---

4 May 2006 : Column 1750W—continued

Compensation Claims (VAT)

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions his Department has agreed to pay VAT as part of a costs settlement for (a) noise induced hearing loss claims, (b) vibration white finger claims and (c) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease claims. [66681]

Malcolm Wicks: All cost settlement made in noise induced hearing loss, vibration white finger and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease claims will include VAT as part of that settlement.

Defence Exports

Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value was of defence equipment sold by UK defence manufacturers to (a) Iran, (b) China and (c) Turkey in 2005. [68076]

Malcolm Wicks: The DTI Export Control Organisation (ECO) is responsible only for holding information on the export licences it has issued, not on the value of UK defence equipment sales. However, the Government publish detailed information on its strategic export licensing decisions which include defence equipment. The total value of Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) issued, by destination, is available in its Annual and Quarterly Reports on Strategic Export Controls. HM Revenue & Customs collects some data on exports of Military List items, which is published, by destination, in the Annual Reports.

The Annual Reports are available from the Libraries of the House, and the Quarterly Reports, from the DTI Export Control Organisation website at:

www.dti.gov.uk/export.control.

We expect to publish the 2005 Annual Report by June 2006.

EU Directives (Organ Pipe Manufacturing)

Dr. Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress the Government have made in discussions on the exemption of the organ pipe manufacturing industry from EU Directives on restrictions on hazardous substances and waste electrical and electronic equipment. [67159]

Malcolm Wicks: The Department has been working with the pipe organ industry for some time and will continue to do so in order to secure a favourable outcome on this issue. The UK Government do not consider that pipe organs fall within the scope of this Directive, a view widely accepted within the E.C. The DTI is working closely with the European Commission, and our aim is to reach a successful conclusion before the Directive comes into force on 1 July.
 
4 May 2006 : Column 1751W
 

EU Energy Shortages

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the UK is under an obligation to share national oil (a) stocks and (b) reserves in the event of energy shortages in the EU. [68571]

Malcolm Wicks: The UK is obliged as a member state of the European Union to hold emergency stocks of oil equivalent to 67.5 days' annual consumption for use in the event of disruption, and as a member of the International Energy Agency to take part in any collective response to disruption. The purpose of both these obligations is to enable a release of stocks onto the global oil market when there is collective agreement that this is necessary. The release of stocks following Hurricane Katrina by EU and other states, co-ordinated through the IEA, showed that the system was able to respond well to the disruption which occurred.

Export Control Act

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when the proposed review of the Export Control Act 2002 is expected to commence; and which body he plans to ask to carry out the review. [67835]

Malcolm Wicks: In line with Cabinet Office guidance, my intention is to start the review of the regulations introduced under the Export Control Act after they have been in force for three years—from May 2007. The review will be carried out by DTI's Export Control Organisation, which has responsibility for the legislation, in consultation with other interested Departments and parties.

Fuel Prices

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average price of a gallon of (a) unleaded and (b) diesel fuel was in (i) Milton Keynes and (ii) the UK in each week since May 2005. [68144]

Malcolm Wicks: Weekly prices for Milton Keynes are not available. Average weekly prices for the UK as a whole are as follows.
£/gallon

	Diesel	Unleaded petrol
2 May 2005	4.07	3.88
9 May 2005	4.07	3.88
16 May 2005	4.06	3.88
23 May 2005	4.05	3.85
30 May 2005	4.02	3.83
6 June 2005	4.01	3.82
13 June 2005	4.04	3.86
20 June 2005	4.07	3.89
27 June 2005	4.10	3.94
4 July 2005	4.14	3.98
11 July 2005	4.18	3.99
18 July 2005	4.21	4.03
25 July 2005	4.23	4.05
1 August 2005	4.24	4.06
8 August 2005	4.26	4.08
15 August 2005	4.30	4.12
22 August 2005	4.30	4.13
29 August 2005	4.33	4.16
5 September 2005	4.42	4.29
12 September 2005	4.45	4.32
19 September 2005	4.42	4.29
26 September 2005	4.38	4.24
3 October 2005	4.39	4.25
10 October 2005	4.41	4.28
17 October 2005	4.41	4.28
24 October 2005	4.40	4.25
31 October 2005	4.39	4.22
7 November 2005	4.39	4.20
14 November 2005	4.32	4.12
21 November 2005	4.24	4.03
28 November 2005	4.21	4.00
5 December 2005	4.17	3.97
12 December 2005	4.16	3.96
19 December 2005	4.17	3.98
26 December 2005	4.19	4.00
2 January 2006	4.19	4.00
9 January 2006	4.23	4.03
16 January 2006	4.24	4.05
23 January 2006	4.26	4.07
30 January 2006	4.27	4.09
6 February 2006	4.27	4.08
13 February 2006	4.26	4.08
20 February 2006	4.26	4.07
27 February 2006	4.26	4.07
6 March 2006	4.26	4.06
13 March 2006	4.27	4.07
20 March 2006	4.29	4.10
27 March 2006	4.32	4.13
3 April 2006	4.35	4.17
10 April 2006	4.38	4.22
17 April 2006	4.44	4.28
24 April 2006	4.48	4.33

 
4 May 2006 : Column 1752W
 

Gas Supplies

John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 19 April 2006, Official Report, column 675W, on gas supplies, if he will provide his Department's detailed calculations based on the IMF data and the Royal Bank of Scotland data which were used as the basis for the statement on German gas prices. [67468]

Malcolm Wicks: The information is as follows:

	As at December
	2004	2005
IMF Data: Russian Natural gas border price in Germany (US$/thousand cubic metres)	156.24	250.56
RBS Data: US$: Euro exchange rate	0.74596	0.84371
Conversion of thousand mcm to Mwh	1000 cm=	11.06 Mwh
Russian gas at German border price (Euro/Mwh)	10.54	19.11
Increase over 2005	80 per cent

Notes:
IMF data is publicly available (from http://www.imf.org/external/np/res/comnaod/index.asp) and has been converted to standard European units for the sale of gas using Royal Bank of Scotland publicly available exchange rate data (from http://www.rbs.com/content/media_centre/rbs_and_the_economy/rate_calculator/) and appropriate conversion rate




 
4 May 2006 : Column 1753W
 

Miners' Compensation

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on how many occasions his Department has agreed to pay a fee to Vendside as part of the costs settlement for a noise-induced hearing loss claim. [66679]

Malcolm Wicks: The Department pays Vendside the costs incurred by the Union of Democratic Mineworkers in handling hearing loss claims. To date, 9,377 hearing loss claims have been settled by payment and a payment will have been made to Vendside in each of these.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2006,Official Report, column 2355W, on Union of Democratic Mineworkers/Vendside, if he will place in the Library the minutes of these meetings. [67769]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 3 May 2006]: It would not be appropriate for the Department to publish the minutes of these meetings without the prior consent of the other parties.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library copies of agreements between his Department and (a) the Union of Democratic Mineworkers and (b) Vendside. [67770]

Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 3 May 2006]: The agreement are commercially confidential so it would not be appropriate for the Department to publish them.

---