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Sexual Assault Referral Centres

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the results of his Department's review of sexual assault referral centres will be published. [162983]

 
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Paul Goggins [holding answer 23 March 2004]: We are now expecting this research to be published in the summer.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Iraq

Mr. Chidgey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to offer guarantees to British companies working in the reconstruction of Iraq with regard to the safety of their (a) employees and (b) assets. [166608]

Mr. Timms: We do not offer guarantees to British companies regarding the safety of employees and company assets while working in Iraq. British companies considering sending staff to Iraq are advised to consult the current travel advice, published on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website, www.fco. gov.uk, which advises against all but the most essential travel to Iraq and that even the most essential travel to Iraq should be delayed, if possible. Companies with planned involvement in reconstruction projects are also advised to contact the Iraq Unit in UK Trade and Investment for further information.

We do not provide general advice and information on a range of issues to British companies wanting to assist in the reconstruction process in Iraq but it is for the companies themselves to assess the risks and take the necessary measures to ensure the safety of their employees and assets.

ACAS

Mr. Kenneth Clarke: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost to public funds is of the current national advertising campaign by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to encourage greater use of its services; and what the total expenditure of ACAS on all publicity and advertising will be in financial year 2003–04. [166004]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The cost to public funds of the current advertising campaign by ACAS is £1,258,900. The total expenditure of ACAS on all publicity and advertising for the financial year 2003–04 was £1,981,000.

Bankruptcy

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the proportion of personal bankruptcies that involve owners of businesses. [165216]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The table as follows shows the number of bankruptcies broken down by self-employed and other individuals along with related percentages. This shows that over the period the number of bankruptcies involving owners of businesses has fallen, the increase in total bankruptcies being driven by bankruptcies of other individuals. The proportion of self-employed bankruptcies has fallen from 61 per cent. in 1995 to 36 per cent. in 2002.
 
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Bankrupticies: Self-employed and other individuals from 1995 to 2002

	Self-employed	Other individuals	Total bankruptcies	Per cent. self employed	Per cent. other individuals
1995	13,282	8,651	21,933	61	39
1996	12,667	9,136	21,803	58	42
1997	11,269	8,623	19,892	57	43
1998	10,420	9,227	19,647	53	47
1999	10,723	10,888	21,611	50	50
2000	9,952	11,598	21,550	46	54
2001	9,839	13,638	23,477	42	58
2002	8,854	15,438	24,292	36	64

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many bankruptcies there were in Liverpool, Walton in each year between 1997 and 2003. [166970]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Bankruptcy figures are only available on the basis of the Official Receivers Office dealing with the cases, therefore it is not possible to separate bankruptcies pertaining to Liverpool, Walton. The following table gives annual figures for the number of individual bankruptcies dealt with by the Official Receivers Office in Liverpool, which covers the county courts of Birkenhead, Liverpool, St. Helens, Southport and the Wirral.
Bankruptcies registered at the Official Receivers Office in Liverpool 1997–2003

Official Receivers Office	Liverpool
1997	414
1998	416
1999	525
2000	563
2001	696
2002	747
2003	820

Business Start-ups

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how many business start-ups there were in each ward in each county of North Wales in 2003, listed in descending order; [164855]

(2) if she will list the 100 wards with the (a) greatest and (b) lowest number of business start-ups in 2003. [164853]

Nigel Griffiths: Ward level data on business start-ups are not available.

Correspondence

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she expects to reply to the letter of 19 December 2003 from the hon. Member for Gordon on the operations of BAE Systems in South Africa. [166812]

Ms Hewitt: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 20 April 2004.

Energy Production

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the
 
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effects of clause 76(5) of the Energy Bill on the exercise by Scottish Ministers of their functions in relation to exploitation of areas outside the territorial sea for energy production. [165853]

Mr. Timms: The principal objective of Part 3 of the Energy Bill is both to facilitate development of the UK's considerable renewable energy resources—wind, wave and tidal—beyond territorial waters and to enable Government to regulate projects so development takes place in an appropriate manner. Clause 76(5) (now Clause 84(5)) recognises that new installations with associated safety zones and the strategy on decommissioning under the Bill could impact on devolved matters handled by Scottish Ministers such as fishing and environmental protection.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what functions Scottish Ministers have in relation to the consenting of offshore renewable energy generation plants (a) within and (b) outside the 12 nautical mile territorial seas around Scotland; and what effect the Energy Bill will have on these functions. [165854]

Mr. Timms: A Transfer of Functions Order made under the Scotland Act (SI 1999/1750) gave Scottish Ministers responsibility for considering applications under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 for offshore renewable energy generation plants in Scottish territorial waters. They also have powers to grant consents under the Coast Protection Act 1949 and licences under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985, which are both required for offshore renewable energy installations.

The Government has agreed that Scottish Ministers should also have responsibility for granting section 36 consents for any installations planned for the Renewable Energy Zone off Scotland. Once the Energy Bill has been enacted, and section 36 powers are extended to the Renewable Energy Zone, the Government and the Scottish Executive intend to bring forward an Order under the Scotland Act 1998 to provide that this function be executively devolved to Scottish Ministers.

Clause 101 of the Energy Bill will give a power to Scottish Ministers to extinguish public rights of navigation where an applicant applies at the same time for a section 36 consent for a generating station which is planned for waters between the low water mark and the limit of the territorial sea around Scotland.

National Minimum Wage

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many workers in Manchester, Gorton have benefited from the national minimum wage. [167353]

Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not possible to provide estimate specifically for the constituency of Manchester, Gorton. However, based on the Office for National Statistics' Low Pay data released 2003, the DTI estimates that around 140,000 people in the North West stood to benefit from the introduction of the national minimum wage in April 1999. Between 130,000 and 160,000 people were expected to have benefited from the October 2003 uprating of the national minimum wage.
 
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The DTI estimates that between 210,000 and 240,000 people in the North West stand to benefit from the October 2004 uprating of the national minimum wage.

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