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The BBC has informed me that TV Licensing nonetheless asks such people to do so in order that they will not receive regular mailings intended for unlicensed viewers. Furthermore, this helps to ensure greater accuracy with the TV licensing database.
Tourism
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many tourists visited the United Kingdom in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, and (c) 2008. [HL3834]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The numbers of tourists who visited the United Kingdom, as recorded by the International Passenger Survey, for the years 2006, 2007 and the provisional numbers for 2008 are set out in the table below.
| Year | Inbound Visit numbers |
UK Trade and Investment: Iraq
Questions
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK Trade and Investment posts there are in Iraq; and for how long they have been staffed. [HL4036]
Lord Davies of Oldham: UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) has three permanent positions in Baghdad, consisting of one UK-based officer and two locally engaged staff. One of the locally engaged positions is a long-standing post. The other two posts were created in 2009.
Alongside the full-time staff allocation, UKTI is currently employing two business consultants in Iraq on contracts that run through to the end of July 2009.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many British defence companies were given support by UK Trade and Investment under the trade access programme to attend events in Iraq, broken down by year since 2005. [HL4037]
11 Jun 2009 : Column WA166
Lord Davies of Oldham: UK Trade and Investment has not been requested to support any British defence companies in Iraq under the tradeshow access programme.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many grants for British trade in Iraq have been given to British defence companies wishing to participate in the UK Trade and Investment Export Marketing Research Scheme; and what was the total amount of the grants. [HL4038]
Lord Davies of Oldham: UK Trade and Investment supports the Export Marketing Research Scheme (EMRS) through Chambers of Commerce in the UK.
British Chambers of Commerce have checked their records dating back to 1999 and have no records of any request for EMRS from British defence companies and therefore no grant money has been released in this respect.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many British-sponsored trade delegations have visited Iraq since the establishment of the new republic in 2005. [HL4039]
Lord Davies of Oldham: My right honourable friend, the Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills led a high level business delegation of 23 UK companies and one business support organisation to Basra and Baghdad in April 2009.
The Middle East Association has taken four UK trade missions to the Kurdistan Regional Governate over the period 2006-09.
Water Supply: Surface Drainage
Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are available for community and volunteer groups to reduce costs related to surface water draining. [HL3976]
Lord Davies of Oldham: Guidance issued by the Secretary of State in 2000 stated that customers should only be charged for surface water runoff from their properties that enters the public sewer system, and that the Government support the provision of rebates for customers whose surface water does not flow into public sewers.
All customers can therefore reduce costs related to surface water drainage by implementing sustainable drainage measures such as soakaways or permeable paving, to reduce the amount of surface water runoff into sewers, and applying for a rebate from their water company.
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