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2 Dec 2005 : Column 896W—continued
Public Service Agreements
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the data required to measure 2004 public service agreement target 2 are published. [30324]
Alan Johnson: The indicators used to measure PSA 2 are set out in the technical note for that target. This is available on the DTI website at http://www.dti.gov.uk/pdfs/psa_2.pdf. The technical note also provides detail of the data sources used for each indicator.
The Department reports twice a year on progress towards achieving PSA targets—in the autumn performance report and the spring departmental report. This includes the most recent available data for all PSA 2 indicators. The first assessment of progress towards the PSA targets set out in the 2004 spending review will be in the forthcoming autumn performance report 2005, which will be laid before Parliament in mid-December.
Redundancy/Early Retirement
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he plans to introduce (a) voluntary redundancy and (b) early retirement schemes within his Department during the next two years; and if he will make a statement. [28275]
Alan Johnson:
The Department is currently running a small scale early severance scheme as one of a package of measures to redeploy staff displaced as a result of headcount reductions. My Department may run small scale schemes during the next two years to deal with areas where staff cannot be redeployed by alternative means. A large number of staff have already left the Department under early severance schemes run during 2004 and 2005.
2 Dec 2005 : Column 897W
Renewable Energy
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research he has evaluated on the efficiency of (a) wind turbines and (b) wave and tidal power sources. [31550]
Malcolm Wicks: For conventional generators, efficiency is the delivered energy expressed as percentage of the fuel input to the generator. However, given that the fuel source for wind, wave and tidal power is limitless and free, its efficiency does not have the same meaning as conventional power stations.
The capacity factor (or load factor) of an electricity generator is a relative measure of the output of the device. The capacity factor expresses the output of the generator over a given time period (typically one year) as a percentage of the theoretical maximum output of the generator over the same time.
A paper by the Environmental Change Institute on Wind Power and the UK Wind Resource, suggest that the annual capacity factor for wind power in the UK (long-term average of over 27 per cent.) compares favourably to that of Denmark (around 2 per cent.) and Germany (around 15 per cent.). The expansion of wind power to higher wind speed locations, including offshore, may result in capacity factor increasing in the future.
A similar paper by the Environmental Change Institute on the Variability of UK Marine Resources also includes information on wave and tidal capacity. A copy of both reports are available from their website http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/
Royal Mail Services
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the Home Secretary's answer of 24 November 2005, Official Report, columns 2319–20W, on passports, if he will instruct Royal Mail to investigate (a) how the passport of Mrs. Valerie Veale of Winchester (Royal Mail ref 1–1601472618) was lost in the post, (b) why it was sent to the South Kensington sorting office and (c) why it was delivered to the Natural History Museum. [33443]
Barry Gardiner: This is an operational matter for Royal Mail. The chief executive has been asked to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Senior Appointments (Departmental Agencies)
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions, in respect of senior appointments for agencies administered by his Department, the appointed candidate was not the highest-score candidate at interview for each year since 1997; and what (a) the sex of the person appointed and (b) the sex of the highest-scoring candidate was in each case. [28495]
Alan Johnson: This information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Solar Photovoltaics
Alan Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his Department's estimate is of the
2 Dec 2005 : Column 898W
amount of capital grant support required to deliver the Government's White Paper commitments to a 10 year solar photovoltaics programme in line with Germany and Japan. [30946]
Malcolm Wicks: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to his question number 29979.
Staff Discipline
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many employees have been dismissed by his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [29134]
Alan Johnson: The number of employees dismissed from the Department in each year since 2001 is as set out on the following table.
| Number of employees dismissed | |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 3 |
| 2002 | 5 |
| 2003 | 15 |
| 2004 | 16 |
| 2005 to date | 18 |
The Department has procedures in place to deal with misconduct, unsatisfactory performance and poor attendance. These are developed in consultation with the trade unions and are available to all staff on the Department's intranet or in hard copy.
UK Trade and Investment
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to his answer of 1 November 2005, Official Report, columns 864–65W, on UK trade and investment, how many employees within UK trade and investment (a) are locally employed in overseas jurisdictions and (b) are seconded from the UK. [28938]
Ian Pearson: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given today to his question number 21617.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) employees and (b) consultants working for (i) UK Trade and Investment and (ii) each regional development agency are working overseas, broken down by (A) city and (B)country. [21671]
Ian Pearson:
I have placed a table in the Libraries of the House that sets out information on people working for UK Trade and Investment overseas using Foreign and Commonwealth Office figures for the current financial year. In this table UK Trade and Investment's operations are shown broken down by market—normally an individual country—and by the location of the individual posts within the market concerned. As regards personnel, UK Trade and Investment is a joint Department of Trade and Industry and Foreign and Commonwealth Office organisation, and is not an employer in its own right. Consequently it has no employees of its own. The majority of people deployed on its overseas operations are either staff of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who are sent abroad on diplomatic terms and conditions (and referred to in the tables which follow as UK-based"), or locally-engaged
2 Dec 2005 : Column 899W
employees of the embassy, high commission or consulate general in question (referred to in the tables which follow as LE"). There is no centrally held data on consultants engaged overseas, and acquiring it separately from each FCO Post overseas would involve disproportionate cost.
Note:
FTE=Full-time equivalent
East of England Development Agency (EEDA)
The East of England Developments Agency EEDA has an inward investment office in San Jose (Silicon Valley) a joint project between EEDA and Invest East of England. There are no representatives as the office is co-ordinated by the vice-president for business development at Invest East of England.
EEDA also subscribes to the East of England partnership office in Brussels and the Essex and East of England International Trade office in Jiangsu Province China (but does not have offices or representatives).
Note:
FTE=Full-time equivalent
London Development Agency (LDA)
North West Development Agency (NMDA)
The North West Development Agency has an office with two members of staff (one full time and one part time) in Japan.
As part of a North of England collaboration (a joint venture with One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward) there are offices in Australia (Sydney) (one person—consultant on three year contract) and North America: Chicago (six people), Boston (two people), Atlanta (two person) and Los Angeles: (two person full time and one person part time).
The NWDA with the North West Regional Assembly (NWRA) jointly fund an office and two members of staff in Brussels.
2 Dec 2005 : Column 900W
| Country | Town | Staff (FTE) |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | Tokyo/Osaka | 2.5 |
| China | Shanghai | 3 |
| South Korea | Seoul | 0.5 |
| Country | Town | Staff (FTE) |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | Osaka | 1 |
| Tokyo | 1 | |
| South Korea | Seoul | 1 |
| China | Shanghai | 1 |
| USA | Boston | 1 |
| Orange County | 1 | |
| Australia | Sydney | 1 |
| Belgium | Brussels | 2.6 |
| Country | Town | Staff |
|---|---|---|
| China | Hangzhou | 2 |
| Japan | Tokyo | 4 |
| USA | Chicago/Atlanta/Boston/LA | 12 |
| Australia | Sydney | 1 consultant |
Note:
FTE=Full-time equivalent
The staff in Japan/USA and Australia all represent the North of England, not just Yorkshire Forward.
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