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National Minimum Wage

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what provisions are being made to ensure that (a) post-GCSE students taking summer jobs and (b) sixth formers with Saturday jobs are covered by the new minimum wage for 16 and 17 year olds. [166814]

 
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Dawn Primarolo: The new minimum wage rate will cover all 16 and 17 year olds who have ceased to be of compulsory school age, with an exemption for apprentices and those engaged in specified pre-apprenticeship training programmes. The Government will bring in regulations to implement the new minimum wage rate before Parliament ahead of the Summer recess and the new rate will come into effect on 1 October. The DTI is considering how best to raise awareness of the new minimum wage among 16 and 17 year olds and their employers.

WALES

Inward Investment

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales which business sectors in Wales attracted the highest (a) number of investors and (b) amount of investment in each year since 1999. [161203]

Mr. Touhig: Since 1999, the following business sectors have attracted the highest number of investors in Wales:

Year	Business Sector	Number of investors
1999–2000	Call centres	11
2000–01	Other manufacturing	11
2000–01	Ebusiness	10
2001–02	Automotive	9
2002–03	Other manufacturing	11

Since 1999, the following business sectors have attracted the highest amounts of investment in Wales:

Year	Business Sector	Amount invested
1999–2000	Other manufacturing	£334.8m
2000–01	Automotive	£299.9m
2001–02	Semi-conductors	£69.4m
2002–03	Other manufacturing	£209.5m

Source:
Welsh Development Agency
NB —"Other manufacturing" are those projects which fall outside the above categories. For exmaple, it excludes aerospace, automotive, construction products, electrical engineering, general engineering, etc.

Employment

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many jobs have been lost in (a) manufacturing and (b) agriculture in Wales in each year since 1997. [163166]

Mr. Touhig: Between 1997 and 2003, on average 19,000 jobs were lost each year in manufacturing and 14,000 manufacturing jobs created. The decline in the manufacturing sector is more than balanced by a rise in overall employment in Wales which has risen by over 100,000 since 1997. Details for individual years for the manufacturing sector are as follows:

Year	Gains (thousands)	Losses (thousands)
1997	11.2	10.5
1998	17.2	19.0
1999	10.0	15.0
2000	13.1	17.6
2001	24.9	30.1
2002	12.8	22.9
2003	9.0	20.0
1997–2003 averages	14	19

Source:
Welsh Register of Manufacturing Employment




 
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Information for the agriculture sector is not available in the form requested. However, employment trends in agriculture are set out in the table below.
Persons Employed in Agriculture in Wales (thousands)

Year
1997	63.3
1998	61.9
1999	59.5
2000	55.7
2001	56.3
2002	56.2
2003	55.6

Source:
Digest of Wales Historical Statistics

NORTHERN IRELAND

Murder Defendants (Bail)

Mr. Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office how many times defendants charged with murder in Northern Ireland have been released on bail in each year since 2000. [166440]

Mr. Christopher Leslie: I have been asked to reply.

In 2001, 13 defendants on murder charges were released on bail.

In 2002, 17 defendants on murder charges were released on bail.

In 2003, 14 defendants on murder charges were released on bail.

SCOTLAND

Focus Groups and Opinion Polls

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what his estimate is of total expenditure by his Department on (a) focus groups and (b) opinion polls in each year from 1995–96 and 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [162758]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since then there has been no expenditure on focus groups or opinion polls.

Press Officers

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many press officers were employed in his Department in each year from 1990–91 to 2003–04; what the total cost was in each year; and if he will make a statement. [162846]

 
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Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Details of the number of press officers and their total pay cost to the office (including superannuation and employers national insurance contributions) are given in the table below:

Year	Number of Press Officers	Cost £
1999–2000	4	1,244,078
2000–01	4	139,705
2001–02	4	134,702
2002–03	4	(2)99,166
2003–04	2.6	(3)111,202

⁽¹⁾   Part year cost from 1 July 1999
⁽²⁾   Part year cost because of vacancies
⁽³⁾   Estimated

Computers

Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases of computer misuse there were in his Department in each of the last seven years, broken down by category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [163228]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since then there have been no cases of computer misuse in the office.

Civil Servants

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the requirements are on officials in his Office to declare current interests; and what register of interests is kept for his officials. [164713]

Mrs. McGuire: The Civil Service Management Code sets out the requirement for civil servants declaring any conflict of interest. Further information and guidance to staff on the declaration of interests is available from the Staff Handbook.

Accountancy Services

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the (a) nature and (b) value was of all contracts, consultancies or other services placed with the accountancy firms (i) Deloitte & Touche, (ii) Ernst & Young, (iii) KPMG and (iv) PricewaterhouseCoopers since 2000–01 by the Department. [166083]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office has had no contracts, consultancy or other service work carried out by these accountancy firms.

Staff Transferrals

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff from his Office have transferred to other Government departments since 1 June 2003; and to which departments they have transferred. [165965]

Mrs. McGuire: Since 1 June 2003, three staff have transferred from the Scotland Office to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Wales Office and the Department for Constitutional Affairs respectively. In
 
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addition, 28 staff have returned to their parent departments (primarily the Scottish Executive) after their period of loan.

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many staff from other Government departments have transferred to his Office since 1 June 2003; and from which departments they have transferred. [165966]

Mrs. McGuire: Since 1 June 2003, nine members of staff have joined the Scotland Office on loan from the Scottish Executive.

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