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Business

"All I ask is for powerful people to respond honestly to the questions, and if they can't, explain why." Bill O'Reilly

BBC NEWS | BUSINESS | UK EDITION
Visit BBC News for up-to-the-minute news, breaking news, video, audio and feature stories. BBC News provides trusted World and UK news as well as local and regional perspectives. Also entertainment, business, science, technology and health news.
Plan to axe Saturday post denied
Postal regulator Postcomm denies it is planning to recommend Royal Mail should end deliveries on Saturdays.

Waitrose egg recall on lead fears
Supermarket chain Waitrose has recalled organic eggs from a flock which has eaten lead shot.

French swoop for British Energy
French utility EDF makes an offer for British Energy, although the price has not been disclosed.

Answered Questions

wepVad asked : "Retailers, particularly large supermarkets, appear to be profiting from the sale of more robust shopping bags while doing little to encourage reuse. Are proceeds from these sales monitored and are they..."
Richard Dodd answer: "None of this is about making money for retailers. Actually they are using awfully lot of money for recycling and for the facilities for recycling; they are offering customers incentives like reward points..." Show more» "None of this is about making money for retailers. Actually they are using awfully lot of money for recycling and for the facilities for recycling; they are offering customers incentives like reward points and so on. They are spending money on days when they are handing out those bags for life that can be used over and over again. Stores are not making money out of this, they are heavily investing on this and it is all costing them. In terms of encouraging reuse, this can not be one sided." Show less«
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wepVad asked : "Direct charges for bags have proved to be a simple, effective means of encouraging individuals to be responsible citizens. Why can't we implement an equivalent scheme here rather than waste time and ..."
Darren Johnson answer: "I just came back from Dublin. I was so impressed, where the tax of plastic bags has had a dramatic impact reducing plastic bag usage over 90 percent. Because the way they did it with the VAT tax return..." Show more» "I just came back from Dublin. I was so impressed, where the tax of plastic bags has had a dramatic impact reducing plastic bag usage over 90 percent. Because the way they did it with the VAT tax return there has not been extra burden for retailers and actually retailers have made profit on the scheme because now they have to spend less money on the bags. There has been big cultural acceptance from day one, it has created the cultural shift. I am really impressed with Ireland. I do not see any reason why this could not work in UK. If you can introduce some sort of tax which cuts usage by 90 percent, it is clearly effective and I see no reason why it could not been introduced in UK. I just do not see why the government is so timid over the issue, if they want to introduce some simple effective green measure that would be something they could have done a long time ago. " Show less«
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Londontowner asked : "Carol, cheap foreign holidays are enormously important to many people. Do you believe we should take fewer holidays overseas in order to reduce the need to build additional runway capacity?"
Carol Barbone answer: "80% of all flights are taken by 11% of the population. It's not the annual summer holiday that needs to be curbed but there must be a question mark over whether it is sustainable for a minority of the..." Show more» "80% of all flights are taken by 11% of the population. It's not the annual summer holiday that needs to be curbed but there must be a question mark over whether it is sustainable for a minority of the population to be constantly jetting off for short leisure breaks to the Continent, simply because its cheaper than a weekend break in the Cotswolds or the Norfolk Broads or wherever. And the reason its cheaper is that airlines pay no fuel duty, no VAT and don't have to meet their environmental costs. So the price is artifically low. This makes no sense either from an environmental standpoint or from an economic standpoint." Show less«
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keithwhu asked : "If the proposed expansion of Stansted Airport goes ahead, it will significantly add to your companies' carbon emissions - what steps are you taking to counterbalance this increase?"
Representative of easyJet answer: "The expansion of Stansted would not significantly increase our emissions, as we are always looking for the latest technology to ensure reductions. easyJet emits 27% less Co2 than a traditional airline,..." Show more» "The expansion of Stansted would not significantly increase our emissions, as we are always looking for the latest technology to ensure reductions. easyJet emits 27% less Co2 than a traditional airline, due to the nature of our business - high loads and modern aircraft. This means flying low-cost is a more environmentally efficient way to fly." Show less«
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paul576 asked : "Do you believe that the businesses surrounding Stansted can survive in a hugely competitive world if it is not allowed to expand?"
Carol Barbone answer: "Stansted does bring important benefits to the local economy but the proposed expansion of Stansted to handle an extra 10 million passengers a year (10 mppa) would not have a major impact on the local ..." Show more» "Stansted does bring important benefits to the local economy but the proposed expansion of Stansted to handle an extra 10 million passengers a year (10 mppa) would not have a major impact on the local economy one way or the other. It would be primarily to cater for more outbound leisure trips and only 290,000 of the additional 10mppa would be business passengers. It is a question of balance and one of the main difficulties in the local economy is a shortage of available employees to fill the jobs available. Expansion of Stansted would exacerbate this problem, cause more overheating and require airport workers to be recruited from much further afield, including overseas, with implications for housing and other local services." Show less«
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