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20 May 2003 : Column 707W—continued
African Trade
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value is at current prices of United Kingdom (a) exports to and (b) imports from Africa in each of the last 20 years; and what percentage of (i) UK and (ii) world trade UK trade with Africa constitute in each of these years. [113650]
Ms Hewitt: Table 1 shows the value of UK exports to Africa and imports from Africa between 1983 and 2002, in current prices. Table 2 shows UK trade with Africa as a percentage of UK trade. Table 3 shows UK trade with Africa as a percentage of world trade with Africa and Table 4 shows UK trade with Africa as a percentage of total world trade. All the figures refer to the trade in goods only.
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| UK exports | UK imports | |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 3,881 | 2,773 |
| 1984 | 4,097 | 3,311 |
| 1985 | 4,196 | 3,913 |
| 1986 | 3,382 | 2,722 |
| 1987 | 3,335 | 2,272 |
| 1988 | 3,355 | 2,395 |
| 1989 | 3,377 | 2,556 |
| 1990 | 3,677 | 3,010 |
| 1991 | 3,632 | 2,727 |
| 1992 | 3,589 | 2,688 |
| 1993 | 3,923 | 2,895 |
| 1994 | 4,056 | 3,084 |
| 1995 | 4,723 | 3,492 |
| 1996 | 4,997 | 3,895 |
| 1997 | 4,948 | 3,841 |
| 1998 | 4,700 | 3,843 |
| 1999 | 4,345 | 4,276 |
| 2000 | 4,562 | 5,858 |
| 2001 | 4,816 | 7,102 |
| 2002 | 4,829 | 6,910 |
Source:
HM Customs & Excise
| Percentage of UK exports going to Africa | Percentage of UK imports from Africa | |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 6.4 | 4.2 |
| 1984 | 5.8 | 4.2 |
| 1985 | 5.4 | 4.6 |
| 1986 | 4.6 | 3.2 |
| 1987 | 4.2 | 2.4 |
| 1988 | 4.1 | 2.2 |
| 1989 | 3.6 | 2.1 |
| 1990 | 3.5 | 2.4 |
| 1991 | 3.5 | 2.3 |
| 1992 | 3.3 | 2.1 |
| 1993 | 3.2 | 2.1 |
| 1994 | 3.0 | 2.1 |
| 1995 | 3.1 | 2.1 |
| 1996 | 3.0 | 2.1 |
| 1997 | 2.9 | 2.0 |
| 1998 | 2.9 | 2.0 |
| 1999 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
| 2000 | 2.4 | 2.6 |
| 2001 | 2.5 | 3.1 |
| 2002 | 2.6 | 3.0 |
Source:
HM Customs & Excise
Source:
IMF Direction of Trade
20 May 2003 : Column 709W
| Percentage of world exports to Africawhich are from the UK | Percentage of world imports from Africa which go to the UK | |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 0.33 | 0.22 |
| 1984 | 0.29 | 0.22 |
| 1985 | 0.28 | 0.24 |
| 1986 | 0.23 | 0.20 |
| 1987 | 0.22 | 0.14 |
| 1988 | 0.21 | 0.15 |
| 1989 | 0.18 | 0.13 |
| 1990 | 0.18 | 0.15 |
| 1991 | 0.17 | 0.13 |
| 1992 | 0.15 | 0.11 |
| 1993 | 0.15 | 0.11 |
| 1994 | 0.14 | 0.10 |
| 1995 | 0.14 | 0.10 |
| 1996 | 0.14 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 0.14 | 0.11 |
| 1998 | 0.14 | 0.11 |
| 1999 | 0.12 | 0.12 |
| 2000 | 0.10 | 0.13 |
| 2001 | 0.11 | 0.16 |
| 2002 | n/a | n/a |
Source:
IMF Direction of Trade
Age Discrimination
Mr. MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans the Department has to accord people aged over 65 the same level of employment rights as those aged under 65. [114611]
Alan Johnson: The great majority of employment protection legislation already applies to older workers, whatever their age. We intend to review upper age limits on statutory redundancy payments and general unfair dismissal claims in the light of responses to the next public consultation on age discrimination, due to be launched this summer.
Annual Leave
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will take steps to increase the minimum number of annual leave days. [113887]
Alan Johnson: The Government have no plans to increase the minimum number of annual leave days.
Broadband
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many broadband users there were,
20 May 2003 : Column 710W
broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) regions in England and Wales; and what percentage of the population this represented, in the last month for which figures are available. [114571]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 19 May 2003]: According to Oftel, at the end of April 2003 there were around 1,915,000 broadband users throughout the UK. This represents about 7 per cent. of households in the UK. These data are not available for each local authority area, neither for English or Welsh regions.
Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations the department has received on support for the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation. [113913]
Mr. Wilson: The Department has received 105 written representations in support of the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation since the beginning of April this year.
