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24 July 2006 : Column 1013W—continued
Air Conditioning
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many and which buildings occupied by his Department have air conditioning installed; what plans he has to install further air conditioning in his Department's buildings; and if he will make a statement. [87107]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Of the 15 buildings currently occupied by the Department (either leased commercially or as a tenant of another government body), the following have centralised cooling or air conditioning systems: 1 Victoria Street, London SW1; 151 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1; Kingsgate House, London SW1; Amberley House, Gloucester; Tay House, Glasgow.
The Department has no plan to install further air conditioning systems. 1 Victoria Street, the DTI’s main building, was designed as an energy efficient building with triple glazing, motorised blinds to limit solar gain and a passive chilled ceiling cooling system.
Airbus Consortium
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in states in the Airbus consortium; and if he will make a statement. [86723]
Margaret Hodge: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, met his counterparts at a meeting at the Farnborough Air Show on 17 July. A copy of the communiqué issued at that meeting is as follows:
Airbus Ministerial Meeting at Farnborough International Air Show 2006, Monday 17 July
Communiqué text:
The Ministers of France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom responsible for the civil aerospace industry held their regular meeting at the Farnborough International Air Show on Monday 17 July 2006.
The meeting was chaired by Alistair DARLING MP, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. Also present were Dominique PERBEN, French Minister for Transport, Equipment, Tourism and the Sea; Georg Wilhelm ADAMOWITSCH, German State Secretary for Economics; Jose MONTILLA, Spanish Minister for Industry, Tourism and Trade; and Margaret HODGE MP, British Minister for Industry and the Regions. The industry was represented by Christian STREIFF, and the representatives of the Airbus shareholder committee, Thomas ENDERS, Louis GALLOIS and Francisco FERNANDEZ SAINZ for EADS and Mike TURNER for BAE Systems Plc. The Ministers offered their best wishes to the new management team of Airbus and EADS.
Airbus made a presentation on the status of the A380 including an explanation of the industrial issues that have led to some delay in the delivery schedule for the aircraft and the steps Airbus is taking to remedy the situation. Ministers noted this presentation and expressed their confidence in the ability of Airbus management to address these industrial issues and in the commercial success of the A380 programme.
The Ministers welcomed Airbus' response to the market and its intention to launch an all-new family of widebody aircraft. The Ministers confirmed their commitment to support the European aerospace industry. They reaffirmed their agreement to support Airbus to continue to innovate and to develop programmes in the context of international competition.
The Ministers once again expressed their desire for a negotiated solution to the current WTO dispute, but stressed the need for a balanced outcome regarding support for both current and future programmes so as to ensure a level playing field.
Animal Welfare
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made in implementing the proposals put forward by the Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals with respect to the trading of cat and dog fur and derived products. [88208]
Mr. McCartney: Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Kyprianou stated at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 20 February that the European Commission was planning to publish a proposal on the import of cat and dog fur within the next few months. We are currently awaiting that proposal.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of how much cat and dog fur has been imported into Britain in the last 12 months. [88212]
Mr. McCartney: No evidence of significant imports has been brought to my attention. The UK has requested that a separate tariff code be introduced by the EU so that the level of such imports can be accurately assessed.
Area Assistance
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to his Department's paper of 10 July 2006 on the Review of UK Assisted Areas Stage 2—The Government's response and draft assisted areas map, what average (a) level of manufacturing share of employment, (b) claimant rate of incapacity benefit, (c) employment rate and (d) level of adult skills at level 2 and above in (i) Great Britain, (ii) each ward of Scottish Borders council area, (iii) each ward of Dumfries and Galloway council area and (iv) each ward of Berwick borough council area were used to assess future eligibility for assistance; and what the (A) half a standard deviation and (B) full standard deviation (1) above and (2) below the Great Britain average are. [87356]
Margaret Hodge: The data for Great Britain, including wards in the Scottish Border council, Dumfries and Galloway council and Berwick borough council areas are available from the sources specified. The description gives a full definition of the data used in prioritising assisted area coverage in the Draft Map, including the thresholds related to the Great Britain average and standard deviation. The Department will place this information on its website, at
http://www.dti.gov.uk/regional/assisted-areas/assisted-areas-review/page24618.html.
Data have been built up from ward level, using census area statistics wards (2003 CAS wards). Where possible, averages of the three most recent years’ data have been used.
Ward level data from 2001 census have been used—working age population in employment (ILO definition) divided by total working age population (Source: NOMIS).
To construct more recent estimates, numerators have been factored by local authority estimates of employment rate, using four-quarterly averages from the labour force survey (Source: NOMIS). The base year is taken as March 2001 to February 2002. A three-year average has been taken of these derived estimates, using the years March 2002 to February 2003, March 2003 to February 2004 and March 2004 to February 2005.
The Great Britain average on this basis was 69.2 per cent. with a standard deviation of 6.4 per cent. Therefore the thresholds for eligibility of a zone were:
half a standard deviation: employment rate less than 66.0 per cent.
one standard deviation: employment rate less than 62.8 per cent.
