Lord Davies of Abersoch: My Lords, we continue to consider industry proposals for a scrappage scheme. The proposals are potentially costly for the taxpayer, and we need to consider the costs and evidence on positive and negative impacts. We are also looking at the experiences of other countries that have introduced similar schemes, such as Germany.
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My Lords, the interesting thing about this scheme is that it needs to be carefully evaluated. It is clear that the German scheme has cost the taxpayer €1.5 billion. If we are to introduce a scheme—we have not decided whether this is appropriate—we must ensure that we evaluate the impact on the second-hand car market and on discounts. There are many complex aspects to introducing a...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My Lords, I was going to refer to an economist's view but, given that the economists have come in for such a battering, I will not. However, any scheme that we introduce needs to ensure that while we are rewarding the individuals bringing their car back and giving them cash, the impact on the industry is not just that of bringing forward sales and causing a crisis in the second-hand car...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My Lords, I have been in my role as Minister of Trade for about two months. One thing that I have realised about British industry is that we are expert in advanced engineering, but also hugely competent in the automotive industry. We in the UK produce 3 million engines annually that are exported. An issue is that the scheme would benefit overseas as well as UK manufacturers; we need to...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My Lords, as this is my first Oral Question, I have been given significant briefing. There was no mention in the briefing of vintage cars. The experience of other countries shows that such schemes have been for cars over a certain age. I would therefore assume, given the value of vintage cars, that they would not be submitted for scrapping.
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My Lords, the noble Lord will have a quick answer. We will evaluate carefully who runs the scheme, who pays for it, how long it might run, the amount of any scrappage payment and the age of eligible vehicles. There are many complex issues here. When we have evaluated the scheme properly and decided yes or no, the noble Lord will be the first to know.
Lord Davies of Abersoch: That is a very good question, my Lords. One of the challenges with such a scheme is to make sure that the second-hand car market does not collapse. You also have to make sure that you are not just creating a sudden demand for new cars, and a year or 18 months later the whole industry collapses. We need to make sure, in evaluating this, that the discount market for new cars does not suddenly...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My honourable friend the Minister of State for Trade, Development and Consumer Affairs, Gareth Thomas, has made the following Statement. In 2006, the then DTI announced that it was increasing the level of the fees charged to merging parties in order to recover the costs incurred by the competition authorities in undertaking their statutory merger control functions. It was decided that the...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: Our consulate-general in Jerusalem and our embassy in Tel Aviv have been in regular contact with British Gas Group regarding the natural gas resources off the coast of Gaza since British Gas Group first began exploration in 1999. Discussions have also taken place in the past year with the Cabinet Office and UK Trade and Investment. The most recent meeting on this matter was between the head...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: None. No such agreement currently exists.
Lord Davies of Abersoch: None. No such agreement between the British Gas Group and Israel exists. No agreements have been reached. BG Group negotiates directly with the Israel Electric Company and waits for the new government Cabinet to be formed in order to take the negotiations to higher levels. The issue of transferring the Gaza gas from the field to Ashkelon following the military action in Gaza has not been...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: No such agreement exists. The competent Palestinian organisations are the Palestine Investment Fund and the Palestinian Energy Authority. The UK does not recognise the legitimacy of the current authorities in Gaza.
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My honourable friend the Economic and Business Minister (Ian Pearson) has made the following Statement. The following Statement provides information on the Competitiveness Council which took place in Brussels on 5 March 2009, at which I represented the UK. The meeting was chaired by Alexandra Vondra, Czech Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs. The meeting started with discussion of the...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My right honourable friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Pat McFadden MP) has made the following Statement. Subject to parliamentary approval of the necessary Supplementary Estimate, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform's DEL will be reduced by £1,905,574,000 from...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My honourable friend the Economic and Business Minister, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Ian Pearson) has made the following Statement. On 5 March I shall be representing the UK at the EU Competitiveness Council. There will be five main items being discussed and debated at the council (as listed below), of which the two most high-profile issues to be discussed will...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My right honourable friend Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Pat McFadden) has made the following Statement. I have decided to appoint the new RDA board chairs listed below. Sir Roy McNulty—Advantage West Midlands (AWM); andSir Harry Studholme—South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA). Sir Roy McNulty will commence as chair designate, to ensure continuity...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: My right honourable friend the Minister for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs (Pat McFadden) has made the following Statement. Further to my Statement on 11 December 2008 (Official Report, col. 63WS) I am pleased to announce that we have today released a consultation paper, in which we are seeking views on the details of a new scheme to compensate former Icelandic-water trawlermen that...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: Her Majesty's Government's vehicle for increasing trade is UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), which currently has teams based in the SADC FTA countries of South Africa, Tanzania, Angola and Mozambique. These teams assist UK companies to do business in these markets, and also encourage potential investors into the UK. The amount of trade fluctuates with the level of interest shown by British...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: Subject to parliamentary approval of any necessary supplementary estimate, UKTI's total DEL will be decreased by £199,000 from £91,506,000 to £91,307,000. This reflects the net transfer of £200,000 in Voted capital from UKTI's Vote to BERR's Vote. Within the total DEL change, the impact on resources and capital is set out in the following table: Change New DEL Voted...
Lord Davies of Abersoch: Since their introduction in 2004, the UK's trade controls have covered trading by UK persons overseas in torture equipment and long-range missiles and in any military list goods for supply to an embargoed destination. The Trade in Goods (Categories of Controlled Goods) Order 2008, which came into force on 1 October 2008, extended these extraterritorial controls to small arms, MANPADs and...