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5 Dec 2005 : Column 1002W—continued
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
10 Victoria Street
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the future of his Department's 10 Victoria Street building. [33550]
Alan Johnson: 10 Victoria Street has been vacated by the Department and is surplus to DTI requirements. It is now being brought up to a condition suitable for reletting on the commercial market or reuse elsewhere within Government.
Arms Sales (Iraq)
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which British companies were engaged in the sale of arms to Iraq between (a) 1980 and 1991 and (b) 1991 and 2003; what arms were exported in each case; and if he will make a statement. [31556]
Malcolm Wicks:
The DTI holds information only on the export licence applications it has received. Information on which UK companies have applied for licences to export military list equipment to Iraq is commercially confidential and as such is exempt from disclosure. The Scott report does however contain some export licensing information, including on the applicant companies and the goods involved, relating to the period 1984–1990; the report is available from the Libraries of the House. The hon. Member will be aware that a full-scope UN arms embargo has been in place on Iraq since 1990 (UN Security Resolution 661).
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Since 1997, the Government have published detailed information on THEIR export licensing decisions, including summaries of the goods licensed, in their annual report on Strategic Export Controls, available from the Libraries of the House.
Artists' Resale Levy
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what evidence led him to reconsider his Department's policy on excluding sales of below 3,000euros from the artists' resale levy. [33772]
Alan Johnson [holding answer 1 December 2005]: No final decisions have been reached on the implementation of artist's resale right. We have consulted extensively with all interested parties and have met representatives from the art trade and artists. We have also commissioned and received independent evidence since the European Directive was originally negotiated.
The Government's decision will be based on ensuring the continuing success of the British art market and supporting British artists. We will announce a decision in this House in the very near future.
Broadband Provision
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking on local loop unbundling to ensure that the UK continues to improve its broadband provision. [32533]
Alun Michael:
The matter raised is the responsibility of the Office of Communications (Ofcom). Ofcom is the independent regulator for the communications sector, deriving its main powers and duties directly from statute rather than by delegation from the Secretary of State, and accountable to Parliament in its own right. Accordingly, the officials have asked the chief executive
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of Ofcom to respond directly to the hon. Member and to send me a copy of his response. Copies of the chief executive's letter will also be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Business Start-ups
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what grants are available from the Government and their agencies to assist business start-ups in Rochdale constituency. [33439]
Alun Michael: There is one grant specifically available to the Rochdale area and it is funded under the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB round 5). The Business Development Grant provides funding to both start ups and existing businesses which are setting up in, are located in, or are re-locating to, the inner Rochdale SRB5 area, provided they can demonstrate an element of job creation or job safeguarding.
Monies can be used towards the purchase of equipment, market research and feasibility studies, marketing and legal set up costs. Applicants can receive 70 per cent. of eligible costs up to a maximum of £3,000.
The Inner Rochdale SRB5 area stretches from Sparth to Cloverhall, and from Deeplish and Newbold to Lower Falinge and Hamer.
Rochdale also benefits from Selective Finance for Investment. There are currently eight companies in Rochdale benefiting from these funds, which focus on job creation and job safeguarding.
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many grants for job creation his Department awarded in Rochdale in each year from 1992; and what the value was in each case. [33461]
Alun Michael: The following awards were made to companies in Rochdale:
Note:
Regional Selective Assistance (RSA)
Selective Finance Investment (SFI)
Consultants
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what mechanisms are in place to assess the effectiveness of consultant-led projects in his Department; what sanctions are available to penalise consultants who run unsuccessful projects; how many projects conducted by consultants were assessed as unsuccessful in each year since 2000; and what sanctions were imposed. [29057]
Alan Johnson: Comprehensive guidance on the appointment and management of consultants by the Department is available to staff via the Department's intranet. This details necessary steps and considerations at all stages of the engagement of consultants, from justification of need in the business case through to submission of a Post-Completion Report by the Departmental project manager. This Post-Completion document should mirror the original business case and address among other things whether critical success factors were achieved, whether the project was carried out to schedule and to budget and an assessment of lessons learned about the consultant's performance and the management of the project.
The online guidance refers users to the requirements of the OGC Gateway process that provides assurance at critical stages of a programme or project's lifecycle.
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Contracts should set out key performance measures via, for example, 'Service Level Agreements', which specify the deliverables and timescales to be met by the consultant. In the event of these targets not being met contracts may provide for the payment of liquidated damages by the contractor. This will be agreed on a case by case basis.
Further information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list departmental projects conducted by consultants in each year since 2000; what the cost was in each case; and what the total cost of employing consultants was in each year. [29059]
Alan Johnson: Central records indicate that the cost of employing consultants in each financial year has been as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 36 |
| 2001–02 | 64 |
| 2002–03 | 93 |
| 2003–04 | 112 |
| 2004–05 | 86 |
Further information is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
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Damages
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will list the 10 largest amounts of damages paid out by his Department in the last year for which figures are available, indicating in each case the nature of the claim. [27724]
Alan Johnson: There were seven claims for damages paid out by my Department in the last financial year (2004–05) as follows:
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