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Tag: 2014

  • 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 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what audit requirements are (a) in place and (b) planned for generating stations over 1Mw in size that use solid biomass or biogas.

    Gregory Barker

    The Renewables Obligation (Amendment) Order 2014, which came into force on 1 April 2014, requires generating stations with a total installed capacity of 1MW and above that use solid biomass or biogas to provide an annual sustainability audit report in respect of the biomass that they use. There are exceptions for landfill gas, sewage gas, municipal waste, manure and for other fuels which do not meet the specific definition of biomass within the Renewables Obligation (RO).

    The audit report must be prepared to ISAE3000 standard or its equivalent, and must be prepared by a person who is not the owner or operator of the station or a connected person. In the case of biomass which is not waste or derived from waste, the audit must cover the information provided by the operator of the station in respect of the land criteria or Timber Standard, and greenhouse gas sustainability criteria. In the case of biomass which is waste or derived from waste, the audit must cover the information provided by the operator of the station that the biomass was waste or wholly derived from waste. Other detailed requirements for the audit report are set out in article 54B of the Renewables Obligation Order 2009, as inserted by article 15 of the Renewables Obligation (Amendment) Order 2014.

    A similar audit requirement is planned to apply to Combined Heat and Power (CHP) stations receiving support under the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) if they choose not to source fuel from the RHI Biomass Suppliers List (BSL), a list of suppliers selling sustainable fuel, but instead report against the RHI sustainability criteria to Ofgem.

    It is intended that the Contracts for Difference (CfD) awarded for bioenergy under the first Electricity Market Reform Delivery Plan will follow the same approach on sustainability audit as set out under the Renewables Obligation.

    Ofgem, as the administrator of the Renewables Obligation, carries out a programme of audits of accredited generating stations, primarily to guard against fraud and error. This can include stations over 1MW in size that use solid biomass or biogas. They also ensure that a generating station remains an eligible renewable generating station for the purposes of the RO, that Ofgem holds the most up-to-date information for a station, and that the correct number of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) has been issued to the generator in question. The audits are carried out on a rolling basis, with targeted audits where it is deemed necessary. The CfD Counterparty company will be empowered under the Contracts for Difference to audit any generating station it chooses, with 1 business day’s written notice, to check compliance with agreed Fuel Measurement and Sampling procedures.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which powers he is seeking to repatriate from the EU.

    Mr David Lidington

    As the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) said in May, Brussels has got too big, too bossy, too interfering. It should be nation states wherever possible, Europe only where necessary.

    Our reform priorities are to make the EU more democratically accountable, more competitive and more flexible.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of speed awareness courses; and what information her Department collects on speeding and driving offences committed by drivers who have undertaken such a course.

    Karen Bradley

    The number of drivers that opted for a National Driver Offender Retraining
    Scheme (NDORS) speed awareness course rather than accept penalty points on
    their driving licence in 2010 is 447,833, in 2011 is 772,180, 2012 is 926,155 and in
    2013 is 953,464. These reflect the latest updated figures.
    The offer of a speed awareness course is at the discretion of the police. To be
    deemed eligible there must be no excessive speed or other offences committed at
    the same time. Information on previous motoring convictions is not taken into
    account.
    The Department for Transport and the police are in advanced stages of
    commissioning a long term study to assess the effectiveness of speed awareness
    courses.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of staff within his Department who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

    Mr Francis Maude

    The Prime Minister’s Office and the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office are integral parts of the Cabinet Office.

    Declaration of ethnicity for staff is voluntary and it is therefore not possible to provide the information requested.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what measures are in place to ensure that aid given to foreign countries is used for the purposes intended; and what proportion of such aid not being used for those purposes would result in future aid being denied to that country.

    Justine Greening

    DFID has a number of controls in place focussing on monitoring and evaluation, including both internal and external audits and reports from the International Development Committee and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact.

    DFID has strong internal review processes in place to make sure projects are properly monitored and closed if they are not delivering good results and value for money.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what consideration his Department gives to the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations when considering their bid for commercial contracts or grants.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Ministry of Defence will consider the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations where they are relevant and proportionate to the subject matter of the contract, and seeking best value for money in procurement.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners serving (a) life and (b) indeterminate sentences for public protection were granted release on temporary licence in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Jeremy Wright

    Release on temporary licence is the process where, towards the end of his or her sentence, an offender can be released from a prison establishment on a temporary basis. This release has to be for a specific purpose, which may include training, employment, or maintaining family ties, and comes with strict conditions that must be met. All offenders are subject to a risk assessment before being released. Temporary release contributes to public protection by enabling release plans to be tested, under strict conditions, before the offender is released. It also allows prisoners to participate in necessary activities outside of the prison establishment. This helps them to adjust to life on release, which contributes to reducing reoffending.

    On 10 March, the Government announced a package of measures to improve the consistency, risk assessment and monitoring of releases on temporary licence. The improvements will apply to all prisoners but, in addition, a new scheme of Restricted ROTL will be introduced for those prisoners who have committed serious crimes in the past. This will feature more stringent risk assessment procedures carried out by probation professionals, and more robust monitoring arrangements when this sort of offender is on temporary licence in the community.

    In 2012, the latest period for which figures are available, 611 prisoners serving a life sentence, and 1,043 prisoners serving an indeterminate sentence for public protection, were granted release on temporary licence. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of staff within his Department who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

    Gregory Barker

    From November 2010 a single team was established to control the process for all formal disciplinary proceedings being undertaken against Civil Servants in the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC). Therefore central records only exist from that date.

    The proportion of Civil Servants in DECC, who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings since November 2010 to date and who are white British, is less than 1% of the total number of Civil Servants in each year.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2014-04-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will request that the Law Commission undertake a law reform project on the question of fraud victims of personal injury as part of its 12 programme of law reform.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Government is committed to turning the tide on fraudulent personal injury claims. To this end, it is considering what specific reforms might be appropriate, including whether the Law Commission should be asked to consider this issue. We will make our conclusions known in due course.

    No figures are available on the number of exaggerated or fabricated personal injury claims struck out by the courts. Figures for 2011 published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) indicate that whiplash claims cost customers more than £2 billion a year and add £90 to the average motor insurance premium.

    The ABI describe 7% of all motor claims in 2011 – worth £441m – as fraudulent. In addition, they estimate that a further £1 billion of motor insurance fraud went undetected in 2011.

    As announced last year, we are working with stakeholders in the industry to tighten the medical evidence process so that only evidence from accredited experts can be considered, and the costs for those reports can be fixed. This will mean people can no longer profit from exaggerated or fraudulent compensation claims but victims with genuine cases can still get the help they deserve. We are introducing these reforms later in the year. We are also working to secure better data on motor accident cases, including the number of fraudulent cases.

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sharon Hodgson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what targets her Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.

    Karen Bradley

    Tables provided in Annex 1 for representation from March 2013 – March 2014

    In conjunction with Cabinet Office, the Department has agreed specific targets
    to improve representation rates. The position in the last year is as follows:

    • Three female employees have been appointed at Director General level becoming
    members of the Home Office Executive Management Board. The position generally
    was that 34.39% of staff at Senior Civil Service (SCS) were female compared
    with the target of 38%. At Grades 6 and 7 the position was that 43.93% of staff
    were female compared with the target of 45%.

    • 6.21% of staff with a disability were at SCS level compared to a target
    of 3% and at Grades 6 and 7 the position was that 5.99 % staff had a
    disability compared with the target of 6%.

    • 10.56% of staff at Grades 6 and 7 were from a minority ethnic background
    compared to a target of 10%. 4.52% of staff at SCS level were from a minority
    ethnic background compared with the target of 6%.

    • 5.66% of staff at SCS were lesbian, gay or bisexual compared to the target of
    5.0%. At Grades 6 and 7 the position was that 3.4% of staff were lesbian, gay
    or bisexual compared with the target of 5.0%.

    The position is encouraging but the Department is committed to finding further
    progress in all aspects of diversity.