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26 Apr 2006 : Column 1127W—continued
Nuclear Waste
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total amount of nuclear waste produced by research establishments that use nuclear material has been in the last 30 years. [63779]
Mr. Morley: I have been asked to reply.
The total amount of nuclear waste produced by research establishments that use nuclear material in the last 30 years is estimated to be about 80,000 cubic metres, excluding future decommissioning wastes of about 170,000 cubic metres.
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total amount of waste from nuclear power stations which is purely from the civil programme has been over the last 30 years. [63783]
Mr. Morley: I have been asked to reply.
The total amount of nuclear waste produced by nuclear power stations which is purely from the civil programme in the last 30 years is estimated to be about 60,000 cubic metres, excluding future decommissioning wastes of about 410,000 cubic metres.
Oil Companies (Engagements)
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he last called a meeting with the executive directors of each of the main oil companies in the UK; who attended; what was discussed; how long the meeting lasted; if he will place in the Library a note made by his officials of the meeting; and if he will make a statement. [65478]
Malcolm Wicks:
The Energy Minister convened a meeting with executive directors of the main oil companies and their trade association UKPIA, the United Kingdom Petroleum Industry Association, on 10 January 2006. UKPIA represents all of the UK's major oil refining companies. The meeting lasted for about an hour. The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss supply issues following the Buncefield Oil Terminal fire plus emergency stocking obligations. Under Competition Policy rules, at no stage was pricing
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of petrol and diesel discussed. A record of the meeting will not be placed in the Library, as doing so would prejudice commercial interests.
Photovoltaic Industry
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the annual budgets for (a) the Clear Skies and (b) the Solar Photovoltaics Major Demonstration programmes was in each of the last three years. [63593]
Malcolm Wicks: The Department did not allocate annual budgets for the Clear Skies and Major Demonstration PV programmes. The Clear Skies programme had a £13,250,000 budget over the last three years and the Major PV Demonstration programme had a £31,750,000 budget over the last four years. The amount of grant committed in each year over the last three years is as follows:
| Clear Skies | MDP PV | |
|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | 4,406,040 | 7,950,643 |
| 2004–05 | 4,337,485 | 8,253,471 |
| 2005–06 | 3,472,715 | 9,425,805 |
Road Fuel
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what advice his Department (a) publishes and (b) gives to members of the public about how to conserve (i) petrol and (ii) diesel; and if he will make a statement. [65479]
Malcolm Wicks: The Department of Trade and Industry does not publish this information, as it is matter for the Department for Transport (DfT). However, the New Car Fuel Consumption and Emission Figures booklet published annually by the Vehicle Certification Agency (VGA) includes advice on more efficient driving. The DfT's Logistics Policy Unit also publish advice on Safe And Fuel Efficient Driving (SAFED) for commercial drivers.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average price was of a litre of (a) unleaded petrol and (b) diesel in (i) England, (ii) Essex, (iii) inner London and (iv) outer London in each week of 2006. [65358]
Malcolm Wicks: The DTI does not collect data in the above format. It is commercially available from Catalist. The following data has been provided by Catalist and consists of the average price of petrol and diesel on a Monday.
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Stress Laminated Timber
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State forTrade and Industry what steps his Department is taking to ensure there are test facilities in the UK large enough to fire test a new form of stress laminated timber (SLT). [61799]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.
The testing of construction materials falls within ODPM policy responsibilities. The DTI does not directly support the establishment or maintenance of fire test facilities. There are several testing halls within the UK capable of undertaking large scale testing of stress laminated timber.
Sunday Trading
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what research his Department has (a) assessed and (b) commissioned on the social implications of relaxing Sunday trading restrictions; [65376]
(2) how potential social effects will be taken into account in his Department's review of Sunday trading restrictions. [65377]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The DTI issued a press and website notice in January asking for views and evidence on all aspects of Sunday trading.
Supermarkets
Mr. Malik: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will assess the merits of introducing measures to regulate the sale by national supermarket chains of goods at below wholesale prices. [65977]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has responsibilities for enforcing the UK competition and consumer protection regimes.
The OFT has consulted on a proposed referral of the grocery market to the Competition Commission for a market investigation. The statutory consultation closed on 6 April and we expect the OFT's decision in early May.
The Competition Commission (CC) has noted that prohibitions on below-cost selling in other countries have not been effective. The Irish Government has recently announced its intention to repeal the Restrictive Practices (Groceries) Order 1987 in its entirety. One of the key aims of the Order was to prevent below cost selling by larger retailers in a manner that that would damage their smaller competitors. Micheal Martin the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment said that the Order has kept the prices of the vast majority of grocery products in Ireland at an artificially high level.
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In their reference the OFT have included consideration of the buying power of the supermarkets and its effect on the differential between prices to supermarkets and those to wholesalers and buying groups. Whether there are problems in the sector, and whether there are any remedies that should be put in place to address them will be a matter for the CC to consider should the OFT make a reference.
Torture Equipment
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to prevent British companies from brokering the sale of items for torture overseas. [65270]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government have had a national prohibition on the export of equipment used for torture since 1997, and deplore the use of such equipment. The UK has been at the forefront of global efforts to control the trade in torture equipment and has recently played an important role in the introduction of a related EU Regulation, which will also bring many other EU states up to our own level of control.
In addition to the UK national ban on the export of torture equipment, trafficking and brokering has also been controlled under UK national controls since 2003. This will continue after implementation of the EU Regulation. Brokering of the controlled items is prohibited without a trade licence.
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