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Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what account he took of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution's recommendation, in May 2004, that power-only generation should be excluded from Government funding on efficiency grounds in making his decision to support the WINBEG project proposed to be situated in Winkleigh, Devon; what evidence he has evaluated that demonstrates that WINBEG will meet the Department's efficiency criterion; and if he will make a statement. [11698]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 13 July 2005]: The Government responded to the RCEP Report in October 2004, rejecting the recommendation that power-only projects should be excluded from Government funding.

The decision to support the WINBEG project under the Bioenergy Capital Grants Scheme was made in 2003—before the publication of the RCEP Report.

The WINBEG application included an independent engineers report which covered a number of areas, including the conversion efficiency. The application was independently assessed against a published range of criteria.

Royal Lancashire Show

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much funding was given via the North West Development Agency (NWDA) to the Royal Lancashire Show in (a) 2003, (b) 2004 and (c) 2005;
 
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what future allocations have been agreed for the Royal Lancashire Show by the NWDA; how the money has been spent; and what audit checks are carried out on the money paid. [13012]

Alun Michael: The North West Development Agency made a financial contribution to the Royal Lancashire Show in 2003 through the Rural Development Programme of the Lancashire Rural Recovery Partnership. The programme provided a grant of £32,578 towards marketing costs for the show; the staging of a Lancashire produce event; and supporting elements of additional infrastructure.

Final payment for the grant was not made until satisfactory information on outputs and certified invoices were received, by the Lancashire Rural Recovery Partnership, in March 2004.

The Agency has made no further financial contribution to the show beyond 2003 and no future funding allocations have been made.

Royal Mail (Misdelivery)

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many complaints were made in each of the last five years to his Department by members of the public about the misdelivery of mail by the Royal Mail; and if he will make a statement. [12284]

Barry Gardiner: The Department receives complaints from the public, about Royal Mail services on a regular basis. The Department does not, however, break the correspondence down by type of complaint.

Postwatch is responsible for handling complaints from the public where the complainant is not satisfied with the response he or she has received from Royal Mail.

Postwatch's annual reports contain a detailed breakdown, by type, of the complaints that they receive. Copies of Postwatch reports can be found on their website www.postwatch.co.uk

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff employed by Royal Mail were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of failure to deliver post in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [12285]

Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for Royal Mail plc and the chief executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many items of mail were delivered to the wrong address by the Royal Mail in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [12286]

Barry Gardiner: This is an operational mater for Royal Mail plc. and the Chief Executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Royal Mail staff were (a) charged with and (b) convicted of theft of mail in each of the last five years. [12287]

 
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Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for Royal Mail plc. and the Chief Executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Security Breaches

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff in his Department have (a) received official warnings and (b) faced disciplinary procedures following breaches of security in each year since 1997. [10528]

Alan Johnson: The information is as follows:

	Number of warnings issued	Other disciplinary penalty imposed
2004	7	1
2003	11	0
2002	7	1
2001	8	1
2000	7	0

Note:
Figures for years prior to 2000 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Stadco

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assistance his Department's Rover Task Force can provide to Stadco in Shrewsbury. [8698]

Ian Pearson: The Stadco Group has benefited from the wage replacement scheme established by the MG Rover Taskforce.

The Department and AWM are in discussion with the company but, as the Shrewsbury plant is located outside the assisted area, further assistance is limited by European State Aid rules.

Stallion Military Vehicles

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the export of Stallion (4x4), Mark3 and Mark 4, military vehicles manufactured by Ashok Leyland requires a licence; whether they are classified as category ML6A; and whether Ashok Leyland has ever applied for a rating for these vehicles from the technical assessment unit at the Export Control Organisation. [12030]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 14 July 2005]: From the information available on the company website, it appears these vehicles are specially designed for military use and therefore potentially require an export or trade licence under ML6a of the UK's Military Control list. An export licence would only be required if the goods were exported from the UK, and a trade licence would only be required for the transfer of the goods between third countries if there were some UK involvement, as defined in the relevant legislation. An actual rating and licensing decision will be made on a case by case basis.

It is not our practice to comment on inquiries to ECO by exporters as this is commercial confidential.
 
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Two Roof Strategy

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Tradeand Industry if he will make a statement on his Department's two roof strategy. [10522]

Alan Johnson: The two roof programme is a ground breaking change programme to rationalise our central London estate and transform the way we use our workspace. This core element of the DTI's Efficiency Programme offers a new and radical approach to workspace utilisation and will allow the Department to reduce its accommodation by approximately 30 per cent. Starting in 1 Victoria Street, the accommodation is being remodelled as part of a wider change programme to support team based desking in a flexible, open plan working environment on the basis of providing on average eight desks for every 10 people to be accommodated. This has enabled us to increase the capacity of our main HQ building from 1,680 under the original, traditional approach to approximately 2,400 now and to release other buildings on the estate for reuse or disposal. This highly successful change programme will now be applied to the rest of our London accommodation.

US-UK Technology Transfer

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to improve technology transfer between the US and the UK. [9391]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 4 July 2005]: DTI has supported the Cambridge Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institute (CMI) in a £65.1 million project which is developing models for university/business collaboration. The Department is committed to evaluating, CMI's work, and is working with CMI and its stakeholders to identify opportunities for CMI to compete for further funds to help sustain and develop its key activities, and to disseminate models for Knowledge Exchange.

In the DTI's Five Year Programme the Government announced its intention to provide £6 million to support new work with high-tech clusters in the US.

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