Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures she has put in place to ensure that key installations, with particular reference to hospitals, are listed in BT telephone directories, following the introduction of competition for directory inquiry services where that installation may be registered with a different phone network; and how many such cases the Department has taken up. [191012]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The matter raised is the responsibility of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) as independent regulator. Accordingly, my officials have asked the Chief Executive of Ofcom to respond directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the Chief Executive's letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what prospective changes to UK employment legislation she expects as a result of Government understandings with trade unions. [191569]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government develop their proposals for employment legislation after appropriate consultation, taking into account the views of all interested stakeholders, including trade unions.
Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many cases are waiting to be heard at industrial tribunal; what the average waiting time is; and what steps the Government are taking to reduce waiting times. [191274]
Mr. Sutcliffe: As at the end of August 2004, 109,535 cases were waiting to be heard at the Employment Tribunals. I regret that it is not possible to provide information on the average current waiting time. However, as at the end of August 2004 the year to date performance against the Employment Tribunals Service performance target of 75 per cent. of single Employment Tribunal cases to a first hearing within 26 week of receipt is 84 per cent. There are no plans at present to refocus resources in order to increase performance against this target.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 12 May 2004, Official Report, column 438W, on the Insolvency Service, what measures she is taking to improve (a) the ratio of calls made from members of the public to the
18 Oct 2004 : Column 449W
Insolvency Service's Enforcement Hotline regarding disqualified directors and (b) the number of cases accepted by the Legal Services Directorate for full investigation. [191857]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In order to reduce the ratio between relevant calls received and those referred to Legal Services Directorate (LSD), the message on the Enforcement Hotline was amended in April 2004.
The message now clearly states the purpose of the Hotline and refers callers to the DTI Companies Investigation Branch or Office of Fair Trading if their query concerns a trading company; and to the Insolvency Service Central Enquiry Line for general insolvency queries. This has had the effect of reducing the number of invalid calls to the Hotline and will therefore reduce the ratio between the calls received and cases subsequently referred to LSD. Cases are referred to LSD by the Insolvency Service when there is an allegation of a criminal offence contrary to insolvency legislation.
Decisions to investigate criminal allegations are taken by lawyers within the DTI. A lawyer will consider all the information or evidence available at the time and if it is considered that there is sufficient information or evidence then the complaint is passed to the Departments own Investigation Officers Section to conduct a criminal investigation into the complaint. Once the investigation is complete the lawyer will then consider whether in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and whether it is in the public interest to institute criminal proceedings.
In view of the more detailed legal consideration given to any case by Legal Services Directorate, it is inevitable that not all cases referred to them will be taken forward for investigation.
Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many British companies have obtained contracts in the reconstruction programmes in Iraq. [191000]
Mr. Alexander: We wish to see UK companies play a substantial role in the reconstruction process in Iraq. Many are already doing so. British companies, however, are not obliged to give details of contacts won and there is no central organisation that publishes such information. We estimate that to date, British companies are involved in contracts for reconstruction and other work in Iraq to the value of around US $2.6 billion. British companies are active in the power, water, banking, ports, construction, telecoms, security, legal services and consultancy sectors.
Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry at what age an employee qualifies for the new top rate of £4.85 national minimum wage. [190997]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
From 1 October 2004 a worker who is aged 22 or more becomes entitled to the main national minimum wage rate of £4.85 an hour.
18 Oct 2004 : Column 450W
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Department spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in each year since 1997. [191393]
Ms Hewitt: I am informed that the Department has not had any residential property on its administrative estate since 1998 and that information about the costs for previous years is already in the public domain.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget is for the Post Office Reinvention Programme; and how much has been spent to date. [191718]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government have provided £210 million for Post Office Ltd's reinvention programme: £180 million for compensation payments to exiting sub-postmasters and £30 million for improvements to offices that remain.
To date, £115 million has been paid to Post Office Ltd in respect of compensation payments and £5.4 million in respect of improvement investment grants.
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what studies she has initiated of the effect on main post offices of sub post office closures; and if she will make a statement. [192714]
Mr. Sutcliffe: None. This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received from (a) trade unions and (b) small businesses on the new statutory dismissal procedure to be introduced on 1 October. [191609]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government recognises that the statutory dispute resolution regulations are likely to have a significant impact on Britain's workplaces. Therefore, a wide range of pre-consultation and consultation activities were undertaken.
An Advisory Group was set up in March 2003 to involve key employer and employee stakeholders in policy development and drafting. Members were drawn from small firms organisations, trade unions, sector-specific trade associations and other Government agencies. On the trade union side, the Trades Union Congress, Transport and General Workers Union, Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, and GMB were involved. The following small business groups participated as well: Small Business Council, Federation of Small Business, British Chambers of Commerce, and Forum for Private Business.
A 16-week public consultation closed on 29 October 2003. A total of 203 responses were received: 66 (or 32.5 per cent.) were received from individual employers and 20 (or 9.9 per cent.) were received from trade unions.
18 Oct 2004 : Column 451W
This was supplemented by a number of specialist focus groups: two for small businesses and one for trade union legal officers.
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people were members of a trade union in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) the City of York (i) in 1997 and (ii) at the latest date for which figures are available. [191171]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information is as follows.
(a) Union density for employees in Yorkshire and Humber for autumn 2003 is 32.8 per cent.
(b) Unfortunately the Labour Force survey (LFS) only measures Government office region and unitary authority/county level. Therefore, the City of York is not available.
(i) For autumn 1997 Yorkshire and Humber union density was 27.3 per cent.
(ii) These are the latest figures available from the LFS. Union membership is only available in autumn quarters.
Next Section | Index | Home Page |