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10 Oct 2005 : Column 20W—continued
University Air Squadrons
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes are planned for the operation of university air squadrons, with particular reference to flying instruction. [15665]
Mr. Touhig: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement of today.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the role of university air squadrons in (a) making a risk assessment of potential pilots and (b) providing a link between the Royal Air Force and the civilian population. [15666]
Mr. Touhig: All new pilot recruits to the Royal Air Force have to successfully complete the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre, regardless of method of entry. It is here that in-depth psychometric competency testing is undertaken to ensure that the right pilots are taken into the Royal Air Force. While the University Air Squadrons do not specifically make a risk assessment of potential pilots, they have, over the past 10 years, acted as part of the streaming process during Elementary Flying Training. The recent changes mean that Elementary Flying Training will now be undertaken at a more appropriate stage.
University Air Squadrons provide a link by raising the profile of the Royal Air Force and project a positive image of the service through University Air Squadron members to other undergraduates, university staff and the wider civilian community. Their principle aim is to provide a practical link between the Royal Air Force and universities, thereby fostering an interest in and understanding of the Royal Air Force.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what role university air squadrons play in recruiting personnel to the Royal Air Force. [15668]
Mr. Touhig:
The principle aim of the University Air Squadrons is to provide a practical link between the Royal Air Force and universities, thereby fostering an interest in and understanding of the Royal Air Force. In the two year period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2005
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the successful University Air Squadron applicants represented nine percent of the officer recruiting target for that period.
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what percentage of pilots entering the Royal Air Force since 1997 have passed through university air squadrons. [15669]
Mr. Touhig: The information requested is shown in the table.
Total in | University air squadrons (percentage) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 95 | 64 |
| 1998–99 | 187 | 60 |
| 1999–2000 | 187 | 50 |
| 2000–01 | 178 | 53 |
| 2001–02 | 178 | 49 |
| 2002–03 | 177 | 53 |
| 2003–04 | 167 | 56 |
Websites
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what websites come under his Department's responsibility; and what the (a) cost and (b) number of visitors to those sites was in 2004–05. [16006]
Mr. Touhig: The Ministry of Defence and armed forces collectively maintain five corporate websites. Direct expenditure on these and the number of visits that each site received in the financial year 2004–05 were as follows:
(17)Number of visitors is based on unique page views for each site apart from the Royal Air Force whose figures show total number of hits.
A number of other, generally small, websites are maintained by subsidiary organisations of the MOD and armed forces. However, information on their expenditure and number of visitors is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Artists' Resale Right Regulations 2005
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with the Design and Artists Copyright Society on the Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2005; and when the submissions on the public consultation on implementing the European Directive on Droit de Suite will be published. [15872]
Alan Johnson:
On my behalf, officials at the Patent Office are involved in on-going discussions with the Design Artists Copyright Society on the Artist's Resale
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Right Regulations and have met them regularly. All submissions to the public consultation are available from the Patent Office.
Bank Holidays
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the (a) economic and (b) social effects of increasing the number of bank holidays. [15578]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In 2001, we estimated that the cost to business of an additional bank holiday would be around £2 billion. It is possible that there would be positive social effects of an additional bank holiday, for example working parents spending more time with their children. However, there is a need to balance the possible benefits of increasing the number of bank holidays to individuals and some businesses against the cost and disruption to other businesses and there are other ways of achieving this positive social effect.
Business Practice (Wage Labour)
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to monitor the business practices of United Kingdom-based international corporations abroad, with particular reference to wage labour; and if he will make a statement. [16283]
Ian Pearson: UK-based international companies which operate in other countries, and which are subject to the laws applicable in those counties are encouraged to apply high standards of corporate behaviour, including their protecting workers rights.
The UK plays a leading role in ensuring that the international framework to promote and to tackle abuses of those rights throughout the world is in place, through its work with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which is responsible for developing, promoting and monitoring labour standards. We play an active role in the ILO Committee on Multinational Enterprises and support the promotion and follow-up of the ILO Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy which seeks to enhance the positive social and labour effects of multinational corporations' operations throughout the world.
We also promote the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises which recommend standards of responsible business conduct for businesses operating in or from the 37 adhering countries and have written to the FTSE 100 companies to raise awareness of these expectations. We have also set out our approach to encouraging environmentally and socially responsible practice internationally in our International Strategic Framework on Corporate Social Responsibility" published in March.
Carbon Emissions
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the effect of the closure of nuclear power stations on UK carbon emissions for each of the next 15 years. [16303]
Malcolm Wicks:
In November 2004 the Department published projections of generation for the period to 2020. Because of uncertainty about the generation mix
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in individual years figures were produced for 2010, 2015 and 2020 only. They include assumptions about the closure dates of British Energy nuclear plants after 2010. The projections are available at http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/sepn/uep_addendum.pdf.
On the current projections it is expected that 2.2GW of plant will have closed by 2010, a further 3.6GW by 2015 and an additional 2.4GW by 2020.
British Energy, however, recently announced that it intended to seek a life extension for its Dungeness B plant until 2018.
The effect of nuclear closures on carbon emissions will depend on the assumptions on the replacement plant. If the replacement plant is gas-fired then each TWh of generation is projected to produce around 0.1 million tonnes of carbon.
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