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4 Apr 2005 : Column 1213W—continued
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will answer the question from the hon. Member for Portsmouth South, reference 200301. [216498]
Mr. Ingram: I replied to the hon. Member on 21 February 2005, Official Report, column 128W.
Penalties (Contractors)
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on operating penalties on contractors who fail to deliver on contracts due to (a) quality and (b) time. [200744]
Mr. Ingram: The Ministry of Defence does not include penalty clauses in its contracts as they are not generally enforceable under English or Scottish law.
Most Ministry of Defence contracts contain expressquality provisions and performance criteria, occasionally associated with differential pricing or liquidated damages. The Ministry of Defence has the right to reject goods and services which do not conform to the contract specification and to require the supply of satisfactory replacements. This right is exercised in appropriate circumstances and the failure to achieve a satisfactory supply within the contracted time scales could lead to invoking liquidated damages provisions or termination of the contract.
RAF Menwith Hill
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what provision is made in the contract between his Department and the US authorities for the continuing use of RAF Menwith Hill. [223682]
Mr. Ingram
[holding answer 24 March 2005]: There is no such contract. RAF Menwith Hill is made available to the United States Visiting Force under the terms of the NATO Status of Forces Agreement of 1951, and other confidential arrangements.
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Regiments
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many redundancies will take place when the Kings, Lancashire and Border Regiment is formed. [222288]
Mr. Ingram: As a result of the implementation of the future army structure there will be up to 335 commissioned officer and soldier redundancies across the infantry during 2006 and 2007.
Commissioned infantry officers have already received letters if they fall into the relevant redundancy categories and have until 5 May 2005 to lodge an expression of interest. Infantry soldiers in the relevant redundancy categories will receive letters around the turn of the year. Planned dates for notifying those officers and soldiers selected for redundancy are 8 July 2005 and 1 May 2006 respectively. Consequently, it is too early to speculate as to where the redundancies will fall in relation to individual regiments.
Further information can be obtained from the relevant Defence Council Instruction (DCI Army 7/05), a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many towns have granted freedom to (a) the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, (b) the King's Regiment and (c) the King's Own Borderers; and if he will list the (i) battle honours of each regiment and (ii) medals won by each regiment in the last 30 years. [222316]
Mr. Ingram: The towns, cities and boroughs that have granted freedom to the King's Own Royal Border Regiment (KORBR), the King's Regiment (Kings) and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment (QLR) are as follows:
QLR is expected to receive the freedom of Chorley on 16 April 2005.
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Battle honours for all regiments are listed in the Army List Part 1, which is available in the Library of the House. Regiments with a long tradition and a history of amalgamation inherit many honours: KORBR have 179, Kings 183 and QLR188.
The number of medals won by personnel in each of the KORBR, Kings and the QLR in the last 30 years runs into many thousands, details of which can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Royal Navy
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2004, Official Report, column 414W, on the Royal Navy, how many Royal Navy ships are in a state of readiness for the Joint Rapid Reaction Force. [223584]
Mr. Ingram: There are 34 Royal Navy vessels currently in a state of readiness for the Joint Rapid Reaction Force.
Trident
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has discussed a replacement for Trident with the Prime Minister. [218350]
Mr. Hoon: I routinely discuss a variety of matters with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. It is not our practice to divulge the details of such discussions.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Arms Exports (Chile)
Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list, for each year since 1997, the total number of arms export contracts agreed to Chile. [224532]
Nigel Griffiths: The Department is responsible for holding information on the licences we have issued, not on numbers of arms export contracts agreed. Since 1997 the Government have published an Annual Report on strategic export controls, and since 2004 also a Quarterly Report on strategic export controls, containing information on the total number of export licences issued to each destination and the goods summaries covered by those licences. The Annual Reports are available from the Libraries of the House, and the Quarterly Reports from the DTI Export Control Organisation website, www.dti.gov.uk/export.control.
Business Start-ups
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many business start-ups there have been in (a) North East Lincolnshire and (b) North Lincolnshire in each year since 1997. [223463]
Nigel Griffiths:
Barclays Bank's latest survey of business creation includes non-VAT registered firms and shows that there were 453,000 business start-ups in England and Wales in 2004, the highest number since the survey started in 1998.
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Barclays data show that there were 1,900 business start-ups in North East Lincolnshire Unitary Authority in 2003 and a further 1,300 in 2004.
Barclays data show that there were 900 business start-ups in North Lincolnshire Unitary Authority in 2003 and a further 800 in 2004.
DTI figures based solely on VAT registrations for North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire Unitary Authorities are shown in the following table for 1997 to 2003. Data for 2004 will be available in Autumn 2005.
| North East Lincolnshire | North Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 320 | 350 |
| 1998 | 320 | 325 |
| 1999 | 325 | 330 |
| 2000 | 320 | 345 |
| 2001 | 330 | 315 |
| 2002 | 325 | 375 |
| 2003 | 365 | 385 |
Source:
Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2003, Small Business Service, available from the Library of the House and also at: http://www.sbs.gov.uk/analytical/statistics/vatstats.php
VAT registrations do not capture all start-up activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Only 1.8 million out of 4 million enterprises were registered for VAT at the start of 2003.
Roger Casale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new businesses have started up in Wimbledon since 1997. [224254]
Nigel Griffiths: Barclays Bank's latest survey of business creation includes non-VAT registered firms and shows that there were 453,000 business start-ups in England and Wales in 2004, the highest number since the survey started in 1988.
Barclays data show that there were 2,000 business start-ups in the London borough of Merton (which contains the constituency of Wimbledon) in 2003 and a further 2,500 in 2004. Data for London boroughs are not available for before 2003.
DTI figures based solely on VAT registrations for Wimbledon parliamentary constituency and the London borough of Merton are shown in the table for 1997 to 2003. Data for 2004 will be available in autumn 2005.
| Wimbledon | Merton | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 530 | 750 |
| 1998 | 625 | 840 |
| 1999 | 510 | 730 |
| 2000 | 580 | 765 |
| 2001 | 485 | 680 |
| 2002 | 455 | 640 |
| 2003 | 480 | 710 |
Source: (except for Wimbledon parliamentary constituency):
Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994–2003,
Small Business Service, available from the Library of the House and also at: http://www.sbs.gov.uk/analytical/statistics/vatstats.php
4 Apr 2005 : Column 1217W
VAT registrations do not capture all start-up activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if they fall below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Only 1.8 million out of 4 million enterprises were registered for VAT at the start of 2003.
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