---

25 Jun 2003 : Column 805W—continued

IT Specialists

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment the Government have made of the difference in pay rates between (a) British IT specialists and (b) Asian IT specialists who are working in the United Kingdom. [120301]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government have made no such assessment. The UK's work permit arrangements require that the pay and other conditions of employment that apply to an overseas worker coming to work in the UK should be at least equal to those normally given to a 'resident worker' doing similar work. The host employer must also ensure that the employment terms meet all UK legislation. The employer will be expected to operate PAYE and class 1 national insurance contributions.

Personal Loans

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will introduce a maximum interest rate on personal loans; and if she will make a statement. [120275]

Mr. Sutcliffe: We have recently consulted on making the extortionate credit provisions within the Consumer Credit Act 1974 more effective. This consultation closed on 6 June 2003, and the responses are currently being analysed. Statutory interest rate controls are just one approach to tackling the burden of extortionate credit agreements on more vulnerable members of society and I remain to be convinced that they would be effective. I will, however, be commissioning research on how interest rate caps operate in other countries.

Supermarkets

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to seek an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading into the market behaviour of supermarkets in non-food retail sectors. [119350]

Ms Hewitt: None. The OFT is of course free to establish its own enquiry if it has cause for concern.

25 Jun 2003 : Column 806W

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her estimate is of market share held by supermarkets in the non-food retail sector. [119351]

Ms Hewitt: The Department has not carried out an assessment of the share of the non-food retailing market held by the supermarkets.

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received from retail trade bodies on market behaviour of supermarkets in non-food sectors. [119352]

Ms Hewitt: I have received no recent representations from retail trade bodies commenting specifically on the market behaviour of supermarkets in non-food sectors. But submissions received from such bodies regarding the Office of Fair Trading's report on the control of entry regulations and retail pharmacy services in the UK have speculated on the possible market behaviour of supermarkets should the OFT's deregulatory proposals be implemented.

Technical Textiles

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many projects have been supported by her Department's Innovation Budget involving technical textiles; and what funding was provided in each case. [120095]

Ms Hewitt: My Department has supported 25 Technical Textile projects under the Innovation Budget with a total of £4,136,121 in financial support. The projects related to the application of technical textile technology and innovation in the following sectors:

Construction and Geo-textiles


3 projects with total of £391,981 in support

Electronics and communications


2 projects with total of £292,772 in support

Medical


1 project with total of £155,400 in support

Personal Protection


3 projects with total of £441,982 in support

25 Jun 2003 : Column 807W

Sport and Leisure


3 projects with total of £881,175 in support

Transportation and defence equipment


3 projects with total of £346,386 in support

Multi-sectoral


10 projects with applications in more than one sector with total of £1,636,425 in support.

In addition my Department has provided £1.2 million support to the TechniTex Faraday partnership. The project will run for five years with a total fund of £10.6 million for technical textiles collaborative research.

Regional Development Agencies have also provided financial support to this technologically innovative and dynamic sector.

Temporary Workers Directive

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the latest draft of the EC temporary workers directive contains significant references to pay that are outside the scope of Article 141 of the Nice Treaty. [120430]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Article 137 of the EC Treaty is the legal base for the proposed Agency Directive. Article 137(1)(b) provides that

"With a view to achieving the objectives of Article 136, the Community shall support and complement the activities of Member States in the following fields:
(b) working conditions;".

Veterinary Medicine

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to her answer of 5 June 2003, Official Report, column 538W, on veterinary medicines, what period will be allowed for public consultation; when it will commence; what methods of public consultation will be undertaken; and whether the consultation will be undertaken before the publication of the Government response to the Office of Fair Trading report. [121004]

Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 23 June 2003]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has asked the Office of Fair Trading to consult informally with relevant parties on the appropriate terms of orders to implement the Competition Commission's remedies under the Fair Trading Act 1973. After the OFT have reported back in July, the public consultation will begin.

The public consultation will last for 13 weeks. A consultation document will be placed on the DTI website and we will write out to interested parties.

The Government response to the regulatory recommendations addressed to it in the Commission's report will be published before the Department consults publicly on the terms of the order to implement the Commission's proposed remedies under the Fair Trading Act 1973.

Voluntary Organisations

Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding programmes are operated by

25 Jun 2003 : Column 808W

her Department to support voluntary organisations working with young people; and what the level of support has been in each of the last three years. [120533]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 20 June 2003]: The Department does not operate any funding programmes aimed solely at supporting voluntary organisations working with young people and, therefore, the specific data requested about funding for such organisations are not available. However, the Department does support more general programmes that include an element of support for organisations working with young people, including those described later.

The Small Business Service (SBS) promotes entrepreneurship among young people specifically by providing funding to the following programmes which are run by not-for-profit organisations:

Shell LiveWIRE aims to encourage young people (aged 16 to 30) to consider starting a business by providing information and advice about the initial stages of starting up in business. SBS provides funding to support the LiveWIRE inquiry hotline service and to meet the costs of supplying business kits to young people; £65,000 was provided in 2001, £140,000 in 2002 and £140,000 is being provided in 2003; and


SBS also supports Young Enterprise, by co-sponsoring the Young Enterprise's Entrepreneurship Masterclass and Graduate Programmes and their Innovation Awards with funding of £56,000 in 2001–02 and £250,000 in 2002–03. Young Enterprise aims to inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise by giving them the opportunity to gain personal experience of how business works.

Although it does not specifically target voluntary organisations working with young people, the Small Business Service's Phoenix Fund provides funding to voluntary and other organisations which help encourage entrepreneurship in disadvantaged communities and under-represented groups throughout England.

Additionally, the DTI is one of the main funders of the Regional Development Agencies, which in turn, provide support to a wide range of voluntary organisations, including those working with young people; this support contributes towards delivery of the RDAs' regeneration, skills development and other objectives.

Working Time Directive

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what plans she has to publish in draft Regulations giving effect to the Horizontal Working Time Directive in the transport industry; and when she expects to (a) make and (b) lay before Parliament Regulations giving such effect; [120712]

(2) what estimate she has made of the effect upon the transport industry of a delay in making Regulations giving effect to the Horizontal Working Time Directive; [120713]

(3) what plans she has to consult with the transport industry in advance of implementation of the Horizontal Working Time Directive; and what assessment she has made of the time needed by the transport sector to prepare for implementation. [120714]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I hope to make and lay the Regulations covering all sectors affected by the Horizontal Amending Directive in early July 2003. I have made no

25 Jun 2003 : Column 809W

formal assessment of the effect of any delay in doing so on the transport industry as I expect that the Regulations will come into force on 1 August 2003, the date set by the Directive. The transport industry have contributed extensively to consultation on this subject, and I am aware that they are already working with Department of Trade and Industry officials to prepare for implementation.

---