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20 May 2004 : Column 1117W—continued

Identity Theft

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Post Office is taking to minimise identity thefts within its areas of responsibility. [173054]

Mr. Timms: Royal Mail has a duty under condition 8 of its licence issued by the postal services regulator Postcomm to protect the integrity of mail. Security issues are taken very seriously and Royal Mail's security team is dedicated to maintaining standards through specific procedures, practices and investigations. To divulge the details of these security activities would inevitably compromise their effectiveness.

Oil Reserves

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the current strategic reserve of (a) crude oil and (b) oil products is in the UK. [174108]

 
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Mr. Timms: The UK does not have a strategic reserve. It meets its international stocking obligations by imposing compulsory oil stocking obligations on commercial companies. These amount to 67½ days of average daily consumption for refiners and 48½ days of average daily consumption for non-refiners. As at the end of February 2004, the UK held stocks of crude oil and petroleum products equivalent to almost 76 days of average daily consumption.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the current position on UK stocks of (a) crude oil and (b) main oil products in relation to average daily consumption. [174111]

Mr. Timms: As at the end of February 2004, the UK held stocks of crude oil and petroleum products equivalent to almost 76 days of average daily consumption. This is some eight days in excess of our EU stockholding obligations of 67½ days worth of average daily consumption.

UK Trade and Investment

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what commercial training or experience is required for each grade of staff of UK Trade and Investment. [172113]

Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 13 May 2004]: Commercial training or experience is not a specific requirement for UK Trade and Investment staff prior to recruitment. However, the organisation is committed to offering its staff a career structure in which continuous training and development opportunities are offered to enhance professionalism. All staff undertake induction courses and relevant training to enable them to meet business objectives.

UK Trade and Investment's international trade advisers (based in Business Links) and locally engaged staff overseas also undertake associated commercial training to gain the knowledge and skills relevant to their role. Many international trade advisers and locally engaged staff have practical business experience. Staff are encouraged to take advantage of opportunities to work in the private sector and in our commercial posts overseas. Those within the organisation who are from the public sector also benefit from the knowledge, skills and expertise of the private sector business experts working alongside them.

VAT Registrations

Albert Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many registered businesses were registered for VAT in (a) the UK, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland, (d) Northern Ireland and (e) England in each year since 1996–97. [174067]

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 in the last quarter of 2003. The latest yearly figures show 465,000 business start-ups in England and Wales in 2003. This represents a 19 per cent. increase on the year before.
 
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The following table records Barclays business creation data for England and Wales in each year since 1996:

	Business start-ups
1996	406,000
1997	415,700
1998	412,200
1999	374,400
2000	356,400
2001	324,800
2002	390,700
2003	465,100

Source:
Barclays Small Business Survey.





 
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The stock of businesses registered for VAT in the UK, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England at the start of each year 1996–2003, are as follows:

Stocks	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
UK	1,629,165	1,645,540	1,681,335	1,715,395	1,736,360	1,754,915	1,762,355	1,762,110
England	1,377,300	1,393,070	1,426,265	1,458,720	1,479,900	1,498,425	1,505,575	1,505,495
Wales	77,545	77,170	77,390	77,345	76,905	76,955	76,990	76,310
Scotland	120,225	120,670	122,260	123,355	123,565	123,800	123,980	124,200
Northern Ireland	54,090	54,635	55,420	55,980	55,990	55,735	55,810	56,100

Source:
Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Stocks 1994–2002, Small Business Service, available from www.sbs.gov.uk/statistics/vatstats.php

VAT stocks do not capture all business 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.

Wind Turbines

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment has been made of the effect on bird life of additional wind turbines under construction and planned. [174405]

Mr. Timms: Over the years, there have been a large number of studies carried out in the UK of the impact of wind farms on wildlife and in particular birds. Those studies suggest that there is a small risk of bird strikes from the operation of wind turbines, as long as they are properly sited.

Work related to the study of birds is continuing, with DTI funded studies being carried out by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee) to look at the distribution and main flight paths of seabirds including migratory, feeding/roosting patterns and their behavioural response to wind farms.

