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  • Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Gibb on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what current contracts (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department’s executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies hold with the Educational Testing Service or any of that organisation’s subsidiaries.

    Dan Rogerson

    Neither Core Defra, nor its Executive Agencies or Non-Departmental public bodies hold any contracts with the Educational Testing Service or any of its subsidiaries.

  • Dan Byles – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Dan Byles – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Byles on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the total amount of available coal-fired electricity generation capacity in the UK in each year up to 2030.

    Michael Fallon

    The Electricity Market Reform (EMR) Delivery Plan published in December 2013 included an estimate for the total amount of available coal-fired electricity generation capacity in Great Britain in each year to 2030. It is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/268221/181213_2013_EMR_Delivery_Plan_FINAL.pdf

    See table:

    Year

    Total coal-fired capacity (GW)

    2014

    20

    2015

    18

    2016

    18

    2017

    18

    2018

    18

    2019

    15

    2020

    12

    2021

    12

    2022

    12

    2023

    9

    2024

    9

    2025

    8

    2026

    8

    2027

    7

    2028

    7

    2029

    5

    2030

    2

    * Based on a scenario of average carbon intensity of electricity generation of 100g CO2/kWh in 2030

    “

  • Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Nick Gibb – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Gibb on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what current contracts (a) his Department and (b) each of his Department’s executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies hold with the Educational Testing Service or any of that organisation’s subsidiaries.

    Gregory Barker

    Neither (a) The Department of Energy and Climate Change nor (b) its non-Departmental public bodies hold any contracts with the Educational Testing Service or its subsidiaries.

  • Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Tom Greatrex – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Greatrex on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment he has made of the number of domestic renewable heat incentive applications received since April 2014; and how many such applications have been turned down because they did not meet minimum insulation standards.

    Gregory Barker

    Since the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme launched on 9 April this year, up until the end of May, Ofgem had received 2,296 applications to join the scheme.

    Whether or not an application meets the minimum insulation standard is determined using information from the Energy Performance Certificate of the property. Currently, Ofgem do not record data on applicants that are not eligible for the scheme due to not meeting minimum insulation standards, as this check precedes an applicant completing a full application.

  • Dan Byles – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Dan Byles – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Byles on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 14 May 2014, Official Report, column 593W, on electricity, what recent discussions he has had with the Independent Renewables Generators Group on the timing of the introduction of auctioning; what assessment he has made of independent generators’ ability to raise project finance against the Offtaker of Last Resort before October 2014; and if he will make a statement.

    Michael Fallon

    I met with the Independent Renewable Generators Group on 24th February 2014 and discussed the introduction of auctioning for Contracts for Difference (CfDs).

    The Offtaker of Last Resort will support independent renewable generators by providing for the worst-case route-to-market, allowing generators to raise project finance without necessarily having to enter long-term PPAs. As a result, such generators are likely only to need short-term PPAs in order to maximise their secured revenue and level of gearing. We are on track to deliver the final policy and introduce enabling regulations ahead of first allocation of CfDs. CfD applicants will, therefore, have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR in advance of the first auctions.

  • Emma Lewell-Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Emma Lewell-Buck – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Lewell-Buck on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of (a) disabled and (b) all other staff employed by his Department received each level of performance rating in their end of year performance assessment for 2013-14.

    Gregory Barker

    In DECC the staff declaration rate for disability is:

    • 5.7% have declared they have a disability;
    • 70.6% have declared they don’t have a disability;
    • 23.7% have not declared their disability status.

    The 2013/14 performance ratings breakdown for these groups is:

    Declared have a disability

    Declared don’t have a disability

    Disability status not declared

    1- SCS, Top; AO-G6, Exceptional performance.

    12.2%

    27.1%

    22.5%

    2 – SCS, Achieving; AO-G6, Effective performance.

    70.7%

    67.5%

    70.7%

    3 – SCS, Low; AO-G6, Need for improvement/ developing

    17.1%

    5.5%

    6.8%
  • David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the average turnaround is on applications for funding under the Green Deal scheme.

    Gregory Barker

    Applications made to the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund which comply with the scheme terms and conditions will typically be turned around and a voucher issued within 5 working days. Vouchers are redeemable once the customer has completed their installation of energy saving home improvements.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2013-14, published on 23 June 2014, what estimate he has made of the additional cost to the public purse arising from the increased cost on an undiscounted basis of legacy radioactive waste and nuclear plant commissioning announced in that report.

    Michael Fallon

    As reported in the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2013/14, the Nuclear Provision (the estimated cost to complete the decommissioning of all 17 sites in the authority’s estate) is now calculated as £65bn on a discounted basis (£110bn undiscounted). These costs will be borne in their entirety by the public purse.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the evidential basis was for the statement made by his Department’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in her foreword to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2013-14, issued on 23 June 2014, that the continuation of Nuclear Management Partner’s contract to manage the Sellafield site offers the potential of stability and focus on the priorities during a vital five-year period in the history of Sellafield as it transitions from an operational plant into a fully-fledged decommissioning site.

    Michael Fallon

    The decision on contract extension was for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in line with its duties and responsibilities under the Energy Act 2004. The Department has oversight of all NDA activity and, given the particular importance of Sellafield, officials were closely involved throughout the contract review. From this we were assured that the NDA reached its decision based on a thorough and independent review of performance in the first period of the contract and consideration of all the options available to it. Ministers endorsed the NDA Board’s decision to extend the contract for a second term on the basis that rolling the contract forward represented the best way forward, giving the opportunity for NMP to build on progress made to date, address weaker areas of performance and make further real progress in this next five year term.

  • Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2013-14, published on 23 June 2014, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on the evaluation of proposals for funded radioactive waste and decommissioning plans presented to him by private nuclear operators of the recent increase in the cost of dealing with legacy radioactive waste and decommissioning announced in that report.

    Michael Fallon

    Recent changes in the estimated costs of dealing with legacy radioactive waste and decommissioning announced in the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2013/14 are due in their entirety to the decommissioning programme at Sellafield. These costs should not be used as a guide to costs of decommissioning modern nuclear reactor sites. The vast majority of the liability at Sellafield is a result of the Cold War military programme on that site, dating back to the 1940s, and the very early days of the civil nuclear industry, dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. These historic facilities were built extremely rapidly to very different quality and safety standards compared with nuclear plants constructed today and without plans for how they would be ultimately decommissioned, These facilities present a unique decommissioning challenge requiring a complex suite of engineering projects in order to first gain access to their waste inventory before retrieving and then treating this material ready for long-term disposal. The activity required to decommission these facilities at Sellafield bears no relation to the work required to decommission modern nuclear facilities. Operators of nuclear power stations being constructed under the Government’s new build programme are required to publish plans detailing how these facilities will be decommissioned and the operators themselves are liable for the costs associated with this decommissioning work.