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20 Jul 2004 : Column 179W—continued

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when a reply will be sent to the hon. Member for Walsall North's letter of 3 June to the Department for Work and Pensions, which was transferred to her Department on 10 June. [185288]

Mr. Sutcliffe: My hon. Friend the Member for Walsall North was sent a reply to his letter on 19 July 2004.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 23 April 2004, Official Report, column 684W, on Royal Mail, when she expects Royal Mail to reply to the hon. Member for Gordon; and if she will make a statement on the average time taken for Post Office Ltd. and Royal Mail to write to hon. Members when her Department redirects parliamentary questions to them. [185353]

Mr. Timms: Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd. make every effort to issue replies to hon. Members within five working days of receiving our request for information.

It would appear that due to an administrative error the hon. Member's inquiry of 22 April 2004 was not passed on to Mr. Crozier's office at Royal Mail for a direct reply. This has now been done and a response will be sent direct to the hon. Member within the next few days.

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much her Department spent on (a) head-hunters and recruitment consultants and (b) management consultants in (i) 1996–97 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available. [185376]


 
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Ms Hewitt: In 2002–03, £0.9 million was spent on head-hunters and recruitment consultants and £19.4 million was spent on General Business consultants. Similar information for 1996–97 is not available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost of running the Department's canteen facilities was in (a) 1996–97 and (b) the latest year for which figures are available. [185378]

Ms Hewitt: The information is as follows:

EU Structural Funds

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 15 March 2004, Official Report, column 64W, on European Union Standard Funds, what actual expenditure was against those allocations for each year between 2000 and 2003. [185595]

Jacqui Smith: European Structural Fund expenditure under the 2000–06 programmes is monitored on an annual basis. Under current regulations, each year's allocation has to be spent by the end of the second year following the year of allocation.

Due to the late start of the Objective 2 programmes, only the Objective 1 and 3 programmes were required to spend their 2000 allocations by the end of 2002. For the UK Objective 1 programmes a total of £622.3 million had to be spent and for Objective 3 the figure was £402.1 million. These overall targets were achieved. The targets for the end of 2003 included both the 2000 and 2001 allocations for the Objective 2 programmes. A total of £3,150 million had to be spent and this figure was surpassed by £308 million.

MOX Shipments

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of the time and person power of the Office for Civil Nuclear Security will be committed to overseeing the security of the British registered PNTL nuclear transport ships in their mission to transport plutonium-based MOX test assemblies from France to the United States. [185551]

Mr. Timms: Staff in the Office for Civil Nuclear Security will spend whatever proportion of their time is necessary to review the draft Transport Plan with a view to its approval and, if approved, to oversee its implementation. The resources required cannot be firmly estimated in advance but I would expect them to account for no more than a moderate proportion of total OCNS resources.

Regional State Aid

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will place the initial member state response to the EU Commission proposals on regional state aid in the Library. [185576]


 
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Jacqui Smith: The Government's response to the Commission's proposals for reform of regional state aid is due to be issued imminently. We will be making our response public. It will be placed on the Department's website and copies will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Renewable Energy

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimates have been made of the costs of concrete production for the purpose of wind power generation. [184106]

Mr. Timms: A number of studies have estimated the overall environmental cost of building wind power generation. For example, the British Wind Energy Association states that the average wind farm in the UK will pay back the energy used in its manufacture within three to five months, and over its lifetime a wind turbine will produce over 30 times more energy than was used in its manufacture. This compares favourably with coal or nuclear power stations, which take about six months.

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans she has to increase the amount of renewable energy sources within London. [184285]

Mr. Timms: The Department and the Government Office for London are working closely with the GLA in taking forward the implementation of the Mayor of London's Energy Strategy, which the Government has welcomed.

London will benefit from the range of measures the Government has put in place to deliver its target of 10 per cent. of electricity supply from renewable sources by 2010: including Renewables Obligation on suppliers, grant support and exemption from climate change levy.

Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the range of the capital grant support available for renewable energy projects in the areas of (a) biomass, (b) photovoltaics and (c) solar water heating. [185398]

Mr. Timms: The information requested is as follows.

(a) Biomass—DTI and the Big Lottery Fund have allocated 66 million through the Bioenergy Capital Grants Scheme to encourage the efficient use of biomass, and particularly energy groups, for energy production by stimulating the early deployment of biomass fuelled heat and electricity generation projects.

(b) Photovoltaics—The £25 million Photovoltaic Major Demonstration Programme offers grants to householders, public bodies, small to medium enterprises and larger bodies for the installation of PV panels. Householders can get a grant of up to £3,000 and £4,250, dependent on size and type of installation. For public bodies, small to medium enterprises and larger bodies grants between 40 per cent. and 60 per cent. are available on a competitive basis, assessed independently at selection panels.

(c) Solar Water Heating—Grants are available through the Clear Skies initiative; householders can get a grant of £400 towards the cost of an installation.
 
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Community and not-for-profit groups can get a grant of 50 per cent., up to a maximum of £100,000, towards the cost of installation. This is done through a competitive application process, at independent assessment panels, on a round by round basis. The £10 million Clear Skies initiative was launched in January 2003 in order to promote the uptake of a number of renewable technologies including solar heating panels. Further details of the initiative, including grant levels for all the technologies supported, can be found on the website at www.clear-skies.org.

The Scottish Executive has its own parallel scheme, the £3.7 million Scottish Community and Household Renewables Initiative, which also offers grants for the installation of solar water heating panels. Householders can get a grant of 30 per cent. up to a maximum of £4,000 for a solar water heating installation. Community organisations can get a 100 per cent. grant up to a maximum of £100,000. Community applications are assessed on essential and desirable criteria and large-scale projects may also be subject to independent technical assessment.

Further details can be found on the website www.est.co.uk/schri.


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