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Post Office (Scotland)

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will take steps to prevent post office closures in rural Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [102689]

Mr. Alan Johnson: The Government are committed to the maintenance of a nationwide network of post offices and will, for the first time, publish access criteria which the new Regulator will have a duty to monitor. The criteria will aim to ensure that everyone in the UK has reasonable access to post office counter services. The Government are making a substantial contribution to the costs of automating the counters network to strengthen the viability of the network in the longer term and the Performance and Innovation Unit in the Cabinet Office is carrying out an urgent study on the post office network. Various rate relief schemes apply to many rural post offices.

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices have closed in each parliamentary constituency in Scotland in each of the last five years. [102688]

Mr. Alan Johnson: I understand from the Post Office that historic information on the number of post office closures in each parliamentary constituency is not held and cannot be readily compiled. The number of post offices closed in Scotland in 1998-99 was 21.

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices there were in each Scottish parliamentary constituency in each of the last five years. [102687]

Mr. Alan Johnson: I understand from the Post Office that historic information on the number of post offices in each parliamentary constituency is not held and cannot be

20 Dec 1999 : Column: 382W

readily compiled. They have supplied the numbers of post offices in each Scottish parliamentary constituency as at October 1999 and these are set out as follows:

Constituency	Number of post offices
Aberdeen Central	17
Aberdeen North	12
Aberdeen South	17
Airdrie and Shotts	21
Angus	24
Argyll and Bute	88
Ayr	19
Banff and Buchan	40
Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross	53
Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley	39
Central Fife	20
Clydebank and Milngavie	11
Clydesdale	31
Coatbridge and Chryston	18
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	13
Cunninghame North	27
Cunninghame South	14
Dumbarton	30
Dumfries	45
Dundee East	18
Dundee West	13
Dunfermline East	25
Dunfermline West	25
East Kilbride	12
East Lothian	28
Eastwood	16
Edinburgh Central	20
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	21
Edinburgh North and Leith	22
Edinburgh Pentlands	16
Edinburgh South	17
Edinburgh West	22
Falkirk East	22
Falkirk West	23
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	59
Glasgow Anniesland	14
Glasgow Baillieston	13
Glasgow Cathcart	13
Glasgow Govan	16
Glasgow Kelvin	23
Glasgow Maryhill	11
Glasgow Pollock	14
Glasgow Rutherglen	16
Glasgow Shettleston	11
Glasgow Springburn	18
Gordon	37
Greenock and Inverclyde	19
Hamilton North and Bellshill	14
Hamilton South	10
Inverness East Nairn and Lochaber	59
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	20
Kirkcaldy	21
Linlithgow	16
Livingston	22
Midlothian	22
Moray	37
Motherwell and Wishaw	17
North East Fife	35
North Tayside	50
Ochil	24
Orkney and Shetland	74
Paisley North	15
Paisley South	17
Perth	31
Ross Skye and Inverness West	84
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	42
Stirling	37
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	17
Tweeddale Ettrick and Lauderdale	32
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	45
West Renfrewshire	17
Western Isles	68

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Industrial Relations Act 1999

Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the implementation of the Industrial Relations Act 1999. [102761]

Mr. Alan Johnson: Work is continuing on the implementation process described in the answer which I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Rooney) on 21 October 1999, Official Report, column 613W.

In particular, the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations (SI 1999/3312) have come into force, on 15 December, together with the new rights to time off for dependants.

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We have also advertised appointments to the Central Arbitration Committee, the new members of which are expected to be in place in time for the introduction of the new statutory recognition procedures shortly after Easter.

Oil Pollution

Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the oil pollution incidents in the Irish Sea from March to the present, stating the date and the size of the incident, the name of the company which reported it and the name of the company which was responsible for the spill. [102590]

Mrs. Liddell: The information relating to oil spill incidents in the Irish Sea Basin, reported to the Department of Trade and Industry, from March to the present date is as follows:

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Date	Operator	Reported by:	Report on third party (15)	Amount (tonnes)
2 March 1999	BHP	Operator	--	1.0000
6 March 1999	BHP	Operator	--	1.0000
9 March 1999	BHP	Operator	--	Unknown
13 March 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.1500
21 March 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	Unknown
25 March 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	0.0045
6 April 1999	BHP	Haliburton	Yes	4.0000
7 April 1999	BG	Operator	--	0.0039
11 April 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	Unknown
12 April 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	0.2500
26 April 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0005
8 May 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	2.0000
13 June 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0001
2 July 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0005
3 July 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0005
12 July 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0000
17 July 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	Unknown
25 July 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	0.5000
3 August 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	0.0005
13 August 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0005
14 August 1999	BG	Operator	--	0.0119
16 September 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0005
29 September 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.2500
29 October 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0005
3 November 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	0.0005
4 November 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0002
13 November 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	0.0005
21 November 1999	BHP	Operator	Yes	0.5000
4 December 1999	BHP	Operator	--	0.0002

(15) Report on third party indicates that the operator reporting was not responsible for the spill incident.

20 Dec 1999 : Column: 383W

SCOTLAND

Departmental Transport

Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what motor mileage allowance rates his Department offers to (a) ministers and (b) civil servants using their own vehicles for official business; and what has been the cost of each in each of the last five years. [98708]

Dr. Reid: The information requested for the Scotland Office is set out in the table. Ministers, when travelling on official business, may use a private car instead of an official car, and claim mileage allowance in the same circumstances and on the same terms as civil servants. Expenditure relating to mileage allowance is shown from 1 December 1997. Prior to this the information could not

20 Dec 1999 : Column: 384W

be disaggregated from other expenditure on travel and accommodation without disproportionate costs in staff time. From 1 December 1997 to 31 March 1998 expenditure (rounded to the nearest £000) was £162,000. For the year 1998-99 expenditure was £561,000.

Year	Motor mileage allowance per mile
1994-95	32p
1995-96	32p
1996-97	32p
1997-98	33p
1998-99	34p

For official mileage above 7,499 miles in the income tax year a personal income tax liability occurs.

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Dr. Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how much his Department has spent on ministerial transport in each of the last two years; [98706]

(2) how much his Department has spent on civil servants' transport in each of the last two years. [98707]

Dr. Reid: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office on 1 December 1999, Official Report, column 255W, detailing Government Car Service costs in each of the past two years. In addition to these costs private car hire costs for Scotland Office Ministers were £25,000 in 1997-98 and £45,000 in 1998-99 respectively.

The estimated total expenditure on Scotland Office civil servants' transport was £3,916,000 in 1997-98 and £3,126,000 in 1998-99. All travel undertaken by civil servants complies with the requirements of the Civil Service Management Code.

Most of this expenditure relates to functions which, since 1 July, have been transferred to the Scottish Executive.

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