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Official Visits
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if she will list the official visits to (a) Paris and (b) Brussels made by each Minister in her Department in 2001 and the mode of travel used; and what guidance is provided to Ministers in her Department on the choice of mode of travel for such visits; [38145]
- (2) if she will list the official visits within the UK outside London made by each Minister in her 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 her Department on choice of mode of travel for official visits. [38181]
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Ms Hewitt: Since 1999 this Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The Government have also published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers' visits overseas. Details of travel undertaken since 1 March 2001 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the current financial year. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House.
All travel is undertaken fully in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code and Travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.
The additional detailed information requested in respect of UK travel is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Celebrations
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what arrangements her Department has made to celebrate (a) St. Patrick's Day, (b) St. George's Day, (c) St. Andrew's Day and (d) Her Majesty the Queen's Golden Jubilee; and how her Department celebrated St. David's Day. [42293]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 11 March 2002: I refer the hon. Member to the reply which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport gave to the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Yeo) in response to his round robin question of 30 January, 11 February 2002, Official Report, columns 58–59W.
The DTI, along with other Government Departments, flies the Union flag from its buildings on certain days of the year known as 'named days' when the Union flag must be flown from Government buildings. The days include St. David's Day and St. George's Day, but not St. Patrick's Day.
Consideration is being given to the Union flag flying protocol for the Jubilee. However, the Union flag will fly on Coronation Day (2 June) as this is a 'named day'.
An additional bank holiday will take place on Monday 3 June 2002 to mark the Queen's Golden Jubilee and, to create a two-day holiday period, the spring bank holiday, which would normally take place on 27 May, has been moved to Tuesday 4 June.
East of England Development Agency
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the projected underspend by EEDA for the year to 31 March, indicating the reason for the underspend in each case. [35464]
Alan Johnson: EEDA's total projected underspend for the 2001–02 financial year is £5,864,000.
Mrs. Shephard: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total annual budget is of the East of England Development Agency in 2001–02; and what sum within that total is allocated to publicity and marketing. [45509]
Alan Johnson: EEDA's total annual budget for 2001–02 is £62.596 million. This figure includes £3.7 million potential end of year flexibility from 2000–01
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which as at 20 March is still awaiting parliamentary approval. EEDA has allocated £200,000 for publicity and marketing in 2001–02.
Refurbishment
Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures the Government are taking to uphold specification standards for the refurbishments of Departments. [36830]
Ms Hewitt: Individual Departments are responsible for the refurbishments of their own Departments.
Insolvency Service
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget for the Insolvency Service was for each year from 1997. [42070]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Plans for the Insolvency Service are published in the Government's Expenditure Plans for the DTI, a copy of which can be found in the Libraries of the House. Insolvency Service expenditure is reported in the service's annual accounts which are laid before Parliament and placed in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what controls are in place to ensure that the Insolvency Service hotline meets the needs of its customers. [42077]
Miss Melanie Johnson: In August and September 1998 the National Audit Office undertook a follow up review of directors disqualification, including the hotline, and contacted a sample of complainants, 78 per cent. of whom stated that they would use the service again. The NAO's recommendations as regards the hotline were fully implemented, and included a simplified complaints questionnaire which is also available on the service's website and by link from Companies House.
The service also operates a formal complaints procedure, and since January 1998, six complaints have been received in connection with the hotline of which only two proved to have been justified.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to make insolvency laws more (a) efficient, (b) user friendly and (c) effective in obtaining prosecutions. [42061]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Insolvency Act 2000 introduced an optional moratorium into voluntary arrangement proceedings to make procedures more responsive to the needs of those facing financial difficulties.
The White Paper "Opportunity for All in a World of Change: Insolvency—A Second Chance" outlined the Government's proposals for reforms to the law of personal insolvency.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average cost in (a) sterling and (b) man hours has been to prosecute a rogue director, by the undertaking of an investigation and prosecution by the Insolvency Service, over the last year. [42074]
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Miss Melanie Johnson: The Insolvency Service is not a prosecuting authority. In cases where the Insolvency Service considers that there is prima facie evidence of a prosecutable offence the official receiver refers the results of his/her investigation to the Legal Services Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry for further investigation and prosecution where appropriate.
