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Ministerial Air Travel/Gifts

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list for each year since 1997 the number of miles he has flown on official business. [181861]

The Prime Minister: The information requested is not held.

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Prime Minister what the total cost of air travel between Northern Ireland and Great Britain was for (a) him and (b) staff of his Office in the latest year for which figures are available. [182133]

The Prime Minister: The average cost for air travel for my Office between Northern Ireland and Great Britain for 2002–03 was £1,787 per visit.

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Prime Minister if he will place on the publication scheme of his Office on the website a list of gifts which were given to Ministers between January 1999 and June 2001. [182034]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 9 February 2004, Official Report, column 1198W.

The list of gifts for 2003–04 received by Ministers and valued at more that £140 is currently being assembled and will be published shortly.
 
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TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Age Discrimination

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the role of the proposed Commission for Equality and Human Rights will be in relation to age discrimination and (a) employment, (b) poor service and (c) unfair treatment. [182172]

Ms Hewitt: Legislation under the European employment directive to outlaw age discrimination in employment and vocational training is on course to come into force on 1 October 2006. As our White Paper, Fairness for All, has outlined, the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) will provide institutional support for the provisions on age discrimination, working closely with partner organisations and key stakeholders to provide advice and assistance. The CEHR will be able to advise individuals of their rights under the legislation, and support some people to bring their cases before the courts. In addition, the CEHR will have powers to conduct an investigation into a named party where it has reasonable suspicion that the person is not complying with the statutory requirements of the age regulations. If unlawful discrimination or harassment is found, the CEHR will be able to require the discrimination to stop.

The CEHR will promote equality of opportunity for people regardless of age. This will allow the CEHR to act in a broad range of areas, not just where there is specific legislative protection in employment and vocational training. For example, in respect of poor service or unfair treatment, the CEHR will promote and encourage good practice, working with central and local government, regional agencies and the private and voluntary sector. As part of this activity, the CEHR will have the power to conduct inquiries into age discrimination generally or unequal outcomes in respect of age.

Business Start-ups (Hyndburn)

Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new businesses have been established in Hyndburn since 1997. [181303]

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, including 2,600 business start-ups in the County of Lancashire (which includes Hyndburn parliamentary constituency). 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. In 2003 there were 10,200 business start-ups in the County of Lancashire.

Barclays data for the County of Lancashire are not available before 2003 and data are not available for Hyndburn parliamentary constituency separately.
 
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DTI figures based solely on VAT registrations for Hyndburn local authority and Rossendale local authority (which both contain parts of Hyndburn parliamentary constituency) are shown in the following table for the period 1997 to 2002. Data for 2003 will be available in autumn 2004.
VAT registrations: 1997–2002

	Hyndburn	Rossendale
1997	160	180
1998	175	215
1999	155	185
2000	180	200
2001	180	190
2002	170	170

Source:
Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2002, Small Business Service www.sbs.gov.uk/statistics/analytical/vatstats.php

VAT registrations do not capture all start-up 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.

Clean Coal Technology

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what grants are available from the European Union Framework Programme on Research and Development for clean coal technology. [180797]

Mr. Timms: The Sixth framework programme provides support for collaborative R&D projects in capture and sequestration of CO ₂ associated with cleaner fossil fuel plants. A call for proposals including this area is expected in September.

CHP Plants

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what combined heat and power plants were given power station consents by her Department in (a) 2001, (b) 2002 and (c) 2003; and when they are expected to commence operation. [181958]

Mr. Timms: The following is the information requested:

2001

Conoco Refinery, South Killingtholme

Jaguar, Halewood

Kelloggs, Trafford Park

Avonmouth

2002

Basell Polyolefins, Carrington

2003

Polimera Europa, Hythe, Hampshire

The consents are valid for five years from the date of issue and it is a commercial matter for the developer concerned when to implement his consent.
 
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Renewable Energy

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what level of reserve capacity would be required in order to safeguard continuity of electricity supply from (a) tidal, (b) wave, (c) on-shore wind and (d) off-shore wind electrical generating capacity. [178322R]

Mr. Timms: This is primarily a matter for the generators.

The introduction of a significant amount of intermittent renewable generation will require additional reserve capacity in the electricity market and the use of more short-term balancing services. The amount of reserve capacity that will be required depends on the overall mix of generation technologies and the approach taken to address intermittency in different timescales (for example, storage, demand side measures or flexible generation). The electricity trading arrangements give suppliers strong financial incentives to contract ahead to meet the demands of their customers and give generators strong financial incentives to deliver the power they have contracted to provide. It is a commercial matter for all generators, including those producing from the alternative renewable technologies, how they manage the risks associated with variability in the generation from their plant. Market participants are assisted by the information that NGC provides to the market in its role as System Operator about forecast future supply and demand for electricity.

Employment Tribunals

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many cases have been registered in employment tribunals against (a) public and (b) private sector employers in each region in each year since 1997; how many costs awards were made against (i) respondents and (ii) applicants in each region; and what the average cost award was in each region. [181215]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Employment Tribunals Service does not collect statistical data on public or private sector employers. Statistical information for individual regions is not readily accessible and could be produced only at disproportionate cost. Parliamentary question number 181218 answered today, provides the UK statistics on the number of registered employment tribunal cases and costs awards since 1997.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employment tribunal cases there were in each year since 1997; how many cost awards were made against (a) respondents and (b) applicants; and what the average employment tribunal cost award was in (i) the United Kingdom and (ii) each region. [181218]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The following table shows the number of tribunal applications registered by the Employment Tribunals Service in the UK since 1997.
 
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	Registered tribunal applications
2003–04	115,042
2002–03	98,617
2001–02	112,227
2000–01	130,408
1999–2000	103,935
1998–99	91,913
1997–98	80,435
1996–97	88,910

The following table illustrates how many employment tribunal cost awards have been made against respondents and applicants in the UK in the last two financial years. The Employment Tribunals Service did not breakdown the statistics for applicants and respondents prior to 2001–02.

	Costs awards against:
	Respondent	Applicant
2003–04	332	644
2002–03	307	691
2001–02	169	467

The following table shows the average amount of an employment tribunal cost award in the UK since 1997.

	Average cost award (£)
2003–04	1,859
2002–03	1,524
2001–02	983
2000–01	295
1999–2000	1,155
1998–99	743
1997–98	546

Statistical information for individual regions is not readily accessible and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

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