Adult skills at level 2 or above
Ward level data from 2001 census have been used—working age population with NVQ Level 2 qualification (or equivalent) or higher, divided by total working age population (Source: NOMIS).
To construct more recent estimates, numerators have been factored by local authority estimates of working age Level 2+ skills rate, using the local area labour force survey (Source: NOMIS). The base year is taken as March 2001—February 2002. A three-year average has been taken of these derived estimates, using the
years March 2001 to February 2002, March 2002 to February 2003 and March 2003 to February 2004.
The Great Britain average on this basis was 52.2 per cent. with a standard deviation of 7.5 per cent. Therefore the thresholds for eligibility of a zone were:
half a standard deviation: Level 2+ skills rate less than 48.5 per cent.
one standard deviation: Level 2+ skills rate less than 44.8 per cent
Administrative data are available at ward level from the Department of Work and Pensions. The series used includes both incapacity benefit claimants and severe disablement allowance claimants. The claimant count denominator has been used (Source: NOMIS).
A three-year average has been taken, using data from November 2003, November 2004 and November 2005.
The Great Britain average on this basis was 7.9 per cent. with a standard deviation of 3.4 per cent. Therefore the thresholds for eligibility of a zone were:
half a standard deviation: IB claimant rate greater than 9.7 per cent.
one standard deviation: IB claimant rate greater than 11.4 per cent.
Manufacturing share of employment
Data are taken from the Annual Business Inquiry employee analysis (Source: NOMIS). Rates are constructed as employment in Manufacturing (Standard Industrial Classification code D) divided by employment in all industrial sectors.
Only two years’ data are available for 2003 CAS wards. Therefore a two-year average has been taken, using data from 2003 and 2004.
The Great Britain average on this basis was 12.3 per cent. with a standard deviation of 5.9 per cent. Therefore the thresholds for eligibility of a zone were:
half a standard deviation: manufacturing share of employment greater than 15.3 per cent.
one standard deviation: manufacturing share of employment greater than18.2 per cent.
Sources:
All data used are publicly available. Data can be obtained through the following websites:
NOMIS
http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/
Department of Work and Pensions
http://www.dwp. gov.uk/asd/tabtool. asp
General Register Office for Scotland (for Scottish Census data)
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/census/censushm/index .html
Bank and Shop Closures
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the impact of the closure of post offices, bank branches and independent retail shops in Nottingham South and in the East Midlands on the (a) frequency, (b) distance and (c) mode of transport of journeys by customers; and what assessment he has made of the impact of such closures on the level of (i) environmental emissions and (ii) traffic congestion. [79225]
Margaret Hodge: All local transport authorities are required to develop plans, termed Accessibility Strategies, to ensure that citizens have ease of access to facilities and amenities in their area. These are part of the Local Transport Plan process and Accessibility Strategies were submitted to Department for Transport as part of the second round of Local Transport Plans in March 2006.
Department for Transport issued guidance to local transport authorities in December 2004 that highlighted food and essential services such as supermarkets, post offices and banks as being destinations that local transport authorities should consider as part of the process. Authorities were asked to prioritise the analysis of, and actions to promote, accessibility to these local services alongside other destinations such as access to employment. Accessibility Strategies contain a forward programme of analysis and action based on this prioritisation process.
The South Nottinghamshire area is covered by the Greater Nottingham Local Transport Plan, which is jointly developed by Nottingham city council and Nottinghamshire county council. In the development of the associated Accessibility Strategy, a workshop was held in 2005 relating to access to food and essential services and included discussion of closures, cost of travel, relative infrequency of public transport in rural areas, and availability of information on transport types. The Post Office consumer group, Postwatch, were also consulted as part of this work.
Department for Transport expects local transport authorities to develop detailed Local Accessibility Action Plans for each year of the plan period to 2010-11, based on the priorities identified through the themed workshops and discussions with partners.
Bankruptcy
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people have declared themselves bankrupt in each London borough since 1997. [87779]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The following table records the numbers of individual bankruptcy orders in the London Region classified according to Official Receivers’ offices from 1997-98 to 2005-06.
Figures are not separately available for each London borough.
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of farmers who went bankrupt in England in each of the last five years. [88737]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The closest available estimate for bankruptcies amongst self-employed farmers is that for bankruptcies falling under the category “agriculture” according to the Insolvency Trade Classification and these can be found in the following table:
| Bankruptcies in England and Wales for Agriculture, 2001 to 2005 | |
| Bankruptcy orders | |
BCCI
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many members of staff in the Insolvency Service are involved in dealing with the BCCI case; and what costs the Insolvency Service has incurred to date in relation to the case. [87168]
Jim Fitzpatrick: No individual member of staff of the Insolvency Service is continuously involved in work related to the liquidation of BCCI but staff are deployed as and when required in dealing with inquiries, correspondence and receiving reports from and discussing issues with the liquidators. The cost of the involvement of Insolvency Service staff in work related to BCCI since 1991 could only be calculated as disproportionate cost.
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