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12 Nov 2009 : Column 644W—continued
Exports: White Phosphorus
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 2 June 2009, Official Report, column 339W, on exports: white phosphorus, in respect of which countries of destination a licence was granted for export of white phosphorus in the (a) ML3a and (b) ML4a category. [298705]
Ian Lucas: As previously stated the Export Control Organisation in BIS had identified 67 licences for munitions designed to create illumination or act as an incendiary. These munitions may have contained white phosphorous but because the export licence application does not require the exporter to provide the chemical composition of munitions to be exported, it is not possible to say how many-if any-of those 67 actually related to the export of military devices containing white phosphorous. However the 67 licences referred to were issued for exports to the following countries:
Abu Dhabi (part of United Arab Emirates)
Afghanistan
Australia
Bermuda
Brazil
Brunei
Canada
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Germany
Greenland
Honduras
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
India
Iraq
Irish Republic
Israel
Italy
Jordan
South Korea
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Sri Lanka
Thailand.
Fireworks
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) what steps he (a) has taken since 2000 and (b) plans to take during the next six months to inform the public of (i) the dangers of fireworks and (ii) the effects of fireworks on animals; what discussions he has had with the fireworks industry about this issue; what recent representations he has received on fireworks safety; and if he will make a statement; [298272]
(2) what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the number of children injured by fireworks; and if he will make a statement. [298275]
Kevin Brennan: BIS has responsibility for firework safety and legislation and the promotion of safe and responsible use of fireworks. The Department has been running an annual fireworks safety campaign for many years, and this year we are working with the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) to promote our safety messages.
This year's fireworks safety campaign period has been running since the start of the Hindu Diwali festival last month and leads up to this week's Bonfire night festivities. We are aiming our safety messages at families and young children to promote the fireworks code and reduce the risk of injuries to children.
DCSF will be promoting child safety during the firework season and we have been working with them to communicate our general firework safety messages. We have also been running TV and radio advertising, and promoting our fireworks website:
The website contains free resources for parents, schools, retailers and enforcers to download to help with the promotion of the safe use of fireworks.
Our safety messages include a leaflet published in conjunction with DEFRA and the Blue Cross called "Fireworks and Safety" which details how to keep pets safe and our site also links to the Blue Cross website.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many (a) males and (b) females in each age group were (i) injured and (ii) killed by fireworks in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [298274]
Kevin Brennan: Figures for injuries recorded by age for the last available five years are shown in the following table. Figures are not available broken down by sex and age. There were no fatalities in this period.
| Age group | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
Mr. Amess: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many companies are authorised to (a) manufacture and (b) sell fireworks; and if he will make a statement. [298463]
Kevin Brennan: The Health and Safety Executive have authorised 42 companies to manufacture fireworks. Manufacture in this case includes the preparation, assembly, disassembly and fusing of firework displays away from the place of intended use.
Information on the number of companies authorised to sell fireworks is not held centrally.
Further Education
Stephen Williams: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many 19 to 24 year-olds are studying (a) full-time and (b) part-time on first Level 2, first Level 3, subsequent Level 2 and subsequent Level 3 qualifications. [296873]
Kevin Brennan: Table 1 shows LSC-funded further education participation by mode of attendance and level, for learners aged between 19 and 24 in 2008/09 (provisional).
In 2007/08, of the 740,100 adult learners (aged 19+) participating on full level 2 courses, 542,800 were first full level 2. Of the 328,100 adult learners (aged 19+) participating on full level 3 courses, 248,000 were first full level 3. Provisional full- year learner numbers for 2008/09 were published in a statistical first release on 22 October 2009:
Supplementary information, including participation on first full level 2 and first full level 3 qualifications in 2008/09 will be available shortly. Information on first full level 2 and first full level 3 specifically for 19 to 24-year-olds is not published.
| Table 1: LSC-funded participation for learners aged between 19 and 24, by mode of attendance and level in 2008/09 (provisional) | |||||
| Full-time full-year | Full-time part-year | Part-time | Unknown | Total learners | |
| Notes: 1. Source data includes ASL, LR and ER ILR datasets. 2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred, and may not sum to total due to rounding. "-" indicates a figure of less than 50. 3. Age is based on academic age, at 31 August of the academic year. 4. Part-time includes part-time distance learning, open learning, E-learning and evening learning. 5. FE students classified for statistical purposes as full-time are defined as those enrolled on programmes of at least 450 guided learning hours per year, or for at least 150 guided learning hours per tri-annual period or more than 16 guided learning hours per week for shorter courses. Full-time students who enrol on a programme of at least 450 guided learning hours per year are classified as full-time full-year. This includes those students who withdraw from the programme during the year and actually attend for less than 450 guided learning hours. Also counted as full-time full-year are students who enrol on programmes of less than 450 guided learning hours but stay longer than expected and actually attend for more than 450 guided learning hours. Full-time students who are not classified as full-time full-year are classified as other full-time. All other students are classified as part-time. | |||||
Mr. Timpson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people who had been in local authority foster care in each (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) local authority (i) enrolled in and (ii) completed a further education course in each of the last five years. [298793]
Kevin Brennan: Information is not captured on the number of young people in foster care that enrol or complete a further education course.
Information on the number of young people participating and achieving in further education is given in a statistical first release, the latest version of which was published on 22 October:
Further Education: Government Assistance
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many career development loans are expected to be made available in the (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 academic year. [299732]
Mr. Lammy: We currently have a portfolio of £65 million this financial year 2009-10 which when based on the current average loan value of £6,441 provides for 10,092 loans. We are pleased with the engagement from two banks-Barclays and the Co-operative. This gives us a good platform to build on and to ensure that supply meets the demand we expect over the coming years for PCDLs.
Grocery Trade: Competition
Andrew George: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills when the Secretary of State will respond to the Competition Commission following its referral to him on 4 August 2009 in respect of its Grocery Market Inquiry. [299045]
Kevin Brennan: The Competition Commission's (CC) recommendation of 4 August on the establishment of a Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) Ombudsman raises a number of complex and important issues for the grocery market and also to consumers and the wider economy. We will be responding shortly.
Andrew George: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Office of Fair Trading in ensuring fair trading throughout the grocery supply chain. [299056]
Kevin Brennan: It is not the role of Ministers to monitor its effectiveness. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is an independent competition authority.
Higher Education: Admissions
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of the 10,000 additional student places available in 2010-11 will be for first-year students. [299754]
Mr. Lammy: HEFCE is still in the process of allocating funded additional student numbers (ASN) to institutions for 2010-11. Until that process is completed it is not known what the balance will be between places for new entrants and places to meet the needs arising from previous years' expansion.
Inward Investment
Chris Ruane: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many inward investment projects have been established in each region in each of the last 20 years; [299707]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of jobs created through inward investment in each region in each of the last 20 years. [299706]
Ian Lucas: I have arranged for separate listings of UKTI's (and its predecessors') recorded inward investment successes by UK regions for each of the last 20 years to be placed in the Libraries of the House. Figures for London are available only from when an RDA for London was established in 1994-95.
These figures are based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest in the UK. They are based on the companies' best estimates of the number of new and safeguarded jobs associated with each investment.
There is no requirement on companies to notify inward investment decisions to UKTI, so the figures include only those projects where UKTI or its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice.
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