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10 Feb 2005 : Column 1788W—continued
Debt Recovery
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will break down the Export Credits Guarantee Department unrecovered debt from each country on guarantees issued since May 1991 by project. [208424]
Mr. Alexander [holding answer 17 January 2005]: Details of amounts owed to the Paris Club are not held at project level. Information on unrecovered claims, on a market basis, is included in the table:
Note:
As at 31 December 2004.
Departmental Policies (Clwyd, South)
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in the Clwyd South constituency have benefited from the national minimum wage since its introduction. [210323]
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Mr. Sutcliffe: Figures for the Clwyd South constituency are not available due to small sample size.
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. Around 1 million people in the UK stood to benefit from the introduction of the National Minimum Wage in April 1999.
The DTI will provide estimates of National Minimum Wage beneficiaries by region as soon as possible. These figures will be made available in the House of Commons Library.
Enterprise Capital Funds
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many applications have been received to date from potential operators of the pathfinder round of Enterprise Capital Funds; and when the deadline is for applications. [213205]
Nigel Griffiths: The Government intend to launch a bidding process for a pathfinder round of Enterprise Capital Funds within weeks of receiving state aid approval for the scheme from the European Commission. Until then no applications from potential operators can be made.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimated (a) administration and (b) programme costs of the Enterprise Capital Funds are in each year between 2004 and 2008. [213206]
Nigel Griffiths: The estimated costs for running the Enterprise Capital Funds are:
| Aministration(41) | Programme(42) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2004–05 | 0.138 | 0.157 |
| 2005–06 | 0.227 | 33.3 |
| 2006–07 | 0.227 | 68.05 |
| 2007–08 | 0.227 | 83 |
(41) Figures for 2004–05 are actual figures, those for 2005–06 onwards are based on estimates of staff deployment.
(42) These are estimated figures and may vary depending on a number of factors, including the types of ECF selected during the bidding process.
Note:
The launch of the ECF programme remains dependent on EU state aid clearance.
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the fund limit of the Enterprise Capital Funds is; and what criteria were used in setting the limit at this level. [213207]
Nigel Griffiths:
Subject to approval from the European Union State aid authorities the Government intends that Enterprise Capital Funds (ECFs) will be able to raise a maximum of £25 million of government leverage alongside private investor's funds. The ECFs will be set an initial investment limit of £2 million into any one SMB. These limits were set following a full open consultation with potential investors, fund managers and business. The Government response to the
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consultation is set out in Bridging the Finance Gap: next steps in improving access to growth capital for small business" (SBS and HM Treasury 2003). Key criteria were the availability of existing sources of finance and the needs of SMEs to obtain appropriate finance.
Enterprise Fund
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the (a) programme and (b) administrative costs of the Enterprise Fund were in each year between 2001to 2004. [214192]
Nigel Griffiths: The programme and administrative costs associated for the Enterprise Fund for the years 2001 to 2004 are as follows:
| Programme costs | Administrative costs | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 39.2 | n/a |
| 2002–03 | 74.7 | 1.5 |
| 2003–04 | 83.759 | l.6 |
The cost of administration in 2001–02 can only be identified at disproportionate cost.
EU Committees
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the (a) Italian, (b) Irish and (c) Dutch Presidency of the EU the Coordinating Committee on Fusion Energy EC-USA met; when and where these meetings took place; what UK Government expert was present; and if she will make a statement. [214740]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: No meetings of the EU Coordinating Committee on Fusion Energy EC-USA took place during the Italian and Irish Presidencies. A meeting took place during the Dutch Presidency on 2 November 2004, in Vilamoura, Portugal. The European Commission represents the EU in these meetings and no Member State Government experts were present including the UK.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the (a) Italian, (b) Irish and (c) Dutch Presidency of the EU the Advisory Committee for the implementation of the general framework for Community activities in favour of consumers met; when and where these meetings took place; what UK Government expert was present; and if she will make a statement. [214741]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
Details of the Advisory Committee for Community actions in support of consumer policy meetings held during the Italian, Irish and Dutch Presidency of the EU are given as follows. The DTIs Consumer and Competition Directorate represents the UK at these meetings.
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Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the (a) Italian, (b) Irish and (c) Dutch Presidency of the EU the Committee for implementation of multiannual framework programme for actions in the rational end efficient use of energy resources met; when and where these meetings took place; what UK Government expert was present; and if she will make a statement. [214781]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The work of the committee which the hon. Member refers to has, since 2003, been undertaken by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme committee.
This committee met on the following dates in Brussels:
The meetings were attended by a DTI and a Defra official.
MG Rover
Malcolm Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the
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Government's role in partnership agreement negotiations between MG Rover and the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation. [213395]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 3 February 2005]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has previously made it clear in the House that the Government fully support the joint venture between MG Rover and SAIC, and hope that the negotiations are successfully concluded as soon as possible.
Ministers have recently met with senior executives from both MG Rover, SAIC and the Chinese Government, and stressed this support.
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