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Written Answers to Questions
Monday 3 April 2000
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Public Bodies
Mr. Quinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the notional time commitment of each chair of the regional non-departmental public bodies. [116360]
Dr. Howells: The time commitment for chairs of the Post Office Users Councils for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is up to 50 days per annum. The average commitment for the chairs of the seven Regional Industrial Development Boards is of the order of one meeting a month lasting approximately two hours, plus the time required to read case papers beforehand.
Mr. Quinn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many (a) male and (b) female board members each regional non-departmental public body for which he is responsible has; [116373]
- (2) how many board members he appoints to each non-departmental public body. [116372]
Dr. Howells: A list of non-departmental public bodies to which DTI Ministers make appointments, and information on the numbers of male and female board members each body has, can be found in the publication "Public Bodies 1999" (ISBN 0 11 430159 X), copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
Synchrotron
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the French Government first publicly expressed a preference for the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory as the site for the diamond synchrotron. [116945]
Mr. Byers: The preference was first stated publicly in a letter from the French Minister of National Education, Research and Technology to my noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Science on 14 March 2000. They had made clear to him in private discussions in October 1999 that this was their view.
Super Jumbo Aircraft
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 24 March 2000, Official Report, column 781W, on the super jumbo aircraft, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's independent assessment of the likely demand for the A3XX. [116950]
Mr. Alan Johnson:
No, because this assessment contains commercially confidential and market-sensitive information. It was prepared following discussions with manufacturers, suppliers and airlines of commercially sensitive issues, which were of considerable assistance
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to my Department in drawing up the assessment. If such information were circulated more widely, the understanding on which it had been obtained would be breached, and in future my Department would be less able to serve the interests of taxpayers, since they would not be able to gain access to such a wide range of informed opinion when preparing market assessments.
Mr. Maclennan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the expenditure incurred by his Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies on (a) the setting up and (b) the operation of websites, indicating the cases in which the expenditure has been above that budgeted; and if he will list for each website (i) the topics which have been covered, (ii) the current average number of hits per month and (iii) the estimated expenditure on each website for each of the next three years. [115844]
Ms Hewitt
[holding answer 30 March 2000]: Management of the websites of my Department, agencies and non-departmental public bodies, and Government Offices for the Regions is devolved to those with responsibility for particular areas. The costs associated with setting up and on-going operation of sites are not held or collected centrally and therefore the information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The same is true both for future expenditure plans and for information on final costs versus initial budget estimates.
In terms of topics covered, the DTI site and associated sites offer information on nearly every area of the Department's responsibilities. The central DTI site (those within the Web domain www.dti.gov.uk) received an average of just over 5,600,000 hits per month over the last six months. Again, hits for all the sites for which my Department is responsible could be calculated only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Gray:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many workplace car parking spaces are available at the buildings used and controlled by his Department. [116768]
Dr. Howells
[holding answer 30 March 2000]: 182 plus a further eight set aside for bicycles and motorcycles.
Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) number and (b) percentage of properties in his charge are empty; and what steps are being taken by his Department to reduce the number of such properties. [116913]
Dr. Howells:
None. There are two empty floors, which are currently being marketed, in Atholl House, Aberdeen.
As announced on 28 March 2000, Official Report, column 108W, responsibility for a partly empty site at Eastcote has been transferred to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State Defence.
Mr. Fabricant:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations the Foreign and
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Commonwealth Office has made to visiting analysts from the United States International Trade Commission in respect of their inquiry on behalf of the United States Senate Finance Committee on the impact on the United States economy of including the United Kingdom in NAFTA. [116315]
Mr. Vaz:
I have been asked to reply on behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him today, Official Report, column 285W.
Mr. Jenkin:
To ask the Prime Minister what aircraft he has at his disposal for travelling on official business; what the cost is in the current financial year; what proposals he is evaluating for acquiring further aircraft for the purpose; and at what cost. [115266]
The Prime Minister
[holding answer 20 March 2000]: The rules on air travel by Ministers are set out in "Travel by Ministers", a copy of which is in the Library of the House. Decisions on which aircraft to use will be determined on cost, the number of people travelling with me, security and business considerations and the availability of aircraft. A list of Cabinet Ministers' visits overseas, and information on spend by all Ministers on travel overseas for the period 1 April 1999 to 31 March 2000 are currently being assembled, and will be published as soon as possible after the end of the current financial year. This will include information on when I have used RAF and other charter flights and the cost.
Mr. Fabricant:
To ask the Prime Minister if he, or his officials, during the last two weeks, advised visiting analysts from the United States International Trade Commission, or asked United States Government members or officials to ask the visiting analysts, not to meet hon. Members. [116318]
The Prime Minister:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him today by the Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz), Official Report, column 285W.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Prime Minister if it is Government policy that none of the security and intelligence agencies is permitted to intercept communications initiated by hon. Members nor to conduct electronic surveillance thereon. [116904]
The Prime Minister
[holding answer 30 March 2000]: I refer the hon. Member to the Answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Walsall, North (Mr. Winnick) on 30 October 1997, Official Report, column 861W and to the hon. Member on 17 November 1997, Official Report, columns 17-18.
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Mr. Baker:
To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the tests which apply before authorisation is given for an interception of a communication initiated by a newspaper or other media concern. [116903]
The Prime Minister
[holding answer 30 March 2000]: The tests which apply for the inception of all communications are as set out in the Interception of Communications Act 1985. These tests are that a warrant cannot be issued unless it is considered necessary:
(a) in the interests of national security;
(b) for the purpose of preventing or detecting serious crime; or
(c) for the purpose of safeguarding the economic well-being of the United Kingdom.
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