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Transfrontier Co-operation
Mr. John D. Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs why the United Kingdom has not signed the European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities; when the Convention was opened for signature; how many nations have signed this convention; and if he will make a statement. [96474]
Ms Beverley Hughes: I have been asked to reply.
The European Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation between Territorial Communities or Authorities was opened for signature on 21 May 1980 and to date has been signed by 32 member states of the Council of Europe.
United Kingdom local authorities have entered into a number of transfrontier arrangements with local and regional authorities in other states, which the Government strongly welcomes. None of these arrangements to date have needed to be underpinned by the Convention.
E-commerce
11. Mr. St. Aubyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to ensure that future legislation on electronic commerce is able to cope with evolving technology. [95833]
Ms Hewitt: The Electronic Communications Bill, which will be introduced into Parliament in the next Session, is intended to be technology neutral. Firstly, it will start the process of ensuring that electronic transactions are given the same legal status as paper ones. Secondly it will establish a flexible legal framework which is capable of adapting to different ways of doing electronic commerce and different methods of ensuring authentication, integrity and confidentiality of information. Our policies are designed to increase our competitiveness by promoting electronic commerce, not a particular technology.
24. Dr. George Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the development of electronic commerce in the UK; and what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK is the best place in the world for such commerce. [95848]
Ms Hewitt: I refer my hon. Friend to the oral answer I gave today to my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (Mr. McWalter), Official Report, column 463.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with the European Commission about the regulation of e-commerce; and if he will make a statement. [95831]
Ms Hewitt:
On 12 October I had a meeting in Brussels with Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society. We discussed and agreed on the need for a market-led regulatory framework for electronic commerce; the actual and potential contribution of
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e-commerce to competitiveness in Europe, particularly that of SMEs; and the importance of ensuring close co-ordination of e-commerce related initiatives.
12. Mr. Hepburn:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to provide special assistance to employees of Onwa Ltd. in Jarrow. [95834]
Mr. Caborn:
I have no such plans as it is not the responsibility of my Department to provide assistance to employees in such cases.
However, I understand from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment that his Department has designated the closure as a large scale redundancy, and that all employees will be eligible for immediate entry to the Department's work-based learning for adults programme. I also understand that his Department is considering a rapid response fund assistance package of up to £153,000, which will provide further help to the Onwa workers in obtaining retraining.
13. Mr. Wray:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the effects of his Department's policies on families with low incomes in the last two years. [95835]
Mr. Byers:
This Government believe that rewarding work is a key aspect of our agenda of modernisation and reform. The national minimum wage, coupled with the introduction of the working families tax credit, will make work pay for hard-working parents.
15. Shona McIsaac:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has for reducing firework-related injuries. [95838]
Dr. Howells:
The comprehensive measures introduced under the Fireworks (Safety) Regulations 1997 are again being supplemented by a robust, targeted firework safety campaign. This approach has been shown to work. During the 1998 firework season, 831 people were treated in A&E departments compared to 908 in 1997 and 1233 in 1996.
The theme of this year's campaign, which I launched on 15 October, is that alcohol and fireworks do not mix. As part of the campaign, 1,000 information packs to help mount local safety campaigns have been distributed to trading standards, fire brigades, environmental health officers and for the first time, police forces.
16. Mr. Fisher:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to monitor the efficiency of the use of energy by manufacturing industry. [95839]
Mrs. Liddell:
Government monitor the energy efficiency performance of manufacturing industry through the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Region's Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme and
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related work. This Programme has stimulated annual energy savings of around 150 petajoules in industry, equivalent to 3 million tonnes of carbon.
18. Mr. Truswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to increase the protection of consumers against dishonest traders. [95841]
Dr. Howells:
The White Paper "Modern Markets: Confident Consumers" published in July set out our proposals to introduce much clearer targeting of dishonest traders and specific unfair trade practices by amending the Fair Trading Act 1973. In particular, we intend to provide a power for the courts to grant injunctions against specified practices carried out by specified traders, a power for the courts to ban from trading for a period traders with a history of disregarding their legal obligations, and a power to make orders by secondary legislation to specify that certain unfair practices should become criminal offences.
19. Mr. Fabricant:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will next meet World Trade Organisation officials to discuss free trade within the European Economic Area. [95842]
Mr. Caborn:
We have no plans to meet WTO officials to discuss free trade within the European Economic Area (EEA). This is not a matter for the WTO, but is primarily one for discussion by EEA members.
20. Mr. Hoyle:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the prices of new cars in the UK and in the rest of the EU. [95843]
Dr. Howells:
The European Commission publishes a six-monthly comparison of pre-tax car prices across the European Community. The most recent one covered prices at 1 May this year; the UK was the most expensive market for 62 of the 75 models covered.
The Competition Commission is looking into new car prices in the UK and has been asked to report by 16 December. The Secretary of State will decide what action to take in the light of any adverse findings the Commission may make. We await the Commission's report with interest.
21. Valerie Davey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on progress with the trade agreement between the EU and South Africa. [95844]
Mr. Caborn:
The Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement between the European Union and South Africa was signed in Pretoria on 11 October. The key trade provisions of the Agreement will be implemented from 1 January 2000. Reciprocal free trade will be phased in over 12 years. Of the two partners, the EU will open its import market at a generally faster pace in order to give a boost to South Africa's further integration into the global economy. The EU is South
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Africa's major trading partner and this agreement will strengthen that relationship and create new opportunities for British companies to do business with South Africa.
22. Mr. Page:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations he has received on the proposed climate change levy. [95845]
Ms Hewitt:
The Government have had many representations from business about the proposed climate change levy and accompanying reduction in employers' National Insurance contributions which were announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his last Budget. We will be taking account of the views of business in designing the details of the levy so that the environmental benefits can be achieved while safeguarding competitiveness.
23. Mr. Brady:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the effect of the climate change levy on manufacturing competitiveness. [95847]
Ms Hewitt:
The Government have said it aims to design the levy in a way which maximises its environmental effectiveness while safeguarding competitiveness. We have therefore been developing our understanding of the perspectives of different sectors of Industry to inform our decisions on the levy for the Finance Bill 2000.
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