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2 Jun 2008 : Column 779W—continued
Departmental Public Participation
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much his Department spent on (a) written consultations, (b) consultation roadshows and (c) stakeholder focus groups in each of the last three years. [205830]
Mr. Thomas: We estimate that the production costs of the written consultations carried out by the Department in the last three years were as follows:
| £ | |
Calculating or estimating the cost of consultation roadshows and stakeholder focus groups could be done only at disproportionate cost.
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what consultants have been contracted by his Department to conduct public participation activities in the last three years; and how much expenditure his Department has incurred on each such contract to date. [206211]
Mr. Thomas: This information is not held centrally and could be provided at only disproportionate cost.
Departmental Security
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will list the (a) special advisers and (b) ministerial appointees in possession of a security pass enabling access to his Department's predecessor’s main building in the month prior to the prorogation of Parliament for the 2005 general election. [182239]
Mr. Thomas: Special advisers based in the DTI, prior to the 2005 general elections were:
Jim Godfrey (surrendered pass on 19 April, 2005)
Roger Sharpe (surrendered pass on 19 April, 2005)
Liz Kendall (surrendered pass on 7 April, 2005).
On the announcement of the general election in 2005, the above were asked to surrender their passes.
DTI Ministers were not obliged to carry security passes.
Directors: Disqualification
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many adverse reports required under the Company Directors' Disqualification Act 1986 have been received by his Department concerning the conduct of directors in each year since 2002. [206710]
Mr. McFadden: The number of adverse reports received since 2002 is:
| Number | |
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many disqualification orders have been made against directors under the Company Directors' Disqualification Act 1986 for a period of (a) two years and (b) more than two years in each year since 2002. [206711]
Mr. McFadden: Prior to 1 April 2006 statistics are not available which break down disqualification orders by period.
From 1 April the figures are listed in the following table:
| Two years | Above two years | |
The total number of disqualification orders from 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2006 is as follows:
| Number | |
Electronic Government
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether mechanisms are in place to monitor the extent to which his Department’s (a) internal and (b) external (i) correspondence and (ii) distribution of publications is carried out electronically. [199192]
Mr. Thomas: BERR does keep records of the number of paper letters and e-mails it sends. The Department can therefore determine over a given period what proportion is white mail and what proportion is e-mail.
BERR does have a mechanism in place to identify which publications are distributed electronically via the departmental website. For the period 1 November 2007 to 30 April 2008, there were 667,165 page views of the folder which holds the downloadable documents.
BERR uses MS Outlook for e-mail messaging and has an electronic document and records management (EDRM) system called MATRIX.
Energy: Low Incomes
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what methods he plans to use to apportion the £150 million increased expenditure on social assistance agreed with energy suppliers to address fuel poverty amongst customers of the six major suppliers. [204853]
Malcolm Wicks [holding answer 12 May 2008]: Energy suppliers offer a range of initiatives to help the vulnerable including social tariffs, rebates and trust funds. Following the three year voluntary agreement signed with each individual energy supplier, Ofgem is leading a process to set the parameters for what can be included by suppliers as part of this spend on their social programmes. Ofgem is planning to consult on this issue shortly.
Energy: Prices
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effect of mark-to-market value on the price of energy. [207889]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government are aware of a wide range of academic and industry studies which look at energy prices and meet regularly with experts to discuss prices and other market issues. However the Department has not specifically evaluated or commissioned research solely on the impact of mark-to-market value on the price of energy.
Estate Agents
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) when he plans to implement the requirement that estate agents join an Office of Fair Trading approved complaints scheme under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007; [200263]
(2) how many representations he has received (a) for and (b) against retaining the statutory estate agent contractual terms (i) ready willing and able and (ii) sole selling rights. [200264]
Mr. Thomas: The Secretary of State can only make an order requiring estate agents to belong to an approved redress scheme once the Office of Fair Trading has approved at least one scheme open to all estate agents. Subject to the OFT approving a scheme, I expect to commence an order requiring redress scheme membership on 1 October 2008.
The Estate Agents (Provision of Information) Regulations 1991 include statutory definitions for specified contract terms that deal with who can sell a property and in what circumstances commission is payable to an estate agent. The recent estate agents consultation sought views on alternative versions of the statutory definitions. The bulk of the respondents to the consultation restricted their comments to amending the statutory definitions, but two of them expressed views against retaining the terms ‘sole selling rights’ and ‘ready, willing and able purchaser’. One respondent called for ‘sole selling rights’ to be removed, whereas the other called for both terms to be prohibited. We are currently reviewing the responses.
Financial Reporting Council: Finance
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what financial contribution his Department makes to the operations of the Financial Reporting Council. [208074]
Mr. Thomas: For the 2008-09 financial year, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform expects to contribute £3.467 million to the core operating costs of the Financial Reporting Council. With regard to future funding of the Financial Reporting Council by the Department, I refer my hon. Friend to my written statement of 6 February 2008, Official Report, column 66WS.
Foreign Workers: Poland
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the evidential basis was for the information he gave in his interview on the BBC on Sunday 6th April 2008 on the proportion of Polish migrant workers who have now returned to Poland. [207020]
Mr. Hutton: A paper by the Bank of England published in January 2007 “The Impact of the Recent Migration from Eastern Europe on the UK Economy” indicated that sources suggested that a
“significant proportion—perhaps as many as a half—have returned to their country of origin.”
Earlier this year the Centre for International Relations, a Warsaw based think tank, also suggested that half of the estimated 1 million UK based Poles are expected to return home.
Imports: Cotton
Mr. MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps his Department is taking to prevent imports of (a) cotton and (b) clothing which have been produced by child labour in Uzbekistan. [203810]
Mr. Thomas [holding answer 7 May 2008]: The UK remains concerned, about allegations of the use of child labour in the cotton sector in Uzbekistan. The UK has raised its concerns through the EU and has discussed the issue with the Uzbek Government. The EU welcomed Uzbekistan's signing of the International Labour Organisation Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour earlier this year and has urged Uzbekistan to implement effectively its international obligations in this regard.
The UK Government continue to call on businesses to look at their supply chains and take appropriate action if they find evidence that goods has been produced using child labour.
There is no legal requirement for goods to bear marks indicating its origin. As such, it would be difficult for the Government to establish a blanket ban on imports of Uzbek cotton and clothing. Similarly, products manufactured using Uzbek cotton in a third country would legitimately bear the country of manufacture as the country of origin.
Imports: Seals
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on the introduction of an EU-wide ban on the importation of seal products. [198669]
Mr. Thomas: I, together with my hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), and the noble Lord Rooker, Minister for Sustainable Food and Fanning and Animal Health at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), jointly wrote on 13 March 2008 to Commissioner Dimas, DG Environment at the European Commission as well as to all EU member state Trade and Agricultural Ministers reiterating the UK's request for an EU-wide ban on the importation of sealskin products.
Industrial Diseases: Compensation
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what steps he has taken to appoint a new member to the Dust Reference Panel. [207403]
Malcolm Wicks: The Coordinating Group of claimants' solicitors nominated a candidate which the Department accepted. The Department currently awaits the candidate's acceptance of the terms and conditions of the post before confirming the appointment.
Ipsos MORI
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2008, Official Report, column 18W, on departmental official hospitality, what the cost of each stakeholder survey provided to his Department by Ipsos MORI in 2007-08 was. [208114]
Mr. Thomas: Four of five surveys have so far been completed with costs (excluding VAT) as shown in the following table. The fifth, of Fair Markets stakeholders, to be conducted later in the year, is currently being scoped. Its anticipated cost is £39,000 ex VAT.
| Cost (£) | |
Low Carbon Buildings Programme
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many low carbon buildings programme grants he estimates will be made between March 2008 and the end of 2008-09. [202959]
Malcolm Wicks: At present, there are on average 200 householder grants offered per month under the low carbon buildings programme phase 1. On this assumption, we will allocate a further 2,400 grants up to the end of March 2009. Our projections of future uptake estimate around £27 million of low carbon buildings programme phase 2 grants allocated between March 2008 and March 2009. However, it is difficult to predict future take up with certainty given the many factors involved.
We continue to work towards increasing grant uptake through promoting the programme and increasing awareness of LCBP and the technologies it supports.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in respect of which types of public buildings applications for grants under the low carbon buildings programme have been made. [202960]
Malcolm Wicks: There have been applications for grants under the low carbon buildings programme involving public buildings in following categories:
Low carbon buildings programme phase 1
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