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University Staff (Lancashire)

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average annual earnings of full-time members of academic staff of universities in Lancashire were in the last year for which figures are available. [59613]

Bill Rammell: The latest available figures are shown in the following table:
Average salary⁽²⁷²⁾ of full-time HE academic staff with teaching responsibilities higher education institutions in (a) Lancashire⁽²⁷³⁾ and (b) England in 2004/05

	Average salary (£)
Grade	Lancashire	England
Professors	56,000	59,100
Senior lecturers and researchers	31,500	41,500
Lecturers	30,600	33,000

⁽²⁷²⁾ Average salary is derived from the gross basic salary per annum, in pounds sterling as stated in the contract at the reference date of HESA's staff count (31 July) or at the end date of the contract if earlier. It does not include any regular payments for additional duties, responsibility allowances or honoraria, regardless of their source. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
⁽²⁷³⁾ Includes Edge Hill college of HE, St. Martin's college, university of Bolton, university of Central Lancashire and university of Lancaster.
Source:
HESA staff record 2004/05

World Heritage Sites

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which Minister in her Department has responsibility for issues relating to world heritage sites. [63475]

Beverley Hughes: Lead responsibility for policy on world heritage sites rests with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport works closely with relevant Government Departments on all issues affecting world heritage sites. Within the Department for Education and Skills, Bill Rammell is Minister, with responsibility for issues concerning world heritage sites which fall within this Department's policy remit.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Arms Exports

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 27 March 2006, Official Report, column 636W, on arms exports, when the goods in question were sent; and when they arrived in Iraq. [62563]

Malcolm Wicks: An export licence was issued on 15 June 2004. The goods were exported under the licence in July 2004. The Joint Contracting Command-Iraq provided a delivery verification certificate confirming that the goods had been delivered and accepted by them on 18 April 2005 or earlier in Baghdad, Iraq.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 27 March 2006, Official Report, column 636W, on arms exports, when the goods in question were sent; and when they arrived in Iraq. [62599]

 
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Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 30 March 2006]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to his question number 62563 answered today.

Bankruptcies

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in (a) England, (b) each English region and (c) the Tees Valley under the age of 25 have declared themselves bankrupt in each year since 1997. [62840]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The areas in the regional insolvency tables are based around Official Receivers offices and are not directly comparable with standard geographies such as Government Office regions. The insolvency regions" are areas assigned to groups of Official Receivers and are based around the location of county courts where the cases are heard and of courts having jurisdiction over these. As such, the Tees Valley area is best matched to the Stockton Official Receivers office, but it should not be considered a precise measure of bankruptcies in the Tees Valley for the reasons given above. The county courts covered by Stockton OR are Darlington, Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Northallerton.
 
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These figures are not analysed by age, and to provide them for the under 25-age group would involve disproportionate cost. However the Insolvency Service has recently published the report Characteristics of a bankrupt" which includes some information by region and age group for financial years 2001–02 to 2004–05 and which is available here (it should be noted that the nearest age band presented in the report is for those aged 18–29): http://www.insolvency.gov.uk/insolvencyprofessionandlegislation/policychange/cob.pdf

The following table records the numbers of individual bankruptcy orders in England and Wales (for all ages). It also contains figures for Stockton OR separately and for the regions of E&W classified according to Official Receivers' Office from 1997 to 2005. It should be noted that over the years there have been changes to the composition of the insolvency service regions, including, notably, Croydon being recorded in the London region from April 2004 whereas previously it came under the south east region. It should also be noted that to provide figures for England separately would require splitting the south west regional figures and would not provide precise figures.
Numbers of bankruptcies recorded in Official Receivers offices, 1997 to 2005

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Stockton	356	366	411	452	559	564	574	717	873
Northern regions	4,145	4,385	6,435	7,478	8,336	8,343	8,449	10,359	12,841
North East	n/a	n/a	n/a	3,838	4,228	4,227	4,581	5,614	7,019
North West	n/a	n/a	n/a	3,640	4,108	4,116	3,868	4,745	5,822
Midland Region	4,155	4,260	3,544	3,187	3,409	3,501	4,191	4,812	6,122
Anglia Region	3,105	3,180	3,408	3,144	3,521	3,527	4,191	5,193	7,132
South East Region	3,175	2,831	2,931	2,730	2,755	3,052	4,618	5,616	7,328
South West Region	3,848	3,617	4,002	3,720	4,023	4,401	4,627	5,672	7,791
London	1,464	1,374	1,291	1,291	1,433	1,468	1,945	4,246	6,073
E&W National total	19,892	19,647	21,611	21,550	23,477	24,292	28,021	35,898	47,287

British Energy

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent estimate he has made of the market value of the Government's stake in British Energy. [62542]

Barry Gardiner [holding answer 30 March 2006]: The Nuclear Liabilities Fund holds £265 million British Energy bonds as well as a right to approximately 65 per cent. of British Energy's annual adjusted free cash flow (the 'cash sweep'), a right that is convertible into British Energy shares. The Department applies a proxy valuation to the cash sweep based on the prevailing British Energy share price.

Based on a market valuation, at the close of play on 24 March 2005, the British Energy bonds were valued at about £284 million and the 'cash sweep' was estimated to be around £6.6 billion based on converting the 65 per cent. stake at current share prices.

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the likely effect on the market value of the Government's stake in British Energy of the Energy Review's possible conclusions on whether the UK (a) should and (b) should not build new nuclear power stations. [62547]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 30 March 2006]: No decisions have been taken on the Energy Review. City analysts have said the appropriate approach to assess the value of shares in British Energy is to assess the discounted value of the expected cashflow to shareholders. The primary determinants of this value are expectations about realised prices for electricity, the expected life of the stations, investment costs in maintaining the fleet and the appropriate discount rate for a company like British Energy.

Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to limit the scale of the liability to be borne by the public purse in respect of British Energy's nuclear liabilities. [60634]

Barry Gardiner: Through the restructuring agreements, the Department has put in place measures to ensure British Energy's liabilities are minimised. These measures will be overseen by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on behalf of the Department. For example, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will be responsible for reviewing and approving all of British Energy's decommissioning plans, identifying synergies and cost savings where possible, and approving all payments out of the decommissioning fund to discharge British Energy's liabilities.

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