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Miners' Compensation

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many former miners who worked in both the private mining industry and for the National Coal Board have waited for longer than (a) four years, (b) three years and (c) two years for their respiratory claim to be resolved. [161337]

Nigel Griffiths: As of 12 March 2004 the figures are:

	Over four years	Between three to four years	Between two to three years
Claims outstanding	1,913	1,103	685
Claims settled	76	45	66
Total	1,989	1,148	771

The dispute between the claimant's solicitors and small private mines prevented the Department settling the majority of claims in full, although interim payments were made. Agreement between the parties has now been reached.

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many former miners who worked exclusively for the National Coal Board have waited for longer than (a) four years, (b) three years and (c) two years for their respiratory claim to be resolved. [161338]

Nigel Griffiths: I am informed that as of 12 March 2004 the figures are:

	Over four years	Between three to four years	Between two to three years
Claims outstanding	32,172	18,434	23,555
Claims settled	32,617	20,515	24,163
Total	64,789	38,949	47,718

I urge all solicitors and claims handlers to prioritise cases and also to ensure any delays are avoided in settling claims.

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Mobile Phone Tracking

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the implications of services available to employers to track automatically the movements of staff using their mobile phones, with particular reference to the European Commission Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications. [162622]

Mr. Timms: The Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive (2002/5 8/EC) applies a number of privacy safeguards to value added services based on traffic and location data, including a requirement for informed consent from subscribers or users of the communications service involved, and, in the case of location data services, a requirement that subscribers or users must be able to withdraw their consent on a temporary as well as a long term basis, each time they connect to the network or make a phone call or other form of communication. The Directive was implemented in the UK by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, which came into force on 11 December 2003, following public consultation on this and other aspects of the Directive earlier in the year.

The Directive recognises that there needs to be a degree of flexibility in determining whose consent should be obtained in cases where the subscriber to a service is a different person from the user—for instance, where a business subscribes to a mobile phone service on behalf of employees. In their guidance on the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, the view of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is that in the case of a corporate subscriber, a person holding himself out as capable of making decisions on the part of the company is likely to be able to give consent, unless the communications provider has reasonable grounds to believe otherwise.

This does not remove the need for businesses and other organisations to ensure that they are complying with their own obligations to employees. The ICO have advised us that any use by employers of the data obtained from this kind of system for monitoring purposes must be conducted in accordance with the Data Protection Act and they provide detailed advice in Part 3 of the Employment Practices Data Protection Code, which is specifically concerned with monitoring at work.

Official Engagements (Linlithgow)

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for what purpose an official of her Department travelled from London to the Linlithgow constituency on 23 February returning on 24 February; what advice the official gave on planning matters; and what contact the official had with Fauldhouse Community Council. [158563]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 4 March 2004]: I wrote to my hon. Friend on this matter on 14 March 2004. The official concerned visited Linlithgow constituency over

23 Mar 2004 : Column 734W

the stated period as part of the "week in business" programme, which civil servants in the Department are undertaking to better understand the needs of UK businesses. One of her key developmental objectives whilst visiting WBB Minerals Scottish operations was to gain an understanding of the planning process in relation to her work on industrial minerals. She attended an exhibition in Fauldhouse on 24 February 2004 organised by WBB Minerals at the invitation of the company. She attended purely as an observer and at no point did she try to influence the planning process.

Postwatch/Postwatch Scotland

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what the cost of Postwatch has been in each year since its creation; [161455]

(2) how many staff are employed by Postwatch; [161456]

(3) what the budget of Postwatch Scotland is in 2003–04; [161457]

(4) how many staff are employed by Postwatch Scotland. [161458]

Mr. Timms: The Postal Services Act provided for the establishment of Consumer Council for Postal Services also known as Postwatch to promote the interests of consumers. Postwatch was set up on 1 January 2001; it is made up of a National Council with four national members and representatives from Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland and six English regions each with its own Chair and Regional Committee.

Its budget in the three years since it was set up has been:

	£ million
2001–02	7.89
2002–03	8.19
2003–04	9.904

Postwatch currently has 101 posts in its central office and regions. In some regions rather than employ its own staff, Postwatch outsources to external contractors; this is the case in Scotland where there are five contracted staff. Information on Postwatch budget and staff is published in its Annual Report, copies are made available in the Libraries of the House.

Press Officers

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many press officers were employed in her Department in each year from 1990–91 to 2003–04; what the total cost was in each year; and if she will make a statement. [162853]

Ms Hewitt: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 4 February 2003, Official Report, column 180W.

The number of Press Officers employed in DTI on 1 January 2004 was 19. A breakdown of Press Office costs is not held and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

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Renewable Energy

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) portfolio quotas and (b) incentive tariffs are available to encourage greater use and supply of renewable energy in the UK. [162047]

Mr. Timms: The Renewables Obligation, introduced with effect from 1 April 2002, provides a substantial market incentive for all eligible forms of renewable energy.

The Obligation requires licensed electricity suppliers to source specified percentages of the electricity that they supply from renewable sources. The level of the Obligation is set to increase each year from its current level of 4.3 per cent. for 2003–4 to reach 10.4 per cent. for 2010–11. In December, I announced the Government's intention to provide for the level of the Obligation to continue to rise in years beyond 2010–11 so that it would reach 15.4 per cent. for 2015–16.

Before the introduction of the Renewables Obligation, the Government considered the possibility of introducing a banded Obligation, with the buy-out price set at different levels for different renewable sources of energy. This possibility was rejected, as it was judged that it would segment the market unnecessarily, and would lead to the Government dictating the relative importance of each technology.

Failure to reach the specified percentages exposes suppliers to a buy-out price currently set at 3,051 pence per KWh for each unit not sourced from renewables.

It is open to suppliers to offer "green tariffs" of various kinds to their customers, some of which may go beyond the requirements of the Renewables Obligation in terms of support for renewables.

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to lower incentives on the (a) development, (b) sale and (c) use of environmentally unfriendly energy technologies. [162048]

Mr. Timms: The department works with others to develop a range of measures designed to disincentivise environmentally unfriendly energy technologies. These include:

regulatory instruments—like the implementation of the Large Combustion Plant Directive;

economic instruments—like the forthcoming EU Emissions Trading Scheme;

the production of guidance—such as the guidance we publish for developers seeking consent for large power stations on the need to consider opportunities for Combined Heat and Power.

In addition, of course, we have developed a wide range of incentives for environmentally friendly sources of energy, for example the Renewables Obligation which provides an incentive for the use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity.

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