Cost for prosecutions are not available.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effect of the Insolvency (Amendment) Regulations 2000 on the Insolvency Service, including (a) cost savings, (b) efficiency savings and (c) changes in service levels between the Service and its customers. [42067]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Insolvency (Amendment) regulations 2000, which came into force on 31 March 2000 make provision for payments into and out of the Insolvency Services Account to be transmitted by electronic means. This has had the following effect on the Insolvency Service and its customers:
- (a) Cost savings: the Insolvency Service estimates that a BACS payment costs 50p less than a payment by cheque. In the period from 1 April 2000 to 28 February 2002, 7,770 payments out of the Insolvency Services Account were made by BACS producing total estimated savings for the Insolvency Service of £3,885. Insolvency practitioners who have a BACS payments facility should be able to achieve the same order of cost savings when remitting funds to the Insolvency Services Account by this method. Currently the Insolvency Service does not levy a fee for making a BACS payment, whereas a fee of 65p per cheque is charged against the estate upon which it is drawn. In respect of the 7,770 BACS payments in the period from 1 April 2000 to 28 February 2002, the cost saving to estates was £5,050.50.
- (b) Efficiency savings: the resource efficiencies of electronic payments have, with other process efficiency gains, enabled the Insolvency Service to process a 15 per cent. higher volume of payments in the period from 1 April 2000 to 28 February 2002 without increasing the number of staff engaged in this area of work.
- (c) Changes in service levels between the Insolvency Service and its customer: a BACS payment request is processed on the day of receipt (day one) by the Insolvency Service and credited to the payee's bank account on day three. By comparison, a cheque requisition received on day one is despatched to the payee on day four; the transit time and bank clearing process mean that the cheque will generally be credited to the payee's account on day seven—four days later than by BACS.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many convictions as a result of investigations by the Insolvency Service there were in each year since 1997. [42072]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of prosecutions as a result of investigation by the Insolvency Service each year since 1997 is as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1 January 1997 to 31 December 1997 | 406 |
| 1 January 1998 to 31 December 1998 | 394 |
| 1 January 1999 to 31 December 1999 | 334 |
| 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2000 | 339 |
| 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001 | 373 |
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what procedure is in place within the
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Insolvency Service to track the progress of individual cases being investigated; and what plans she has to review this procedure. [42075]
Miss Melanie Johnson: Official receivers have worked to a centrally defined investigation process since 1999. The progress of the investigation is recorded on case files and on a computerised case management system. Performance is monitored at an office level, at regional level and at national level. The investigation process was reviewed and reissued in 2001 and will be subject to further review in 2003.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what targets her Department has set the Insolvency Service in each of the years since 1997; and how successful the agency was in achieving these targets. [42064]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The targets and outturn for the Insolvency Service are published in the Insolvency Service annual report, a copy of which can be found in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the effectiveness of the Insolvency Service's quinquennial review. [42080]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The Insolvency Service (INSS) has responded positively to the recommendations of the quinquennial review.
All recommendation are being actioned by INSS under the supervision of its steering board. Action includes steps to build on its existing performance, to provide a basis to respond to fluctuations in work loads and to modernise existing delivery frameworks. All action is aimed at enhancing service delivery.
The Insolvency Service steering board will continue to oversee progress on implementation.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what targets she has set the Insolvency Service for 2002–03. [42063]
Miss Melanie Johnson: The targets for 2002–03 have not yet been approved.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) representations she has received and (b) research she has commissioned into the effectiveness of the Insolvency Act 2000; and if she will make a statement. [42059]
Miss Melanie Johnson: I have not received any representations about, or commissioned research into, the effectiveness of the Insolvency Act 2000.
The Insolvency Service monitors those of the Act's measures that came into force by 2 April 2001.
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