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Call Centres

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the number of (a) call centres and (b) call centre jobs in Leeds. [156240]

Ms Hewitt: Existing information does not enable us to provide reliable figures. However, my Department has commissioned research on the key factors contributing to the relative competitiveness of UK call centre operations to help identify any appropriate actions which need to be taken by industry or Government in response to the increasingly global market for call centre services. This will include an examination of the main product areas in the UK call and contact centre industry that are vulnerable to growing competition from lower-wage economies; and which types of call and contract centre activity and which regions have been most affected or are most likely to be affected in the near future.

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the number of call centre jobs relocated abroad in the last five years. [156241]

Ms Hewitt: Existing information does not enable us to provide reliable figures. Official statistics do not generally separate call centre activities from the main activity of a firm or enterprise (e.g. banking). The term "Call Centre" can be used to describe a broad variety of functions and activities across a wide range of commercial, industrial and public sectors. Difficulties and differences in definition are reflected in commercial market research on call centres where estimates on the number of call centres and call centre employees vary substantially. In light of this my Department has commissioned research on the key factors contributing to the relative competitiveness of UK call centre operations to help identify any appropriate actions which need to be taken by industry or Government in response to the increasingly global market for call centre services.

Cold Calling

Mr. Truswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Office of Fair Trading will report on its investigation into the complaint from the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux regarding cold calling. [157476]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Office of Fair Trading expect to report in April. They expect to make public their position on legislative options for tackling bogus traders in advance of the full report.

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E-commerce

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of UK retail was represented by on-line shopping in each quarter since January 1999; and what targets her Department has set for on-line shopping as a proportion of all UK retail. [157214]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Official statistics separately identifying online orders within the retail sector are not available. In 2002, the value of online orders received from households by the UK wholesale, retail, catering, travel and telecommunications sectors was £5.2 billion (excluding the financial sector). This represents an increase of 63 per cent. from the 2001 estimate of £3.2 billion. Figures for the period prior to this are not available (Source: Office for National Statistics experimental statistics ¹ ). These figures represent 0.3 per cent. of total sales by UK businesses (excluding the financial sector) in 2002 and 0.2 per cent. in 2001. Total UK retail sales were £230 billion in 2002 and £219 billion in 2001.

The Department does not set targets for on-line shopping.

¹ 2002 e-commerce survey of business.

E-mail

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimates her Department has made of (a) the number of spam e-mails sent to UK companies and (b) the cost to business associated with tackling spam e-mails in 2002–03. [157804]

Mr. Timms: The Government do not have an estimate of the number of spam e-mails sent to UK companies or the cost to businesses here in tackling spam e-mails in 2002–03, although business recipients of spam point to the impact of time spent in deleting spam messages and paying for anti-spam and anti-virus protection. The UK is actively involved in a current exercise by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development which aims to develop better techniques for measuring spam and estimating its impact.

Employment Information Booklets

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what savings she estimates will be made by the ending of the supply of printed employment information booklets (a) URN 03/595, (b) URN 03/597, (c) URN 00/632, (d) PL 517, (e) PL 699, (f) PL 700, (g) PL 704, (h) PL 707, (i) PL 711, (j) PL 712, (k) PL 714, (l) Pl 716, (m) PL 718, (n) PL 724, (o) PL 808, (p) PL 810, (q) PL 833 and (r) PL 958; and how much additional grant funding will be made available to citizens' advice bureaux to cover the extra costs to their offices of receiving the booklets electronically. [156781]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department estimates savings in the region of £140,000 per annum. Booklets (a), (b), (l) and (m) (replaced by PI 718x) remain available in hard copy.

Acas produces leaflets on individual employment rights. These can be obtained free of charge from the Acas distribution centre on 08702 429090. Therefore I do not consider it necessary or appropriate to provide additional grant funding to Citizen's Advice Bureaux.

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Financial Services Industry

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when her Department intends to introduce legislation on the consumer credit market in the UK. [157215]

Mr. Sutcliffe: On 8 December 2003 we published a White Paper setting out our proposals on the consumer credit market. This was the culmination of the first major review of the regulation of this market in 30 years. The regulatory proposals in the White Paper will be implemented by a combination of Statutory Instruments, which will be brought forward during the course of this year with the first coming into force in October 2004, and a Bill, which will be introduced when parliamentary time is available.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to promote the reporting by financial services companies of suspected cases of money laundering. [157216]

Mr. Sutcliffe: HM Treasury and the Home Office are jointly responsible for the UK's money laundering reporting regime. Financial services companies, along with other businesses in the "regulated sector", are required to have in place formal systems for deterring, detecting and reporting money laundering and to train their staff accordingly. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and the Money Laundering Regulations 2003 substantially strengthened these requirements, for example by making it a criminal offence to fail to make a disclosure where there are reasonable grounds to know or suspect money laundering.

This Department works closely with the Treasury and Home Office in supporting this regime.

Flexible Working

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when her Department expects to conclude its review of the legislation on flexible working. [157220]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Following on from the detail I provided in my answer to my hon. Friend on 3 February 2004, Official Report, columns 777–78W, we continue to gather data which will form the evidence base for the review scheduled to commence in 2006. However at such an early stage it is inappropriate to speculate on the nature of the review itself, and therefore the length of time it may take.

Football (Scotland)

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what responsibilities her Department has in relation to the Scottish football industry; and if she will make a statement. [156854]

Ms Hewitt [holding answer 27 February 2004]: My Department has no responsibilities in relation to the Scottish football industry.

Gas Storage

Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on her policy

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on the development of gas storage facilities in underground caverns formed within deep rock salt deposits. [157500]

Mr. Timms: As Great Britain becomes increasingly dependent on imported gas it will be important that the market continues to provide sufficient flexibility to meet demand. Gas storage projects help do this. The Government therefore welcomes proposals for new projects. They must, of course, obtain necessary planning and other regulatory consents.

Higher Education Innovation Fund

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money was spent on the first round of the Higher Education Innovation Fund. [157248]

Ms Hewitt: Around £78 million has been awarded to 89 applicants under the first round of the Higher Education Innovation Fund. A further £1 million has already been allocated to organisations to train more knowledge-transfer professionals.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget is for the second round of the Higher Education Innovation Fund; and how many organisations will be eligible for this funding. [157249]

Ms Hewitt: £187 million will be available to higher education institutions through the second round of the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF 2).

132 higher education institutions in England are eligible for HEIF 2 funding.

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