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National Power Provision

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the capacity of the national power grid is. [151264]

Mr. Timms: Figures published in National Grid Transco's Seven Year Statement of March 2003 show that the capacity of the England and Wales transmission system is 69.1 GW.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the projected demand for power is in the United Kingdom over the next 25 years; and what steps she is taking to ensure that this demand is met. [151265]

Mr. Timms: The latest provisional DTI energy projections which update those in Energy Paper 68 available in the Libraries of the House, project a demand of 375TWh in 2005, 385TWh in 2010, 386TWh in 2015 and 399TWh in 2020. The projections relate to gross supply to the grid and cover all major power producers and renewable generators and exclude the effect of a number of climate change programme measures whose exact impact had not been estimated at the time of publication.

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The Government attach great importance to reliable energy supplies—reliable supply is one of the four goals of energy policy as set out the Government's Energy White Paper, published in February of last year.

We believe that a market based approach for provision of electricity generation will work. But if the market is to work it needs confidence that Government will not intervene. We have said we will not intervene in the market except in extreme circumstances, to protect safety, and that remains our position.

Through the Joint Energy Security of Supply working group (JESS), we and Ofgem continually monitor developments in the gas and electricity markets over the medium to long term and look for ways to improve the

29 Jan 2004 : Column 500W

operation of the market. The latest JESS report was published on 12 November and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Public Bodies (Membership)

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who the members of the (a) National Consumer Council, (b) Welsh Consumer Council, (c) Scottish Consumer Council, (d) Hearing Aid Council and (e) Gas Consumer Council were on 1 January; what their term of office is in each case; and what their remuneration is. [151289]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The information requested is as follows:

Name	Appointment ends	Remuneration (£)
(a) National Consumer Council
Deirdre Hutton (Chair)	31 December 2006	48,567
Robert Chilton (Vice-Chair)	30 September 2004	13,100
Graeme Millar (Member and SCC Chair)	30 April 2006	10,481
Vivienne Sugar (Member and WCC Chair)	31 March 2007	10,481
Stephen Costello (Member and GCCNI Chair)	31 December 2005	10,481
Mark Boleat (Member)	31 December 2005	10,481
Andrew Dilnot (Member)	30 June 2008	10,481
Dianne Hayter (Member)	30 September 2004	10,481
Sir Christopher Kelly (Member)	30 September 2004	10,481
Stephen Locke (Member)	30 September 2004	10,481
Julie Mellor (Member)	30 September 2004	10,481
Julia Unwin (Member)	30 September 2004	10,481
(b) Welsh Consumer Council
Viv Sugar (Chair)	31 March 2007	6,902
Heather Coates (Member)	30 September 2004	100 per day
Stephen Delahaye (Member)	30 September 2004	100 per day
Carys Evans (Member)	30 September 2004	100 per day
Gerallt Hughes	30 September 2004	100 per day
Chris Neary	30 September 2004	100 per day
Anne Morgan	30 September2004	100 per day
Thelma Parry	30 September 2005	100 per day
(c) Scottish Consumer Council
Graeme Millar	30 April 2006	16,192
Heather Brash	31 October 2007	100 per day
Ann Clark	31 May 2006	100 per day
Neil Edwards	31 May 2006	100 per day
John Hanlon	31 May 2006	100 per day
Kay Blair	31 May 2008	100 per day
Liz Breckinridge	31 May 2008	100 per day
Peter Hunter	31 May 2008	100 per day
Alan Hutton	31 May 2008	100 per day
Adriene Kelbie	31 May 2008	100 per day
Ashok Khindrea	31 May 2008	100 per day
Isabelle Low	31 May 2008	100 per day
Mukami McCrum	31 May 2008	100 per day
Drew Ratter	31 May 2008	100 per day
(d) The Hearing Aid Council
Christopher Hughes (Chair)	31 August 2006	189.50 per day (max 50 days)
Christine Pearce	31 December 2004	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Deepak Prasher	31 December 2004	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Victoria Skeels	31 December 2004	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Jonathan Ormerod	31 December 2004	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Maurice Hawthorne	31 December 2005	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Mark Geogevic	31 December 2005	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Margaret Hughes	31 December 2005	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Denise Yates	31 December 2005	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Huw Thomas	31 December 2006	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
John lrwin	31 December 2006	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Peter Ormerod	31 December 2006	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
Anthony Corcoran	31 December 2006	189.50 per day (max 25 days)
(e) Gas and Electricity Consumer Council1
Andrew Horsler (Acting Chair)	31 March 2005	33,324 (as acting chair)
John Hanlon	31 March 2005	10,796
Bob Wilkinson	31 March 2005	10,796
Tim Cole	31 March 2005	7,556
Sharon Darcy	31 March 2005	7,556
Neil Menzies	31 March 2005	7,556
Les Roberts	31 March 2005	7,556

