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Military Equipment (Exports)

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the (a) amount and (b) make of (i) handguns, (ii) ammunition, (iii) weapons sights and (iv) gun mountings exported to Jamaica under licences granted during 2001; and if she will make a statement. [154540]

Nigel Griffiths: The DTI is responsible for holding information only on the licences we have issued.

Details of all export licences granted for Jamaica in 2001 were published in the Government's 2001 Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls, copies of which are available from the Libraries of the House.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) Scorpion tanks, (b) Saracen Light Vehicles and (c) Hawk jets have been supplied to Indonesia since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [154542]

Nigel Griffiths: The DTI is responsible for holding information only on the licences we have issued.

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Since May 1997, the Government has published an Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls containing details of all goods authorised for export from the UK and to which destinations. Copies of the Annual Report (up to and including 2002) are available from the Libraries of the House. Details of export licences approved in 2003 will be published later this year in the 2003 Annual Report, and for 2004, similarly in the 2004 Report next year.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many of the rifles licensed for export to Nepal in 2001 were delivered; to whom; by whom they were manufactured; and if she will make a statement. [154593]

Nigel Griffiths: The DTI is responsible for holding information only on the licences we have issued.

Details of all export licences granted for Nepal in 2001 were published in the Government's 2001 Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls, copies of which are available from the Libraries of the House.

Information on manufacturers and end-users of equipment licensed for export is commercially confidential and is exempt from disclosure under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what reasons 6,780 rifles licensed for export to Nepal in 2001 were not mentioned in table 4, Part III of the 2001 and 2002 annual report on Statistics on Exports of Military Equipment; and if she will make a statement. [154594]

Nigel Griffiths: The Annual Report table, 'Statistics on Exports of Military equipment', provides details on the number of weapons and small arms that have actually been exported from the UK, by destination, in that year. HM Customs & Excise have checked their records and have no record of these rifles being exported.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the (a) items, (b) quantities and (c) end use conditions attached to military exports to Nepal exported under licences granted during 2001 and listed in the Strategic Export Controls Annual Report 2001; and if she will make a statement. [154595]

Nigel Griffiths: The 2001 Annual Report on Strategic Export Controls contains summaries of all export licences granted for Nepal in 2001, and describes the items licensed.

Quantities of goods exported are in the case of small arms and weapons licensed under SIELs (table 5 of the Annual Report).

End-use conditions imposed on licences are confidential and not disclosed in the Annual Report.

Personal Computers

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her answer of 19 January 2004, Official Report, column 1041W, on personal computers, what steps she is taking to assess the (a) take-up and (b) effectiveness of the annual tax

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exemption on loaned computers; and what assessment will be undertaken following the recently published guidelines for employers. [152227]

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.

The Office for National Statistics have included extra questions in their quarterly internet access survey to assess consumer awareness and take up of Home Computing Initiatives (HCI) which use the annual tax exemption on loaned computers. Industry partners are also conducting tracking which the Office of the e-Envoy and the Department of Trade and Industry will use as part of their overall assessment. The impact of HCI schemes on levels of home computer penetration and internet access will also be monitored on an ongoing basis.

Post Offices

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether she plans to provide hon. and right hon. Members with a rationale for the proposed area plan in those areas that (a) are involved in and (b) have undergone post office closure programmes. [156485]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 26 February 2004]: No, these are operational matters for Post Office Limited. The changes to the consultation arrangements announced in my Written Statement of 5 February were not retrospective in effect.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether information from local authorities on infrastructure and regeneration projects already made available to Post Office Limited will be taken into account when determining closure proposals on post offices where no final decision has yet been reached. [156486]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 26 February 2004]: Yes. The changes to the consultation arrangements announced in my Written Statement of 5 February took immediate effect.

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) rural and (b) urban post offices have closed in Lancashire since 1997, broken down by constituency. [156500]

Mr. Timms: I am advised by Post Office Ltd. that data on post office closures is not available in the form requested as the company does not require this data for its operational purposes.

Before March 2000, Post Office Ltd. maintained records of net closures on a nationwide basis only and these were as follows:




Post Office Ltd. has recorded details of the total number of post office closures in the United Kingdom, by Government region and urban/rural classification from March 2000.

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Region: North West
YearUrbanRural
2000–011128
2001–029+4
2002–032512

Post Office Ltd. produces information on post office closures on a quarterly basis. There were 88 net urban post office closures and 11 net rural closures in the North West region in the nine months to the end of December 2003, the latest quarter for which figures are currently available.

Since the commencement of the urban reinvention programme in October 2002, there have been a total of 92 urban closures under the programme in the North West region.

Renewable Energy

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the contribution of renewable energy to the energy policy. [156467]

Mr. Timms: The Government have set the target of obtaining 10 per cent. of our electricity from renewable sources by 2010, with the aspiration of doubling this by 2020. Towards achieving such expansion, I announced in December the Government's intention to extend the rising profile of Renewables Obligation by further annual stages beyond 2010–11 to reach 15.4 per cent. by 2015–16.

Renewable energy will make an important contribution to the Government's wider climate change programme. It is estimated that increased renewable energy generation will deliver additional carbon savings of some 2.5 million tonnes of carbon per year by 2010, and of a further 3–5 million tonnes of carbon per year above that by 2020.

Renewable energy also adds to the diversity of sources from which the UK derives electricity, which is important for maintaining reliable supplies.

Royal Mail

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employees work for the Royal Mail; and if she will make a statement. [156707]

Mr. Timms: As stated in Royal Mail Holdings Plc.'s interim report for the half year ended 28 September 2003, published on 13 November 2003, there were 208,000 people employed within the company's UK operations.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people work for Royal Mail in Lancashire. [157086]

Mr. Timms: The number of people employed by Royal Mail in Lancashire is an operational matter that falls within the responsibility of the Royal Mail Board. I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

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