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Animal Welfare

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the animal welfare implications of the trade in products containing dog and cat fur. [107679]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 7 April 2003]: The Government are aware both of reports in the media (including on the internet) and reports by various animal welfare groups about the mistreatment of domestic cats and dogs in parts of Asia and the reported use of their fur. So far, we have not seen reliable evidence that these practices take place on a significant, organised scale, nor have we been able to ascertain whether domestic cat and dog fur produced in this way is indeed entering the UK. We would therefore be interested to hear from anyone who has hard evidence about the practices relating to this alleged trade, and more particularly, any evidence of proven domestic dog and cat fur goods produced by this trade that may be entering the UK.

The Government are committed to reporting back to Parliament on this issue in the summer.

Arms Exports

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will provide extra territorial controls on small arms in the draft secondary legislation to the Arms Export Control Bill with reference to the Scott Report and Government statements in 2001. [107849]

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Nigel Griffiths [holding answer 9 April 2003]: Full consideration to all representations received in response to the present consultation on the draft legislation will be considered.

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will estimate the cost of establishing a register of arms dealers and brokers. [106032]

Nigel Griffiths: The Government propose to register information on all those applying for licences, both for exports and for arms trafficking and brokering activities. This database will be used for licensing and enforcement purposes on an international basis.

Any significant costs associated with the introduction of new controls to be made under the Export Control Act will be published in the final Regulatory Impact Assessment; a copy of which will be place in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will include in the draft Orders under the Export Control Act 2002 minimum enforceable standards of electronic security and encryption to be used for those companies and individuals sharing information on military technology or software with recipients both in and outside the UK. [106079]

Nigel Griffiths: An exporter may not share information on controlled technology without an export licence. Exporters must comply with all the terms of the licence which will specify the permitted destinations and technology.

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will establish, in relation to the use of intranets in the draft orders for the Export Control Act 2002, regulation of the electronic security protocols used by companies granted open individual export licences in instances (a) where companies have global computer networks which extend to countries for which licences would not be granted and (b) where companies do not have such networks. [106102]

Nigel Griffiths: An exporter may only export controlled technology to the destinations specified in the export licence, where one is granted. Exporters must comply with all terms of the licence.

Employment Relations Act

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff in her Department have taken time off from work in order to attend to domestic incidents as provided for by the Employment Relations Act 1999. [108339]

Ms Hewitt: Staff in my Department have the right to take up to five days paid leave to deal with an emergency involving a dependant. Time off for this purpose is not recorded centrally.

Exhibitions

Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list events at which her Department and each agency and non-departmental public body for which her Department is responsible have exhibited in each of the last three years, stating for each (a) the

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purpose of exhibiting, (b) the cost of exhibiting and (c) the number of staff attending for the exhibition. [107627]

Ms Hewitt: Information on exhibitions funded from centrally-held budgets has been as follows:

	Information
2000–01
TUC exhibition	(a) Promote awareness of DTI's main Employment Relations messages(b) £30,000
CBI exhibition	(a) Promote awareness of DTI's key messages to business(b) £33,000
2001–02
TUC exhibition	(a) Promote awareness of DTI's main Employment Relations messages(b) £32,000
CBI exhibition	(a) Promote awareness of DTI's key messages to business(b) £26,000
2002–03
TUC exhibition	(a) Promote awareness of DTI's main Employment Relations messages, and other key DTI priority areas(b) £29,000
CBI exhibition	(a) Promote awareness of DTI's key messages to business(b) £34,000

Information on other locally-funded exhibitions is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

I have asked the chief executive of each departmental agency to write to the hon. Member.

As regards NDPBs, this information is not held centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Copies of the agency letters have been placed in the Library.

General Agreement on Trade in Services

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses to the DTI public consultation on GATS were received; how many of these responses expressed concern about the (a) transparency and (b) democracy of the GATS process; how many of these responses expressed other concerns about the GATS process; and how many of the responses received called for a halt to the GATS process. [101397]

Ms Hewitt: We received 792 responses to our consultation on the GATS negotiations. Over 600 were individual replies from members of the public mainly in the form of standard letters organised by certain non-governmental organisations, as well as another 34 from NGOs themselves and one from two Members of the European Parliament, raising concerns such as those referred to by the hon. Member. The remainder were from business organisations, local authorities, health

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and education organisations, student associations and one from an hon. Member, raising points on specific issues or sectors.

Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the Patent Office's policy is on granting patents for human embryonic stem cells. [108812]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The Comptroller-General of the Patent Office is publishing on the Patent Office website a Practice Notice dealing with inventions related to human embryonic stem cells. I will place a copy in the Libraries of the House.

Practice Notices are published by the Patent Office from time to time to inform its users of its approach to different aspects of its work. Among other things, they may relate to the grant of patents in certain areas of technology or categories of invention. The approach outlined in Practice Notices is subject to modification in the light of judgments from the courts.

Insolvency Service

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many disqualified directors have been prosecuted following cases being lodged with the Insolvency Service disqualified directors hotline in each year since 1998; and how many of these prosecutions proved successful. [107828]

Miss Melanie Johnson: Figures are not available showing how many disqualified directors have been prosecuted following complaints to the disqualified directors hotline but the number of disqualified directors who have been convicted following such complaints in each year since 1998 is:

	Number
2 January 1998 to 31 March 1998	0
Year ended 31 March
1999	2
2000	2
2001	3
2002	11
2003	11
Total	29

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many calls have been made to the Insolvency Service Directors hotline in each year since its inception. [107829]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The following number of calls have been received on the Hotline since its inception in January 1998:

	Number of calls
2 January to 31 March 1998	461
Year ended 31 March 1999	921
Year ended 31 March 2000	603
Year ended 31 March 2001	449
Year ended 31 March 2002	600
Year ended 31 March 2003	567
Total	3,601

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Mr. Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total cost of running the Insolvency Service's disqualified directors hotline has been in each year from 1998. [107830]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The costs of running the hotline in each year from 1998 have been calculated as follows:

	£
1998–99	30,707
1999–2000	31,986
2000–01	33,774
2001–02	35,139
2002–03	38,061

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions directors of insolvent companies have been disqualified under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 in each year since 1986. [107831]

Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of directors of insolvent companies who have been disqualified under section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, from 1986 to date, are as listed as follows:

Financial year	Total section 6 orders
1986–87	69
1987–88	286
1988–89	159
1989–90	270
1990–91	251
1991–92	326
1992–93	446
1993–94	399
1994–95	392
1995–96	727
1996–97	1,040
1997–98	1,267
1998–99	1,284
1999–2000	1,540
2000–01	1,548
2001–02	1,761

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