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Electricity Meters
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many properties in (a) Tamworth and (b) the United Kingdom have electric card meters; what proportion this represents of all properties; and how much is paid for electricity by a customer using (i) an electric card meter and (ii) standard payment methods. [105146]
Mrs. Liddell: There are no electric card pre-payment meters in Tamworth but there are 5,329 token meters. In the United Kingdom there are 3.6 million pre-payment meters (including card and token meters). This represents around 15 per cent. of the number of domestic customers in the United Kingdom (as at March 1998). An average annual bill for an East Midlands Electricity customer on a pre-payment meter tariff would be £263.15 as opposed to £241.95 for a standard payment tariff (both based on a consumption of 3,300 kWh).
Post Offices
Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by what means individuals will be able to exercise their proposed right of access to a post office in circumstances where an existing postmaster or postmistress is retiring and no other person is willing to continue the business. [105150]
Mr. Alan Johnson: For the first time the Government will be setting criteria for access to postal services, and there will be a requirement in law for the new Postal Services Commission to monitor these criteria to ensure that they are being met, and to advise my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State of any concerns about access to postal services in local areas. Particular attention will be paid to rural and socially deprived areas. Following work by the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU), access criteria for Post Office services will be announced within the next few months.
Sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses own their businesses and any decision to sell or retire is a matter for them. But our proposals will ensure that the effects of their decision on the provision of services in local areas can be considered. Under our proposals, where an individual sub-post office closes, individuals will be able to appeal to the Post Office Users' Council about the provision of post offices in their area if they do not receive a satisfactory response from the Post Office. Using the access criteria as a benchmark, the Users' Council, through the Commission, will take up specific cases with the Post Office to ensure the access criteria are met.
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Mr. Beith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will formulate plans for state aid to the UK coal industry which are compliant with article 2(1) of Commission Decision 3632/93/ECSC. [104902]
Mrs. Liddell
[holding answer 17 January 2000]: Article 2 (1) of Commission Decision 3632/93/ECSC sets out the three objectives for which aid to the coal industry might be considered compatible with the ECSC Treaty.
The Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 9 September 1999 in respect of case T-220/98 made it clear that the three objectives listed correspond individually to particular categories of aid.
The first category refers to operating aid under Article 3 of the Decision, which must cause no distortion of competition or discrimination between UK coal producers or users, requires a plan showing a significant reduction in operating costs over the period to July 2002 with the prospect of viability thereafter. There is also a requirement for degression of aid.
The second category is in respect of aid to solve the social and regional problems created by total or partial reduction in the activity of production units. Aid for the Reduction of Activity under Article 4 requires a closure date to be set, which must normally be before expiry of the Decision in 2002. There is no provision for investment aid within the ECSC state aid code set out in the Decision. The Government have Commission approval under Article 5 of Decision 3632/93/ECSC to pay state aid up to £891 million over the period to July 2002 in respect of residual environmental and ex-employee liabilities inherited from British Coal.
The third category covers objectives to help the coal industry adjust to the introduction of new environmental protection standards which require the modification of existing installations.
We are continuing to work constructively with the industry to promote a level playing field for coal both in the UK and in Europe, and to identify undue regulatory burdens.
Mr. Crausby:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action he is taking to reduce smoking in his Department. [105792]
Dr. Howells:
In buildings occupied and controlled by my Department, smoking is permitted only in a small number of designated rooms or areas. Advice and guidance is available to staff who wish to give up, cut down, or control their smoking.
Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the date is of the most recent documents received by Companies House concerning the financial standing of Holbeck Holdings of Kilmarnock. [105295]
Dr. Howells:
Holbeck Holdings Ltd., Company number 0609393, has its registered office in Horncastle, Lincolnshire. It has a wholly owned subsidiary, Buitelaar (Kilmarnock) Ltd., Company number 2190181, with
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the same registered office address. Accounts for both companies for the year to 30 April 1998 were received on 14 January 1999 and subsequently registered by Companies House.
Mr. Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the savings from the recently announced changes to the export credits guarantee scheme in the (a) current and (b) next four financial years. [105839]
Mr. Caborn
[holding answer 18 January 2000]: ECGD's new Fixed Rate Export Finance (FREF) scheme, which became effective on 1 December, is designed to achieve an improved balance between the interests of the UK exporter and the taxpayer. Financial outturn under the scheme will depend on a number of factors, including the future mix and level of business, which is uncertain. But if the recent business mix is maintained over the coming period, taxpayer savings of around £1 million per annum should accrue for every £1 billion of new loan outstanding supported under the scheme.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the ADD Report the synchrotron project will be made available to the public. [105625]
Ms Hewitt
[holding answer 18 January 2000]: The full ADD Report will not be made available to the public. Its release is exempt under Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (Exemption 2--Internal discussions and advice; Exemption 7--Effective management of operations of the public service). The key conclusions of the report together with a summary will be published following the site announcement.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the impact of the minimum wage on the (a) level of employment and (b) profitability of businesses. [104882]
Mr. Alan Johnson:
The Government asked the independent Low Pay Commission to report on the implementation of the national minimum wage, particularly its impact on employment and competitiveness. We received the Commission's Report in December and will publish the Report and the Government's response as soon as Ministers have had an opportunity to consider its findings and recommendations.
Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions nuclear materials have been withdrawn from safeguards under the provisions of the Tripartite Agreement between the UK, Euratom and IAEA since May 1997; and if he will list the nuclear establishments involved and respective reasons for withdrawal. [104701]
Dr. Howells:
Between May 1997 and the end of 1999 there were 20 advance notifications of the withdrawal of nuclear material from safeguards pursuant to Article 14 of the UK/IAEA/Euratom Safeguards Agreement. The
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withdrawals comprised small quantities of material for use in instrument calibration or radiation detectors, or as analytical tracers or radiological shielding. The organisations from which the withdrawals took place were UKAEA Harwell, the National Physical Laboratory, Nycomed Amersham, Centronics Ltd., and RSL Equipment Ltd. The establishments to which the material concerned was transferred were AWE Aldermaston, HM Naval Base Devonport, DERA Gosport and NRTE Vulcan, Dounreay.
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