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20 Apr 2009 : Column 412W—continued
Lord Jones of Birmingham
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which countries were visited by Lord Digby-Jones in a Ministerial capacity during his time as a Minister in his Department; and what the cost of each visit was. [268521]
Mr. Thomas: Since 1999 the Government have published the total cost of all overseas travel by Ministers and a list of all overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing over £500. From 2008 the list included details of overseas visits undertaken by all Ministers. This information for the last financial year was published in July 2008. Details for the last financial year will be published as soon as possible. All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the “Ministerial Code”.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire, dated 29 January 2009, transferred from the Department for Communities and Local Government on 9 February 2009, on business diversification grants. [264880]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 March 2009]: I responded to the hon. Member on 6 April 2009.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 12 February regarding a constituent. [265186]
Mr. McFadden [holding answer 20 March 2009]: This matter falls under the responsibility of the Insolvency Service and I have asked the chief executive to reply direct to my hon. Friend.
Steve Webb: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to reply to the letter of 16 January 2009 from the hon. Member for Northavon, sent on behalf of Mr. C Simpson of Pucklechurch, on Royal Mail. [269021]
Mr. McFadden: I responded to the hon. Member on 27 March 2009.
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Walsall North of 24 February 2009 with regard to a constituent; and what the reason is for the time taken to reply. [269038]
Mr. McFadden: I responded to my hon. Friend on 31 March. I apologise for the delay caused by the current high volumes of correspondence.
Minimum Wage
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what estimate he has made of the number of people in (a) the UK, (b) the West Midlands and (c) Tamworth constituency whose income rose following the introduction of the national minimum wage. [268387]
Mr. McFadden: The national minimum wage was introduced in 1999. The following numbers relate to the number of workers who were earning below the national minimum wage before its introduction.
Information on earnings is taken from the ONS’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) dataset for 1998. Information for individual parliamentary constituencies is not readily available in the ASHE dataset. However, information is available on a Government office region basis.
(a) The number of workers in the UK that stood to benefit directly in the form of higher hourly wages from the introduction of the national minimum wage in April 1999 is estimated to be around 1,000,000.
(b) In the West Midlands, 100,000 workers were estimated to benefit directly from higher hourly wages as a result of the introduction to the national minimum wage in April 1999.
Morocco: Overseas Trade
Joan Walley: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what advice his Department issues to UK firms on trade with Morocco which involves exploitation of resources located in Western Sahara. [268194]
Mr. Thomas: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is able to provide British companies with detailed advice concerning business opportunities in Morocco when requested. They would also be advised of the sensitivities in respect of Western Sahara.
Motor Industry: France
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what discussions the Secretary of State has had with the European Commission on the compatibility with state aid rules of proposals by the French Government to provide loans to the French motor industry. [261372]
Mr. Thomas: My noble Friend the Secretary of State has discussed state aid matters with Commissioner Kroes on a number of occasions. On each occasion he has stressed the need to take enforcement action against abuses of the state aid rules by any member state.
Post Offices
Mr. Laws: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many post office branches were (a) opened and (b) closed in each year since 1979; and if he will make a statement. [269164]
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 hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Royal Mail: Pensions
Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what proportion of the (a) membership and (b) estimated deficit of the Royal Mail pension scheme is accounted for by employees of Post Office Ltd. [268189]
Mr. McFadden: Over time there have been a number of changes in the organisation and structure of the Royal Mail group of companies. This makes a clear and accurate split of the past membership and deficit of the pension scheme for Post Office Ltd. difficult to establish.
Under Government proposals to support the pension scheme (as part of the package of measures currently before Parliament in the Postal Services Bill) members of the scheme who do, or did, work for Post Office Ltd will be treated on an equivalent basis to other Royal Mail employees.
As at 31 March 2008 out of a total 181,276 permanent Royal Mail employees, 9,163 were engaged on Post Office Ltd. business. This represents approximately 5 per cent. of the current workforce.
Royal Mail: Reorganisation
Jon Cruddas: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent estimate he has made of the expenditure incurred to date on (a) consultants and (b) other companies engaged to advise on aspects of the proposed sale of parts of Royal Mail. [264318]
Mr. McFadden: The estimated expenditure incurred to the end of March 2009 on external advisers providing legal, financial and accountancy advice in relation to the partnership proposals for Royal Mail is £3.6 million.
Jon Cruddas: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what recent estimate he has made of the expenditure incurred on legal fees associated with the proposed sale of parts of Royal Mail. [264319]
Mr. McFadden: It is not appropriate for commercial reasons to reveal the costs incurred by a specific external adviser which would be the case in this instance. The total estimated expenditure incurred to the end of March 2009 on external advisers providing legal, financial and accountancy advice in relation to the partnership proposals for Royal Mail is £3.6 million.
South West Regional Development Agency
Mr. Harper: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what reductions in (a) capital and (b) resource funding for the South West of England Regional Development Agency his Department has made in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [268641]
Mr. McFadden: The following reductions were made to the indicative allocations given to the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) at the start of the comprehensive spending review 2007 period:
| £ million | ||
| SWRDA contribution | ||
| Programme( 1) | Resource | Capital |
| (1) Figures represent total for the regions (2) Indicates brace (3) Indicates brace | ||
Zimbabwe: Overseas Trade
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the monetary value of trade between the UK and Zimbabwe was in the last five years. [269490]
Mr. Thomas: Data on recorded trade in goods with Zimbabwe are shown in the following table:
| £ million | ||
| UK exports of goods to Zimbabwe | UK imports of goods from Zimbabwe | |
| Source: HMRC Overseas Trade Statistics | ||
Estimates of trade in services are not available for the full five years. ONS data published in the UK Balance of Payments Pink Book 2008 were:
| £ million | ||
| UK exports of services to Zimbabwe | UK imports of services from Zimbabwe | |
Communities and Local Government
Council Tax
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many second homes there were in each council tax band in each region in England in each year from 1997 to 2008. [269502]
John Healey:
Details of the number of second homes in each council tax band in each region in England since 2004 are given in the following table. Information for previous years is not available. The data are a snapshot
taken in the autumn of each year and are as reported to Communities and Local Government by all billing authorities in England on their annual council tax base (CTB) returns.
| Bands | |||||||||
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | Total | |
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