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16 Feb 2006 : Column 2392W—continued
CPS (Staff Bonuses)
Mr. Amess: To ask the Solicitor-General what criteria are used to determine whether staff employed by the Crown Prosecution Service receive a bonus; and if he will make a statement. [52492]
The Solicitor-General: The criteria used for staff in the senior civil service (SCS) to receive a bonus are set by the Cabinet Office.
Staff below the SCS level do not receive a bonus unless it is paid via the special bonus scheme.
The special bonus scheme aims to reward exceptional individual or team performance. This may be particularly appropriate where an individual's efforts have made a valuable contribution that falls outside his/her normal areas or scope areas of work.
Departmental Information
Mr. Gale: To ask the Solicitor-General how much was spent on the Department's public relations and information services in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [48966]
The Solicitor-General: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) expenditure on information services is shown in the following table. It covers expenditure on the provision of information booklets for the public, CPS area annual reports, the code for Crown Prosecutors and translations of information into Welsh and other languages. CPS has not engaged external public relations services, having in-house communications staff.
| Financial year | Crown Prosecution Service (£) |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 120,532 |
| 2001–02 | 86,706 |
| 2002–03 | 99,144 |
| 2003–04 | 126,672 |
| 2004–05 | 121,288 |
The Serious Fraud Office, Treasury Solicitor's Department, HMCPS Inspectorate and the Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers have not incurred expenditure and, where appropriate, their communications staff arc also in-house. Expenditure details are not separately available for communications staff and it would be difficult to identify them. For example most of the time the Attorney General's media relations are handled by his Private Secretary.
Law Officers' Departments include the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office but this office was not set up until 18 April 2005.
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TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Poland
10. Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his Department takes to encourage UK trade with Poland; and if he will make a statement. [52006]
Ian Pearson: UK companies looking to trade with Poland are able to take advantage of the whole range of trade services offered by UK Trade and Investment. It supported 219 UK companies at 29 trade events in Poland in 2005. The UKTI regional network is also assisting 300 new exporters who have expressed an interest in exporting to Poland.
Pressure Selling
11. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on Government measures to increase consumer protection against pressure selling. [52007]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive prohibits aggressive commercial practices including high-pressure selling techniques that involve lengthy or persistent visits. Legislation implementing this directive will come into force in December 2007. I am currently consulting on implementation options, and am confident that this will help considerably in tackling high-pressure selling practices.
Energy Review
12. Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on energy policy. [52008]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government launched the Energy Review last November. As part of the Energy Review, in January the Government published a consultation document Our Energy Challenge: securing clean, affordable energy for the long term". The consultation has a broad scope and considers all aspects of the energy system including energy supply and demand. The Review is looking at what further measures might be needed to tackle climate change, and to ensure secure and affordable energy supplies in the UK beyond 2010.
13. Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the Energy Review. [52009]
Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Stephen Hammond) today.
UK Trade
14. Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on his Department's policy of increasing UK trade outside the single market. [52010]
Ian Pearson:
UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is actively involved in helping UK companies maximise the opportunities for business worldwide in markets such as China and India. For example, through the Asia Task Force UKTI is working to identify barriers to
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trade, and proposing Government initiatives to overcome them. And of course the USA remains the UK's most important market. UKTI has completely overhauled its delivery structure there so as to further enhance service delivery to UK business.
Post Offices
15. Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post office branches have closed since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [52011]
Barry Gardiner: To date, this Government have committed some £2.35 billion of investment in the post office network. This includes £480 million for the Horizon IT project to automate the network, £450 million to support the rural network for the three years 2003–06 and, subject to state aid clearance, £300 million to support the rural network for the 2 years 2006–08, £726 million to repay historic debt and £210 million to fund the urban reinvention programme. Under Post Office Ltd.'s urban reinvention programme, 2,475 sub post offices closed on a wholly voluntary basis thereby strengthening the viability of the remaining urban network while ensuring that at the end of the programme over 99 per cent. of the urban population nationally still lives within one mile of their nearest post office. Outside of the urban reinvention programme, 2,248 post offices closed between April 1997 and December 2005.
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the rural post office network in the West Midlands. [52012]
Barry Gardiner: Government remain committed to ensuring that those living in rural communities have reasonable access to the services they need. Rural communities in the West Midlands are benefiting from our unprecedented nationwide programme of investment in the post office network, which includes £450 million over the period 2003–06 as a transitional measure to help maintain the rural network. A two-year extension of the annual support of £150 million, subject to state aid clearance, was announced in September 2004.
Work and Families Bill
17. Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the impact on business of the extension of family friendly policies contained in the Work and Families Bill. [52013]
Meg Munn: A full assessment of the impact on business of the extension of family friendly policies contained in the Work and Families Bill was made in the final regulatory impact assessment produced by the DTI in October 2005. The RIA is available from the DTI website and the Libraries of the House.
Sunset Regulation
18. John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the use of sunset regulation in legislation sponsored by his Department. [52014]
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Alan Johnson: DTI policy makers are advised to consider, at an early stage of policy development, whether it is appropriate to include sunset clauses in legislation. Where a sunset clause is not considered to be appropriate, policy makers are expected to consider an alternative mechanism such as a post implementation review of the legislation.
Belvedere Waste Incinerator
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects to make a decision on the proposed Belvedere waste to energy incinerator. [51658]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 14 February 2006]: A decision will be made as soon as possible.
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