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6 May 2003 : Column 583W—continued
Broadband (Yorkshire)
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what further steps she proposes to take to ensure that public sector investment in broadband is used to enable wider access for private users in East Yorkshire; [110167]
- (2) what public sector procurement of broadband she expects to take place across the East Riding of Yorkshire during the next 12 months. [110166]
Mr. Timms: Through the UK Broadband Task Force, DTI is currently engaged in co-ordinating the aggregation of demand for broadband in the public sector. The aggregation project is aimed at extending broadband availability in the UK, as well as securing value for money, and will thus be of benefit to rural areas such as East Yorkshire.
Details of public sector procurement plans across the East Riding of Yorkshire are not available.
Civil Service (People with Disabilities)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made in meeting targets for the proportion of people with disabilities in senior posts in her Department. [110518]
Ms Hewitt: The DTI has exceeded disability benchmarks set in 2000 for staff in Bands up to the Senior Civil Service (SCS). The proportion of disabled staff in the SCS as at 31 December 2002 was 3.2 per cent. against a benchmark set of 3.9 per cent. Figures reflect numbers of staff who have formally notified the Department of a disability or a health condition
DTI is working to a programme of action to improve representation further.
E-Commerce
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to tackle the use of unsolicited e-mails. [111286]
Mr. Timms: There will be new controls on the use of unsolicited commercial e-mail under the UK's implementing regulations for the Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC). The new rules, to come into force this year, will require that unsolicited e-mails may only be set for the purposes of
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direct marketing to individuals with their prior consent, except where there is an existing customer relationship between the sender and the addressee.
Consultation on the draft regulations started on 27 March this year and details of the proposed new rules are available in the Libraries of the House and on the DTI's website at www.dti.gov.uk. Each member state of the European Union is required to implement the directive.
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many broadband users there were in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK in each of the last 12 months. [111287]
Mr. Timms: The data for Scotland are not available. Oftel estimates the approximate number of broadband customers in the UK for each of the last 12 months is:
| Date (month ending) | Total broadband customers |
|---|---|
| May 2002 | 641,000 |
| June 2002 | 747,000 |
| July 2002 | 837,000 |
| August 2002 | 909,000 |
| September 2002 | 1,020,000 |
| October 2002 | 1,135,000 |
| November 2002 | 1,264,000 |
| December 2002 | 1,382,000 |
| January 2003 | 1,524,000 |
| February 2003 | 1,664,000 |
| March 2003 | 1,818,000 |
| April 2003 | 1,915,000 |
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the total amount of finance received by business in the UK through e-commerce transactions and sales in each year since 1998. [111296]
Mr. Timms: Information on e-commerce transactions and sales is published annually in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) e-commerce survey. Figures for 2002 are not yet available; they are due to be published by the ONS in October this year. Prior to 2001 this data was not collected by the ONS. A copy of the ONS e-commerce survey 2001 has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what estimate she has made of the percentage of businesses in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK who have enabled customers to buy online in the last two years; [111307]
- (2) what estimate she has made of the percentage of businesses in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK which used the internet to sell their products in each year since 1998; [111328]
(3) what estimate she has made of the percentage of businesses in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK which (i) were broadband enabled, (ii) had websites and (iii) had access to the internet in each year since 1998. [111295]
Mr. Timms: Information of this type is published annually in the DTI's International Benchmarking Study: Business in the Information Age. The Study
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provides year on year findings from 1997. A copy of the International Benchmarking Study 2002 has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Electricity Industry
Mr. Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the tax charge that would have been incurred in relation to the British Energy rescue and loan facilities, and the monies drawn from these facilities, the payment of which would be obviated by clause 4 of the Electricity (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. [109525]
Mr. Wilson: The tax disregard provisions of Clause 4 only apply to grants made under Schedule 12 to the Electricity Act 1989. The credit facility agreement referred to is not provided under Schedule 12 and so will not benefit from the tax disregard.
Electronic Communications (Market Analysis)Regulations
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about the Electronic Communications (Market Analysis) Regulations. [110508]
Mr. Timms: No representations have been received since the Regulations (S.I. 2003/330) were made in February 2003. The Department had, however, consulted on the subject matter of these Regulations (together with the subject matter of the Electronic Communications (Universal Service) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/33)) in August 2002 and the Regulations that have been made take account of the responses to that consultation.
Fairtrade Goods
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to promote the sale of Fairtrade goods. [110428]
Nigel Griffiths: We provided significant support of £1.3 million over the last three years for the Ethical Trading Initiative and £0.5 million over the last two years to the Fairtrade Foundation's efforts in promoting and supplying marketing of Fairtrade Products in the UK. My hon. Friend the Minister for E-Commerce and Competitiveness held a meeting with business leaders in November 2002 to look at ways of mainstreaming Fairtrade as part of an on-going dialogue on this important issue. We have taken action to ensure that Fairtrade tea and coffee is available throughout the DTI's offices.
Flexible Working
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are in place to ensure that working parents with children under six or with disabled children are (a) able to request flexible working hours from employers and (b) that their requests are seriously considered. [110777]
Alan Johnson: On 6 April 2003, the Government introduced new employment legislation specifically to provide working parents with more choice in how they balance their work and family responsibilities. This
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included a statutory right for employees with children under six, or disabled children under 18, to request flexible working arrangements, and a statutory duty on employers to consider such requests according to a set procedure.
The procedure, set out in regulations and based on existing best practice, ensures that all requests are dealt with seriously and consistently, and assists those employers who may not have had experience of handling such requests before. Employers who deliberately ignore the legislation and breach any aspect of the procedure may risk being taken to an Employment Tribunal, who have the power to award compensation or order the application to be reconsidered. In addition, employers may only refuse an application on one or more of eight business grounds, which are specified in the Employment Act 2002. An employee has the right to complain to a Tribunal if the employer bases their refusal on other grounds or incorrect facts.
To enable employers and employees to use the legislation most effectively, we have produced extensive guidance both on the internet at www.dti.gov.uk/workingparents and in hard copy. Guidance is also available in an interactive format at www.tiger.gov.uk, and helpline support is being provided by Acas on 08457 47 47 47. To help raise awareness of the new legislation prior to it coming into force, the Government also ran a six-week advertising campaign in the national press.
Mobile Phones
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions have taken place with mobile phone companies regarding internet access through mobile phones and exposure of children to inappropriate and illegal material; and what plans she has to address this. [111150]
Mr. Timms: It is Government policy to seek to ensure that the law in the UK applies on-line in the same way as it does in the off-line world. We recognise that technology now allows access to the internet via the latest generation of mobile phones. I welcome the decisions of most of the mobile operators to support financially the world of the Internet Watch Foundation.
Mobile phone operators now have a responsibility as content providers. Therefore the DTI and other Government Departments have had discussions with all the operators to ensure that access by minors to inappropriate or illegal material is as hard as it is via any other medium.
Government are working with industry to agree a Code of Practice with all the mobile operators. This will include giving parents the ability to block adult services on new mobile phones and a classification of all material offered. We expect to be able to agree and introduce the Code shortly.
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