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TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Advantage West Midlands
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the projects submitted by the Rover Task Force to (a) Advantage West Midlands and (b) the Government Office of the West Midlands for possible funding; and how much has been requested to support each project. [7621]
Ian Pearson: Advantage West Midlands (AWM) is the vehicle which co-ordinates the funding directed by the MG Rover Task Force (MGRTF). The funding package is administered by other regional agencies such as the Learning and Skills Councils and Government Office for the West Midlands (GOWM).
To date, the following requests have been made by the MGRTF to AWM:
£250,000 to reopen and man the MG Rover Distribution Centres to allow suppliers to recover the consignment stocks they own;
£150,000 to retain for 12 weeks a team of MGR Human Resources staff, principally to prepare records of employment for all former workers for use when seeking jobs;
The MGRTF has also approved support of £10 million for the Advantage Transition Bridge Fund.
The MGRTF has also approved proposals from regional agencies for funding which includes:
Support for suppliers to retain employees. £3.7 million has been committed to date and is kept under review by the Task Force;
Establishment of a Manufacturing Hub" to try to ensure engineering manufacturing skills are not lost to the region by placing workers with such skills into posts requiring such skills and by incentivising businesses to recruit them;
Includes post-recruitment retraining, and assistance with long-distance commuting. Up to a maximum of £3.6 million (dependent on take-up);
Funding for former employees who wish to take up full-time vocational training (cash limited). Up to a maximum of £600,000.
Funding to support potential start-up businesses amongst former employees. Up to a maximum of £900,000.
Government Office for the West Midlands has received funding requests from the following projects to support the work of the MGRTF.
A number of projects are still under development by the MG Rover Task Force and regional partners.
Export Credits Guarantee Department
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Government have allocated to the Export Credits Guarantee Department in each of the last five years. [6792]
Ian Pearson: The cash generated for/(cash cost to) the Exchequer as a result of the Export Credits Guarantee Department's (ECGD's) operating activities, as published in schedule 4 to its Resource Accounts, in each of the last five years, is summarised in the following table. Figures in brackets represent Exchequer cash used to fund ECGD's Operating Activities; figures without brackets represent net cash receipts for the Exchequer, which include recoveries of past claims, interest paid by debtors in respect of those claims and premiums received in respect of ECGD's underwriting activities:
| Cash generated/(used) | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | (107.1) |
| 2000–01 | (59.8) |
| 2001–02 | 24.3 |
| 2002–03 | 327.8 |
| 2003–04 | 546.7 |
Mail Delivery (North London)
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with Royal Mail on performance in delivery of mail in north London; and if he will make a statement. [7806]
Barry Gardiner:
DTI Ministers and officials meet with representatives from Royal Mail on a regular basis to discuss a wide range of issues, including delivery performance issues.
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First class quality of service for 2004–05 in the London N postcode area as a whole was:
| Percentage | |
|---|---|
| Q1 | 88.4 |
| Q2 | 88.2 |
| Q3 | 92.4 |
| Q4 | 91.2 |
| Cumulative | 90.2 |
This was against a target of 92.5 percent. Nationally Royal Mail recorded its highest Q4 performance ever this year with a 92.8 percent. service. Royal Mail's chairman and chief executive have assured Ministers that the company's board will continue to give quality of service top priority.
MG Rover
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish (a) the written records of conversations and (b) correspondence between (i) Ministers and (ii) officials from his Department and senior representatives of the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation that took place in the week commencing Monday 4 April. [5868]
Ian Pearson: It would be inappropriate to release this information at this time as it would breach commercial confidentiality.
Minimum Wage
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what penalties have been imposed on companies found paying their employees below the minimum wage. [6631]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Since the minimum wage was introduced in April 1999 the Inland Revenue have served 133 penalty notices on employers who they found were not paying their workers the minimum wage.
A penalty notice imposes a financial penalty equal to twice the hourly amount of the adult minimum wage per worker for each day of non-payment of the minimum wage.
Post Offices (Hornsey and Wood Green)
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices were in operation in Hornsey and Wood Green in each of the last 10 years. [8404]
Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL) and the chief executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.
UK Trade and Investment
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what commercial services UK Trade and Investment provides to companies in relation to identifying potential agents in export markets. [7909]
Ian Pearson:
UK Trade and Investment provides information on potential agents in two main ways. First, off the shelf lists of companies may be available in the UK, although the details may not have been recently
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validated. Secondly, our Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) provides bespoke lists that can be validated at the request of the customer. Advice on the best ways of doing business in the market concerned is also included. It is for customers themselves to determine the best agent in the light of their individual needs and circumstances.
Unwanted Correspondence
Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will take steps to curb the growth of unsolicited postal applications for credit cards. [6962]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Consumers can register with the Mailing Preference Service to have their name and home address removed from lists used by the direct mail industry. On credit cards themselves, the Banking Code provides that customers' names and addresses will not be passed on to any company for marketing purposes unless permission is specifically given by that customer. In addition, since 31 May 2005, all credit card applications must have a separate document detailing the key features of the card. This will enable the consumer to make a more informed decision about the suitability of the product prior to the conclusion of any agreement.
Mr. Sheerman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with Royal Mail on adopting a service to restrict delivery of harmful or unwanted overseas correspondence; and what
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representations he has received on this matter. [7908]
Barry Gardiner: I have had no discussions with Royal Mail about this issue, nor received any representations.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how much unwanted correspondence was withheld from delivery as a result of the co-operation of Royal Mail Holdings plc with the Mail Preference Service (MPS) in the last period for which figures are available; and from how many users of the MPS; [7926]
(2) how many users have been registered with the Mail Preference Service in each of the last 10 years. [7927]
Barry Gardiner: The Government do not hold this information. The Mailing Preference Service is a free service funded by the direct mail industry to enable consumers to have their names and addresses in the UK removed from or added to lists used by the industry.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what powers are available to limit the delivery of unwanted or harmful mail sent from (a) within the UK and (b) overseas. [7928]
Barry Gardiner: The Postal Services Act 2000 contains powers that prohibit the sending of certain articles by post and provide postal operators with various powers to detain postal packets, forward them to HM Customs and Excise, refuse transmission of packets, detain and open them, return to sender or forward to their destination or destroy or dispose of packets.
Under section 89 of the Act a universal service provider may make a scheme that contains provisions prohibiting the transmission of certain articles by post.