---

Azerbaijan

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many export credit guarantees were issued to support projects in Azerbaijan in the last year. [33771]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 5 February 2002]: ECGD has issued no guarantee in the last year in support of projects in Azerbaijan.

Private Sponsorship

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the events which have been sponsored by a private organisation in her Department since May 1997 and the names of the sponsoring organisations; and if she will make a statement. [32511]

6 Feb 2002 : Column 968W

Ms Hewitt: Information about events where the Department works with outside organisations is not held centrally, and could not be obtained without disproportionate cost. The Department does not have responsibility for the Office of Government Commerce, Inland Revenue or HM Customs and Excise.

Timeshares

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) whether she plans to revise the Timeshare (Cancellation Notices) Order 1992 and the Timeshare (Repayment of Credit on Cancellation) Order 1992 on which her Department consulted in 2000; [30107]

(2) what discussions her Department has had with the European Commission in the last two years on the effectiveness of current controls on the sale of timeshares and holiday club membership; [30109]

(3) whether she plans to regulate the sale of membership of holiday clubs; and if she will make a statement. [30108]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Officials from the Department and the UK Permanent Representation in Brussels have discussed the timing of review of the timeshare directive with Commission officials on a number of occasions.

The Department launched a consultation on timeshare legislation in April 2000, which invited views on a number of issues including revision of the Timeshare (Cancellation Notices) Order 1992 and the Timeshare (Repayment of Credit on Cancellation) Order 1992 and whether the legislation should be widened to include new products such as holiday clubs.

The consultation was a means of informing the UK input into discussions on the review and raised a number of complex issues, which the Department is considering.

Secondments

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of her Department's officials are seconded to work at (a) Arthur Andersen, (b) Andersen Consulting and (c) Accenture; and how many employees of those firms are seconded to work at her Department. [31698]

Ms Hewitt: None.

Retirement Ages

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the retirement ages that apply to the employees of her Department and its agencies, including how many and which categories of employees are affected by each; and if she will make a statement on her Department's policy on flexible retirement. [32831]

Ms Hewitt: The normal retirement age in my Department is 65 for staff in Band A (covering administrative and support staff). For all other staff (covering staff at range 5—formerly Executive Officer level—and above) the retirement age is 60. At 1 April 2001 there were 1,103 staff in Band A and 3,189 staff above this level.

6 Feb 2002 : Column 969W

Flexible retirement is considered on a case-by-case basis under the criteria laid down by the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme.

I have asked Agency Chief Executives to reply to the hon. Member.

EU Enlargement

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on EU enlargement and prospects for UK business; and what measures have been brought in to assist businesses in dealing with enlargement. [32529]

Miss Melanie Johnson: There is a broad consensus that EU enlargement will benefit the UK economy since it will provide new opportunities for trade and investment. These opportunities will increase as the economies of the EU candidate countries grow and integrate further with those of the existing EU member states.

The DTI and Trade Partners UK have produced information about EU enlargement, aimed at alerting UK businesses and helping them work out the practical consequences and opportunities for them. The DTI's publication "EU Enlargement and the single Market: Opportunities for Business" published in September 2000 provides information about the enlargement process and the details of the candidate markets.

Television

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) integrated digital and (b) analogue television sets have been bought by her Department in each of the last 24 months; and if she will publish the guidance given to officials making decisions on television purchases. [33240]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 4 February 2002]: Parts (a) and (b) of this question could be answered only at disproportionate cost because the information is not held centrally. However, all equipment purchased by the Department must provide value for money and be fit for purpose. In many cases the Department purchases televisions as monitors for the viewing of educational videos and not for the viewing of television broadcasts.

Information about digital television sets is available on the digital television website www.digitaltelevision.gov.uk and the guidance it contains is as relevant to public sector purchasers as to consumers. There is, therefore, no specific guidance for officials.

Golden Jubilee

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what events (a) she is and (b) other Ministers in her Department are planning to attend as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations; and what events her Department is planning to arrange to celebrate the Golden Jubilee. [33258]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 4 February 2002]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply which he has received from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

6 Feb 2002 : Column 970W

Radioactive Waste

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what efforts her Department has made to monitor the (a) condition and (b) safety of the radioactive waste dumped approximately 250 miles out of Land's End during the 1960s and 1970s. [27192]

Mr. Meacher: I have been asked to reply.

Results obtained under the OECD's Co-ordinated Research and Environmental Surveillance Programme (CRESP) related to sea disposal of radioactive wastes have demonstrated that the radiological impacts on human and oceanic populations emanating from the north-east Atlantic dumpsites are exceedingly small compared to the natural background levels, and are likely to remain so. This view was reiterated in the OSPAR Convention's Quality Status Report 2000, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

CRESP reported that the peak critical group individual dose as a result of sea dumping of solid radioactive waste would be 0.00002 millisieverts per annum, compared with 2 millisieverts per annum derived from natural radionuclides. The critical group is the hypothetical group of individuals who are calculated to be most exposed to the source of radioactivity being assessed—in this case coastal consumers of very large quantities of fish, crustaceans and molluscs (approximately 220 kg/year of fish, 37 kg/year of crustaceans and 37 kg/year of molluscs). The peak doses were calculated to occur approximately 200 years after dumping, by which time some of the activity would have leached from the disposal site and dispersed through the ocean.

The Government fund extensive environmental monitoring of the waters around the UK, and this has not detected any adverse effects which could be attributed to radioactivity from Atlantic disposal sites. The monitoring shows that doses to critical groups from man-made sources of radioactivity are very small, and considerably less than doses due to natural background levels of radioactivity. In view of this, we have no plans to undertake any direct monitoring of the north Atlantic disposal sites.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Unfurnished Cells

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times unfurnished cells have been used in each of the prisons in the juvenile estate since April 2000. [29601]

Beverley Hughes: Provisional data are given in the table.

Prison	Number
Ashfield	0
Brinsford	0
Castington	240
Feltham	25
Hindley	7
Hollesley Bay	40
Huntercombe	121
Lancaster Farms	0
Onley	32
Portland	31
Stoke Heath	72
Thorn Cross	0
Werrington	0
Wetherby	32

6 Feb 2002 : Column 971W

Control and Restraint

Dr. Vis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many children have been injured during control and restraint since April 2000. [29597]

Beverley Hughes: Records on injuries received during the application of control and restraint measures are not held centrally. However, inquiries with establishments within the juvenile estate show that during the stated period, 296 trainees have been injured during the use of control and restraint measures. Only five of these incidents resulted in outside hospital treatment and these were for fractures or suspected fractures. Many of the remainder were for tender wrist or reddening around the wrist.

---