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TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Monument Oil
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department has had with representatives of Monument Oil in the last 12 months. [20239]
Mr. Wilson: None. Monument Oil was taken over by Lasmo in 1999 and Lasmo have themselves since been taken over by Eni.
Correspondence
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many and what proportion of letters received by her Department between 20 June and 20 July were replied to (a) in under 15, (b) in under 20, (c) in under 30, (d) in under 40 and (e) in over 40 working days. [18596]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 3 December 2001]: Information on the volume of correspondence from Members of Parliament received by ministerial agency chief executives, and Departments and agencies and performance in handling them is published annually by the Cabinet Office. The most recent report, covering 2000, was announced by the then Minister for the Cabinet Office on 6 April 2001, Official Report, column 325W.
Figures broken down in percentages of replies within each of the specified timescales are unavailable, however my Department monitors its performance annually by
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sample for all correspondence (excluding ministerial) against the Whitehall standard "to answer all correspondence within 15 working days". The latest figure available is for 2000–01 when the department answered 95 per cent. of correspondence within this target. The volume of correspondence was estimated to be 81,726.
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many, and what proportion of letters received by the Department from right hon. and hon. Members between 20 June and 20 July were replied to in (a) under 15, (b) under 20, (c) under 30, (d) under 40 and (e) over 40 working days. [22007]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 10 December 2001]: 936 letters were received by this Department from right hon. and hon. Members between 20 June and 20 July. The proportion of letters replied to in (a) under 15, (b) under 20, (c) under 30, (d) under 40 and (e) over 40 working days were as follows:
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| Under 15 | 65.96 |
| Under 20 | 71.61 |
| Under 30 | 84.04 |
| Under 40 | 89.41 |
| Over 40 | 100 |
Manufacturing Advisory Service
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many local firms are involved in the Manufacturing Advisory Service in Portsmouth, South. [21795]
Nigel Griffiths: The Manufacturing Advisory Service will be formally launched in spring 2002.
In October this year, SEEDA (South East England Development Agency) awarded a three-year contract to the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) (South) to establish a regional centre for manufacturing excellence (RCME). The RCME will be responsible for delivering the MAS in the south-east, forming a strong partnership with the six Business Links in the south-east region. A full-time MAS professional manufacturing consultant will be attached to each of the Business Links to provide a range of information, advice, diagnostic and manufacturing consultancy support to businesses in the south-east.
Combined Heat and Power
Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many combined heat and power schemes are under construction. [22331]
Mr. Wilson: Information on the number of schemes under construction is not readily available. However, in the "Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2001", chapter 6, details are given of schemes that had received consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 and section 14 of the Energy Act 1976 but were not in commercial operation at the time of publication. Only schemes over 10 MWe need consent from the Secretary of State. The information will be updated in July 2002. It
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is understood that a large portion of consented capacity is not likely to proceed at the present time, or may be built, but will be much smaller than the consented capacity.
Law of the Sea
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if she plans to consult the (a) Executive of the National Assembly for Wales, (b) Scottish Executive and (c) Executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly prior to the Government's submission to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea by 17 December; [21800]
- (2) what plans she has for discussions with the (a) Executive of the National Assembly of Wales, (b) Scottish Executive, (c) Executive of the Northern Ireland Assembly, (d) Government of Iceland, (e) Government of Norway and (f) Government of the Irish Republic following the decision of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea on MOX; [21790]
(3) which parties she plans to consult prior to the UK Government's submission to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea on 17 December. [21801]
Mr. Wilson: The International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea has prescribed the following provisional measure:
- "Ireland and the UK shall co-operate and shall, for this purpose, enter into consultations forthwith in order to:
(a) Exchange further information with regard to possible consequences for the Irish Sea arising out of the commissioning of the MOX plant;
- (b) Monitor risks or the effects of the operation of the MOX plant for the Irish Sea;
- (c) Devise, as appropriate, measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment which might result from the operation of the MOX plant."
On 17 December, the Government submitted their initial report to ITLOS setting out the steps the UK has taken and which it proposes to take in order to comply with the provisional measure. A copy was sent to the Government of Ireland. I have placed a copy of that report in the Libraries of the House.
The provisional measure relates to co-operation and exchange of information between the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom. There is no intention at this stage to consult others on the question of compliance with it.
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the documentation Her Majesty's Government plans to exchange with the Government of the Republic of Ireland on Sellafield as a result of the ruling of the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea of 3 December; and if she will place in the Library copies of all documents made available to Ireland following the ITLOS adjudication. [22842]
Mr. Wilson: The International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has prescribed the following provisional measure:
- "Ireland and the UK shall co-operate and shall, for this purpose, enter into consultations forthwith in order to:
(a) Exchange further information with regard to possible consequences for the Irish Sea arising out of the commissioning of the MOX plant;l
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- (b) Monitor risks or the effects of the operation of the MOX plant for the Irish Sea;
(c) Devise, as appropriate, measures to prevent pollution of the marine environment which might result from the operation of the MOX plant"
Business Grants (Buckingham)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many companies in the constituency of Buckingham have received funding from (a) Smart, (b) the Phoenix Fund, (c) the Enterprise Fund, (d) the Regional Venture Capital Scheme, (e) the Incubator Fund, (f) Carbon Trust, (g) the Regional Innovation Fund and (h) the Innovative Clusters Fund in the last 12 months; and what the total level of funding received from each scheme was. [22526]
Nigel Griffiths: (a) There is one current Smart project, which started in 1999 with a value of £308,000, and one new Smart award with a value of £45,000 was awarded in 2001.
- (b) None. The Phoenix development fund seeks to promote innovative approaches to business support in deprived areas. It does not provide funding to individual businesses.
- (c) The Enterprise Fund is the generic name for a number of programmes, including the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme and The UK High Technology Fund, designed to improve small businesses access to finance. Funding is not provided directly to businesses, but through intermediaries, as a result, companies in Buckingham benefiting directly from funding from the Enterprise Fund cannot be identified.
- (d) The Regional Venture Capital Fund, as it is not yet operational in the South East region.
- (e) None. This is a new initiative providing funding to establish incubator support. It does not provide funding to individual businesses.
- (f) None. This is a new initiative, which will soon provide support to businesses. It does not provide funding to individual businesses.
- (g) The constituency of Buckingham falls within the region covered by SEEDA which has been allocated RIF funding of £3.2 million in 2001–02.
- (h) The ICF operated during 2000–01 during which time SEEDA was allocated £1.66 million of funding.
RIF and the now defunct ICF are not typical centrally administered DTI schemes. No funding goes directly from DTI to any companies. Both are funding streams provided to the Regional Development Agencies, which are non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs).
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