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  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will ensure that her Department’s coal consultation, announced in her speech of 18 November 2015, examines how the UK electricity generation market can use as high a proportion as possible of UK-produced coal; and if she will make a statement.

    Andrea Leadsom

    On 18 November 2015, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced an intention to consult on proposals to close all unabated coal-fired power stations by 2025 and restrict the use of unabated coal power from 2023. The proportion of UK-produced coal used in power stations is determined by the commercial decisions of the owners of power stations about where to source coal cost-competitively.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to share Government data with (a) Ofgem and (b) energy companies in relation to fuel poverty and energy efficiency.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Government data is currently shared with Ofgem and the licenced electricity suppliers for the purposes of delivering automatic energy bill rebates to customers in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit under the Warm Home Discount scheme. We intend to consult on the future design of the scheme, including the use of Government data, and are considering how good use of data can help us more widely to address fuel poverty.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she expects the Government’s response to the impact assessment of reductions to feed-in tariffs to be published.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government published an impact assessment for the feed-in tariff review on 17 December 2015, alongside the Government response to the consultation on this review.

    The impact assessment is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486084/IA_-_FITs_consultation_response_with_Annexes_-_FINAL_SIGNED.pdf

    “

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the excess winter mortality rate was for (a) the North West and (b) Burnley in winter 2014-15.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to support farmers in obtaining fair production contracts with supermarkets.

    George Eustice

    The Government introduced the Groceries Code Adjudicator so farmers receive fair contracting, adherence to the code, from supermarkets.

    We are also pursuing a host of measures, including better branding and labelling in supermarkets, to improve the stability of the industry and help farming businesses to become more resilient and take advantage of the growing demand for British food both at home and overseas.

    I have recently spoken to all the major supermarkets to encourage them to source more British produce, to promote British produce at point of sale and to consider greater use of aligned contracts linked to cost of production.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of vaccinations that have been administered in each region to prevent the spread of bovine TB in the last 12 months.

    George Eustice

    Submission of data from vaccination projects for 2015 is not yet complete and so final figures are not yet available for the last 12 months. These will be made available in due course.

  • Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she expects a new Chair for the Environment Agency to be appointed.

    George Eustice

    Defra has appointed Emma Howard Boyd as Acting Chairman. She will lead the Board until a permanent Chairman is recruited in due course following an open competition.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations she has received from farmers on the price of fertilisers and other chemicals used on farm land and its relationship to the price of oil.

    George Eustice

    I have received no specific queries about price of fertilisers and other chemicals and their relation to the price of oil. The Government does have regard to the impact of prices for agricultural inputs on farmers and publishes the Agricultural Price Index (API), which is a set of indices of the prices paid and received by UK farmers for agricultural goods and services.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Danny Kinahan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs brought into the UK under the Pet Travel Scheme were found to be non-compliant with that scheme’s requirements in each year since 2012.

    George Eustice

    The requirement to ensure that pet dogs travel to Great Britain on approved routes is the responsibility of the relevant transport companies. It is a condition of their approval that the transport companies check 100% of pets declared by their owners for compliance with the EU Pet Travel Scheme.

    The table below lists the number of audits completed by APHA staff on pet checkers and the number of fails identified during the audits.

    Year

    No of Pets travelling to GB under PETS

    No. of QA checks on Pet animals

    No. of non-compliances

    2012

    184,338

    6070

    74

    2013

    167,507

    4894

    58

    2014

    170,659

    5978

    54

    2015

    267,613

    4863

    69

    The data on the number of pets travelling from 2012/2014 was taken from the PETS database. We rely upon Pet checkers who operate upon behalf of APHA to complete the database and so cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data. A different system of recording the number of pets entering Great Britain in 2015 was implemented in Jan 2015. However, we still rely on pet checkers to provide this info and so cannot guarantee the accuracy of the data.

    Of the pets found not to be in compliance with the entry rules, these pets were either detained until their compliance could be established, re-exported or placed into quarantine.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to ensure that local authorities which find a dog dead or injured scan the dog’s microchip and contact its owners.

    George Eustice

    Following a debate in the Westminster Hall on 2 March 2015, the then Minister of State, for the Department of Transport undertook to instruct the Highways Agency to make it their policy to ensure that it collects and identifies every animal that is killed on the strategic road network and to contact the owners by whatever practicable means. The Minister also wrote to all local highway authorities and Transport for London to draw attention to the Government’s policy and reflect on their own policy. It is established good practice for all authorities, including local authorities and dog rescue centres that come into contact with a stray, injured or deceased dog to scan it for a microchip so that the dog’s keeper can be traced. To assist this process, the Kennel Club has donated microchip scanners to every local authority in England and Wales. The compulsory microchipping of all dogs in Great Britain comes into force on 6 April 2016.