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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Renewable Energy

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what additional measures she proposes to promote the construction of (a) wave, (b) solar, (c) hydro electric, (d) wind and (e) other renewable energy sources. [6756]

Mr. Wilson: The Department is taking a wide range of measures to promote the construction and development of renewable energy sources. The new Renewables Obligation and associated Renewables Obligation Scotland will oblige all licensed electricity suppliers in Great Britain to supply a specified and growing proportion of their electricity from renewable sources. The obligation will create a long-term market for renewables which will be worth over £1 billion per year by 2010.

The obligation will be the main mechanism through which we meet our renewables targets, and will be underpinned by direct Government funding worth over £260 million between 2001 and 2004. This will support a number of measures including my Department's £55.5 million R&D programme, and an extensive capital grants programme. An announcement will be made shortly on the detailed allocation of the £100 million for renewables announced by the Prime Minister in March this year.

(a) Wave: it was recently announced that my Department is providing further support to bring our funding for Wavegen's latest wave energy project to almost £1.67 million. This funding will assist with the further development of their new offshore wave energy concept and the construction and testing at sea of a prototype. This substantial funding confirms the Government's commitment to their new wave energy programme.

(b) Solar: in February this year in the Enterprise, Skills and Innovation White Paper, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry announced a major PV demonstration programme. The Department is giving £10 million to the first phase of this programme. The focus of this programme will be on social housing as well as public buildings. Meanwhile we have had two rounds of our Domestic PV Field Trial with a budget of £4 million.

(c) Hydro Electric power generation has played an important part in our overall renewables policy and will continue to do so. My recent announcement that refurbished hydro between 10 and 20 MW will qualify for the obligation is expected to lead to refurbishment of 30 hydroelectric stations and to company investment of over £250 million. This source of electricity will also benefit from the fact that all newly built hydroelectric stations, regardless of size, will receive support from the obligation.

(d) Offshore wind will benefit from a programme of capital grants worth at least £49 million. This will support early deployment of a number of demonstration projects and will provide a bank of knowledge and expertise to maximise the contribution of these two technologies to the UK's 10 per cent. target. We have also recently consulted on the offshore consents process, and plan to bring forward a new "one-stop-shop" approach which should make it easier for project developers to get their projects up and running.

(e) These and other resources could also benefit substantially from the £100 million announced by the Prime Minister earlier this year. In addition, in England, £12 million is available from DEFRA for energy crop planting grants, while the New Opportunities Fund has set aside at least £33 million for capital grants for this technology on a UK-wide basis. At least £3 million will be available to support small scale biomass heat projects. The obligation and associated funding will also

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support deployment of other renewables resources such as tidal power, and the advanced technologies of gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion.

Broadband Telecommunications

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the pricing structure for broadband used by BT and the cable companies. [8103]

Mr. Alexander: British Telecom and the cable companies set broadband prices on a commercial basis. As I have already made clear, they need to be driving these prices down, and demand up, so that more consumers have the opportunity to benefit from fast, always-on, access to the internet. Equally, prices must be set at fair levels. The Director General of Telecommunications has powers under the Competition Act 1998 to act where any company has entered into an anti-competitive agreement or is abusing a dominant position. He also has powers to take action if any licensed operator is not acting in accordance with the terms of its licence.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with BT about introducing broadband; and if she will make a statement. [8100]

Mr. Alexander: Ministers and officials meet BT regularly to discuss BT's role in introducing broadband services across the UK. 60 per cent. of UK households are now connected to a BT ADSL enabled exchange. This represents a significant investment by BT in broadband Britain. I have recently challenged BT to do more to exploit this investment more aggressively so that the benefits of broadband are spread to as wide a market as possible.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what comparable figures for broadband connection she has collated for the United Kingdom's G9 partners. [8102]

Mr. Alexander: As set out in 'UK Online: the broadband future', published in February 2001, international comparisons on broadband are patchy; however, in this strategy document the Office of the E-Envoy committed to undertaking a rolling programme of research.

In addition, the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) published in January 2001 its report on international benchmarking of DSL and cable modem services. This compared the market for these technologies in the UK with that of France, Germany and the US. The study highlights that reliable and consistent data for all the G8 countries are difficult to obtain. However, Oftel will continue this programme of international benchmarking of broadband prices and roll-out.

I am aware that a forthcoming OECD study of the development of broadband access will compare, among other things, the levels of connection in OECD members, which include the G7 countries.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of the United Kingdom has access to broadband; and what forecasts she has made for its future introduction. [8101]

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Mr. Alexander: Availability of broadband services via cable, ADSL or wireless technology stands at around 66 per cent. of consumers and small businesses. The Government, in partnership with industry, are taking a number of measures in order to make the broadband market more extensive and competitive, building on the recent progress in advancing access across the country. However, the broadband market is at an early stage, and any forecasts are liable to be speculative.

Post Office Closures

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) post offices and (b) sub-post offices closed in each of the last 10 years in (i) total and (ii) Greater London. [6765]

Mr. Alexander [holding answer 16 October 2001]: The information requested on total net closures is set out in the table. I understand from the Post Office that historic data on the post office network before the year ending March 2001 are not held on regional basis. For the year ending March 2001, there were 10 net closures in the London region.

As at 31 March	Crown offices	Sub-post offices	Total	Closures in year
1990	1,339	19,532	20,871	159
1991	1,167	19,471	20,638	233
1992	1,019	19,141	20,160	478
1993	917	19,041	19,958	202
1994	800	18,982	19,782	176
1995	699	18,908	19,607	175
1996	653	18,761	19,414	193
1997	606	18,645	19,251	163
1998	601	18,407	19,008	243
1999	600	18,175	18,775	233
2000	598	17,795	18,393	382
2001	597	17,249	17,846	547

I am informed by the Post Office that of the closures of the year ending March 2001, the Post Office designate only four as permanent.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices have closed down in (a) 1997, (b) 1998, (c) 1999, (d) 2000 and (e) 2001. [7700]

Mr. Alexander [holding answer 15 October 2001]: Net closures of post offices in the years 1997 to 2001 were as follows:

Year ending March	Number
1997	163
1998	243
1999	233
2000	382
2001	547

I am informed by the Post Office that of the closures of the year ending March 2001, the Post Office designate only four as permanent.

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