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23 July 2007 : Column 895W—continued
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many disputes and claims were handled by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service in each of the regions in each of the last five years. [150301]
Mr. McFadden: The number of individual conciliation claims handled by ACAS during the five years up to 2006-07 is as follows:
| Region | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | Five-year total |
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service employees there are in each region. [150302]
Mr. McFadden: The number of people employed by ACAS as of June 2007 is as follows:
| ACAS region | Total n umber of employees |
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which regions are covered by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. [150303]
Mr. McFadden: ACAS operates in all of the regional development agency regions in England. It also operates in Scotland and Wales but does not cover Northern Ireland.
Bankruptcy
Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many bankrupt individuals were advised by the official receiver of the fast track voluntary agreement option in each year since the implementation of the Enterprise Act 2002. [149506]
Mr. McFadden: The official receiver does not keep statistics on this matter.
However, all bankrupts are provided with a copy of the booklet "A Guide to Bankruptcy" which includes details about alternatives to bankruptcy including fast track voluntary arrangements.
A leaflet on FTVAs is also available on the Insolvency Service website.
Business: Torbay
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will list the schemes available to support entrepreneurs in Torbay; and what the budget is of each. [150811]
Mr. Timms: The Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform currently supports the following schemes for entrepreneurs in Torbay. This support is provided through the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA).
Vantage Point Innovation Centre at South Devon College, Paignton
Lymington Road Innovation Centre, Torquay.
To date, SWRDA has contributed £1.8 million to these schemes matched with £0.78 million of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) from the South West European Objective 2 Programme. The Objective 2 programme is also contributing £3.4 million ERDF towards the £7.1 million infrastructure development costs of the White Rock Business Park, Paignton.
In addition to these schemes that are specific to Torbay, the Department also supports entrepreneurs in Torbay through the following regional schemes. This support, which is also provided through SWRDA, is funded on a regional basis and there is no budget specifically earmarked for entrepreneurs in Torbay. The SWRDA contribution to each scheme is shown in brackets.
Business support to Small and Medium Enterprises delivered through the Business Link core offer (£14.8 million per annum)
South West Angels Investor Network (total investment of £1.4 million)
Grant for Research and Development (£1.5 million per annum).
The Objective 2 programme has also provided over £21.7 million ERDF and £1.2 million of European Social Funds (ESF) to support businesses and entrepreneurs across the Objective 2 area which includes Torbay. The Objective 2 contribution to each project is shown in brackets.
Business Link (D&C)—Adding Value to the Business Support Network (£1,497,151 ERDF)
Business Link (D&C)—Developing the Business Support Network (£3,008,825 ERDF)
Business Link (D&C)—Social Enterprise Loan Fund (£1,200,000 ESF)
Devon County Council—Broadband4Devon (£5,366,000 ERDF)
SWIG (South West Investment Group)—Business Development Funds (£420,995 ERDF)
SWIG—Business Rural Enterprise Fund (£102,000 ERDF)
SWIG—Business Growth Fund (£700,000 ERDF)
Finance South West (Venture Capital Funds) (£9,630,070 ERDF)
Environment Agency—Envision (£1,078,656 ERDF).
Coal: Environment Protection
Dr. Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department has taken to ensure the use and sale of cleaner coal and gas across the UK. [150609]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government have been taking action on a number of fronts to ensure fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas are used cleanly. The two key areas for reducing CO2, SO2 and NOx are as follows.
The development of the Carbon Abatement Technology Strategy for Fossil Fuel Use, published in June 2005 (reference URN 05/844) sets out a path towards the cleaner use of fossil fuels enabling them to have a role in a sustainable world with significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. As a result of this the Government announced in the Budget this year a competition to demonstrate carbon capture and storage power plant which has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions from power plant by up to 90 per cent. The Strategy document is available in the House of Commons Library and also can be found at
Additionally the Government are implementing the European Commission's ‘large combustion plant directive’, (LCPD, 2001/80/EC) aimed at significantly reducing SO2 and NOx emissions as well as dust from power plant and other large industrial installations, This directive comes into effect from the start of 2008. Website Address:
Combined Heat and Power: Housing
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the opportunity to install combined heat and power and associated heat grids in the new housing developments and eco-towns announced by the Prime Minister to the House on 11 July. [150389]
Malcolm Wicks: As stated in the recently-published Energy White Paper, the Government are committed to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from heat. Many current policies contribute to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from heat—for example the EU ETS, the climate change levy, tax incentives for CHP and the Energy Efficiency Commitment. In addition, policies such as the Warm Front programme to tackle fuel poverty help to reduce emissions.
The Government published a Biomass Strategy alongside the Energy White Paper. The strategy provides a framework for the development of biomass, including its application to combined heat and power. The Government are currently also consulting on proposals to band the Renewables Obligation. The proposals contain mechanisms which are designed to encourage biomass CHP.
The Government recognise the value of considering the heat sector in a holistic and focused way. Further work is therefore being carried out into the policy options available to reduce the carbon impact of heat and its use. The work examines the full range of policy options, including the range of existing policy mechanisms such as the EU ETS.
The Government recognise that Combined Heat and Power has an important role to play alongside other low carbon technologies. However, the market is best placed to decide which technologies are most effective in supplying the UK’s energy while also meeting our carbon reduction goals. It will be for the proposers of Eco Towns to bring forward their ideas on how heating and electricity generation can be supplied from
renewable sources, including combined heat and power and associated heat grids as appropriate. These will be assessed against Government policies for promoting renewable and decentralised energy supply. My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing, will shortly be publishing a prospectus for Eco Towns setting out the growth expectations for sourcing heat and power use from renewable energy.
Competition: Public Houses
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will ask the Serious Fraud Office to investigate allegations of the abuse of market share of (a) brewing companies and (b) leisure companies with large managed and tenanted public house property portfolios. [150721]
Mr. Thomas: Ensuring that markets operate freely and fairly is a matter for the independent competition authorities, rather than for Government. The UK competition framework has established the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as an independent statutory body which is responsible for ensuring that markets operate competitively. The OFT has the powers to investigate and take action if companies are abusing a dominant position in a market or behaving anti-competitively.
Departments: EU Budget
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what responsibilities he has delegated to regional Ministers in respect of European Union funding; and if he will make a statement. [150842]
Mr. Timms: The role of regional Ministers is set out in paragraphs 115 to 118 in “The Governance of Britain” (cmd 7170).
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