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Consignia

Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Consignia staff are employed at the Nine Elms Royal Mail sorting office; and what plans she has for the future of this sorting office. [14953]

Mr. Alexander: As an operational issue, plans for the future of the Nine Elms site are a matter for Consignia.

Consignia have informed me that some 3,000 staff are employed at the Nine Elms site of which approximately 1,500 are employed on mail processing.

19 Nov 2001 : Column: 5W

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she has taken to encourage Consignia to make greater use of rail freight for mail deliveries. [15027]

Mr. Alexander: This is an operational issue for Consignia.

I have been informed that the company is currently undertaking a review of its countrywide road, rail and air transport links as part of plans to reshape the entire network to meet the demands for faster, cost effective services in the future.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of mail was carried by (a) road and (b) rail in each of the last five years. [15026]

Mr. Alexander: This is an operational issue for Consignia.

Consignia has informed me that, for each of the last five years prior to the Hatfield rail disaster in October 2000, 20 per cent. of mail was carried by train, 5 per cent. by air and the remaining 75 per cent. by road; and that figures since October 2000 are not available.

Consumer Councils

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total costs were for operating (a) the National Consumer Council, and (b) the Scottish Consumer Council in (i) 1996–97, (ii) 1997–98, (iii) 1998–99 and (iv) 1999–2000. [15545]

Ms Hewitt: The total expenditure of the National Consumer Council was, in:

Year	£ million
1996–97	3.306
1997–98	2.976
1998–99	3.029
1999–2000	3.29

This included the expenditure of the SCC which, for the same period, was:

Year	£
1996–97	464,993
1997–98	601,168
1998–99	679,365
1999–2000	761,132

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the salaries are of (a) the chairman and members of the National Consumer Council, and (b) the chairman and members of the Scottish Consumer Council. [15546]

Ms Hewitt: The chairman and board of the NCC and the SCC are public appointees. The salary of the chairman of the NCC is £30,900 per annum and the salaries of the NCC members are £10,000 per annum. The salary of the chairman of the SCC is £15,450 per annum. The members are unpaid, but receive an attendance allowance of £87 per day.

19 Nov 2001 : Column: 6W

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the salaries are of the chief executive of the (a) National Consumer Council and (b) Scottish Consumer Council. [15547]

Ms Hewitt: The salary of the director or chief executive of the National Consumer Council is given in the annual report. It is currently set at £61,498 per annum. The director of the SCC is an employee of the NCC. The individual salaries of NCC employees are not in the public domain.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement about the role of the Scottish Consumer Council since 1999. [15630]

Ms Hewitt: The role of the Scottish Consumer Council (SCC) (an independent sub-committee of the National Consumer Council (NCC)) is to make all Scottish consumers matter by ensuring that all consumer interests, particularly those of disadvantaged groups, are heard by people who can make a difference in business, the public sector and in Government.

Solicitors' Costs

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total solicitors' costs to her Department was of the action of the right hon. Member for Tyneside North (Mr. Byers) against Associated Newspapers and Simon and Schuster. [16391]

Ms Hewitt: The total solicitors' bill was £20,385.

Departmental Staff

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employees of (a) her Department and (b) agencies sponsored by her Department work in (i) London, (ii) areas benefiting from EU Objective 1 status, (iii) areas with Objective 2 status and (iv) other areas. [16110]

Alan Johnson: The information is as follows:

Employees in	Department	Agencies	Total
London	3,529	1,646	5,175
Objective 1 areas	1	219	220
Transitional objective 1 areas	0	6	6
Objective 2 areas	543	1,692	2,235
Transitional objective 2 areas	0	35	35
Other areas	198	651	849

Departmental Publications

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many publications were issued by her Department in each of the last four years. [11841]

19 Nov 2001 : Column: 7W

Ms Hewitt: The number of publications notified to the Department's Publications Unit during the last four calendar years were:

1998: 802

1999: 919

2000: 967

2001: 771 (to date).

Aviation Industry

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has (a) to underwrite insurance premiums and (b) to seek suspension of the operation of airline passenger duty following the events of 11 September. [15621]

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 16 November 2001]: I have been asked to reply.

The Government set up a temporary replacement insurance scheme for UK and Isle of Man airlines following the withdrawal of commercial cover for third party liabilities in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the US. The scheme underwrites third party, war and terrorism liabilities above $50 million for the majority of airlines for a commercially based premium, but will waive the premium for airlines that choose to buy $100 million of cover on the commercial insurance market. The scheme was extended for 30 days on the 24 October and will now expire at midnight on the 23 November. If it is clear that adequate commercial insurance has not returned to the market, the scheme will again be renewed.

The Chancellor reviews all taxes in the context of his pre-Budget and Budget statements.

Bonus Payments

Barbara Follett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average increase in the earnings index in the 12 month period to February was as a result of bonus payments; and (a) what proportion of that was due to a growth in the financial sector and (b) what proportion of those bonuses went to (i) men and (ii) women. [15726]

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Barbara Follett, dated 19 November 2001:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the average increase in the earnings index (15726).

The rate of growth in the Average Earnings Index for Great Britain in the year to February was 6.8 per cent. Excluding bonus payments, the index showed annual growth of 4.1 per cent. The published "bonus effect" is therefore 2.7 percentage points.

The Financial Intermediation sector contributed approximately 3.0 percentage points to this effect.

Information is not available from the Average Earnings Index by sex.

19 Nov 2001 : Column: 8W

DEFENCE

Alternative Landing Ships Logistic

Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made with placing a contract for the additional two alternative landing ships logistics. [16268]

Mr. Ingram: I am pleased to announce that, further to the announcement made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 26 October last year, Official Report, columns 414–15, the Ministry of Defence has concluded negotiations with BAE Systems Marine and has today placed a contract worth an estimated value of £120 million with the BAE Systems Marine Govan Shipyard on the Clyde to construct two Alternative Landing Ships Logistics. This is in addition to the first two ships in the class which are to be built by Swan Hunter at its Tyneside yard. BAE Systems Marine will build their vessels to Swan's design.

This represents an important enhancement to our Amphibious Capability, as each ALSL has more than twice the carrying capacity of the ships that they will replace. This significantly increases our specialist amphibious lift capacity. The vessels being built by Swan Hunter are due to enter into service in 2004 and 2005. Work at Govan on the further two vessels should commence later this month with a planned in-service date of 2005.

This represents positive news for Clyde shipbuilding and should sustain 600 jobs at the Clyde shipyards and 200 other jobs in the region until the planned Type 45 Destroyer construction commences.

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