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Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission how much energy on average was used to power the air-conditioning in Portcullis House in the last period for which figures are available. [12644]
Nick Harvey: The electricity used for the mechanical ventilation in Portcullis House is not measured separately from other consumption in the building. Electricity is not used to power chillers.
Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what percentage of (a) external and (b) internal lights within the House estate are (i)movement-activated and (ii) activated by a particular degree of darkness; [12643]
Nick Harvey: Around 10 per cent. of the internal areas in the House of Commons parts of the Palace of Westminster, the Norman Shaw buildings, 1 Canon Row, and 7 Millbank have movement-activated lights. In Portcullis House, 1 Parliament Street and 1 Derby Gate there are sophisticated time switch controls. External lights generally are on seasonally adjusted time switch control.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what area of office accommodation is occupied by (a) hon. Members, (b) their staff and (c) each department of the House for each building of the Parliamentary estate. [12649]
Nick Harvey:
The following table shows the information sought in relation to offices over the estate as a whole. I will write to the hon. Member with details broken down by each building when this information has been assembled.
18 Jul 2005 : Column 1335W
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what records are kept of (a) use of security passes, (b) telephone calls made and (c) emails sent and received by (i) hon. Members, (ii) their staff and (iii) staff of the House; who has access to such records; for how long; and under what conditions such access is maintained in each case. [12648]
Nick Harvey: In respect of both Members and staff, the pass system is capable of supplying data on the electronic use of security passes. Such a report would only be produced at the request of the Serjeant at Arms or the Metropolitan police. The records are kept indefinitely. No record is kept of telephone numbers called. Email records are kept for three months after an item has been deleted. The policy on access to those to or from staff of the House is outlined in the Staff Handbook. Emails to and from Members would not normally be accessed and those to and from Members' staff only with permission of the Member concerned.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment he has made of whether the ultimate end destination of arms exported from the UK meets the provisions of the Export Control Act 2002. [9950]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 5 July 2005]: The Government are satisfied that all licences issued authorising the export from the UK of strategic goods are fully consistent with the provisions of the Export Control Act 2002. In line with Section 9 of that Act, all export licence applications are assessed against the consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, which require specific consideration under Criterion 7 of the 'existence of a risk that the equipment will be diverted within the buyer country or re-exported under undesirable conditions'. When making our licensing assessment we take full account of the equipment's potential end-use and destination as well as the stated end-use and destination.
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of UK exports of goods and services was made up from sales of arms in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion was made up of sales of arms to developing countries. [10431]
Alun Michael: Information on the proportion of UK exports accounted for by arms is given in the following table:
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what (a) reports and (b) representations (i) he and (ii) his officials have received concerning the possible involvement of UK-based companies in the transportation of arms and ammunition from the Balkans and Eastern Europe to the Great Lakes region of Africa; and if he will make a statement. [10835]
Malcolm Wicks: I am aware of Amnesty International's recent report Democratic Republic of Congo: Arming the East". The incidents described therein were first raised by Amnesty International in 2003, and were investigated by HM Revenue and Customs. Any new evidence of breaches of export controls would be a matter for them to pursue as appropriate.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will undertake an investigation into the activities in respect of the transport of arms to the Democratic Republic of Congo, by African International Airways, Italia Ltd. and Platinum Air Cargo; and if he will make a statement. [10836]
Malcolm Wicks: Investigations into alleged breaches of UK export controls are a matter for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) as the investigating authority.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to review his policy on the export of firearms. [11202]
Malcolm Wicks: None. The new controls introduced under the Export Control Act 2002 only recently completed their implementation, on 1 May 2004, and included new controls on the trafficking and brokering of firearms.
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on what date the £575 million loan to BNFL was agreed; for what purpose it was made; and what conditions were set down for its re-payment. [10778]
Malcolm Wicks: As part of the balance sheet restructuring of BNFL, the company issued a £575 million debenture on 1 April 2005 to DTI under the direction of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made under the Energy Act. Its principal purpose is to provide a mechanism to return cash to the shareholder. The debenture pays 7.5 per cent. interest and interest payments start in December 2006.
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has received from BNFL about proposals for AMEC to buy its British Nuclear Group subsidiary. [10813]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 12 July 2005]: For reasons of commercial confidentiality, it would not be appropriate for me to reveal whether any company has or has not approached BNFL or the Department about acquiring British Nuclear Group.
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the main objectives are of the British National Space Centre (BNSC); and what assessment has been made of expenditure by the BNSC funding partners to achieve these objectives. [12542]
Malcolm Wicks: The UK Space Strategy 200306 prepared by the BNSC set out three objectives:
stimulating increased productivity by promoting the use of space in Government, science and commerce; and
The National Audit Office in its report on UK civil space activities published in March 2004 concluded that the BNSC partnership approach is cost effective and made recommendations on project funding, risk assessment and performance monitoring. BNSC have taken steps to implement these recommendations. The Public Accounts Committee also published its report on 9 June 2005. The Government will respond in due course by a Treasury Minute.
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