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Sub-postmasters
Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many sub-postmasters have resigned in (a) the past three months, broken down by region and (b) the same three month period in each of the last three years. [140843]
Mr. Byers: I understand from the Post Office that the figures are not available in the form requested.
Sterling
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had with manufacturing industry on the level of sterling. [140964]
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Mr. Byers: We are in frequent contact with manufacturing industry, at both ministerial and official level, covering a range of issues affecting manufacturers.
Consumer Complaints
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the trend of consumer complaints in the last 10 years. [140940]
Dr. Howells: Local authority trading standards departments provide the Office of Fair Trading with regular returns detailing the number of consumer complaints that they have received. The Director General of Fair Trading publishes these in his annual report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, copies of which are placed in the Library of the House. The report does not deal with complaints made to other regulatory bodies, such as the utilities regulators, Government Departments, representative bodies such as the National Consumer Council and the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, and trade associations.
For the year ending 30 September 1989, the number of consumer complaints reported by local authorities to the OFT was 583,760. By the year ending 30 September 1999, this had risen to 897,704.
Debt Collection Agencies
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list for each of the last 10 years, the number of (a) complaints the Office of Fair Trading has received against debt collection agencies, (b) agencies whose licences have been revoked and (c) agencies which were found to be trading without a licence. [140975]
Dr. Howells: The Office of Fair Trading does not have records in the form specified and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, figures relating to the number of consumer credit licences for debt collectors and investigators which the Director General was minded to revoke, suspend or vary compulsorily are set out in his Annual Reports to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. These are available in the Library of the House.
The Office of Fair Trading Annual Report also contains figures on the number of consumer complaints reported by trading standards departments and advice agencies in the financial services and related industries, although debt collectors are not specifically identified.
Unfair Trading
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions in each of the last 10 years the Director General of Fair Trading has used his powers under Part III of the Fair Trading Act 1973 to take action against traders whose actions were considered to be unfair to consumers. [140974]
Dr. Howells: The Director General of Fair Trading has taken action under Part III of the Fair Trading Act 1973
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in each year since 1990. A table setting out the details of the action taken is listed below. These figures are set out in the Director General of Fair Trade's annual reports to
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my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
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| Year | |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 15 assurances given, 2 undertakings given to the court and 4 court orders. |
| 1991 | 7 assurances given, 1 undertaking given to the court and 2 court orders. |
| 1992 | 26 assurances given, 1 court order. |
| 1993 | 22 assurances given, 1 undertaking given to the court. |
| 1994 | 15 assurances given, 8 court orders and 1 conviction for breach of a court order. |
| 1995 | 22 assurances given, 3 court orders. |
| 1996 | 30 assurances given and 1 court order. |
| 1997 | 8 assurances given, 4 court orders, and 2 people found guilty of breaching earlier undertakings. |
| 1998 | 3 assurances given, 2 court orders and 1 person found guilty of contempt of court for breaching earlier undertakings. |
| 1999 | 4 assurances given, 1 person found guilty of breach of a former court order and 2 people found guilty of breaching earlier undertakings. |
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Oil and Gas Exploration
Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will suspend further consideration of the 19th round of oil and gas licensing of environmentally sensitive areas to the west of the Shetland Islands until the regulations applying the EC Habitats Directive to the offshore industry have been implemented; and if he will list the sites requiring designation as special areas for conservation. [140887]
Mr. Byers: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Energy and Competitiveness in Europe on 25 October 2000, Official Report, column 129W.
Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what factors he took into account in granting approval for oil and gas exploration of the White Zone between the Shetland and Faroe Islands. [140886]
Mr. Byers: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mr. Thomas) on 9 November 2000, Official Report, columns 333-34W.
Employment and Recruitment Agencies
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) which organisations have made representations to his Department (a) in support of and (b) against a four week limit on temp to perm fees; [140894]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the impact on the labour market of the proposed four week limit on the temp to perm fees in the Employment Agency Regulations; [140896]
(3) what discussions he has had with employment and recruitment agencies relating to the imposition of a four week limit on the temp to perm fees; [140893]
(4) what discussions his Department held with the recruitment industry concerning the four week limit for temp to perm fees in the draft Employment Agency Regulations. [140895]
Mr. Alan Johnson: I have received over 200 representations on our proposal to limit the length of time an agency can demand a transfer fee from an employer after a hiring ceased where the employer wishes to take a temporary worker on permanently. Many representations have been duplicate circular letters submitted by agencies or their permanent staff against the proposals. Representations in support have been received from
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agencies, employers, trade unions and professional associations. My Department and I have had continuous discussions with the industry since the publication of the proposals by means of meetings, visits, correspondence, conference speeches and telephone. In common with all regulatory proposals an impact assessment has been prepared. We expect our proposals to improve labour market flexibility by removing barriers to entry into the permanent employment market, while allowing agencies to recoup their investment in the workers they supply and greater freedom to recruit.
Ilisu Dam
Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he has considered the implications of the World Commission on Dams Report for his decision on an export credit for the Ilisu Dam; and if he will make a statement. [140755]
Mr. Caborn: We are studying carefully the Report of the World Commission on Dams. We will take account of the Report in considering our decision on Ilisu.
Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made by the Turkish authorities in meeting the four conditions for UK ECGD support announced in December 1999; and if he will make a statement. [140756]
Mr. Caborn: Progress has been made on the four conditions since my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's statement to the press in December last year. However, we will have a much clearer idea of the extent to which those conditions have been addressed when we have seen and assessed the updated Environmental Impact Assessment Report, the response of the Turkish authorities to that document and the Resettlement Action Plan.
Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the recommendations and guidelines for good practice identified in the recent World Commission on Dams Report will be used to shape the policies of the Export Credits Guarantee Department. [140757]
Mr. Caborn: The Report is clearly a seminal document and will require detailed study. ECGD propose to consult with other Departments, in particular the Department for International Development (who provided funding for the Commission), the Department
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of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department of Trade and Industry and Trade Partners.
ECGD will also seek to ensure that the Export Credit Agencies issues raised by the Report are properly and fully considered by the OECD, and will also liaise with ECAs bilaterally. We will of course consider how far the Report affords us a template for our decision making process on future dam projects where we are approached for cover.
Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with the Governments of (a) Turkey, (b) Syria and (c) Iraq relating to the legal implications of the Ilisu Dam for cross border water sharing agreements between these countries and obligations under international law. [140758]
Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has had no discussions with the governments of Turkey, Syria or Iraq on the Ilisu Dam. We are of course aware that the Syrian and Iraqi governments have made representations to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office regarding the project, and the issue of waterflow to downstream states is one of the four conditions outlined by my right hon. Friend in his statement to the press last December. My officials and their Foreign and Commonwealth office counterparts remain in touch with Turkish officials regarding these conditions.
Mr. Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects to receive a copy of the updated Environmental Impact Assessment report and Resettlement report in respect of the Ilisu Dam. [140759]
Mr. Caborn: The latest information we have is that the updated Environmental Impact Assessment Report is expected to be made available to the Turkish buyer shortly. When the buyer has had the opportunity to respond, the Report will be made available to the Export Credit Agencies involved in the project. We envisage this will be early in the New Year. We have been informed by the contractors that the Resettlement Action Plan is expected to take longer, but timing is still uncertain.
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