details of the military equipment licensed for export during the period as well as the ratings of these goods. Similar details of the military equipment licensed in later years will be set out in the relevant Annual Reports.
A breakdown of the licences issued between 1 January 1994 and 1 May 1997, and between 1 January 1998 and 12 October 1999 are set out in the table. Individual licences may cover a range of goods with various ratings (and OIELs may also cover a range of countries). Where this is so, the licence is included in the Table in the total for all of the relevant ratings.
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| Rating | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1 January 1997 to 1 May 1997 | 1998 | 1 January 1999 to 12 October 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ML2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| ML3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ML4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| ML5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| ML7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ML9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ML10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| ML11 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| ML13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ML15 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| PL5001 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| PL5006 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| PL5017 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| PL5027 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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At 12 October 1999, decisions had not yet been taken on seven applications for OIELs to export such goods to Tunisia; there are no such applications pending for SIELs.
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| Rating | Number of applications pending |
|---|---|
| ML9 | 3 |
| ML10 | 3 |
| ML18 | 1 |
| ML22 | 3 |
| PL5017 | 1 |
This information does not cover any Media OIELs that may have been issued during this period. Media OIELs authorise the export to all destinations of protective clothing, mainly for the protection of aid agency workers and journalists, when working in areas of conflict.
This information should be considered in light of the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood (Mr. Berry) on 27 July 1999, Official Report, columns 307-08.
In addition, Tunisia is a permitted destination on certain Open General Export Licences, covering the export of goods on the Military List; copies of all Open General Export Licences valid at any time during the period are in the Library of the House.
Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will assess the output of the resource allocation under the comprehensive spending review; and what sectors of the economy he plans to examine as part of this study. [95797]
Mr. Byers:
The Department has monitoring processes in place to assess progress against the targets set in its Public Service Agreement on the basis of the CSR settlement for 1999-2001. This work covers the economy as a whole, for example through targets to narrow the productivity gap and improve performance against competitiveness indicators; there are also specific targets covering for example the small firms sector, exporters, uptake of e-commerce, energy and inward investment. Good progress is already being made; for example I have recently increased the target for the number of SMEs wired to the digital market place from 1 million to 1.5 million. Performance against all our targets will be considered in preparation for the next spending review, to set budgets to 2003-04.
As my hon. Friend is aware, the Science Budget underpins all sectors of the economy and the social, health and environmental services. As a result of the science CSR settlement, successful proposals have been announced for the University Challenge and Science Enterprise Challenge initiatives, and for the first round of the now £750 million joint Infrastructure fund. As far as the additional allocations to the Research Councils are concerned, I have asked for a full report on the progress made so far as input to the current spending review.
Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to establish a statutory register of trading names. [95787]
Dr. Howells:
There are no plans to establish a statutory register of trading names.
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Mr. Hancock:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to introduce legislation to prevent trading and advertising of services by individuals who have been convicted for fraudulent behaviour in the provision of those services. [96470]
Dr. Howells:
The Consumer White Paper "Modern Markets: Confident Consumers" sets out details of the proposals to amend the Fair Trading Act 1973 to provide powers for the courts to grant injunctions against specific practices carried out by specified traders and to ban from trading for a period traders with a history of disregarding their legal obligations.
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