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Miners' Pension Fund
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had with the trustees of the Miners' Pension Fund with regard to the Government's share of the fund surplus. [68418]
Mr. Wilson: The Department is having ongoing discussions with the trustees of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme and the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme to review the arrangements for the Government's guarantee of members' basic pension benefits as
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I announced on 17 January. The review will consider how best to ensure that there continues to be an equitable sharing of risks and rewards.
Payment of Bills
Mr. Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of bills were paid on time by Government Departments and their agencies during the financial year 2000–01. [71802]
Nigel Griffiths: The overall payment performance of Government is 95.86 per cent. Figures for the financial year 2000–01 show that there has been a slight decrease in overall performance this year. However, there has been an improvement in the payment performance of a number of Departments and agencies with 60 per cent. achieving the average and 20 per cent. paying 99 per cent. or more of their invoices on time.
Government Departments and their agencies are required to monitor their payment performance and to publish the results in their departmental or annual reports. The table lists, by Department, the proportion of bills paid within 30 days, or other agreed credit period, of receipt of a valid invoice.
(1) Figures only available to 31 Dec 2001
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Petroleum Licensing
Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 16 January 2002, Official Report, column 323W, on petroleum licensing, what decisions she has made on licence awards in the 20th Offshore Licensing Round. [72019]
Mr. Wilson: I have decided to award 25 production licences to licence groups made up of 33 different companies. They include six companies acquiring their first offshore licences as well as more familiar names, and range from the super-giants to small new niche players.
It is encouraging that so many companies see further opportunities for investment and development in the North sea's core areas, even after nearly 40 years of
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intensive exploration there. It bodes well for future licensing rounds, which will cover a lot of acreage that, by contrast, is still under-explored and under-exploited. The DTI, with PILOT (formerly the Oil and Gas Industry Task Force), will seek to give every opportunity to small, innovative companies eager to exploit the UK's hydrocarbon resources with new technology. I am particularly delighted to see the response from newcomers who fully understand the potential rewards still to be made in the North sea.
In an effort to concentrate licensees' minds and prevent the appearance of fallow acreage in future, in pursuit of recommendations by PILOT I have made some significant changes to the licences compared with earlier versions. The first two terms will last for four years each instead of six and 12 years respectively, and there will be a mandatory relinquishment of all acreage that is not covered by a development plan at the end of the second term. The Government will also be enabled to publish information three years after receiving it, instead of five (or at licence surrender, whichever is sooner). All this is part of the Government's strategy of bringing together acreage and the companies best fitted to exploit it.
The companies within each licence group (with the operator named first), the blocks covered and a brief resumé of the Work Programmes, are as follows:
(2) Marks awarded are not comparable between blocks.
(3) Only parts of these blocks were available for licensing.
(4) Licence offer conditional on creation of a UK (or EU) subsidiary to hold it.
(5) Only parts of these blocks are awarded.
(6) That part of 30/25 that includes part of the Ardmore field is awarded to Tuscan by extending Licence P1035. The remainder of the block is awarded to CNR.
(7) Licence offer conditional on submission of a satisfactory parent company guarantee.
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