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18 Jun 2004 : Column 1153W—continued

Internet Telephony

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the implications for the telecoms sector of the increasing use of internet telephony. [178716]

Mr. Timms: New services that can offer consumers lower prices and advanced features are welcome additions to a competitive telecommunications market. Ofcom, the telecommunications and broadcasting regulator, is currently considering the regulatory issues concerning voice over broadband (VoB) services as part of a wider strategic review of telecommunications. It has also consulted on specific issues such as numbering arrangements and runs a VoB industry group.

The Ofcom Strategic Review of Telecommunications can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/telecoms review/index.htm

Details of the VoB industry group can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uK/ind groups/ind groups/telecommunications/vob/?a=87101

Kismet Road Project

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the withdrawal by Advantage West Midlands of agreed funding for the Kismet Road project; and what assessment she has made of the effect on companies which have incurred costs as a result. [177206]

Jacqui Smith: Advantage West Midlands received an application for funding for the Kismet Road project but was unable to make an offer of support.

Any funding given by Advantage West Midlands is subject to a formal appraisal process. Early on in the appraisal process, it became clear that Advantage West Midlands could not fund the project because there were irreconcilable anomalies and inconsistencies within the application's proposed funding package and the project offered no acceptable outputs. That decision was communicated to the applicant at the earliest opportunity.

Ministerial Travel

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if she will list the travel costs incurred (a) by her Department and (b) by each Minister within her Department, for each of the last 10 years; [175646]

(2) how many journeys were made by helicopter by each Minister in her Department in each of the last 10 years; and what the journey length was in each case. [175740]

Ms Hewitt: In respect of overseas travel by Ministers, since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. The Government have also published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers' visits overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. These reports contain information reaching back from 1995–06. Information for earlier years could
 
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be obtained only at disproportionate cost and in some cases will no longer be held. Information for 2003–04 will be published in due course.

For domestic travel the DTI has devolved to the local management the authorisation of travel claims for its staff, subject to checking procedures. It does not record the costs of taxis, train travel, helicopters or airline tickets used by staff separately. To obtain accurate data for the information requested would entail disproportionate cost.

All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code of Practice.

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) car, (b) train, (c) aeroplane and (d) helicopter, in each of the last 10 years. [175663]

Ms Hewitt: For part (a) of the question my hon. Friend the Minister of the Cabinet Office has asked Nick Matheson, Chief executive of the Government Car and despatch Agency to write to the hon. Member with details of the cost of ministerial vehicles provided to this Department.

For parts (b) (c) (d) the DTI has devolved to the local management the authorisation of travel claims for its staff, subject to checking procedures. It does not record the costs of taxis, train travel, helicopters or airline tickets used by staff separately. To obtain accurate data for the information requested would entail disproportionate cost.

All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the Ministerial Code of Practice.

Nirex

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will give an assurance that the Government's intentions on the future role of Nirex will be made public before the Energy Bill completes its passage through the House. [177224]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 7 June 2004]: The Government are working hard to determine the future of Nirex and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food an Rural Affairs will announce the outcome of its review as soon as it has been completed. I am not as yet able to give a firm date for the announcement.

Ruth Lea

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions the Permanent Secretary of the Department has had concerning Ruth Lea while she was employed by the Institute of Directors; and if she will make a statement. [179106]

Ms Hewitt: The details of meetings held internally between officials, or privately between officials and third parties, are exempt from disclosure under exemptions 2 and 14 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, protecting internal discussion and information given in confidence respectively.
 
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Secondments

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff in her Department and its agencies were seconded from the (a) private and (b) academic sector in each of the last three years. [174822]

Ms Hewitt: The purpose of bringing people into the Civil Service from other sectors is to fill skills gaps and to add external dimensions and insights. For the individuals themselves, the secondment provides experience of another sector and an opportunity to enhance existing skills and develop others.

The following table shows the secondments from (a) the private sector and (b) the academic sector for the last three years:
Secondments from the private sectorSecondments from the academic sector
2001–02723
2002–03641
2003–04573

Letter from Claire Clancy to Mr. Bob Spink, dated 18 June 2004:

Letter from Desmond Flynn to Mr. Bob Spink, dated 18 June 2004:

Sellafield

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she expects Sellafield's new mixed oxide plant to become fully operational. [178760]

Mr. Timms: The Sellafield MOX Plant (SMP) is currently manufacturing Mixed Oxide Fuel (MOX) as part of the final stages of commissioning the plant. Formal consent to operate SMP will be sought from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (Nil), the regulatory body in late 2005, subject to the plant achieving its manufacturing schedule.

Sickness Absence

Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many days were lost in her Department through sickness absence in the year ending 31 March 2004. [178344]

Ms Hewitt: In the year 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004, the headquarters of the Department of Trade and Industry (including Small Business Service and UK
 
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Trade and Investment) lost 30,910 days due to sick absence. These figures include weekend days where absences span the weekend.

The figures can be further broken down to show that 21,184 of these days were certified and 9,726 were uncertified.

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