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Cyclists
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the number of accidents caused by cyclists bumping into pedestrians on (a) pavements and (b) public carriageways in the last year for which figures are available. [132096]
Mr. Hill: I have been asked to reply.
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Information on the causes of accidents is not available. The table gives the number of single vehicle accidents which involved a pedal cyclist and an injury to a pedestrian, by vehicle location.
| Vehicle location | Accidents |
|---|---|
| Footways and verges(1) | 79 |
| On main carriageway (1) | 217 |
(1) Footway or verge comprises footways for use by pedestrians only, which form part of the highway but are separated from the main carriageway, including grass verges
(1) Main carriageway includes bus/cycle lane and other restricted lanes within the carriageway itself
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Newspapers and Magazines (Distribution)
Mr. Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the market share of retail magazines carried by WH Smith, Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Safeway. [132486]
Dr. Howells: None. Under UK competition legislation, responsibility for monitoring markets and investigating complaints of anti-competitive behaviour lies with the Office of Fair Trading. The Office of Fair Trading would look at market share figures if they were relevant in any particular case.
Mr. Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will refer the proposed agreement between W. H. Smith News and Tesco over the supply of magazines to the Office of Fair Trading. [132483]
Dr. Howells: The Office of Fair Trading is aware of the proposed supply arrangements between Tescos and W. H. Smith News. The Director General considers it premature to speculate on the outcome of these or other proposals. However, he will continue to monitor developments in the industry.
Mr. Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Competition Commission inquiry into supermarkets will look at the distribution and supply arrangements of newspapers and magazines to Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Safeway. [132482]
Dr. Howells: The Scope of the inquiry into supermarkets is a matter for the Competition Commission. The Commission is due to deliver its report to the Secretary of State on 31 July.
Holocaust Payments
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action the Government are taking to extend the scheme he announced on 20 June 2000, Official Report, column 137W, for banks to waive charges relating to holocaust payments from Germany to Austria. [132152]
Mr. Byers [holding answer 24 July 2000]: I am pursuing this matter with the banking industry and will make an announcement about the outcome.
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BNFL
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what performance targets he has agreed with BNFL in the last three months; and when he expects the company to publish its new corporate plan. [130873]
Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 24 July 2000]: No new targets have been agreed for BNFL within the last three months. The company's corporate plan is a management tool which contains commercially confidential information, and is not published.
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the cost and effectiveness of (a) retrofitting dry store facilities to magnox reactors and (b) using dry store canisters in his consideration of the closure process of the magnox reprocessing line at Sellafield. [130872]
Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 24 July 2000]: None. These are commercial matters for BNFL.
Export Licences
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 18 July 2000, Official Report, column 106-07W, on export licences, how many of the standard individual export licence applications and open individual export licence applications outstanding for over a year were made by small firms. [132359]
Dr. Howells [holding answer 24 July 2000]: The Export Control Organisation of the Department of Trade and Industry does not request details of the size of a company when it makes an application for an individual export licence.
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his answer of 18 July 2000, Official Report, column 106-07W, on export licences, what the approximate value is of the potential exports subject to decisions on standard and open individual export licences which have been awaiting a decision for more than a year. [132358]
Dr. Howells [holding answer 24 July 2000]: Applicants for Standard Individual Export Licences are required to record on the application form the value of the goods for which a licence is sought. The approximate total value of the goods as stated on the applications for a Standard Individual Export Licence which have been awaiting a decision since before 7 July 1999 is £10,700,000. The actual value of exports made under a licence is often less than the value stated on the corresponding application.
Open Individual Export Licences allow the exporters concerned to make multiple shipments of the specified goods to the specified destinations in accordance with the licence conditions. Such licences do not normally impose any limit on the volume of exports that may be made under the licence.
Industrial Diseases
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many ex-employees of British Coal have (a) made claims and (b) been paid under the Government's scheme for respiratory disease litigation. [131745]
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Mrs. Liddell: The Department's claims handlers have registered over 110,000 claims for chronic bronchitis and emphysema from former miners and their families. To date, we have made nearly 23,000 payments in full and final, and part settlements, totalling £65 million.
Mr. Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many compensation claims to date there have been by former miners for (a) chronic bronchitis and emphysema and (b) vibration white finger in the North Staffordshire Area; and how many have been settled since 1995. [131800]
Mrs. Liddell: The Department's claims handlers have registered 2,679 claims for chronic bronchitis and emphysema and 1,007 claims for Vibration White Finger (VWF) from former miners and their families in the North Staffordshire area. To date, in the North Staffordshire Area, we have made 916 payments in full and final, and part settlements to respiratory disease claimants, and 277 payments to VWF claimants, totalling £3.7 million.
Dounreay
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he received the report of the Euratom Safety Assessment and Radiological Protection Mission team visit to Dounreay; and what actions he plans to take arising from the report's conclusions. [131996]
Mrs. Liddell: The Scottish Executive has devolved responsibility for environmental issues relating to licensed nuclear sites in Scotland. I understand that the final text of the Main Findings and Technical Report documents was submitted by the European Commission to the Scottish Executive on 31 May 2000. The publication of these documents, together with the schedule of follow-up action taken or ongoing in response to the Commission's conclusions, was announced by Written Answer in the Scottish Parliament on 6 July.
