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Oil and Gas Production
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many fallow fields there are in the United Kingdom sector of the North sea and Atlantic ocean which have seen no development over the last ten years; and which company currently holds the licence to develop in each case. [103113]
Mrs. Liddell [holding answer 20 December 1999]: The 108 significant oil and gas discoveries on the UKCS which have not been brought to development and which have been discovered for more than 10 years, are listed in the following table.
Notes:
1. The information in this table is frozen at 31 December 1998.
2. Some of these Significant Discoveries
(1) may now be the subject of Development Plan discussions this year.
Source:
Fallow
(1) Significant
(1) Offshore Discoveries (extract from Appendix 3 of the DTI report: Development of the Oil and Gas Resources of the United Kingdom 1999)
(1) Fallow: Those Significant Discoveries that remain undeveloped for 10 years or more.
(1) Significant Discovery: The description "significant" generally refers to the flow rates achieved in well tests. It does not necessarily indicate the commercial potential of the discovery.
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Business
(Social and Environmental Responsibility)
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures he is undertaking to promote social and environmental responsibility in business. [103302]
Dr. Howells: On support for environmentally responsible business, my Department is continuing to help business reduce waste in the most cost-effective way, with a five-year and £30 million extension to the joint DTI/DETR Environmental Technologies Best Practice Programme. We are helping to overcome market and technical barriers to increased use of recycled materials with an initial £1.4 million programme as the first stage of a planned bigger joint DTI/DETR initiative. We are also helping business develop the "know-how" to incorporate sustainability in products and processes from design stage through the Sustainable Technologies Initiative, worth £7.8 million over three years.
The Joint Environmental Markets Unit is helping UK business win a bigger share of the rapidly growing market for environmental goods and services--$640 billion by 2010.
My Department support socially responsible business in a variety of ways, including encouraging the spread of best practice on socially responsible business practice. Work in this area includes sponsorship of Business in the Community's Awards for Business Excellence which acknowledges examples of excellence among businesses engaged in work with community partnerships. We are also working with Business in the Community on a programme to engage business in work to spread the use of information and communication technologies in the community.
On international trade, we have publicly declared our support for initiatives such as the Ethical Trading Initiative and the FairTrade Mark, and are participating in the current review of the OECD guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.
We have also encouraged socially responsible business through a number of other activities, including improved protection for vulnerable workers and consumers and action to tackle fuel poverty. We have launched a fundamental review of company law which will consider
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the proper purposes of a company and to whom and on what it should report publicly, including social and environmental issues.
The report "Sharing the Nation's Prosperity" outlines the Government's policies on investment, enterprise and innovation to address regional differences in economic and social performance.
Mr. Jim Cunningham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures he is taking to help to raise consumer understanding of mortgage products. [103238]
Dr. Howells:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry raised the quality of information which consumers receive about mortgage products at the summit held with major lenders, consumer groups and regulators on 29 October. Officials will convene a working group next month to look at how mortgage information can be improved. We also published ten key questions consumers should ask to help them choose the best mortgage deal.
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