Executive Agencies (Hansard, 2 November 1992)

§ Mr. Eggar

Responsibility for the subject of the question has been delegated to the chief executives of the 10 agencies for which my Department is responsible. I have therefore asked Mr. Mike Hoddinott, Accounts Services Agency; Mr. David Durham, Companies House; Mr. Peter Joyce, Insolvency Service; Dr. Richard Worswick, Laboratory of the Government Chemist; Mr. William Edgar, National Engineering Laboratory; Dr. Peter Clapham, National Physical Laboratory; Dr. Seton Bennett, National Weights and Measures Laboratory; Mr. Paul Hartnack, Patent Office; Mr. John Michell, Radiocommunications Agency; and Dr. Doug Cormack, Warren Spring Laboratory, to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Mike Hoddinott to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 26 October 1992: Your recent Parliamentary Question addressed to the President of the Board of Trade asked for the titles of papers published by DTI agencies. I have been asked to reply in respect of Accounts Services Agency for which I am Chief Executive. The only paper published by ASA over the last 12 months was the Annual Report and Accounts for 1991–92 issued in August.

Letter from David Durham to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 28 October 1992: You recently put down a Parliamentary Question to the President of the Board of Trade asking him to list, for the last 12 months, the titles of papers published by each agency chief executive. Following the answer given by Mr. Eggar. I am replying in respect of Companies House. As you may imagine, Companies House publishes a great variety of forms and notes for guidance for the use of companies and individuals. There are in addition regular newsheets circulated to our customers, and other publicity, on developments in our services. These are in order to help companies and others understand and meet the obligations all limited companies have to place certain documents on the public record. I have assumed that your question is not addressed at such publications, though I would be happy to list them should you so wish. Apart from these, the only document which I believe falls within the scope of your question is as follows: Annual Report and Accounts for 1991–92.

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 28 October 1992: 1. I am replying at Mr. Eggar's request to your recent Parliamentary Question in which you asked the President of the Board of Trade to list, for the last 12 months, the titles of papers published by the Chief Executive of each executive agency. 66W 2. In the last 12 months the following documents have been published by the Insolvency Service:

A Guide to Bankruptcy
Insolvency General Annual Report 1990
Insolvency Service Executive Agency Annual Report 1990–91
Accounts 1990–91
Insolvency General Annual Report 1991
Insolvency Service Executive Agency Annual Report 1991–92
Directory of Authorised Insolvency Practitioners 1992

Letter from R. D. Worswick to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 27 October 1992: I am writing to you in reply to your PQ asking the President of the Board of Trade for the titles of papers published within the last 12 months by the Chief Executives of the Department's Agencies. Within the last 12 months I have had published the papers listed below:

(i) "Quality Assurance in the European Community", Presented to a Meeting of the American Laboratory Managers Association on 24 October 1991
(ii) "The Laboratory of the Government Chemist: Past and Future"
Opening lecture at an International Conference on Analytical Chemistry (SAC 92), 20–26 September 1992

I hope this is useful.

Letter from W. Edgar to Mr. Martin Redmond. Dated 26 October 1992: I would refer to your Parliamentary Question tabled on 21 October to the President of the Board of Trade in which you asked if he will list, for the last 12 months, the titles of papers published by the Chief Executive of each Executive Agency for which he is responsible. As Chief Executive of NEL I attach a listing of the publications issued in 1991 together with a partial listing for 1992 to date, I trust that you will find this information to be satisfactory for your purposes. A list of the documents has been placed in the Library.

Letter from Dr. P. B. Clapham to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 27 October 1992: I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question addressed to the President of the Board of Trade requesting titles of papers published by Agency Chief Executives. I have been asked to respond regarding my own Agency, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). NPL has recently published its Annual Report and Accounts for 1991–92 and copies were laid before the Houses of Parliament on 24 September 1992. In addition, the Laboratory has had published a large number of scientific papers in the technical press, various pamphlets describing NPL's measurement services, and also our "House Journal", NPL News. Finally, I have recently had published a paper entitled, "Measurement—for what it's Worth" discussing the value of NPL's measurement work to the United Kingdom economy. Most of these publications are freely available from the Laboratory's Information Services, and I should he glad to arrange for copies to be sent to you if you would like to indicate your particular interests.

Letter from Seton Bennett to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 27 October 1992: I have been asked by the President of the Board of Trade to let you have details of papers I have published during t he last twelve months. In my capacity as Chief Executive of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory I have published the Agency's Corporate Plan in March 1992 and its 1991–92 Annual Report in July. NWML also publishes a number of technical documents and type approval certificates.

Letter from P. R. S. Hartnack to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 27 October 1992: 67W I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question number 180 of 21 October 1992 about titles of papers published in the last year. 2. I have published no papers on a personal basis, but in seeking to stimulate interest in intellectual property matters I have made a number of speeches to a variety of audiences. By way of example, I enclose a copy of a speech I made last week at a conference on global technology transfer, which was printed as one of the conference papers. 3. More generally, details of patent applications, and of applications for the registration of trade marks and designs are published by the Patent Office as part of the statutory process. My Annual Report as Comptroller General is also published, and copies are laid in the library of the House of Commons, as are copies of the Patent Office's approved Corporate Plan. 4. Finally I should mention that we publish a large number of pamphlets, monographs, and other literature, including videos and self-education packages, aimed at informing the public on different aspects of intellectual property. If you would like a complete set of this material please let me know and I will arrange for it to be sent to you direct, or placed in the library of the House of Commons. A copy of the speech has been placed in the Library.

Letter from M. J. Michell to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 28 October 1992: You have recently tabled two Parliamentary Questions to the President of the Board of Trade, concerning papers published and fact finding visits by the Chief Executive, of DTI Agencies. The President has asked me to write to you on these matters in relation to the Radiocommunications Agency. I have not myself published any papers since this Agency was established in 1990. However the Agency as such has published a large number of technical papers, reports and so forth. I am not sure this kind of publication is what you had in mind in your Question but I have enclosed details of publications over the past 12 months should these be of interest. I am also enclosing a copy of the Agency's latest annual report. In the last twelve months I have not made any fact finding visits as such. During the course of my work I have visited a number of United Kingdom companies to discuss matters of business, as well as visiting different Agency establishments. I have made one overseas visit to Australia and New Zealand, to discuss with the authorities there certain radical changes in radio spectrum management policy they have introduced or are in course of introducing, in order that I may better advise Ministers on future policy in this country. As you may know, the Government has announced its intention of issuing a consultative document on future radio spectrum management in due course. I hope this is helpful. A list of the documents has been placed in the Library.

Letter from D. Cormack, chief executive of the Warren Spring Laboratory, to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 26 October 1992: In response to your question to the President of the Board of Trade, I list below the papers I have had published during the period in question. Effluent Treatment: Technologies for Decontaminating Industrial Waste Waters

Paper given at Financial Times conference 'The European Water Industry', 10–11 March 1992.

The Management of Acute Risks. Oil Spill Contingency Planning and Response

Co-author of chapter in the book 'North Sea Oil and the Environment', published by Elsevier Applied Science, 1992.

Scientific and Technical Aspects of Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution 68W

Paper in the Journal 'Marine Policy', December 1991, in section entitled 'Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution: Marine Issues for the Earth Summit'.

I also enclose lists of this Agency's publications for the period in question. This list does not of course, include those publications with a Commercial-in-Confidence designation. A list of the documents has been placed in the Library.