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24 Jan 2008 : Column 2187W—continued
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Hoban:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many posters or displays there are in the offices of his
Department and its agencies displaying the names and photographs of Ministers; and what the cost has been of producing such posters or displays in the last five years. [179838]
Mr. Thomas: We have one display board in the reception area of BERR’s headquarters at 1 Victoria street, London, bearing the names and photographs of its Ministers, the Permanent Secretary and his team. We cannot identify the specific cost of producing this board, as it was produced as part of a wider re-branding exercise. We have produced around 320 A3 colour posters showing the ministerial team in the current year. These have been produced in-house at negligible cost. It is not possible to provide costs for display boards or posters for previous years without incurring disproportionate costs.
The Insolvency Service has no pictures or displays featuring Ministers in any of their buildings.
Companies House and UK Trade and Investment have no records of producing posters or displays for their offices with the names and photographs of Ministers in the last five years.
Departmental Special Advisers
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what he expects the estimated annual cost to be of (a) expenses, (b) salary, (c) office space, (d) administrative support and (e) special advisers for Lord Jones of Birmingham in his capacity as Minister of State. [163488]
Mr. Hutton: Lord Jones is Minister of State for Trade and Investment jointly with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and draws the ministerial salary appropriate to a Lords Minister of State.
There are three full-time equivalent staff directly employed to support Lord Jones. Two members of the administrative support staff are paid for by BERR, the other is paid for by the FCO. Information on the cost of Lord Jones’ support staff cannot be provided as to do so could identify an individual’s salary, which is confidential between the individual and the employer.
Office costs will be accounted for in the 2007-08 departmental annual report and accounts.
Lord Jones has no special advisers.
Employment: Discrimination
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many cases of age discrimination have been brought before the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service and found in favour of the employee in cases where discrimination took place against an employee for being too (a) young and (b) old in each of the last 10 years. [177967]
Mr. McFadden: Complaints of alleged age discrimination under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, which came into operation on 1 October 2006, are made to the Employment Tribunal Service, not ACAS. Such complaints are then usually passed to ACAS for conciliation.
In the period 1 October 2006-31 December 2007, ACAS received 2,750 cases for conciliation in which a complaint of age discrimination was one of the matters, or the sole matter, complained of. Without a detailed examination of the grounds of each claim, it is not possible to say what proportion of these claims alleged the claimant had been discriminated against on the basis of their being too young or too old, or were related to some other matter.
Over the same period, excluding those claims which were struck out, ACAS operational records indicate that a resolution was brokered in 90 per cent. of cleared cases in which one of the matters, or the sole matter, complained of was age discrimination. Where cases are not resolved in conciliation, they are subsequently heard by the Tribunal Service.
First Solution Money Transfer: Insolvency
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether the insolvency service investigation into First Solution Money Transfer Limited has concluded. [181914]
Mr. McFadden: On 6 July 2007 companies investigation branch (‘CIB’) (which is part of the Insolvency Service), appointed investigators following the sudden closure and apparent collapse of First Solution Money Transfer Ltd. A number of clients reported having lost money that was sent through this company destined for dependant family overseas.
On 2 August 2007 CIB petitioned the court to wind up the company and appoint the official receiver as provisional liquidator to protect and preserve the assets. On 21 November 2007 a winding up order was made and the official receiver was appointed liquidator of the company. As a result of a meeting of creditors held on 19 December 2007 an external liquidator from Tenon Recovery was appointed and that firm will now deal with the realisation of assets and distributions to creditors. The official receiver has a further statutory role, to investigate the causes of the company’s failure, and to report to the Secretary of State regarding the conduct of the directors in respect of the company’s trading, under the terms of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. Furthermore, the official receiver is under a duty to report any evidence of criminality to an appropriate prosecuting body.
Meanwhile the CIB appointed investigators are continuing their work and CIB are hopeful of receiving the investigators’ final report in the near future and decisions can then be made on further action. It would be inappropriate to issue progress reports in the meantime. CIB’s investigation under the Companies Act benefits from the use of compulsory powers, but the Act only permits disclosure of the investigators’ report through a statutory gateway. In particular there is no provision which allows publication of the report.
Multinational Companies
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many staff in his Department are working to promote the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s guidelines for multinational enterprises; and if he will make a statement. [181740]
Mr. Thomas: The UK’s National Contact Point (NCR) for the OECD Guidelines is currently managed by officials from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. BERR dedicate one full-time official to working on the NCP and are in the process of recruiting a second, while the Foreign Office and DFID both currently contribute 20 per cent. of one official’s time.
