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Chile

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list military equipment contracts with the Government of Chile since 1990, broken down by value of goods. [207695]

Ms Hewitt: Information on the number of Government to Government transfers of major equipment are published, by destination, in the Government's Annual Reports on Strategic Export Controls, available from the Libraries of the House.

Commercial Power Diallers (Silent Telephone Calls)

Anne Picking: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what studies have been carried out on the (a) extent, (b) nature and (c) sources of unsolicited silent telephone calls by commercial power diallers. [207766]

 
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Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Communications Act 2003 confers powers on the Office of Communications (Ofcom)to regulate forms of behaviour, which fall within the Act's definition of persistent misuse of an electronic communications network or service. Unsolicited silent calls are an example of behaviour, which might represent persistent misuse.

Ofcom is not aware of any studies that have been carried out in relation to unsolicited silent calls. The most common form of an unsolicited silent call is not intentional, but arises from the use of automated calling systems, also referred to as power diallers or automated calling equipment located within call centres. Calls are automatically generated but in the absence of an available operator to speak to the called party, the call is abruptly terminated.

Anne Picking: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans her Department has to combat silent telephone calls by commercial power diallers. [207767]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Communications Act 2003 confers powers on the Office of Communications (Ofcom) to regulate forms of behaviour, which fall within the Act's definition of persistent misuse of an electronic communications network or service. Unsolicited silent calls are an example of behaviour which might represent persistent misuse. The department is in close contact with Ofcom which is in contact with relevant trade bodies.

Correspondence

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Minister of State at the Department of Trade and Industry will reply to the letter dated 26 January from the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan regarding her constituent, Mr. E. Martin of Fraserburgh. [221623]

Nigel Griffiths: I answered the letter yesterday.

Cyprus

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value of exports (a) from Northern Cyprus to the United Kingdom and (b) from the UK to Northern Cyprus was in each of the last three years. [221549]

Mr. Alexander: Information on UK trade in goods is classified by HM Customs and Excise according to the Geonomenclature of the European Communities. The nomenclature does not distinguish between Northern Cyprus and the rest of Cyprus and, as a result, the information requested is not available.

Export Control Organisation

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will place in the Library material she has (a) requested and (b) received relating to the operation of the Export Control Organisation and private sector involvement in delivering the Organisation's services. [221711]

Nigel Griffiths [holding answer 14 March 2005]: No. To do so would inhibit the internal discussion on the matter.
 
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Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will place in the Library material she has (a) requested and (b) received from the Export Control Organisation relating to efficiency savings. [221712]

Nigel Griffiths [holding answer 14 March 2005]: The Export Control Organisation (ECO) is part of the DTI and as such is subject to the same headcount constraints as other Directorates.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which (a) services and (b) operational areas of the Export Control Organisation have been assessed for potential outsourcing to the private sector; and if she will make a statement. [221713]

Nigel Griffiths [holding answer 14 March 2005]: The DTI is considering, as part of its overall Efficiency Programme, how best it can continue to deliver high quality export licensing services to industry and Ministers, and as part of that review the Export Control Organisation (ECO) is looking to see whether private sector partner involvement in delivering some of its services would help maintain or improve them within expected resource constraints. No decisions have been taken yet on whether to seek partners and if so, for which functions.

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) discussions and (b) meetings (i) she, (ii) other Ministers in the Department, (iii) officials in the Department and (iv) staff of the Export Control Organisation have held with industry or representatives from industry relating to the future of the Export Control Organisation and private sector involvement in delivering some of that Organisation's services. [221734]

Nigel Griffiths [holding answer 14 March 2005]: There has been no such discussion at this stage except that Export Control Organisation (ECO) officials have briefed the Export Control Advisory Committee that the DTI is considering the matter.

EU Internal Market

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the draft directive establishing a general legal framework for services in the internal market. [220507]

Mr. Alexander: In March 2004 the Department launched a wide-ranging public consultation into the EU Directive on Services in the Internal Market. An initial launch event attended by over 200 people was followed up by a series of regional events that took in each of the devolved Administrations. The public consultation attracted 116 written responses all of which were analysed before the Government published their response to the consultation in November 2004.

Simultaneous to the public consultation the Department consulted across Whitehall to ensure the views of all Government Departments fed into the agreed 'UK negotiating line' that was published along with the responses to the public consultation.

I believe the liberalising aims of this directive could deliver significant benefits for businesses, consumers and employees here in the UK and across Europe.
 
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The Department will continue to consult widely on the directive as negotiations develop.

Post Office

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices have closed in Ribble Valley since 1997. [221983]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Decisions on post office closures are operational matters for Post Office Ltd. (POL). My officials have asked POL to arrange a direct reply to the hon. Member.

Renewable Energy

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will extend permitted development status to the installation of small scale renewables by householders, subject to adequate controls to ensure no or minimal visual intrusion; if she will include this measure in the draft microgeneration strategy due to be published pursuant to section 82 of the Energy Act; and if she will make a statement. [221568]

Mr. Mike O'Brien: In January, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister launched a review of the legislation that governs minor development by householders. Meanwhile, it is already the case that, as a general rule, those in dwelling houses can install solar panels and photovoltaic cells without needing to make a planning application, provided the panels do not project significantly above the plane of the roof.

The strategy for the promotion of microgeneration in the UK will look at a wide variety of measures and there will be a formal public consultation giving all interested parties the opportunity to contribute to the development of the strategy.

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