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Business Links
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the future of Business Links. [96203]
Ms Hewitt: The Small Business Service will develop a network of local Business Link franchises. Key stakeholders involved in existing Business Link local partnerships will be invited to submit proposals to deliver high quality coherent services under the new franchise arrangements. The number of local Business Link areas will be reduced from 81 to 45.
Mr. Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what criteria will be used in determining Business Link boundaries. [96324]
Ms Hewitt: On 30 June, a public consultation on the Small Business Service was launched. The Small Business Service will be given responsibility for taking forward the Business Link network.
In a letter to RDA Chairs in June, RDAs were asked to consult local partners and make recommendations on the boundaries for local delivery of SBS services. The letter also set out the criteria for determining these boundaries. The underlying principle for determining SBS boundaries was the desire to have no more than 40-50. This would maximise administrative savings and provide a more effective local network for planning, funding, managing and driving up quality, while still ensuring that businesses would have good access locally to business support services.
Specifically, RDAs were asked to ensure that boundaries:
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Ministers considered RDA recommendations in detail, alongside the criteria set in the letter to RDA Chairs and with advice from the relevant Government Offices. They also considered a number of direct representations from interested parties. The decisions were announced to the House on 28 July 1999, Official Report, columns 936-38.
Mr. Gibb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will be in a position to publish the results of the inquiry into Robert Maxwell. [96254]
Dr. Howells:
The independent inspectors appointed to investigate the affairs and membership of Mirror Group Newspapers plc (there is no inquiry into the late Robert Maxwell) are still carrying out their work. Consequently they have yet to report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will introduce measures in his proposed employment relations legislation to prevent the dismissal of employees involved in a lawful strike. [96173]
Mr. Alan Johnson:
We intend to bring section 16 and Schedule 5 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 into force by Easter next year. These provisions will extend the right of protection for those dismissed for taking lawfully organised industrial action to complain to a tribunal of unfair dismissal. They will make it automatically unfair to dismiss workers for the first eight weeks of the action and give employees a right to claim unfair dismissal, if dismissed after the eight week period, where the employer has failed to follow all reasonable procedural steps to try to resolve the dispute. These provisions are designed to stop precipitate dismissals and to place an onus on both employers and unions to settle disputes by negotiation.
Dr. Tonge:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what reports he has received on progress towards nuclear fusion at the USA National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories in California. [96435]
Mrs. Liddell:
My Department's contribution on nuclear fusion is managed and undertaken by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
UKAEA has received no reports on progress towards nuclear fusion at the USA National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, California, other than those presented at international fusion conferences and meetings, and reports in the scientific press.
Dr. Tonge:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what contributions his Department is making to nuclear fusion projects in the USA and Europe; and where they are taking place. [96434]
1 Nov 1999 : Column: 28
Mrs. Liddell:
My Department's contribution on nuclear fusion is managed and undertaken by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). UK contribution for fusion projects in Europe (including UK) is split into two parts:
Mr. Baldry:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which countries currently qualify for ECGD cover. [96323]
Mr. Caborn:
This information is in the public domain, published in the Autumn 1999 issue of 'ECGD News'. I have arranged for a copy to be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Baldry:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in each of the last five years, how much the Treasury has had to make available to ECGD to cover losses incurred by the ECGD. [96562]
Mr. Caborn:
Over the last five years, cash-flow on ECGD's trading operations has been positive:
fit with local travel-to-work and travel-to-study patterns and with the pattern of business and commercial activities;
be co-terminous with the Learning and Skills Council areas and other key local economic or social units and partnerships--especially with local authorities, the sub-regional partnerships set up locally to tackle economic and social issues, and be within RDA/GO boundaries; and
be large enough to assure economies of scale and cost effectiveness--a resident population of 0.5 million is considered to be the minimum--although it is expected to be much greater in conurbations.
Ministers subsequently made it clear to RDAs that they wished LSC/SBS boundaries not to cut across LEA boundaries.
the UKAEA expenditure of £14.6 million per year, including their contribution of 8 Million Euro per year as host to the Joint European Torus (JET), an EU Joint Undertaking based at Culham, Oxfordshire;
the UK's contribution to the European Union R&D Framework Programme supporting the European fusion collaboration.
No contribution is made by my Department to fusion projects in the USA.
| Financial year | Cash-flow |
|---|---|
| 1994-95 | -8.1 |
| 1995-96 | 245.9 |
| 1996-97 | 444.9 |
| 1997-98 | 442.6 |
| 1998-99 | 353.5 |
As a result, over this period, ECGD has not been a charge on the Exchequer and has contributed £1.5 billion to it.
Radio Frequencies
Mr. Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much revenue Her Majesty's Government have raised in selling radio wave frequencies since May 1997. [96402]
Ms Hewitt: The Wireless Telegraphy Acts 1949 and 1998 provide for licences to be issued to establish or use stations for wireless telegraphy and to install or use wireless telegraphy apparatus. Fee income from such licences, other than for television reception, totalled £92.571m over the two financial years 1997-98 and 1998-99.
Letter Stamps (Europe)
Mr. Fallon:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the percentage increase in the cost
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of a letter stamp for Europe in (a) 1998 and (b) 1999; what were his reasons for authorising the increases; and if he will make a statement. [96486]
Mr. Alan Johnson
[holding answer 28 October 1999]: The cost of a stamp for a letter up to 20g to European destinations rose by an average of 4.8 per cent. on 6 April 1998 and by a further 13.33 per cent. on 25 October 1999. It is still one of the cheapest rates in Europe.
The increase was prompted by increasing handling costs and is in line with the agreement, set out in the European Postal Services Directive, that prices should be geared to costs. The increases were introduced by the Post Office following consultation with the Post Office Users' National Council (POUNC).
Mr. Borrow:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on progress towards issuing licences for third generation mobile spectrum under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts 1949 and 1998. [96905]
Ms Hewitt:
I am delighted to announce that the Information Memorandum for the auction of licences for Third Generation mobile spectrum is being published today.
The Memorandum sets out the detailed arrangements for the auction. Applications to take part in the auction are scheduled to be due on 12 January 2000. The auction itself is expected to start in March 2000. The Government expect that this will be the first auction for Third Generation licences in Europe, giving UK consumers early access to this exciting new technology, and keeping the UK at the forefront of international developments in mobile communications.
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