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8 Mar 2005 : Column 1706W—continued

Credit Cards

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans her Department has to impose a maximum interest rate for credit cards. [220779]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government have decided not to impose a maximum rate of interest for credit cards or indeed any other types of credit product. However we have committed to keeping the matter under review.

Direct Mail

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received concerning companies using misleading claims of a sweepstake win in direct mail advertising; and what discussions she has had with (a) Ofcom and (b) the Advertising Standards Agency in respect of such promotions. [220524]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I regularly receive representations about unfair trading practices which the Department discusses with enforcers and regulators as appropriate. I am therefore aware of the problems caused by bogus sweepstakes and prize draws which give the false impression that all recipients have won a substantial prize. These scams, which are estimated to cost UK consumers around £150 million of detriment a year, are a matter of concern. The Government therefore welcomes the decision taken by the European Parliament on 24 February to outlaw such scams as part of wider EU rules on unfair commercial practices to be adopted later this year. Prohibiting these practices in all
 
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25 member states will ensure that more effective action can be taken against those scammers who locate themselves outside the UK in the hope of avoiding enforcement action being taken against them, including that available under Advertising Standards Authority's code of practice of advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing.

Employment Appeals Tribunal

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in how many (a) industrial tribunal cases and (b) appeals to the Employment Appeals Tribunal since 1997 the tribunal (i) decided and (ii) confirmed that a dismissal was unfair on the basis of the band of reasonable responses test. [220480]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The band of reasonable responses test is a fundamental test that is applied in cases of unfair dismissal that are brought before the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal. However, the Employment Tribunals Service (ETS) does not keep statistics on the number of tribunal cases and subsequent
 
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appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal that have been decided or confirmed as an unfair dismissal, on the basis of this test.

The numbers of successful unfair dismissal employment tribunal cases are published each year in the ETS Annual Report which may be found on the ETS website at www.ets.gov.uk.

Inward Investment

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs were created by inward investment in each region of the UK in each of the past 15 years. [219891]

Mr. Alexander [holding answer 4 March 2004]: The figures in the table are based on information provided by companies at the time of' the announcement of the decision to invest in the UK. They are based on the companies best estimate of the number of new jobs associated with each investment.

There is no requirement on companies to notify inward investment decisions to UKTI and so these new jobs figures relate only to those projects where UKTI or its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice.

Region	1989–90	1990–91	1991–92	1992–93	1993–94	1994–95	1995–96	1996–97
East Midlands	3,305	1,689	384	183	3,218	3,028	1,437	1,343
East of England	300	445	491	363	482	842	372	925
London	0	0	0	0	0	52	2,588	2,711
North East	4,021	2,164	3,710	2,312	2,256	5,780	6,125	3,089
North West	3,076	2,279	1,501	1,012	1,927	1,986	3,622	1,556
Northern Ireland	1,956	923	364	2,742	3,030	3,251	3,741	4,135
Scotland	7,828	5,637	3,884	4,497	7,335	7,678	9,092	9,928
South East	780	805	1,156	1,212	916	3,248	5,385	3,775
South West	545	580	2,190	265	1,065	1,386	1,718	2,304
Wales	3,978	3,356	5,195	2,382	3,913	3,151	4,429	10,397
West Midlands	7,237	4,618	1,892	1,588	3,370	4,797	7,074	4,350
Yorkshire and Humber	2,971	1,260	1,656	1,265	2,329	3,152	1,764	1,887
Total	35,997	23,756	22,423	17,821	29,841	38,351	47,347	46,400

Region	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
East Midlands	1,686	2,096	675	2,020	803	1,314	1,982
East of England	945	1,411	2,101	3,084	1,115	631	414
London	2,948	4,135	7,230	7,991	3,858	2,344	2,572
North East	2,764	2,304	3,479	. 4,959	2,788	4,648	.1,919
North West	4,944	3,224	4,768	3,187	1,987	7,496	3,162
Northern Ireland	3,357	3,345	2,353	4,906	1,554	787	1,496
Scotland	7,688	6,447	10,728	9,314	6,623	3,599	1,632
South East	5,534	4,497	6,236	18,150	4,981	3,971	2,901
South West	3,205	3,008	4,814	4,109	933	653	2,147
Wales	4,976	5,591	4,161	4,520	3,869	4,083	4,064
West Midlands	5,641	5,483	6,458	4,867	5,307	2,369	2,391
Yorkshire and Humber	2,874	3,626	1,362	4,061	1,541	2,729	934
Total	46,562	45,167	54,365	71,168	35,359	34,624	25,614

Source:
IIG Database

Prior to 1994–95 figures for London were included in the South East figures.

Milk Industry

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the reasons are for the continuing interest of the Office of Fair Trading in the milk industry. [219778]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Under UK competition law, it is the responsibility of the Office of Fair Trading to investigate allegations of anti-competitive behaviour or possible abuses of a dominant position. Decisions concerning investigations are a matter for the Office of Fair Trading.
 
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Regional Development Agencies

Mr. Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers regional development agencies have to invest in and support investment in (a) transport infrastructure and (b) transport services; what restrictions apply to their powers; and if she will make a statement. [219438]

Jacqui Smith: England's Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) may decide to invest in or support investment in regional transport initiatives, assuming such initiatives are consistent with the goals of the regional economic strategies for their regions. The Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 provides broad powers to RDAs to do anything which they consider expedient in pursuance of their statutory purposes, which include promoting economic development and regeneration in their regions and contributing to the achievement of sustainable development in the UK. In addition to their activities being subject to general requirements of the law, the Act places some specific restrictions on the use of such powers. RDAs may only give financial assistance to achieve their aims if the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry consents. Restrictions also apply to the disposal of land in certain circumstances and to the acquisition and use of housing by RDAs.

Solar Photovoltaics

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps her Department is taking to ensure continuity of support to the UK solar PV industry when grant allocations under her Department's solar PV Major Demonstration Programme comes to an end later this year. [219804]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Major PV Demonstration Programme is due to end in March 2006. Grants are expected to be paid up to March 2007.

The Department will continue its support for PV through a low carbon buildings" programme. The low carbon buildings programme is currently under development and there will be formal consultation on this later this year. The programme is expected to begin operating in 2006–07.

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her Department's estimate is of the amount of solar photovoltaics installed in the UK in 2004. [220204]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: 1,900 kWp of photovoltaics was installed in 2004 with grants from the Major PV Demonstration Programme.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average annual change since 2002 in solar photovoltaic prices has been under her Department's solar PV Demonstration Programme. [220256]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: For stream 1 projects (small scale and individual installations) under the Major PV Demonstration Programme, the average cost of PV is:
 
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£7,035 per kWp in 2002–03; £6,826 in 2003–04 and £6,296 in 2004–05. This represents a reduction of 6.6 per cent. between 2002–03 and 2003–04 and 7.8 per cent. between 2003–04 and 2004–05.

For stream 2 projects (medium and large installations) the averaged cost for PV is £6.871 per kWp in 2002–03 and £6,396 in 2003–04. This represents a reduction of 6.9 per cent. Data for 2004–05 is not yet available for stream 2 projects.

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