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2 Feb 2010 : Column 280W—continued

Digital Broadcasting: Radio

Peter Luff: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2010, Official Report, columns 420-21W, on digital broadcasting: radio, whether the notice period constitutes the time during which the programme making and special events sector has been able to replace equipment due to be rendered redundant with alternatives that will be usable beyond 2012; and if he will make a statement. [313179]

Mr. Timms: Ofcom is responsible for the assignment of radio frequencies. The notice period runs from when Ofcom notifies Programme Making and Special Events users that they would have to vacate the channels that they were using.

Employment: Contracts

Jim Cousins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of employees who were employed on (a) short-term contracts, (b) fixed-term appointments and (c) an agency supply basis in each region in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007, (iii) 2008 and (iv) 2009, broken down by (A) full-time and (B) part-time workers. [314035]

Ian Lucas [holding answer 29 January 2010]: The information requested is as follows.

(a) The estimates of the number of employees who were employed on short-term contracts is not collected centrally.

(b) The estimates of the number of employees who were employed on fixed-term appointments from the Office for National Statistics' Annual Population Survey (APS) are provided in the following table by region and full-time or part-time status for the calendar years 2006, 2007 and 2008. Full information for 2009 is not yet available.

2 Feb 2010 : Column 281W

2 Feb 2010 : Column 282W

Fixed-period/term workers by region and full-time/part-time status
	2006			2007			2008
	Full-time	Part-time	Total	Full-time	Part-time	Total	Full-time	Part-time	Total
England	324,000	183,000	507,000	303,000	174,000	478,000	292,000	175,000	467,000
North East	21,000	*	30,000	22,000	*	32,000	21,000	*	28,000
North West	45,000	22,000	67,000	41,000	23,000	65,000	39,000	19,000	58,000
Yorks and Humber	34,000	18,000	52,000	28,000	17,000	45,000	26,000	20,000	45,000
East Midlands	23,000	18,000	40,000	21,000	16,000	36,000	17,000	18,000	34,000
West Midlands	23,000	16,000	39,000	24,000	13,000	37,000	22,000	15,000	37,000
East	30,000	21,000	51,000	31,000	20,000	52,000	38,000	23,000	61,000
London	62,000	27,000	89,000	59,000	27,000	87,000	60,000	23,000	83,000
South East	56,000	33,000	90,000	49,000	29,000	78,000	43,000	30,000	73,000
South West	31,000	19,000	50,000	28,000	19,000	46,000	27,000	19,000	46,000
Wales	22,000	11,000	33,000	23,000	12,000	34,000	20,000	12,000	31,000
Scotland	40,000	23,000	63,000	41,000	24,000	66,000	38,000	18,000	56,000
Northern Ireland	*	*	14,000	*	*	13,000	*	*	14,000
UK	394,000	223,000	617,000	376,000	215,000	591,000	359,000	209,000	568,000
"*" = Reliable figures are not available due to small sample sizes. Source: ONS' Annual Population Survey (January to December). Numbers rounded to nearest thousand

(c) The best estimate of employees who were employed on an agency supply basis comes from BIS' Survey of Recruitment Agencies (SORA) 2007 and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) 'Census' 2006. Together they estimate there are around 1.3 million agency workers in the UK. ONS' Annual Population Survey (APS) own estimate of around 250,000 is known to underestimate the number of agency workers.

Detailed information based on the SORA/REC estimate is not available. However, the following table splits this estimate by region and full-time or part-time status using the proportions from the latest APS in order to provide some indication of the scale at a sub national level.

Agency workers by region and full-time/part-time status
	Full-time	Part-time	Total
England	785,000	373,000	1,158,000
North East	38,000	15,000	53,000
North West	98,000	34,000	133,000
Yorks and Humber	90,000	45,000	134,000
East Midlands	94,000	38,000	132,000
West Midlands	67,000	45,000	112,000
East	103,000	32,000	135,000
London	140,000	53,000	193,000
South East	106,000	70,000	176,000
South West	48,000	41,000	90,000
Wales	35,000	*	43,000
Scotland	56,000	20,000	76,000
Northern Ireland	16,000	*	23,000
UK	892,000	408,000	1,300,000
"*" = Reliable figures are not available due to small sample sizes. Source: ONS' Annual Population Survey (April 2008 to March 2009) proportions are applied to 1.3 million agency workers estimated by BIS' Survey of Recruitment Agencies (SORA) 2007 and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) 'Census' 2006

Export Credit Guarantees

Jim Cousins: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with reference to the answer of 12 June 2000, Official Report, column 464W, on the Export Credits Guarantee Department-ECGD-if he will break down the figures for the financial years (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03, (e) 2003-04, (f) 2004-05, (g) 2005-06, (h) 2006-07, (i) 2007-08 and (j) 2008-09 by country. [314021]

Ian Lucas: Details of the information being sought have not been provided by country as to do so would potentially reveal information that is commercially confidential or be prejudicial to international relations or both. However, aggregate information in respect of each of the years is provided in the following table. Information about recoveries received in respect of claims paid has not been provided as ECGD is unable to disaggregate recoveries as between civil and defence business that are received under multilaterally agreed Paris Club debt rescheduling agreements. ECGD does not hold a breakdown of interest rate support costs by country or sector; such information could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

£ million
	Premium e arned	Claims p aid
1999-2000	24.87	152.00
2000-2001	72.07	179.00
2001-2002	9.28	125.00
2002-2003	33.58	99.00
2003-2004	25.05	69.00
2004-2005	18.80	nil
2005-2006	16.34	nil
2006-2007	29.25	nil
2007-2008	34.49	nil
2008-2009	0.75	nil
Note: Claims paid do not relate to premium earned in the same year. The claims relate to exports supported many years previously; the premiums were earned at the time ECGD came on risk for the exports in question.

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