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  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Leeds North West of 12 January 2016 on meeting hon. Members with constituencies along the River Wharfe.

    Rory Stewart

    The Secretary of State received five letters in January from the hon. Member for Leeds North West about the recent flooding in Leeds. The Secretary of State met him and all Members for Leeds constituencies on 20 January to discuss the flooding in Leeds, as well as flood defences on the nearby River Aire (to which the River Wharfe is a tributary). The Secretary of State will be responding to the specific points raised by the hon. Member for Leeds North West within the next week. In the meantime, I can confirm that I am happy to meet MPs with constituencies along the River Wharfe

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the total spending allocation her Department has made to supporting communities affected by recent floods has been spent to date.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra is administering a Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by the flooding. Further support to communities is available through the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government. Farmers affected by flooding will be able to claim grants of between £500 and £20,000 to cover the cost of restoring their farmland. The RPA will pay out on all eligible claims. The deadline for Fund applications is 1 April 2016.

  • Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Parish on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Renewable Heat Incentive on the UK’s decarbonisation targets.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Using less fossil fuel and more renewables to heat our homes and businesses is vital to decarbonising the UK economy. The continued Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) funding (rising to £1.15bn in 2020/21) means that renewable heat will continue to play its part in meeting our binding domestic and international targets on carbon and renewables.

    We intend to reform the RHI to improve value for money and reduce costs; improve cost control and budget management; and explore the best way to support less able to pay households and owners of large plants. We plan to consult on the changes shortly; this consultation will provide estimates of the reformed RHI’s contribution towards our carbon targets.

  • Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Neil Parish – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Parish on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent progress she has made on the implementation of a revised Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Reform of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme will take place in two stages. I intend that the first stage of reform will take effect from Spring 2016. We will be consulting on our proposals for the second stage of reform shortly.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the total dispatchable electricity capacity was in January (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016; and what estimate she has made of that capacity in January (i) 2017, (ii) 2018 and (iii) 2019.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Dispatchable electricity, as defined by National Grid, comprises of generation that can be switched on and off at relatively short notice. This does not include substantial capacity in the GB mix such as nuclear and wind generation.

    The attached table outlines both expected Pre-Winter dispatchable capacity[1], as per the relevant National Grid Winter Outlook publications and the 2015 Future Energy Scenarios Slow Progression projection of available capacity.

    Post-2015/16 figures represent the Slow Progression July 2015 outlook of generation background. We take energy security very seriously and monitor the commercial outlook of supply frequently alongside National Grid and Ofgem.

    The trend of declining conventional capacity has arisen due to margins in preceding years being unnecessarily large because of the recession. The drop off in capacity is a symptom of returning to the kinds of margins we were used to pre-recession and to reflect improvements in energy efficiency as well as increasing levels of renewable technologies coming on to the system.

    Our priority is to ensure that British families and business have access to secure affordable energy supplies that they can rely on. National Grid have a number of tools to ensure a secure supply of electricity including Contingency Balancing Reserve, in which additional power stations are held to provide security in times of system stress. This extra capacity will help us to ensure we meet the GB 3 hour LOLE reliability standard and will be sufficient to maintain security of supply even in the toughest system conditions.

    In addition to the Contingency Balancing Reserve, from 2018, the Capacity Market will ensure that retiring plant can be replaced by new investment by providing additional secure investment for both existing and new electricity generators

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of how much dispatchable electricity capacity will be lost in 2016 due to planned power station closures.

    Andrea Leadsom

    It is estimated that the total conventional capacity installed in 2016/17 will be 58.1 – 59.1GW[1]. This represents closures of around 0.5GW – 1.8GW[2] between 2015/16 and 2016/17 and reflects the July 2015 Future Energy Scenarios outlook.

    However, for 2016/17, National Grid have already secured 3.6GW of capacity within their Contingency Balancing Reserve, in which additional power stations are held to provide security in times of system stress. This extra capacity will help us to ensure we meet the GB 3 hour LOLE reliability standard and will be sufficient to maintain security of supply even in the toughest system conditions.

    In addition to the Contingency Balancing Reserve, from 2018, the Capacity Market will ensure that retiring plant can be replaced by new investment by providing additional secure investment for both existing and new electricity generators

    [1] As presented in Ofgem’s Capacity Assessment 2015, including Nuclear.

    [2] Figures presented in this response are not de-rated to reflect expected availability at Winter peak.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times a Notice of Insufficient Margin has been issued in each of the last three years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In the past three years, National Grid have issued one Notice of Inadequate System Margin (NISM). This was issued on 4 November 2015.

    National Grid requires a safety cushion to be able to manage the system in real time and a NISM is a call to the market to maintain that safety cushion. This gives generators in the market the opportunity to provide additional generation ahead of National Grid instructing plant and demand side response held in the Contingency Balancing Reserve, if required. It is not an indication that demand is about to outstrip supply.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications were made for each of the Troops to Teachers cohort; and how many places in each cohort have been filled.

    Nick Gibb

    Initially the Ministry of Defence’s resettlement contractor was responsible for recruiting trainees to the programme. Recruitment for the programme has been the responsibility of the University of Brighton.

    For Cohort One, 293 applications were received and 41 trainees began the programme.

    For Cohort Two, 196 applications were received and 52 trainees began the programme.

    For Cohort Three, 62 applications were received and 51 trainees began the programme.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers who were trained through the Troops to Teachers scheme are employed in state-funded schools.

    Nick Gibb

    As the Troops to Teachers programme is an employment-based Initial Teacher Training route, all trainees are employed in state-funded schools throughout their training. The first cohort of trainees completed the training programme in December 2015. 28 of the 29 trainees who completed the programme achieved Qualified Teacher Status with the remaining individual working towards it. A further two trainees plan to re-join their training in the coming months.

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many places were allocated to each Troops to Teachers cohort.

    Nick Gibb

    Initially the Ministry of Defence’s resettlement contractor was responsible for recruiting trainees to the programme. Recruitment for the programme has been the responsibility of the University of Brighton.

    For Cohort One, 293 applications were received and 41 trainees began the programme.

    For Cohort Two, 196 applications were received and 52 trainees began the programme.

    For Cohort Three, 62 applications were received and 51 trainees began the programme.