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6 Jul 2005 : Column 464W—continued
Mines Rescue Services
Mr. Meale: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what (a) financial support and (b) technical assistance his Department has given to Mines Rescue Services Ltd. in respect of (i) overseas trade missions and promotions and (ii) other activities in each of the last five years; [8860]
(2) what Government fiscal support has been provided to Mines Rescue Services Ltd. in each of the last five years; [8861]
(3) what his Department's relationship with Mines Rescue Services Ltd. is; [8862]
(4) what contracts his Department has entered into with Mines Rescue Services Ltd. in each of the last five years. [8863]
Malcolm Wicks: Mines Rescue Services Ltd. is a private sector company with which the Department has no direct relationship, contractual or otherwise.
The Department has provided no financial support or technical assistance to the company in respect of trade missions or promotions. However, as part of a package of measures established in 2003 to support the UK coal mining industry, the Department agreed to use best endeavours to identify and make available funding to Mines Rescue Services Ltd. (in its role as the provider of the statutory Mines Rescue Scheme) in the three year period 2003–04 to 2005–06. In respect of that commitment, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State directed the Coal Authority, a DTI sponsored non-departmental public body, to pay £2.5million to Mines Rescue Services Ltd. in each of the years 2003–04 and 2004–05. This funding enabled Mines Rescue Services Ltd. to reimburse to UK deep-mine operators the production-related levy sums which the latter had paid to the company throughout that period.
As entirely separate arrangements, the Coal Authority has, over the period since its establishment in 1994, held a number of contracts with Mines Rescue Services Ltd. variously for the provision of training services, and services in respect of mines in the Authority's ownership. In April 2004 the Coal Authority let a contract to Mines Rescue Services Ltd. for the provision of an emergency response service to attend incidents such as ground collapses throughout the coalfields.
Official Receiver
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to whom the Official Receiver in his role as an Officer of the Court is accountable. [9565]
Mr. Sutcliffe: When acting as an officer of the court in the conduct of insolvency proceedings, the official receiver is subject to the control of the court in which the proceedings are based and is accountable to it.
Post Office, Bank and Retail Closures
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) local post offices, (b) local bank branches and (c) independent retail shops have closed in the last 10 years in (i) Birmingham, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England. [9507]
Barry Gardiner:
Information on the number of local post offices that have closed is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. The Chief Executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.
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The number of local bank branch closures is not available.
DTI figures based solely on VAT de-registrations in the retail sector for Birmingham local authority, West Midlands Government Office Region and England are shown in the table for 1994 to 2003. These data are not available for 2004.
Source:
Small Business Service analysis of ONS Inter Departmental Business Register data
VAT de-registrations do not give a complete picture of business closures. Businesses that de-register will not necessarily have closed. For example, they might continue to trade but at a turnover level below the VAT threshold. Only 1.8 million out of four million enterprises were registered for VAT at the start of 2003.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Hood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are being taken to encourage the use of renewable energy in Lanark and Hamilton East constituency. [8851]
Malcolm Wicks: Recent trends in renewable energy development have been highly encouraging. More new capacity has been constructed in the last few years than in the previous decade, and a significant amount is currently in the pipeline. This covers a wide range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and biomass. This has been a result of the Government's Renewables Obligation Order 2002, which established a market-based mechanism for the support and development of this sector.
The Government are also spending £500 million over the 2002–08 period to support emerging renewable energy technologies, such as wave and tidal.
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I understand that within Lanarkshire itself there are two existing hydropower stations as well as some small-scale renewables, with a number of onshore wind projects currently in the planning stage.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the potential for energy generation from tidal power. [9478]
Alun Michael [holding answer 4 July 2005]: The Department has carried out a study called ATLAS that looks at the marine resource around the UK including tidal power. A copy of the study can be found at www.dti.gov.uk/renewables/renew_atlaspages.htm.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are being taken to (a) promote and (b) encourage the use of renewable energy in Lancashire. [9519]
Malcolm Wicks: Recent trends in renewable energy development have been highly encouraging. More new capacity has been constructed in the last few years than in the previous decade, and a significant amount is currently in the pipeline. This covers a wide range of technologies including onshore and offshore wind, solar and biomass. This has been a result of the Government's Renewables Obligation Order 2002, which established a market-based mechanism for the support and development of this sector.
The Government are also spending £500 million over the 2002–08 period to support emerging renewable energy technologies, such as wave and tidal.
Whilst this investment has not translated into capacity within Lancashire itself, there are onshore wind farm developments in planning and I recently approved the Scout Moor wind farm development in May. Furthermore, Renewables Northwest, a joint venture between the Regional Development Agency and United Utilities, has been working with local businesses companies on identifying opportunities and promoting the use of renewable energy in the area.
Science Budget
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what real-terms percentage increase he expects in the science budget in each of the next three years. [9837]
Malcolm Wicks: Funding of the public science base, through DTI and DfES, is increasing at an average annual rate of 5.8 per cent in real terms over the Spending Review 2004 period. The Science Budget allocations through DTI for 2004–05 to 2007–08, including real-terms percentage increases, are set out in the table below:
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State Aid
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what current level of state aid has been authorised by the European Commission for each country. [8987]
Ian Pearson: There is no ceiling of aid but each member state is responsible for ensuring that the rules set out in the state aid frameworks are respected.
The Commission's State Aid Scoreboard reports on the aid given in eachmember state and can be found athttp://europa.eu.int/comm/competition/state_aid/scoreboard.
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