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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Arms Exports (Israel)

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what types of arms were exported to Israel in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [98361]

Nigel Griffiths: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) on 18 March 2002, Official Report, column 54W.

Benefit Payments

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effect on post offices in Derbyshire of the change in payment of benefits from over-the-counter to direct bank transfer. [98893]

Mr. Timms: No such assessment has been made by the Department. 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.

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with EU colleagues regarding EU approval for the exemption from the Climate Change Levy of the coal mine methane industry; and if she will make a statement. [98508]

Mr. Wilson: The use of coal mine methane directly as a fuel in industrial processes is already exempt from the Climate Change Levy. The Department of Trade and Industry have submitted a State Aid Application to the European Commission for exemption from the Climate Change Levy for electricity produced from coal mine methane. The commission has opened an investigation under Article 88(2) of the Treaty to determine whether the proposed aid is approvable. They will be inviting comments from member states and interested parties. We have received the formal notification of this decision from the commission and DTI officials are currently

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preparing an initial response and considering what other action will be necessary to secure the State Aid Approval.

Coal Miners' Compensation

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons a second medical examination to assess the services proportion of coal industry vibration white finger claims is required; what additional (a) resources and (b) expenditure have been set aside for this purpose; and when he expects all claims to be settled. [97968]

Mr. Wilson: In addition to the general damages paid to those suffering from vibration white finger (VWF) my Department is responsible for compensation to certain claimants who are prevented from carrying out everyday tasks such as DIY and gardening because of the severity of their VWF. Therefore, in accordance with common law it is necessary to identify to what extent VWF itself has caused these difficulties. The second medical examination is designed to identify any other conditions, or co-morbidities, that may impact upon a claimant's ability to undertake the task claimed for. The existing medical examination for VWF was not designed to identify such conditions, which is why a second medical in these circumstances is necessary.

Resources for this second medical, or Services MAP, are already being put in place. The Department announced on 6 February 2003 that Aon Health Solutions (AHS) has been appointed as the new medical provider for this process. We are now involved actively with all our contract partners towards starting medical assessments by the end of April this year. Currently there are 60 adjusters at IRISC preparing claims for the Services MAP. Resources at AHS will be updated over time in line with the volumes of claims passing through to the medical stage of the process.

It is not possible to make firm financial estimates of the cost of Services claims until the numbers of those making claims is clearer. But this is a legal liability and the Department will meet whatever it costs. As well as having financial implications, the final numbers will also impact on the time scale involved. It is hoped to have the majority of claims through the Services MAP by the end of 2005; however, this is significantly dependent on the full cooperation of solicitors in getting claims documentation to our claims handlers.

Coalmine Methane

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Renewables Obligation will be extended to cover coal mine methane. [98509]

Mr. Wilson: The Government consider that extending the Renewables Obligation to include coal mine methane would not be consistent with the objectives of the Obligation; coal mine methane is, by definition not a renewable.

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the (a) role of coal mine methane and (b) its importance in the security of UK future energy requirements. [98562]

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Mr. Wilson: Although coal mine methane currently contributes some 30MW to the total 74,000MW generating capacity in the UK, the Government recognise and value the environmental benefits the industry provides by tapping the methane emissions and putting them to good use. We are very supportive of this industry and are keen to help it expand so that it can continue to reduce these emissions throughout the UK. We have already demonstrated this support through our securing exemption from the climate change levy for electricity generated from CMM in last year's budget, and this is currently being cleared with the European Commission.

The Government's conclusions on the role of CMM in the security of UK future energy supply will be made public when the White Paper is published shortly.

Cruickshank Report

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what steps have been taken to implement the Cruickshank report recommendations for regulating the charges on small businesses for credit and debit card transactions; [96650]

(2) what plans she has to establish a payments regulator within the Office of Fair Trading. [96649]

Ruth Kelly: I have been asked to reply.

The Cruickshank report on Competition in UK Banking concluded that there was a profound lack of competition in the provision of payment services and recommended the setting up of a regulator to bring about improved competition in this sector. In his March 2000 Budget speech, the Chancellor announced that the Government would legislate to ensure the payments system is open to new competition. The Government remain committed to introducing legislation to give the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) new powers to promote effective competition in payment systems—and will do so as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Progress has already been made through, for example, reforms to the governance structures of the main UK payment systems. The Government welcome these moves by payment system participants to address the competition issues identified by the Cruickshank report and urges the industry to continue with these reforms.

The Cruickshank report did not specifically recommend regulating the charges on small businesses for credit and debit card transactions. What it did recommend, however, was that wholesale prices—such as interchange fees—should generally be derived through a process that is transparent to final users, and that prices should be based on legitimate costs and should anticipate achievable cost reductions. It is envisaged that the Government's proposed legislation will include provisions designed to promote efficient wholesale pricing. This might reasonably be expected to bring about benefits to all end-users of payment services, including small businesses.

To promote its understanding of how payment systems operate, and to help pave the way for its prospective powers, the OFT announced on 27 November that it would conduct an empirical study

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into recent payment system developments. The terms of reference of this study were published on 31 January 2003—and include issues related to pricing in the credit and debit card markets. The OFT has undertaken to publish a report outlining its assessment and conclusions in spring 2003.

Icelandic Trawlermen

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many former Icelandic trawlermen had their claims for compensation rejected because of breaks in service in each of the four main distant water fishing ports. [98477]

Nigel Griffiths: I regret that this information could be compiled only at disproportionate cost.

Trawlermen

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been paid out to how many trawlermen, and how many claims have been (a) rejected and (b) reduced because of breaks in service for each of the main distant water ports, under her compensation scheme for former Icelandic trawlermen. [98478]

Nigel Griffiths: At mid-February 2003, £40.2 million in compensation had been paid to 4,653 former Icelandic water trawlermen. About 2,900 claimants had been assessed as not qualifying for compensation. I regret that there are no figures about how many claims have been rejected and reduced because of gaps in service in each of the main distant water ports. This information could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the reasons underlying the treatment of (a) compulsory periods of service on North Sea fishing boats and (b) periods spent in prison in calculating service for the purposes of her compensation scheme for Icelandic trawlermen; and how (a) and (b) are treated under redundancy legislation. [98479]

Nigel Griffiths: The continuity of service rules under the Government's compensation scheme were extremely generous to claimants. In general, service was regarded as continuous regardless how many gaps a trawlerman had had between voyages on Icelandic water vessels, or how long those gaps had been, or what the reasons for them had been.

The only exception was where, during a gap of longer than 12 weeks, the former trawlerman had done other work—which included, for these purposes, other fishing work on vessels that had never made voyages to Icelandic waters. The rationale for this was that if a former trawlerman had done other work during a lengthy gap between voyages on Icelandic water vessels, it would not have been right to have regarded him as having remained dependent upon the industry during that period.

One consequence of the generosity of this aspect of the scheme rules was that time spent in prison did not break continuity, provided the former trawlerman's most recent work before going into prison had been on

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an Icelandic water vessel, and that he had resumed work on such a vessel after his release, having done no other work in between.

The continuity of service rules under the statutory redundancy payments scheme are different, and much stricter. In particular, there is a requirement for continuous service with the same employer (or an associated employer), whereas under the compensation scheme there was no such requirement.

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