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10 Feb 2004 : Column 1358W—continued

Travellers

Andrew Selous: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in circumstances when unauthorised developments by travellers and gipsies are permitted by planning inspectors or the Secretary of State because of the traveller and gipsy status of the inhabitants, what requirements his Department places on those inhabitants to maintain a traveller or gipsy lifestyle; and what this lifestyle must consist of. [153723]

Keith Hill: For the purposes of planning law, a gipsy is a person of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin. Nomadic implies a connection between the person's travels and their means of making or seeking their livelihood. Gipsy status may be a material consideration taken into account in deciding whether to grant planning permission for a caravan site established without it. Planning permission is not simply granted because of the gipsy status of the inhabitants. Court decisions mean that nomadic and gipsy status are not necessarily lost where travel is periodic, seasonal or ceases temporarily. However, a person who retired

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permanently from travelling for whatever reason (e.g. ill-health) would cease to be a gipsy for planning law purposes and would be in breach of a planning condition limiting the use of a caravan site to gipsies. Enforcement of planning control is a matter for the local planning authority.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Bribery

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what procedures the UK Trade and Investment Business Group has in place to prevent corruption and bribery on projects supported under the Overseas Projects Fund. [151514]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Overseas Projects Fund (OPF) provides financial assistance towards the pre-contractual costs incurred by British companies when pursuing major overseas projects. The scheme closed to new applications on 7 July 2003. British companies receiving assistance under the OPF Scheme must provide UKTI with regular reports of their pre-contractual activities and submit auditor's reports in respect of the claims for reimbursement of the eligible costs they incur. In any cases where the claims give rise to any need for further clarification this is sought from the company prior to making a payment. Before the award of OPF, the post in the country where the project is located provides UKTI with an evaluation of both the project and the company involved.

UKTI staff administering the OPF Scheme have internal guidance on bribery and corruption, details of which are in my reply to the hon. Member on 4 February 2004, Official Report, column 876W.

Broadband

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans Ofcom has to support alternative service providers offering sustainable broadband solutions by amending the charges applied to these providers for activation and service migration in the broadband market. [152394]

Mr. Timms: These are matters for the Office of Communications (Ofcom). I have, therefore, asked the Chief Executive of Ofcom to respond directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the Chief Executive's letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the means by which community broadband networks can access advice and financial support from her Department for their campaigns. [154120]

Mr. Timms: The joint DTI/Defra Rural Broadband Unit has recently published a toolkit to help rural communities and businesses understand the issues surrounding access to broadband.

DTI and Defra are supporting the Community Broadband Network (CBN) which aims to offer a collaboration network for those setting up community-owned projects. The CBN is a partnership that includes

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RuralNet and the Phone Co-op and will create a market place to help bring together those who need advice with those who have the experience.

DTI are supporting a "broadband place" on the UK Villages website. This will see a dedicated broadband 'space' on all pages serving the 32,000 communities on that website and will enable communities around the UK to share advice and experiences of broadband.

The regional development agencies and devolved administrations are able to offer support and advice for community broadband campaigns. For example, the South-East England Development Agency has produced an online toolkit to support the development of wireless community broadband networks. htto://www.seeonline.net/broadband/communityselfhelp.

Competitiveness (Environmental Targets)

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the impact of the target for the reduction of carbon emissions on the overall competitiveness of UK industry. [153541]

Mr. Timms: The Department has published a number of assessments of the impact of meeting carbon reduction targets on the competitiveness of UK industry. Modelling work undertaken for the 2003 energy White Paper looked at the implications of 20 per cent. and 30 per cent. reductions in CO2 emissions by 2020. The assessment is available at annex F of www.dti.gov.uk/energy/whitepaper/phase2.pdf.

Further work has also recently been published looking at the trade and regional implications of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme which is due to start in January 2005. This is available at: www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/euetsimplications.pdf.

Electricity Supply

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of (a) projected supplies and (b) projected usage of electricity for the coming years; and if she will make a statement. [153369]

Mr. Timms: Latest DTI projections of future electricity demand are set out in updated energy projections published in July 2003 and available on the DTI website: http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/projections.pdf.

NETA places strong incentives on suppliers to contract for their customers' demand and also places strong incentives on generators to deliver the power that they have contracted to deliver.

Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to secure the continuity of the electricity supply. [153922]

Mr. Timms: The Government attach great importance to reliable electricity supplies—reliable supply is one of the four key goals of energy policy as set out in the Government's Energy White Paper.

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We are confident that a market-based approach for provision of electricity will work—there has been evidence of that this year, as mothballed plant has been brought back in response to earlier projections that of inadequate capacity. Indeed, National Grid Transco recently announced that the winter generation margin had increased to 21.6 per cent., indicating the ability of the electricity market to deliver secure supplies, including the maintenance of secure supplies during the recent cold weather.

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. That remains our position. But we are not complacent and, through JESS, we and Ofgem continually monitor developments and look for ways to improve the operation of the market.

Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has in place to ensure that the power cuts that affected (a) areas of London and Kent on 28 August 2003 and (b) the West Midlands on 5 September 2003 will not re-occur. [153921]

Mr. Timms: Officials in my Engineering Inspectorate monitor power failures attributed to the national grid and they liaise with staff in the transmission companies to ensure adequate remedial measures are put in place. At my request, inspectors recently completed a formal investigation of the major interruptions on 28 August and 5 September 2003.

The investigation has highlighted a number of issues in connection with the power cuts. The inspectors' conclusions and recommendations are being passed to the electricity companies concerned, so that they can take the necessary action to enhance the robustness of their networks, and so make such occurrences less likely. The Engineering Inspectorate will be holding discussions with the companies concerned and monitoring the action they take. It has powers to ensure compliance with any recommendations made.

Home Computing Initiatives

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department has had with representatives of the Swedish Government about home computing initiatives, with particular reference to the annual tax exemption on loaned computers announced by the Chancellor in 1999. [153341]

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.

I understand that Inland Revenue officials have had contact in the past with officials in the Swedish Ministry of Finance to obtain information about the benefits tax exemption that applies to computers in Sweden.

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