Natural Gas: Distribution
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) how many households in each (a) region and (b) local authority do not have access to mains gas; and if he will make a statement; [181069]
(2) what percentage of homes are within 100 yards of a mains gas supply, broken down by (a) region and (b) local authority. [181070]
Malcolm Wicks: As part of its regional and local energy statistics publication programme, BERR has published the number of domestic gas meter points in each local authority in Great Britain. A document listing the estimates comparing the number of domestic meter points with the estimates of the number of households in each region and local authority for 2004 (the latest year for which both sets of data are complete) has been placed in the Libraries of the House. Corresponding data are not available for Northern Ireland.
The Government do not hold information about the proximity of homes to gas mains.
Overseas Trade: Far East
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what conclusions have been reached on the scope for raising the UK’s trade profile in (a) Malaysia, (b) Qatar, (c) Singapore, (d) South Korea, (e) Thailand and (f) Vietnam, as set out in the July 2006 five year strategy on prosperity in a changing world; and if he will make a statement. [180815]
Mr. Thomas: As outlined in UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) five year strategy, “Prosperity in a Changing World”, we have deployed our overseas network resource to achieve a step change in the UK’s profile in emerging markets. To date, the following additional resources (UK-based civil servants and local engaged (LE) officers) have already been deployed or are planned for the following countries in question:
| Market | New resource deployed | New resource planned |
Post Office: Finance
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the budget was for the running of Post Office Ltd. in (a) 2007, (b) 2006 and (c) 2005; and what it is expected to be in 2008. [181279]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, Managing Director of POL, to reply direct to the right hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Post Offices: Closures
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what discussions were held with the Post Office on the timing of the issue of recommendations on post office closures prior to the announcement of dates by the Post Office; on what date he was made aware by the Post Office of the proposed dates for publication of proposals for post office closures under the various area plans; and on what date he first discussed the question of purdah with the Post Office. [175662]
Mr. McFadden: Following publication in May 2007 of the Government’s response to the public consultation on the Post Office network, my officials have engaged in regular discussions with Post Office Ltd. on the timetable for post office closures, including purdah.
Supercomplainer Procedures
Mr. MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on how many occasions each of the designated representative bodies under the Enterprise Act 2002 have used the supercomplainer procedures. [181200]
Mr. Thomas: Which? has made five super-complaints to the Office of Fair Trading—private dentistry, care homes, Northern Ireland banking, credit card interest calculation methods, and the Scottish Legal Profession. Citizens Advice has made two—doorstep selling and payment protection insurance. Postwatch has made one super-complaint, on mail consolidation and the National Consumer Council has made one, on home collected credit. Energywatch has made one complaint—on billing processes—to Ofgem in its (Ofgem’s) capacity as a concurrent regulator.
Telephone Services
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which of his Department’s (a) agencies and (b) non-departmental public bodies collect and monitor information relating to telephone contact centres. [175725]
Mr. Thomas: The Department’s central records do not contain the information to answer this question. Therefore, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform could answer this question only at disproportionate cost.
Trade Unions: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what guidance (a) his Department and (b) the Certification Officer have produced on whether the fixed costs of (a) photocopiers and (b) other equipment may be fully charged to the general fund of a trade union in circumstances where that equipment is used for political purposes. [181283]
Mr. McFadden: Neither the Department nor the Certification Officer has produced guidance on this issue.
UK Trade and Investment
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many significant interventions UK Trade and Investment are expected to make in 2008. [180262]
Mr. Thomas: UK Trade and Investment’s 2007 comprehensive spending review settlement set high level targets for UKTI. These include annual targets for high value foreign direct investment successes; helping businesses to exploit overseas business opportunities; and increasing the quantity of R and D in the UK through business internationalisation. The targets are set out in full in UKTI’s 2007 autumn performance report (Cm 7284, December 2007). Business plans are being put in place to deliver these targets.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) what changes have been made to the overseas network of UK Trade and Industry to deliver the increase in the UK profile in (a) China, (b) India, (c) Brazil, (d) Indonesia, (e) Mexico, (f) Russia, (g) Saudi Arabia, (h) South Africa, (i) Turkey and (j) the United Arab Emirates as set out in the July 2005 five year strategy on prosperity in a changing world; and if he will make a statement; [180817]
(2) in which countries in UK Trade and Industry’s overseas network staff reallocations took place in the financial years (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08 to date; what further reallocations are planned in (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-09; and if he will list these changes. [180813]
Mr. Thomas: As part of UK Trade and Investment’s (UKTI) Strategy, “Prosperity in a Changing World”, £5.6 million of resources has been redeployed to help achieve a step change in the UK’s profile in emerging markets. As a direct result of this exercise, UKTI staff resources (full-time equivalents (FTEs) of UK based civil servants and locally employed staff (local)) have now been reinforced in the following markets, which include China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the UAE:
| 2006-07 market | FTE UK-based | FTE local |
| 2007-08 market | FTE UK-based | FTE LE |
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