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Special Advisers

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) dates, (b) location and (c) sources were of attributable (i) articles, interviews or contributions for the media, books or other journals and (ii) speeches or presentations made in the public domain, by departmental special advisers since March 2001; who in her Department authorised the activity; and on what date this activity was recorded with the departmental Head of Information. [72255]

Ms Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's answer of 24 July, Official Report, column 1373W.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which special advisers assist her in identifying priorities for encouraging and stimulating new businesses in rural areas. [71673]

Ms Hewitt: My special advisers offer advice to me on a wide range of policy issues, including small business matters where appropriate.

A description of the role and duties of special advisers is set down in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers.

Public Consultations

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the public consultations undertaken by her Department since 8 June 2001, indicating the (a) length and (b) number of responses received in each case. [68704]

Ms Hewitt: The consultations undertaken by the Department since June 2001 are as follows:


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The Department is required to comply with the Consultation Code of Practice requiring a period of at least 12 weeks for responses to public consultations. Records relating to consultations the compliance with Criterion 5 of the consultation Code are currently being compiled. I will write to the hon. Member with the requested information as soon as possible and place a copy in the Libraries of the House. Information on the number of responses in each consultation exercise is not held centrally.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what public consultations have been commenced by her Department since 1 April; and what the (a) closing date and (b) website address of each were. [72065]

Ms Hewitt: The public consultations commenced by the Department since 1 April are as follows:


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All DTI consultation documents are published on the Department's website at www.dti.gov.uk

Law Enforcement Agencies

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what statutory law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities there are within the responsibility of her Department; and what complaints procedure is available for each. [57125]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 16 May 2002]: There are no statutory law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities within the responsibility of my Department; prosecutions are brought by the Department itself. The Department's basic procedure for dealing with complaints is that, if someone has a complaint, they should initially go back to their original contact in the Department; if the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they are invited to contact the official's line manager; if the problem still cannot be resolved, the matter is referred to the Head of the Management Unit for review. This procedure does not affect the complainant's right to approach, via an MP, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration or myself.

Statutory Instruments

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many statutory instruments have been (a) introduced, (b) removed and (c) amended by her Department since 1 January; and what the (i) cost and (ii) saving has been in each case. [64623]

Ms Hewitt: 52 statutory instruments have been made by DTI since the beginning of 2002. These SIs revoked a total of 16 earlier SIs, and amended a total of 17 earlier SIs.

The cost and saving information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much and what proportion of the departmental expenditure limit for 2002–03 will be accounted for by staff costs; what the figures were for 2001–02; and if she will make a statement. [61026]

Ms Hewitt: Pay negotiations for 2002–03 have not yet been finalised. Therefore, planned pay costs as a proportion of total planned expenditure is not yet available.

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The total resources of the Department for 2001–02 are shown in Table 1 of The Government's Expenditure Plans (Cm 5416), and the Department's admin expenditure is detailed in Table 5 of the same publication.

Departmental Policies (Wycombe)

Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the activities pursued by her Department that have had a particular impact on the Wycombe constituency since 7 June 2001. [58623]

Alan Johnson: The Department of Trade and Industry has funded a number of initiatives that have been delivered through the Small Business Service to help the economy in the Wycombe area. To date, a total of £518,856 of this funding has been spent since June 7 2001. This has included a Business Recovery fund (£9,000), a Diagnostic and Consultancy Scheme (£45,385), and International Trade Advice (£36,063).


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