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Small Businesses (Administrative Burden)
Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress is being made in reducing the administrative burden on small businesses. [46431]
Nigel Griffiths: The Government have put in place a number of measures to reduce the administrative burden of regulations on small businesses, including:
Announced in January 2000 that employers with 4 or fewer employees will be exempt from the requirements to provide access to stakeholder pensions and deduct pension contributions.
Announced in April 2000 an increase in the statutory audit threshold for companies from £350,000 to £1 million. This measure will relieve up to 150,000 small firms from the burden of statutory audit, saving small companies up to £180 million a year.
We have exempted small shops from the new EU unit pricing requirements.
We have exempted employers with twenty or fewer employees from the trade union recognition procedures in the Employment Relations Act.
Small Business Service has produced clear guidance on a number of complex regulations.
The Business Link Website is now attracting 80,000 users per month—and businesses can register to receive alerts about regulations automatically.
A 12 weeks period between regulations being agreed and implemented has been actioned, allowing owner managers time to adapt to the new regulations.
Assisted and supported 6000 individuals wanting to start and grow a business and helped a further 6000 with mentoring advice.
The Patrick Carter review of payroll administration.
General Agreement on Trade in Services
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which services the United Kingdom will (a) as part of the European Union and (b) unilaterally be offering for liberalisation under the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services. [47416]
Ms Hewitt: The United Kingdom negotiates in the World Trade Organisation as part of the European Union. Offers of liberalisation of services will be considered in the light of requests received from other WTO Members. The Doha Ministerial Declaration set June 2002 as the
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date for the submission of initial requests. The Government will consult on any offer they are minded to make as part of the EU's offer. Liberalisation is, however, a matter of domestic policy choice. The current negotiations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services cannot force liberalisation where we do not wish it.
Unsolicited Faxes
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action her Department recommend people take if they are the target of unsolicited faxes. [48585]
Mr. Alexander: There are safeguards for both individual and corporate subscribers who do not wish to receive unsolicited direct marketing faxes. Under the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations 1999, no one may send unsolicited direct marketing faxes to individual subscribers without their prior consent. These Regulations are enforced by the Information Commissioner, and any breaches should be reported to her office.
Corporate subscribers have opt-out rights under the same Regulations; no-one may send unsolicited direct marketing faxes to any subscriber who has registered with the Fax Preference Service, or who has told the direct marketer concerned not to send any further faxes. The Fax Preference Service is also open to individual subscribers who may find it useful to register in order to reinforce their rights. Subscribers should report any breaches of these regulations to the Information Commissioner's Office, or to the Fax Preference Service if they have registered with it.
Television Licences
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the (a) number and (b) total cost of television licences paid for by her Department. [48338]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 10 April 2002]: No licence is required for equipment use for official purposes. A detailed answer would involve disproportionate cost.
Digital Services
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the number of subscriptions to (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite and (c) digital cable television held by her Department for services in any departmental building from which Ministers work, stating for each subscription its (i) cost and (i) purpose. [48339]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 10 April 2002]: No data are held centrally and providing an answer would involve disproportionate cost.
Post Offices Capital Scheme
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been paid out each month since its inception under the Start-Up Capital Scheme for Post Offices. [47316]
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Mr. Alexander [holding answer 10 April 2002]: I have been informed by Post Office Limited that to the end of March 2002, applications totalling £375,431 have been approved under the Scheme and that the following amounts have been paid:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| December 2001 | 13,230 |
| January 2002 | 11,699 |
| February 2002 | 10,365 |
| March 2002 | 43,778 |
| Total | £79.072 |
Employment Relations
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will publish a consultation document on the use of section 23 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 to extend rights contained in employment legislation to individuals of a specified description. [48743]
Alan Johnson: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) on 13 February 2002, Official Report, column 443W.
MINISTER FOR WOMEN
Bereavement Allowance
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Minister for Women what plans she has to make representations to the Department for Work and Pensions to secure a review of the operation and level of payment of bereavement allowance. [31276]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 29 January 2002]: I have no plans at present to make representations to the Department for Work and Pensions in order to secure a review of the operation and level of bereavement allowance.
DEFENCE
Gulf War Veterans
Mr. Swayne: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Gulf war veterans have been diagnosed as suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; and how many of those diagnosed have subsequently died. [32331]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 12 February 2002]: In the United Kingdom, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is classified as motor neurone disease (MND). As at 22 March 2002, the Ministry of Defence's Gulf Veterans' Illnesses Unit was aware of four of the 53,462 members of the United Kingdom armed forces identified as having deployed to a state in the Gulf region at some time between 1 September 1990 and 30 June 1991 who have been diagnosed as suffering from MND. We do not however hold complete morbidity data for all veterans of the Gulf conflict so it is possible that MND may have been diagnosed in other veterans without our knowledge.
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According to formal notification to my Department by the Office of National Statistics NHS Central Register, and the Register Generals of Gulf veterans whose deaths have been recorded in England, Wales and Scotland, all four of the UK Gulf veterans diagnosed with MND referred to above have died.
Explosives
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many high explosive bombs the RAF purchased in (a) 1999–2000, (b) 2000–01 and (c) 2001–02. [43395]
Dr. Moonie: No high explosive bombs were purchased by the RAF during these years. Although some purchases to support training and development were made during this time, these were not classified as high explosive.
Special Advisers
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many special advisers there were at 10 Downing Street; and what their salaries were in each of the last five years. [47058]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 10 April 2002]: Two Special Advisers were in post on 9 April 2002. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 10 April 2002 (Official Report, column 11W) by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.
Imber
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure has been incurred on the maintenance of the parish church at Imber for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement. [48624]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 10 April 2002]: Although the parish church of St Giles at Imber is the property of Salisbury Diocese, the Ministry of Defence has always voluntarily maintained the building in a wind and weatherproof condition and has incurred the following expenditure in each of the last five years:
| Year | Amount £ |
|---|---|
| 1997 | Details not available |
| 1998 | 1,256.49 |
| 1999 | 2,747.15 |
| 2000 | Nil |
| 2001 | 158.63 |
Note:
Although general administrative costs are not available, the services of an Establishment Works Consultant has been provided at £210.00 per year—an additional £1,050 over the five year period.
I am, of course, unable to provide details of any expenditure that may have been incurred by Salisbury Diocese.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many days in each of the past five years the roads on Imber Ranges and in Imber village have been open to the public. [48539]
Dr. Moonie [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The metalled roads from Gore Cross to Warminster via Imber, and Heytesbury to Bratton via Imber are open for up to
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50 days annually depending on operational training commitments. In each of the last five years these roads were open as follows:
| Year | Number of Days |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 21 |
| 1998 | 23 |
| 1999 | 26 |
| 2000 | 25 |
| 2001 | 24 |
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