⁽¹²⁾ Following the passage of the Utilities Act 2000, the Gas Consumers' Council and the Electricity Consumers' Committees of the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) were abolished in November 2000, and replaced by the Gas and Electricity Consumer Council (GECC).

Note:

The GECC's Chief Executive, Allan Asher, is also a member of the Council.

29 Jan 2004 : Column 501W

Sellafield (MOX Facility)

Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the current operational status of the MOX demonstration facility at Sellafield is; and if she will make a statement. [149533]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 27 January 2004]: Since February 2002, in accordance with a licence issued by Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), BNFL has operated the MOX Demonstration Facility (MDF) as a support facility to the Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP).

Supermarket Code of Practice

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Government will publish the report of the Office of Fair Trading inquiry into the operation of the voluntary Supermarket Code of Practice. [150986]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is expected to conclude its review of the Code of Practice governing supermarkets' relations with their suppliers shortly. The OFT will then send its report to DTI for formal consideration. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry will then decide if any action is necessary and publish the report.

TETRA Masts

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with Scottish Executive Ministers about TETRA masts. [151792]

Mr. Timms: Neither I nor my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry have had discussions with Scottish Ministers on the subject.

Transport of Nuclear Fuel (Essex)

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what measures she has taken to protect trains carrying nuclear fuel and spent nuclear fuel through Essex from terrorist attack; [150523]

(2) what assessment she has made of the vulnerability to terrorist attack of trains travelling through Essex carrying nuclear fuel and spent nuclear fuel; [150524]

Mr. Timms: The transport of nuclear fuel strictly adheres to the stringent international and national regulations that govern such movements. In the UK security for the transportation of nuclear material is regulated by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security

29 Jan 2004 : Column 502W

(OCNS). OCNS is kept fully briefed about terrorist threat intelligence and in turn keeps security arrangements under review at all times. It is not Government policy to disclose details of security measures or nuclear fuel movements, which may be of potential use to terrorists.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many trains per month travel in Essex carrying (a) nuclear fuel and (b) spent nuclear fuel. [150525]

Mr. Timms: On average the movement of flasks containing spent nuclear fuel through Essex amounts to 12 separate rail movements per month. There are no fresh fuel movements currently through Essex by rail.

World Trade Organisation

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which members of the World Trade Organisation have still to implement fully the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Basic Telecommunications. [149080]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The WTO agreement on basic telecommunications came into effect on 5 February 1998. To date, 70 WTO members have adopted the agreement. The nature of the GATS agreement means that members are free to choose the pace and extent of any commitments they wish to make.

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her policy is on admitting Russia to the World Trade Organisation; and if she will make a statement. [151251]

Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 27 January 2004]: The Government supports Russian membership of the WTO, on the right terms, as both in our interests and in the interests of Russian economic development. We support the negotiating position taken by the European Commission on behalf of the EU, and we call upon the Russian Government to respond positively to the points raised by the Commission on our behalf. We also call upon the Russian Government to address the issues that have been identified by their WTO Accession Working Party as material to the readiness and ability of Russia to implement WTO rules upon accession. Since December 2000, the UK has provided £1.2 million worth of technical assistance to Russia to support their efforts to accede to the WTO.

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