The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to promote domestic solar photovoltaic installations.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government is continuing to promote domestic solar photovoltaic installations with the Feed-in Tariff scheme which will support small-scale solar until 2019.
We project that the FIT scheme could support up to 220,000 new solar installations between now and 2019.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with (a) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) HM Revenue and Customs on proposals to increase VAT rates on solar panels.
Andrea Leadsom
I have had no discussions with my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer or HM Revenue and Customs on the proposals to amend the application of VAT to energy saving materials. The changes stem from a legal judgement in the European Court which found that the reduced rate of VAT on energy saving products had been applied too widely. As part of the amendments, HMRC recently consulted on removing solar panels from the list of measures eligible for the reduce rate of VAT. They are currently considering the responses to that consultation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the Government’s policy is towards the Big Six energy companies that seek to outsource or offshore directly employed jobs in retail operations; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Leadsom
It is important we have a vibrant, dynamic energy market where energy companies work hard to attract customers though customer service as well as price. The management of retail operations, such as answering enquiries and addressing complaints from their consumers, however, are commercial matters for the individual companies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the amount of energy that would be generated in West Cumbria as a result of the (a) Moorside Nuclear development and (b) Solway Firth Tidal Gateway project; and what proportion of UK energy would be generated by those projects.
Andrea Leadsom
Nugen’s proposal for Moorside is for three Toshiba Westinghouse AP1000 reactors, which together have a stated generation capacity of 3.6GW. This is equivalent to around 27 TWh per year once the station is fully operational. This is estimated to be equivalent to around 7% of the UK’s electricity generation needs in 2030.
No assessment of the amount of generation which could be produced by a potential Solway Firth Tidal Gateway project has been made by my Department as we have not received any detailed proposal for such a project.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effects of changes in feed-in tariffs on small businesses in the solar industry.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government published an impact assessment alongside the Government Response to the FIT Review consultation on 17 December, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486084/IA_-_FITs_consultation_response_with_Annexes_-_FINAL_SIGNED.pdf.
This assessed impacts of the changes across the solar industry as a whole.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the reasons were for the time taken for her Department and the Department of Health to reach an agreement on the site for Harperbury Free School.
Edward Timpson
The negotiation for land for the site of Harperbury Free School was part of a wider land sale for new homes which was being negotiated by the Department of Health. Heads of Terms for the sale were agreed in September 2014 and subsequently revised in October 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the letter from her Department to the Harperbury Free School governors of 17 November 2015, if she will make an assessment of the implications for housing and other planned developments in the catchment area of the proposed Harperbury Free School of the risk referred to in that letter that no suitable site can ever be found for that school.
Edward Timpson
Assessing the implications for housing and other developments is a matter for the Council rather than the Department.
In order for planning permission to be granted for a site in the Green Belt, as is the case for the trust’s preferred site, the Local Planning Authority would have to accept that there is a strong need for a school in the locality of the identified site, which they do not.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department’s agreement with the Department of Health to secure the Harperbury Free School site included a provision that the Department of Health would meet the costs of relocating Harperbury Bowls Club elsewhere on the Harperbury site.
Edward Timpson
The negotiation for land for the site of Harperbury Free School was part of a wider land sale for new homes which was being negotiated by the Department of Health. Heads of Terms for the sale were agreed in September 2014 and subsequently revised in October 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, by what process her Department ensured the site secured for the proposed Harperbury Free School (a) was large enough and (b) met other requirements to be suitable for a secondary school with the capacity for up to 840 students and 70 staff.
Edward Timpson
Approval to build the school on the site is subject to the views of the Local Planning Authority. They first raised concerns, alongside a range of other concerns arising from its location in the Green Belt, to my officials in March 2015.
Discussions between officials at both Departments did identify that two adjacent properties could be purchased to provide additional car parking. However, the nature of the sale of the remainder of the former hospital site to a residential developer meant that further land could not be released for the school. Even if additional land were made available, there remain substantial risks associated with developing this Green Belt site.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health on making more land available at the proposed site for Harperbury Free School to enable the planning application for that site to proceed with a site large enough to meet local planning officers’ requirements.
Edward Timpson
Approval to build the school on the site is subject to the views of the Local Planning Authority. They first raised concerns, alongside a range of other concerns arising from its location in the Green Belt, to my officials in March 2015.
Discussions between officials at both Departments did identify that two adjacent properties could be purchased to provide additional car parking. However, the nature of the sale of the remainder of the former hospital site to a residential developer meant that further land could not be released for the school. Even if additional land were made available, there remain substantial risks associated with developing this Green Belt site.