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Employment Agencies
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by what means recruitment companies will be advised of proposed changes to regulations relating to the industry to be introduced in the next five years. [2861]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 11 July 2001]: The Department makes information on changes to regulations available on its website, www.dti.gov.uk, and is also in regular contact with the main recruitment industry bodies.
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment she has made of the impact on smaller recruitment companies of the proposed new regulations contained in the draft Employment Agencies Bill; [2859]
- (2) what steps she is taking to ensure that smaller private recruitment companies are not financially disadvantaged by the proposals in the temporary agency work directives. [2856]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 11 July 2001]: A regulatory impact assessment on the proposed new employment agency regulations has been produced and published on my Department's website. This considers the impact on small firms, and concludes that the proposed changes affect small and large firms equally.
A draft European directive on temporary agency work is expected to be issued by the European Commission in the autumn. The Government will work to ensure that any
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such proposal supports the promotion of employment and does not reduce labour market flexibility or restrict the activities of recruitment companies whatever their size.
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the definition of quarantine period is in the draft Employment Agencies Bill regulations; and if she will set out the reasons for proposing this measure. [2857]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 11 July 2001]: "Quarantine period" is a term used (though not in the regulations themselves) to describe the period following the ending of a hiring during which conditions (such as payment of a transfer fee) may be imposed when a temporary worker takes up permanent employment with the hirer or some other person. Under the current draft regulations, this period is 14 weeks from the start of the hire or eight weeks from the end, whichever is the later, where permanent employment is taken up with the hirer. Where the worker takes up work with another person (including another agency) the period is four weeks from the end of the hire. The Government believe that onerous restrictions on transfers, such as high transfer fees, restrict labour market flexibility and competition, and act as a disincentive to workers taking up permanent employment. The use of a "quarantine period" was suggested by the recruitment industry, as an alternative to restrictions on transfer fees as such.
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to reintroduce licensing and the monitoring of the work of private recruitment agencies; and if she will make a statement. [2860]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 11 July 2001]: The Government have no plans to reintroduce licensing of recruitment agencies. They are monitored by my Department's employment agency standards inspectorate, which receives approximately 12,000 calls a year, and carries out full investigations in 1,200 cases. This ensures that resources are targeted on the relatively small number of agencies who break the rules or exploit clients or workers.
Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the prospects for small private recruitment companies over the next five years. [2858]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 11 July 2001]: The recruitment industry—a large part of which consists of small companies—is an important and successful part of the labour market, as shown by recent growth in turnover of 28 per cent. a year, and we expect it to continue to thrive.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list, by source, the targets for renewable energy by (a) 2003, (b) 2005 and (c) 2010; and if she will make a statement. [2517]
Mr. Wilson: The Government have proposed targets of obtaining 5 per cent. of our electricity from renewable sources by 2003 and 10 per cent. by 2010, subject to the cost to consumers being acceptable. No target has been set for 2005.
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We are very reliant on the old support mechanism, the non-fossil fuel obligation, for the deployment of renewables up to 2003. The new renewables obligation will be the main driver towards achieving our 2010 target.
The renewables obligation is a market-led approach and we will not be specifying percentage targets to be achieved by particular renewable energy technologies. By 2010, however, we envisage strong contributions from offshore wind and energy crops as well as from more established technologies.
Trawlermen (Compensation)
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications there have been for compensation from former Icelandic waters trawlermen which have been (a) successful, (b) unsuccessful, (c) put on hold and (d) which are pending a decision for each region and nation of the UK. [3902]
Nigel Griffiths: At 6 July 2001, 1,710 claims made under the compensation scheme had received payments. Some 3,344 claims had been assessed as unsuccessful, 905 were on hold pending consideration of representations that there should be changes in the rules for those who continued fishing on former Icelandic water trawlers after 1979 and work was in progress on a further 2,016 claims. The following table gives a breakdown of successful claims by area. There are no corresponding figures for unsuccessful and other claims.
| Area | Number of successful claims |
|---|---|
| Hull | 848 |
| Grimsby | 206 |
| Fleetwood | 174 |
| Blackpool | 27 |
| Cleethorpes | 53 |
| Newcastle | 151 |
| West Yorkshire | 86 |
| Aberdeen | 19 |
| All others | 146 |
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from fishermen from the north and north-east of Scotland about compensation awards made to former Icelandic waters trawlermen from Scotland. [3903]
Nigel Griffiths: I have received numerous pieces of correspondence from former fishermen from the north and north-east of Scotland in connection with claims under the Government's compensation scheme for former Icelandic water trawlermen.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the appeals procedure is for former Icelandic waters trawlermen who have their requests for compensation rejected; and what the success rate is for such appeals for each nation and region of the UK. [3907]
Nigel Griffiths: Any former trawlerman whose claim is either rejected, or who considers that the amount of compensation received is incorrect, can apply, in the first instance, to the assistant director of the employment relations directorate responsible for the operation of the
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scheme for a review of the decision. If he is still not satisfied with the outcome, he can appeal to the independent adjudicator appointed for the scheme.
Ten appeals have been submitted to the independent adjudicator so far. One has been upheld, four disallowed and five are still under consideration. All are from the north-east. None of the appeals dealt with so far by the independent adjudicator has been from Scotland or Wales.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what estimate she has made of the number of former Icelandic waters trawlermen who are eligible for compensation but who have not yet applied from each region and nation of the UK; [3904]
- (2) what assessment she has made of the geographical distribution of applications from former Icelandic waters trawlermen; and what steps she will take to encourage applications from all parts of the UK. [3905]
Nigel Griffiths: The compensation scheme for former Icelandic water trawlermen has been well publicised in the main port areas throughout the United Kingdom through the port MPs and the British fishermen's associations. Payments under the scheme are available by area, but there is no similar analysis of all applications.
As a result of the widespread publicity, I believe that most former trawlermen who are eligible for compensation under the scheme have already submitted claims. Applications can be submitted until 1 October 2002.
Irish Sea (Pollution)
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the pollution incidents involving discharges above 0.01 tonnes in the Irish Sea since 9 January to the present, indicating the date, size of incident, name of company reporting the spill and the name of the company responsible in each case. [2923]
Mr. Wilson [holding answer 9 July 2001]: The information relating to oil spill incidents in the Irish sea basin, reported to the Department of Trade and Industry, from 9 January 2001 to the present date is as follows:
- Date: 4 February 2001
- Amount (tonnes): 0.1
- Reported by: BHP
- Company responsible: BHP.
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