The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the titles of all reports covering the effects of the use of a UK nuclear weapon produced by (a) his Department and (b) the Atomic Weapons Establishment and its predecessor body for his Department in the last 30 years.
Mr Philip Dunne
The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what Russian Navy ships HMS Severn intercepted in the English Channel on 25 June 2014; and whether HMS Severn was assigned to the Fleet Ready Escort role at that time.
Mr Mark Francois
Two Russian Federation Navy ships transited the English Channel on 25 June 2014. These were the Ropucha Class Landing Ships Olengorsky Gornyak and Georgiy Pobedonosets.
As the hon. Member will be aware from my letter to him of 27 January 2014 (Official Report, columns 414-415W), there are usually a number of Royal Navy units available in UK waters at any one time and, if it is appropriate, one of those units could be reprioritised to undertake a required task. In this case, HMS Severn was better placed to respond, and it made the most operational sense to utilise her. At the same time the Fleet Ready Escort remained available at high readiness.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to benefits from the pupil premium to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.
Mr David Laws
Universal credit will be fully rolled out in the next Parliament from 2017/18, and no pupil premium spending decisions for that period have yet been taken. For example, the per-pupil funding rates have not been decided beyond 2014/15. This means that it is not possible to estimate the potential cost of extending entitlement on the pupil premium budget.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free early education to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.
Elizabeth Truss
Government-funded early education for three- and four-year-olds is already a universal entitlement, so there would be no cost of extending the entitlement. Universal Credit will be fully rolled out in the next Parliament, and spending decisions for that period have not been taken. This means it is, therefore not possible to estimate the potential cost on early learning for two-year-olds.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of his Department’s consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.
Elizabeth Truss
The Department for Education has cut its annual energy bill by £1.4m since 2009-10 through reduced energy consumption, and has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 38% in the same period.
Emission reductions from energy use have largely been achieved through low and no cost energy efficiency measures, estate rationalisation (by using space more efficiently and co-locating with other organisations), and by operating our remaining buildings even more efficiently.
The Department’s monthly gas and electricity consumption and associated costs since June 2010 are set out below.
|
Electricity kWh |
Electricity Cost £ |
Gas kWh |
Gas Cost £ |
|
|
Jun-10 |
1,164,652 |
85,441 |
133,998 |
£8,879 |
|
Jul-10 |
1,158,378 |
129,719 |
64,158 |
£9,054 |
|
Aug-10 |
1,019,308 |
120,186 |
17,736 |
£9,137 |
|
Sep-10 |
1,009,662 |
25,431 |
61,799 |
£1,789 |
|
Oct-10 |
972,048 |
81,233 |
168,543 |
* |
|
Nov-10 |
955,120 |
73,194 |
341,850 |
£3,150 |
|
Dec-10 |
917,993 |
72,450 |
1,368,357 |
£1,318 |
|
Jan-11 |
924,050 |
68,914 |
502,246 |
£8,286 |
|
Feb-11 |
892,663 |
148,902 |
528,895 |
£5,817 |
|
Mar-11 |
923,772 |
87,202 |
492,273 |
£32,115 |
|
Apr-11 |
1,017,920 |
83,562 |
176,334 |
£14,114 |
|
May-11 |
1,091,733 |
56,831 |
157,050 |
£8,133 |
|
Jun-11 |
1,149,462 |
139,208 |
97,030 |
£11,247 |
|
Jul-11 |
1,128,281 |
93,764 |
56,856 |
£6,460 |
|
Aug-11 |
1,126,637 |
125,550 |
69,121 |
£1,501 |
|
Sep-11 |
1,117,836 |
101,759 |
96,013 |
£749 |
|
Oct-11 |
1,124,928 |
175,773 |
166,233 |
£6,537 |
|
Nov-11 |
1,117,066 |
120,616 |
541,299 |
£3,603 |
|
Dec-11 |
1,056,743 |
* |
422,178 |
£15,183 |
|
Jan-12 |
1,115,270 |
231,972 |
504,487 |
£6,691 |
|
Feb-12 |
1,064,718 |
119,303 |
547,419 |
£16,000 |
|
Mar-12 |
1,145,769 |
116,169 |
402,004 |
£55,082 |
|
Apr-12 |
1,045,229 |
145,955 |
369,636 |
£14,405 |
|
May-12 |
1,141,570 |
26,511 |
253,486 |
* |
|
Jun-12 |
1,020,091 |
102,484 |
107,956 |
£17,461 |
|
Jul-12 |
1,095,095 |
314,717 |
52,479 |
£31,834 |
|
Aug-12 |
1,111,575 |
161,023 |
21,057 |
£10,461 |
|
Sep-12 |
1,030,509 |
246,659 |
107,429 |
£7,395 |
|
Oct-12 |
1,115,679 |
122,926 |
402,196 |
£6,622 |
|
Nov-12 |
1,077,060 |
188,350 |
459,877 |
£42,443 |
|
Dec-12 |
1,028,372 |
7,344 |
562,851 |
* |
|
Jan-13 |
1,121,535 |
150,753 |
695,526 |
£42,660 |
|
Feb-13 |
996,349 |
252,524 |
662,816 |
£40,218 |
|
Mar-13 |
1,064,972 |
194,770 |
622,653 |
£42,909 |
|
Apr-13 |
1,038,319 |
64,507 |
480,835 |
£61,685 |
|
May-13 |
1,025,212 |
13,813 |
355,353 |
£4,905 |
|
Jun-13 |
986,704 |
267,484 |
125,280 |
£37,910 |
|
Jul-13 |
1,152,464 |
129,589 |
63,823 |
£7,838 |
|
Aug-13 |
1,075,626 |
162,988 |
52,313 |
£5,566 |
|
Sep-13 |
1,026,536 |
126,590 |
91,021 |
£22,527 |
|
Oct-13 |
1,039,324 |
265,576 |
326,262 |
£6,066 |
|
Nov-13 |
1,003,941 |
148,285 |
336,372 |
£7,520 |
|
Dec-13 |
1,024,778 |
13,976 |
374,204 |
£16,265 |
|
Jan-14 |
1,046,875 |
241,727 |
536,348 |
£38,947 |
|
Feb-14 |
946,677 |
138,250 |
529,496 |
£12,458 |
|
Mar-14 |
934,054 |
133,878 |
302,627 |
£44,219 |
|
Apr-14 |
864,231 |
17,558 |
190,423 |
£18,783 |
|
May-14 |
899,711 |
226,815 |
251,680 |
£23,591 |
* Gaps in financial data are due to delayed billing cycles and inaccurate consumption estimates made by the supplier.
