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14 Mar 2005 : Column 72W—continued

Housing

Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when she expects to publish proposals for the introduction of independent redress schemes for estate agents which are wider in scope than those contained in part V of the Housing Act 2004. [221363]

Mr. Sutcliffe: I am aware of my right hon. Friend's Private Members' Bill that would enable estate agents redress schemes, established by the Housing Act, to consider consumer complaints not connected to Home Information Packs, and also to extend their coverage to Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Government supports the aims of the Bill and is monitoring its progress with interest. If there is insufficient time for the Bill to succeed, the Government will seek a suitable legislative vehicle to extend the scope of redress schemes.

Hydrogen Economy

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been spent by her Department in each year since 1997 on research connected with the hydrogen economy. [207208]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The information is in the table and indicates money spent by EPSRC on research specific to the hydrogen economy.
Financial year£
1997–9830,347.73
1998–99135,531.12
1999–200059,168.97
2000–0182,975.77
2001–02318,500.00
2002–03516,559.87
2003–041,494,155.11
2004–051,430,000.01

 
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Nuclear Industry IT System

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what safety procedures are in place in relation to the nuclear industry's IT system. [208248]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK's .civil nuclear industry does not share a common information technology system: the major companies in the industry each have their own main data network. These data networks have all been accredited to UK Government security standards.

Nuclear Waste

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her policy is on the possible import of nuclear waste from Italy into the UK for disposal. [208352]

Mr. Mike O'Brien [holding answer 13 January 2005]: It is not Government policy to import nuclear waste into the United Kingdom. Recent press reports have incorrectly claimed that waste from Italy may be exported to either France or the UK. Instead, it is understood that there is the possibility that some spent fuel from Italy may be reprocessed overseas but this has not been confirmed and no tenders have been issued.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make it her policy to prevent the import for disposal of nuclear waste until a solution has been agreed upon to deal with the existing United Kingdom nuclear waste stockpile. [208353]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: It is not Government policy to import nuclear waste into the UK. Following my statement on 13 December 2004, the small amount of Intermediate Level Waste which will be retained in the UK as a result of substitution (which provides for the return of an additional amount of radiologically equivalent High Level Waste to BNFL's overseas reprocessing customers) has no material implication for the long-term management of nuclear waste in the UK.

Pregnancy Discrimination

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the results of the Equal Opportunities Commission's formal investigation into pregnancy discrimination were. [214590]

Ms Hewitt: The Equal Opportunities Commission is due to publish the final report and recommendations of its General Formal Investigation into pregnancy discrimination later this year. An Interim Report was published in September 2004 and can be obtained from the EOC website at

http://www.eoc.org.uk/cseng/policyandcampaigns/ p_interimreport.pdf

The Government welcome the EOC's investigation and look forward to receiving the final report and recommendations.

Solar Power

Sue Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans her Department has to ensure continuity of capital grant support for domestic and
 
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other small installations under stream 1 of the solar PV Major Demonstration Programme when current funding ends in August; and if she will make a statement. [221374]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The DTI is monitoring the number of applications made under Stream 1 of the Major PV Demonstration Programme. When this programme ends in March 2006 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 this year. The programme is expected to being operating in 2006–07.

Women's Employment

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to assist black and ethnic minority women's (a) entry to and (b) progression in the workplace. [220855]

Ms Hewitt: DTI is working with a cross-Whitehall group, led by the Department for Work and Pensions, to tackle the barriers to labour market participation faced by ethnic minorities. This work stems from the Strategy Unit Report Ethnic minorities in the Labour Market" published in March 2003. DTIs specific contribution is around working with business to promote race equality and diversity in the workplace and promoting enterprise.

DTI also shares a Public Service Agreement in the three years to 2006, taking account of the economic cycle, to increase the employment rate and significantly reduce the difference between the overall employment rate and the employment rate of ethnic minorities". This will clearly benefit women as well as men.

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the number of black and ethnic minority women who believe that they are working below their potential, with particular reference to black and ethnic minority women who (a) are working in jobs where they have less of a role in staff management or supervision than they did in previous jobs and (b) made more use of higher qualifications or higher skills levels in previous jobs; and what estimate she has made of the economic cost of black and ethnic minority women working below their potential in the latest year for which figures are available. [220930]

Ms Hewitt: DTI is working with a cross-Whitehall group, led by the Department for Work and Pensions, to tackle the barriers to labour market participation faced by ethnic minorities. This work stems from the Strategy Unit Report Ethnic minorities in the Labour Market" published in March 2003. DTIs specific contribution is around working with business to promote race equality and diversity in the workplace and promoting enterprise.

Through the Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force we are committed to closing the employment gap for ethnic minorities. The employment gap is decreasing but remains substantial. Ethnic minorities are twice as
 
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likely to be unemployed and one and a half times as likely to be economically inactive as the overall working age population. Economic activity varies considerably between ethnic minority groups and by gender. The Indian and Black Caribbean ethnic groups have the highest employment rates and the Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups have the lowest. For most ethnic groups, the employment rate for women is well below that for men.

The Ethnic Minority Employment Task Force Year 1 Progress Report was published in November 2004 and can be accessed at www.emetaskforce.gov.uk.

TREASURY

Alcohol-related Deaths

Mr. Amess: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for how many (a) women and (b) men alcohol was found to be the primary cause of death in each year since 1997, broken down by age group. [221245]


 
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Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. David Amess, dated 14 March 2005:


Number of deaths from alcohol-related causes(24), for (a) women and (b) men by age group, England and Wales, 1997 to 2003(25)

Calendar year1997199819992000200120022003
(a) Women
Under 154411000
15–44283307381373351397412
45–648229119389731,0661,0441,122
65–84682687661684677695691
85 and over68577257768274
(b) Men
Under 153111011
15–44619726698714111768842
45–641,5721,6941,8521,9542,0662,0402,380
65–848088488468128949411,008
85 and over38465545636550


(24)For the years 1997–2000 the cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9). The codes selected to define alcohol-related deaths are listed as follows:
291—Alcoholic psychoses
303—Alcohol dependence syndrome
305.0—Non-dependent abuse of alcohol
425.5—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
571—Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
E860—Accidental poisoning by alcohol
For the years 2001–2003 the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) was used. To maintain comparability with earlier years the following codes were selected:
F10—Mental and behavioural disorders due to use of alcohol
142.6—Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
K70—Alcoholic liver disease
K73—Chronic hepatitis, not elsewhere classified
K74—Fibrosis and cirrhosis of liver
X45—Accidental poisoning by and exposure to alcohol
The selection of codes to define alcohol-related deaths is described in:
Baker A. and Rooney C. (2003). Recent trends in alcohol-related mortality, and the impact of ICD-10 on the monitoring of these deaths in England and Wales. Health Statistics Quarterly 17, pp 5–14.
(25)Data are for occurrences of death in each calendar year.





 
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