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Select Committee Recommendations
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many recommendations by parliamentary Select Committees have been adopted by her Department since June 2001. [197770]
Ms Hewitt: Select Committee reports are given very careful consideration by the Department's Ministers. Since June 2001, several committees of both Houses have made recommendations on matters for which the Department of Trade and Industry is responsible. Select Committee reports and their responses are a matter of public record.
Sellafield Mox Plant
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the output is to date of the Sellafield Mox Plant in terms of (a) quantity of mox fuel produced, (b) the number of mox pellets produced, (c) the number of fuel rods produced and (d) the number of fuel assemblies produced; what percentage of the total capacity of the plant this output represents; what the planned output is for each of the next five years; and if she will make a statement on the future operating arrangements of the plant. [199282]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Shareholder Executive
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her reply of 26 October 2004, Official Report, column 1152W, on the Shareholder Executive, if she will list the organisations with which the Shareholder Executive consults on a regular basis. [199172]
Ms Hewitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what bonus scheme applies to the directors of the Shareholder Executive. [199174]
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Ms Hewitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the contract of the chief executive of the Shareholder Executive expires; and what contractual agreement applies to an early departure. [199175]
Ms Hewitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to her reply of 26 October 2004, Official Report, column 1150W, on the Shareholder Executive, if she will make a statement on the nature of the clearly defined policy framework by which she will assess the Shareholder Executive. [199176]
Ms Hewitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Shareholder Executive will publish an annual report of its performance. [199177]
Ms Hewitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she has taken to provide the Shareholder Executive with appropriate policies regarding (a) working practices and (b) conflict of interest management; and what plans she has to develop the Shareholder Executive's corporate governance structure incorporating (i) public sector monitoring, (ii) mission oversight and (iii) procedural auditing. [199178]
Ms Hewitt: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Tariffs (USA)
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions she has had with the US Administration in connection with reductions in tariffs and other trade barriers. [197479]
Mr. Alexander: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Telecommunications
Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether her Department has held recent discussions with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on the impact of non-domestic rates on the Government's policy for a competitive market in telecommunications. [195850]
Mr. Mike O'Brien:
The independent rates review on the impact of non-domestic rating on the telecommunications sector, which is being held by the Broadband Stakeholders Group (BSG), includes
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representatives from DTI and the Valuation Office Agency (VGA), the latter representing the interests of the agency and ODPM.
Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether her Department has carried out analysis of the impact of the non-domestic property rating system on the development of a competitive telecommunications market. [195851]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Television
Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to ensure there is a competitive market in television provision to residential customers (a) between infrastructure providers and (b) within each infrastructure provision. [199206]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Utilities
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she will take to protect those on lower incomes from the effects of recent increases in gas and electricity prices; and if she will make a statement. [199212]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I am working with the industry, Ofgem, Energywatch and the caring and voluntary organisations to ensure that customers on lower income are aware, and take advantage, of the significant reductions that can be made to energy bills by transferring supplier, using the cheapest and simplest payment methods, installing energy efficiency measures and accessing social programmes, such as Warm Front.
Wind Farms
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking in respect of charges for connecting major wind farm projects to the national grid; and if she will make a statement. [198054]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
HEALTH
Cold Weather Mortality
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action is being taken to reduce the number of winter deaths of pensioners due to cold weather. [199224]
Dr. Ladyman: There are four main strands to the efforts nationally to reduce avoidable winter deaths:
Increasing awareness among older people of the risks of cold weather, and the benefits and other help available to keep homes warm.
Improving our ability to link the forecasting of cold weather with measures designed to prevent people from becoming ill, as well as to improve the ability of the health service to plan for surges in demand, especially for hospital admission.
Winter fuel payments are significant, well-timed payments that are part of the Government's strategy on eradicating fuel poverty. They provide help for older households towards their winter fuel bills. Households with someone aged 60 or over receive £200 and those with someone aged 80 or over receive £300. They provide help for older people to heat their homes adequately during the coldest months without being fearful of the ability to meet the extra cost. The majority of payments are made by Christmas.
In addition to the winter fuel payment, customers receiving pension credit, who are not in a care home, are eligible to receive cold weather payments. Cold weather payments are made when the average temperature at a particular weather station is recorded as, or is forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days. Every residential postcode in the country is linked to one of the 73 weather stations used in the scheme. When a period of cold weather occurs, or is forecast, then payments to qualifying customers in receipt of pension credit are made automatically. The amount paid is £8.50 for each period of cold weather.
A target for influenza vaccination in those aged 65 and over has been set since the change in policy in 2000–01.
In 2000–01, the target was 60 per cent., in 2001–02 65 per cent, and in 2002–03; and 2003–04, 70 per cent. Uptake achieved has been 65 per cent., 68 per cent., 69 per cent, and 71 percent. respectively.
The number of people aged 65 and over receiving their flu immunisation this year was 5,781,440—over 295,000 more people than last year. This year's result is an excellent achievement and exceeds our target of 70 per cent. set at the start of the campaign.
The joint committee on vaccination and immunisation (JCVI) has recommended extending pneumococcal immunisation to all aged 65 years and over.
The new policy is to offer immunisation with pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine to all people aged 65 years and over. However, we are introducing the policy in stages. To start with, people aged 80 and over, who are most at risk from pneumococcal disease, will be offered the vaccine in 2003–04. They will be followed by all those aged 75 and over in 2004–05. By 2005–06, all those aged 65 and over should routinely be offered pneumococcal vaccine.
People under these ages who are at higher risk from pneumococcal disease are already recommended to receive the vaccine. This includes people who have a heart condition, chronic lung disease, diabetes mellitus, a weakened immune system due to disease or treatment, a damaged spleen or no spleen.
We will be collecting data on the number of people receiving their pneumococcal vaccination, but this will not be available until after April 2004.
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A "Keep Warm, Keep Well" campaign operates in England each winter. This provides free booklets for the public and special literature for health professionals; a telephone helpline, and advice on how those most in need may apply for grants, such as the Warm Front grant—a scheme providing grant for comprehensive packages of insulation and heating improvements for those on low incomes most vulnerable to cold-related ill health; advice on benefit payments, as well as the health benefits of keeping warm.
The relationship between indoor temperatures and ill health is complex, with other factors such as outside exposure and behavioural factors involved. However, the likelihood of ill health is increased by cold damp homes. Illnesses such as influenza, heart disease and strokes are all exacerbated by the cold and older people are especially vulnerable.
The Department is working together with other Government Departments to reduce the number of households in fuel poverty. Good progress has already been made, with the number of fuel-poor households falling from approximately 5.5 million in 1996 to about 3 million in 2001, with predictions of a further reduction of 0.5 million for 2002.
Health professionals within the national health service have been made fully aware of fuel poverty as a potential health determinant and have been widely encouraged to identify and advise patients for whom cold, damp home conditions might be a health risk.
At the local level, fuel poverty is on the agenda of many health professionals in delivering fuel poverty initiatives and fuel poverty has been identified as a key priority within the health inequalities programme for action.
Her Majesty's Treasury funding was made available up to April 2003 to allow some exploratory work, led by the Meteorological Office, to develop models to forecast workload for primary and secondary care, built in part on weather forecasting. The evaluation of this exploratory work was inconclusive. Preliminary discussions are currently under way between the NHS, the Department and the Meteorological Office to determine next steps and in particular whether it is possible to:
Refine the approaches taken to preventative interventions, targeted in time and place so as to gain maximum benefit for patients before they fall ill.
Manage NHS workload more proactively than at present, so that services, including hospitals, are better placed to manage surges in demand, particularly for hospital admission.
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