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Special Advisers
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the number and expected cost to his Department of special advisers in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [43274]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to answers I gave the hon. Members for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling) and for Daventry (Mr. Boswell) on 23 January 2002, Official Report, columns 856–57W.
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he intends to answer the question of 13 February from the hon. Member for Buckingham regarding staff involvement in union duties. [41574]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I have answered today, at columns 1074–75 below.
School Children
Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what recent discussions he has had with the First Secretary of the National Assembly for Wales on measures being taken to encourage school children in coalfield areas to stay on in full-time education beyond age 16. [40541]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I have regular discussion with the First Secretary and his Cabinet Colleagues on a range of issues affecting Wales.
The Assembly is committed to widening access to education for all those who have the ability to benefit from it. Their 10-year plan, "The Learning Country" which was published in September, includes specific targets to increase the participants in post-16 education and training and to attract larger numbers of students into higher and further education, helped by substantial new provision for access funds.
Official Visits
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will list the official visits within the UK outside London made by each Minister in his Department in 2001, giving for each (a) the origin and destination and (b) the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in his Department on choice of mode of travel for official visits; [38184]
- (2) if he will list the official visits to (a) Paris and (b) Brussels made by each Minister in his Department in 2001 and the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in his Department on the choice of mode of travel for such visits. [38148]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 6 March 2002, Official Report, column 421W.
Union Duties
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many staff in his Department, agencies and non- departmental public bodies receive paid leave to
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undertake union duties; how many days they are allocated; and what has been the cost to public funds in each of the last four years. [36209]
Mr. Paul Murphy: There has been one staff member elected as union representative with an allocation of eight days per annum to undertake union duties since the creation of the Wales Office in July 1999. The Department has no agencies or NDPBs.
Information for the former Welsh Office is not held centrally.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Supermarket/Supplier Relations
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) when she intends to review the operation of the Retailer Code of Practice; [42167]
- (2) what measures are in place to monitor the operation and impact of the Retailer Code of Practice. [42166]
Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 11 March 2002]: The Code of Practice on supermarket/supplier relations comes into force on 17 March.
The Director General of Fair Trading is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the operation of Fair Trading Act orders and undertakings. His office has been in contact with relevant trade associations to ensure that the code operates effectively. In addition, the code provides for the independent dispute mediator to supply the Director General with an annual return of his work.
Internal Market, Consumer and Tourism Council
Mr. Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the outcome was of the Internal Market, Consumer and Tourism Council on 1 March; what the Government's stance was on the issues discussed, including its voting record; and if she will make a statement. [40765]
Miss Melanie Johnson: There was a presentation from the Commission on its Cardiff report on economic reform, followed by a debate. Conclusions were adopted on the outcome of this year's Cardiff process, which are to be submitted to the Barcelona spring council. The council also adopted conclusions on the Commission's proposal to set up a computerised system (SOLVIT) to help improve the handling of complaints from citizens and businesses facing problems caused by the misapplication of internal market rules. The Council also adopted a resolution on the labelling of video and computer games.
There was a Presidency briefing on the Community Patent followed by a lunchtime discussion. There was a Commission presentation on its newly published proposal on computer implemented inventions (software patents), which aims to clarify the law in this area.
The Presidency initiated an exchange of views on the changeover to the euro from a consumer perspective and there was also a Presidency progress report on work during its term so far of simplifying, clarifying and updating the EC procurement directives.
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There was a Commission briefing on the Green Paper on EU consumer protection and a progress report on amended proposals for a Council regulation on the statute for a European Co-operative Society, which would provide co-operatives with a legal framework to enable them to operate freely across borders on equal terms of competition with companies.
There were no legislative items on the agenda for agreement. However, Council conclusions on the Cardiff process, the SOLVIT problem solving database and standardisation were all adopted, with the UK in favour. The Council resolution on the labelling of video and computer games was also adopted with the UK in favour.
Business Links
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent advertising Business Link services in the past five years; what the nature of this advertising has been; and what the assessed outcome of each campaign has been. [41461]
Nigel Griffiths: Information on advertising spend prior to the set-up of the Small Business Service in April 2000 is not available.
Since April 2000, £4.2 million has been spent advertising the Business Link services at a national level. This includes two years of publicity activities.
- In March 2001, there was national newspaper, radio, and directory advertising (this covers insertions for a year in directories such as Yellow Pages) at a cost of £1.3 million. At this stage, no baseline awareness figures were held. 10 per cent. unprompted awareness and 55 per cent. prompted awareness of Business Link were findings from the National Omnibus Survey of Small Businesses, August 2001.
In October 2001, there was national newspaper, TV, online, direct mail and directory advertising at a cost of £2.3 million, with follow up national newspaper and online advertising in February 2002 at a cost of £0.6 million.
- The advertising exceeded its response targets and there was a 55 per cent. increase in calls to the contact centre and a 96 per cent. increase in user sessions on the website over the two-month campaign period compared to the two months prior to advertising.
Levels of unprompted awareness of Business Link increased from 10 per cent. to 14 per cent., and levels of prompted awareness increased from 55 per cent. to 58 per cent. There were significant increases in awareness among female entrepreneurs, with unprompted increasing from 5 per cent. to 14 per cent. and prompted from 23 per cent. to 63 per cent.
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which advertising agency was consulted with regard to the Business Links advertising campaign in October 2001; what the remuneration of the company was; and what the assessed outcome of the campaign has been. [41458]
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Nigel Griffiths: The advertising agency used was Ogilvy and Mather. Ogilvy and Mather were paid £170,538 for the October campaign, which represents 8 per cent. of the £2.1 million total spend on national newspaper, television, and online advertising at this time.
Evaluation and tracking is carried out for the campaign, and the effectiveness of the campaign is also measured by the results of the National Omnibus Survey of Small Businesses, which showed significant increases in both prompted and unprompted awareness of Business Link:
- Levels of prompted awareness increased from 55 per cent. to 58 per cent.
Levels of unprompted awareness increased from 10 per cent. to 14 per cent.
Levels of awareness among female entrepreneurs also increased from 5 per cent. unprompted to 14 per cent, and from 23 per cent. prompted to 63 per cent.
The advertising exceeded its target of 53,000 responses to the web and contact centre by achieving 81,937 responses during the advertising period.
There was a 55–60 per cent. increase in calls to the contact centre during the campaign period and a 77 per cent. increase in website hits. Web user sessions increased 96 per cent. from an average of 39,000 hits in the two months prior to advertising to an average of 76,500 in the two months campaign period.
Nigel Griffiths: Business Links are independent autonomous organisations and figures on the number of staff they employ are not held centrally.
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