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5 Mar 2008 : Column 2659W—continued
Private Sector: Redundancy
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer of 19 February 2008, Official Report, column 656W, on private sector: redundancy, whether his Department is currently considering provision of funding under the selective finance for investment in England scheme. [191496]
Mr. McFadden: ( )Funding can be provided under the selective finance for investment in England( )(SFIE) scheme to support new capital investment that will safeguard employment.( )Under EC state aid law, the allocation of public sector funds to private sector( )companies simply to prevent redundancies, i.e. in the absence of new capital( )investment, would be considered as operating aid. SFIE cannot be used to provide( )operating aid. However, SFIE may be granted to an independent investor to support( )the acquisition of assets directly linked to an establishment that would have closed( )had it not been purchased, therefore preventing redundancy.
Seas and Oceans: Legislation
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he last discussed the Marine Bill with his Cabinet colleagues; and if he will make a statement. [188708]
Mr. Thomas:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions on a range of issues with Cabinet colleagues. However, any discussions concerning
the Marine Bill would be led by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Service Industries: Pay
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) if he will bring forward measures to ensure that service staff receive income in full from any tips earned in the course of their duties in addition to a contracted rate of pay which is at or above the minimum wage; [187417]
(2) what measures his Department is taking to ensure that earnings received in tips above contracted rates of pay are always passed on to service staff. [187418]
Mr. McFadden: Current legislation already requires that workers should receive the national minimum wage. Under the present minimum wage regulations, cash tips, service charges, gratuities or cover charges that are paid by the employer through the pay roll can count towards the NMW. Many restaurants operate systems known as “troncs” where cash tips are gathered centrally and then allocated out by the head waiter. In some cases the tronc is shared out between the workers without the employer being involved. In these cases the tips would not count towards the minimum wage. However in some cases the tips or tronc money is passed to the restaurant and paid out through the payroll and therefore can count towards the national minimum wage.
Supermarkets: Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether he plans to take steps to prevent supermarkets from engaging in loss-leading alcohol promotions. [189541]
Mr. Thomas: ( )The Competition Commission considered the issue of ‘below cost selling’ of alcohol( )in the context of its current inquiry into the groceries market. It concluded that the( )practice did not raise competition concerns. Separately, the Government have( )commissioned independent research examining what relationships may exist between( )the pricing and availability of alcohol and harms associated with excessive alcohol( )consumption.
Tour Operators: Regulation
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of the extent to which tour operators in the activity holiday market comply with the Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations in terms of financial protection for their customers; and what powers he has to take action against companies which do not comply with the regulations. [188018]
Mr. Thomas:
( )My Department has made no assessment of the extent to which businesses offering( )activity holidays comply with the requirement in the Package Travel, Package( )Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/3288) that they should be( )able to provide sufficient evidence of security for the refund of money paid over and( )for the repatriation of the consumer in
the event of insolvency. Non-compliance by( )the activity holidays sector with this element of the Regulations is not the subject of( )any significant number of complaints to my Department, notwithstanding the( )hon. Member's recent correspondence on behalf of a business within his( )constituency.
Local authority trading standards officers have powers to enforce the Regulations and,( )where necessary, prosecute in the criminal courts.
UK Trade and Investment: Greater London
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many UK Trade and Investment posts there are in (a) London and (b) Glasgow; and how many there are planned to be at each location in January 2009. [180264]
Mr. Thomas: ( )There are approximately 475 trade and investment posts in London and Glasgow. Of( )these approximately 45 posts are in Glasgow. By January 2009 the trade and( )investment posts in London will have increased by approximately 170 posts which are( )being transferred from MOD to BERR under the machinery of government change( )announced on 11 December 2007.
Unemployment
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the rate of unemployment was in each of the English regions in each year for which figures are available. [191356]
Angela Eagle: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5 March 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on the rate of unemployment in each English region in each year for which figures are available. (191356)
The attached table gives estimates of those aged 16+ who are unemployed as a percentage of all economically active people in the three months ending June from 1992 to 2007, from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).
Seasonally adjusted estimates of national and regional unemployment levels and rates are published each month in the Labour Market Statistics First Release. Please visit the following link for further information:
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
| Unemployment rate( 1) by English regions—three months ending June each year, seasonally adjusted | ||||||||||
| Percentage | ||||||||||
| England | North East | North West | Yorkshire and Humber | East Midlands | West Midlands | East | London | South East | South West | |
| (1) Aged 16+ unemployed persons as a percentage of all economically active persons aged 16 and over. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey | ||||||||||
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