| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 Dec 2006 : Column 1524W—continued
Energy Mis-selling
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps (a) his Department and (b) Ofgem have taken to prevent mis-selling to small businesses in the energy market. [109292]
Malcolm Wicks: The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is responsible for the regulation of gas and electricity supply, including marketing. I understand that the Chairman of Ofgem will write to the hon. Member about the information he has sought.
Energy Review
Paddy Tipping:
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effect of the reduction of forecast volume of
available supplies of UK sourced softwood on the Government’s policy on co-firing as part of the Energy Review; and if he will make a statement. [108761]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 14 December 2006]: As part of the Energy Review, the Government announced some proposed changes to the Renewables Obligation (RO). Following this, a consultation on the RO began on 9 October 2006. It is available in full through the following link:
http://www.dti.gov.uk/consultations/page34162.html
The Government will consider the Forestry Commission’s report United Kingdom: New Forecast of Softwood Availability as part of the consultation on the Renewables Obligation. The consultation closes on 15 December 2006 for the Renewables Obligation Order 2007. All responses and other relevant information will be considered together at this point.
Export Licensing via Internet Service Project
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was spent on the Export Licensing via Internet Service Project, broken down by main budget heading. [109318]
Malcolm Wicks: The Export Licensing via Internet Service Project (ELVIS) is a DTI-only based system that was introduced to enable exporters to submit electronic export licence applications via the Internet.
The Joined-up and More Efficient Working on Export Licensing (JEWEL) review, completed at the end of 2003, looked at ways of improving cooperation across the export licensing community, i.e. DTI, FCO, MOD and DfID, so as to deliver, collectively, a more efficient service to exporters consistent with achieving the Government’s policy aims through the licensing system. One of its conclusions was to establish a cross-departmental electronic licensing system.
The Shared Primary Information Resource Environment (SPIRE) programme is the successor to ELVIS and aims to fully automate the Export Control Licensing system from the receipt of applications (over the Internet), through to the issue of electronic licences. SPIRE is scheduled to go live in autumn 2007.
The approved budget for SPIRE is £2.21 million, of which £434,000 has been spent to end October 2006.
Farepak
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what progress has been made towards helping those in Ribble Valley constituency affected by the collapse of Farepak. [106223]
Mr. McCartney [holding answer 29 November 2006]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State cannot intervene in the conduct of an individual insolvency case.
The company went into administration on13 October 2006. The administrators will seek to recover as much as they can for the benefit of all the company's creditors. They also have a duty to report to the creditors and consult them concerning proposals for the administration.
A fund—the Farepak response fund—has been set up to make funds and distribute a goodwill gesture to those affected by the Farepak collapse. The goodwill gesture has now been distributed to all agents across the UK in the form of vouchers. In addition from Thursday 14 December food hampers will be distributed to all agents who have ordered hampers for them to distribute among their customers.
Gowers Review
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Government plans to accept the recommendation of the Gowers Review on extending sound recording term of copyright. [109612]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government will take forward the recommendations in the Gowers Review for which it is responsible. The recommendation on sound recording term is one that is made to the European Commission. The Review has produced a comprehensive analysis of the arguments for and against extending sound recording term. No doubt the Commission will consider this analysis when it looks into the sound recording question.
Green Public Buildings
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many public buildings have (a) solar panels and (b) wind turbines. [108377]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government do not hold any data on how many public buildings have (a) solar panels and (b) wind turbines.
However, under Government capital grant programmes for microgeneration technologies, we have committed funds to the following public building projects:
| Number of grants | ||
| Programme | Solar panels | Wind turbines |
Industrial Injuries: Claims
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many claims have been submitted for (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) hearing loss by BRM solicitors in each Nottinghamshire constituency. [109739]
Malcolm Wicks: The number of claims submitted for chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD) and noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) are shown in the following table:
| Constituency | COPD | NIHL |
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many industrial injury claims have been submitted for (a) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) vibration white finger without a postcode. [109741]
Malcolm Wicks: The number of industrial injury claims submitted for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and vibration white finger (VWF) are shown in the following table:
| Claims registered( 1) | |
| (1) No Claimant postcode in ICMS. | |
Magazine Press
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library copies of the in-house staff magazine of his Department for the last 12 months. [107612]
Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 4 December 2006]: I have arranged for copies of "DTI News" to be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Manufacturing Industries
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many manufacturing jobs in Wales there are; how many there were in 1997; which jobs were (a) created and (b) lost in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [104604]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 5 December 2006]: The latest ONS employee jobs data estimates that there were 171,099 employee jobs in manufacturing in Wales in June 2006. The equivalent June 1997 figure for Wales is 210,376.
ONS data shows that manufacturing output is experiencing some welcome revival in 2006, growing 1.6 per cent. by October, compared to the end of last year. Productivity growth in manufacturing, using the “per job” measure, was 3.5 per cent. in quarter two of this year, compared to the previous quarter. This was higher than the equivalent measure for the whole economy, which was 2.0 per cent. So whilst regrettably the decline in manufacturing jobs continues, manufacturing continues to contribute in an important way to economic output.
The ONS could not provide the relevant job flows data required to answer parts (a) and (b).
MG Rover
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much was spent in relation to the collapse of MG Rover, broken down by main budget heading. [109314]
Margaret Hodge: Following the collapse of MG Rover in April 2005, this Government made available up to £176.5 million over three years for MG Rover workers, suppliers and the community. In the event, the impact on MG Rover’s suppliers and their workforce was not as severe as had been feared and the full amount set aside was not required. The total amount that is now budgeted to be spent is £126.5 million as set out as follows:
In addition, a loan of £6.5 million was provided to the Administrators of MG Rover in April 2005 to allow them to seek a going concern sale. £1.3 million of that loan was subsequently repaid, given a net cost of £5.2 million.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills announced the appointment of Inspectors under the Companies Act to investigate and report on the affairs of the MG Rover Group, including Phoenix Venture Holdings Ltd. and MGR Capital Ltd. on 31 May 2005. The total costs of that inspection as at 30 November 2006 were £5,833,542 plus VAT of £1,076,553 and disbursements of £318,191. The investigation continues.
Miners' Compensation
Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many coal miners have received compensation under the 1974 Coal Industry Pneumoconiosis Scheme since 2002, broken down by area. [104590]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 7 December 2006]: The following table details the number of miners and miner’s widows/estates that have received compensation under the 1974 Coal Industry Pneumoconiosis Scheme since 1 January 2002. The data has been broken down by region.
| Region/Status | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | Grand total |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |