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HMS Talent

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the operational status of HMS Talent is; and if she will be operational for the rest of the year. [43692]

Mr. Ingram: HMS Talent is currently at sea conducting operations and has been operational since September 2001. The submarine is scheduled to remain fully operational until the end of May this year before entering a Lay-up period prior to refit.

NATO Central Europe Division

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has (a) made to and (b) received from his (i) Belgian, (ii) German and (iii) Dutch counterparts regarding the future of NATO's Multinational Central Europe division MND (C). [43637]

Mr. Hoon: In 2001, NATO's Military Committee agreed that the role of selected formations, including the Multinational Division (Central), must be addressed in the NATO Force Structure Review. We are discussing the future of this formation with our counterparts in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the UK contribution is to NATO's Multinational Central Europe division MND (C). [43636]

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Mr. Hoon: The United Kingdom has 27 peace establishment posts on the staff of the Headquarters Multinational Division (Central) in Germany. In addition, the United Kingdom assigns a number of forces to the Multinational Division (Central), which may be called on for specific operations. These include an Air Defence Regiment, Combat Service Support and elements of the Support Helicopter Force.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Correspondence

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will reply to letters from the hon. Member for Nottingham, North, relating to case work involving (a) Ms R. Ensor, (b) Mr. Byers, (c) Mrs. Carney, (d) Mr. M. Dawber and (e) Ms Sue Jayes; and if she will make a statement on her Department's policy on responding to letters from hon. Members. [37636]

Miss Melanie Johnson: My hon. Friend has received a reply dated 26 February 2002.

Insolvency Service

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her role is in authorising Insolvency Practitioners; and what representations she has received about changing this procedure. [42078]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Under the provisions of Section 392 of the Insolvency Act 1986, the Secretary of State may directly authorise individuals to act as insolvency practitioners and 133 are so authorised. Section 391 of the Insolvency Act 1986 provides that the Secretary of State may also recognise bodies as able to authorise their members to act as insolvency practitioners.

The regulation of insolvency practice was the subject of a review during 1997 and 1998. The report of the review committee was published in February 1999.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what training is provided to the staff responsible for the operation of the Insolvency Service hotline; and what the total training cost for the team has been since the hotline's introduction. [42073]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The hotline team currently comprises four Official Receiver trained staff with substantial experience of insolvency related matters. They do not require specific additional training.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what meetings she has had since 2001 with representatives of the Insolvency Service and if she will publish the minutes of the meetings. [42082]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I regularly meet officials from The Insolvency Service. Under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information minutes of those meetings are not published.

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Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to publicise to directors their insolvency liabilities; and how much this advertising has cost the Insolvency Service each year since 1997. [42066]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Insolvency Service produced a number of guidance leaflets regarding various insolvency related matters, which are available on its website, including a guide for directors which describes the various procedures in detail and informs directors what duties and responsibilities they have if their company is subject to insolvency procedures. The Insolvency Service has also ensured that the information provided by Companies House to the officers of newly formed companies contains details of their responsibilities whilst managing limited companies.

In addition, when my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry successfully applies to have an unfit director disqualified from acting as a director, or accepts an undertaking not to act in that capacity, press releases are issued in local newspapers and trade journals relevant to the insolvent company. Details of the director's misconduct complained of in the application to disqualify are provided. Public reporting thus also assists greatly in the drive to increase the business community's awareness of the dangers of running a company whilst insolvent.

Publicity costs have been £155,000 in 1999–00; £112,000 in 2000–01 and £66,000 in 2001–02 (11 months). Costs for the period prior to 1999 cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what initiatives are in place to (a) monitor and (b) improve customer service standards in the Insolvency Service. [42081]

Miss Melanie Johnson: To monitor customer service standards The Insolvency Service has an audit process through which performance against its published service standards (set in accordance with Charter standards) is measured and monitored both locally and centrally within the Agency.

To further enhance customer service standards The Insolvency Service has: a National Consultative User Group and a Central Accounting Unit User Group; user comment cards and a website pop-up questionnaire; a complaints process; a staff New Ideas Scheme and an e-business strategy.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to make proposals regarding the bankruptcy period for personal insolvency cases. [42056]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The White Paper "Opportunity for All in a World of Change: Insolvency—A Second Chance" published the Government's proposals for reforms to the law of personal insolvency in July 2001.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans her Department has to remove the bankruptcy fee payable to the Insolvency Service. [42057]

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Miss Melanie Johnson: There are no plans to remove the fee payable in relation to the Official Receiver's administration of a debtor's estate in bankruptcy.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about the priority given to creditors of companies in administration under the Insolvency Act 2000. [42058]

Miss Melanie Johnson: I have received no representations.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many insolvency petitions for (a) small and (b) medium enterprises were allocated to each Official Receiver's office in England and Wales in each year since 1997. [42060]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Statistics are not maintained distinguishing between small and medium sized enterprises.

Oil and Gas Exploration Licences

Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on her Department's policy on the development of Fallow Field oil and gas exploration licences. [42718]

Mr. Wilson: The UK cannot afford to have petroleum discoveries or areas of the Continental Shelf lying fallow. We believe that petroleum licences should be in the hands of those companies that are committed to undertaking appropriate work to find, test and develop effectively the UK's petroleum resources in the shortest possible time span.

The DTI has worked with the oil and gas industry in PILOT to establish a robust mechanism that will encourage companies holding fallow blocks or discoveries to decide within a reasonable time scale (15 months for fallow blocks and just over two years for fallow discoveries), whether to be active and move towards development or relinquish the licences on which they sit so that others have an opportunity to act.

Officials in my Department have identified some 120 fallow discoveries and 160 fallow blocks on the UKCS where the current owners do not appear to be doing all that they can to generate activity. These fallow assets could encompass 250 undrilled structures and contain reserves equivalent to around 1.5 billion barrels of oil.

The mechanism was launched on 5 March and we immediately wrote to each licensee that has been identified as holding fallow blocks and discoveries to initiate the first stage of the process.

The performance of companies holding fallow assets will be reviewed every year to ensure that they remain focused on bringing forward activity.

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