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22 Jan 2007 : Column 1564W—continued

Light Bulbs

Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what support is available to companies manufacturing energy-efficient light bulbs in the United Kingdom. [105557]

Margaret Hodge: The Government remain fully committed to raising product standards and encouraging consumers to use the most energy-efficient domestic appliances available.

The Government have put in place a comprehensive package of policies and measures to drive an increase in energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy. Within this programme, we are working hard to encourage the take up of low-energy light bulbs as widely as possible, including through the Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC)—an obligation on energy suppliers to promote improvements in household energy efficiency. Under the first three-year phase of EEC to 2005, around 30 million compact fluorescent light bulbs were distributed, and this number is expected to rise to over 40 million during the current three-year phase to 2008.

The Government's Market Transformation programme (MTP) supports measures such as the mandatory EU energy labelling scheme which, for domestic light bulbs, has been mandatory since 1 January 2001. Energy labels provide clear and easily recognisable information about the energy- consumption and performance of domestic products on a 7-point scale ranging from “A” (most efficient) to “G” (least efficient), thus enabling consumers to make a considered choice when purchasing energy- consuming products. Furthermore, minimum energy performance standards have resulted in the removal of the most inefficient fluorescent lamp ballasts from the market. (Lamp ballasts are required to control the current passing through fluorescent discharge tubes, which dissipate energy and can affect the light output efficiency of the fluorescent tube itself).

MTP also works with the Lighting Association, the Lighting Industry Federation, the Energy Saving Trust and Energy Efficiency Partnership, to promote energy- efficient lighting which is both commercially viable and acceptable to consumers. The Energy Saving Trust endorses and vigorously promotes the best lighting products under its energy efficiency recommended
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scheme and building regulations require new housing to have a minimum number of energy-efficient fittings.

Looking to the future, we can expect further advances in lighting technologies including, for example, solid-state LEDs which have the potential to provide high-efficiency, low-cost and long-life alternatives for a range of ordinary, decorative and reflector bulbs. We hope this will then lead to acceptable and affordable energy-efficient alternatives across the whole range of lighting products.

Mining Industry Claims

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many declarations of corporate hospitality, including hotel meals from companies and others involved in coal health claims, have been made by departmental staff in each year since 1999. [113741]

Malcolm Wicks: 45 declarations of hospitality have been made since June 2001 to December 2006 by staff involved in coal health claims. See following table for a breakdown of this figure. We do not have records of hospitality prior to June 2001.

Number

2001

2

2002

10

2003

8

2004

5

2005

3

2006

17


Orangutan Habitat: Palm Oil

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what recent discussions he has had with other EU member states on the sources of palm oil imported into Europe, with particular reference to the habitat of the orangutan; [117064]

(2) what recent discussions he has had with (a) UK supermarkets, (b) ministerial colleagues and (c) others on the sourcing of palm oil imported into the UK and its effect upon the habitat of the orangutan. [116953]

Mr. McCartney: Neither my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor I have held any such discussions.

Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations

Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the Answer of 8 November 2006, Official Report, column 1610W, on the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations 2003, which were the companies concerned in the four instances of successful prosecutions under the Regulations; what products were involved in each case; and if he will make a statement. [117164]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The four companies stated in my earlier reply which were prosecuted for failing to comply with the Packaging (Essential Requirements) Regulations were:


22 Jan 2007 : Column 1566W

These cases were brought by local Trading Standards Officers based in local authorities; one case by Oldham borough council, two by Northamptonshire county council and one by Cambridgeshire county council.

Post Office Card Accounts

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new Post Office card accounts were opened in each of the last three years. [116922]

Jim Fitzpatrick: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Post Office Facilities: Bingley

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on the future of post office facilities in Bingley. [116924]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Post Office Ltd. (POL) is directly responsible for matters relating to the operations of a network of post offices in any given area around the country. I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.

Post Offices

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses his Department has received to the Post Office Network Consultation from each region; and how many of those responses were sent in by email. [116409]

Jim Fitzpatrick: As of the 18 January 2007, the Department has received 42 responses to the Post Office Network Consultation. 10 of the responses were submitted electronically.

The breakdown by region is as follows:

Regions Number

East England

1

Midlands

7

North England

3

Scotland

20

South East England

3

South West England

6

Wales

2


Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices there were in Eastbourne constituency in each year since 1997. [116537]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The question the hon. Member has asked relates to operational matters for which Post Office Ltd. (POL) is directly responsible. The company has provided the following figures relating to the numbers of post office branches in the constituency:


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Eastbourne constituency
Number of open Post Office branches

2001-02

22

2002-03

22

2003-04

17

2004-05

16

2005-06

17


This information commenced from the end of 2002; data by constituency is not available prior to this. The information is placed in, and is available from, the Libraries of the House.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many new post offices were opened in each of the last 10 years; and how many closed post offices were reopened. [116538]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The question the hon. Member has asked relates to operational matters for which Post Office Ltd. (POL) is directly responsible. The company has provided the figures relating to the numbers of Post Office branches.

The historical information that is available on the network of Post Office branches is the number of open Post Office branches on an annual basis.

Total number of open Post Office branches

1996-97

19,251

1997-98

19,008

1998-99

18,775

1999-2000

18,393

2000-01

17,846

2001-02

17,584

2002-03

17,239

2003-04

15,961

2004-05

14,609

2005-06

14,376


Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the economic impact of the programme of post office closures on (a) the Scottish economy and (b) the economy of Perth and Kinross. [116692]

Jim Fitzpatrick: No assessment can be made of the economic impact of post office closures on the Scottish economy and of Perth and Kinross before local area implementation plans have been developed by Post Office Ltd following the Government’s final decisions after National Public Consultation.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the likely cost to small and medium-sized businesses of the programme of post office closures. [116693]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government provide support for the Post Office network on the basis of the valuable social and economic role that many offices are seen to play. Proposals for the network include continued funding for this role and comprehensive access criteria to maintain a national network. In developing these proposals, the Government have looked at the wide
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range of research from Postcomm, Postwatch, the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters and others, but have not undertaken a separate estimate of costs to small and medium-sized businesses.

A public consultantion was announced on 14 December 2006, which will conclude on 8 March 2007.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the environmental impact of his programme of post office closures. [116694]

Jim Fitzpatrick: No specific assessment has been made, but the number of wholly additional or extended motor vehicle journeys is not expected to be great, given the proposed access criteria, which specifically address access to post offices in rural and remote areas.

Regional Development Agencies

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the projected (a) total budget and (b) administration costs of each regional development agency is for 2007-08. [114335]

Margaret Hodge: The table shows the indicative total RDA grant in aid budget for each Regional Development Agency and their projected administration costs for 2007-08.

Administrative budgets include resources for staff involved in both policy and delivery as well as back office functions.

RDA total budget and administration budget for 2007-08
£ million
Total budget Administration budget

Advantage West Midlands

291

20

East of England Development Agency

138

11

East Midlands Development Agency

167

16

London Development Agency

400

28

North West Development Agency

409

38

One North East

258

22

South East Development Agency

167

20

South West Development Agency

164

22

Yorkshire Forward

316

19


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