---

10 Jun 2004 : Column 566W—continued

Minor Titles Consortium

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations she has received from the Minor Titles Consortium on the Royal Mail and distribution of their newspapers in Scotland. [177438]

 
10 Jun 2004 : Column 567W
 

Mr. Timms: I have not received any recent representations from the Minor Titles Consortium about the Royal Mail's distribution of newspapers.

Night Shift Workers

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the benefits to residents of Wirral, South of new rights for night shift workers. [177689]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Working Time Regulations came into force on 1 October 1998. The regulations limit working time to 48 hours per week averaged over a 17-week reference period. For night workers the limit is eight hours per day on average, including overtime where it is part of a night worker's normal hours of work. There is no opt-out from the night working time limit.

Night workers are entitled to 11 hours rest between working days, one day's rest per week, and a 20-minute in work rest break if the working period is longer than six hours.

All night workers should be offered a free health assessment before they start working night and thereafter at regular intervals for as long as they are working nights. The health assessments should take account of the nature of the work and the restrictions on a worker's working time under the regulations. Workers who suffer from problems as a result of working at night, should as far as practicable be offered alternative day work.

All workers are entitled to four weeks paid annual leave. There is no specific data available for night shift workers in Wirral, South.

Mr. Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the effect on residents of Bootle of new rights for night-shift workers. [176996]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Working Time Regulations came into force on 1 October 1998. The regulations limit working time to 48 hours per week averaged over a 17-week reference period. For night workers the limit is eight hours per day on average, including overtime where it is part of a night worker's normal hours of work. There is no opt-out from the night working time limit.

Night workers are entitled to 11 hours rest between working days, one day's rest per week, and a 20-minute in work rest break if the working period is longer than six hours.

All night workers should be offered a free health assessment before they start working night and thereafter at regular intervals for as long as they are working nights. The health assessments should take account of the nature of the work and the restrictions on a worker's working time under the regulations. Workers who suffer from problems as a result of working at night, should as far as practicable be offered alternative day work.

All workers are entitled to four weeks paid annual leave. There is no specific data available for night shift workers in Bootle.
 
10 Jun 2004 : Column 568W
 

NIREX

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the future of NIREX. [177768]

Mr. Timms: The Secretary of State recently met with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as part of a regular series of bilateral meetings. The ongoing work on the future of NIREX was discussed as part of that wider meeting.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the involvement of NIREX in drafting the Energy Bill. [177222]

Mr. Timms: NIREX has not been involved in drafting the Energy Bill.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the intended relationship between the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and NIREX. [177223]

Mr. Timms: It will only be possible to set out the relationship between NIREX and the NDA once NIREX and its industry shareholders have been consulted on the future of the company.

Oil and Gas Prices

Mr. Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action she has taken to investigate reports that speculation in oil and gas is helping to drive up prices. [177080]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 7 June 2004]: While speculation may be playing a role, there are a number of other factors supporting current oil prices including unanticipated strong demand, tight capacities upstream and downstream, and geopolitical uncertainties.

The oil price is one driver of UK gas wholesale spot and forward prices, as is the market's perception of gas demand and supply. In order to inform the gas market about UK gas market fundamentals, on 24 May 04, the DTI published the Fourth JESS Report which, among other things, monitors the availability of gas supplies, the adequacy of the UK's gas infrastructure, and gas forward prices.

Paid Leave

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many residents of Wirral, South qualify for paid leave entitlements. [177690]

Mr. Sutcliffe: All workers resident in Wirral, South qualify for paid annual leave entitlements of at least four weeks as set out in the Working Time Regulations. While all women are entitled to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave, only those who meet the eligibility criteria will be able to claim statutory maternity pay for that period.

All employees in Wirral, South who are eligible will be entitled to take statutory paternity leave with pay and statutory adoption leave with pay.
 
10 Jun 2004 : Column 569W
 

Mr. Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many residents of Bootle qualify for paid leave entitlements. [176995]

Mr. Sutcliffe: All workers resident in Bootle qualify for paid annual leave entitlements; at least four weeks as set out in the Working Time Regulations. While all women are entitled to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave, only those who meet the eligibility criteria will be able to claim statutory maternity pay for that period.

All employees in Bootle who are eligible will be entitled to take statutory paternity leave with pay and statutory adoption leave with pay.

Post Boxes

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the factors that determine the size of a post box available at a particular location. [176737]

Mr. Timms: The size and location of post boxes are the operational concern of Royal Mail Gorup and I have therefore asked the Chief Executive to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Renewable Energy

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what projections her Department has made of (a) the amount and (b) the percentage of electricity the UK will be obtaining from renewable sources in each year to 2010. [176740]

Mr. Timms: A working paper showing revised energy projections has recently been published on the DTI website. The projections suggest that electricity generation from renewables could reach 15TWh in 2005 and 39TWh in 2010. Taking account of all sources of generation, some of which are not shown separately in the working paper, these represent around 3.5 per cent. and 10 per cent. of overall supply respectively.

The working paper is available on the website at: http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/euets.shtml_uep

The Department does not publish projections of year-by-year generation patterns.

Steel

Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the effect of steel (a) price increases and (b) supply problems on manufacturing industry; and if she will make a statement. [177012]

Jacqui Smith: I am very much aware of concerns about rising steel prices and appreciate that this is an unwelcome pressure on steel consumers at a time when manufacturing is showing signs of recovery. This is a global issue caused primarily by soaring demand in China, which is having a knock on effect on the cost of raw materials such as iron ore, coke and scrap. We acknowledge that the problem is especially difficult for steel users with limited scope to pass on price rises to customers. However, European steel prices are still low compared with USA and South East Asia. There have also been concerns about the availability of steel but I
 
10 Jun 2004 : Column 570W
 
understand that there is no shortage of supply from UK producers although there are reports of tightness of those consumers that rely on imported sources of steel.

The Chinese Government has recently introduced measures to dampen economic growth as a result of which Chinese steel imports have fallen pushing down prices in the Far East. It is hoped that this will bring some stability to world markets although industry analysts expect overall world demand to remain firm for the rest of this year.

---