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Digital Television
Mr. Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to require manufacturers of television sets to indicate on the sets that they are capable of receiving digital television. [141623]
Ms Hewitt: Consumers should be able to make an informed choice between purchasing an integrated digital television set and an analogue television set that requires a set top box to receive and decode digital signals. The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 prohibits the false or misleading descriptions of products, whether by means of a label or any other means, such as an oral statement.
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Therefore, it would be an offence to describe a television set falsely, and if there are occasions when traders are misleading consumers by describing analogue TVs as digital, I would urge consumers to take the matter up with their local trading standards office. My Department has contacted the Local Authorities Co-ordinating Body on Food and Trading Standards (LACOTS) to establish the nature and extent of any problem in this area.
Exports (Israel)
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which Open General Export Licences covering the export of goods on the Military List do not include Israel as a permitted destination. [142238]
Dr. Howells: Open General Export Licences (OGELs) allow the export of specified controlled goods by any company, removing the need for exporters to apply for an individual licence, provided the shipment and destinations are eligible and the conditions are met.
At present, Israel is not a permitted destination on the following two OGELs covering the export of goods on the Military List:
- (i) Military components, and,
- (ii) Accompanied personal effects: sporting guns.
Copies of all OGELs are placed in the Library of the House.
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of the outstanding applications for Standard Individual Export Licence and Open Individual Export Licence outstanding at 16 November covering the export to Government or commercial consignees or end-users in Israel have been waiting for longer than six months for determination. [142237]
Dr. Howells: On 16 November, 77 applications for a Standard Individual Export Licence (SIEL) covering the export of goods on the military list to Government or commercial consignees or end-users in Israel were awaiting a decision. Of these 77 applications, three had been outstanding for more than six months.
On the same date, 27 applications for an Open Individual Export Licence (OIEL) covering the export of specified goods to a number of specified destinations, including Israel, were awaiting a decision. Of these 27 applications, 14 had been outstanding for more than six months. It should be noted that because of the potentially wide variation in the goods and country coverage of OIELs it is to be expected that these cases will take longer to process than SIELs.
Competitive Tendering
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many contracts have been underwritten by the ECGD via competitive tendering in each of the last 10 years. [142215]
Mr. Caborn: ECGD does not maintain information on the tender process as part of its business records and as such cannot quantify the number of contracts which it has supported over the last 10 years which have been won via competitive tendering.
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The total number of contracts supported by ECGD in each of the last 10 years is set out in the following table.
| Years | Number |
|---|---|
| 1991-92 | 78 |
| 1992-93 | 139 |
| 1993-94 | 138 |
| 1994-95 | 225 |
| 1995-96 | 170 |
| 1996-97 | 185 |
| 1997-98 | 117 |
| 1998-99 | 107 |
| 1999-2000 | 110 |
| 2000-01(2) | 68 |
(2) To 30 November
HIV/AIDS
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, at the World Trade Organisation under the terms of the TRIPS, he will support the use of compulsory licences to reduce the price of drugs to treat HIV/AIDS and related infections. [141744]
Mr. Caborn: This Government support the inclusion of compulsory licensing provisions in TRIPs as a safeguard against abuses of intellectual property rights and as an incentive for pharmaceutical research and development. Access to medicines depends on more than intellectual property rights and drug pricing; a range of other factors, including adequate health care infrastructure, are at least as important.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has made to the South African Government about their proposals to allow the generic substitution of drugs to reduce the cost of treatment for HIV/AIDS and other diseases. [141747]
Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and I have had contacts with the South African Government aimed at supporting a partnership approach with the pharmaceutical industry to provide greater access to effective treatment for HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The South African Government has underlined its commitment to improve health care provision for all its people, while respecting its international obligations on intellectual property.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has made to Glaxo-Wellcome and Smith-Kline on the generic substitution of drugs for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and other diseases in South Africa. [141745]
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Mr. Caborn: I have discussed a wide range of issues with the pharmaceutical industry. I visited Glaxo Wellcome before my recent visit to South Africa. I welcome their commitment to work with the South African Government to improve access to medicines in general and treatments for HIV/AIDS in particular.
Mr. Worthington: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations he has received supporting the right of Southern African countries to use parallel importing and compulsory licensing to widen access to HIV/AIDS medicines. [141746]
Mr. Caborn: I have received letters from UK organisations and members of the public expressing concern about access to affordable medicines in Southern Africa. I believe that the best means of enabling this is through partnerships such as the UNAIDS Accelerating Access Initiative which involves the pharmaceutical companies working together with African Governments to provide therapies at substantially reduced cost.
Local Loop Unbundling
Mr. Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what provisions he is putting in place to ensure the benefits of local loop unbundling are extended to all areas. [141665]
Ms Hewitt: Local loop unbundling will allow operators to apply for space in any of BT's exchanges. The obligation to allow access to its local loop and to provide co-location at its exchanges applies also to Kingston Communications.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
School Funds
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many schools made requests to parents for additional financial support towards school funds in 1999; and if he will make a statement. [141942]
Ms Estelle Morris: The information is not held centrally.
Teachers
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teaching vacancies there were in (i) 1998-99 and (ii) 1999-2000, by (A) constituency and (B) education authority. [141944]
Ms Estelle Morris: Vacancy data for parliamentary constituencies are not held centrally. The number of vacancies for qualified teachers is as follows:
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The number of regular teachers in maintained schools increased by 6,900 between January 1998 and January 2000.
A DfEE survey of maintained secondary schools in England in the first week of September 2000 indicated that there were about 1,000 secondary teacher vacancies. There was a growth of 2,000 in the number of people training to be teachers between 1999-2000 and 2000-01, the first such increase since 1992-93.
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many new teachers he expects will qualify in 2000. [141946]
Ms Estelle Morris: Since 1 January 2000, 22,900 people have been awarded Qualified Teacher Status in England.
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