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TransportEnergy Best Practice

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of transport companies used the TransportEnergy Best Practice Programme in the last year for which figures are available. [165148]

Mr. Jamieson: Five per cent. of all freight transport companies in England have used the TransportEnergy Best Practice programme since 2002.

Tyres

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on his assessment of the effects of energy efficient tyres on fuel consumption for (a) buses and (b) freight trucks. [165152]

Mr. Jamieson: Through the TransportEnergy Best Practice programme, the Department has recently published a leaflet describing trials of energy efficient tyres fitted to trucks. These trials have shown some positive results, with fuel consumption reduced by an average of 7 per cent. Trials have shown that tread wear rates for current energy efficient tyres can be inferior to those of standard tyres, so they can have larger replacement costs.
 
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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Indigenous Communities (Commercial Exploitation of Traditional Knowledge)

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what percentage of the patents of medicinal plants in the last five years she estimates were based on the traditional knowledge of indigenous people. [165034]

Ms Hewitt: No patents covering the UK have been granted in the past five years for whole plants with medicinal properties. There are 24 granted patents relating to medicinal compounds extracted from plants. It is not possible to determine clearly how many of these are based on the traditional knowledge of indigenous people. However, it would appear that about 50 per cent. of these patents relate to extracts of plants with a recognised traditional medicinal use.

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if her Department will take action to prohibit pharmaceutical companies from using traditional knowledge of indigenous communities without receiving prior informed consent before exploiting plants or crops for commercial gain. [165179]

Ms Hewitt: The UK Government have ratified the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) which deals among other issues with traditional knowledge and prior informed consent. The CBD also recognises the sovereign rights of states over their genetic resources and that access to them is subject to national legislation. It also requires that access to genetic resources should be subject to the prior informed consent of the providing country and to mutually agreed terms, including the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources.

At the recent seventh Conference of Parties (COP7) in Kuala Lumpur, the UK Government helped to negotiate a mandate for an international benefit-sharing regime. This mandate covers traditional knowledge and recognises the need for both facilitating access to genetic resources and the subsequent sharing of benefits. The UK also takes an active part in discussions in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and   the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on the intellectual property aspects of these issues.

Post Office Network

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of Post Office Limited's (a) support for the vulnerable and (b) action to maintain post offices as focal points for    communities during the Network Reinvention Programme for 2003 and 2004 to date. [165339]

Mr. Timms: The Network Reinvention programme is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. There is a public consultation process agreed between the company and Postwatch and local communities are
 
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consulted before final decisions are taken. The needs of the elderly, the disabled and those on lower incomes are carefully considered. At the end of the programme, over 95 per cent. of the urban population nationally will still live within one mile of a post office and the majority within half a mile.

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of Post Office Network's ability to maintain convenient access for all to post offices, as indicated on page 5, chapter 1 of   the Performance and Innovation Unit Report of 2000. [165340]

Mr. Timms: The Government regards it as most important that all communities have good access to postal and Government services and it is committed to doing all it can to ensure a viable Post Office network for the future. We have appointed a dynamic management team who are committed to turning the business around and to give effect to the vision in the PIU report of a thriving network meeting changing customer needs.

The Government has placed a formal obligation on Post Office Ltd to maintain the rural network and prevent avoidable closures, in the first instance until 2006, and has made available £450 million over three years to support this. For the urban network, where rationalisation is a vital element of renewal, Post Office Ltd is required to ensure that at the end of their reinvention programme over 95 per cent. of the urban population nationally will still live within one mile of a post office and the majority will live within half a mile.

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has held with (a) Postwatch and (b) Postcomm about the role of Postwatch. [165352]

Mr. Timms: The Department has a regular dialogue with Postwatch and Postcomm on a range of issues concerning the postal market and the postal market regulatory framework. As a non-departmental public body, sponsored by DTI, the Department also has regular meetings with Postwatch about its programme, performance and operations. HMT and DTI are undertaking a joint project on consumer representation in regulated industries. As part of this project they have worked closely with Postwatch.

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from Postcomm about their work with key Post Office Network stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of the role that post offices should play in the longer term. [165369]

Mr. Timms: The Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) reports annually to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on developments in the post office network. Postcomm publishes these annual reports on its website and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House. We have also received advice on the longer term role of post offices in rural areas. We are considering that report, which we would expect to be published in due course.
 
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Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment she has made of each annual report from Postcomm on the urban network since 2001; and if she will place copies of her assessments in the Library; [165370]

(2) what advice she has received from the Postal Services Commission regarding their monitoring of the size and shape of the Post Office network and its impact on local communities. [165368]

Mr. Timms: The Postal Services Commission (Postcomm) reports annually to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on developments in the post office network. Postcomm publishes these annual reports on its website and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State makes no formal assessment of the annual reports from the regulator but they are one of many sources which inform Government policy.

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about line management in Postwatch. [165371]

Mr. Timms: None.

Mrs. Calton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support her Department has offered to Post Office Limited to ensure that benefit recipients can   continue to access their entitlement in cash at post offices. [165439]

Mr. Timms: The Government has ensured that those people who want to do so can continue to collect their benefits in cash at the post office. The Government invested £450 million in the Horizon project, one of the UK's largest computerisation projects, which has automated every post office in the network. That IT platform has enabled the Post Office to provide its customers with access to a range of banking services at the post office counter. People can now collect their benefits in full in cash at post offices using basic bank accounts, some 20 million current accounts or the Post Office card accounts.

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