HC Deb 10 May 2004 vol 421 cc79-80W
Llew Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether any of the grant-in-aid to countries of the former Soviet Union in respect of nuclear legacy programmes mentioned at paragraphs 16.18 to 16.21 of her Department's Annual Report, Cm 6216, has been(a) used and (b) earmarked for future use to help deal with the surplus military plutonium stockpile in Russia. [170983]

Mr. Timms

£70 million over 10 years is allocated to help deal with the disposition of surplus Russian military plutonium. The precise details of the disposition programme have not yet been agreed between Russia and the US and, as a result, none of the UK allocation has so far been spent. Consideration is therefore being given to the use of these funds to assist in closing down the three remaining plutonium-producing reactors in Russia.

Norman Lamb

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much the production of her Department's latest annual report cost; how many copies were printed; how many copies of it were sold at its cover price; to whom copies of the report have been provided free of charge; and how many copies were provided free of charge. [171078]

Ms Hewitt

The cost incurred by the Department for design and artwork of the latest Departmental Report (April 2004) was approximately £9,036. This figure includes the costs incurred in placing an electronic version of the report on the Departmental website. Other costs of printing and publication were met directly by the publisher, The Stationery Office Limited (TSO), and did not fall to the Government. TSO recoups these costs; through sales and uses its commercial judgment as to the number of copies printed. The latest departmental report was only published on 28 April 2004 and 469 copies were sold at the cover price (£32) by TSO or through its accredited agents and other booksellers within the first week.

The Department is in the process of circulating some 430 complimentary copies to Ministers, Opposition Front Bench spokesmen, Select Committee Members and staff, the Parliamentary Libraries, DTI officials and external Board Members (including in agencies and NDPBs), officials in other Government Departments and journalists.