§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of any reports and submissions produced by the Advisory Council on Research and Development for Fuel and Power in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Advisory Council on Research and Development for Fuel and Power met seven times in 1992 and five times in 1993, before it was dissolved in October of that year. Secretariat duties were carried out by DTI officials. There were no advisors. ACORD's budget covered principally member's travel and subsistence expenses and meeting costs. These cost
Coal task force/advisory committee on coal research meetings Financial year Number of meetings (C= CTF A= ACCR) Proposals to Committee Strategy papers reviewed Information papers discussed Cost of running Committee £k Total programme spend £million 1990–91 2C 0 2 2 7.0 11.40 (outturn) 1991–92 4C 13 1 4 14.0 4.67 (outturn) 1992–93 2C 6 1 4 7.0 3.93 (outturn) 1993–94 2C 12 7 5 14.0 7.83 (outturn) 2A 1994–95(to date) 3A (+2 planned) 5 5 6 10.5 7.5(budget) Notes: 1 This excludes small value proposals, which are dealt with by committee members by post. The Coal Task Force was inaugurated on 22 November 1990. The last meeting of the Coal Task Force was on 16 July 1993.
The Advisory Committee on Coal Research was inaugurated on 11 November 1993.
Secretariat and administrative support to these committees is provided by ETSU as part of the programme management arrangements which ETSU provides to the DTI.
An annual progress report for the DTI is agreed by the committee at the end of each financial year: copies of reports for 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1993–94 are available in the House of Commons Library.
The budget for the ACCR in financial year 1994–95 is £17.5k.
250Wthe Department some £3,300 in 1992–93 and 2,500 in 1993–94.
ACORD's remit was to offer views on the energy Research and Development programmes of the Department and of British Coal and Nuclear Electric. The council's views were communicated to Ministers by means of a letter from the chairman after each meeting. ACORD was responsible for commissioning "Energy Paper 61", an appraisal of United Kingdom energy technologies, which was published in May 1994.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of any reports and submissions produced by the Industrial Development Advisory Board in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Charles WardleInformation on the board's activities is published each year in the Industrial Development Act 1982 annual report, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.
The estimated cost of administrative support provided for the board by the Department was £20,000 in 1993–94.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) if he will publish a table showing the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of any reports and submissions produced by the coal task force in each of the last three years;
(2) if he will publish a table showing the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of any reports and submissions produced by the Advisory Committee on Coal Research in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe following table details the activities of the Advisory Committee on Coal Research and its predecessor, the Coal Task Force.
251W
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of any reports and submissions produced by the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Offshore Industry Liaison Committee has met twice in each of the last three years. The secretariat is provided by the offshore supplies office.
The committee has no advisors or budget and has not published any reports or submissions.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of any reports and submissions produced by the Energy Advisory Panel in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Energy Advisory Panel met for the first time on 23 November 1993 and has met six times to date; once in 1993 and five times so far in 1994. Three more meetings are expected to be held in the current financial year. Secretariat duties are carried out by DTI officials, but no advisors to the panel have been engaged. The panel's budget covers principally members' travel and subsistence expenses and meeting costs. These were some £3,400 in 1993–94 and £5,000 in 1994–95 to date.
The panel has contributed to the production of the Government's annual energy report, published in June 1994, but it has not produced specific reports or submissions.
§ Mr. HarveyTo ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will publish a table showing the number of meetings held, the secretarial and advisory arrangements, the budgeted and actual expenditure and the subjects of any reports and submissions produced by the advisory committee for the Joint Environmental Markets Unit in each of the last three years.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe Joint Environmental Markets Unit advisory committee met for the first time in March 1994 and has had two further meetings since then. The secretariat for the advisory committee is drawn from the staff of JEMU. The committee has no allocated budget; committee members are entitled to claim travel and subsistence in accordance with the DTI's rules for external members of advisory committees. No formal reports or submissions have been produced.