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25 Feb 2008 : Column 1166W—continued
Figures from 1997 to 2001 are not available.
(b) The amount spent on postage of Christmas cards is not kept as a separate record.
The Insolvency Service has not sent any Christmas cards.
Departmental Advertising
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what percentage of his Department’s expenditure was on advertising in each year since establishment. [182987]
Mr. Thomas: My Department’s committed spending on campaign advertising in the current financial year, procured through the Central Office of Information, is £881,482.27, as at 8 February 2008.
My Department’s total spending on recruitment advertising, to date, since 1 April 2007, procured through the Central Office of Information is £9,681.53, as at 8 February 2008.
Detail of other advertising expenditure is not held centrally. It is thus not possible to express this figure as a percentage of overall expenditure.
Departmental Assets
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the book value of departmental assets sold was in each financial year since 1997-98; and what revenue was generated from each such sale. [184880]
Mr. Thomas: Details of fixed assets sold by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform for the period 1997-98 to 2006-07 are as follows:
| Financial year | Book value of assets sold transferred (£) | Proceeds including transfers to O GDs (£) |
| n/a = Not available. (1) Assets transferred to OGDs are transferred at net book value, with no loss to the transferor department and no gain to the transferee department. Note: The information for financial years 1997-98 to 2003-04 is not readily available as it has been transferred to a historical archive system. To obtain the information would incur disproportionate costs. | ||
Departmental Databases
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what databases are (a) owned and (b) maintained by (i) his Department and (ii) its agencies. [185426]
Mr. Thomas: The Department owns 165 databases as at 1 June 2007, of which 75 are maintained by departmental staff and 90 are maintained by external companies.
DBERR agencies—Companies House and the Insolvency Service—have been asked to respond directly to the hon. Member.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what agencies under his Department’s responsibilities use (a) 0845 and (b) 0870 telephone codes for customer inquiries; how many 0845 or 0870 telephone codes each agency uses; and how much revenue was generated by each of these codes for each agency in each of the last five years. [183963]
Mr. Thomas: Each agency for which the Department is responsible has been asked to provide separate written response to the hon. Member.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what average hourly rate his Department and its predecessors have paid to employment agencies for agency staff in each year since 1999, broken down by employment agency. [187917]
Mr. Thomas: Departmental policy is that agency staff are engaged where it is not possible to source the skills for the task from within the Department but the expectation is that the appointment would be time-limited.
Further information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Heating: Sustainable Development
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what representations officials in his Department have made to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in advance of the forthcoming meeting of the Consulting Forum under the Eco-design of Energy-using Products Directive on requirements for boilers and water heaters. [189045]
Malcolm Wicks: Officials in my Department have been in close contact with their colleagues in DEFRA and are working together as proposals are developed by the European Commission, taking advice from industry and other stakeholders.
DBERR and DEFRA ran a joint stakeholder workshop specifically on the proposed requirements for boilers and heaters on 4 February to help inform UK Government policy at the forthcoming Consultation Forum.
Intimidation
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many cases of bullying have been reported in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last 12 months. [182842]
Mr. Thomas: During the calendar year 2007, the latest period for which information is available, five formal grievances in which bullying was specifically alleged were raised within the Department.
Information on agencies will be provided by separate letter from the relevant chief executives.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when his Department will reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster of 30 August, 10 October, 26 November 2007 and 2 January 2008 on the concerns about Companies House and identity theft of his constituent Nigel Walmsley. [181462]
Mr. Thomas: I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member’s letter. This was due to an administrative error. A response will be issued shortly.
Music: Health Hazards
Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, if he will bring forward proposals for a statutory maximum limitation on the permitted volume of personal MP3 players. [178774]
Mr. Thomas: The European Commission has asked the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks for an opinion on the potential health risks of exposure to noise from personal music players and mobile phones which include a music playing function. The Committee has been asked to report back to the Commission by March 2008.
We will consider whether there is any need for domestic measures following an analysis of the Scientific Committee's report and in the light of decisions taken by the Commission in respect of Community action.
Non-Departmental Public Bodies: Finance
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the operating costs of (a) the National Consumer Council, (b) Energywatch, (c) Postwatch and (d) Consumer Direct were in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07. [185758]
Mr. Thomas: The information is as follows:
| Operating costs | |
| £ million | |
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the forecast outturn operating cost of (a) the National Consumer Council, (b) Energywatch, (c) Postwatch and (d) Consumer Direct is for 2007-08. [185759]
Mr. Thomas: The information is as follows:
Forecast outturn operating costs for 2007-08 for:
(a) National Consumer Council:
£3.5 million.
The expected forecast for Energywatch's operational costs for 2007-08 is £10.783 million.
£9 million.
The OFT are in the process of reforecasting the outturn costs of Consumer Direct at the moment and they estimate the operational costs for 2007-08 will be £18.875 million.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the budgeted operating cost is for (a) the National Consumer Council and (b) Consumer Direct in 2009-10. [185761]
Mr. Thomas: The information is as follows:
(a) National Consumer Council in 2009-10
The National Consumer Council (NCC) will cease to exist with effect from 30 September 2008, when a new consumer body (new NCC) will be established out of consolidating the existing NCC, Postwatch and energywatch. Work on establishing the new body is now underway, including work on compiling detailed indicative costs for 2009-10, which will be considered as part of the 2008 departmental business planning exercise.
(b) Consumer Direct in 2009-10
The budget has not been set. The OFT works on a year by year basis and the figure will not be determined until the next financial year.
Nuclear Power
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what proportion of generating capacity was out of service in UK nuclear power stations in each of the last 10 years. [188602]
Malcolm Wicks: Planned or unplanned closures of this nature are commercial and/or technical decisions for the companies that own and operate the power stations to take in conjunction with the relevant health and safety authorities. My Department therefore does not keep records of the operating decisions of individual power stations.
However, information on plant load factors is available. The load factor is actual generation for a given year taken as a percentage of theoretical maximum potential generation. It is impossible for any power station to generate at full capacity throughout the year. There will be periods when it will not generate owing to lack of demand, routine maintenance and unplanned repairs. The load factors for UK nuclear power stations for the most recent 10 years for which data are available are as follows:
| Percentage | |
| Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics, BERR | |
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