§ Mr. LawsTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what her estimate is of expenditure by her Department on the(a) Hearing Aid Council, (b) Consumer Communication for England, (c) British Hallmarking Council, (d) Ethnic Minority Business Advisory Forum, (e) Import Parity Price Panel and (f) Textiles and Clothing Industry Forum; if she will list the purpose of each; and if she will make a statement.[107385]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson[holding answer 8 April 2003]: Latest available estimated expenditure by my Department for the following bodies are as follows. 104W
£000 2002–03 2003–04 British Hallmarking Council 10 10.5 Ethnic Minority Business Advisory Forum 78 70 Import Parity Price Panel 65 — Consumer Communication for England (Sponsored by OFTEL) 15 32 The terms of reference for these bodies are set out in the Cabinet Office Publication Public Bodies 2002.
The structure and purpose of the Hearing Aid Council is set out in the Hearing Aid Council Act 1968 and the Hearing Aid Council (Amendment) Act 1989. The departmental expenditure estimates for this body are:
£000 2002–03 74 2003–04 75 The Textiles and Clothing Industry Forum is a £3.8 million 4–year industry-led project aimed at contributing to the sector's competitiveness by improving the UK textiles and clothing supply chain, supported by a DTI grant of £1.5 million.