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Mineshafts

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Minister of State intends to meet with parliamentary colleagues to discuss the Government's response to the Herriot-Watt report on mineshafts. [9348]

Mr. Wilson [holding answer 22 October 2001]: I am pleased to confirm that a meeting with parliamentary colleagues to discuss the Herriot-Watt University report on mineshafts has been arranged for 15 November.

Microsoft

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she has taken to review the implications of (a) US and (b) EU competition policy rulings for Microsoft's operations in the UK, with particular reference to Microsoft's contracts with the Government and their agencies. [10453]

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Miss Melanie Johnson: The implications of the US and EC competition inquiries for Government contracts with Microsoft are being carefully considered.

Car Prices

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the cost of purchasing vehicles in (a) the UK and (b) the rest of Europe; what recent measures have been introduced to reduce the cost of cars in the UK; and what plans she has to take further measures. [10114]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 30 October 2001]: Both the Competition Commission, in its April 2000 monopoly report, and the European Commission, in its six-monthly surveys of prices, report prices in the UK to be significantly higher than in comparable countries in Europe.

The Competition Commission blamed the high prices of cars in the UK on practices associated with the selective and exclusive distribution system used by manufacturers, and allowed under the EC block exemption on vehicle distribution.

The Government's view is that competition is the best safeguard of consumer interests and that the current block exemption is not satisfactory.

The block exemption is due to expire in September 2002 and the European Commission is expected to publish draft proposals for reform around the turn of the year.

Sunset Clauses

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her policy is in respect of the use of sunset clauses in legislation. [11876]

Ms Hewitt: The Government's policy is always to consider whether sunset clauses ought to be included in legislation we bring forward.

Waste Electrical and

Electronic Equipment Directive

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what the estimated cost to British businesses is of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive; [11858]

(2) what assessment she has made of the effects of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. [11860]

Mr. Wilson: The directive is currently in draft form and a full assessment of the costs and effects will not be possible until it is published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

The Department of Trade and Industry submitted a partial Regulatory Impact Assessment on a previous draft of the proposal to the House on 2 October 2000. A copy of this was placed in the Library of the House.

Ineos Chlor Chemicals

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received regarding the future of the Ineos Chlor Chemicals plant in Runcorn; and if she will make a statement. [11762]

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Ms Hewitt: The Department is in discussion with Ineos Chlor about its plans for the future of the Runcorn plant and with other interested parties. I met representatives of Ineos Chlor on 30 October.

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her policy is towards granting Government assistance to the Ineos Chlor Chemicals group; and if she will make a statement. [11763]

Ms Hewitt: The primary mechanism for giving direct financial assistance to companies in the Assisted Areas is Regional Selective Assistance (RSA). Companies have to meet the criteria applicable to the scheme before an offer can be made.

Electricity Supply

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information she has collated on the proportion of electricity supply met by (a) nuclear power, (b) coal-fired generation, (c) gas-fired generation, (d) oil- fired generation and (e) renewables for (i) each member country of the EU, (ii) the USA, (iii) Canada, (iv) Australia, (v) Russia, (vi) India and (vii) China. [11764]

Ms Hewitt: Available information gives the proportion of gross electricity production in each country met from each fuel source. Some of the electricity produced may be exported while some countries may import electricity. The data are the latest available and relate to 1999.

Proportion of each country's gross electricity production met from each energy source

					Percentage
	Nuclear	Coal(1)	Gas(2)	Oil	Renewables(3)
	EU member states
Austria	—	9	14	5	72
Belgium	58	15	23	1	3
Denmark	—	52	23	13	12
Finland	33	21	14	1	31
France	75	6	2	2	15
Germany	31	51	10	1	7
Greece	—	65	8	17	10
Ireland	—	34	32	28	6
Italy	—	11	33	34	22
Luxembourg	—	—	20	—	80
Netherlands	4	25	57	8	6
Portugal	—	35	19	25	21
Spain	28	36	9	12	15
Sweden	47	2	—	2	49
UK	26	29	39	1	5
USA	20	51	16	3	10
Canada	13	19	4	3	61
Australia	—	78	11	1	10
Russia	14	19	43	5	19
India	2	75	6	1	16
China	1	77	1	4	17

⁽¹⁾ Includes hard coal, sub bituminous coal, lignite and peat.

⁽²⁾ Includes natural gas and manufactured gases.

⁽³⁾ Includes geothermal, solar, wind, tide, wave, ocean, hydro and combustible renewables.

Sources:

EU, USA, Canada and Australia—"Electricity Information, 2001" published by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The information for Russia, India, China is taken from the IEA's database.

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Better Regulation Task Force

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she last met the chairman of the better regulation task force. [11829]

Ms Hewitt: I met Lord Haskins on 5 September.

Parliamentary Questions

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the holding answer of 22 October, ref: 2001/664, when the hon. Member for Walsall, North will receive a substantive reply to his question. [12096]

Mr. Wilson: I have answered my hon. Friend's question today, PQ No. 9348.

Fireworks

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what checks are carried out by the Health and Safety Executive prior to the (a) registration and (b) licensing of premises for the storage of fireworks. [11506]

Dr. Whitehead: I have been asked to reply.

HSE licenses all explosives factories and stores holding more than 7,200 kg of fireworks. Stores holding less than 7,200 kg must either be licensed by the local authority or, depending on the quantity held, registered with it.

Where HSE is the licensing authority it considers a range of issues including the nature of the processes, the layout of the site and the construction of the buildings. In particular it will wish to ensure that adequate separation distances are maintained between explosives buildings and other buildings both on and off site. The draft licence is then submitted to the local authority for its assent. HSE will also make an inspection visit before operations start to ensure that the factory or store complies with the licence conditions.

Where the local authority is granting a licence it will normally check on the construction of the store and whether the distance between it and neighbouring inhabited buildings meets the minimum requirements. Registered premises are also subject to legal requirements. However due to the relatively small quantities involved local authorities would not normally undertake checks prior to registration.

DEFENCE

Defence Procurement Agency

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to merge the Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation; and if he will make a statement. [9394]

Mr. Hoon: I have no plans to merge the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) and the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO). Both organisations are recently formed and have clear and distinct responsibilities, as set out in the Strategic Defence Review. The role of the DPA is to procure new equipment capability for the armed forces and to deliver this in accordance with agreed

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parameters for time, cost and performance. The DLO has been established to provide joint logistic support to the armed forces for training and operations, only one element of which is equipment support.

Although I am not considering a merger of the two organisations, the Ministry of Defence continues to explore improvements to the way the DPA and DLO work together on the equipment programme. We are also introducing simpler, common processes and systems to improve interoperability. This is being pursued through a joint steering group set up to manage work under a number of approaches, key among which are finance management, human resources management, through-life management, e-business, key supplier management and common tools for integrated project teams.

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