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Ofgem

David Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what happens to the money raised in fines levied by Ofgem from power companies found guilty of erroneously transferring customers. [147422]

Mr. Timms: Section 59(10) of the Utilities Act 2000 requires that any sums received by Ofgem following the imposition of a financial penalty should be paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Photovoltaic Cells

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the number of photovoltaic cells (a) currently in use in the UK and (b) which will be in use in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006 and (iii) 2007. [147048]

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Mr. Timms: Installed capacity at the end of 2002 was 4.14MW. Figures for 2003 are not yet available, but we expect capacity to have increased to around 6MW. By the end of the first phase of the Major Photovoltaics Demonstration Programme in 2005–06, we would expect that to have increased to between 12 and 15 MW. Predictions beyond that timescale are much less certain.

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what grants are available to promote the use of photovoltaic cells by (a) industry and commerce and (b) domestic consumers; and how much has been paid in grants in each case in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [147049]

Mr. Timms: The £20 million first phase of the Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme is open to all applicants, including industry, commerce and domestic consumers. The programme was launched in April 2002, and in the first year, £428,000 was paid out in grants to small-scale applicants (Stream 1, less than 5kW each). However, total grant committed was £1,220,000 for Stream 1 and £5,610,000 for Stream 2 (group housing and medium/large-scale non-residential buildings). There is normally a delay of three to 12 months between applications being approved and the PV systems being installed, depending on size.

So far during the second year of the programme, £730,000 of grants have been paid out for Stream 1 and £260,000 for Stream 2. Grants committed in the second year to end December are £1,700,000 for Stream 1 and £5,300,000 for Stream 2. Under Stream 1, about 70 per cent. of grants are going to domestic consumers, and about 6 per cent. to small and medium-sized enterprises. Under Stream 2, about 10 per cent. of grants have gone to industry and commerce.

Post Offices

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) urban and (b) rural post offices there are in each constituency; and how many post offices in each (i) constituency and (ii) region (A) have closed and (B) are expected to close as part of the Government's modernisation of the post office network. [147067]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 12 January 2004]: Post Office Ltd. produces lists, updated annually, of post offices, classified as urban or rural, in each parliamentary constituency. The most recent list showing the position as at the end of April 2003 is available in the Library of the House. Post Office Ltd. expects that up to 3,000 urban sub post offices could close under the network reinvention programme but there is no list and the precise number of closures under the programme will not be known until it ends.

Final decisions on post office closure arrangements are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. and I have asked its Chief Executive to respond directly to the hon. Member on the number of closures under the urban reinvention programme.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many sub-post offices in Scotland have been scheduled for closure by the Post Office under

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the Network Reinvention Scheme in each of the last four months, broken down by parliamentary constituency. [147469]

Mr. Timms: Proposals put out to consultation for, and subsequent decisions on post office closures under the urban reinvention programme are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. and I have asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which sub-post offices in Scotland scheduled for closure under the Network Reinvention Scheme remained open following public consultation on the proposal. [147470]

Mr. Timms: Decisions on post office closure proposals under the urban reinvention programme following public consultation are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. and I have asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Power Cuts (Yorkshire)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many power cuts there have been in (a) the area for which Yorkshire Electricity provides power and (b) Haltemprice and Howden in each of the last five years; and what estimate she has made the cost to local businesses in each case. [147243]

Mr. Timms: Yorkshire Electricity Distribution Ltd. have advised that the number of interruptions affecting one or more customers per annum are as follows:

	(a) Yorkshire Electricity area	(b) Haltemprice and Howden (including surrounding areas)
1999	10,430	429
2000	10,995	438
2001	11,549	486
2002	13,581	446
2003	12,109	417

In 1999, Ofgem estimated that the value of each undelivered MWh of electricity represented around £3,000 in lost output to the economy. Quantifying the loss to a local area would be very difficult since it would be necessary to establish the monetary loss to each business on each occasion.

Strikes (Dismissal)

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many workers have been dismissed after striking for longer than eight weeks in each year since 1997; and which companies were involved in each case. [146830]

Mr. Sutcliffe: This information is not collated in official statistics. Protections were established by the Employment Relations Act 1999 against unfair dismissal for striking workers for an eight-week period from the start of official, lawfully organised industrial action. Only one case that we are aware of, that of Mr J. Davies v. Friction Dynamics, has arisen under the jurisdiction and an employment tribunal found in favour of the workers. Analyses by the Office of National Statistics suggest that over a three-year period 93 per cent. of strikes lasted less than eight weeks.

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Tax Avoidance

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will bring forward legislation preventing auditors from selling tax avoidance schemes to their audit clients. [146534]

Mr. Sutcliffe: No. The Government concluded in January 2003, in the light of the Report of the Coordinating Group on Audit and Accounting Issues, that standards on auditor independence, including on the provision of non-audit services to audit clients, should be set by the Auditing Practices Board (APB). The Government invited the APB to look in particular at the provision of a number of non-audit services including taxation services. Following this, the APB published a consultation paper, "Draft Ethical Standards for Auditors", in November 2003. Paragraphs 4.40 to 4.52 of the consultation paper and paragraphs 51 to 66 of draft Ethical Standard 5 address the provision of tax services by audit firms to their audit clients. In addition, the revised Combined Code on Corporate Governance, published by the Financial Reporting Council in July 2003, places on the audit committee in a listed company responsibility for developing and implementing policy on the engagement of the external auditor to supply non-audit services.

Uzbekistan

Mrs. Mahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on trade relations with Uzbekistan since 2001. [145756]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK's trade with Uzbekistan is at a relatively low level. Bilateral trade totalled £36 million in 2002. Uzbekistan is a difficult market for exporters and investors. The Uzbek-British Trade and Industry Council (UBTIC) meets annually to discuss issues related to the development of bilateral trade.

World Trade

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1)what discussions she has had since 17 September 2003 with (a) the World Trade Organisation, (b) the European Commission and (c) the United States about the use of special and differential treatment; [146584]

(2) what progress has been made with the establishment of an expert working group on special and differential treatment to report to the General Council of the World Trade Organisation. [146644]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: It is important that WTO rules more fully reflect different WTO members' implementation capacities and stages of development. We are therefore disappointed at the lack of progress which has been made in addressing special and differential treatment issues post-Doha.

We had hoped to see agreement in Cancun to at least an initial package of measures, however limited, which might then have opened the way to a wider dialogue on special and differential treatment within the WTO, perhaps through the creation of an expert working group. In the event, no such package of measures

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was agreed and no progress made on establishing a wider dialogue, through an expert working group or otherwise.

We will continue to press the case for appropriate special and differential treatment within the WTO system with all relevant interlocutors.

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