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17 Nov 2005 : Column 1504W—continued
Unauthorised Encampments
Mr. Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to introduce measures to combat unauthorised encampments. [27764]
Mr. Hanson: The Unauthorised Encampments (Northern Ireland) Order 2005 includes provisions aimed at combating unauthorised encampments. However, as indicated during the debate into the legislation, I intend to defer bringing the substantive provisions of the order into effect until I am satisfied that an adequate number of transit sites is operational in Northern Ireland, I anticipate that five sites will be operational in 2006, I am reviewing the situation with the Housing Executive with a view to enabling the necessary provisions as soon as possible once the sites are operational.
Water Service
Mr. McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the rationalisation process in the Water Service. [1434]
Mr. Woodward: The Chief Executive of Water Service (Mrs. Katharine Bryan) has been asked to write to the hon. Member in response to this question.
Letter from Mrs. Katharine Bryan to Mr. Eddie McGrady, dated 2 June 2005:
You recently tabled a Parliamentary Question asking the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the rationalisation process in the Water Service (1434). I have been asked to reply as this issue fails within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Water Service.
A key part of the Government's Water Reform agenda is the need to reduce costs and improve efficiency in order to minimize charges to customers. Water Service has been set a target of £43 million reductions in operating costs by April 2009. By March 2005, £12 million of that had been delivered.
In order to meet these targets, the size of the workforce is reducing and will reduce further. To date all reductions have been made by natural wastage. The Minister has made it clear that all possible steps will be taken to avoid compulsory redundancy.
Water Service Management are looking at all areas of expenditure to reduce costs. These include examining the number of offices and depots required in future. No decisions have yet been reached in. this area. Any changes resulting from the review would
- be subject to the normal requirements regarding equality, industrial relations and personnel procedures, In addition Water Service is looking at how it delivers its services in a number of areas. Among the options being considered is the centralisation of those services where quality and/or cost improvements would result. Once again, any decisions reached in these areas would require all the appropriate procedures to be followed.
Youth Funding
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the (a) actions and (b) activities to be funded by the children and young people's funding package announced in Budget and Priorities 2006 to 2008, indicating (i) the amounts attached to each and (ii) the planned delivery mechanisms. [24850]
Angela E. Smith: It is intended that the package, which will initially be targeted on disadvantaged areas, will support the development of innovative approaches to delivering early years' and pre-school education and other provision for the 0–4s, After School Activities and Youth provision, strengthened child protection arrangements, development of inter-agency co-operation and collaboration and improved educational provision and support for Looked After Children and Young People. Details of the actions, activities, associated allocations and delivery mechanisms for the funding package have not yet been determined and these will be agreed by the Secretary of State before the final Budget announcement in December.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Charities
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when charities lost exemption from competition rules on exchange of information; what mechanism was used to make the change; for what reasons it was made; and how it was communicated to (a) Parliament, (b) charities and (c) the general public. [28556]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Since coming into force in March 2000, the Competition Act 1998 has applied to all undertakings. This includes charities where they are carrying out economic activities. The Competition Act 1998 represented a major strengthening of UK competition law and was the subject of extensive public consultation. In particular the aims of the Bill were outlined in detail in the August 1997 consultation document A prohibition approach to anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position". The draft Bill was debated fully in Parliament.
Clear Skies Programme
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of (a) the quality and (b) the number of (i) solar hot water, (ii) biomass, (iii) wind, (iv) ground source heat pump and (v) hydro projects supported by the Clear Skies grant programme since 2002; and if he will make a statement. [27461]
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Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 11 November 2005]: The information requested is as follows.
(a) The quality of projects supported under the Clear Skies programme has been maintained through establishing an approved installer and products list. Quality is also maintained by having an independent selection panel for community projects.
(b) Clear Skies has been a successful programme and has exceeded its original targets for installations.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the funding requirements of solar photovoltaics following the end of the Clear Skies scheme. [25367]
Malcolm Wicks: The Department has supported photovoltaics since 2002 through the £31 million Major Photovoltaics Demonstration Programme. We plan to continue its support for photovoltaics and other building scale renewables through a low carbon buildings programme, which is currently under development. The new programme will have a budget of £30 million over three years. It will start in April 2006 subject to EU state aids clearance.
We have also commissioned a report to study the economic potential for the UK of microgeneration technologies and this report will be published shortly.
Coal Imports
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much coal has been imported from China in the last five years. [29730]
Malcolm Wicks: The total amount of coal imported by the UK from China over the five years from 2000 to 2004 was 1,579,000 tonnes.
A breakdown of the amounts is shown in the following table.
| Steam coal | Anthracite | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | — | 143 | 143 |
| 2001 | 295 | 410 | 705 |
| 2002 | 208 | 80 | 288 |
| 2003 | 170 | 40 | 210 |
| 2004 | 190 | 43 | 233 |
| Total | 863 | 716 | 1,579 |
Source:
HM Revenue and Customs as reported in Table G.5 of Annex G to the Digest of UK Energy Statistics in 2005 (on DTI website)
Correspondence
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Clwyd, South of 5 May 2004, 15 June 2004, 26 July 2004 and 22 March 2005 relating to his constituent Mr. Arthur Roberts. [25462]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
Due to a number of administrative errors these letters were overlooked. Please accept my apologies for the very poor handling of your constituent's concerns. Your letters are now being urgently processed and you will receive a response shortly.
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The Department of Trade and Industry takes seriously its responsibility for responding to Members' correspondence and has new procedures in place to avoid errors such as this in the future.
Criminal Offences
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the criminal offences created in legislation sponsored by his Department between the end of the 2003–04 session and the end of April 2005, broken down by Act. [28471]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 14 November 2005]: There were no criminal offences created in legislation sponsored by my Department between the end of the 2003–04 session and the end of April 2005.
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