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Post Office

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of proposals for post office closures have been halted as a result of public consultation in the (a) West Midlands and (b) UK. [159895]

Mr. Timms: Decisions on post office closure proposals following public consultation are an operational matter for Post Office and I have asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to my hon. Friend.

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment she has made of the (a) consultation and (b) decision-making process involved in the Post Office Network Reinvention programme. [160592]

Mr. Timms: In the light of concerns expressed by Members of Parliament, and following discussions with Post Office Ltd. and Postwatch, I announced changes to the consultation arrangements for urban reinvention post office closure proposals in my written statement of 5 February. Following public consultation, decisions on post office closures are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd.

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures she can introduce to stop Tesco closing post offices as a result of the takeover of one-stop convenience stores, with particular reference to the one-stop convenience store in Chalkwell Road, Sittingbourne. [159793]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 8 March 2004]: None. Any decision by Tesco to remove a post office from one of its T&S convenience stores is a commercial matter for the company. Tesco has however committed to giving six months notice of its intention to do so to Post Office Ltd., allowing it the opportunity to find alternative partners to continue to offer post office services in close proximity to the existing location, and to working with all parties to seek a smooth changeover process for customers in the area.

I understand that Tesco has recently given notice of its intention to discontinue post office services from its Chalkwell Road, Sittingbourne store and that Post Office Ltd. is now actively engaged in seeking an alternative location in the vicinity.

Postwatch

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total amount of money allocated to Postwatch is in 2002–03. [159602]

Mr. Timms: The total amount of money allocated is £8.19 million.

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the duties are of Postwatch; and to whom it is responsible. [159603]

Mr. Timms: The Consumer Council for Postal Services also known as Postwatch was established to represent the user interests in postal services. Its functions are laid down in the Postal Services Act 2000; and it is responsible to the Secretary of State.

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Product Safety

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many deaths were caused by products classified by her Department as unsafe in each of the last 10 years. [159978]

Mr. Sutcliffe: This information is not available.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many products were banned from sale on safety grounds in each of the last 10 years; [159979]

(2) how many of the products banned from sale on safety grounds were recalled by the manufacturer in each of the last 10 years. [159980]

Mr. Sutcliffe: In 1996 the Department made emergency regulations under section 11(5) of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 to ban the supply of certain fireworks to the general public. This ban was carried forward in permanent regulations—The Fireworks (Safety) Regulations 1997—which banned the sale of a range of fireworks.

In 2003 the Department issued prohibition Notices under the 1987 Act against six suppliers of Yo Balls because the posed a risk of strangulation to children.

In neither case were the affected products recalled by their manufacturers. However, the publicity surrounding the bans will have alerted consumers to the dangers presented by these products.

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what representations she has received from (a) consumers organisations and (b) industry on the EU Directive on General Product Safety; [159981]

(2) for what reason the Government has not yet implemented the EU Directive on General Product Safety; and if she will make a statement. [159982]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department invited views from consumer organisations, industry and the enforcement community on a number of policy issues concerning transposition of the revised General Product Safety Directive in an initial public consultation during the period from November 2001 to March 2002. A copy of the consultation document and a summary of the responses is available on the Department's website at www. dti.gov.uk/ccp/archive/pdf/gpsdcon.pdf and www.dti. gov.uk/ccp/archive/pdf/gpsdsumm.pdf respectively.

The consultation identified differing views on key issues in complex policy areas including how to handle mandatory product recall, on which we have held a number of stakeholder meetings. We want to ensure that the system we employ for recalling products will have the confidence of all parties and be effective in providing better protection for consumers from dangerous products.

Rover Task Force

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost of the Rover Task Force Modernisation and Diversification programme has been to the Small Business Service in each of the last five years. [156682]

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Ms Hewitt: The Rover Task Force was established early in 2000, led by the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, the right hon. Member for North Tyneside (Mr. Byers). The Task Force considered how both the region's automotive supply chain could be supported, and how the region's manufacturing base could be helped to modernise and diversify.

A package of funding for business support and regeneration of £129 million was agreed. £31 million of that figure was administered by the SBS as part of the Modernisation and diversification programme. The funding package of the Rover Task Group is invested in the automotive supply chain. No funding is provided direct to MG Rover itself.

To date a total of 1,600 businesses have been assisted by the Taskforce and 3,000 jobs have been safeguarded or created.

Temporary Staff

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff the Department employs on a temporary basis through employment agencies; what percentage this is of total staff employed; and how much the Department paid employment agencies to supply temporary staff in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04 to the most recent date for which figures are available. [158248]

Ms Hewitt: The number of temporary staff engaged by DTI fluctuates through the year, but on average we have approximately 450 temporary staff per annum, which represents 9 per cent. of our current workforce. The cost of employing these agency staff over the last three financial years was 2001–02 £4,865K, 2002–03 £6,654K and 2003–04 £5,223K.

Tesco

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if she will recommend to the Office of Fair Trading that it judges the Tesco Adminstore merger on the basis of Tesco's share of the overall grocery market; [160460]

(2) if she will direct the Office of Fair Trading to refer Tesco's proposed acquisition of Adminstore to the Competition Commission on the grounds of public interest considerations of the socio-economic consequences of further consolidation of the grocery market; [160461]

(3) if she will recommend that the Office of Fair Trading refer Tesco's proposed acquisition of Adminstore to the Competition Commission. [160462]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The independent competition authorities (the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission) are responsible under the Enterprise Act 2002 for decision making in merger cases against a specific competition-focused test. The Office of Fair Trading announced on 5 March that it was not referring to the Competition Commission the anticipated acquisition by Tesco Plc of 45 grocery stores from Adminstore Ltd. It would not have been appropriate for Ministers to try to influence the Office of Fair Trading in carrying out its independent function by seeking to direct it in any aspect of its consideration of this case.

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The Enterprise Act does not allow my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to intervene on existing or new public interest grounds in cases where the OFT has already announced its decision on reference to the Competition Commission.

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