In addition, no wind farm development can be undertaken without securing the necessary permissions and consents under the normal planning regime or Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. This process places a requirement on developers to consider all environmental aspects of a project, including any effects a particular development may have on the bird life in that location, and produce an Environmental Impact Assessment. These assessments are available to the public.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Aid (Africa)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much (a) financial aid and (b) aid in kind his Department has delivered to (i) Africa, (ii) Central Africa, (iii) Uganda, (iv) Rwanda, (v) Burundi and (vi) the Democratic Republic of Congo in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [173812]

Hilary Benn: The amount of bilateral development assistance DFID has given to Africa and the other specified region/countries is given in the following table. Financial aid (excluding the Aid and Trade Provision) comprises all expenditure in columns 1 and 2, and Aid in Kind forms part of the expenditure in column 5.
£000

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Project or Sector Aid	Programme Aid	Technical Cooperation	Aid and Trade Provision	Grants Other Aid in Kind	Humanitarian Assistance	DFID Debt Relief	Total DFID Programme
(i) Africa
1987–98	36,134	74,934	130,816	7,648	60,866	24,195	10,419	345,013
1998–99	49,565	125,234	144,272	9,195	63,430	46,251	8,019	445,966
1999–2000	90,617	132,140	163,345	2,652	66,325	32,001	7,513	494,593
2000–01	104,141	245,857	165,340	626	64,308	63,425	6,992	650,690
2001–02	147,860	161,948	177,567	519	48,971	42,755	6,390	586,010
2002–03	135,330	151,208	213,177	-1,052	92,160	153,980	5,414	750,218
(ii) Central Africa (Great Lakes)
1997–98	20	—	2,111	—	9,095	4,984	—	16,211
1998–99	20	—	991	—	2,184	4,473	—	7,669
1999–2000	19	—	1,307	—	1,463	5,736	—	8,527
2000–01	17	—	1,896	—	832	10,203	—	12,946
2001–02	16	—	1,792	—	272	11,085	—	13,166
2002–03	16	—	4,091	—	1,295	25,161	—	30,562
(ii) Uganda
1997–98	9,813	19,145	12,333	—	5,993	657	—	47,941
1996–99	17,785	17,000	11,928	—	5,500	360	—	52,574
1999–2000	41,467	16,000	17,287	—	5,910	543	—	81,206
2000–01	17,826	45,000	15,748	—	7,320	447	—	66,342
2001–02	13,974	35,000	14,611	—	4,563	328	—	68,476
2002–03	13,846	17,500	15,580	—	5,409	2,533	—	54,868
(iv) Rwanda
1997–98	—	—	335	—	1,843	4,019	—	6,198
1996–99	—	10,000	1,282	—	1,281	1,005	—	13,568
1999–2000	—	10,000	2,341	—	784	1,170	—	14,294
2000–01	1,052	25,400	5,419	—	837	—	—	32,708
2001–02	1,488	18,586	6,212	—	741	—	—	27,027
2002–03	2,348	22,032	6,542	—	1,423	—	—	32,344
(v) Burundi
1997–98	—	—	3	—	18	1,580	—	1,602
1996–99	—	—	—	—	26	298	—	324
1999–2000	—	—	—	—	203	709	—	912
2000–01	—	—	—	—	43	1,504	—	1,547
2001–02	—	—	—	—	64	540	—	604
2002–03	—	—	65	—	814	1,055	—	1,934
(vi) Congo (Dm Rep)
1997–98	—	—	48	—	6,056	807	—	6,911
1996–99	—	—	63	—	118	370	—	552
1999–2000	—	—	49	—	15	1,257	—	1,322
2000–01	—	—	23	—	38	3,036	—	3,096
2001–02	—	—	188	—	63	5,307	—	5,558
2002–03	—	—	1,138	—	83	11,650	—	12,871

Note:
Comprises expenditure for Angola, Burundi, DRC, Entrea and Somalia,




 
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The Government's total aid budget has doubled since 1997–98—from £2 billion to £4 billion. As the table shows, assistance to Africa has more than doubled. In the current (2004–05) financial year my Department's bilateral programme in Africa stands at £864 million and in 2005–06 we plan to spend £1.1 billion. These figures demonstrate our real and growing commitment to Africa. But it is not only the quantity of assistance that matters; quality too is vital. In order to improve the quality of aid and hence its impact we are working increasingly closely with other donors to reduce the number of individual and uncoordinated initiatives, and to ensure we use our aid to strengthen—not undermine—national planning and implementation capacity.

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