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eContent

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the benefits to the UK of the EU eContent programme have been. [197562]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK has fully supported the eContent programme. Since the inception of the programme in 2001, UK participation has been strong attracting 83 participants amounting to €12 million of Community funding.

The programme is an important initiative in particularly for the re-use of public sector information, and for showcasing and facilitating information between public sector and private sector bodies at local, national and European level.

Gas Safety

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she expects the Fundamental Review of Gas Safety Regime, Proposals for Change to be published; and what the original publication date was. [198223]

Jane Kennedy: I have been asked to reply.
 
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The Health and Safety Commission's report "Fundamental Review of Gas Safety Regime: Proposals for Change" was published on 24 November 2000 as planned.

Manufacturing

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the UK manufacturing sector. [198983]

Jacqui Smith: The current outlook for the manufacturing sector in the UK is favourable, despite the weakness of recent official manufacturing data. Periods of falling output are an inevitable feature of a recovery phase and the sector is thought to be on a gradual path to recovery.

With the Government's Manufacturing Strategy—the first for over 30 years—which we have developed in partnership with industry, trade unions, and other stakeholders, we are taking a range of actions to create a modern manufacturing sector with a highly skilled, high paid workforce.

We published a review of the Government's Manufacturing Strategy in July 2004, highlighting what has been achieved since the Strategy was established in 2002. This includes the creation of the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) in 2002, which has generated added value of over £85 million for the firms it has helped and the introduction of R and D Tax Credits worth £600 million a year to 4,300 small firms. Details of the review are available at http://www.dti.gov.uk/manufacturing

We are increasing our focus on manufacturing. The Comprehensive Spending Review delivered an additional £l million a year to help develop the Manufacturing Advisory Service further, and a Technology Programme, backed by £320 million over three years to identify and back key technologies in areas critical to the future of UK manufacturing.

Manufacturing Productivity

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government are taking to improve manufacturing productivity. [198545]

Jacqui Smith: In 2002 we put in place the Manufacturing Strategy, the first by any Government for over 30 years. It is based on raising investment, applying science and innovation, world class best practice and the development of a high level of skills. The strategy has made significant progress in a number of key areas. We have also maintained long-term economic stability allowing individuals and businesses to plan more effectively for the future.

We have recently completed a review of the Strategy, including an Action Plan identifying the priorities to be taken forward. I will be jointly chairing a new Manufacturing Forum that will be monitoring the delivery of this plan.

We have also established the Manufacturing Advisory Service , which has made big improvements in the productivity and the overall competitiveness of the companies that it has helped, generating added value of over £85 million for these firms.
 
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Marine Leisure Group

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what public funding will be available to the Marine Leisure Group through the British Marine Federation after 1 January 2006. [195278]

Jacqui Smith: DTI offers nine business support products, which have broad applicability and are available to businesses in most sectors. These products provide help businesses are most likely to need assistance: innovation, best practice, raising finance and regional investment. Regional Development Agencies may also provide support for the marine sector, including through current initiatives such as Marine South West by the South West of England Regional Development Agency. International trade and investment support, delivered through UK Trade and Investment, is available to individual businesses in all sectors. No commitments have yet been made for initiatives organised by the British Marine Federation in the marine leisure sector for the period after 1 January 2006.

Miners' Compensation

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many former miners, their widows or families in Newcastle-under-Lyme have (a) made claims for and (b) been paid compensation in respect of (i) chronic bronchitis and emphysema, (ii) vibration white finger and (iii) pneumoconiosis; and how much has been paid out so far. [198583]

Nigel Griffiths: The figures for Newcastle-under-Lyne are as follows:

	COPD	VWF
Claims received	2,606	791
Number of claimants paid compensation(55)	647	488
Total damages paid (£ million)	5	3.4

⁽⁵⁵⁾ These figures include interim and full and final payments as of 31 October 2004.

The figures for Pneumoconiosis under the Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme are only available for the UK and are as follows:

	Number/value
Claims received	88,228
Number of claims settled (56)	80,743
Total damages paid (£ million)	188

⁽⁵⁶⁾ The figures are from the scheme's inception in October 1974 to the 31 October 2004

Motor Vehicle Technicians

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much motor manufacturers invested in technical training for the UK motor vehicle industry in 2003. [198818]

Jacqui Smith: SEMTA, the Sector Skills Council for the automotive manufacturing industry estimates the total spend by manufacturers on all types of training of employees in SIC 34 (vehicle manufacturing) to be in excess of £100 million. This figure, which has been derived from the People Skills Scoreboard, is based on
 
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both cash and salary costs. Under the method of gathering data, it is not possible to disaggregate technical training from the total. This figure does not include money spent on technical training of employees of franchised dealers working on retail, distribution, servicing and repair of motor vehicles.

National Minimum Wage

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) men and (b) women are estimated to benefit from the national minimum wage in (i) England, (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber and (iii) City of York. [191340]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The latest low pay data from the ONS shows that 1.1 million people in the UK stood to benefit from the October 2004 uprating of the national minimum wage. The DTI will provide estimates of national minimum wage beneficiaries by region by early December. It is unlikely that figures will be available for the City of York due to small sample size.

Mr. Martlew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many workers in Carlisle have benefited from the national minimum wage. [191604]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The latest low pay data from the ONS show that 1.1 million people in the UK stood to benefit from the October 2004 uprating of the National Minimum Wage. The DTI will provide estimates of National Minimum Wage beneficiaries by region by early December. It is unlikely that figures will be available for Carlisle due to small sample size.

Natural Gas

Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much natural gas was used in the UK in the last year for which figures are available; how much was burned in power stations; how much was used for domestic and industrial heating; and what the effect of the latest price increase was on the cost of gas fired electricity generation in pence per kilowatt hour. [195700]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: In 2003, a total of 1,110 TWh (Terawatt hours) of natural gas was used in the UK, of which 325 TWh was burned in power stations to produce electricity, 386 TWh was consumed for domestic use and 172 TWh was used in industry.

There are no official data collected on the proportions of gas used for heating, however recent studies by the Building Research Establishment show that an estimated three quarters of domestic natural gas consumption is used for space heating. Previous studies have suggested that around 15 per cent. of industrial use of gas is for space heating purposes.

The DTI publish data on the average prices of fuels purchased by the major UK power producers in its Quarterly Energy Prices publication. In Quarter 2 2004, the average price of natural gas purchased by the major UK power producers was 0.683p/kWh, 1 per cent. higher than the equivalent period of the year before. By adjusting for the efficiency of combined cycle gas turbine stations, this equates to a cost of approximately 1.2p/kWh for electricity generated from such plants. We
 
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expect costs to power producers for electricity to be about 0.2p/kWh higher in Quarter 3, due to increases in the wholesale price of gas.

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