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11 May 2004 : Column 246W—continued
SCOTLAND
Sea Bass
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy to source all sea bass used in catering outlets for which his Department is responsible from hand-line fishermen rather than pair trawlers. [167536]
Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office has no responsibility for any catering outlets.
Steel
Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the supply of steel within Scotland for Scottish manufacturing industries. [167187]
Mrs. McGuire: There has been a rise in global steel prices in recent months and I am aware of the reports of difficulties in the steel supply market.
However, the industry view is that although prices have increased, all types of steel remain available and I am advised that there is no shortage of supply from UK steel producers.
Wind Farms
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent representations he has received on the locating of wind farms in Scotland. [169972]
Mrs. McGuire: No such representations have been received. Decisions on proposed locations for particular wind power developments in Scotland are for local authorities and Scottish Ministers.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Regional Development Agencies
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget of each of the regional development agencies for 2004–05 is; how much each has spent in each year since 1999; and how much of this was spent on (a) staffing and (b) administration in each case. [171509]
Jacqui Smith:
For eight of the Regional Development Agencies, their first full year of operation was 1999–2000. The London Development Agency was incorporated in 2000–01. The following table illustrates the Agencies' overall expenditure, and within these totals, expenditure on staffing and general administration between the years 1999 and 2004 provided from the Agencies' annual accounts.
11 May 2004 : Column 247W
| 1999–2000 | 2001–01 | 2001–02 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Development Agency | Total | Admin | Staffing | Total | Admin | Staffing | Total | Admin | Staffing |
| Advantage West Midlands | 103 | 5 | 4 | 113 | 6 | 6 | 141 | 6 | 7 |
| East of England Development Agency | 30 | 2 | 2 | 36 | 2 | 3 | 55 | 3 | 4 |
| East Midlands Development Agency | 41 | 5 | 4 | 67 | 4 | 4 | 86 | 4 | 5 |
| London Development Agency | N/a | N/a | N/a | 235 | 6 | 3 | 266 | 11 | 5 |
| Northwest Development Agency | 141 | 8 | 6 | 156 | 8 | 8 | 270 | 9 | 9 |
| One NorthEast | 92 | 10 | 7 | 98 | 8 | 8 | 156 | 9 | 8 |
| South East England Development Agency | 63 | 3 | 3 | 73 | 4 | 5 | 97 | 5 | 6 |
| South West of England Regional Development Agency | 43 | 5 | 6 | 62 | 5 | 6 | 85 | 6 | 7 |
| Yorkshire Forward | 121 | 7 | 5 | 125 | 9 | 6 | 207 | 7 | 8 |
| 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regional Development Agency | Total | Admin | Staffing | Forecast Outturn | Admin | Staffing | Indicative Budget |
| Advantage West Midlands | 204 | 7 | 9 | 247 | 7 | 11 | 239 |
| East of England Development Agency | 88 | 4 | 5 | 79 | 4 | 6 | 96 |
| East Midlands Development Agency | 101 | 5 | 5 | 122 | 7 | 6 | 120 |
| London Development Agency | 295 | 17 | 9 | 317 | 17 | 13 | 367 |
| Northwest Development Agency | 274 | 11 | 11 | 332 | 11 | 15 | 341 |
| One NorthEast | 193 | 10 | 9 | 223 | 9 | 12 | 235 |
| South East England Development Agency | 112 | 7 | 8 | 141 | 6 | 10 | 125 |
| South West of England Regional Development Agency | 103 | 8 | 8 | 99 | 8 | 10 | 120 |
| Yorkshire Forward | 211 | 7 | 10 | 248 | 7 | 12 | 263 |
Notes:
1. RDA Single Programme budgets are allocated on a full resource basis and final outturn figures are subject to external audit by the National Audit Office or, in the case of the LDA by Baker Tilly, after the end of the financial year, before annual accounts are approved. Final expenditure figures for 2003–04 are yet to be confirmed and forecasts have been provided by the Agencies. General administration and staffing costs for earlier years are derived from annual accounts.
2. Overall expenditure for 1999 to 2003 and budget allocation figures for 2004–05—yet to be confirmed—are taken from Departmental records.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the effect of recent trends in investment in renewable energy upon residents of Bootle. [171449]
Mr. Timms: As I far as I am aware recent trends in investment have not led directly to new renewables capacity in Bootle itself. The nearest development is the wind farm at Seaforth Dock, composed of six 600 kW wind turbines, which is a little over two miles away. However, this was constructed in 1999 under the then, 'Non Fossil Fuel Obligation'.
For details of developments in the surrounding Liverpool area I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas) on 25 March 2004, Official Report, column 1109W and my right hon. Friend the Member for Birkenhead (Mr. Field) on 28 April 2004, Official Report, column 1162SW.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the effect of recent trends in investment in renewable energy upon the residents of Cambridgeshire. [170853]
Mr. Timms: As far as I am aware the following are renewable energy facilities that have been constructed within Cambridgeshire:
A 1MW Landfill gas plant at March Landfill Site, built in 2002.
A 1MW Landfill gas plant at Warboys, built in 2001.
A 37MW Biomass plant at Elean Business Park, Sutton built in 2000.
A 2.3MW Landfill gas plant at Cow Lane, Godmanchester, built in 2000
A 2MW Landfill gas plant at Huntingdon, built in 1999.
A 2MW Landfill gas plant at Dogsthorpe Landfill Site, Peterborough, which was built in 1995.
A 2.1MW Landfill gas plant at Milton, built in 1993.
A 225kW wind turbine at Kings Bush Farm, Huntingdon built in 1990.
There are currently no proposals for new developments that fall under Section 36 of the 1989 electricity act. This requires developers to notify my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State of proposals for new generating capacity of greater than 50MW. However, proposals for developments that total less than 50MW in size are the responsibility of the Local Planning Authority.
Businesses (Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new businesses have started up in Sittingbourne and Sheppey since 1997. [170291]
Nigel Griffiths:
Barclays Bank's latest survey of business creation includes non-VAT registered firms and shows that there were 115,000 business start-ups in England and Wales, including 2,700 in Kent County (which contains the constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey), in the fourth quarter of 2003. The latest yearly figures show 465,000 business start-ups in England and
11 May 2004 : Column 249W
Wales in 2003. This represents a 19 per cent. increase on the year before. There were 10,800 business start-ups in Kent County in 2003. Data for counties are not available for before 2003.
DTI figures based solely on VAT registrations for Swale local authority (which contains the constituency of Sittingbourne and Sheppey) are shown below for the period 1997 to 2002. Data for 2003 will be available in Autumn 2004.
| Swale | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 340 |
| 1998 | 315 |
| 1999 | 335 |
| 2000 | 355 |
| 2001 | 385 |
| 2002 | 330 |
Source:
Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2002, Small Business Service, available from: www.sbs.gov.uk/statistics/vatstats.php
VAT registrations do not capture all start-up activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Similarly, businesses that de-register will not necessarily have closed. Only 1.8 million out of 3.8 million enterprises were registered for VAT at the start of 2002.
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