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2 Mar 2004 : Column 792W—continued
Local Government Finance
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what grants were awarded to local authorities in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in each of the last three financial years that fall outside the revenue support grant. [157085]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department of Trade and Industry provided the following grants:
Start-up grant of £5,000 in 2001–02 to develop a Consumer Support Network. Lancashire county council are part of the trading standards North of England regional group who received funding of £42,000 in 2001–02 and 2002–03 for regional co-ordination projects, £96,900 in 2002–03 to support an e-commerce enforcement project and £74,753 and £100,000 in 2003–04 for trading standards enforcement co-ordination projects and a consumer education project respectively.
No grants were awarded to Chorley borough council from the Department of Trade and Industry.
Manufacturing Skills Base
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what Government schemes and initiatives have been enacted to retain the skills base in the United Kingdom following manufacturing job losses. [156984]
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Mr. Timms: The Government's Manufacturing Strategy, which we developed in partnership with industry, trade unions and other stakeholders, aims to create a high-value manufacturing sector in the UK with a highly skilled and well paid workforce, moving away from competing on the basis of low skill and low wages. We are continuing to develop a range of initiatives under the Skills Strategy such as employer training pilots, modern apprenticeships, the growing network of Sector Skills Councils and other measures to better deploy and retain skills to improve business performance.
Where there are significant redundancies in the manufacturing sector, the Rapid Response Service works to move people quickly into new jobs, preventing them from becoming detached from the labour market. Although a trend to declining manufacturing employment has been a feature of advanced economies over the last 30 years, new jobs are still being created all the time. Around 250,000 manufacturing vacancies were reported to Jobcentre plus in the last year. Overall the UK labour market is performing well, with total employment rising by nearly 1.7 million since spring 1997, and unemployment falling in every region in Britain over the past year.
Near Earth Objects
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will maintain the level of service provided by the (a) National Near Earth Object Information Centre and (b) the Spaceguard Centre. [155368]
Ms Hewitt: The British National Space Centre (BNSC) has contributed funding to the setting up and maintenance of the Near Earth Object (NEO) Information Centre based at the National Space Science Centre in Leicester. It provides information to the public and monitors NEO activity. This follows the recommendations of the Near Earth Object Task Force Report. The BNSC contract expires on 31 December 2004. The Government has not contributed funding to the Space Guard Centre in the UK.
Online Banking
Mr. Simmonds:: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department has had with the banking sector to combat internet hackers and fraudsters from obtaining customers' online banking details through deception and other means. [157807]
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Mr. Timms: The Department has no direct responsibility for the banking sector. As part of our normal discourse with business we do speak with the banking sector, including discussion of recent attempts to gain customers' passwords and other details. The results of these discussions are reflected in our promotion of information security best practice to business.
Post Office
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what procedures govern the categorisation of rural and urban post offices. [157810]
Mr. Timms: The decision to classify a post office branch as urban or rural is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. The company classifies as rural any post office within a community of less than 10,000 inhabitants. Above that the post office is classified as urban. I understand that the company has a geographical mapping model that enables it to adopt a consistent approach to classification across the country.
Public Sector Research Exploitation Fund
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much money has been spent on the Public Sector Research Exploitation Fund in each year since its inception; and how many organisations have received assistance through this fund. [157250]
Ms Hewitt: An award totalling over £10 million was made through the Public Sector Research Exploitation (PSRE) fund in October 2001. A second round of the PSRE fund worth almost £15 million was announced in the Science Budget for 2003–06. Money spent so far in Round 1 is as follows:
| Financial year | £ |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 287,500 |
| 2002–03 | 7,521,860 |
| 2003–04 | 300,000 |
| Total | 8,109,360 |
A further £2,000,000 of funding has been approved but not yet drawn down.
19 applications received funding through PSRE round 1 and 16 in PSRE round 2. The organisations that have received assistance through the fund in rounds 1 and 2 are listed as follows, with their funding allocation. In collaborative applications to the fund, institutions nominate a lead establishment, shown as follows.
(3) The Advisory Board recommended that the additional £109,360 (over and above the £10 million allocated for the PSRE Fund) be taken from the surplus from University Challenge.
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Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many organisations have been helped by the Public Sector Research Exploitation Fund in each year since its inception. [157251]
Ms Hewitt: The Public Sector Research Exploitation Fund has been awarded through two competitive funding rounds. PSRE Round 1 awards were made in October 2001 with over £10 million going to 19 lead institutions. The allocation of Round 2 funds was announced in January 2004. Almost £15 million went to 16 lead organisations. For a list of organisations that have received assistance from the fund, please refer to PQ No. 157250 answered today.
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