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  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent steps she has taken to continue to ensure the security of the electricity supply in the UK.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The government takes security of supply very seriously. We have worked with National Grid and Ofgem to put an effective plan in place for this winter and we are already taking prudent steps to manage margins in winter 2016/17.

    DECC officials have worked with National Grid and Ofgem on National Grid’s winter outlook process for 15/16 which has informed the procurement of the Contingency Balancing Reserve for this winter.

    National Grid and Ofgem agree that Grid should retain the ability to procure the contingency balancing services for the next two winters and the Government supports this position. On 15 October, Ofgem commenced its consultation on the extension of the cost recovery arrangements for the contingency balancing services to allow National Grid’s contingency balancing services to continue for the winters prior to the introduction of the Capacity Market in 18/19. National Grid’s Tender for the Contingency Balancing Reserve (subject to the outcome of the Ofgem consultation) opened on 2 November.

    The Capacity Market, a key part of our reform of the electricity market, will drive new investment in gas and demand side capacity in the future. The first Capacity Market auction was successfully concluded in December 2014 and the next will commence on 8December 2015. We have announced our intention to procure a total of 47.9GW capacity for the delivery year 2019/20 and that the target capacity for the auction this December will be 45.4GW. The balance (2.5 GW) will be procured in 2018, one year ahead of delivery.

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the implications for the security of electricity supply for winter 2015-16 of the announced closure of Longannet, Ferrybridge and Eggborough power stations.

    Andrea Leadsom

    There is no impact on security of supply for winter 15/16 as these power stations are expected to be available for generation throughout this winter. Assessments about plant availability are made during National Grid’s winter outlook process which will inform the final view presented in National Grid’s Winter Outlook Report.

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change takes security of supply very seriously and has worked with National Grid to put in place a plan to secure electricity supplies even in tough system conditions such as cold weather

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on the resilience and security of the energy supply in Scotland.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change Energy regularly meets with the Scottish Government to discuss resilience issues in the energy sector.

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with other Government departments and in Cabinet Committees and sub-committees on the resilience and security of the UK’s electricity supply.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC regularly discusses the resilience and security of the UK’s electricity supply with the Governments Departments in committees and sub-Committees.

  • Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect on investor confidence in the UK electricity generation market following the recent announcements surrounding the Renewables Obligation closure and reductions in feed-in tariffs.

    Andrea Leadsom

    We conducted an engagement exercise to better understand the views of stakeholders on the early closure of the Renewable Obligation to onshore wind. To protect investor confidence a grace period was proposed in June, and we have subsequently proposed amendments to this in response to stakeholder feedback over the summer. We consider this will strike the right balance between consumer and industry interests.

    We also ran a consultation on changes to support for small scale solar projects under the Renewable Obligation and one on the feed-in tariff review. We strongly welcomed evidence from the sector during these consultations and we hope this will allow us to improve our understanding of the impact on jobs and investment.

    The measures we announced are about getting costs under control, which is essential to provide the foundations for clean electricity investment in the future. We will still be delivering at or above the EMR Delivery Plan ranges and reaching at least 30% electricity generation from renewables by 2020. So we are still supporting a strong pipeline of projects that are bringing jobs and investment across the UK.

  • Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Danny Kinahan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what proportion of the funding of £500 million for shared schooling in Northern Ireland is expected to come from her Department’s budget.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    In the ‘Stormont House Agreement’ signed on 23 December 2014, the UK Government agreed a contribution of up to £500m over 10 years of new capital funding to support shared and integrated education, subject to individual projects being agreed between the Executive and the UK Government.

    In the recent ‘A Fresh Start: the Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan’ the UK Government agreed a number of further flexibilities to the funding commitments contained in the ‘Stormont House Agreement’ including that capital funding for shared and integrated education can be used to support shared housing projects, with individual projects to be agreed by the UK Government.

    This funding to the Northern Ireland Executive will come from Her Majesty’s Treasury through the Northern Ireland Office.

  • Andrew Griffiths – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Andrew Griffiths – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Griffiths on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many children in families on the troubled families programme were classified as in need in the most recent year for which figures are available.

    Greg Clark

    My Department does not hold information on specific numbers of children classified as ‘Child in Need’ on the current Troubled Families Programme.

    However, for the original Troubled Families Programme, which ran from 2012 – 2015, it was estimated that 23% of families contained one or more children with a Child in Need status.

  • Andrew Griffiths – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Griffiths – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Griffiths on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in need whose primary assessment of need was abuse or neglect were within 12 months of a previous referral in the most recent year for which figures are available.

    Edward Timpson

    The information requested is not available.

  • Kate Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Kate Green – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions have taken place with teaching unions on the application of the Prevent programme in schools.

    Edward Timpson

    The Department of Education consulted the teaching unions on the Prevent duty guidance which was published in March 2015 (see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance) and officials have subsequently briefed union representatives both on the duty and on the Department’s role in implementing the Prevent strategy in education. The Department has worked particularly closely with the unions representing school leaders to support schools in meeting their responsibilities under the Prevent duty.

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  • Stephen Tim – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Tim – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Tim on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2015 to Question 2730, what progress she has made on establishing a school on the site of the former East Ham police station.

    Edward Timpson

    We have investigated a number of options for utilising the former East Ham Police station, which we continue to progress. This includes working with the Regional Schools Commissioner to identify free school trusts who may wish to open on the site.

    Given the sensitivity of the discussions I am not able to release further information at this stage.