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11 Feb 2004 : Column 1473W—continued
Building Maintenance (Door-to-door Sales)
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to address problems caused by the door-to-door selling of building maintenance. [153569]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government are concerned about the practices adopted by some doorstep traders and welcomed the Office of Fair Trading's investigation of the doorstep selling market. The investigation report is expected in the next couple of months. Recommendations resulting from the investigation will be considered very carefully.
Business Links
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many businesses were helped by each Business Link operator in England in 2001–02. [153577]
Nigel Griffiths: The following table shows the number of businesses assisted by Business Link Operators from April 2001 to 31 March 2002.
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Innovation and Growth Teams
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what feedback she has received from each sectoral innovation and growth team in relation to the impact of regulation on (a) innovation and (b) competiveness in their sectors. [153553]
Ms Hewitt: The aim of any Innovation and Growth Team (IGT) is to identify the key issues which will shape the future of a particular industry and how the UK can best respond to the competitive challenges which it will face. In view of this, regulation, innovation and competitiveness issues are at the core of all IGTs.
So far, IGTs covering the automotive, chemicals, environmental, aerospace and bioscience sectors have published final reports which have been placed in the Libraries of the House. IGTs covering software/digital content and electronics are still under way. A similar initiative covering the retail sector is due to lead to a final report by the Retail Strategy Group in April 2004.
Civil Partnerships Bill
Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the timetable for the publication of the Civil Partnerships Bill. [152618]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 5 February 2004]: The Government hope to introduce the Civil Partnership Bill into Parliament this session.
Electricity Industry
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of projected surplus capacity of electricity supply for the next winter; and if she will make a statement. [153370]
Mr. Timms: National Grid Transco, in a January update to their 7-year statement, project a generation plant margin of between 22.7 per cent. and 22.9 per cent. for the winter of 2004–05.
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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.
Electricity Supply
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the non-disclosed conclusions of the report of her investigation into the power cuts that affected (a) areas of London and Kent on 28 August 2003 and (b) the West Midlands on 5 September 2003. [153920]
Mr. Timms: I refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made to the House on 22 January 2004, in which I explained that the conclusions and recommendations of the investigation undertaken by DTI's Engineering Inspectorate were being passed to the electricity companies concerned on a confidential basis, so that they could take the necessary action to enhance the robustness of their networks.
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether she has made requests to the Board of National Grid Transco to permit her to disclose the findings of the Engineering Inspectorate's investigation into the cause of the power cuts in London and the West Midlands last August; and if she will make a statement. [154213]
Mr. Timms: As I explained to the House on 22 January, recommendations and conclusions of the Engineering Inspectorate's investigation were being passed to the companies concerned on a confidential basis. The Engineering Inspectorate is holding confidential discussions with the companies concerned and monitoring the action theytake. In my statement I drew attention to the fact that, the material gathered in connection with the investigation is commercially sensitive and its disclosure is restricted by the provisions of the Utilities Act 2000. Those considerations continue to apply to the on-going discussions between the Engineering Inspectorate and the companies and therefore no requests have been made to the companies for agreement to disclosure.
Employment Agencies(Migrant Worker Prosecutions)
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employment agencies have (a) been (i) prosecuted and (ii) fined for offences relating to the exploitation of migrant workers under the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and (b) had allegations against them regarding the exploitation of migrant workers investigated by her Department's Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate in each of the last five years; how many persons have been banned from being associated with operating an employment agency or employment business after being prosecuted in relation to the exploitation of migrant workers in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [153008]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In the last five years the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate has prosecuted 24 employment agencies and prohibited 7 individuals from operating as employment agencies or employment business.
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The Inspectorate has also undertaken 5,607 investigations during the last five years.
The records do not specify whether the work-seekers involved were migrant workers.
Employment Rights (Ministers of Religion)
Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to ensure that ministers of religion have the same employment rights as other employees. [153394]
Mr. Sutcliffe: We have been considering the current coverage of employment protections as part of the Employment Status Review, including the position of the clergy; we hope to make an announcement shortly.
EU Regulations
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about her request for EU Finance Ministers to commit to a timetable to eliminate wasteful regulations. [146083]
Ms Hewitt: I discuss a wide range of business competitiveness issues with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Finance Ministers of the four member states that will hold the EU presidency in 2004 and 2005, including the UK, launched a Joint Initiative on Regulatory Reform on 26 January. This reflects the Government's priorities in this area, including simplification of EU legislation in key areas affecting business, and will reinforce the work of the Competitiveness Council which has a 'horizontal' remit to consider any EU legislation with an impact on competitiveness.
I have placed a copy of the letter that launched the initiative in the Libraries of the House.
Export Credits Guarantee Department
Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people were employed by the Export Credits Guarantee Department in each year from 1996 to 2003. [153935]
Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 9 February 2004]: The average number of whole time equivalent persons employed (including senior management) during the years 1996 to 2003 was as follows:
| Year | Average number |
|---|---|
| 1995–96 | 444 |
| 1996–97 | 397 |
| 1997–98 | 382 |
| 1998–99 | 359 |
| 1999–2000 | 360 |
| 2000–01 | 380 |
| 2001–02 | 372 |
| 2002–03 | 378 |
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