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  • Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he had held with his Egyptian counterpart on the new parliamentary elections law in that country.

    Hugh Robertson

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has yet to meet his new counterpart, Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri who was sworn in on 17 June. He did raise the issue of parliamentary elections and the need for political inclusiveness with former Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy on 14 May before the new law was passed.

  • Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ian Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lucas on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the details of the new parliamentary elections law in Egypt.

    Hugh Robertson

    The new parliamentary elections law, enacted by the decree of former interim President Adly Mansour on 5 June, increases the number of parliamentary seats to 567, with 420 seats to be elected by single member constituencies and 120 through party lists. On 3 June, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) issued a statement urging Egypt’s leaders to ensure that the transition leads towards accountable and democratic governance, underpinned by strong and accountable institutions.

  • 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 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will publish all documentation relating to the nuclear power investment signed with the Prime Minister of China covering Chinese state companies on 17 June 2014; and if he will publish all subsequent documentation.

    Michael Fallon

    On June 17 2014, the UK and China signed the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation. DECC was also a co-signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Co-operation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain. Both documents are online at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/multimillion-boost-to-uk-economy-as-china-and-uk-government-sign-civil-nuclear-agreement-and-sign-agreement-to-deepen-cooperation-on-climate-change

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  • Mark Menzies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Mark Menzies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that the risk of flooding is taken into account in any potential shale gas sites.

    Michael Fallon

    Any development (including a shale gas site) that is planned near a main river or a flood defence (including a sea defence) will require a flood defence consent from the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency is a statutory consultee in the planning process and can object to any development that they consider to be at high risk of flooding. The Environment Agency will continue to assess each site on a case by case basis and work with operators and local planning to ensure sites are protected from flood risk.

  • Mark Menzies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Mark Menzies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that the distribution of shale gas community benefit funds go to those households closest to potential drilling sites.

    Michael Fallon

    We have welcomed a package of community benefits that was put forward by industry. It is encouraging that industry will offer £100,000 per fractured well site during exploration, so communities can benefit early, as well as 1% of revenues at production.

    The UK Onshore Operators Group has provided more information about the community benefits scheme and will be partnering with the UK Communities Foundation for two pilot schemes during the exploration stage. The UK Communities Foundation will work with local residents to use the funding according to their needs and priorities. UKOOG also announced further consultation on payments at production stage.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps his Department is taking to simplify regulations applying to the UK’s shale gas industry.

    Michael Fallon

    The Department works closely with the relevant regulators and industry to ensure that the regulatory system is as streamlined as possible, whilst remaining robust enough to safeguard public safety and the environment.

    In order to help companies navigate our regulatory system, the Department published in December a Regulatory Roadmap setting out all the regulation that applies to shale at the exploration stage.

    We have already reduced unnecessary duplication in the regulatory system for shale gas, clarifying and streamlining the regulation of exploration activity through the Environment Agency, including developing a single application form for permits. The average waiting time for environmental permits for onshore oil and gas is 8 to 9 weeks. We will introduce standard rules environmental permits later this year cutting permitting times for low risk activities to 2-4 weeks.

    The Department of Communities and Local Government published planning guidance for onshore oil & gas projects last July, which makes clear that planning authorities when assessing applications should assume that the environmental and health and safety regulatory regimes operate effectively rather than duplicating effort.

    We are also consulting on proposals designed to simplify current procedures for obtaining access to underground land. This consultation is open until the 15th August and, subject to the outcome of the consultation, could lead to legislative proposals.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when he expects to publish the British Geological Survey’s assessment of the hydrocarbon resources in the Weald area of the south of England.

    Michael Fallon

    The British Geological Survey Weald Basin Report has been published and can be viewed at the following link:

    http://www.bgs.ac.uk/shalegas/

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  • Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Stephen O’Brien – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen O’Brien on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer for 4 March 2014, Official Report, column 765W, on carbon emissions, to which other technologies that Answer refers to; and whether this would still be the case if the carbon footprint of backup technologies was factored in.

    Gregory Barker

    Onshore wind power has a very small carbon footprint range relative to other energy generation technologies, including coal and gas-fired generation, which, in 2012, emitted, on average, 895 g/kWh and 415 g/kWh respectively (not allowing for emissions incurred during the manufacture, construction and decommissioning phases)1.

    The Department does not estimate the gas turbine energy contribution (and therefore related CO2 emissions) associated with the reserve generation needed to manage wind variability specifically, due to complex inter-dependencies of the power system operational parameters. However, the need for reserve generation to manage intermittent supply and demand of electricity does not change the fact that any electricity generated by onshore wind – which in the first quarter of 2014 accounted for around 7% of all electricity generated in the UK – has a carbon footprint of just 8 and 20g CO2eq/kWh. Reserve generation displaces the output of existing generating stations to maintain the balance of supply and demand, so there is no net increase of power on the system at any one time; therefore the only additional emissions from reserve associated with wind power is through the inefficiency of running separate generating stations at part load rather than fewer stations at full-load, which is relatively insignificant compared to the carbon savings made.

    [1]Coal and Gas emissions factors from table DUKES 5C, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes

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  • Andrew Griffiths – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Andrew Griffiths – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Griffiths on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children receive free school meals in each (a) free school and (b) local authority area where a free school has been established.

    Mr David Laws

    Information on the percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals was included in the publication ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics, January 2014′.[1]

    Information on the percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in individual schools, including free schools, is provided in the publication’s underlying data. This includes school type and local authority.

    Table 8a in the publication shows the percentage of pupils in state-funded nursery and primary schools known to be eligible and claiming free school meals by each local authority area. Table 8b shows the percentage of pupils in state funded secondary schools known to be eligible and claiming free school meals by each local authority area. Table 3 shows the percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in free schools nationally.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014

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  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will place in the Library copies of the Property Data Survey Programme results for schools in Sandwell local authority area.

    Mr David Laws

    The Property Data Survey is due to complete by September 2014. We are currently sharing the initial findings with schools and responsible bodies to validate them.