| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
14 Sep 2009 : Column 2171W—continued
Holidays Abroad
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on each of its campaigns aimed at Britons travelling abroad in each year since 2001; what research his Department has commissioned into the effectiveness of each such campaign; and if he will make a statement. [290996]
Chris Bryant: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 16 July 2009, Official Report, column 612W.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Know Before You Go campaign is evaluated on a six monthly basis to ensure targets are being met and that it effectively reaches the population. For example, in 2008-09 the campaign reached an estimated 64 per cent. of UK adults, in some cases up to 28.5 times. Our evaluation confirmed that the audience's response was highly favourable. The report also evaluates value for money, such as number of people reached per £1 spent, and the advertising value equivalent of the campaign. In addition, we commission qualitative and quantitative surveys to monitor changes in traveller's behaviour and attitudes as well as providing guidance for the future direction of the campaign.
Horn of Africa: United Nations
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps he has taken to support the establishment of an EU Special Representative to the Horn of Africa region; when he expects an appointment to this post to be made; and if he will make a statement. [291141]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council, which took place in Brussels on 27 July 2009, agreed conclusions on Somalia which stated that the Council:
"views positively the possibility of appointing an EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa in order to further enhance the EU's ongoing strategic policy formulation and the coordination of EU activities."
The Government believe that a high-calibre candidate with a clear mandate could add value to the role of the international community in the Horn of Africa, provided any such appointment complemented the role of the UN Special Representative for Somalia. This issue is due for further EU discussion in September 2009.
Israel: Entry Clearances
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether his Department submitted a further request for an explanation from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the treatment of the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak and her travelling companions when they were refused entry into Israel at Ben Gurion Airport in 2006 following its receipt of the MFA letter of 15 January 2007; what steps were taken by his Department following receipt of a copy of relevant file papers from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak in June 2008; and if he will make a statement. [291106]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Entry into and exit from Israel is a matter for the Israeli Government. We have raised this case with the Israeli Government a number of times, most recently in October 2008. Their position then was that there was no possibility of investigating the incident further and that they considered the matter closed. We regret that we have not been able to elicit a response further to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs letter of 15 January 2007. The Israeli authorities are not obliged to provide us with a reason why the hon. Member and her constituents were denied entry.
Libya: Terrorism
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many officials in his Department are working full-time on assisting the victims of IRA terrorism to seek compensation from Libya; how many other officials will be employed full-time on this work as a consequence of the implementation of the proposals in the Prime Minister's announcement in Germany on 6 September 2009; and if he will make a statement. [291169]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Three officials have been redeployed within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to provide support for the families and their representative-two in London full-time and one at our embassy in Tripoli part-time. The team will also be supported by FCO legal advisers.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects his Department's unit dedicated to helping those affected by Irish Republican Army terrorism and their families seeking compensation from Libya to be operational; and if he will make a statement. [291196]
David Miliband: The new Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Libya IRA Compensation Unit was set up on 7 September 2009. Representatives of the families met No. 10 and FCO officials at No. 10 in a 45 minute meeting on 8 September 2009. The new head of the unit attended. The unit is comprised of three officials-two in London full-time and one at our embassy in Tripoli part-time. The team will also be supported by FCO legal advisers.
Mr. Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the team being established in his Department to provide assistance to those affected by Irish Republican Army terrorism and their families will offer legal advice on seeking compensation from Libya; and if he will make a statement. [291197]
David Miliband: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) will not be providing the families with legal advice. We understand that those affected by IRA terrorism and their families have access to their own legal advice.
The new FCO Libya IRA Compensation Unit will support the victims' families and their representatives by serving as a central point of contact within the FCO, arranging meetings with the Libyan authorities, providing logistical assistance and supporting the representatives of the victims in Libya.
Somalia: Piracy
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps the Government has taken to prevent UK nationals being taken hostage off the coast of Somalia. [290980]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UK takes a leading role in the maritime operations of the coast of Somalia which seek to deter and disrupt pirate attacks and therefore help prevent hostage situations occurring. The UK provides the Operation Commander and the Operational Headquarters of the EU Operation Atalanta; the Deputy Commander of Combined Maritime Forces and the at sea commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Operation Ocean Shield. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office currently advises against all travel to Somalia and provides specific advice on sea travel in the region.
The Government endorse the advice, prepared by the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) and the International Maritime Organization, on how to prevent, deter and delay acts of piracy off the Horn of Africa. The Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) website contains general advice to shipping companies and ships are encouraged to register with MSCHOA and transit through the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC). In addition, British registered ships receive advice from the Department for Transport, drawing attention to the latest Maritime Advisories in force throughout the piracy threat region. The UK's Maritime Trade Operation based in Dubai advises mariners on planning their passage through the Gulf of Aden.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Advantage West Midlands
Robert Neill: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of its projects Advantage West Midlands has (a) reviewed and (b) cancelled in the last 12 months. [286678]
Mr. Lammy: The information is as follows:
(a) The agency reviewed its Corporate Plan in the first quarter of the 2009-10 financial year, to take account of the changing priorities resulting from the recession (in particular, the need to prioritise support for business) and the reduction in its budget. As part of this exercise the agency reviewed its investment plans and project portfolio. The aim was to ensure that investments were targeted on those activities that would deliver the greatest benefits for the region. From the outset, Advantage West Midlands undertook to continue to fund all legally committed projects that were being delivered in accordance with contractual conditions. This meant that 600 projects, to which it was legally-committed, were unaffected by the review process. The 306 project proposals to which the agency was not yet legally committed were systematically reviewed against the following criteria:
Impact
Spatial focus
Response to recession
Deliverability.