The core department’s electricity is purchased via the Crown Commercial Service energy framework from renewable sources, and is therefore, exempt from the Climate Change Levy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will review whether the recent guidance, keeping children safe in education, distinguishes between legislation which applies to further education colleges as opposed to sixth form colleges; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Edward Timpson
The Department for Education’s ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ guidance is clear that it applies to children under the age of 18 in both further education and sixth-form colleges.
We are currently considering requests for clarification to the guidance as part of our implementation review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to the Warm Home Discount to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.
Gregory Barker
The Warm Home Discount is funded by energy suppliers, rather than Government, with scheme spending controlled through the levy control framework. We have committed to a Warm Home Discount spending target of £320 million in 2015/16. We will consult shortly on scheme rules for that year, including the eligibility criteria and the value of the rebate (which is set at £140 in 2014/15). We expect to see the scheme continue to support more than 2m households per year.
The introduction of Universal Credit does not in itself imply any significant changes to the operation of the Warm Home Discount. We estimate that 8 million people will be in receipt of Universal Credit once it has been fully rolled out to all benefit claimants. Any policy decision taken to extend entitlement to Warm Home Discount to all Universal Credit recipients would need to be accompanied by a decision on the value of the rebate. Overall scheme costs would, broadly speaking, be the number of eligible households multiplied by the value of the rebate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Bryant on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to WaterSure to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.
Dan Rogerson
I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The WaterSure tariff lowers the bills of low-income, metered customers that have unavoidably high water use. WaterSure is provided by all water companies in England to qualifying customers and caps their water bills at the average for their region. WaterSure customers will continue to benefit from the scheme when their qualifying benefit or tax credit is replaced by Universal Credit. The WaterSure tariff is funded through cross subsidy between water customers; there is no cost to the public purse.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what deadline has been set by his Department for former oil refineries being converted to bulk storage and distribution terminals to make the necessary upgrades to meet post-Buncefield standards; and how rigorously such standards are being enforced by the Environment Agency.
Mike Penning
The COMAH Competent Authority (CA), comprising HSE and the environment agencies, is responsible for ensuring that oil refineries and fuel storage and distribution terminals meet new safety and environmental standards introduced in 2009 following the Buncefield fire and explosion. The standards were developed jointly by industry and the CA and published by the Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG).
Refineries were required to produce risk-based action plans to implement the PSLG safety standards at their existing fuel storage facilities. HSE led the assessment of these plans during 2011 and has been inspecting sites to ensure the planned improvements are made. The timings of upgrades to containment standards at refineries’ existing fuel storage facilities is based on risk and will vary for each site. Agreed improvements are embedded in environment inspection plans for each site and followed up to ensure measures are implemented on time.
The CA is working with refineries undergoing conversion to fuel storage and distribution terminals to ensure the PSLG standards are applied in full to their new facilities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Robertson on 2014-06-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that former oil refineries being converted to bulk storage and distribution terminals meet post-Buncefield health and safety requirements.
Mike Penning
The COMAH Competent Authority (CA), comprising HSE and the environment agencies, is responsible for ensuring that oil refineries and fuel storage and distribution terminals meet new safety and environmental standards introduced in 2009 following the Buncefield fire and explosion. The standards were developed jointly by industry and the CA and published by the Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG).
Refineries were required to produce risk-based action plans to implement the PSLG safety standards at their existing fuel storage facilities. HSE led the assessment of these plans during 2011 and has been inspecting sites to ensure the planned improvements are made. The timings of upgrades to containment standards at refineries’ existing fuel storage facilities is based on risk and will vary for each site. Agreed improvements are embedded in environment inspection plans for each site and followed up to ensure measures are implemented on time.
The CA is working with refineries undergoing conversion to fuel storage and distribution terminals to ensure the PSLG standards are applied in full to their new facilities.