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23 Mar 2007 : Column 1158W—continued
The analysis of the impact of new measures and extensions to existing measures under the programme is available at:
A summary of the cost-benefit analysis of measures in the Energy Review is available at:
The Government have committed to putting the UK on a path to a 60 per cent. reduction in carbon emissions by 2050. Reducing carbon emissions from the use of electricity will make an important contribution to meeting this target.
Industrial Diseases: Compensation
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many chronic obstructive pulmonary disease coal health claims have been struck out through failure to meet the claims questionnaire cut-off deadline of 8 December 2006; and how many of those were from Bassetlaw constituency. [128323]
Malcolm Wicks: No claims have been struck out of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease scheme because of any missed cut-off date so far. As the cut-off date for the live claims questionnaire (CQ) submission was 8 December 2006, the dispute procedure is still ongoing. However, there are 200 claimants who have submitted a dispute that is still to be resolved.
Some 6,970 claimants have failed to submit a fit for medical assessment process (MAP) CQ before the cut- off date, of which 76 are from the Bassetlaw constituency.
Meters
Mr. Gummer: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to ensure that the conclusions of trials of smart enabled meters will be taken into account in plans for the implementation of the Energy Services Directive. [128734]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government will set out their views on metering and billing in the forthcoming Energy White Paper. The trials of smart meters and associated devices will play a key part in future decisions on smart metering as a whole, including implementation of Article 13 of the Energy Services Directive.
Natural Gas
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the total UK gas storage capacity was on 1 January in each of the last 30 years for which records are available. [117918]
Malcolm Wicks: Great Britain’s gas storage capacity during the period from 1997 is summarised in my parliamentary written answer of 23 January 2007, Official Report, column 1615W, to the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison). I regret that only limited information is available for the period prior to 1996-97. The following table shows the start-up date of each of the earliest storage facilities, and their approximate storage space as of 1996-97:
| Facility | Start-up date | Approx. space in 1996-97 (GWh) | Approx. space in 1996-97 (bcm) |
| (1 )Estimated Notes: 1. Store space can be assessed in numerous ways (e.g. energy, volume, cushion gas determination, liquefied natural gas heel, etc.), so the figures given may differ from other published data. 2. GWh = Giga Watt Hours; bcm = Billion Cubic Metres. Source: National Grid. | |||
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether he has met British Nuclear Fuels to discuss the shortfall in revenues generated for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. [124787]
Malcolm Wicks: No. Discussions about the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s funding—which is a mixture of grant in aid from the Department and income from its commercial operations—have been at official level.
Research Councils: Finance
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer of 7 March 2007, Official Report, column 1995W, on research, what methodology was used to ensure that the change to the budgets of the research councils would have minimal impact on the research objective reflected in his Department's public service agreement objective. [127943]
Malcolm Wicks: This part of the overall calculation took account of assessments made by research councils about the impact on their planned activities.
Budget 2007 announces an early CSR settlement for the DTI’s ringfenced science budget, alongside a settlement for DFES. Together, these will ensure that investment in the public science base will rise by an annual average rate of 2.5 per cent. in real terms over the CSR period. The Department of Trade and Industry’s science budget will increase from £3.4 billion this year (2007-08) to £3.9 billion by 2010-11. These early settlements provide long-term certainty for the research community, and meet the commitments set out in the 10-year investment framework.
In the context of a tight spending review period, this represents a very good settlement for science.
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the effect of the change to the research councils budget. [125339]
Malcolm Wicks: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Cambridge (David Howarth) on 2 March 2007, Official Report, column 1602W.
Budget 2007 announces an early CSR settlement for the DTI’s ringfenced science budget, alongside a settlement for DFES. Together, these will ensure that investment in the public science base will rise by an annual average rate of 2.5 per cent. in real terms over the CSR period. The Department of Trade and Industry's science budget will increase from £3.4 billion this year (2007-08) to £3.9 billion by 2010-11. These early settlements provide long-term certainty for the research community, arid meet the commitments set out in the 10-year investment framework.
In the context of a tight spending review period, this represents a very good settlement for science.
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Cambridge of 2 March 2007, Official Report, column 1602W, on research councils: finance, if he will list the meetings his officials had with the research councils to discuss the likely impact of the reductions in end-year flexibility on the planned activities. [127926]
Malcolm Wicks: Officials have regular and frequent contacts with research councils. In recent weeks there have been discussions between DTI officials and research council staff about end-year flexibility on virtually a daily basis.
