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27 Feb 2007 : Column 1151W—continued
Employment: Equality
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his estimate is of the compliance costs to date of employers in (a) the private sector and (b) the public sector of complying with the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations. [123172]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The final regulatory impact assessment (RIA) for the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 estimated that the one-off implementation costs for firms to familiarise themselves and hence comply with the new legislation would amount to £219 million.
The RIA also estimated that there would be around 8,000 employment tribunal claims per year at a cost of £30 million to employers and £8 million to the Exchequer.
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what his assessment is of rates of compliance with the provisions of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations by employers in (a) the private sector and (b) the public sector. [123173]
Jim Fitzpatrick:
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations apply to all employers in the private and public sector. Employers who fail to comply with them are liable to be taken to an employment tribunal by individuals who believe they have been subject to unlawful age discrimination. To date, there have been 558 claims
lodged with the employment tribunal service. This suggests that the vast majority of employers have recognised the value of taking a non-ageist approach.
Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his Department plans to take to ensure the enforcement of age discrimination regulations for (a) young and (b) older workers. [123365]
Jim Fitzpatrick: As with other strands of discrimination legislation individuals of any age can enforce their employment rights through employment tribunals. Once the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) is established in October it will provide institutional support on age discrimination for the first time. The new Commission will be an independent influential champion whose purpose is to reduce inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations between people and protect human rights. The CEHR will take an active role in helping to achieve change to benefit some of the most vulnerable and least well represented people in our society.
Energy Services Directive
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Government plan to take on the implementation of Article 13 of the Energy Services Directive after the metering and billing consultation. [123411]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government are reviewing responses to the recent consultation document published on this issue and considering how to go forward on the need for better billing and metering, including any measures that might be required to implement Article 13 of the Energy Services Directive.
Energy: Television
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the energy requirements of (a) analogue and (b) digital television systems. [123424]
Margaret Hodge: The Government’s Market Transformation Programme (MTP) has analysed the performances of over 630 televisions sold in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and has concluded that the difference in energy consumption between analogue and integrated digital televisions (IDTVs) is negligible.
The annual consumption of a television varies significantly with screen size and television type, and defining what constitutes a ‘typical’ television is difficult. However, for a 32 inch widescreen cathode-ray television, MTP estimates that the annual consumption will be 292 kWh, and 310 kWh for a LCD screen of the same size. A 42 inch (a typical size for this technology) plasma TV will consume 746 kWh per year.
However, digital transmission is more efficient than analogue in terms of power usage. Replacing the analogue terrestrial transmission network with a nationwide digital terrestrial television network will lead to a significant net reduction in energy usage by transmission networks, estimated to be 186 GWh per year.
Imports: Developing Countries
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value was of imports of (a) goods and (b) services to EU which were not subject to (i) duty and (ii) quotas from (A) least developed countries (LDCs), (B) non-LDC African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, (C)(1) low income non-LDC countries, (2) lower mid-income non-LDC countries, (3) upper mid-income non-LDC countries and (4) high income countries as defined by the OECD Development Assistance Committee and (D) the world as a whole in each year since 1980. [122228]
Mr. McCartney: The information requested is either not available or could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value was of (a) imports and (b) exports of (i) goods and (ii) services between the EU15 and (A) least developed countries (LDCs) as currently defined, (B) non-LDC African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, (C)(1) low income non-LDC countries, (2) lower mid-income non-LDC countries, (3) upper mid-income non-LDC countries and (4) high income countries as defined by the OECD Development Assistance Committee and (D) the world as a whole in each year since 1980. [122229]
Mr. McCartney: Figures for imports and exports of goods are shown in the following two tables.
| Imports of goods to the European Union 15 | |||||||
| Billion US$ | A | B | C1 | C2 | C3 | C4 | D |
| Source: United Nations Comtrade database | |||||||
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