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Renewable Energy

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money her Department spent on research and development (a) of wind power, (b) into sources of renewable energy and (c) of wave power in each year since 1995. [59728]

Mr. Wilson: The Department of Trade and Industry has spent the following amounts on research and development through its Sustainable Energy Programme:

£ million

	Wind power	Wave power	All sources of renewable energy (including wind and wave power)
1995–96	4.2	0.1	19.2
1996–97	3.0	0.1	14.4
1997–98	1.7	0.0	13.0
1998–99	1.4	0.2	11.3
1999–2000	1.2	0.0	12.5
2000–01	1.3	0.5	13.1
2001–02	1.7	1.0	13.54

The DTI also supports research and development on sustainable energy technologies through the Research Councils and their work would be additional to the figures in the table.

Provision for research and development through the Sustainable Energy Programme increases to £19 million for 2002–03, and through the Research Councils to

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£5.6 million. Additionally, the DTI has been assigned a further £5 million over three years for wave and tidal demonstration projects.

Including R+D and capital grants, the Government have set up programmes totalling £260 million to bring forward new renewable energy technologies. In addition the Renewables Obligation will create a new market of around £1 billion per year by 2010.

Energy Consumption and Production

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of energy consumed in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland was provided by (i) nuclear power, (ii) coal, (iii) gas, (iv) oil and (v) renewables. [60285]

Mr. Wilson: The percentages of energy consumed in the UK as a whole during 2000 by each fuel source are shown below. Separate figures for Scotland, England and Wales are not available. Figures for 2001 are currently being compiled and will be available at the end of July.

	Percentage
Nuclear	31.5
Coal	35.1
Gas	25.2
Oil	8.0
Renewables	0.2

Source:

Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics, 2001 (The Stationery Office)

Energy Costs

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent research her Department has undertaken into the comparative costs of alternative methods of electricity generation; and what reports have been published setting out the detailed assumptions on which the calculations have been made. [60186]

Mr. Wilson: The costs of generating electricity are a commercial matter for generators.

However, the Department takes an interest in estimates by broad type as may be seen, for example, in the February 2002 report of the Inter-departmental Analysts Group, "Long-Term Reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the UK" (http://www2.dti.gov.uk/energy/ greenhousegas/greenhouse.pdf).

Wave Power Station (Outer Hebrides)

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much her Department plans to spend to support the proposed Outer Hebrides wave power station. [59811]

Mr. Wilson: Up to £2.3 million.

David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much energy the proposed Outer Hebrides wave power station is expected to produce; and which areas its energy will serve. [59812]

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Mr. Wilson: The target specification for each device is between 0.5 and 1.0 MW. The amount of energy actually produced will depend on the energy in the sea and the effectiveness of the wave power generators in converting that energy to electricity.

It is intended to connect the generators to the electricity supply system in the Western Isles.

Employment Law

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what procedures her Department has in place to monitor companies accused of ignoring Government guidelines regarding employment law; and what action she is taking to review the effectiveness of such procedures. [55904]

Alan Johnson: The Government do not monitor companies who are accused of ignoring Government guidelines or good practice regarding employment law. However, the Inland Revenue enforces the national minimum wage on behalf of the Department. This process is kept under regular review.

Individuals who believe that their employment rights have been infringed may take their case to an employment tribunal. The Employment Tribunals Service publishes data on tribunal cases annually.

Office of Fair Trading

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will bring forward measures to allow companies which are complained about to the OFT to see the nature of the complaint made against them when the OFT decide not to pursue the case; and if she will make a statement. [54662]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 8 May 2002]: The Government believe that encouraging complainants to come forward is vital to OFT's enforcement efforts and normally, where the OFT proposed to find an infringement, it would notify the parties to the agreement of the party engaged in the abusive conduct and they would then have a reasonable opportunity to inspect documents held by the OFT. However, where a case has not developed to the point where the OFT was proposing to find an infringement, there is no such provision.

Consignia

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if Consignia has ended first collections in Epsom. [55573]

Mr. Timms: The universal postal service is enshrined in the Postal Services Act 2000. The obligation consists of a service provided at an affordable price determined by a public tariff uniform throughout the UK and includes the delivery each working day to the home or premises of every individual in the UK and a collection each working day from access points.

Currently Postcomm requires Consignia plc, in the licence, to provide a universal postal service. Subject to Consignia's universal service obligations, the number and timing of deliveries and collections is an operational issue for Consignia. As this is therefore a matter that falls

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within the day-to-day responsibility of Consignia I have asked the Consignia chief executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Consignia Chief Executive

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has made to Consignia about the future of the current chief executive; and if she will make a statement. [58712]

Mr. Timms: It would not be appropriate for Government to speculate on the future of individual members of the Consignia board. Government have already indicated that the time is right for change in Consignia's top-level management to meet the challenge of the changing market. This is why we have appointed Allan Leighton. It is his decision initially on how the board should be strengthened and to make his recommendations to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Economic Development

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether she has made a response to the Scottish Executive's discussion paper on Scottish economic development in the light of its cohesion report. [56133]

Alan Johnson: If the hon. Member will provide me with further information on the Scottish Executive paper and report to which he refers, I will write to him with the information requested.

Maladministration

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many findings there have been of maladministration by ombudsmen with responsibility for agencies under the remit of her Department since 1997. [56315]

Ms Hewitt: Information on the handling of complaints is set out in tabular form by the parliamentary ombudsman each year as an attachment to his annual report. For those complaints where there was evidence of maladministration that warranted a full investigation, the table sets out how many complaints were upheld as being fully or partially justified. Copies of the parliamentary ombudsman's annual reports for the period 1997–98 to 2000–01 inclusive can be viewed in the Libraries of the House, or on the parliamentary ombudsman's website at www.ombudsman.org.uk/publications.

Eastern England Development Agency

Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether county councils are required to adopt planning targets laid down by the Eastern England Development Agency. [56545]

Alan Johnson: Regional development agencies do not have any power to set planning targets binding upon local authorities.

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