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11 Feb 2003 : Column 659W—continued

Chemical Industry

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her estimate is of her Department's spending on support for the chemical industry in each year from 2000–01 to 2004–05 (planned); what the major elements are of this expenditure; and if she will make a statement. [95815]

Alan Johnson: Total DTI support relevant to the chemicals industry (excluding the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors) is set out in the table:

Financial year	Total (£ million)
2000–01
Actual	28.2
2001–02
Actual	37.7
2002–03
Budget	36.5
2003–04
Plans	21.5
2004–05
Plans	14.7

The major elements of this funding are:

(a) grants for research funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). This includes collaborative research between universities and industry and fundamental research under its chemistry programme relevant to the chemicals sector;

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(b) DTI's innovation programmes, including SMART awards, Faradays and the Process Industries Centre for Manufacturing Excellence;

(c) Regional selective assistance (RSA) to specific companies; and

(d) support for Laboratory of the Government Chemist.

The chemicals industry also benefits from support from the regional development agencies, and generic support through channels such as the Small Business Service and the Manufacturing Advisory Service. Information on this support is not available for specific sectors.

Notes:

1. Information on detailed annual spend by EPSRC is not available on a sectoral basis over this period. The figures provided include estimates of annual spending of £10.6 million on research and £2.1 million on training packages, based on the proportion spent on chemicals in 2000.

2. Support through RSA is related to applications for support by specific companies. Figures for this element are not therefore available for future years.

3. DTI support for the chemicals sector is being reviewed along with the rest of the Department's business support. A newly created Investment Committee will make recommendations for future business support activities in order to drive up productivity. Given these changes it is difficult to predict overall spending for 2003–04 and 2004–05.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her estimate is of total spending by British Trade International in each year from 1990–91 to 2004–05 (planned). [95830]

Ms Hewitt: Funding of British Trade International since its establishment in May 1999 is as follows:

Budget £millions	1999–2000 Outturn	2000–01 Outturn	2001–02 Outturn	2002–03 Plans	2003–04 Plans	2004–05 Plans
Programme	72	93	76	92	96	97
Admin
DTI	28	31	27	35	35	38
FCO	n/a	156	136	140	141	143
Capital DTI	0	0	5	3	0	0
FCO	n/a	0	1	1	0	0

FCO admin spend for 2001–02 represents the net operating costs as set out in the FCO Expenditure Allocation Report 2001–02. The FCO's budget for British Trade International for 2003–04 onwards has not yet been set; the above figures are estimates. There are no comparable FCO figures available for 1999–2000.

E-Commerce

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total volume was of UK e-commerce transactions in (a) 2000, (b) 2001 and (c) 2002. [96754]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 10 February 2003]: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) e-commerce survey of UK businesses reports on the value of sales made over the internet by UK businesses (excluding the financial sector).

Figures for 2002 are not yet available; they are due to be published by ONS in October this year.

For 2001, the survey showed a total of £18.4 billion sales, accounting for 1 per cent. of the total value of sales for those sectors covered.

For 2000, the survey showed a total of £12 billion sales over the internet. However, the 2000 survey covered only businesses with 10 employees or more. The corresponding figure for 2001 for businesses with 10 employees or more was £17 billion.

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Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the aims of the 1999 DTI report to make Britain the best environment in the world for e-commerce by 2002, set out in "e-commerce @ its.best.uk" fig. 1.12, page 3, has been met. [97370]

Mr. Timms: The International Benchmarking Study 2000 prepared by Booz Alien Hamilton for the Office of the e-Envoy and the DTI ranks the UK as having the second best environment in the world for e-commerce, second only to the USA.

The study attributes this achievement to strong venture capital markets, competitive internet access costs on broadband and dial up, strong leadership of the e-agenda and a very supportive regulatory environment. UK broadband prices have reduced from among the most expensive in the G7 to amongst the cheapest.

Ministerial Travel

Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times since 2001 she has taken flights on departmental duties in the UK; how many of these were (a) charter flights, (b) first or club class and (c) by helicopter; and who accompanied her on each trip. [95394]

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Ms Hewitt : I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 334W.

Nuclear Industry

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much (a) low, (b) intermediate and (c) high level waste will be produced as a result of BNFL's continued reprocessing of spent fuel from British Energy's advanced gas-cooled reactors. [91923]

Mr. Meacher : I have been asked to reply.

There are contracts for the reprocessing of about 65 per cent. of the spent fuel from British Energy's advanced gas-cooled reactors. If all of the spent fuel was reprocessed, conditioned waste volumes are estimated to be a maximum of about 28,000 m ³ of low-level waste, 14,000 m ³ of intermediate-level waste and 470 m ³ of high-level waste.

Post Office Closures

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) rural and (b) urban post offices have closed in each of the last 12 months (i) in total and (ii) broken down by region. [97100]

Mr. Timms: I understand from Post Office Ltd. that the information requested is available only on a quarterly basis giving net closures/openings as follows:

Year: 2002		January–March			April–June			July–September			October–December
Region/Country	Urban	Rural	Urban	Rural	Urban	Rural	Urban	Rural
North East	-	-	2	1	-	-	1	1
North West	1	1	3	(4)1	8	6	5	2
Yorkshire and Humber	2	(4)5	-	(5)2	1	12	7	(4)6
West Midlands	2	3	3	2	7	2	4	(4)3
South West	-	(4)7	1	7	3	3	3	2
South East	3	(5)36	7	6	2	2	3	(4)9
London	7	-	8	-	(4)1	1	21	-
East of England	-	-	3	5	2	10	2	(4)2
East Midlands	2	2	8	4	1	3	5	-
Northern Ireland	4	(4)1	(4)1	-	3	2	1	1
Scotland	4	6	1	4	-	(4)4	1	1
Wales	2	8	1	4	-	(4)2	-	-
Total	27	43	36	30	26	35	53	(4),(6)13

⁽⁴⁾ Net openings

⁽⁵⁾ Includes 26 locations served by mobile office

⁽⁶⁾ Includes 11 reopenings not recorded in data for the previous two quarters

Post Offices (Yorkshire)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the financial loss to post offices in (a) Haltemprice and Howden and (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire as a result of the change in the payment of benefits from over-the-counter to direct bank transfer. [96710]

Mr. Timms: No such assessment has been made. The migration of benefit payment to ACT begins this year and the Post Office's strategy is to respond to that challenge with a range of banking and other services. How the migration of benefit payments affects the revenue of post offices will depend on a number of factors, not least how benefit recipients and other post office customers respond to change. The income from the various contracts Post Office Ltd. has with the spending Departments and various financial institutions, and the remuneration of sub-postmasters for banking services, is a commercial matter between the parties.

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