| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 July 2007 : Column 284W—continued
Joint Industry Board for the Electrical Contracting Industry: Arbitration
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what proportion of cases that have gone through the joint industry board for the electrical contracting industry's dispute resolution procedures have been successfully arbitrated. [149474]
Mr. McFadden: The joint industry board for the electrical contracting industry's dispute resolution scheme is voluntary for members of these industries and therefore the hon. Member should consult the scheme's administrators for details of its performance.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment his Department has made of the joint industry board for the electrical contracting industry's dispute resolution procedures; and if he will make a statement. [149475]
Mr. McFadden:
In the light of Michael Gibbons' review and the Government's consultation ‘Resolving Disputes in the Workplace’, the Government are considering a broad spectrum of approaches to resolving work place disputes, including those procedures currently
operated by the joint industry board. The consultation closed on 20 June and the Government will publish their response and proposals for the way forward in the autumn.
Manpower: Renewable Energy
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate his Department has made of levels of employment in the UK renewable energy sector in each of the last five years. [148428]
Malcolm Wicks: The Department does not make annual estimates as to the number of people employed within the renewable energy sector.
The latest year for which we have an estimate is 2004, which indicated that the renewable energy sector, in that year, generated around 8,000 UK jobs.
Oil
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether the Government plan to review their estimate of when global oil supply will peak following the recent medium term oil market report published by the International Energy Agency; and if he will make a statement on global oil supplies. [149511]
Malcolm Wicks: Although the IEA’s July 2007 medium-term oil market report has revised downwards projections for future global oil production capacity, it nevertheless still sees total capacity increasing by around 10 per cent. between 2007 and 2012 and remaining above demand. Moreover, the report also notes that:
“While hydrocarbon resources are finite, nonetheless issues of access to reserves, prevailing investment regime and availability of upstream infrastructure and capital seem greater barriers to medium-term growth than limits to the resource base itself.”
The IEA report therefore supports the approach set out in chapter 1 of the 2007 energy White Paper: that the key challenge is not one of insufficient global oil resources, but rather one of promoting—domestically and internationally—more investment across the energy sector and also improvements in energy efficiency.
Parental Leave: Low Incomes
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate his Department has made of the length of (a) paternity leave and (b) maternity leave taken by people from low-income families in the last period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [148696]
Mr. McFadden: The most recent data available on take-up of maternity and paternity leave is from the Maternity and Paternity Rights and Benefits: Survey of Parents 2005. The report of findings is available at the House of Commons Library and at www.berr.gov.uk/files/file27446.pdf. Statistics in this report are based on responses from a sample of mothers and fathers who had a child in December 2003 who were surveyed approximately 17 months after the child’s birth.
Estimates of duration of paternity leave and maternity leave have not been analysed for low-income families.
Duration of paternity leave has been analysed by fathers’ income. The following table, an excerpt of table 9.1 in the cited report, shows duration of paternity leave split by fathers’ income (figures are percentages).
| Income (£/month) | No paternity leave | Less than two weeks | Two weeks | More than two weeks |
Duration of maternity leave has been analysed by mothers’ income. Table 3.1a of the cited report, shows duration of maternity leave, paid and unpaid, split by hourly pay band. Analysis of this data is presented on pages 28 to 29 of the cited report.
| Income (£/hour) | Less than 26 weeks maternity leave | 26 weeks maternity leave | 27 to 51 weeks maternity leave | 52 weeks + maternity leave |
Renewables Obligation
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the annual cost was of the renewables obligation to the average household in 2006; and what the projected cost is of the obligation to the average household by 2010. [148559]
Malcolm Wicks: Ofgem has calculated the annual cost to the average household in 2006-07 to be £7.35. This is projected to rise to £11.41 by 2010-11 at 2006 prices.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what his estimate is of the increase in renewable energy generation since the implementation of the renewables obligation; what the average cost has been per household (a) in total and (b) per kilowatt hour generated; and what estimate he has made of the cost of delivering the same increase through different feed in tariff mechanisms. [148724]
Malcolm Wicks: According to the digest of United Kingdom energy statistics 2006, renewables electricity generation from RO-eligible sources has increased from 5.75 TWh in 2002 to 13.17 TWh in 2005.
Ofgem has calculated the cumulative cost of the RO from 2002-03 to 2005-06 (the last date for which figures are currently available) to consumers to be £21.81 per household (in 2002 prices).
Ofgem has also calculated the overall UK price per kWh of electricity generated by the RO. Between 2002-03 and 2005-06 it fell from 5.1 pence per kWh to 3.9 pence per kWh.
As we have said in the “Meeting the Energy Challenge”,
“while a number of other EU member states have used mechanisms such as feed-in tariffs, it is hard to draw firm conclusions as to the effectiveness of these mechanisms from international comparisons, as other forms of support also vary”.
World War II: Medals
Mr. Beith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will make Bevin Boy badges available to the (a) widows and (b) children of those who qualified for it but have died. [147415]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 3 July 2007]: As with other veteran badges, the Bevin Boys badge is a survivors badge and it is intended that it can be worn in public by Bevin Boys to raise awareness of the important role they played during World War II and in the post-war reconstruction of the UK. However, as it is anticipated that the application form will not be launched before October this year, it is proposed that applications will be accepted from the widows of Bevin Boys who died on or after 20 June 2007, when the badge was announced, where a death and marriage certificate are attached to the application. Precise details will be announced when the application form is released.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what freedoms are available to academies that are not automatically available to local authority schools; and if he will make a statement. [149861]
Jim Knight: Academies have a range of freedoms that are not automatically available to local authority schools.
Freedom to establish their own pay and conditions system for staff, with the exception of those who transfer from the predecessor school under the transfer of undertakings and protection of employment regulations.
A greater degree of flexibility in their curriculum provision than community schools. Following the Secretary of State's statement on 10 July 2007, all future academies will follow the national curriculum programmes of study in the core subjects: English; Science, Maths and ICT. However, academies do not have to follow the national curriculum disapplication procedures.
Greater flexibility over the size and composition of governing bodies. Academy governance is not prescribed in regulations, but the Department does insist on parental and local authority representation in all cases: all academies must have one elected
parent and one governor appointed by the local authority. Beyond this, academies are free to determine their own governance arrangements.
Freedom over the length of school days and the number of sessions taught. This allows academies to tailor the school day to target underachievement and raise standards as effectively as possible.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many academies there were in each year since 2000-01; and how many he expects there to be in each year to 2012-13. [149862]
Jim Knight: The Government are committed to opening 400 academies. Details of the number of academies opened and planned to open between 2002 (when the first academy opened) and 2008 are included in the following table. The number of academies that open in subsequent years will depend on the final allocation of the Department's comprehensive spending review settlement. We remain committed to our target of the same 200 academies open for in the pipeline by 2010 as we progress to opening 400 academies.
| Number | |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the cost has been of each academy built since 2000-01; and what the estimated costs are of each academy so far approved but not completed. [149863]
Jim Knight: There are 27 academies where building work has been completed. The capital cost of each is detailed under the heading ‘Completed Costs’ in the following chart.
These figures represent the known position as at June 2007 and are subject to change as final accounts have yet to be agreed.
The chart also details the estimated capital cost of other academies where building work has not yet been completed.
| Academy name | £ million( 1) | |
| (1) Rounded to the nearest half million | ||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |