HC Deb 06 March 2002 vol 381 cc354-5W
Angus Robertson

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether a Scottish Executive Minister will be a member of the UK delegation to the forthcoming Research European Union Council of Ministers meeting on 11 March; and what information is being provided by her Department to guarantee effective pre-council scrutiny by the European Committee of the Scottish Parliament. [40320]

Ms Hewitt

[holding answer 4 March 2002]: My noble Friend the Minister for Science normally attends Research European Union Council of Ministers meetings for the UK. A Scottish Executive Minister will not be a member of the UK delegation to the Research Council meeting on 11 March. It is the responsibility of the European Committee of the Scottish Parliament to scrutinise the Scottish Executive's involvement in preparations for EU Council meetings. These arrangements are a matter for the Committee and the Scottish Executive. My Department provides information to Scottish Executive officials as part of that process. In developing the UK Government's position on European research issues, the Office of Science and Technology regularly consults the devolved administrations.

Owner Name Location Distillation capacity1
Shell UK Ltd Stanlow Ellesmere Port, South Wirral 11.5
Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd Fawley Southampton 15.6
BP Ltd. Coryton Stanford-le-Hope, Essex 9.6
Grangemouth Grangemouth, Stirlingshire 10.1
TotalFinaElf Ltd. Lindsey Killingholme, North Lincolnshire 10.0
TotalFinaElf Ltd./Murco Ltd. Milford Haven Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire 5.3
Conoco Ltd. Killingholme Killingholm, North Lincolnshire 9.4
Texaco Refining Co. Ltd. Pembroke Pembroke, Pembrokeshire 10.1
Petroplus International Ltd. North Tees Port Clarence, Cleveland 5.0

Three smaller specialist refineries at Harwich, Eastham and Dundee do not directly produce road transport fuels, and have a combined distillation capacity of 2.3 million tonnes per annum.

The output of refined road transport fuels at each location is commercially sensitive, but some information is available on the UK Petroleum Industry Association website www.ukpia.com.

For the UK as a whole, provisional data for 2001 was made available on the DTI Internet site at the end of February 2002. This indicates that total intake to petroleum refineries in 2001 was 82,323 thousand tonnes, from which a total production of Motor Spirit (petrol) of 21,455 thousand tonnes and Gas diesel oil of 26,564 thousand tonnes was obtained, of which 15,045 thousand tonnes was road diesel (DERV).

According to the Annual Business Inquiry for 2000 carried out by the Office for National Statistics, a total of 13,799 people are employed in the oil refining sector in Great Britain. This survey does not identify employment at individual refinery level for confidentiality reasons, and we have not been able, in the time available, to identify publicly available data at individual refinery level on employment numbers.