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Employment (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time workers there were in the City of York (i) in 1997 and (ii) at the latest date for which figures are available. [191172]

Jacqui Smith: The information is as follows:

(a) (i) Full-time workers in York in 1997—57,000 (73.7 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).

(ii) Full-time workers in York in the latest data available (four quarter average September 2003 to August 2004)—60,000 (67.1 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).

(b)(i) Part-time workers in York in 1997—20,000 (26.3 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).

(ii) Part-time workers in York in the latest data available (four quarter average September 2003 to August 2004)—30,000 (32.9 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).

Source:

Labour Force Survey—taken from Nomis Website at http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Entrepreneurship

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are being taken to encourage better partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors in relation to promoting entrepreneurship. [190830]

Nigel Griffiths: DTI provides support for a number of initiatives that encourage people and organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors to work together. In particular, Enterprise Week, running from 15 to 21 November, is part of a national campaign to inspire and mobilise young people to be enterprising and catalyse a culture of enterprise in the UK. Public, private and voluntary sector organisations are all providing or contributing to Enterprise Week events, and all are being encouraged to remain involved after Enterprise Week.

In addition, many DTI sponsored schemes make use of private sector resources. For example, the Business Volunteer mentor (BVM) Scheme run by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies provides mentoring support for new businesses from a team of mentors from the private sector. Young Enterprise—an organisation which gives young people personal experience of business and which receives financial support from DTI, has sponsorship and supporters from the public and private sectors.

The Small Business Service is developing a strategy to encourage more engagement between social enterprise and private sector companies. It has commissioned research on the outcomes of existing partnerships and aims to develop new practical guidance on commercial collaboration.
 
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Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action her Department has taken to promote entrepreneurship in the community. [190838]

Nigel Griffiths: In January 2004, the Small Business Service published a cross department Government action plan for small business, setting out actions to support small businesses and promote enterprise awareness and entrepreneurial activity across all sectors of the community. The action plan includes specific actions to build an enterprise culture, encourage a dynamic start up market, build capacity for small business growth, and to encourage more enterprise in disadvantaged communities and under represented groups.

Specific actions to promote entrepreneurship across all sectors of the community include: continued funding for the Phoenix Fund, which promotes enterprise in disadvantaged communities, focusing on innovative business support and providing access to finance; a strategy for promoting women's enterprise; and a number of measures to encourage entrepreneurship within ethnic minority communities.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action her Department has taken to highlight and showcase successful new business. [190840]

Nigel Griffiths: The DTI supports a number of initiatives and awards that showcase successful new businesses and entrepreneurs. For example it provides support for the Business Volunteer mentor (BVM) Scheme run by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA), which provides mentoring support for new businesses, and showcases successful business people on the NFEA and BVM websites.

DTI also supports Enterprise Insight, which is co-ordinating the "Make Your Mark" Enterprise Week. This will include events featuring young entrepreneurs including the final of the Enterprising Young Brits competition.

The Department also supports a number of awards for entrepreneurs such as Shell LiveWIRE, Everywoman Awards, the Black Enterprise Awards, the Pearl Awards, and the Asian Jewel Awards.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the Greek Presidency of the EU the Co-ordinating Group for the community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods met; when and where these meetings took place; what UK Government expert was present; and if she will make a statement. [191603]

Nigel Griffiths: The Coordinating Group, met twice in Brussels during the Greek Presidency, on 4 February 2003 and 31 March 2003. A DTI representative was present at both meetings.

Foreign Investment (Yorkshire)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much foreign investment was received in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) the City of York in each year since 1997; and what estimate she has made of the number of jobs generated from it. [191169]

 
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Jacqui Smith: The information requested is as follows:

	New jobs	Investment
1997
Yorkshire and the Humber	987	Not recorded
York	310	Not recorded
1998
Yorkshire and the Humber	3,590	Not recorded
York	75	Not recorded
1999
Yorkshire and the Humber	3,926	Not recorded
York	100	Not recorded
2000
Yorkshire and the Humber	1,889	Not recorded
York	335	Not recorded
2001
Yorkshire and the Humber	2,210	Not recorded
York	110	Not recorded
2002
Yorkshire and the Humber	712	Not recorded
York	4	Not recorded
2003
Yorkshire and the Humber	638	£10 million
York	50	Not recorded
2004 (To date)
Yorkshire and the Humber	918	£60.58 million recorded
York	6	Not recorded

Note:
Investment values were only captured from April 2004 and are incomplete. Job figures exclude safeguarded jobs.

Fuel Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in the UK have suffered fuel poverty in each of the last 20 years; and what assessment the Department has made of the impact of the recent increase in energy prices on people living in fuel poverty. [190846]

Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the impact of recent price increases in domestic gas and electricity upon the incidence of fuel poverty. [190987R]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The data are not available for all the years requested.

In 1996, 4 million households were estimated as "vulnerable fuel poor". In 2002 this had fallen to an estimated 1.75 million households.

Work is under way on estimating the possible impact of rising fuel prices on the number of households in fuel poverty.

Green Ministers

Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04. [190851]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet
 
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Committees. Exemption 2 Internal Advice and Discussion of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Inward Investment

Mr. Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much inward investment into the UK there was from European Union member states in real terms in each year since 2001 (a) in total and (b) broken down by English region. [192267]

Mr. Alexander [holding answer 18 October 2004]: The total amounts of stock for inward investment into the UK from the European Union member states for 2001 and 2002 are given as follows. Figures for 2003 are not published by Office of National Statistics Monitor Annual number 4 until December 2004.

		£ billion
	2001	2002
Austria	0.4	1.0
Belgium and Luxembourg (Blue)	4.5	6.7
Belgium	2.2	1.8
Luxembourg	2.3	4.9
Denmark	4.0	3.4
Finland	1.1	1.6
France	35.2	37.2
Germany	29.7	37.9
Greece	0.1	0.1
Irish Republic	4.2	4.5
Italy	6.5	5.8
Netherlands	60.9	60.6
Portugal	0.1	0.1
Spain	0.6	2.3
Sweden	3.6	3.7
Total	151.0	164.5

Unfortunately, stock figures are not available broken down by English region However, I can provide you with the figures of inward investment projects by English regions as announced by UKTI annually.

	Number of projects
	2001–2002	2002–2003	2003–04
East	54	42	56
East Midlands	17	32	30
London	176	155	170
North East	56	62	61
North West	33	59	63
South East	126	118	134
South West	30	33	39
West Midlands	98	52	61
Yorkshire and Humberside	40	35	25
Total	630	588	639

The numbers are based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest in the UK. The figures take no account of subsequent developments. There is no requirement to notify UKTI and so the figures include only those projects where UKTI's Inward Investment Group and its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice.
 
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