| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Mar 2006 : Column 2544W—continued
Internet
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he last met the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to discuss the monitoring of the internet. [57000]
Alun Michael: DTI Ministers have not met the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the US-based private-sector company responsible for the international coordination of the Internet domain name and addressing system, but DTI officials represent the UK on ICANN's governmental advisory committee, which is the channel for governments to comment on public policy issues arising from ICANN's work.
Last November I had useful discussions with representatives of Nominet, the not-for-profit membership organisation that runs the registry for internet names under dot.uk, to hear their views about the international aspects of the domain name system in advance of the World Summit on Information Society in Tunis.
17 Mar 2006 : Column 2545W
Job Relocation (Wales)
Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs in his Department have been relocated to Wales since 2001. [57693]
Alan Johnson: DTFs relocation programme covers both the core Department and its agencies and sponsored bodies. The Department's SR04 target was to have relocated 85 posts out of London and the south east by 31 March 2008 and a further 600 posts by 31 March 2010, a total of 685 posts overall. So far we have relocated 194 posts of which 31 posts have been relocated to Wales consisting of; 15 Human Resources posts to shared offices at Companies House in Cardiff and 16 posts to the Patent Office in Newport. A further one Legal enforcement post outside of the relocation programme has been relocated to shared offices at Companies House.
Low Carbons Building Programme
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the Low Carbon Buildings Programme will start. [59086]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 16 March 2006]: The Programme will be launched in early April. The precise date will be announced a soon as possible following discussions with the selected management contractor.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the budget is for household grants under the Low Carbon Buildings Programme in 2006–07. [59087]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 16 March 2006]: We are currently finalising the programme, which includes an informal consultation with key stakeholders and will be making an announcement shortly.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects EU State Aid clearance for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme. [59088]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 16 March 2006]: We have provided the Commission with some additional information at their request and we are awaiting their decision.
North West Regional Development Agency
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new jobs have been created by the work of the North West regional development agency in the last five years, broken down by county. [58439]
Alun Michael: Jobs created or safeguarded (NWDA gross attributed outputs) are shown in the following table.
Note:
Information was not collated by county before 2003–04, but the total figure for 2001–02 was 29,523 and the figure for 2002–03 was 24,067
17 Mar 2006 : Column 2546W
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost of capital assistance provided by the North West Regional Development Agency has been in the last five years, broken down by county. [58440]
Alun Michael: The North West Regional Development Agency has provided capital assistance across the region in the last five years as follows:
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many flagship sites the North West Regional Development Agency controls; and what estimate he has made of the capital cost of each. [58441]
Alun Michael: The North West Regional Development Agency has land holdings in seven of the 25 strategic regional sites identified in the Regional Economic Strategy. Its total investment in each of them is as follows:
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many complaints have been received from companies by the North West Regional Development Agency in the last five years; and what action was taken in each case. [58442]
Alun Michael:
In 2001 two complaints were received from two different companies to which the chief executive responded in writing explaining the Agency's position.
17 Mar 2006 : Column 2547W
Nuclear Decommissioning
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the decommissioning costs of each nuclear power plant in Scotland; and if he will make a statement. [57200]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 9 March 2006]: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) assumed responsibility for the decommissioning and clean up of the UK's civil nuclear legacy on 1 April 2005. There are three sites in Scotland for which the NDA have responsibility: Chapelcross, Dounreay, and Hunterston A. Dounreay, however, was established as a research reactor site with fuel treatment facilities and not for electricity power generation. The total estimated decommissioning cost in respect of each power plant site is given in the NDA's draft Strategy as follows:
| £ billion | |
|---|---|
| Chapelcross | 1.663 |
| Hunterston A | 1.214 |
| Dounreay | 2.908 |
The draft Strategy is available through the NDA web site at: www.nda.gov.uk
Nuclear Power
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to increase the supply of UK-trained personnel in the field of nuclear power generation. [58974]
Malcolm Wicks: Cogent, the Sector Skills Council for the nuclear industry, is working with employers to ensure that skills levels meet employers needs.
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of availability of trained personnel in the field of nuclear power generation. [58977]
Malcolm Wicks: Cogent Sector Skills Council was launched in March 2004 tasked with taking a strategic view of the nuclear sector to ensure that education and training can meet the nuclear employers' current and future needs.
Cogent have recently undertaken a review of the labour market in the nuclear industry. The draft Skills Needs Assessment document which sets out the position of skills in the nuclear industry, along with the other industry sectors that Cogent covers, can be found on the Cogent web site at: http://www.cogent-ssc.com/pdf/SNADRAFTFORCONSULTATION170206v2.pdf
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |