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4 Feb 2009 : Column 1314W—continued
Lord Taylor of Blackburn
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether (a) the Secretary of State and his predecessor and (b) officials in his Department have received any (i) written and (ii) oral representations from Lord Taylor of Blackburn in the last 12 months. [253443]
Mr. McFadden [ holding answer 2 February 2009]: No.
Motor Vehicles: Industry
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) what assistance his Department is providing to UK truck manufacturers; [247027]
(2) what steps his Department plans to take to protect jobs in the vehicle manufacturing and component supply chain. [247028]
Ian Pearson: I refer my hon. Friend to the statement I made in the House on 27 January 2009.
Political Levy
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform pursuant to the answer to my right hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr. Maude) of 9 December 2008, Official Report, column 66W, on the political levy, whether the Certification Officer has provided guidance on this issue. [250360]
Mr. McFadden: The Certification Officer has not provided guidance on this specific issue. However, in his “Guide to political fund review ballots” he states that
“The Act is silent as to whether the ballot paper may be accompanied by an explanatory statement, a recommendation or other literature. However, unions should be aware of the requirement that members must be able to vote without interference or constraint.”
Post Office
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how much the Post Office has contributed to the Exchequer in external financing contributions to Government revenues (a) since its establishment as a public corporation and (b) in each of the last 30 years; and if he will express each figure in current prices. [249630]
Mr. McFadden: [holding answer 20 January 2009] : The External Financing Limit (EFL) regime, whereby the Post Office corporation was required to generate funds for the Exchequer, began in 1976-77. A total of £2,48l million was generated up to financial year 1998-99 and the amounts were retained on the company’s balance sheet. These funds were not removed from the company and used for Government purposes. Instead the funds were used to support the Post Office Network and more recently the Royal Mail pension fund. The EFL regime no longer applied beyond this period.
The following table shows the value of the EFL outturns for financial years 1976-77 to 1998-99 in historic as well as current prices.
| Post Office corporation EFL outturns from 1976-77 to 1998-99 | ||
| £ million | ||
| EFL outturn | Current Price( 1) | |
| (1) Current price calculated with reference to the Retail Price Index data obtained from the Office for National Statistics. | ||
Mr. Frank Field:
To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether the Government's proposals for the reform of the Post Office entail the assumption of
responsibility by the Government for liability arising from underfunding; or whether the Government plan to assume such responsibility in return for the underwriting of future pension promises. [250504]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 22 January 2009]: The details of how the Government will tackle Royal Mail's pension deficit are still being developed. My noble Friend the Secretary of State will be making a detailed policy statement on the Government's package of proposals for reform in the early part of this year.
Postal Services: EU Countries
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what information he holds on the charge made for posting a standard-size letter of up to 50 grams in (a) the Netherlands and (b) other EU member states. [249599]
Mr. McFadden: Postcomm, the postal industry regulator, holds comparative data on European stamp prices. Listings of European stamp prices ordered by weight and by country, including the prices charged in the Netherlands, can be found on Postcomm’s website:
The recently published Hooper Report also provided a table on European stamp prices. Copies of the report can be found on the Department’s website:
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what information he holds on the number of EU member states where postal deliveries are made six days a week. [249605]
Mr. McFadden: Information concerning postal regimes in other European countries can be found in the 2008 Ecorys report on developments in the postal sector—a pan European study commissioned by the European Commission’s postal unit. The website address is:
Royal Mail: Pensions
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many pension contribution holidays Royal Mail and its predecessors have taken in each year since 1980; and if he will express in current prices the monetary value of each contribution not made. [249629]
Mr. McFadden: [holding answer 20 January 2009] : The Post Office (now Royal Mail Group Limited) suspended employer contributions to one of its schemes, Post Office Staff Superannuation Scheme (POSSS), with effect from 1 April 1990. Reasons for suspending included the impact of changes in tax law to the treatment of “excessive surplus”. Contributions to the POSSS recommenced on 1 April 2003.
There is no single answer for the possible accumulated current value of the suspended contributions as it would
involve the need to make complex assumptions over the period since 1990, based on decisions taken by a number of interested parties.
I have therefore asked the chief executive of Royal Mail, Adam Crozier, to provide a direct reply to my hon. Friend supplying further detail around the contribution holiday.
A copy of the response will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Security Industry: Competition
Mr. Joyce: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when the Secretary of State next plans to meet representatives of the security industry to discuss levels of competition in the sector. [242681]
Mr. Thomas: Ministers have no plans to meet industry representatives to discuss this matter. It is for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), as the UK’s independent competition regulator, to promote competition in markets and enforce competition law. Anyone concerned that there are anti-competitive features of a market or that a market is not working well for consumers, should raise the matter with the OFT who have the relevant powers to take appropriate action where necessary.
Judy Mallaber: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment his Department has made of the effect on levels of competition in the security industry of the merger of Group 4 and Securicor. [242682]
Mr. Thomas: Group 4 Falck and Securicor merged to form G4S plc. in 2004. The merger fell for consideration by the European Commission under the EC Merger Regulation and was cleared subject to commitments, including the requirement on Group 4 to divest its cash-in-transit business in Scotland.
Mr. McCartney: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent assessment he has made of the level of competition in the security industry sector. [244679]
Mr. Thomas: None. It is for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), as the UK's independent competition regulator, to promote competition in markets and enforce competition law. Anyone concerned that there are anti-competitive features of a market or that a market is not working well for consumers, should raise the matter with the OFT who have the relevant powers to take appropriate action where necessary.
British Summertime
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will commission a review of the effects of the application of British Summertime over the next 12 months. [253278]
Mr. McFadden: The Government believe that the current Summertime arrangements are a satisfactory compromise between those who prefer lighter mornings and those who prefer lighter evenings.
There are no plans to commission a review of the arrangements or the effects but the Government will continue to listen to arguments for and against change.
Trade: International Cooperation
Mr. Soames: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform whether he expects the Doha round of trade negotiations to resume in 2009; and whether he expects them to include negotiations on a general agreement on trade in services. [253504]
Mr. Thomas [ holding answer 2 February 2009]: The Government remain fully committed to an ambitious, pro-development outcome to the Doha round. We are working with the EU Trade Commissioner, other EU member states and other WTO members on the importance of concluding the ongoing negotiations as early as possible, with a view to achieving an ambitious, pro-development outcome to the round in 2009. Negotiations to extend the existing general agreement on trade in services will be an integral part of the negotiations and of the final Doha deal.
Union Modernisation Fund
Mr. Maude: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of the Union Modernisation Fund Supervisory Board from each of its meetings in the last 24 months. [250469]
Mr. McFadden: There are no minutes of the UMF Supervisory Board for the last 24 months.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many expressions of interest in setting up an academy have been received by his Department in each year for which figures are available. [251046]
Jim Knight: The following numbers of expressions of interest were signed in each year: four in 2000; nine in 2001; 10 in 2002; 15 in 2003; 16 in 2004; 22 in 2005; 50 in 2006; 52 in 2007; 42 in 2008; and one in January 2009. This gives a total of 221 signed expressions of interest since 2000. Of these, six projects did not progress beyond this stage. This is usually due to a joint decision between the Department and the local authority not to proceed.
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