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24 Nov 2005 : Column 2210W—continued
Gas Supplies
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the gas-fired power stations in the UK with interruptible contracts for gas supplies this winter. [30710]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 21 November 2005]: This is a contractual matter between the power stations and their gas suppliers.
Langage Power Station, Plymouth
Mr. Streeter: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what consultations he undertook with (a) local councils, (b) community groups and (c) honourable Members before deciding to extend the time period to permit construction of the Langage Power Station in Plymouth beyond five years. [30500]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 21 November 2005]: A formal request to extend the time period in the section 36 consent has been received. The Department has been in touch with South Hams District Council over the handling of reserved matters in the planning permission and has agreed an interim extension to give the Council time to consider the reserved matters. A decision on the request for a fuller extension of the time period in the section 36 consent will be made in due course.
Mr. Malcolm Hanney
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who is responsible for the costs incurred in his Department's sex discrimination case involving Mr Malcolm Hanney. [27049]
Alan Johnson: The Department met the costs.
Nuclear Fusion
Colin Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Government have spent on nuclear fusion research and development over the last 10 years; and how much it plans to spend over the next 10 years. [30851]
Barry Gardiner: UK Government expenditure on fusion research and development over the last 10 years is given below. The UK's indirect contribution to the European fusion programme via EU funding for the EURATOM Framework Programme is excluded from these statistics.
In 2004, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) awarded £48 million over the four years to 2007–08 to the UK Atomic Energy
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Authority (UKAEA) for fusion research. Funding for subsequent years will depend on the outcome of Spending Reviews and the quality of the science case proposals.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1995–96 | 15.7 |
| 1996–97 | 12.1 |
| 1997–98 | 16.6 |
| 1998–99 | 12.6 |
| 1999–00 | 14.3 |
| 2000–01 | 17.0 |
| 2001–02 | 14.4 |
| 2002–03 | 14.6 |
| 2003–04 | 15.6 |
| 2004–05 | 19.5 |
Nuclear Industry
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list sites that have passed into the control of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. [28028]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 11 November 2005]: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) was set up on 1 April 2005, under the Energy Act 2004, to oversee strategic arrangements for managing the UK's civil public sector nuclear liabilities and clean up. The NDA are owners of the plant and facilities of BNFL (the Magnox stations, Sellafield, THORP/SMP, and Springfields); and took responsibility for managing clean up at the UKAEA sites (including Dounreay). The NDA has set out its plans for the decommissioning and clean up of its sites (including the proposed closure dates of its fleet of Magnox power stations) in its draft Strategy available at www.nda.gov.uk.
Power Stations (Carbon Emissions)
John Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment his Department
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has made of the level of carbon dioxide emissions in (a) a nuclear power station and (b) a similar capacity gas fired power station. [30773]
Malcolm Wicks: A new 1 Gigawatt combined cycle gas turbine power station, operating at a load factor of 80 per cent., would produce the equivalent of approximately 0.7 million tonnes of carbon per annum. Nuclear power stations produce negligible CO2 emissions.
Smoking
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on his Department's policy concerning the health and safety of employees exposed to secondhand smoke. [28068]
Alan Johnson: The Department takes the health and safety of staff and visitors to its buildings very seriously. As from 1 January 2006, all DTI buildings will become completely smoke free.
Statutory Holiday Entitlements
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to implement the exclusion of bank holidays from minimum statutory holiday entitlements for employees. [31486]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry has taken a power in the recently introduced Work and Families Bill to enable us to put the Government's manifesto commitment to introduce 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" into effect. A full and extensive consultation with stakeholders, in line with better regulation principles, will be undertaken before any detailed changes are proposed in order to take full account of all the issues involved including the wide variety of flexible and non-standard working patterns that exist.
Wind Farms
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment his Department has made of the minimum average wind speed necessary for a site to be considered suitable for a wind farm. [29212]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 16 November 2005]: The Department has made no assessment of the minimum average wind speed necessary for a wind farm. The decision as to whether a potential wind farm would be viable in a specific location is a matter for the developer and in making that decision wind speeds would no doubt come into the equation.
Working Time Directive
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what instructions he has given to the Health and Safety Executive regarding the advice it provides to employers on the Working Time Directive; and if he will make a statement. [31365]
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Mr. Sutcliffe: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was given powers by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry under the Working Time Regulations 1998 to enforce working time limits and health assessment requirements (for night workers). The HSE enforces the Working Time Regulations in accordance with the principles set out in the Health and Safety Commission's Enforcement Policy Statement which, in turn, reflects the Cabinet Office's Enforcement Concordat. HSE's Infoline contact centre gives advice to employers and employees on a wide variety of health and safety issues including working time.
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