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Writers Copyright

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what steps he is taking to ensure an equitable return to writers for the re-use of their work; [150543]

(2) what representations he has made to the European Commission regarding provisions in the draft copyright directive affecting the interest of writers in the re-use of their material by broadcasters. [150542]

Dr. Howells: The Council of Ministers reached a common position on this draft directive last September on the basis of a text which we fully support and which was also endorsed by the Commission. This does not contain any provision addressing re-use of material by broadcasters, but the directive is currently undergoing its Second Reading in the European Parliament, where an amendment has been proposed which would permit member states to provide an exception to rights allowing broadcasters to use archive material in new services without right owners' consent, provided they receive remuneration. We do not consider this amendment appropriate or desirable, and we believe that writers and other right owners should continue to be able to exercise their rights to control re-use of their material in order that they can obtain a fair return for this. The Council has also to agree on the content of the directive before it can be finally adopted.

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Objective 1

Mr. Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the four European objective 1 regional programme delivery bodies. [149005]

Mr. Caborn: Neither my right hon. Friend nor I has received any recent request to meet representatives of the objective 1 delivery bodies. However, our Department is in touch with the English objective 1 regions through the Government offices and regional development agencies, and also liaises with the devolved Administrations.

Public Relations (Expenditure)

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total expenditure and the breakdown of expenditure was in his Department for the financial years (a) 1996-97, (b) 1997-98, (c) 1998-99 and (d) 1999-2000, and what the planned expenditure and breakdown of expenditure for 2000-01 is on (i) public opinion research, (ii) television, radio and newspaper advertising and (iii) direct mail. [149266]

Mr. Byers [holding answer 8 February 2001]: The information is as follows:

Direct mail expenditure excluding postage through COI

	£ (ex VAT)
Financial year	Amount
1997-98	19,081.00
1998-99	34,628.00
1999-2000	(43)150,018.66
2000-01	6,375.00

⁽⁴³⁾ Includes costs of £119,831.66 for direct mail campaigns to promote export awareness of information technology among small businesses

⁽⁴⁴⁾ As up to 31 January 2001

Direct mail costs were not separately identified before 1997-98.

It is not possible to identify a separate figure for public opinion research.

Television, radio and newspaper advertising through COI

			£ (ex VAT)
Period	TV(45)	Radio	Press
1996-97	--	477,697.00	1,190,332.00
1997-98	--	320,319.00	1,987,233.00
1998-99	--	136,613.00	2,008,075.00
1999-2000	15,250.00	242,166.00	842,027.00
2000-01(46)	1,919,559.00	792,044.00	2,147,097.00

⁽⁴⁵⁾ All TV advertising relates to the National Minimum Wage campaign

⁽⁴⁶⁾ As up to 31 January 2001

Departmental Expenditure Limit

Ms Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what changes will be made to the Departmental Expenditure Limit and Running Costs Limit for his Department, British Trade International and the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets. [151104]

Mr. Byers: Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimates, the voted element of the Departmental Expenditure Limit for the Department of Trade and Industry will be increased by £92,052,000

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from £3,591,516,000 to £3,683,568,000. In addition, the gross Running Costs Limit will be increased by £771,000 from £412,915,000 to £413,686,000.

The net provision of Class IX, Vote 1, which falls within the Departmental Expenditure Limit, will be increased by £62,751,000, which results from:

(i) the take up of end year flexibility of £70,498,000 comprising £8,000,000 for capital expenditure and £62,498,000 for current expenditure, of which £45,340,000 will be added to the provisions for Coal Operating Subsidy, £9,000,000 for Employment Relations, £8,000,000 for Regional Selective Assistance, £5,000,000 for the Regional Development Agencies, £1,750,000 for Invest UK and Aid in Yugoslavia, and £1,408,000 for consultancy advice on implementing the Postal Services Act;

(ii) the transfer of £1,583,000 in running costs and £190,000 in capital expenditure provision from the Department of Trade and Industry's Science Vote (Class IX, Vote 2);

