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Public Service Agreements

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many times since December 1998 he has met Ministers from other Government Departments to review progress in achieving public service agreements; and if he will make a statement. [69299]

Mr. Boateng: The Cabinet Committee on Public Services and Public Expenditure, chaired by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, meets regularly to discuss progress by departments against their PSA targets.

Barnett Formula

Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the calculations relating to the provision for Scotland under the Barnett formula are based upon spend per head of population on (a) health and (b) education. [69400]

Mr. Boateng: The Barnett formula provides the devolved Administrations with a population based share of comparable increases in spending of UK Government departments, including the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills.

Contingent Liabilities

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list contingent liabilities incurred by Government departments since May 1997 with the permission of the Treasury; and if he will make a statement. [69349]

Mr. Boateng: I refer the hon. Member to the Consolidated Fund and National Loans Fund Accounts Supplementary Statements. Those for 2000–01 were published on 19 December 2001 (HC 381 of 2000–01) and follow the reporting pattern in the Supplementary Statements for each of the financial years from 1997–98 to 1999–2000. They list all non-statutory contingent liabilities which are reportable to Parliament under the guidance in chapter 26 of Government Accounting. The

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guidance requires a department, when reporting a contingent liability to state that the Treasury has approved it in principle. The Supplementary Statements also list all statutory contingent liabilities incurred where they are above £100,000.

Travel Insurance

Clive Efford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he is taking to review the regulation of the selling of travel insurance. [69512]

Ruth Kelly: The Treasury will issue a consultation document on the proposed new regulatory regime for the sale of general insurance following the adoption of the Insurance Mediation Directive.

Silver Items

Barbara Follett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his plans are for the future of the Treasury's silver items formerly associated with the Privy Council. [70452]

Ruth Kelly: The Treasury has agreed to transfer the items concerned to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. This will ensure that the cost of holding them is borne by the Department whose objectives include broadening access for all to a rich and varied cultural life. That Department will lend them to the Victoria and Albert Museum, on condition that they are shared with appropriate regional institutions. The transfer will ensure that the items are available to public view for the first time in many years.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Export Licences

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many arms export licences have been granted in the last 12 months; how many have been rejected; and if she will make a statement. [66750]

Ms Hewitt: Between 1 July 2001 and 1 July 2002 the Department of Trade and Industry's Export Control Organisation issued 6,449 Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) and 312 Open Individual Export Licences (OIELs) for items on the military list. During that same period the ECO refused 137 SIEL and 4 OIEL applications in full, for items on the military list.

Details of all relevant export licences issued and refused are published in the Government's Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls; copies of which are placed in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when a decision will be made in relation to individual export licence applications numbered 35307, 35313, 35315 and 35316. [68051]

Ms Hewitt: Licences to export arms and other items whose export is controlled for strategic reasons are issued by me as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry acting through the Export Control Organisation (ECO).

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Decisions have not yet been reached on export licence applications 35307, 35313, 35315 and 35316, but will be taken as quickly as possible consistent with the need to give full consideration to the issues involved.

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consideration is given during the deliberation of export licence applications to the recent human rights record of the country to which the items in question are being exported; and if she will make a statement. [68510]

Mr. O'Brien: I have been asked to reply.

All relevant export licence applications are rigorously assessed on a case by case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria, in the light of the circumstances prevailing at the time and taking account of other relevant factors. The consolidated criteria were announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Europe in a written reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Crawley (Laura Moffatt) on 26 October 2000, Official Report, column 199–203W. The criteria clearly set out our commitment to take account of the risk that exports might be used for internal repression. In making our assessments we take account of reliable evidence, including for example, reporting from diplomatic posts, relevant reports by international bodies, intelligence and information from open sources and non-governmental organisations. This will include any relevant information about the recent human rights record of the recipient country.

Recycling

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of (a) paper and (b) other goods purchased by her Department was recycled paper in each year since 1997; what the annual total cost of these purchases was; what plans there are to increase these proportions; and if he will make a statement. [65764]

Ms Hewitt: The proportion and cost of recycled paper purchased is as follows:

Year	Proportion of recycled per cent	Annual Cost (£)
1997–98	18	55,333
1998–99	11	36,999
1999–2000	44	104,817
2000–01	61	137,985
2001–02	68	141,540

Information on the proportion of recycled paper in other goods purchased is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

I am fully committed to increasing the proportion of recycled paper that is being used and my Department is working closely with our stationery supplier to achieve this. An environmental switch programme was recently introduced for the purchase of copier paper via the on-line stationery ordering system. This involves an automatic switch to the recycled option whenever copier paper is selected.

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National Weights and Measures Laboratory

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what targets she has set her Department's National Weights and Measures Laboratory. [70222]

Miss Johnson: I have set the National Weights and Measures Laboratory the following quality of service and efficiency targets for 2002–03.

Financial Targets To report a deficit of no more than £310,000 in the Income and Expenditure Account for 2002–03.
To achieve £566,000 worth of new external income during the next four years.
Efficiency Target To contribute to continuous efficiency improvement by ensuring that total overhead costs are less than 58 per cent. of total costs.
Operational Targets To meet the expectations of its customers by completing at least 90 per cent. of European type approvals within 10 weeks.
To complete European type approvals within an average of 5 weeks.
To complete calibration jobs within the time requested by customers, with at least 95 per cent. of all jobs (including preparation of certificates) completed within 18 working days of acceptance of the work and an average completion time of less than 14 days.
To complete 72 per cent. of the milestones schedule for year 1 of the National Measurement System (NMS) legal metrology programme by their due dates.
To satisfy all its customers as demonstrated by at least 95 per cent. of them rating NWML's provision of services as satisfactory or better.
Questions Delegated to the Chief Executive

Chief Executive to reply within 10 working days to all letters from Members of Parliament delegated to him for reply.

Scientific Research

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the total amount spent on scientific research that has taken place in the UK in each of the last five years; and what her estimate is of the proportions that were funded (a) privately and (b) publicly. [61092]

Ms Hewitt: The total amount spent on research and development in the UK in £ billion is as follows:

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Cash terms	14,172	14,470	14,781	15,582	16,663
Real terms	15,827	15,656	15,551	15,940	16,663
(base year = 1999)

The percentage funded privately (businesses and private non-profit organisations) and publicly (government departments, Research Councils and Funding Councils) is as follows:

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Private	52	51	54	51	54
Public	34	33	32	32	29

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The balance (14 to 18 per cent.) comes from abroad and includes contributions from the EU. Further information can be found in Table 6.3 on the Science, Engineering and Technology Statistics website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/ost/setstats.

The increase in the level of R&D investment by the private sector funders indicates that greater "leverage" is being achieved by the Government investment in science, and that the publicly funded UK Science Base is fit for purpose in meeting the requirements of those other groups in society which fund.

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