Budget 2007 announces an early CSR settlement for the DTI’s ringfenced science budget, alongside a settlement for DFES. Together, these will ensure that investment in the public science base will rise by an annual average rate of 2.5 per cent. in real terms over the CSR period. The Department of Trade and Industry’s science budget will increase from £3.4 billion this year (2007-08) to £3.9 billion by 2010-11. These early settlements provide long-term certainty for the research community, and meet the commitments set out in the 10-year investment framework.
In the context of a tight spending review period, this represents a very good settlement for science.
Small Businesses
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if his Department will take steps to introduce microfinance schemes for individuals in deprived areas to improve entreprenueurialism in those areas. [124729]
Margaret Hodge: The Government have already taken steps to introduce microfinance schemes to encourage entrepreneurs in deprived areas.
The Phoenix Fund, launched in 1999, was a time limited, £40 million fund which pump-primed the establishment of 63 community development finance institutions that serve disadvantaged communities around the country. 4,545 loans with a total value of £34,475,308 were provided by the Phoenix Fund, which closed in 2006. Future funding of CDFIs rests with the RDAs who have received a further £11 million of post-Phoenix transition funding for the 2006 to 2008 period specifically for the community finance sector.
Further assistance with micro-loans is available through the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) which was announced by the Chancellor in his 2005 Budget. It aims to release the economic and productivity potential of the most deprived local areas across the UK through enterprise and investment—thereby boosting local incomes and employment opportunities, and building sustainable communities.
LEGI is a £300 million programme in the first instance, spread over three years. 15 local authorities have already benefited from the first round. A further 14 local authorities will benefit from the second round. Local authorities that have been successful in securing LEGI funding in rounds one and two may introduce microfinance schemes to encourage entrepreneurship.
Finally, small businesses in disadvantaged areas may seek funding from the Small Firms Loan Guarantee (SFLG). This scheme provides loans from £5,000 upwards to small businesses with viable business plans that are unable to obtain a conventional loan because they do not have collateral or a proven track record. Current monthly usage is around 250 loans with a total value of around £20 million.
Home Department
Asylum
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what circumstances an asylum seeker with exceptional leave to remain is able to leave and return to the UK. [127815]
Mr. Byrne: A person who applies for asylum and is granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom for more than six months is normally permitted to travel abroad and return to the United Kingdom until their leave expires, provided that they are not absent for a continuous period of more than two years. If they remain outside the United Kingdom for more than two years their leave will lapse and they may not be readmitted to the United Kingdom. The policy and the exceptions to it are set out in the Asylum Policy Instruction Travel Abroad, which is publicly available on the IND website at:
http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/asylum policyinstructions/
Asylum: Children
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving in the UK in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006 were the subject of an age dispute; and how many of those were subsequently found to be minors. [127535]
Mr. Byrne: Information is not available on how many of those asylum applications lodged in 2005 and 2006 from unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASCs) were at some time the subject of an age dispute. The number of age dispute cases who were subsequently found to be minors would only be available by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.
Information on UASCs is published on a quarterly and annual basis. Statistics on age disputed applications are published annually. Data on age disputed asylum applications in 2005 and 2006 do not necessarily relate to UASC applications received within the same period. Copies of these publications are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:
Departmental Computers
Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 4 December 2006, Official Report, column 144W, on departmental computers, from which office in his Department each computer was stolen in each year; and what the security classification was of the material on each computer. [123695]
Mr. Byrne: As these records are not held centrally it has not been possible to collate a response to this PQ.
Work Permits: Football
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits were granted to footballers since 1990; and in what situations they were required. [126045]
Mr. Byrne: The following table shows how many footballers have been granted work permits in each year since 1995. There are no statistics available for the period before 1995.
Prior to the 1999-2000 season the work permit requirements were:
The player had to have played in approximately 75 per cent. of international matches for a national team that regularly engaged in competitive matches at the top level of world football.
Clubs had to provide evidence that they had made genuine efforts to recruit players from the UK and EEA labour market.
The salary offered had to reflect the current market rates and the club had to indicate the position that the overseas player would take in its salary structure.
In 1999 the criteria were changed and the current requirements were put in place. The requirements are:
The player must have played for his country in at least 75per cent. of its competitive ‘A’ team international matches he was available for during the two years preceding the date of the application.
The player's country must also be at or above 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings when averaged over the two years preceding the date of the application.
Where an application does not meet these requirements the club can request a review by an independent panel of the football bodies and three independent experts.
The following table shows how many footballers have been granted work permits in each year since 1995. There are no statistics available for the period before 1995.
| Number of work permits approved | |
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