All agency-funded projects, once contracted and being delivered, are subject to continuing review through regular monitoring visits by agency project and contract managers. This is standard
procedure-the aim being to ensure that projects meet contractually-agreed objectives and fulfil the agreed terms and conditions. Where this has not been the case, the agency has reduced or clawed-back funding on a pro-rata basis.
(b) No legally-committed projects have been cancelled in the past 12 months. As a result of its project review, the agency announced at the end of June 2009 that, of the 306 non-legally committed project proposals reviewed, 184 had been allocated agency funding. The total investment in these projects and the 600 existing projects over their lifetimes will be c£1.1 billion. Since June the agency has continued to work with applicants to explore alternative funding and delivery arrangements for those projects that were not supported.
Business
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make an assessment of the merits of funding research on the effects on the economy of downsizing by companies. [285816]
Ian Lucas: Company downsizing is one of a number of industrial issues which my Department has an interest in the context of our work on globalisation and industrial restructuring.
It has produced research related to this issue in the past, but there were no plans to initiate further research into this topic this year. Decisions about the allocation of next year's research budget will begin in April 2010. There are no current plans to fund further research on the effects on the economy of downsizing.
Recent departmental publications relevant to the issue of company downsizing are:
BERR (2009) "The Globalisation of Value Chains and Industrial Transformation in the UK", at:
BERR (2008) "Globalisation and the changing UK economy", at:
BERR (2007) "Competitiveness in the UK Electronics Sector", at:
BERR (2007) "Analysis of firm structures and outsourcing in Great Britain", at
BERR (2007) "Competitiveness in the UK Electronics Sector", at:
DTI (2003) "Services and Offshoring: The Impact of Increasing International Competition in Services, December" .
Business Links
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints have been received by his Department in the last 12 months in relation to the health check offered to businesses by Business Link. [291191]
Mr. Lammy:
The Department's Ministerial Correspondence Unit handles all complaints about the Health Check delivered by Business Link. Unfortunately, because of the large volume of departmental correspondence, we are unable to provide details of
how many complaints have been received in relation to the Health Check without incurring disproportionate costs.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the take-up rate among businesses of Business Link's health check service. [291192]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has devolved responsibility for marketing Business Link services to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) to enable them to co-ordinate campaigns in their area.
Officials in the Department's Enterprise Directorate work with the RDAs to ensure consistent messages are used in campaigns and, wherever possible, support regional activities with national marketing campaigns. The recent "Real Help" campaign, which ran in February this year, featured Health Checks as one of the measures to help business through the current economic downturn.
In addition to press and media advertising, the Government have actively promoted Health Checks (both on-line and face-to-face) through the national Business Link website
Activities to increase take up of Business Link Health Checks are ongoing.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what proportion of complaints received by Business Link were answered in (a) 10, (b) 11 to 15, (c) 16 to 20 and (d) more than 21 days in each of the last four years. [291193]
Mr. Lammy: The Business Link service is delivered by fifteen different providers operating under contract to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. Complaints are either handled directly by the provider or, if unresolved at that level, are dealt with through the RDAs own complaints handling process.
There is no central monitoring of complaints received by Business Link. Therefore, to gather information about the response times for handling these complaints over the last four years would incur disproportionate costs.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what targets exist for the time within which Business Link responds to complaints received; and what the equivalent targets were in each of the last three years. [291194]
Mr. Lammy: The Business Link service is delivered by 15 different providers operating under contract to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. Complaints are either handled directly by the provider or, if unresolved at that level, are dealt with through the RDAs own complaints handling process.
The Regional Development Agencies impose targets on their service providers for responding to complaints. The targets for producing a response range between 10 and 15 working days from receipt.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many complaints were received by Business Link in each of the last four years. [291195]
Mr. Lammy: The Business Link service is delivered by 15 different providers operating under contract to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in England. Complaints are either handled directly by the provider or, if unresolved at that level, are dealt with through the RDAs own complaints handling process.
There is no central monitoring of complaints received by Business. Therefore, to gather information about the total number of complaints received by Business Link over the last four years would incur disproportionate costs.
Business: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department and its predecessors allocated to the development of small businesses in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years. [282146]
Mr. Lammy: EEDA's business support services are funded and operate at a regional level. It is, therefore, not possible to break down funding to the requested level in every instance.
The following information identifies funding during the past five years for these services and, where possible, in Essex and Castle Point. Please note that not all of these schemes were in place five years ago, therefore details provided go back as far back as possible.
Business Link East (BLE)-Since 1 April 2007, EEDA has given £32 million of funding to the Business Link Provider in the region to deliver a wide range of business support. During this time, BLE has supported 41,790 businesses in Essex, including 1,612 in Castle Point.
MAS-East-EEDA has funded MAS-East to the value of £3.4 million for the period 2005-08 and has awarded a further £3.3 million for the period 2008-11. Since November 2005 MAS has supported 362 Essex businesses, carrying out in-depth projects with 38 businesses generating £2,553,100 of Gross Value Added. This has included six businesses supported in Castle Point, working intensively with one company.
Business finance schemes-Since April 2005, EEDA has awarded 16 Essex businesses £1,328,282 in funding through the Grant for Research and Development scheme, with a further six at approval stage with a value of £481,870.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |