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Timesaver Programme

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the timesaver programme for assisting small businesses. [69677]

Nigel Griffiths: The Small Business Service has carried out work on a timesaver service to reduce the time spent by small businesses in dealing with Government and complying with regulations. As a result of this work this project is being taken forward as part of a cross-departmental programme.

Excess Profits

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list those sectors of industry in which excess profits have occurred in the past four years, using the same definition of excess profits as the Competition Commission. [68002]

Miss Melanie Johnson [holding answer 8 July 2002]: This information is not available. The Competition Commission's inquiries relate to markets not sectors.

Your Guide Scheme

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on progress with the Your Guide scheme. [66748]

Mr. Timms: The evaluation of the pilot of post offices as Government General Practitioners has been completed to schedule. Work to establish whether a national service could offer value for money to all stakeholders, including Government and post offices, is continuing.

Public Consultation

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the public consultations undertaken by her Department since June 2001, stating in each case the (a) number of respondents and (b) percentage of those specifically consulted who responded. [60142]

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Ms Hewitt [holding answer 10 June 2002]: The consultations undertaken by the Department since June 2001 are as follows:


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Figures for the number of respondents and the percentage of those specifically consulted who responded are not held centrally. All DTI consultation documents are posted on the Department website and that of the Central Office of Information to ensure we consult as widely as possible.

Employment Liability (Quarries)

Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the willingness of the insurance industry to provide employer liability cover for small quarries. [66762]

Mr. Jamieson: I have been asked to reply.

The provision of insurance is a matter for insurance companies in the light of their commercial understanding of the market. There is no statutory requirement on the insurance industry to provide employers' liability compulsory insurance.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Zimbabwe

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action was taken by the Government to ensure that Zimbabwe would follow the Southern African Development Community's programme for free and fair elections. [67133]

Mr. MacShane: The SADC parliamentary forum published norms and standards which set a very high standard for the conduct of free and fair elections. They formed the basis of the norms and standards adopted by the EU.

The EU sent election observers to Zimbabwe. But the Government revoked the visa of the EU team leader, which forced the withdrawal of the observer mission.

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations personnel at the Foreign Office have made in the past year to the European Commission concerning the recruitment and appointment of personnel to positions in the Commission dealing with Zimbabwe, with special reference to representations made on behalf of British citizens to Commission appointment boards. [68876]

Peter Hain: It is not practical to attempt to check every contact between British officials and the Commission over the last year. But we are not aware of any representations being made over that period concerning the recruitment and appointment of personnel to positions in the Commission dealing with Zimbabwe.

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British Goods Promotion

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what funding he gave to promote (a) high quality and (b) other British goods and services abroad in the last 12 months. [67786]

Mr. MacShane: British Trade International (BTI), has lead responsibility within Government for trade development and investment overseas and inward investment. The BTI is a joint FCO and DTI operation.

The trade promotion and development arm of BTI is Trade Partners UK (TPUK). In financial year 2001–02, TPUK's budget for promoting goods and services overseas was some £69.6 million.

Information distinguishing between funding for the promotion of (a) high quality and (b) other British goods and services is not collected.

Overseas Territories

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which UK overseas territories (a) have and (b) have not produced timely, complete and reliable statistical abstracts annually since 1997; with which United Kingdom overseas territories his office has raised queries on the timeliness, completeness and reliability of their (i) annual statistical abstracts and (ii) other statistical reports since 1997; and from which United Kingdom overseas territories satisfactory responses are still awaited. [67642]

Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) if he will place in the Library the National Income Accounts for each overseas territory received by his Department; and if he will list the date of their last submission; [67852]

Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 10 July 2002]: Each overseas territory has a slightly different system for the collection and publication of statistics but we look to them all to produce suitable and regular information.

Of the nine overseas territories where there is significant economic activity, seven have regularly produced and published statistics over a five year period up to and including either 2000 or 2001. Montserrat, due to particular circumstances, has been unable to produce comprehensive statistics for several years, but expects to do so in the near future. Gibraltar has recently published a compendium of statistics after a gap of several years. I will be making arrangements for the most recent statistical returns from each of these overseas territories to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

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HMG are in consultation with certain overseas territories about refining and improving their statistical returns, and where appropriate have offered assistance with this, for example by the secondment of experts.


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