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Crown Post Offices

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff have been transferred or made redundant from Crown post offices in each of the last 12 months; and of the former how many have been transferred under TUPE. [177746]

Mr. Timms: These are operational matters for Post Office Ltd. and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.
 
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Economic Regeneration

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was spent on each Priority Area for Economic Regeneration in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04 by (i) her Department and (ii) the relevant regional development agency; and how much is budgeted to be spent in (A) 2004–05 and (B) 2005–06. [173780]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 17 May 2004]: I understand that the term "Priority Area for Economic Regeneration" is used in the Regional Planning Guidance 9. The criteria for designating such areas include: above average unemployment levels, high levels of social deprivation, low skill levels, dependence on declining industries, derelict urban fabric, peripherality and insularity. The Areas are not intended to be covered by a Single Regeneration Scheme and projects within these areas are potentially eligible for funding from a number of different sources. The Department does not collect information on total expenditure in relation to all these areas and such information is available only at disproportionate cost.

Farm Export Subsidies

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by what date she expects EU export subsidies on farm products to end. [177485]

Alun Michael: I have been asked to reply

A precise date for the ending of all forms of export subsidy on agricultural products remains a matter for negotiation within the WTO.

Farnborough Airshow

Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support her Department is giving to the organisers of the Farnborough Airshow taking place from 19 to 25 July; and whether this includes assistance to enable overseas visitors to attend. [177500]

Jacqui Smith: The Department for Trade and Industry is not providing any financial support to the organisers of the Farnborough Airshow. We will provide financial support to enable overseas visitors to attend the Airshow.

Ministerial Visits

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list visits made by each Minister in the Department between December 2003 and April 2004, broken down by (a) date, (b) constituency visited and (c) cost. [171561]

Ms Hewitt: Between December 2003 and April 2004 DTI Ministers undertook the following domestic visits:

Date	Constituency visited	Cost for Minister (£)
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
5 December 2003	Bristol, North, Monmouth and Cardiff, Central	179
Minister for Industry, Regions and Deputy Minister for Women and Equality
9 December 2003	Morley and Rothwell,Bradford, North, Leeds, Central	406
11 December 2003	The Wrekin	200
16 December 2003	Kingswood Bristol, East Yeovil	303
5 January 2004	Redditch Meriden Birmingham, Yardley Warwick and Leamington	315
13 January 2004	Newham	(6)—
29 January 2004	Dudley, South Birmingham, Ladywood	286
11 February 2004	Cheadle	350
25 February 2004	Hyndburn Lancaster and Wyre Preston	210
10 March 2004	Eastbourne	31
15 March 2004	Wolverhampton, South-West Wolverhampton, North-East	368
22 March 2004	Oxford, East	437
25 March 2004	West Bromwich	170
1 April 2004	Ilford, North	(6)—
2 April 2004	Birmingham, Edgbaston	120
16 April 2004	Newcastle upon Tyne, East and Wallsend	505
20 April 2004	Ellesmere Port and Neston	365
22 April 2004	Meriden	150
27 April 2004	West Ham Bethnal Green and Bow Cities of London and Westminster	(6)—
Minister for Energy, e Commerce and Postal Services
6 January 2004	Fylde and Blackburn	283
19 January 2004	Newbury
11 February 2004	Bristol, East, Bristol, West and Bristol, North-West	147
25 February 2004	North-West Cambridgeshire and Peterborough	80
15 March 2004	Mansfield and City of York	179
17 March 2004	North Warwickshire	167
22 March 2004	South Swindon	102
1 April 2004	Luton, South	31
Minister for Trade
15 January 2004	Stratford-on-Avon	75
5 February 2004	Bosworth	85
3 March 2004	Broxtowe	126
9 March 2004	Glasgow, Kelvin Glasgow, Govan Glasgow, Maryhill	557
11 March 2004	Cambridge	108
24 April 2003	Blaby	466
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Small Business and Enterprise
21 April 2004	Tewkesbury	150
26 April 2004	Meriden Birmingham, Edgbaston Stoke-on-Trent, North	109
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation
12 January 2004	Harrogate and Knaresborough	231
20 January 2004	Sheffield, Central	191
30 January 2004	Runcorn East, Liverpool Central Wirral, South	327
5 February 2004	Cambridge	(6)—
19 February 2004	Croydon, South	6.00
20 February 2004	Southampton, Test	85
4 March 2004	Northampton, South and Cambridge	(6)—
1 April 2004	Canterbury	(6)—
30 April 2004	Edinburgh, South and East Kilbride	388
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment Relations, Competition and Consumers
15 January 2004	Gateshead, East and Washington, West	135
12 February 2004	Warwick and Leamington	59
13 February 2004	Leeds, Central	0
27 February 2004	Liverpool, Riverside	245
9 March 2004	Edinburgh, North and Leith	285
11 March 2004	Birmingham	141
22 March 2004	Sheffield, Central	181
30 April 2004	Bradford, South	0

⁽⁶⁾ Costs for these visits are included in normal office running costs.



 
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In respect of overseas visits, the Government publish on an annual basis the total costs of all ministerial overseas travel and a list of all visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500. Information for 2003–4 is currently being collected and will be published as soon as it is ready.

Post Services

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions her Department has had with (a) Royal Mail and (b) Postwatch on quality of service. [176560]

Mr. Timms: The Department has regular discussions with both Royal Mail and Postwatch on a variety of topics including Royal Mail's quality of service.

Royal Mail's top priority is to improve its quality of service performance. It has drawn up detailed plans to tackle the recent problems and Ministers have Allan Leighton's personal assurance that these will be implemented vigorously. We are confident that the management is committed and determined to put things right.

Regional Development Agencies

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps are being taken to reduce the administrative load on regional development agencies. [174698]

Jacqui Smith: We have to strike the right balance between giving England's Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) the freedom they need to operate effectively and ensuring that public money is spent sensibly and without undue risks. We are continually improving arrangements for funding and tasking RDAs and monitoring their performance.

As noted in a recent report by the National Audit Office, "Success in the Regions", much has been done to streamline funding arrangements for the RDAs, for example the introduction of the single budgetary framework in April 2002, which has allowed the RDAs much greater spending flexibility.

The NAO report made 10 recommendations to streamline processes and enable the RDAs to get on with the business of encouraging economic development while providing Departments with the information and levels of public accountability that they need. Working with the RDAs and other Departments, the Department of Trade and Industry is working to implement all of these recommendations, including the NAO's main
 
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recommendation, simplification of the RDAs' tasking framework to achieve closer alignment with the Regional Economic Strategies produced by the RDAs and relevant Public Service Agreement targets. Action has already been completed on some recommendations, for example, Government offices' reports to the DTI on the RDAs' performance now take place every six months as recommended.

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