Copies of these documents, incorporated into an overall report, have been placed in the Libraries of the House and in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The report can also be accessed through the Scottish Executive web-site at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ library3/environment/art35. asp
ECGD
Mrs. McKenna: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement about the outcome of the review of the ECGD's risk management systems, the Terms of Reference for which he announced on 26 May. [133099]
Mr. Byers: Following a competitive tendering process, KPMG Management Consultants were appointed to carry out the review.
KPMG's main findings were as follows:
- "For risk management to be effective there are four primary and critical requirements
- Risk identification
- Risk measurement
- Risk reporting, and
- Pro-active risk management.
- ECGD generally achieves good results in identifying and measuring risks accurately. Reporting of risks has been flagged as an area which needs attention.
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KPMG's report presents recommendations which will enhance the identification, measurement and reporting of risk.
- If the recommendations are successfully implemented, HM Treasury will be able to return to a more strategic role and provide added value oversight of ECGD.
- At present ECGD is constrained from truly managing risk by its competitive position and operating framework. In particular it is set up to price long-term transactions upfront in highly volatile markets with very limited opportunities to influence their risk/return balance once risk positions are accepted. Making the step forward necessary to accommodate the final element of pro-active risk management requires fundamental change to the business strategy and operating framework. ECGD and HM Treasury have been jointly considering a capital based approach through the development of PMS III; continuation of this initiative should be a priority."
Mr. Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made on various reviews of the ECGD; and if he will make a statement. [133100]
Mr. Byers: I am pleased to announce the Review of ECGD's Mission and Status, which I announced to the House on 27 July 1999, Official Report, columns 305-06, is now complete and the Government have accepted its conclusions.
When I announced this Review, I referred to a number of other concurrent reviews of ECGD's activities. These are also complete and I refer my hon. Friend in particular to a separate announcement on the outcome of the Risk Management Review, in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth (Mrs. McKenna) today, Official Report, columns 519-20W. The Report of ECGD's Mission and Status (Cm 4790), and all other Reports connected with this fundamental scrutiny of ECGD's role, have today been placed in the Library of the House, including the Report of a study by National Economic Research Associates (NERA) on the Economic Rationale for the Public Provision of Export Credit Insurance by ECGD (Cm 4791) and a Report on the provision of ECGD's Reinsurance for Exports Sold on Short Terms of payment (Cm 4793). This now means that all the Government's current reviews of ECGD's activities are at an end.
The Mission and Status Review was informed by a wide-ranging public consultation exercise and Reports by the Trade and Industry Committee, in its Third Report on ECGD: "The Future of the Export Credits Guarantee Department" published by the Committee on 20 January this year (Third Report, HC 52) and the International Development Committee's Report: "ECGD--Development Issues" published 20 December 1999 (First Report, HC73).
While strongly reaffirming ECGD's role in bringing economic benefit to the UK, and maintaining jobs, by supporting UK exporters and investors in overseas markets--and proposing greater freedom to provide this
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support in the future--the conclusions of the Review published this afternoon set out a new direction for ECGD. It says ECGD should:
- Introduce greater openness and transparency to its operations. This includes greater consultation with customers and interested parties together with the appointment of outside Directors to ECGD's Management Board. The Export Guarantees Advisory Council's remit and membership should also be changed to advise on policy and principles, not individual risk decisions.
- Seek to attract more medium-sized exporters and investors as direct customers; offering a package of products geared to light capital goods and services and smaller projects. ECGD should work with the Small Business Service, Regional Development Agencies and British Trade International to increase understanding of ECGD services amongst smaller exporters.
- Support the Government's objectives of promoting sustainable development, human rights, good governance and trade throughout the world, by ensuring its activities are consistent with these wider international policies. ECGD will publish further details of how it plans to assess project impacts by the end of 2000.
The Report recommends that ECGD should be reformed and strengthened to ensure it is able to meet the challenges of the years ahead. From today ECGD will be working to a new Mission Statement.
ECGD's financial targets will be maintained, as will its overall risk appetite. It will be strengthening its risk management systems and establishing a capitalised framework and a Trading Fund, this should lead to ECGD having complete operational autonomy.
Further development of its systems for assessing sensitive projects and publication of more information on these, together with a statement of Business Principles to guide and inform its business policies and practice will help increase transparency and understanding.
The Reinsurance Review, which is also published today, concludes that, without withdrawing its present reinsurance arrangements, ECGD should work to transfer 100 per cent. of its short-term credit insurance risk to the private sector.
The Report sets out an ambitious reform agenda for ECGD which it needs to take forward in consultation with its customers and other interested parties. I am confident that ECGD will be able to continue to give first-class support to UK firms to compete for business opportunities abroad--thereby bringing economic benefit to the UK and countries in which it is supporting projects.
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