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Fire Service

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received from fire and rescue service regional management boards regarding regional control rooms; and what proportion of such representations has indicated support for the project. [216613]

Mr. Raynsford: All the Chairs of fire and rescue service regional management boards (RMBs) wrote last year to express support for the FiReControl project, in some cases subject to reassurance on financial issues. All the RMBs have commented on the Outline Business Case and responded to the recent consultation paper on FiReControl finance and governance. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is considering those comments and will publish the response shortly. The South West RMB has also requested an independent inquiry into the provision of a regional control centre for the South West, which has been refused.

Homes for All Initiative

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the estimated market value is of the public sector land holdings identified by him for the construction of housing under the Homes for All initiative. [217335]

Keith Hill: It is too early to estimate the market value of the public sector land holdings since negotiations are still in progress about the size and scope of the various
 
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land holdings which will be used as one of the delivery mechanisms for the creation of further sustainable communities as set out in our Homes for All document.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the impact on house prices of withdrawing previously identified surplus land sites from open market sale for use in the Homes for All initiative. [217336]

Keith Hill: Surplus land is not being withdrawn from sale. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's recently published Five Year strategy Homes for All" makes it clear that much of the surplus public sector land will be used for housing development and to tackle housing shortages including the provision of affordable and key worker homes.

There are effective arrangements in place to continue to dispose of surplus sites for housing and other uses. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister recognises that not all sites will be suitable for housing development.

English Partnerships will handle a proportion of the public sector sites. Where residential development is proposed they will ensure that the land is sold in the open market with a planning framework which will deliver the balance of market and affordable homes that meets Government the local planning requirements. That means ensuring higher design and quality standards are being delivered alongside higher housing numbers bringing a mixture of tenure and prices to the market. This will be delivered through private sector developers.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether developments of housing constructed on public sector land under the Homes for All initiative will be exempt from the requirements of existing local plans (a) to provide social rented housing and (b) to provide financial contributions for off-site infrastructure re-enforcement. [217337]

Keith Hill: Housing development constructed on public sector land under the Homes for All initiative will not be exempt from local plan requirements for social rented housing or financial contributions for off-site infrastructure works.

Housing Assistance (South Lancashire)

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will give financial assistance towards additional rented housing in South Lancashire. [216558]

Keith Hill: The North West Regional Housing Board is currently consulting on priorities for housing investment throughout the North West, for the next Regional Housing Strategy. This will influence decisions on spending on affordable housing in South Lancashire.

Local Government

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he last met trade union representatives to discuss proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme. [214395]

Phil Hope: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister and I have had a number of meetings with the trades unions and others to discuss the amendments to the
 
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Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendments) (No.2) Regulations 2004 due to come into force on 1 April. The last occasion was on 17 February 2005 with senior representatives from UNISON, the T&G, the GMB, UCATT and AMICUS, along with representatives of the Local Government Association and the Employers' Organisation.

In addition, officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have had, and continue to have, regular contact in person and via correspondence with the trades unions, local authority representatives and other key Local Government Pension Scheme stakeholders.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Correspondence

Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Normanton of 8 November 2004 and 17 December 2004. [216133]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Response was sent out at the beginning of the week commencing 14 February. Due to an administrative error this case was not responded to earlier.

European Constitution

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Government sought legal advice regarding the impact of the Charter of Fundamental Rights within the EU Constitution on industrial relations law in the UK. [214352]

Mr. Sutcliffe: It would not be appropriate for me to comment on whether legal advice has or has not been sought by the Government with regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights within the EU Constitution on UK industrial relations law. This is a position that is covered by the Exemption contained in Section 35 (l) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act.

Fireworks

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the impact of the Fireworks Act 2003 on the number of firework-related accidents in Hartlepool [213289]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The fireworks injury statistics for the 2004 period are as yet not available. My Department expects to be in a position to publish the figures in early March 2005.

With regard to the number of injuries sustained by the use of fireworks in Hartlepool, it should be noted that the figures collected are not broken down by parliamentary constituency, but rather in terms of UK region and NHS Trust.

Manufacturing Advisory Service

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the rate of referrals of
 
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businesses from Business Links to the Manufacturing Advisory Service was in 2003–04, broken down by region. [217180]

Jacqui Smith: Based on figures provided by INBIS Ltd., MAS National Network Managers, the rate of referrals of businesses from Business Links to the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) from 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2004 are as follows:

Region	Number
East	18
East Midlands	123
London	80
North-east	182
North-east	292
South-east	378
South-west	68
West Midlands	273
Yorkshire and the Humber	117
Tota1	1,531

Note that the structure of business support in Wales is significantly different from that in England and that as a result the statistics for Wales are not comparable. We have therefore not included Wales in these statistics.

As indicated above these figures have been provided to us by INBIS Ltd. Although some of the regions have not kept statistics on the rate of referrals from Business Links to MAS for the whole of the period indicated they do provide a good representation of the rate of referrals for each of the regions.

Manufacturing Investment

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what strategy her Department is using to promote an increase in manufacturing investment. [216242]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 21 February 2005]: Encouraging high value added investment is a priority in the Government's manufacturing strategy action plan. We are seeking to achieve this through a range of measures including; tax incentives such as enhanced capital allowances and R and D tax credits; and business support schemes such as the Grant for Research and Development and Selective Finance for Investment. We are also putting £320 million into the Technology Strategy Programme which supports collaborative R and D and technology transfer and have established the Manufacturing Advisory Service which has provided manufacturing businesses with £108 million of added value and is showing companies the value of investing in lean manufacturing best practice.

More fundamentally we are seeking to maintain the stable macroeconomic environment we have achieved in recent years and within which business can invest with confidence in new products, processes and skills.

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