Previous Section Index Home Page

20 Apr 2006 : Column 761W—continued

Heating Fuel Costs

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry by how much the cost of heating fuel has changed in each year since 1997. [64422]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 18 April 2006]: Percentages real terms year-on-year price changes for those fuels used in the domestic sector are shown in the following table.
 
20 Apr 2006 : Column 762W
 

Year-on-year percentage price changes since 1997
Fuel

Coal and smokeless fuelsGasElectricityHeating oilsTotal fuel and light
1996 to 1997-2-4-8-5-6
1997 to 1998-2-6-7-19-7
1998 to 19990-3-3+10-3
1999 to 20000-4-3+39-2
2000 to 2001+20-3' -5-2
2001 to 2002+2+3-3-80
2002 to 2003-1-1-2+8-1
2003 to 2004+3+5+4+12+5
2004 to 2005+8+10+7+26+11




Source:
Retail Price Index, Office for National Statistics



Home Computing Initiative

Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions the Department has had with the Treasury on the abolition of Home Computing Initiative tax relief. [62453]

Alan Johnson [holding answer 30 March 2006]: My Department has had a number of discussions with the Treasury on Budget issues relevant to DTI, including the Home Computing Initiative.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss Claims

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much has been paid to (a) Beresfords, (b) UDM, (c) Vendside, (d) Wake Smith and (e) AMS Law for noise-induced hearing loss claims in each year since 2000; and what the average payment was in each case. [64452]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 19 April 2006]: The costs payments made are set out in the table:
SolicitorSolicitor payments madeTotal solicitors costs (£)Average (£)
2000Beresfords6152,330858
2001Beresfords1,314902,897687
2002Beresfords411287,524700
2003Beresfords336299,029890
2004Beresfords437544,6081,246
2005Beresfords650699,6781,076
2006(5)Beresfords6571,7791,104
2000UDM/Vendside(6)1,222684,846560
2001UDM/Vendside2,7571,666,900605
2002UDM/Vendside2,1301,327,737623
2003UDM/Vendside793602,626760
2004UDM/Vendside833667,124801
2005UDM/Vendside1,150951,274827
2006UDM/Vendside424356,483841
2000Wake Smith11,5001,500
2001Wake Smith1516,0321,069
2002Wake Smith65,768961
2003Wake Smith21,868934
2004Wake Smith2059,3362,967
2005Wake Smith163,3212,708
2006Wake Smith12,0002,000
2000AMS Law170109,219642
2001AMS Law9762,195641
2002AMS Law7859,619764
2003AMS Law4637,946825
2004AMS Law5553,784978
2005AMS Law3429,512868
2006AMS Law32,569856


(5) 2006 figures reflect the position up to 16 April 2006
(6) The Union of Democratic Mineworkers register claims on behalf of their members. Vendside operate a claims handling company on behalf of the UDM and as such administration of claims is processed via Vendside Limited



 
20 Apr 2006 : Column 763W
 

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many claimants have been paid for noise-induced hearing loss in (a) Bassetlaw and (b) Nottinghamshire since 1999. [64453]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 19 April 2006]: The number of claimants paid for noise-induced hearing loss since 1999 is 1,389 in Bassetlaw and 11,163 in Nottinghamshire 1 .

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what agreements on costs have been reached for noise-induced hearing loss claims with (a) Beresfords, (b) Wake Smith, (c) AMS Law, (d) UDM and (e) Vendside; and when each agreement (i) began and (ii) will end. [64454]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 19 April 2006]: The Department's agreement on costs for noise-induced hearing loss claims with Beresfords was reached in December 2000 and ended in March 2002. The current agreement with the UDM was reached in May 2003, is ongoing, and covers claims originating with the Union but submitted by either their claims handling company, Vendside, or the solicitors AMS Law. We do not have an agreement with Wake Smith.

Social Tariffs

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions (a) he and (b) his officials have had with representatives of gas and electricity supply companies on improving the information on social tariffs provided to customers. [64379]

Malcolm Wicks: DTI officials and I have regular contact with all of the major energy supply companies and their trade organisation, the Energy Retail Association, on a wide range of issues, including the introduction of social tariffs by energy companies. With DTI's encouragement, the energy suppliers established the Home Heat helpline, which, among other things, provides customers with advice on the most appropriate tariff, including information on social tariffs. It is for individual suppliers to determine how best to market their tariffs.

