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Paternity Leave
Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he expects to make a decision on the implementation date of new rights for additional paternity leave. [82403]
Jim Fitzpatrick: It is the Government's intention to introduce additional paternity leave and pay alongside the extension of statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance and statutory adoption pay to 52 weeks and our aim would be to do so by the end of this Parliament. This will provide an opportunity for an equal division of paid leave between mothers and fathers and allow an equal responsibility for caring for their child during its first year.
The Work and Families Act 2006 takes broad powers to provide certain employees (generally fathers) with a new entitlement to take leave to care for a child and a new entitlement to receive pay while on leave, if certain conditions are met.
We recently consulted on the detail of the additional paternity leave and pay scheme and are currently analysing the responses received. We have had a large number of responses from a variety of interested parties and our aim is to publish a Government response setting out the next steps in the near future.
Personal Debt
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what advice and support services are available for people aged between 16 and 24 years for dealing with personal debt; what steps he is taking to raise awareness of such services; and if he will make a statement. [82916]
Mr. McCartney: We are taking action to help those with personal debt problems as outlined in the Governments 2004 “Tackling Over-indebtedness: Action Plan” and the subsequent 2005 annual report. Examples include the recently launched £45 million Face-to-Face Debt Advice Project, that will result in hundreds of new debt advisers and the £l million per annum support given to the National Debtline phone service. Such assistance is open to people of all ages.
Photovoltaic Solar Panels
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the cost of converting each (a) new house, (b) existing house, (c) new office and (d) existing office to photo-voltaic solar panels. [79696]
Malcolm Wicks: In addition to the Major PV Demonstration programme with a budget of £31 million, the Government have spent £10 million on photovoltaic field trials since 2000, which will provide information on operating performance, reliability and the maintenance of building-integrated PV. However, specific information on the likely costs of installing photovoltaic panels on all new and existing homes and offices was outside the scope of this work. As a rough estimate the costs to install 1 kW of photovoltaic solar panels is in the region of £6,000 and electricity usage of a typical house would require 4.5 kW of PV. In terms of an office, it is difficult to provide similar estimates, as it would depend on the size, occupancy, equipment used and other variables.
Pistol Exports
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment was made of compliance with the UK Government's obligations under the Wassenaar Agreement before the approval of the re-export of 20,000 Italian Beretta pistols to Iraq; and if he will make a statement. [82429]
Malcolm Wicks: The Government are satisfied that it was fully compliant with its Wassenaar obligations in this case.
Post Office
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices closed in (a) Yeovil constituency and (b) Somerset in each of the last 10 years. [82145]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The question the hon. Member has asked relates to operational matters for which Post Office Ltd. is directly responsible. Post Office Ltd. have provided the following figures relating to the numbers of post office branches in the Yeovil and Somerset constituencies.
| Number of Post OfficeÂ(r) branches open | ||
| Yeovil constituency | Somerset area | |
Information relating to post office branches for each parliamentary constituency is placed in the Libraries of the House on an annual basis.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many post offices closed in (a) Edinburgh West constituency and (b) other Edinburgh parliamentary constituencies in the last five years. [82706]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The question the hon. Member has asked relates to operational matters for which Post Office Ltd. is directly responsible. Post Office Ltd. have provided the following figures relating to the numbers of post office branches in the constituencies that are a part of the City of Edinburgh.
| Area | Number of Post OfficeÂ(r) branches | ||
| City of Edinburgh | 2001-02 | 2003-04 | Closures |
| Area | Number of Post OfficeÂ(r) branches | ||
| City of Edinburgh | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | Closures |
| Note: The constituencies changed in 2004-05 | |||
Information relating to post office branches for each parliamentary constituency is placed in the Libraries of the House on an annual basis.
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry for which services contracts with the Post Office are held on a Government-wide basis; and what the (a) start and (b) termination date is of each contract. [82156]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Post Office Ltd. (POL) provides services to Government through commercial contracts with individual Departments and local authorities. POL views these contracts as commercially confidential.
The services offered by POL on behalf of Government Departments and the network of branches through which they are available are.
Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps his Department takes to ensure that charities comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. [81588]
Margaret Hodge: My officials hold frequent discussions with the Information Commissioner’s Office, that is responsible for the enforcement of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
The Information Commissioner’s Office publish guidance on their website (http://www.ico.gov.uk/eventual.aspx?id=96) covering the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, this includes guidance for charities. The Information Commissioner’s Office respond to complaints about charities breaching the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 in the same way that they respond to complaints about other companies.
Shops (Start-ups/Closures)
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of independent retail shops that have (a) opened and (b) closed in Beverley and Holderness in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [82498]
Margaret Hodge: Value added tax (VAT) registrations and de-registrations are the best official guide to the pattern of business start-ups and closures. DTI data on the number of VAT retail business registrations and de-registrations in Beverley and Holderness constituency from 1997 to 2004 are shown in the following table. For comparison, data on the stock has been provided.
| VAT registrations and de-registrations in retail( 1) in Beverley and Holderness, 1997-2004 | |||
| Registrations | De-registrations | End of year stock | |
| 1
Standard Industrial Classification 52, retail trade (except of motor
vehicles), repair of personal and household
goods. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 5 for data protection reasons. Due to rounding, the stock at the beginning of the year, plus registrations during the year, minus de-registrations during the year, may not exactly match the stock at the start of the next year. Source: Small Business Service figures based on data from the ONS Inter Departmental Business Register. | |||
VAT registration and de-registration data do not capture all business activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if their turnover falls below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Similarly, businesses that de-register may not have closed. In the retail sector 63 per cent. of enterprises in the UK (200,000 out of 320,000) were registered for VAT at the start of 2004.
The number of VAT registrations and de-registrations in Beverley and Holderness across all sectors from 1997 to 2004 is shown in the following table. Since 1997 the overall stock of businesses in Beverley and Holderness has risen by 7 per cent.
| VAT registrations and de-registrations and start of year stock in Beverley and Holderness (all sectors), 1997-2004 | |||
| Registrations | De-registrations | End of year stock | |
| Note: Due to rounding, the stock at the beginning of the year, plus registrations during the year, minus de-registrations during the year, may not exactly match the stock at the start of the next year. Source: Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994-2004, Small Business Service, available from the Library of the House and also at http://www.sbs.gov.uk/vats. | |||
Business closures are part of the functioning of a dynamic economy and represent an increased willingness among the business population to take risks or the displacement of less productive and innovative firms by more productive ones. Research indicates that improvements in productivity and economic growth are more likely to come from higher levels of both business entry and business exit.
Regional
disparities in start-up and closure rates can have their root in the
different economic history and different opportunities available in
each region. The Government's aim is for every region to achieve
success and good economic growth, which is why increasing
resources have been put at the disposal of each Regional Development
Agency.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate he has made of the number of independent retail shops that have (a) opened and (b) closed in the Stroud constituency in each year since 1997; and what percentage each figure represents of the total number of independent shops in the constituency in each year. [82036]
Margaret Hodge: Value added tax (VAT) registrations and de-registrations are the best official guide to the pattern of business start-ups and closures. DTI data on the number of VAT retail business registrations and de-registrations in Stroud, and as a percentage of the stock from 1997 to 2004 are shown in the following table. For comparison, data on the stock has been provided.
| VAT registrations, de-registrations and stock in retail( 1) in Stroud, 1997 to 2004 | ||||||||
| Stroud | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| (1
)Standard Industrial Classification 52, retail trade (except of
motor vehicles), repair of personal and household
goods. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 5 for data protection reasons. Source: Small Business Service figures based on data from the ONS Inter Departmental Business Register. | ||||||||
The number of VAT registrations and de-registrations in Stroud across all sectors from 1997 to 2004 is shown in the following table below. Since the end of 1997 the overall stock of businesses in Stroud has risen by 10 per cent.
| VAT registrations, de-registrations and stock in Stroud (all sectors), 1997 to 2004 | ||||||||
| Stroud-all businesses | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Source: Business Start-ups and Closures: VAT Registrations and De-registrations 1994-2004, Small Business Service, available at http://www.sbs.gov.uk/vats. | ||||||||
VAT registration and de-registration data do not capture all business activity. Businesses are unlikely to be registered if their turnover falls below the compulsory VAT threshold, which has risen in each year since 1997. Similarly, businesses that de-register may not have closed. In the retail sector 63 per cent. of enterprises in the UK (200,000 out of 320,000) were registered for VAT at the start of 2004.
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