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Insolvency Service

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people are employed by the Insolvency Service; and how many were employed in 1997. [151009]

Mr. Sutcliffe: As at 1 January 2004, the full time equivalent number of staff employed by the Insolvency Service was 1,634.

The number of staff employed in the Insolvency Service in earlier years is published in the agency's Annual Report and Accounts.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what complaints she has received on the operation of the Insolvency Service in the last three years. [151010]

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Mr. Sutcliffe: The number of complaints received by the Insolvency Service in the last three years, and the nature of those complaints, is set out in the following table:

Nature of complaint	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Quality	350	400	342
Efficiency	86	43	32
Legislation	190	97	61

Internet Usage

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps are being taken to encourage use of the internet by those who have said that a lack of (a) knowledge, (b) confidence and (c) interest was a barrier to use. [146142]

Mr. Alexander: I have been asked to reply.

A network of over 6,000 UK online centres offer free or low cost internet access, especially for those who may need additional support to get online. A December 2003 report on CMF funded centres, found that centres are successfully helping users improve their confidence (79 per cent.) and learn new skills (84 per cent.). The 'Get Started' campaign, which promoted the benefits of the internet to disinterested groups, helped drive nearly 37,000 people to UK online centres for a free internet starter session.

We have recently published guidelines to help employers implement Home Computing Initiatives. HCI schemes promote home computer access and use which can help reach out to individuals who are less confident with technology.

IT Contracts

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list information technology contracts in her Department with a value of above £20 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been. [146202]

Mr. Timms: The Department has directly let one IT contract with a lifetime value of more than £20 million in the last 10 years. This is the ELGAR PFI contract for the provision of IT desktop, application support and development, and business re-engineering services. The contract was awarded on 27 November 1998 and the initial desk top service became operational on 31 March 1999, as planned. System Acceptance testing of the new desk top service was completed on 30 November 1999, and the system became fully functional on 31 March 2000. Following user acceptance testing, the system was accepted by the Department and the system was fully debugged by 15 July 2000. There were no additional costs to the Department for over-runs on this migration.

A Service for the provision of Electronic Records Management was also supplied under the ELGAR contract. The inception date for this was 30 March 2001, the system became fully functional on 30 November 2001 and it was fully debugged by 30 April 2002. There was no overun on costs.

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Manufacturing Employment

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many manufacturing jobs have been (a) created and (b) lost in (i) Cambridgeshire and (ii) Huntingdon in each of the last three years. [146447]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Djanogly, dated 27 January 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on manufacturing jobs in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon. (146447)

Figures are not available for jobs created or lost, but the net changes from year to year in numbers of jobs can be determined from the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI). The most recent figures available are set out in the attached table.

Net annual change in number of manufacturing jobs in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon, 2000–02

	Cambridgeshire	Huntingdon Local Authority District
2000	196	-322
2001	70	-576
2002	-1,299	-887

As with any sample survey, estimates from the ABI are subject to sampling variability.

Market Access

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether it is her policy to seek to extend duty-free and quota-free access for all least developed countries exports into all developed countries as part of a development friendly agreement with the World Trade Organisation. [146642]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: All exports from least developed countries (LDCs), with the exception of arms, currently enjoy duty and quota free access to the European Union market under the Everything-but-Arms argument (EBA). Other G8 countries have similar but less extensive arrangements.

The Government fully support the commitment by the World Trade Organisation, made in the Doha Declaration in November 2001, to seek an agreement with 'the objective of duty-free, quota-free market access for products originating from LDCs', and the further commitment 'to consider additional measures for progressive improvements in market access for LDCs'. We encourage all members of the World Trade Organisation to deliver on that commitment.

Post Office Account Cards

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will set out the circumstances in which her Department authorises Post Office counter clerks to (a) reject and (b) confiscate Post Office account cards; and on how many occasions this has happened. [150878]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 26 January 2004]: The Department of Trade and Industry has no role in the operation of the Post Office card account, which is a

27 Jan 2004 : Column 301W

commercial matter that falls within the day-to-day responsibility of Post Office Ltd. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Post Offices

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices have closed in Brent in each year since 1979. [149896]

Mr. Timms: Decisions on post office closures are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. and I have asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon Member.

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices there were in England and Wales (a) in 1996 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available. [150053]

Mr. Timms: I understand from Post Office Ltd. that as at end September 2003, the latest quarter for which figures are currently available, that the numbers of post offices in England was 12,938 and Wales was 1,318.

The Department does not have the corresponding historical figures for 1996 and I have asked the Chief Executive of the company to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the outcome was of each of the completed public consultations on proposed post office closures in Wales. [150102]

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Mr. Timms: Decisions on post office closure proposals 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.

Regional Development Agencies

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by each of the regional development agencies in each year since their formation. [148191]

Jacqui Smith: Eight RDAs were established in 1998 and their first full year of operation was in 1999–2000. The London Development agency was established in 2000–01. The table as follows shows the RDAs grant allocation and expenditure for each of the financial years between 1999–2000 and 2002–03 and their initial allocations for 2003–04.

£ million

	1999–2000		2000–01
RDA	Allocation	Expenditure	Allocation	Expenditure
Advantage West Midlands	108	103	124	113
East of England	30	30	40	36
East Midlands	46	41	77	67
London	N/a	N/a	268	235
North West	141	141	159	156
ONE North East	92	92	101	98
South East	64	63	75	73
South West of England	43	43	63	62
Yorkshire Forward	121	121	148	125
Total	645	636	1,054	965

£ million

	2001–02		2002–03		2003–04
RDA	Allocation	Expenditure	Allocation	Expenditure	Allocation
Advantage West Midlands	171	141	205	204	221
East of England	63	55	89	88	85
East Midlands	97	86	102	101	118
London	289	266	296	295	291
North West	277	270	275	274	318
ONE North East	163	156	193	193	219
South East	111	97	115	112	123
South West of England	92	85	103	103	101
Yorkshire Forward	246	207	211	211	243
Total	1,508	1,363	1,589	1,581	1,719

Note:

These figures are the grant paid to Agencies and expenditure funded by grant. The Agencies total income will also include EU grants, receipts from sales of property and rental income.

DTI's own contribution to the RDAs was £2 million in 1999–2000, £17 million in 2000–01, £57 million in 2001–02, £161 million in 2002–03 and £177.7 million in 2003–04.

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