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Cefn Croes Windfarm

33. Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will hold a public inquiry on the Cefn Croes windfarm proposal in Ceredigion; and if he will make a statement. [139565]

Mr. Byers: I have yet to hear the views of the Ceredigion county council. Until their views are known it is too early to say whether a public inquiry will be necessary.

Impact Assessments

34. Mr. Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures he is taking to ensure that impact assessments are effective. [139566]

Ms Hewitt: New guidance announced on 9 August, which is available on the Cabinet Office website, includes a number of important advances on previous practice. Civil servants are required to prepare an initial regulatory impact assessment early in the policy-making process before Ministers consider regulatory and non-regulatory policy options. As the policy develops, the guidance requires more thorough assessment of costs and benefits of proposals throughout the lifetime of the policy in

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question. Ministers are required to certify their confidence that the "benefits justify the costs" rather than that "the correct balance has been struck".

Textiles

35. Charlotte Atkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the progress of the action plan for the textile industry. [139567]

Ms Hewitt: The Government have made considerable progress on the implementation of the 12 point plan for the textile and clothing industry, announced on 6 June 2000 by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Minister for Employment, Welfare to Work and Equal Opportunities. A new unit has been set up within the DTI to implement the 12 point plan as well as the recommendations contained in the National Strategy, produced by the industry led Textiles and Clothing Strategy Group which were directed at Government.

Major developments have included:

the establishment of a major new supply chain initiative for the textiles and clothing industry;

temporary relaxation of the rules for trade fair support to enable more textiles and clothing companies to receive assistance;

the establishment of more projects to help the technical textiles sector;

initial meetings between public procurement agencies and manufacturers to discuss ways to improve UK supplies of securing contracts.

Shipbuilding

36. Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations he has received concerning the European Union's shipbuilding intervention fund. [139568]

Mr. Alan Johnson: I have received representations from the industry, the trade association and the trade unions and a number of hon. Members, including my hon. Friend.

Post Offices

37. Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with the European Commission regarding his proposals for a national bank in post offices. [139569]

Mr. Alan Johnson: The European Competition Commissioner has been informed about the new package of measures to modernise the post office network, including universal banking, and my officials are in contact with the European Commission.

Mrs. Ray Michie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many sub-post offices have (a) reduced opening hours and (b) closed (i) permanently and (ii) on a temporary basis since June 1999; how many have subsequently been re-opened (A) in Scotland and (B) in each Scottish local authority area; and if he will make a statement. [138993]

Mr. Alan Johnson [holding answer 21 November 2000]: I am advised by the Post Office that their records are maintained on a financial year basis and that for the year to end March 2000, 380 sub-post offices in Scotland

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were classified as operating a reduced opening hours service. During the 1999-2000 financial year there was a net closure of 29 sub-post offices in Scotland, all on a temporary basis. The Post Office does not hold figures by local authority area.

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made on support for pilot projects to enable post offices to become (a) one-stop shops and (b) general Government practitioners in Wales. [141157]

Mr. Alan Johnson: This is a matter for the devolved Administration.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received on the application of climate change levy charges to rural post offices which are customers of Northern Electric and Gas; and if he will make a statement. [140881]

Mr. Alan Johnson: The Department of Trade and Industry has received no representations from rural post offices about the climate change levy. We are aware that energy supply companies, including Northern, are in the process of writing to all their non-domestic customers, forewarning them of the inclusion of the climate change levy on their energy bills following 1 April 2001. The climate change levy is intended to increase energy efficiency across all sectors of business, and will help the UK to meet its Kyoto targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and move towards our domestic goal to cut CO ₂ emissions by 20 per cent. Some of the revenues from the levy will be used for energy efficiency initiatives which will help small businesses.

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what formal requirements there are for the Post Office to keep open (a) rural and (b) urban sub-post offices; and if he will make a statement. [140452]

Mr. Alan Johnson: As recommended in the Performance and Innovation Unit report, a formal requirement has been placed upon the Post Office to maintain the rural network and to prevent any avoidable closures of rural post offices. A rural post office is defined as one serving a community of up to 10,000 inhabitants.

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices, including sub-post offices, have closed in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last 10 years in areas defined as rural and areas defined as urban; and to publish the criteria used to define an area as rural or urban. [136721]

Mr. Alan Johnson [holding answer 6 November 2000]: For the years from March 1991 to March 1998, a reliable split between rural and urban offices is not available. Total net closures for these years were as follows:

Year to end March	Number
1991	233
1992	478
1993	202
1994	176
1995	175
1996	193
1997	163
1998	243

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	Closures
Year to end March	Rural	Urban
1999
England	-167	-18
Scotland	-25	0
Wales	-10	-3
Northern Ireland	-12	+2
2000
England	-271	-92
Scotland	-30	+1
Wales	-40	+54
Northern Ireland	-2	-2

Notes:

The figures shown are net closures, indicated by a minus sign, or net openings, indicated by a plus sign.

The urban closure data include data anomalies between countries caused by revisions of codings.

The net total figures for the United Kingdom are correct but the ongoing process of revising data has affected individual country totals.

In the figures above the Post Office has defined rural offices as those located in a community of fewer than 6,300 inhabitants. In the light of the Performance and Innovation Unit Report (which defined a rural post office as one located in a community of up to 10,000 inhabitants), the Post Office is currently agreeing with the Postal Services Commission a process and format for reporting information on the network including the definitions that will be used. The Government definition of a rural post office is one located in a community of up to 10,000 inhabitants.

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many sub-post offices have closed in the last six months in (a) urban and (b) rural areas. [140167]

Mr. Byers: I understand from the Post Office that figures for the six months until the end of October are not available.

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Post Office proposal to offer retirement and pensions services and information for the over-55 year group will require sub-post office staff to register with the Financial Services Authority. [140264]

Mr. Byers [holding answer 24 November 2000]: The Post Office has no proposals to offer financial advice on retirement pension provision.

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Performance and Innovation Unit has made an estimate of the number of mergers of sub-post offices required by its recommended programme of modernisation for the urban network. [140263]

Mr. Byers [holding answer 24 November 2000]: The Performance and Innovation Unit has not made such an estimate.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the age profile was, in five year periods, for owners of sub-post offices in (a) 1980, (b) 1990 and (c) currently. [140094]

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Mr. Byers: Information for 1980 and 1990 is not available. Currently the age profile of sub-postmasters is as follows:

Age range	Number
Up to 20	7
21-25	108
26-30	311
31-35	645
36-40	1,947
41-45	2,454
46-50	3,199
51-55	3,454
56-60	2,513
61-65	1,239
66-70	477
71-75	217
76 and over	166

The number of sub-postmasters shown in the table is not the same as the number of sub-post offices. Sub-postmasters may operate more than one outlet.

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what pressure he plans to bring to bear on the Post Office to end the practice of demanding substantial premiums from retailers willing to take over a discontinued sub-post office business. [140131]

Mr. Alan Johnson: I understand from the Post Office that among the measures taken to protect the post office network, and smaller post offices in particular, they have in recent years raised the threshold of the introductory payments for taking on a sub-post office. Such payments do not apply to offices for which the post office remuneration is less than £14,000 a year. I have asked the Post Office to consider whether more can be done to make the contractual terms and arrangements more flexible and attractive to prospective subpostmasters.

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