The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans to publish the Government’s response to the consultation on a review of the feed-in tariff scheme.
Andrea Leadsom
We will publish the Government’s response in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many of her Department’s policies have been assessed against the family test; what steps she has taken to publish the outcome of such assessments that have been carried out; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Leadsom
The Family Test was announced by my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister in August 2014, and introduced in October 2014. DWP published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and the Department follows that guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368894/family-test-guidance.pdf.
The Family Test is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of all new policy in line with the Family Test guidance.
The objective of the Test is to introduce a family perspective to the policy making process, specifically to make the potential impacts on family functioning and relationships explicit.
DECC has not applied the Test to date but is considering where it is appropriate to do so. In addition where relevant, DECC already publishes in Impact Assessments analysis of the impact of policies on energy bills across different types of households.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to implement the family test.
Andrea Leadsom
The Family Test was announced by my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister in August 2014, and introduced in October 2014. DWP published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and the Department follows that guidance:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368894/family-test-guidance.pdf.
The Family Test is an integral part of the policy making process and is applied in a proportionate way in the development of all new policy in line with the Family Test guidance.
The objective of the Test is to introduce a family perspective to the policy making process, specifically to make the potential impacts on family functioning and relationships explicit.
DECC has not applied the Test to date but is considering where it is appropriate to do so. In addition where relevant, DECC already publishes in Impact Assessments analysis of the impact of policies on energy bills across different types of households.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether it is Government policy to phase out coal.
Andrea Leadsom
Coal accounted for 39% of total UK electricity generation in 2012, falling to 30% in 2014. This trend is expected to continue and the Department’s published forecasts suggest that, in our central scenario, the last unabated UK coal fired power station will close in 2026.
However, if market conditions are right, there is a possibility that coal could continue to produce electricity until the late 2020s.
Source: DECC Updated energy and emissions projections 2014 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368021/Updated_energy_and_emissions_projections2014.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will establish an examination of objections to her departmental minute of 21 October 2015 including the entering into contracts regarding the Hinkley Point C power station that could give rise to liabilities.
Andrea Leadsom
I will be writing to hon. Members who have signed EDM 619, in which I will respond to the objection. I will deposit a copy of the response in the Libraries of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals that hydraulic fracturing cannot be conducted from wells that are drilled at the surface of sensitive areas.
Andrea Leadsom
On 4 November 2015, the Government set out proposals to ensure that hydraulic fracturing cannot be conducted from wells drilled at the surface of specified protected areas.1 The proposed restrictions would be delivered through the inclusion of a licence condition in new Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences (PEDLs) and the development of a policy statement designed to inform the approval process for programmes submitted for approval under existing PEDLs.
The proposals are now subject to consultation with key stakeholders, including the industry and non-governmental organisations.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/oil-and-gas-licensing-rounds#surface-development-restrictions
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many responses her Department received to the recent consultation on a review of the feed-in tariff scheme.
Andrea Leadsom
We have received nearly 55,000 responses. We currently estimate that just over 2,600 are unique and detailed responses; the rest are briefer and more uniform responses, generated by campaigns. We will assess and evaluate all responses and will respond in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Lewis on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to close the feed-in tariff scheme in January 2016; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Leadsom
The FIT review consultation was published on 27 August and closed on 23 October. The review proposed changes to generation tariffs and tariff bands and included proposals on cost control measures, such as capping deployment, in order to put the scheme onto an affordable and sustainable footing. An option to close the scheme, should cost control measures not be sufficient to achieve this, was also set out in the consultation.
We have received nearly 55,000 responses to the consultation. We are currently analysing these responses and will do so as quickly as possible. We will publish a Government response in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the likely market size of the UK solar industry in 2016.
Andrea Leadsom
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him today to Question 14997.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of additional schools that will be needed to accommodate the predicted population rise over the next 25 years; and if she will make a statement.
Edward Timpson
Pupil forecasts based on ONS population projections have been made out to 2024 and they suggest that pupil numbers are due to rise significantly over that period. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient schools to meet that need, and for determining precisely how many new schools are needed in their area.
We allocate funding for new school places to local authorities three years in advance in order to balance the need for robust forecasts and to ensure certainty for local authorities over their future funding allocations.
Providing this funding to support local authorities in creating additional school places is one of the Government’s top priorities. This is signalled by the £7 billion that this Government has committed to spend on new places over the course of this Parliament; as well as the £5 billion that the previous Coalition Government invested in school places between 2011 and 2015 (more than double the £1.9 billion spent between 2007 and 2011).