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19 Mar 2007 : Column 634W—continued
Equity
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in what percentage of companies’ private equity groups own over 50 per cent. of shares in (a) the UK, (b) the North East region and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency. [124228]
Mr. McCartney: This information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Exports: Algeria
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value of exports to Algeria was in 2006. [126980]
Mr. McCartney: UK exports of goods to Algeria were worth about £167 million in 2006 on an Overseas Trade Statistics basis. Figures for trade in services with Algeria are not available.
Exports: Namibia
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value of UK exports was to Namibia in (a) 1991, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006. [126989]
Mr. McCartney: UK exports of goods to Namibia were worth about £4.0 million in 1991, £17.3 million in 2005 and £13.2 million in 2006, on an Overseas Trade Statistics basis. Figures for trade in services with Namibia are not available.
Exports: Poland
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value of exports to Poland was in 2006. [126981]
Mr. McCartney: UK exports of goods to Poland were worth about £2751 million in 2006 on an Overseas Trade Statistics basis; this figure may have been affected by transactions associated with missing trader VAT fraud particularly in the first half of the year. Figures for trade in services with Poland are likely to be available in summer 2007.
Imports: Namibia
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the value of imports from Namibia to the UK was in (a) 2001 and (b) 2006; and what the top three products imported were by (i) volume and (ii) value. [126971]
Mr. McCartney: UK imports of goods to Namibia were worth about £316.5 million in 2001 and £346.6 million in 2006 on an Overseas Trade Statistics basis. Figures for trade in services with Namibia are not available.
The Standard International Trade Classification divisions with the largest UK imports from Namibia are shown in the following tables:
| (a)(i) By weight in 2001 | |
| Tonnes | |
| (a)(ii) By value in 2001 | |
| £ million | |
| (b)(i) By weight in 2006 | |
| Tonnes | |
| (b)(ii) By value in 2006 | |
| £ million | |
| Notes: 1..nes: not elsewhere specified. 2. For UK imports from Namibia, non-metallic mineral manufactures nes are primarily diamonds. Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics. | |
Nuclear Power
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he plans to take to ensure an effective consultation on nuclear power in the energy review. [124225]
Malcolm Wicks: As set out in my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry's parliamentary statement of 22 February 2007, the Government will be holding a new consultation on nuclear energy which is likely to be published in early May, or before Easter if that is possible, together with the White Paper on energy policy.
Post Office: Reorganisation
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many submissions on the Post Office reorganisation consultation have been received from each region. [128193]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Government have received over 2,300 responses to their public consultation on the future of the Post Office network. The country/regional breakdown as of 9 March is as follows:
| Number of responses | |
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses have been received to the Post Office Network Consultation; and when he plans to announce its conclusions. [128399]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Government have received over 2,300 responses to its public consultation on the future of the Post Office network.
We are currently reviewing the response and will be publishing our conclusions in due course.
Post Offices: Scotland
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many responses to the Post Office consultation his Department has received from (a) Orkney and Shetland and (b) each Scottish constituency. [126904]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department has received over 2,300 responses to its public consultation on the future of the Post Office network, which ended on Thursday 8 March. In addition, the Department also received a number of local petitions and post card/stock letter campaigns.
We do not hold the information in the form requested, though a breakdown by region indicates that responses from Scotland accounted for around 19 per cent. of the total.
Renewable Energy
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the merits of feed-in tariffs for the propagation of renewable energy; and whether he has investigated whether it would be possible to migrate from a system based upon renewable obligation certificates to one of feed-in tariffs. [128072]
Malcolm Wicks: The renewables obligation (RO) was introduced in 2002 to replace the previous support scheme, the Non Fossil Fuels Obligation (NFFO), which was a form of a feed in tariff. It was introduced as a means of encouraging greater deployment of renewables, providing investor confidence, and increasing value for money for the consumer. A review of the RO, carried out in 2005-06, confirmed that the RO was a more successful mechanism. Since its introduction eligible renewable electricity generated under the scheme has increased to 4.0 per cent of total electricity sales to UK consumers in 2005 up from 1.8 per cent. in 2002, compared with an increase under the NFFO from 0.2 per cent. of electricity sales in 1992 to 1.8 per cent. in 2002.
The Energy Review has confirmed the Government’s commitment to the renewables obligation as the mechanism to support deployment of renewables. The Government has recently consulted on their proposals to reform the RO. A consultation document, “Reform of the Renewables Obligation and Statutory Consultation on the Renewables Obligation Order 2007”, was published 9 October 2006 and 206 responses were received. This Government will be considering all issues that have been raised.
An announcement on the results of the consultation will be made in the Energy White Paper due to be published in March or May of this year.
Small Businesses
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what definition he uses of ‘family business’. [126129]
Mr. Darling [holding answer 8 March 2007]: There is no standard definition used for ‘family business’. A common definition, used by the DTI in its Annual Small Business Survey, is that a family business is one
“majority owned by members of the same family”.
The 2005 survey found that 65 per cent. of all small and medium-sized enterprises were family businesses.
Trade Promotion
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when a minister in his Department last visited (a) Chile, (b) Brazil, (c) Argentina, (d) Mexico, (e) Uruguay, (f) Venezuela, (g) Bolivia and (h) Columbia on (i) a trade promotion visit and (ii) a visit in connection with other Departmental responsibilities. [124784]
Mr. Darling: The most recent visits by Ministers are as follows:
| Visits | |
Visits cover both trade promotion and other Departmental responsibilities.
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when a Minister in his Department last visited (a) the US, (b) Canada, (c) Japan, (d) Russia and (e) Australia on (i) a trade promotion visit and (ii) a visit in connection with other Departmental responsibilities. [124785]
Mr. Darling: The most recent visits by Ministers are as follows:
| Visits | |
Visits cover both trade promotion and other Departmental responsibilities.
Ukraine: World Trade Organisation
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what meetings he has held on the EU-Ukraine trade agreement; and what meetings he has held on the date of Ukrainian accession to the World Trade Organisation. [126701]
Mr. McCartney: My right hon. Friend the Secretary for Trade and Industry has not held any meetings regarding the EU-Ukraine trade agreement, or regarding the date of Ukrainian accession to the World Trade Organisation. I have not held any such meetings either.
The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office, discussed the proposed new enhanced EU-Ukraine Agreement, which will include a Free Trade Agreement, and prospects for Ukraine’s accession to the WTO, with the President and Prime Minister of Ukraine during his visit to Kiev on 26 and 27 February.
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