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29 Jun 2006 : Column 525W—continued
The Centre’s budget for 2006-07 funding is projected to increase by 141 per cent.
Copyright Infringement
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what budget his Department has set for helping businesses combat (a) copyright infringement and (b) industrial espionage in each year since 1997. [80240]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department, especially through the Patent Office, helps businesses to combat copyright infringement in a number of ways, for example through raising awareness of the intellectual property system and the value of intellectual property, as well as coordinating enforcement action against intellectual property crime. However, as our awareness activities usually cover the whole range of intellectual property and as copyright infringement on a commercial scale is usually associated with other offences, we do not have figures available relating specifically to copyright infringement.
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent representations he has received on copyright infringement. [80241]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have not received any recent representations specifically relating to copyright infringement, apart from the hon. Member, although I am aware of the concerns of the creative industries in this area.
In December last year the Chancellor asked Andrew Gowers to lead an independent review of the Intellectual Property Framework. The review is looking at practical issues affecting businesses and consumers and will report to the Government this autumn.
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many prosecutions for copyright infringements there have been in England and Wales in each year since 1997. [80242]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The following figures are the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts under the various copyright offences in England and Wales.
| Number of defendants | |
| Notes: Figures for 2005 are not yet available. Figures relating to specifically copyright offences before the crown court are not available. | |
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent estimate he has made of the cost of copyright infringement is to (a) the UK economy and (b) the EU economy. [80244]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Currently there are no reliable estimates of the value of counterfeit goods being sold in the UK. This lack of evidence makes it impossible to estimate the cost of copyright infringement to both the UK and the EU economies. But our recently published National Intellectual Property Enforcement Report provides a general assessment of the threats and challenges faced by IP rights’ owners and how our IP crime strategy is dealing with these issues.
The Patent Office and the DTI are helping to sponsor the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in an international study to develop methodologies and a clearer assessment of the scope and scale of counterfeiting and piracy throughout the world. The Study is scheduled to produce its first results towards the end of 2006.
The EU-US action strategy for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights statement issued last week recognised the need for the OECD study to provide reliable data.
Counterfeit Goods
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent estimate he has made of the value of counterfeit goods sold in the UK. [80243]
Jim Fitzpatrick: There are currently no reliable estimates of the value of counterfeit goods being sold in the UK. But our recently published National Intellectual Property Enforcement Report provides a general assessment of the threats and challenges faced by IP rights’ owners and how our IP crime strategy is dealing with these issues.
The Patent Office and the DTI are helping to sponsor the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in an international study to develop methodologies and a clearer assessment of the scope and scale of counterfeiting and piracy throughout the world. The Study is scheduled to produce its first results towards the end of 2006.
Defence Industry
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his Department’s areas of responsibility are with regards to (a) the defence industry and (b) the export of weapons. [80260]
Malcolm Wicks: The information is as follows:
(a) The Enterprise and Business Group of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is responsible for the Government’s manufacturing strategy. In this role, it promotes the legitimate interests of a wide range of UK businesses including the UK defence industry and its supply chain and also works to secure investment and research and development that bring benefits to the UK economy. It is Government
policy, as set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, for wider industrial factors to be taken into account on major defence equipment procurements and DTI contributes to this industrial analysis.
(b) Separately, the Department discharges the statutory functions vested in the Secretary of State by the ‘Export Control Act 2002’. Principally, this is to process applications for licences to export items whose export is controlled by that Act. This function is carried out by the Export Control and Non-Proliferation directorate, a part of Energy Group.
Departmental Websites
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many websites there are within his responsibilities; and what the total cost of maintaining such websites was in the last year for which figures are available. [79062]
Jim Fitzpatrick: We operate one core DTI website, www.dti.gov.uk, within which there are links to a wider community of websites managed by partner agencies and other arm’s length bodies. We are aware of 48 DTI websites hosted by other domains.
The support for the Department’s core website is included in the overall service charge paid monthly under the IT service contract in place since 1 April 1999. There is no separation of website costs in this charge.
Information about the Department’s other websites is not held centrally and to gather it would involve disproportionate cost.
Energy Review
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) of 12 June 2006, Official Report, column 874W, on the Energy Review, how many of the responses to the Energy Review were from (a) individuals, (b) businesses, (c) schools, (d) academia, (e) non-government organisations and (f) other organisations; and what proportions of each were (i) in favour of and (ii) opposed to the extension of nuclear energy generation. [80382]
Malcolm Wicks: We received over 5,300 responses to the Energy Review consultation, expressing a range of views on many aspects of the energy industry. Releasing figures for only some of the responses to the consultation, out of context and without accompanying analysis, has the potential to mislead the public by focusing on the views and comments of only one section of the respondents.
We will publish a summary of the responses to the Energy Review consultation in the coming weeks. The responses are currently being posted in full on the DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk/energy/review.
Nuclear Power Industry
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the Government spent on nuclear power in each of the last five years. [80832]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government’s expenditure on civil nuclear energy from 2001 to 2006 is set out as follows.
Figures for direct Government expenditure (but not including spending by the Research Councils) on nuclear fission are given in the following table:
| Financial year | Nuclear fission (£ million) |
| Note: Expenditure is in support of emergency support arrangements provided by the Met Office in the event of a nuclear release into the atmosphere, and includes a contribution towards the cost of the underpinning meteorological modelling capability | |
In addition, expenditure by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council on research in aspects of nuclear fission is as follows:
| Financial year | Nuclear fission (£ million) |
Figures for nuclear fusion R and D are given in the following table:
| Financial year | Nuclear fission (£ million) |
In terms of British Energy, a loan facility was provided to the company in 2002 to support it through its restructuring. This loan was re-paid in full with interest in December 2003 and no further drawings can be made. As a result of the restructuring which completed in January 2005, the Government have taken direct financial responsibility for BE’s historic spent fuel liabilities. The following payments have been made since restructuring to meet those historic spent fuel liabilities: 2004-05— £185 million; 2005-06—£189 million. The Government are also underwriting British Energy’s decommissioning fund to the extent that its liabilities outweigh its assets. In return the company is making enhanced payments into the fund. On current valuations, the assets of the fund exceed the liabilities.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) assumed responsibility for the UK’s historic nuclear legacy on 1 April 2005. The legacy is made up of experimental facilities created 30 and 40 years ago and which were built without any consideration at the time for future decommissioning and clean up. About 80 per cent. of the total legacy costs relate to Sellafield and Dounreay—neither of which ever produced much electricity. In its approved Strategy the NDA set out its proposals for nuclear clean up which is estimated to be £62.7 billion. This is the life time cost of clean up—likely to take up to 100 years plus to implement.
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