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10 Oct 2005 : Column 34W—continued
Post Offices (Hemel Hempstead)
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the future of local post offices in Hemel Hempstead constituency. [16080]
Barry Gardiner: Decisions relating to the future of individual post offices are an operational matter for Post Office Ltd.
Regional Government
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which (a) non-departmental public bodiesand (b) executive agencies within the remit of his Department have regional offices based on the Government Offices for the Regions' regional structure; and when the regional offices were established in each case. [15195]
Alun Michael:
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to her question on 23 March 2005, Official Report, column 824.
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Retailer Code of Practice
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research his Department has (a) commissioned, and (b) evaluated on the effectiveness of the Retailer Code of Practice. [16863]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Competition in the supermarket and grocery sectors is a matter for the independent competition authorities. In this case the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The Supermarkets Code of Practice (the Code) was introduced following the Competition Commission's (CC) report on Supermarkets: a report on the supply of groceries from multiple stores" (published 10 October 2000). The Supermarkets Code only concerns transactions between supermarkets and their direct suppliers. Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco are statutorily bound by the Supermarkets Code while Morrisons has volunteered to abide by it.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) reviewed the operation of the Code in 2003–04 and again in 2005. On 3 August they published a report on the final outcome of their 2005 review. This is available on their website at http://www.oft.gov.uk/News/Press+releases/2005/146– 05.htm.
Service Liberalisations
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what consultations his Department has had with (a) other EU member states, (b) the European Commission and (c) the European Trade Commissioner, with regard to the EU offer of service liberalisations to the World Trade Organisation; [16865]
(2) if he will place in the Library (a) the EU offer of service liberalisations being tabled to the World Trade Organisation by 31 May and (b) UK submissions to that offer. [16867]
Ian Pearson: The EC revised offer was tabled in the WTO on 2 June 2005. The offer may be accessed online on the DG-Trade website at the following website address—http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/issues/sectoral/services/wto_nego/index_en.htm
I will place a copy of the EC revised offer in the Libraries of the House.
In the months leading up to the tabling of the revised offer, there were extensive discussions in the Article 133 Committee in Brussels on the preparation of the revised offer. These discussions involved the Commission and all member states and final version submitted to the WTO takes account of comments received from the UK and other member states on the draft.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will take steps to ensure that future UK submissions for EU offers to the World Trade Organisation will be subject in advance to scrutiny by either the Trade and Industry Select Committee or the European Scrutiny Committee; and if he will make a statement. [16868]
Ian Pearson:
Under the Common Commercial Policy, the European Commission has the right of initiative in respect of trade policy. It consults all EU member states
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on its proposals, both through formal meetings and informal discussions, and reflects the comments it receives in the submissions it makes to the WTO.
To avoid the risk of undermining the community's negotiating position it is not the Government's policy to provide for advance parliamentary scrutiny of UK submissions on EU negotiating positions within the WTO. However, the Government ensures that the WTO negotiating process is as transparent as possible by other means such as ministerial statements on the outcome of important WTO meetings and by contributing to inquiries by committees of both Houses on WTO matters (for example, the Department of Trade and Industry has made a full contribution to the current inquiry by the Trade and Industry Select Committee into the WTO's Services and NAMA negotiations). Furthermore, proposals for community legislation relating to WTO agreement are subject to parliamentary scrutiny under the existing scrutiny arrangements for EU legislation.
State Aid
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the occasions since 1 May 1997 when the Government have been challenged in European Courts over state aid; and which cases the Government won. [16068]
Ian Pearson: There have been no direct challenges to the UK Government on state aid in the European Courts since 1 May 1997.
Statutory Paid Holiday
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) UK business and (b) worker productivity of increasing the minimum amount of statutory paid holiday available to workers in the UK to 20 days per year, exclusive of bank holidays; [16652]
(2) when he plans to introduce legislation to increase the minimum amount of statutory paid holiday available to workers in the UK to 20 days per year, exclusive of bank holidays. [16653]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government announced in the manifesto we have introduced, for the first time, an entitlement for every employee to four weeks' paid holiday, and we propose to extend this by making it additional to bank holiday entitlement." This will be on a pro-rata basis for those working part-time.
As announced by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 14 September, we are taking a power in the forthcoming Work and Families Bill to enable us to put this commitment into effect. A full and extensive consultation with stakeholders, in line with better regulation principles, will be undertaken before making formal proposals.
We will of course publish an initial Regulatory Impact Assessment when the Bill is introduced, but there are likely to be a range of alternatives or variations emerging during consultation.
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Sustainable Development
Mr. Alan Reid: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether his Department's procurement policy includes timber used on and in the construction of departmental building projects; and if he will make a statement. [16252]
Alan Johnson: The DTI HQ estate incorporates green procurement policies in the sourcing of timber and timber products when used on and in the construction of departmental building projects.
All construction timber and timber products are procured specifying the point of origin must be from a sustainable source and certified as FSC or similar.
Tariffs
Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average most favoured nation tariff (a) applied by the EU on imports from and (b) applied on EU exports to each of its significant trading partner countries is. [15424]
Ian Pearson: The information requested is shown in the following tables.
Source:
WITS database
(19)Korea and Russia 2002.
Source:
WITS database
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