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Shipbuilders

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans her Department has for the future of British Shipbuilders. [40166]

Brian Wilson: British Shipbuilders still exists, under Statute, as a Nationalised Industry, although it is some years since it built ships or manufactured equipment. The only significant remaining liability of the Corporation is Employer Liability. It is intended that an official of the Department of Trade and Industry will be appointed Chairman as from 4 March, following expiry of the tenure of the current Chairman on 3 March.

Regional Assistance

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of the regional assistance grants to industry expressed (a) as a percentage and (b) in cash terms was given to the parliamentary constituency

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of South East Cornwall in each year since 1992; what the most recent available 12 month figures are; and if she will make a statement. [38339]

Alan Johnson: Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is a demand-led capital investment grant linked to the creation or safeguarding of jobs in designated areas of need (the Assisted Areas). The number of RSA grant offers this Department made to companies in the South East Cornwall parliamentary constituency (a) as a percentage of the total number of offers made in England and (b) in cash terms for each of the years from 1992 to 2001, is set out in the table.

Since 1 January 2000, the RSA scheme has been restricted to projects involving capital investment of ÿ500,000 or more. In April 2000 this Department introduced a new, simplified scheme, the Enterprise Grants Scheme (EGS), to help small firms undertake fixed capital investment projects below the ÿ500,000 threshold for RSA. One EGS offer of ÿ75,000 was made, in the year 2001, to a company in South East Cornwall parliamentary constituency. A total of 666 EGS offers were made in England in the year 2001 and 479 offers were made in the year 2000.

Offers of Regional Selective Assistance Grant in South East Cornwall parliamentary constituency

Year	Number of offers in South East Cornwall parliamentary constituency	Number of offers in South East Cornwall parliamentary constituency as per cent of total offers in England (per cent rounded to 1 decimal place)	Total value of offers in South East Cornwall parliamentary constituency in cash (ÿ millions)
2001	1	0.5	0.160
2000	1	0.5	0.165
1999	2	0.2	0.185
1998	3	0.3	1.125
1997	2	0.2	0.116
1996	3	0.2	0.175
1995	6	0.4	0.465
1994	5	0.4	0.929
1993	10	1.0	0.271
1992	4	0.5	0.056

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Management Board

Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, if she will list the names and present occupations of the non-executive members of her Department's Management Board. [32835]

Patricia Hewitt: There is one independent member on the Department Board. Her name if Mair Barnes and she is a non-executive director on a number of boards.

SCOTLAND

Disease Control

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what representations she has made to the Department of Health in respect of the paper, Getting Ahead of the Curve-A Strategy for Combating Infectious Diseases; [30694]

(2) what discussions she has had with the Department of Health on the impact on Scotland of its proposals to disband the National Radiological Protection Board.[30693]

Mr. Foulkes: Discussions are taking place between the Department of Health and the Scottish Executive about how the proposals will affect Scotland. These discussions include consideration of how the arrangements for the functions currently exercised in Scotland by the National Radiological Protection Board might be affected by the proposed creation of the National Infection Control and Health Protection Agency.

National Lottery

Mr. Russell Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which Scottish areas will benefit from the Fair Share National Lottery Initiative. [40171]

Mr. Foulkes: This initiative is designed to ensure that disadvantaged areas which have received lower levels up until now of lottery funding will receive a fair share of future funding. Under the initiative, two of the National Lottery distributing bodies, the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund, will target ÿ169 million of resources. Sixty-two disadvantaged areas across Great Britain will benefit. In Scotland, six Scottish local authority areas will be targeted, making available a total of ÿ14.95 million over the next three years.

The Scottish local authority areas included in Fair Share are: City of Glasgow, City of Dundee, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and South Ayrshire. The six areas were selected by the lottery distributors on the basis of disadvantage combined with low levels of lottery funding. The distributors referred to the Scottish Area Deprivation Index and recent analysis for the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund initiative.

In considering lottery awards in the Fair Share areas, NOF and the Community Fund will work with a range of partners engaged in community regeneration and development, including Social Inclusion Partnerships, local authorities and Councils for Voluntary Service.

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My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is making an announcement today about the areas in England that will benefit from Fair Share. The areas in Wales and Northern Ireland will be announced in due course.

Rail Access (Airports)

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when she expects to publish the joint study with the Strategic Rail Authority and the Scottish Executive into the potential improvements in rail access to Scottish airports. [38868]

Mrs. Liddell: The Scottish Executive, in association with other parties, have commissioned consultants to undertake a detailed economic and engineering study of rail links to Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports. I understand that the study is expected to be concluded by the Autumn. Publication of the report will be a matter for the Scottish Executive.

Nuclear Energy

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what responsibility she has for the development of nuclear energy policy in Scotland.[39329]

Mrs. Liddell: I am responsible for ensuring that the Scottish interest in reserved matters, including those relating to energy policy, receives proper consideration.

Tourism

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when she last met representatives of (a) the British Tourist Board and (b) VisitScotland. [39331]

Mrs. Liddell: I have regular contact with the British Tourist Authority and with VisitScotland to ensure that Scotland is promoted as a world class tourist destination.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what responsibilities she has for the promotion of Scottish tourism by (a) Scottish and (b) United Kingdom-wide Government bodies. [39332]

Mrs. Liddell: As Secretary of State for Scotland I continue to promote Scottish interests in the UK and overseas. In implementing my Friends of Scotland initiative, my Department works in consultation with VisitScotland and the British Tourist Authority.

ADVOCATE-GENERAL

Ministerial Functions

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Advocate-General which provisions of the Scotland Act 1998 she has relied upon with respect to the development of the role of Advocate-General that she has embarked upon. [37516]

The Advocate-General The Scotland Act deals only with my statutory functions but the provisions which to date have been most relevant are (a) section 33, which enables the Advocate-General, Lord Advocate or Attorney-General to refer the question of whether a Bill or any provision of a Bill would be within the legislative

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competence of the Scottish Parliament to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for decision. In my answer of 25 January 2002, Official Report, column 1127W on legislation I explained my approach to Scottish Parliament Bills under section 33 and (b) paragraph 6 of Schedule 6, which provides that where intimation of a devolution issue is given to the Advocate-General or Lord Advocate under paragraph 5 the Advocate-General or Lord Advocate may take part as a party to the proceedings, so far as they relate to a devolution issue. In my answer of 25 January, I explained my approach to intervention in devolution issue cases.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Human Rights Commission

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he will decide whether to reappoint Christine Bell to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. [39861]

Mr. Browne: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has this week signed the warrant to reappoint Professor Bell for a further two years as a member of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. The reappointment is effective from 1 March 2002.

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