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27 Jan 2003 : Column 587W—continued
Competitiveness White Paper
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many commitments made by her Department in the 1998 Competitiveness White Paper have been met; and if she will make a statement. [91652]
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Ms Hewitt: Of the 77 commitments made in the 1998 White Paper, "Our Competitive Future—Building the Knowledge Driven Economy" (Cm 4176), 70 have been fully achieved. The delivery dates of six commitments have not yet been reached.
Full details of progress against targets can be found in the White Paper Implementation Plan, published on the DTI website at: www.dti.gov.uk/comp/impl.html
Fossil Fuel
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the existing surplus of fossil fuel levy funds in Scotland is. [91741]
Mr. Wilson: £10.1 million. This is held by the Collector and invested in accordance with the regulations.
Renewable Energy
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what she expects the proceeds to be of the auction of the renewable obligation certificates. [91742]
Mr. Wilson: Future income from auctions of Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs) will depend on the output of renewable energy auctioned and the market value of ROCs.
In England and Wales an auction was held on 12 August and income from the electricity, LECs and ROCs will be paid between October 2002 and March 2003. The auction related to output during this period from 486MW capacity of renewable energy.
In Scotland, the proceeds of the first auction of ROCs were just under 4.4 million. The second auction has just been held on 16 January at which the average price for ROCs was £47.46 per ROC. A total of 64,337 ROCs were successfully auctioned.
Empty Homes
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many empty homes her Department (a) had five years ago and (b) has now, by region; if she will establish an empty homes strategy within her Department; and if she will set a target for reduction in empty homes. [92918]
Ms Hewitt: The answer, in both cases, is none.
Ethical Banking
Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what contracts have been concluded as a result of the Government's commitment to support ethical banking. [89940]
Ms Hewitt: The Government believe it is important for consumers to have choice in financial products, including the availability of 'ethical' products. However, it would not be appropriate for the Government to exclusively support the development of one specific group of financial providers. It is for individual consumers to decide the attributes they most value from their financial services and for financial services firms to be transparent about their use of funds and investments.
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Export Control Act
Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she expects to introduce secondary legislation under the Export Control Act 2002. [93032]
Nigel Griffiths: It is expected that the Act and the secondary legislation to be made under it will enter into force in the second half of 2003, following the appropriate period of consultation.
Fraud
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the operating cost in each year since 1997 was of her Department's (a) ORACLE RAB and (b) anti-fraud control system; and if she will make a statement. [88827]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 14 January 2003]: The information is as follows:
(a) The ORACLE RAB system became operational in December 1998. Operating costs for the system for the financial years in question were as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 0.00 |
| 1998–99 | 1.04 |
| 1999–2000 | 2.12 |
| 2000–01 | 2.53 |
| 2001–02 | 2.62 |
(b) The Department has anti-fraud control built into all its financial systems, and it is therefore not possible to quantify the overall operating cost.
General Agreement on Trade in Services
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the impact of the General Agreement on Trade in Services upon (a) teaching and research and (b) the knowledge economy. [88944]
Nigel Griffiths: We have just completed a public consultation on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and are now analysing the responses received. GATS might only have an impact upon teaching, research and the knowledge economy if we were minded to meet liberalisation requests made to us by our trading partners in relevant areas. The UK negotiates in the WTO as part of the European Community. We have yet to see the Commission's draft proposals on which requests they suggest the EC might meet in the offer to be tabled in the WTO by the end of March 2003. Their proposals will be discussed with the Department for Education and Skills and the Devolved Administrations, as part of our internal assessment process.
Huntingdon Life Sciences
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimated cost is of providing (a) banking; and (b) insurance facilities to Huntingdon life sciences. [91536]
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Ms Hewitt: Huntingdon Life Sciences is reimbursing to the DTI the full cost of facilitating insurance and of the facilitation of banking services. DTI has recognised possible contingent liabilities consequent on the provision of insurance services.
Industrial Action
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) trades unions and (b) individuals have been (i) charged with offences resulting from industrial action and (ii) convicted of offences resulting from industrial action in each year since 1973. [92763]
Alan Johnson: Although there have been a number of charges and convictions resulting from offences committed in the course of industrial action, the Government do not collect statistics relating to the circumstances in which offences took place.
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with (a) representatives of British industry and (b) trades union representatives concerning (i) the number of days lost to industrial disputes over the last 12 months and (ii) the state of the manufacturing industry in the UK. [92765]
Alan Johnson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I regularly attend meetings with representatives of British industry and trade unions at which employment relations and manufacturing issues are discussed.
Information Society Initiative Centres
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many ISI centres are open; if she will list their locations; and if she will make a statement. [88809]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 7 January 2003]: ISI Centres were established as part of the Information Society Initiative, which was re-branded as UK online for business in 2000. The centres themselves were established to provide independent and impartial advice to SMEs about information and communication technology. When the re-organisation of the Small Business Service and the Business Link Organisation took place, it was agreed that the provision of this ICT advice would be delivered through the Business Link network and the equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Many of the ISI advisers were subsumed into the Business Link organisation. There are therefore no ISI centres still in existence.
Innovation Unit
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many industrial secondees there were in the Department's Innovation Unit in each year since 1998; and if she will make a statement. [91653]
Ms Hewitt: During the period 1998–2002, the Innovation Unit had the following number of part-time industrial 'secondees' engaged within the Unit at some point in the year: 1998—33; 1999—29; 2000—28; 2001—29 and 2002—23. The Innovation Unit has now been restructured and its work incorporated across the new Innovation Group within the DTI.
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Job Creation
Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many grants for job creation her Department awarded in (a) south-east Northumberland and (b) Wansbeck in 2002; and what the value was in each case. [93026]
Alan Johnson: The table sets out the numbers, value and associated jobs for grant offered in 2002 under the Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) and Enterprise Grant schemes for Wansbeck and south-east Northumberland (the local authority districts of Blyth Valley, North Tyneside and Wansbeck). From 1 April 2002 responsibility for RSA was transferred to ONE NorthEast, the regional development agency.
Details of individual RSA grants of over £75,000 are published in "Labour Market Trends" after the first payment of grant has been made.
| Wansbeck | South-east Northumberland | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of offers | 2 | 20 |
| Grant value | £177,500 | £5,327,460 |
| Associated jobs | 40 | 842 |
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