Telephone Preference Service Regulations

Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many letters the Information Commissioner's Office has sent to date to (a) companies that have had in excess of 50 complaints made against them under telephone preference service regulations and (b) to companies breaching telephone preference service regulations. [62238]

Alun Michael: The Information Commissioner is responsible for administering the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Regulation 21 of these regulations relates to unsolicited direct marketing telephone calls. It should be note that
 
20 Apr 2006 : Column 764W
 
complaints received by his office about breaches of Regulation 21 concern calls made to Telephone Preference Service (TPS) registered numbers and also organisation not to make marketing calls to that number.

Due to the nature of the casework management system used by the Information Commissioner's Office he is unable to identify companies about which more than 40 complaints have been received about alleged breaches of Regulation 21 and is therefore unable to identify how many letters have been sent to companies about which more than 50 such complaints have been received.

To date, the Information Commissioner has written to organisations in 1,754 cases regarding an alleged breach of Regulation 21.

So far the Information Commissioner has been able to deal with complaints relating to alleged breaches of Regulation 21 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, through informal resolution with the organisations concerned. Information Commissioner has not needed to initiate formal enforcement action against any organisation for breaching Regulation 21. As most cases have been resolved at any early stage of their proceedings.

Telephone Service Providers

Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many complaints about telephone cold calling were made against (a) the Labour party, (b) the Conservative party, (c) the Scottish National party and (d) the Green party since the introduction of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) 2003; and on how many occasions the Information Commissioner has initiated formal action in response to these complaints. [61652]

Alun Michael: The Information Commissioner is responsible for administering the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Regulation 21 of these regulations relates to unsolicited direct marketing telephone calls. It should be noted that complaints received by his office about breaches of Regulation 21 concern not just calls made to Telephone Preference Service (TPS) registered numbers but also calls made to numbers where the subscriber has directly asked the calling organisation not to make marketing calls to that number. Also, Regulation 19 relates to the use of unsolicited direct marketing automated telephone calls.

The number of complaints about telephone cold calling made against the parties since the introduction of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) in 2003 is as follows:
Number
(a) Labour party
Total Regulation 19 complaints16
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints0
Total Regulation 21 complaints4
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0
(b) Conservative party(7)
Total Regulation 19 complaints5
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints5
Total Regulation 21 complaints8
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0
(c) Scottish National party(8)
Total Regulation 19 complaints5
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints5
Total Regulation 21 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0
(d) Green party
Total Regulation 19 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints0
Total Regulation 21 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0
(e) Liberal Democrats
Total Regulation 19 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints0
Total Regulation 21 complaints1
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0
(f) UKIP
Total Regulation 19 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints0
Total Regulation 21 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0
(g) Plaid Cymru
Total Regulation 19 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints0
Total Regulation 21 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0
(h) Respect
Total Regulation 19 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 19 complaints0
Total Regulation 21 complaints0
'Upheld' Regulation 21 complaints0


(7) In 2005 the Information Commissioner issued one enforcement notice under Regulation 19 against the Conservative party.
(8) In 2005 the Information Commissioner issued one enforcement notice under Regulation 19 against the Scottish National party.
Note:
The term 'Upheld' also includes cases where the Information Commissioner decided that enforcement action was not appropriate even though there may have been some breach of the regulations.




 
20 Apr 2006 : Column 765W
 

Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) against how many UK companies more than 50 complaints have been made under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003; [61653]

(2) on how many occasions the Information Commissioner has taken against firms in breach of telephone preference service rules; and whether the Information Commissioner has taken action against firms about which he has received more than 50 complaints. [61654]

Alun Michael: The Information Commissioner is responsible for administering the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Regulation 21 of these regulations relates to unsolicited direct marketing telephone calls. It should be note that complaints received by his office about breaches of Regulation 21 concern calls made to Telephone
 
20 Apr 2006 : Column 766W
 
Preference Service (TPS) registered numbers and also organisation not to make marketing calls to that number.

Due to the nature of the casework management system used by the Information Commissioner's Office he is unable to identify companies about which more than 40 complaints have been received about alleged breaches of Regulation 21 and is therefore unable to identify how many letters have been sent to companies about which more than 50 such complaints have been received.

To date, the Information Commissioner has written to organisations in 1,754 cases regarding an alleged breach of Regulation 21.

So far the Information Commissioner has been able to deal with complaints relating to alleged breaches of Regulation 21 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, through informal resolution with the organisations concerned. Information Commissioner has not needed to initiate formal enforcement action against any organisation for breaching Regulation 21. As most cases have been resolved at any early stage of their proceedings.


Next Section Index Home Page