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Gibraltar
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on his recent visit to Gibraltar. [55858]
Peter Hain: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) on 7 May 2002, Official Report, columns 151–52W.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he had regarding (a) shared sovereignty and (b) the Spanish claim to full sovereignty of Gibraltar with the Spanish Foreign Minister during the talks in Valencia. [55861]
Peter Hain: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle) on 24 April 2002, Official Report, columns 294–95W.
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he had with the Government of Gibraltar prior to announcing his intention to visit Gibraltar. [55063]
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Peter Hain: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Andrew Mackinlay) on 7 May 2002, Official Report, column 152W.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the recent findings by the European Commission of breaches by Spain of EU law which affect Gibraltar; and if he will make a statement. [54574]
Peter Hain: To answer this question would incur disproportionate cost. It would be necessary to identify and review every case in the European Court of Justice between the European Commission and Spain, since Spain's accession to the EU in 1986, to ascertain whether a breach of EU law was found, and consider whether the judgment had any affect on Gibraltar's law. The judgments of the European Court of Justice are published in Reports of Cases before the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance, which can be found in the House of Commons Library.
Any judgment of the ECJ against a member state potentially has implications for the law of another member state. The UK Government look to the Commission to ensure that all EU member states, including Spain, abide by their EU obligations.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Renewable Energy
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for each of the last five years, how much financial support and what percentage of the whole allocation her Department allocated for research and development as sources of energy of (a) wind, (b) wave, (c) biomass, (d) solar, (e) hydrogen, (f) nuclear, (g) coal and (h) gas; and in each case what percentage this represented of the whole sum spent on such matters by her. [53825]
Mr. Wilson: Over the last five years, the Department of Trade and Industry has spent the following amounts on energy research and development, covering renewables
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(including wind, wave, biomass, solar and hydrogen); nuclear (where DTI spending has been confined to research on fusion); coal; and oil and gas. The table gives the percentages spent in each of these categories.
The DTI supports research and development on sustainable energy technologies both through its Sustainable Energy Programme and through the Research Councils. Over the last five years, expenditure through the programme on wind energy has been in the range £1.2 million to £1.7 million per year; on wave energy, in the range £0 to £0.9 million per year; on biomass, in the range £1.8 million to £2.2 million per year; on solar, in the range £1.4 to £2 million per year; and on fuel cells (including some expenditure on hydrogen), in the range £1.2 million to £1.8 million per year. Relevant work supported through the Research Councils would be additional to these figures. The Sustainable Energy Programme also supports cross-technology work in the areas of technology transfer, export promotion and policy support.
Provision for research and development through the Sustainable Energy Programme increases to £19 million for 2002–03 and through the Research Councils to £5.6 million. Additionally, the DTI has been assigned a further £5 million over three years for wave and tidal demonstration projects and a further £4 million for net metering, storage and control demonstration projects.
The Government have also set up capital grants programmes in the following areas to bring forward new renewable energy technologies:
- £74 million for offshore wind (including £10 million from the New Opportunities Fund);
£69 million for bioenergy (including £36 million from the New Opportunities Fund and £3 million for biomass heating);
£20 million for photovoltaics (PV).
| 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (£ million) | (Percentage) | (£ million) | (Percentage) | (£ million) | (Percentage) | (£ million) | (Percentage) | (£ million) | (Percentage) | |
| Sustainable energy | ||||||||||
| DTI programme | 13.0 | 35.3 | 11.3 | 36.9 | 12.5 | 38.6 | 13.1 | 39.7 | 12.2 | 34.4 |
| Research Councils | 2.9 | 7.9 | 3.1 | 10.1 | 2.4 | 7.4 | 2.8 | 8.5 | 5.0 | 14.1 |
| Total | 15.9 | 43.2 | 14.4 | 47.1 | 14.9 | 46.0 | 15.9 | 48.2 | 17.2 | 48.6 |
| Nuclear fusion | 16.6 | 45.1 | 12.6 | 41.2 | 14.4 | 44.4 | 14.3 | 43.3 | 14.3 | 40.4 |
| Coal(8) | 4.1 | 11.1 | 3.4 | 11.1 | 2.9 | 9.0 | 2.6 | 7.9 | 3.7 | 10.5 |
| Oil and gas | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 |
| Total | 36.8 | 100 | 30.6 | 100 | 32.4 | 100 | 33.0 | 100 | 35.4 | 100 |
(7) £ million and percentage of total DTI energy R and D spend for the year.
(8) Cleaner Coal programme.
Notes:
1. The DTI Sustainable Energy Programme supports work on export promotion and technology transfer as well as projects relating to specific renewable energy technologies. Figures include programme management costs.
2. The figures for oil and gas relate to the SHARP programme covering improved oil recovery and gas research.
3. There may also be some Research Council supported R and D relating to coal, oil and gas.
4. 2001–02 figures are subject to revision.
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Alternative Fuels
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions her Department has held with companies regarding the conversion of fleet vehicles to alternative fuels. [51966]
Mr. Wilson: I refer to my answer given to the hon. Member previously on 23 April 2002, Official Report, column 298W.
Sellafield
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Health and Safety Executive were first informed that the sludge storage tanks in building B241 at Sellafield were leaking. [53632]
Mr. Wilson: BNFL staff first discussed a suspected leak to ground from sludge tank number 4 in B241 with the Health and Safety Executive's nuclear inspectors at a meeting in October 1993.
British Aerospace
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much financial assistance she granted to British Aerospace, and what the purpose was of each element, in each of the last five years. [53826]
Alan Johnson: In March 2000 HMG committed £530 million to BAE SYSTEMS in launch investment towards the design and development costs of the wings for the Airbus A380 "superjumbo". This commitment was subsequently novated to Airbus UK in anticipation of the restructuring of Airbus from a consortium to a single integrated company, which took effect in July 2001.
In the past 5 years British Aerospace / BAE SYSTEMS received the following funding for a number of projects under the DTI's civil aeronautics research programme:
| Year | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 2.8 |
| 1998–99 | 2.1 |
| 1999–2000 | 3.4 |
| 2000–01 | 2.0 |
| 2001–02 | 1.5 |
Following the restructuring of Airbus, a number of the civil aeronautics research projects—which had a value of £1.1 million in 2001–02—were novated to Airbus UK.
The company has also participated in a number of LINK collaborative projects, part-funded by DTI.
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