(iii) the transfer of £700,000 in gross provision from British Trade International (Class IX, Vote 4) in respect of the expenditure of Simpler Trade Procedures Board (SITPRO);

(iv) the transfer of £105,000 in running costs from MAFF (Class X, Vote 2) for the administration of the Farm Business Advice Service;

(v) the transfer of £8,000,000 to Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Class III, Vote 1) to enable Advantage West Midlands to take forward work in connection with the Rover Task Force;

(vi) the transfer of £1,750,000 to British Trade International (Class IX, Vote 4) for claims for additional expenditure for Invest UK and for assistance to Yugoslavia;

(vii) the transfer of £500,000 to Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Class III, Vote 3) in respect of the Fuel Poverty Scheme;

(viii) the transfer of £75,000 to the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Class IX, Vote 10) to cover the costs for implementing the Climate Change Levy exemption for electricity from renewable sources during this financial year;

(ix) an increase of £1,257,000 in running costs and capital expenditure provision in respect of expenditure incurred on behalf of the Postal Services Commission before 6 November 2000, offset by an equivalent amount in appropriations in aid;

(x) an increase of £2,097,000 in the gross expenditure provision, which is offset by an equivalent increase in appropriations in aid which relates to increased lease fees paid by the Department on capital assets and an increase in the sales of scientific equipment to Royal Bank Ltd.;

(xi) other minor movements within and between Sections of the Vote.

The net provision of Class IX, Vote 2, which falls within the Departmental Expenditure Limit, will be increased by £1,000, which results from:

(i) the take up of end year flexibility of £1,774,000 in current expenditure, which is offset by the transfer of £1,583,000 of running cost and £190,000 of capital expenditure from Sections I and J to the Department of Trade and Industry's Programmes and Administration Vote (Class IX, Vote 1);

(ii) increases in provision of £11,071,000 for Section K (Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council); £3,900,000 for Section O (Natural Environment Research Council); £3,900,000 for Section S (Science Enterprise Challenge Scheme). These increases are offset by reductions in provision for Section F (University Challenge Fund); Section G (Synchrotron Radiation Source); and Section H (Cambridge/Massachusetts Institute of Technology);

(iii) further minor movements of programme provision between Vote Sections.

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In addition, the Departmental Expenditure Limit of the Department of Trade and Industry will be increased by a further £29,300,000 through take up of part of the EYF entitlement of £147,680,000 announced for European Structural Funds expenditure for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions in Table 7 of the Public Expenditure Outturn White Paper Cm 4812 published on 18 July 2000. This will meet DTI's share of the additional expenditure now forecast for 2000-01 on projects funded from the European Regional Development Fund.

Also, subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Departmental Expenditure Limit for British Trade International, Class IX, Vote 4, will be increased by £1,050,000 from £85,643,000 to £86,693,000. This gives effect to the following changes of provision relating to

(i) the transfer of £700,000 in gross provision to the Department of Trade and Industry (Class IX, Vote 1) in respect of the expenditure of the Simpler Trade Procedures Board (SITPRO);

(ii) the transfer of £1,750,000 from the Department of Trade and Industry (Class IX, Vote 1) for claims for additional expenditure for Invest UK (formerly the Invest in Britain Bureau) and to provide assistance to Yugoslavia via the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Task Force.

In addition, subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Departmental Expenditure Limit for the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), Class IV, Vote 1) to fund work on the Climate Change Levy. Ofgem is also reflecting in its spring Supplementary Estimate, the transfer of functions, assets and liabilities from the Director General of Gas Supply and the Director General of Electricity Supply to the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, under the provisions of the Utilities Act 2000. Provision is also made for payments to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in respect of the creation of the authority, and the transfer of responsibility for the Electricity Consumer Committees to Energywatch, which is funded from DTI's Programmes and Administration Vote (Class IX Vote 1).

All of the increases will either be offset by transfer or charged to the reserve and will not therefore add to the planned total of public expenditure.

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