Criminal Offences
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list, broken down by Act, the criminal offences created in legislation sponsored by her Department since 1997. [110990]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 8 May 2003]: The information sought is summarised in a table, which has been placed in the Library.
Deregulation
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what deregulation measures have been identified and implemented within her Department since February 2002; and if she will make a statement. [112449]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 12 May 2003]: The Government published their Regulatory Reform Action Plan in February 2002 to which the Department contributed 25 measures for reform. To date the department has delivered on 13 of its commitments and work is continuing on the remainder and to identify further reforms.
E-Government Projects
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list by project the consultancies her Department and its non-departmental public bodies have used on e-government projects since 1st January 2001. [114187]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 16 May 2003]: Based on centrally-held records, the following e-government consultancies have been used within the core department since 1st January 2001.
20 May 2003 : Column 711W
| Project | Consultancy |
|---|---|
| Business Support Review | Cap Gemini Ernst and Young |
| Government Gateway Scoping Study | Unitas consortium |
| Government Gateway Guidelines | Unitas consortium |
| E-procurement | Kermon/Xansa |
| British Trade International e-government programme | Cathedral consortium (2 assignments) |
| Small Business Service customer relationship management programme | Yale consulting |
| 'business gov' programme | Cathedral consortium |
| Electronic services to mobile phones proof of concept | IMB |
| Scoping study into DTI customer relationship management | Unitas consortium |
| Enhancements to DTI customer relationship management programme | Parity |
| Consumer Direct consumer helpline pilots evaluation | Compass Partnership |
| Consumer Direct project planning and implementation | Sophron |
These records do not cover the department's non-departmental public bodies and gathering the information from them would incur disproportionate cost.
Employment Tribunals
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) in how many cases those served witness orders failed to attend the employment tribunal in (a) England and Wales and (b) Scotland in 2002; [113759]
- (2) how many witness orders were made by employment tribunals in (a) England and Wales and (b) Scotland in 2002; [113760]
(3) how many individuals who failed to attend an employment tribunal following being served a witness order (a) faced proceedings under Section 7(4) of the Industrial Tribunals Act 1996 and (b) were convicted of an offence under Section 7(4) of the Industrial Tribunals Act 1996 in (i) England and Wales and (ii) Scotland in 2002. [113761]
Alan Johnson: The Employment Tribunals Service does not record centrally the number of witness orders made in relation to Tribunal proceedings. Accordingly, we are unable to supply the requested information.
EU Committees
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list (a) the names, titles and grades of the officials who sit on the EU Scientific and Technical Research Committee, (b) the number of times, and the dates, on which it has met since January 2002, (c) the agenda items it has considered since January 2002, (d) the decisions it has made since January 2002 and (e) the means used to communicate the decisions to the House. [110293]
Ms Hewitt: The Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST) is attended by officials from the Office of Science and Technology.
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CREST has met on eight occasions since January 2002:
- 282nd CREST, 24 to 27 March 2002;
283rd CREST, 24 May 2002;
284th CREST, 5 July 2002;
285th CREST, 12 to 13 September 2002;
286th CREST, 23 October 2002;
286th CREST, 18 October 2005;
287th CREST, 14 January 2003; and
288th CREST, 27–28 March 2003.
- the proposed content, evaluation and monitoring of Framework Programme 6;
improving the networking, benchmarking, evaluation and monitoring of national RTD policies;
Commission communications on "More Research for Europe: Towards 3 per cent. of GDP" and "The Role of the Universities in the Europe of Knowledge";
Commission Science and Society Action Plan;
European Research Area (ERA) strategy;
developing European foresight activities to strengthen the strategic basis of ERA;
regional dimension of research policy;
Commission Mobility Action Plan;
European Union Research Advisory Board (EURAB); and
Annual Report on the EU research activities for 2001.
As my reply of 14 July 2002 noted, the Commission publishes an annual report on the working of committees. The latest of these reports, covering 2001, was submitted to the Scrutiny Committees of both Houses by FCO on 22 January 2003 (EM 5060/03-COM(02)733).
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list (a) the names, titles and grades of the officials who sit on the EU committee for the development of the internal market in postal services and the improvement of the quality of service, (b) the number of times, and the dates, on which it has met since
20 May 2003 : Column 713W
January 2002, (c) the agenda items it has considered since January 2002, (d) the decisions it has made since January 2002 and (e) the means used to communicate the decisions to the House. [110311]
Ms Hewitt: Officials from the DTI and the Postal Services Commission attend the committee, which has met once since January 2002, on 29 November 2002. The meeting considered a range of technical issues relating to postal service quality standards, and delivered positive opinions on EU proposals for European Committee for Standardisation standards, but took no substantive decisions.
The EU Commission has undertaken to publish an annual report on the working of committees. The first report was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses in February 2002, and the latest on 10 January 2003 (Com [2002] 733). The UK Government have encouraged the Commission to produce and maintain an electronic database of every comitology committee, its agendas and recent actions, to be accessible through its website.
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