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Official Minutes

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Prime Minister if he will make it his practice to have an official minute taken of all meetings at No. 10 where policy options are considered; and if he will make a statement. [177151]

The Prime Minister: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor) on 9 February 2004, Official Report, column 1195W.

Prime Ministerial Advisers

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Prime Minister what rules apply to Downing street advisers going to work for commercial companies operating in the sector for which they were responsible. [176955]

 
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The Prime Minister: All civil servants, including special advisers, are subject to the Business Appointment rules. The rules are set out in the Civil Service Management Code, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.

Public Perception Surveys

Norman Lamb: To ask the Prime Minister what surveys of public perceptions of his role and of its areas of responsibility have taken place over the last 12 months; what the (a) title and (b) nature of these surveys was; what the findings of each survey were; where these findings have been published; what the cost of such surveys was; and if he will make a statement and place copies of the surveys in the Library. [176945]

The Prime Minister: None.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Career Breaks

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research her Department has carried out on numbers of men and women taking career breaks. [176128]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department has not carried any research to estimate the number of men and women taking career breaks. However, the findings from The Second Work-life Balance Study: Results from the Employees' Survey (DTI, Employment Relations Research Series, 2004) suggest that 35 per cent. of employees said that it would be possible to take a career break.

Circus Performers (North-west)

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what business opportunities are available for (a) clowns, (b) tightrope walkers, (c) stilt performers, (d) unicyclists and (e) other circus performers in the north-west; and if she will make a statement. [177134]

Jacqui Smith: No separate assessment has been made of the business opportunities available in the north-west for the named groups.

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her assessment is of the contribution to the north-west economy that circuses make. [177135]

Jacqui Smith: The North West Development Agency, working in partnership with stakeholders in the region, has the lead responsibility for developing and taking forward the economic development strategy for the north-west.

Tourism is one of the priority sectors but no specific assessment has been made of the contribution circuses make to the north-west economy and there are no plans to do so.

Commission for Equality and Human Rights

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry under what protocols the
 
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Commission for Equality and Human Rights will work (a) with and (b) through the (i) regional development agencies, (ii) the Small Business Service and (iii) ACAS. [175327]

Ms Hewitt: As set out in our White Paper, "Fairness for All: A New Commission for Equality and Human Rights", the CEHR will have a presence in each of the nine English regions. We expect the new body to develop a constructive and productive relationship with key partner organisations such as the regional development agencies, the Small Business Service and ACAS in order to promote compliance and good practice and provide accurate, high quality advice in a range of different formats and through different intermediaries. The new Board, when appointed, will no doubt want to agree arrangements with the partner bodies as soon as practicable.

Govan Shipyard

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) on which dates in 1999 the former Secretary of State met Mr. George Simpson of GEC; if she will publish minutes of the meetings; and if she will list the attendees at those meetings; [174285]

(2) what communications (a) the former Secretary of State, (b) his representatives and (c) his advisers had with GEC in 1999 over (i) the proposed merger of BAE-GEC and (ii) Govan shipyard; and if she will publish the communications; [174286]

(3) what meetings and communications (a) the former Secretary of State, (b) his representatives and (c) his advisers had with Kvaerner, their representatives or advisers over the proposed closure of the Govan shipyard in 1999; and what advice the former Secretary of State received from (i) his officials and (ii) other departments on the Office of Fair Trading report on the GEC-BAE merger; [174287]

(4) who (a) within her Department and (b) outside her Department the former Secretary of State consulted on the advice received from the Office of Fair Trading regarding the merger of BAE-GEC; [174288]

(5) what meetings took place between her Department and the taskforce chaired by Sir Gavin Laird set up by the Government to look for potential buyers for the Govan shipyard in 1999; and on what date; [174290]

(6) what meetings took place between the former Secretary of State and with Sir Gavin Laird to discuss the future of the Govan shipyard in 1999; and on what date; [174291]

(7) what the involvement was of the former Secretary of State in the negotiations over the future of Govan shipyard in 1999; [174292]

(9) what the involvement was of the former Secretary of State in informal and oral approaches made to GEC over the purchase of Govan in 1999; [174293]

(9) what meetings took place between Mr. Ed Miliband and (a) the former Secretary of State and (b) his advisers, representatives and officials in 1999 to discuss the (i) GEC-BAE merger and (ii) Govan shipyard. [174294]

 
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Ms Hewitt: My officials and I have meetings and discussions with a wide range of organisations and individuals. As with previous Administrations it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings, under exemptions two and seven of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Information relating to internal discussion and advice is exempt from disclosure under exemption two of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Under the Fair grading Act (now repealed) the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry had the power and the responsibility to clear a merger, refer it to the Competition Commission or accept undertakings in order to remedy or prevent the adverse effects to the public interest specified in advice from the Director General of Fair Trading.

Under the Fair Trading Act there was no procedure for consultation on the contents of the Director General of Fair Trading's advice. Accordingly, no consultation was undertaken. However, the contents of the competition and national security undertakings to be sought from BAE Systems in lieu of a reference to the Competition Commission were made publicly available. The reasons for his decision to accept competition and national security undertakings in lieu of a reference are set out in his announcement of 9 September 1999. The Secretary of State also announced on 6 March 2000 the contents of the draft undertakings offered by BAE Systems, and on 28 March 2000 the final undertakings.

Honours

Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much time her Department spent dealing with honours in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by Civil Service grade. [173043]

Ms Hewitt: The DTI has a full-time Honours Secretary (Range 8) and had, until September 2003, an Assistant Honours Secretary (50 per cent. of a Range 6 post) who dealt with public nominations and expenses for investitures.

The Permanent Secretary and the Department's Directors General, together with the Head of the Honours Unit (Range 10) and the Honours Secretary take part in the twice yearly formal internal honours meetings.

The majority of the work on honours is undertaken by the departmental honours team. Information is not available on time spent on honours related work by Dpartmental staff who are not members of the Department's honours team.

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