HC Deb 30 January 1996 vol 270 cc661-9W
Mr. Malcolm Bruce

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of the expenditure of his Department, his Department's agencies non-departmental public bodies on all forms of overseas travel, overseas accommodation and other associated expenses for(a) 1979–80, (b) 1989–90, (c) 1991–92, (d) 1993–94, (e) 1994–95, (f) 1995–96 and (g) 1996–97. [11436]

Mr. John M. Taylor

Disaggregated information on the basis requested is not available for the Department and the non-departmental public bodies and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

I have asked agency chief executives to reply directly to the hon. Member as they have their own budgetary responsibility for travel and subsistence costs.

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your question about expenditure on overseas travel, accommodation and other associated expenses incurred by The Insolvency Service.

Costs associated with overseas travel by The Service are:

Financial Year—Costs including VAT

  • 1994/95: £9,000
  • 1995/96: £12,500 (to date)
  • 1995/96: £13,500 (estimated full year)
  • 1996/97: £12,000 (estimated)
Prior to 1994/95 overseas travel was paid centrally by the Department of Trade and Industry. A breakdown of expenditure for the financial years preceding 1994/95 could only now be provided at disproportionate cost.

Letter from Seton Bennett to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your question about expenditure on overseas travel, accommodation and associated costs. I regret that disaggregated information on the basis you requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Letter from Michael Goddard to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Competition and Consumer Affairs has asked me to reply to your Question about overseas travel and subsistence costs. The information for the Radiocommunications Agency, which is only available in an aggregated form, for the periods quoted is as follows:

  • 1991–92: £399,185
  • 1993–94: £454,503
  • 1994–95: £538,202
  • 1995–96: £633,263 (estimated outturn)
  • 1996–97: £615,864 (estimated)
The Radiocommunications Agency was set up with effect from 2 April 1990. Expenditure on overseas travel and subsistence before that date was the responsibility of the DTI and is not available.

Letter from P. R. S. Hartnack to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply, in relation to the Patent Office, to your Question about overseas travel. The total expenditure on overseas travel, including accommodation and associated expenditure is:

  • 1993/94: £172,921
  • 1994/95: £184,754
  • 1995/96: £245,000 (forecast)
  • 1996/97: £260,000 (forecast)
Further disaggregation of the above and expenditure for 1979/80, 1980/90 and 1991/92 are not available and could only he provided at disproportionate cost.

Letter from R. D. Worswick to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 24 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question about overseas travel by Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC), an executive agency of DTI. The following table sets out the information that is readily available.

Amount excluding VAT

  • 1991/92: £77,000
  • 1992/93: £50,000
  • 1993/94: £72,000
  • 1994/95: £99,000
  • 1995/96: £78,000 (estimated to year end).
Information on 1979/80 and 1989/90 could only be provided at disproportionate cost. A forecast for 1996/97 is not available.

Letter from David Durham to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: John M Taylor MP has asked me to reply in respect of Companies House Executive Agency to your question to the President of the Board of Trade on expenditure relating to overseas business travel by our staff for certain years since 1979.

The information you seek is as follows:

Expenditure on Overseas Travel

  • 1989–90: £15,000
  • 1991–92: £26,000
  • 1993–94: £21,000
    • 663
  • 1994–95: £12,000
  • 1995–96: £20,000 (to date)
  • 1995–96: £24,000 (full year estimate).
The expected expenditure for 1996–97 is not available at this stage as Companies House is still developing its budget plans for next year. Information on earlier years can only be provided at disproportionate costs. I hope this information is helpful.

Mr. Bruce

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of his Department's expenditure on newspapers and magazines in(a) 1993–94, (b) 1994–95 and (c) 1995–96, to date; and if he will list the publications purchased for the latest year for which information is available. [11437]

Mr. Taylor

Excluding its agencies, my Department's expenditure on newspapers and mass circulation journals for the years requested was as follows:

  • 1993–94: £291,270
  • 1994–95: £255,512
  • 1995–96: £204,875 (to end December 1995)

This includes expenditure on national daily and Sunday newspapers, regional newspapers, and mass circulation magazines and journals. A full list of titles cannot be supplied except at disproportionate cost. The titles taken change to meet the changing requirements of the Department.

I have asked each of the agency chief executives to write to the hon. Member about their expenditure on newspapers and magazines.

Letter from David Durham to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: You recently asked the President of the Board of Trade for information about his department's expenditure on newspapers and magazines. Attached is a summary of Companies House's expenditure for the years you requested to date, together with a list of the publications purchased in 1995–96 to date. I hope this is helpful.

Newspapers and Magazines Expenditure

  • 1993–1994: £11,201
  • 1994–1995: £5,488
  • 1995–1996: £2,235 (to date)

Newspapers

  • Y-Cymro
  • Financial Times x 2
  • Times
  • Western Mail
  • Daily Telegraph
  • Independent
  • Guardian
  • Liverpool Daily Post
  • South Wales Echo

Magazines

  • U.K. On-Line Users Group Newsletter
  • Wordperfect Magazine x 2
  • The Mac
  • Exhibition Bulletin
  • Management Today
  • Bulletpoint
  • What to buy for business
    • 664
  • What's new in business information
  • On-Line CD-ROM
  • Health and Safety at work
  • Information World Review
  • Financial Regulatory Briefing
  • The Economist
  • The Administrator
  • Company Secretaries Review
  • Hansards—House of Commons
  • Hansards—House of Lords
  • Investors Chronicle
  • Direct Response
  • Equal Opportunity Review
  • Inside Release 1–2–3 Release 3
  • Windows User
  • PC Direct x 2
  • PC Magazine x 3
  • Inside Wordperfect for Windows
  • "Ingenuity" Tech Publication
  • Project Manager Today
  • Personal Computer World
  • PC Pro x 2
  • Software Futures
  • Computer Finance

Letter from R. D. Worswick to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 24 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your Parliamentary Question about expenditure on newspapers and magazines by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC), an executive agency of DTI. We do not keep sufficiently detailed records of the newspapers and magazines purchased to provide a comprehensive reply to your question. The information sought could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, expenditure on the provision of services by the library (including scientific journals, newspapers and magazines; books; and on-line searches) was as follows:

Excluding VAT

  • 1993–94: £89,000
  • 1994–95: £108,000
  • 1995–96: £36,000

Letter from P. R. S. Hartnack to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply, in relation to the Patent Office, to your Question about the purchase of newspapers and magazines. The total expenditure is shown below and a list of publications purchased for the present year is attached.

  • 1993–94: £50,903
  • 1994–95: £59,442
  • 1995–96: £42,674 (Year to 31 December 1995)
The range of publications purchased reflects the need for patent examiners, in particular, to have state of the art knowledge of developments in their work area.

Publications Purchased For 1995–96

  • ABC Rail Guide
  • ABC World Airways Guide
  • Advanced Battery Technology
  • Amateur Photography
  • American Dyestuff Reporter
  • Applied Optics
  • Applied Physics Letter
    • 665
  • AT and T Technical Journal
  • Australian Law Reports
  • Author
  • Auto Motor und Sport
  • Autocar
  • Automative Engineer
  • B R E Update Package
  • Bike Magazine
  • Biotechnology
  • Bookseller
  • British Food Journal
  • British Journal of Photography
  • British National Formulary
  • British Printer
  • British Telecommunications Engineering and Supplement to British Telec Engineering
  • Byte
  • Cabinet Maker
  • Cable and Satellite Europe
  • Chemical Abstracts Service
  • Chemistry and Industry
  • Chilton's Automative Industries
  • Commercial Motors
  • Common Market law Reports and Antitrust Reports
  • Computer—IEEE Computer Magazines
  • Computer Journal
  • Computer Journal Abstracts
  • Control Engineering
  • Control and Instrumentation
  • Copyright World
  • Copyright and Design Law
  • Cryogenics
  • Current Papers in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
  • Daily Express
  • Data Communications International
  • Database—The Magazine of Databases References and Reviews
  • Defense Electronics
  • Dr Dobb's Journal—Software Tools For The Professional Programmer
  • Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin
  • Economist
  • Electric World and Wireless
  • Electrical Products
  • Electronic Engineering
  • Electronic Letters Plus All IEE Proceedings
  • Electronic Packaging And Production
  • Electronic Review
  • Electronics—Cleveland
  • Electronics and Communication Engineering Journal
  • Elektor Electronics
  • Engineer
  • Eureka
  • European Intellectual Property Review
  • European Patent Office Reports
  • European Patent Sourcefinder
  • European Plastics News
  • European Production Engineering
  • Filtration and Separation
  • Financial Times
  • Fire
  • Fish Farmer
  • Fleet Street Reports
  • Flight
  • Fluid Abstracts—Process Engineering
  • Food Trade Review
  • Future and The Inventor
  • Games and Puzzles
  • Glass
  • Glass Industry
  • Glass Technology and Physics and Chemistry of Glasses
  • Gramophone
  • Harpers Sports and Leisure
  • Heating and Plumbing Monthly
  • Hi Fi News
  • I P Asia
    • 666
  • IBM Journal of Research and Development
  • IEE Review and IEE News
  • IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications
  • IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
  • IEEE Network—The Magazine of Computer Communications
  • IEEE Spectrum
  • IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
  • IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology
  • IEEE Transactions on Communications
  • IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics
  • IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
  • IEEE Transactions on Image Processing
  • IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing
  • IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology
  • IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
  • Industrial Heating
  • Industrial Robot
  • Industry and Higher Education
  • Information Management and Technology
  • Information World Review
  • Information and Software Technology
  • Intellectual Property Decisions
  • Intellectual Property Newsletter
  • Intellectual Property Reports
  • International Defense Review and IDR Despatches
  • International Media Law
  • ITC—International Review of Industrial Property and Copyright Law
  • Journal of Cellular Plastics
  • Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences
  • Journal of Imaging Science and Technology
  • Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
  • Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
  • Journal of Plastic Film and Sheeting
  • Journal of Systems Management
  • Journal of The Acoustical Society of America
  • Journal of The American Society for Information Science
  • Journal of The Copyright Society of The USA
  • Journal of The Patent and Trademark office Society
  • Journal of The Society of Dyers and Colourists and Review of Progress in Coloration
  • Key Abstracts—Antennas and Propagation
  • Key Abstracts—Computer Communications and Storage
  • Key Abstracts—Electronic Circuits
  • Key Abstracts—Electronic Instrumentation
  • Key Abstracts—Factory Automation
  • Key Abstracts—Machine Vision
  • Key Abstracts—Measurement in Physics
  • Key Abstracts—Neutral Networks
  • Key Abstracts—Robotics and Control
  • Key Abstracts—Telecommunications
  • Key Abstracts—Optoelectronics
  • Knitting International
  • Laboratory News
  • Lancet
  • Lastauto Und Omnibus
  • Leading Edge
  • Management Services
  • Management Today and Professional Manager
  • Managing Intellectual Property
  • Manual For The Handling of Applications For Patents, Design, Trademarks Throughout World
  • Materials Handling News
  • Measurement Science and Technology
  • Metal Finishing and Guidebook and Directory
  • Microprocessors and Microsystems
  • Mims Monthly Index of Medical Specialities
  • Mine and Quarry
  • Modern Plastics International
  • Motorboat and Yachting
  • Nature
  • New Law Journal and Supplements
  • New Scientist
  • New Zealand Law Reports
    • 667
  • Nuclear Engineering International and World Nuclear Industry Handbook
  • Offshore Engineer
  • Online—The Magazine of Online Information Systems
  • Online and CD Notes
  • Optics and Laser Technology
  • OS/2 Pointers
  • Packaging—Highlands Ranch
  • Packaging Today
  • Packaging Week
  • Paper Technology
  • Patent Throughout The World and Supplements
  • Patent World
  • PC Support Advisor—Personal Computer
  • PC World
  • Physics Today
  • Pipes and Pipelines International
  • Playthings
  • Popular Science
  • Power Engineering Journal
  • Practical Householder
  • Proceedings of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  • Railway Gazette International
  • Recherche
  • Refrigeration and Air Conditioning
  • Research Disclosure
  • Road and 4 Wheel
  • Science—AAAS—Weekly Paper Edition
  • Science Et Vie
  • Scientific America
  • Solar Energy
  • South African Law Reports
  • Steel Times
  • Sunday Times
  • Surveyor
  • Television
  • Television—London
  • Textile Month
  • The Daily Telegraph
  • The Guardian
  • The Independent
  • The Observer
  • The Times
  • Trademark World
  • Trademarks Throughout The World
  • Trends In Food Science and Technology
  • Ultrasonics and Ultrasonics Sonochemistry
  • Virtual Reality World
  • Water Environment Research
  • What PC
  • What's New In Building
  • Woodworker
  • Woodworking
  • WordPerfect Magazine UK
  • World Intellectual Property Reports
  • World Oil
  • World Patent Information
  • Zeolites

Letter from Peter Joyce to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your question about newspaper and magazine expenditure by The Insolvency Service. It is not possible from the existing financial database to specifically identify the cost of newspapers and magazines charged to a General Publications heading, a major part of which relates to legal and accountancy reference books and updates and technical journals covering law, accounting, finance, management and training. Expenditure on all publications in 1994/95 totalled £42,000 and in 1995/96, to date, £46,400. Newspapers purchased across The Service's 34 locations are generally limited to the national daily broadsheets.

Letter from Michael Goddard to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply to your Question about expenditure on newspapers and magazines. The information for the Radiocommunications Agency for the periods quoted is as follows:

  • 1993–94: £41,852.15
  • 1994–95: £28,982.76
  • 1995–96: £26,322.06 (to date).
These figures include periodicals in non-paper format; ie microfiche, disc and CD-ROM. A list of current subscriptions, which runs to 19 pages and contains nearly 300 titles, is available if required.

Letter from Seton Bennett to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 30 January 1996: The President of the Board of Trade has asked me to reply on behalf of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory to your question expenditure on newspapers and magazines. Until recently the cost of magazines was not separately identified with the result that we do not have a figure for the cost of magazines in 1993/94. The Agency's expenditure on newspapers and magazines in 199495 was approximately £1,500 and I expect this year's figure to be similar. The only newspaper purchased is The Times, and the following list of publications represents the latest position in a continuing review of expenditure on publications.

  • BSI News
  • Business Briefing
  • The Economist
  • The Engineer
  • Engineering Design and Manufacturing Index
  • Health and Safety at Work
  • Le Point
  • Measurement
  • Measurement and Control
  • New Scientist
  • Personal Computer World
  • Precision Engineering
  • Quality Today
  • Trading Standards Review
  • Training Officer
  • WordPerfect Magazine.

Mr. Bruce

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of expenditure on all forms of hospitality and entertainment by(a) his Department, (b) his Department's agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies, for (i) 1979–80, (ii) 1989–90, (iii) 1991–92, (iv) 1993–94, (v) 1994–95, (vi) 1995–96 and (vii) 1996–97. [11433]

Mr. Taylor

Disaggregated information in the form requested in respect of the non-departmental public bodies, and for the financial year 1979–80 in respect of the Department and its agencies, could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Figures for 1996–97 are still subject to the outcome of the Department's management information system for Ministers process. The other information requested is as follows:

Area of Department 1989–90 £ 1991–92 £ 1993–94 £ 1994–95 £ 1995–96 Budget £
Centre DTI (excluding net controlled agencies and trading funds) 246,601 399,720 519,037 516,357 580,000
Net controlled agencies and trading funds
Accounts Service Agency 1— 300 300 300 n/a
Companies House 2— 5,600 11,542 18,289 12,300
Laboratory of the Government Chemist 3— 17,685 27,122 29,000 33,000
National Engineering Laboratory 1— 36,000 10,000 13,500 8,162
National Physical Laboratory 1— 45,881 70,221 83,799 35,307
Patent Office 2— 8,000 18,000 15,143 17,500
Radiocommunications Agency 1— 21,993 33,575 35,921 48,388
Total 535,179 689,797 712,309 734,657
1Established as net controlled agencies after 1989–90.
2Information not readily available for period before attainment of trading fund status in October 1991.
3Information not available for this period and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Work previously carried out by the Accounts Services Agency, National Physical Laboratory was contracted-out on 1 April and 1 October respectively. The National Engineering Laboratory was privatised on 31 October 1995.

Mr. Bruce

To ask the President of the Board of Trade what is his estimate of departmental expenditure on administration for(a) 1979–80, (b) 1989–90, (c) 1991–92, (d) 1993–94, (e) 1994–95, (f) 1995–96 and (g) 1996–97. [11434]

Mr. Taylor

Total running cost expenditure, net of VAT, for both the gross and net controlled areas of the Department is set out in the following table:

£ million
Year DTI running costs
1979–80 outturn1 66
1989–90 outturn2 371
1991–92 outturn2 433
1993–94 outturn2 442
1994–95 outturn3 401
1995–96 outturn2 402
1996–97 plans2 350
Source:
1Appropriation Accounts 1979–80, Volume 2: Classes IV–IX. This figure reflects the running costs for the then separate Departments of Trade and Industry. It does not reflect any machinery of government changes that took place after 1979–80.
2Trade and Industry Annual Report 1995.
3Appropriation Accounts 1994–95, Volume 4: Class IV.

The fall in expenditure over the years 1993–94 to 1996–97 reflects in part the contractorisation and privatisation of work previously carried out by the Department's agencies. The figures do not reflect the machinery of government changes announced on 5 July 1995. More up-to-date information will be published in March in the Department's 1996 annual report.