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12 Mar 2004 : Column 1775W—continued
Operation Artemis
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the cost is of the use of members of the armed forces for covert surveillance on upland estates as part of Operation Artemis; [154733]
(2) how many army units will take part in covert surveillance on upland estates as part of Operation Artemis; [154734]
(3) what impact the deployment of members of the armed forces for covert surveillance on upland estates will have on the British Army's military obligations overseas. [154735]
Mr. Ingram: None. No requests for assistance have been received from Civil Police for such assistance this year.
Operaton Telic
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of UK operations during the war in Iraq Operation Telic represents. [151576]
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Mr. Ingram: Operation Telic is the on-going UK contribution to coalition military operations in Iraq, not a fraction of it.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much (a) has been spent and (b) investment is planned on research and design of unmanned aerial vehicles. [158510]
Mr. Ingram: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 11 November 2003, (Official Report, column 183W). The figures provided do not differentiate between "research" and "research and design" and the two terms are to be taken as synonymous in this context.
The Ministry of Defence considers that UAVs have the potential to make significant contributions to future operations and is in the process of assembling its future research programme in support of the development of UAV-based capabilities. The investment plans are still subject to refinement and confirmation.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether unmanned aerial vehicles will operate with (a) air squadrons and (b) the fleet air arm. [158514]
Mr. Ingram: We expect Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to be a joint capability for the joint battlespace. By integrating them into the emerging military command and control digitised network they will support Network Enabled Capability (NEC). At this stage we envisage them operating primarily within the land environment but we are exploring the wider operational utility of UAV systems in the joint battlespace, including the maritime environment, through the Joint UAV Experimentation Programme (JUEP). And under the Future Offensive Air System programme we expect to look at a potential mix of platforms, including Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs), to meet our future strike capability from around the end of the next decade.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Broadband
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who will be responsible for providing the European Commission with information on the UK's national strategy on growth in the broadband and third-generation mobile sectors prior to the next meeting of the Inter-Governmental Conference; and if she will make a statement. [156463]
Mr. Timms: The Department of Trade and Industry supplied the European Commission with information on the UK's national strategy on growth in the broadband and third-generation mobile sectors on 19 December 2003.
The UK was a late starter in relation to broadband, but with 3.2 million subscriptions to date and growing by some 40,000 per week the market is now exhibiting strong growth. Our target remains for the UK to have the most extensive and competitive broadband market
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in the G7 by 2005. We are already ahead of our European G7 neighbours in both the competitiveness and extensiveness of our broadband market.
Conferences and Seminars
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many conferences and seminars the Department has cancelled since June 2001; and what the cost of these cancellations was; [160557]
(2) how many (a) conferences and (b) seminars the Department has held since June 2001; and what the cost was in each case. [160558]
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) conferences and (b) seminars were convened by her Department in each year since 1997; what the costs were of each event; and how many were cancelled. [161146]
Ms Hewitt: The Department does not maintain a central register of conferences and seminars held and is therefore unable to provide the numbers and costs requested.
Disability Discrimination Act
Mr. Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures her Department is taking to prepare (a) businesses and (b) service providers for the implementation of the parts of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 which come into effect later this year. [160691]
Ms Hewitt [holding answer 11 March 2004]: My Department is working with colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that
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information is available from a variety of sources such as free information packs, videos, websites and conferences.
This will complement the Open4All campaign being undertaken by the Disability Rights Commission. The Small Business Service will update its No-Nonsense Guide available to small business through Business Link Operators.
Electricity Prices
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the current price levels for electricity supplied to domestic customers are, broken down by supplier; and what the average electricity bill was for each region in the last year for which figures are available. [157901]
Mr. Timms: Current price levels for domestic electricity supply by supplier are dependent on a number of factors, including the nature of the tariff which the customer has chosen; whether the customer is with their home supplier or has switched; how the customer chooses to make their payments (direct debit is usually cheaper than both standard credit and prepayment meter options); and on levels of consumption. Customers are able to make comparisons via the Energywatch website for tariffs in their own areas.
DTI conducts a survey of domestic electricity suppliers that collects data on their tariffs and customer numbers. This data is provided on the assurance that it will not be possible to identify individual companies from the results published. Therefore, average prices broken down by supplier cannot be provided, although regional averages can. These figures are used to produce average electricity comparisons for cities in the UK regions published in the Quarterly Energy Prices publication and on DTI's website at www.dti.gov.uk/energy/inform/energy prices/index.shtml. The relevant table is reproduced as follows:
(1) All bills are calculated assuming an annual consumption of 3,300 kWh. They are calculated as weighted (by average customer numbers) averages of individual tariff bills. Figures are inclusive of VAT. 2003 bills relate to the total bill received during the year, which covers consumption from Q4 2002 to Q3 2003.
(2) Unit costs are calculated by dividing the bills shown by the relevant consumption levels.
(3) The towns/cities specified indicate which electricity region these bills apply to (see Table A2 in Annex A).
(4) The largest and smallest annual all tariff average company electricity bills and unit costs.
(5) There is no competition in electricity in Belfast, therefore no smallest/largest tariffs available.
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