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CABINET OFFICE

Civil Defence

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office to what use the national network of civil defence bunkers established during the Cold War is being put. [103429]

Mr. Alexander: Following a review of emergency planning arrangements in 1992, all the civil defence regional headquarters in England and Wales were offered up for sale on the open market and are now under private ownership.

Senior Civil Service

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will make a statement on ethnic minority representation in the Senior Civil Service. [106668]

Mr. Alexander: The Civil Service is making progress on increasing the representation of minority ethnic staff at Senior Civil Service level.

As at October 2002, 2.8 per cent. of staff at this level were from a minority ethnic background. This is up from 1.6 per cent. in April 1998, and represents good progress towards our target of 3.2 per cent. by 2004–05.

There is a range of action in place to ensure sustained action to improve representation at senior levels.

Staff Numbers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff were employed by his Department in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [106982]

Mr. Alexander: The information is not available in the format requested. Staffing figures for Civil Service Departments and agencies are published twice yearly by press notice, copies of which are laid in the Libraries of both Houses. Information relating to 1 April 2002 was

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published on 31 October 2002, and information for October 2002 was published on 27 February this year. Information relating to 1 April 2003 is not yet available. The figures are also made available via the worldwide web at: http://www.civil-service.gov.uk/statistics/documents/pdf/staffing 03.pdf

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Conservatory Construction Industry

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps are being taken to protect industry standards and law-abiding companies from rogue traders in the household conservatory construction industry. [106250]

Mr. Wilson: DTI is already rolling out the Quality Mark Scheme for builders and tradesmen in the domestic repair and maintenance sector. A detailed business plan is currently under development to underpin the next stage of the Scheme. It is expected this will be put to Ministers for their approval shortly. The Quality Mark Scheme aims to raise standards in this sector, bring peace of mind to consumers and provide reputable companies with a competitive edge. It covers all the main trades in this sector, including conservatories, and requires tradesmen to be independently assessed against a range of standards including workmanship, skills and qualifications, customer care and financial probity.

Contracts (Russia)

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what UK requirements and guidelines she sets British companies signing contracts in Russia in respect of their policies towards their Russian employees. [104746]

Ms Hewitt: Any UK company wishing to enter into a business arrangement with a Russian partner would be advised to satisfy itself as to all aspects of the contractual arrangements which it was being asked to enter into. In line with our aim of actively promoting corporate social responsibility, we would also encourage companies to work with their partners and suppliers to address the economic, social and environmental impacts of their policies and activities. In the light of this, one good way of achieving these goals would be to act in accordance with the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and to perform at least the standards they suggest.

Departmental Running Costs

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the running costs in 2002 were of (a) her Ministers' private offices, separately identifying expenditure on staff, and (b) her Department. [106004]

Ms Hewitt: The Consolidated Resource Accounts published by the Department of Trade and Industry for the financial year 2001–02, show total administration costs for the department and its agencies of £520 million.

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Of these administration costs the amount spent on Ministers' private offices were £4.08 million of which staff costs were £1.70 million.

Complete data are not yet available for 2002–03.

Huntingdon Life Sciences Group

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the current status of her Department's provision of insurance services to Huntingdon Life Sciences Group. [105626]

Ms Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Cathcart (Mr. Haris) on 17 December 2002, Official Report, columns 733–34W, and the replies given to the hon. Member for Lewes (Norman Baker) on 27 January 2003, Official Report, column 592W, and 6 February 2003, Official Report, column 394W, which set out the current status of my Department's facilitation of insurance for Huntingdon Life Sciences Group plc.

Post Offices

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much funding has been granted by the Sub-Post Office Start-up Capital Scheme to assist with one-off capital costs associated with the refurbishment or relocation of rural post offices. [107101]

Mr. Timms: I understand from Post Office Ltd., who administer the scheme, that, as at the end of February 2003, 156 grants to a total value of £1,130,409 had been approved, of which £883,773 had been paid out.

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department held with Post Office Ltd. over the imposition of payment rate on postmasters for conducting Post Office card account transactions; what payment rate has been agreed; and if she will make a statement. [107372]

Mr. Timms: Ministers and officials have regular contact with Post Office Ltd. to discuss a range of issues. Remuneration for postmasters is a commercial matter between Post Office Ltd. and the postmasters.

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what role her Department is playing in the (a) employment and (b) remuneration of network development managers for the Urban Network Reinvention Programme for the Post Office. [107378]

Mr. Timms: None. These are operational matters for Post Office Ltd.

Telephone Services

Peter Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to (a) review and (b) amend regulation of (i) the pricing and (ii) the advertising of the pricing of premium rate telephone services. [106957]

Mr. Timms: The basis of the regulation of premium rate telephone services is being changed by the Communications Bill, when the whole telecommunications regulatory regime will be modified to implement the EC Electronic Communications Directives. The arrangements for regulating premium

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rate services will, however, as far as possible, follow the present model based on compliance with a code of practice established and enforced by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) with back-up powers exercised, if necessary, by the sector regulator (currently OFTEL, but in future OFCOM).

The code of practice embraces issues of pricing, provision, content, promotion and marketing of premium rate services, and provides for ICSTIS to investigate complaints and adjudicate on them. All this is expected to continue under the new arrangements. The Communications Bill gives OFCOM power to set conditions for the purpose of regulating the provision, content, promotion and marketing of premium rate services. It also gives OFCOM power to approve a code for regulating premium rate services (such as the ICSTIS code) and explicitly provides that such a code may, in particular, contain provision about the pricing of premium rate services and provision for enforcement of the code. Premium rate service providers will also continue to be subject to the rules governing non-broadcast advertisements and promotions set out in codes administered by the Advertising Standards Authority (the ASA).

Utility Companies

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about delays caused to (a) construction and (b) other development projects due to obstruction by utility companies. [106765]

Mr. Wilson: The Department receives representations from time to time about connection and other issues where development projects interact with utility services.

These are generally a matter for the parties concerned. In the case of certain connection issues, the electricity regulator Ofgem may be able to provide a determination.

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