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21 Oct 2002 : Column 63Wcontinued
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the latest available figures in descending order for the average number of households per 1,000 in each local authority area which are accepted as being in priority need for housing. [74858]
Mrs. Roche: Available information reported by local authorities in England on the number of households accepted per 1,000 under statutory homelessness provisions for the quarter ending 30 June 2002 is available from the library of the House.
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Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the level of inflation in the public sector. [75230]
Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply
Inflation in the public sectoras defined by growth in the implied government consumption deflatoris currently close to its average over the past 5 years, and is significantly lower than its average from 1979 to mid-1997. Nevertheless the data need to be interpreted cautiously, because the non-marketed nature of public services and the difficulty of making appropriate adjustments for quality change complicate the measurement of prices and inflation in the public sector.
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the level of the public sector deflator in each month of the last 10 years. [75239]
Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply
The implied government consumption deflator is not available on a monthly basis, as it is derived from quarterly nominal and real government consumption data.
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the consultations being undertaken by her Department. [75232]
Ms Hewitt: Consultations which are currently being undertaken by the Department, and their opening and closing dates, are as follows:
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Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average price of aircraft fuel was in September. [75032]
Mr. Wilson: The average spot price was $263 a tonne (source: Platts Information Agency).
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether pre-tax (a) electricity and (b) gas prices were above or below the EU/G7 median for 2001; and if she will make a statement. [75129]
Mr. Wilson: Average annual electricity and gas prices for 2001 are not yet available for all EU and G7 countries.
In 2001 average pre-tax electricity prices for industrial consumers in the UK were 5 per cent. below the EU/G7 median, based upon the 5 countries for which data are available. Average pre-tax electricity prices for domestic consumers in the UK were 13 per cent. above the EU/G7 median, based upon the 7 countries for which data are available.
Average pre-tax gas prices for UK industrial consumers in 2001 were 20 per cent. below the EU/G7 median, based upon the 7 countries for which data are available. Average pre-tax prices for domestic gas consumers in the UK were 4 per cent. below the EU/G7 median, based upon the 10 countries for which data are available.
Estimates based on data from Eurostat (the EU Statistical Office) and Energy Advice Ltd (a private sector consultant) suggest that in July 2002 industrial electricity and gas prices in the UK, both including and excluding taxes, were generally below the EU median price. Similarly, the estimated data suggests that UK domestic electricity and gas prices, including taxes, were below the EU median price, but were above the EU median price if taxes are excluded.
The DTI regularly publishes this comparison in ''Quarterly Energy Prices'', which is also available on the DTI web site.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of single market directives had been transposed by September; and if she will make a statement. [75130]
Ms Hewitt: Provisional indications from the Commission are that the Internal Market Scoreboard for November 2002 will show the UK as having
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transposed around 98.5 per cent. of single market directives. This was also the percentage shown for the UK in the last Scoreboard published in May 2002.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 14 February 2002, Official Report, column 529W, on Corus, how much of the aid that was announced in May 2001 to provide suport to communities affected by Corus redundancies has been spent in respect of each of the projects listed; and if she will make a statement. [75437]
Alan Johnson: The majority of the #48 million package of regeneration measures for areas in England affected by the closures announced by Corus in May 2001 consisted of major infrastructure projects funded by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.
The announcement also indicated that the Government intended to approach the Commission under Article 56 of the ECSC Treaty with a view to introducing an ISERBS type of programme to provide social aid to redundant steelworkers. A scheme involving a one off lump sum payment of #2,480 per individual was implemented. By end of October 2002 #28.6m will have been disbursed to eligible workers.
Infrastructure projects are necessarily slow moving, and little money is spent in the early stages. Progress on the projects is as follows:
The remainder of the package announced in 2001 consisted of an extension of the Job Transition Service to the areas affected by the closures, and is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Expenditure on the regeneration package for Wales also announced on that day is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.
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Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) interruptions there were per 100 customers and (b) minutes were lost to electricity power supply interruptions in 200102; and if she will make a statement. [75128]
Mr. Wilson: (a) The average number of consumer interruptions per 100 customers in Great Britain in 200102 was 89.49.
(b) The average number of customer minutes lost per customer in Great Britain in 200102 was 88.94.
The industry regulator, OFGEM, has this year introduced measures that will create financial incentives to network operators to further improve performance.
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