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Tag: 2016

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department has prepared contingency plans relating to interconnection with the continental electricity grid in the event of the UK voting to leave the EU.

    Amber Rudd

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

    We currently expect our electricity interconnector capacity with Europe to double by the early 2020s with studies showing they could deliver benefits to British consumers of almost £12 billion over 25 years. As the White Paper that the Government published in February on the process for withdrawing from the European Union makes clear, a vote to leave the EU would lead to a prolonged period of uncertainty, including on the nature of our access to the EU’s single energy market.

  • Lord Bowness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Bowness – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bowness on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of leaving the EU on businesses that trade with the EU, and what guidance they have given to affected businesses about how they might communicate that impact.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    Her Majesty’s Treasury published a comprehensive analysis of benefits and costs of membership of a reformed EU and the alternatives on 18 April. This included boxes detailing the impact of EU membership on key business sectors such as financial services, aerospace and pharmaceuticals.

    According to this analysis, key sectors would be worse off due to reduced access to the Single Market. For example, losing customs-free movement of goods could cause customs delays. In time-sensitive industries, each hour of customs delay can reduce trade by 5%. Treasury analysis also provides a sectoral breakdown of the 3.3 million jobs which are linked to trade with the EU.

    The Prime Minister has spoken about the benefits of EU membership at a number of businesses throughout the UK. The transcripts of these are available on the gov.uk website.

  • Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-07-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what tax measures he is putting in place to encourage higher levels of business investment in the UK.

    Jane Ellison

    I refer my hon Friend to the answer given by the Chancellor today in response to the oral question from the hon Member for Lewes.

  • 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 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support dairy farmers as a result of reduced milk prices.

    George Eustice

    Although government cannot control market volatility, our aim is to give farmers improved tools to manage it. We have extended the period over which they can average their tax from two to five years. We are exploring opportunities for a dairy futures market as well as for better branding and labelling in supermarkets in order to improve profitability. We are also exploring opportunities to help farming businesses become more resilient and ready to take advantage of the growing demand for British dairy products both at home and abroad.

    According to the latest forecast of Farm Business Incomes for 2015-16, average incomes on dairy farms are expected to fall to £46,500. This reflects the impact of lower milk prices which started to fall in March 2014, and the reduced prices for cull cows and heifers. While the number of dairy farms in England and Wales has also fallen from around 13,500 in 2006 to 9,500 today, the number of dairy cows has remained almost unchanged, which suggests consolidation within the industry.

    We have seen an increase in the UK farmgate milk price for the second month in a row to 21.34p per litre in August 2016. The long-term picture for our dairy industry remains positive.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people who were at any time included in the universal credit in-work conditionality pilot are no longer receiving any element of that credit.

    Priti Patel

    National roll-out of the In-Work Progression Randomised Control Trial commenced in December 2015 and is likely to be completed in summer 2016. We are unable to provide the information requested at this early stage.

  • Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees, further to his Written Answer on 10 February (HL5554), whether partners and spouses of Catering and Retail Services staff are also entitled to receive meals without charge.

    Lord Laming

    Partners and spouses are not entitled to receive meals without charge.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what infrastructure the UK has in place to ensure that households and businesses do not face energy shortages in the next (a) five and (b) 10 years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    In addition to the generation capacity within the market, National Grid has already procured 3.6GW of reserve capacity for next winter and, in January, the Capacity Market Transitional Arrangements auction bought 800MW of demand side response capacity for winter 16/17 which will also help secure the system.

    In the medium to long term, the capacity market will ensure we have the electricity infrastructure to prevent energy shortages. On 1 March 2016, DECC announced that we are consulting on changes to the CM, to buy more capacity and earlier; tighten the sanctions on those who fail to deliver on their obligations; and bolster energy security in the short–term, by holding a new auction bringing forward the first Capacity Market delivery year to 2017/18.

    We are confident that the Capacity Market is the right mechanism to bring forward the necessary new capacity as older, less efficient plants close.

    Furthermore, Hinkley will be the first new nuclear power plant built in the UK for 20 years. Once up and running in 2025, it will provide 3.2 Giga Watts of secure, base-load and low carbon electricity for around 60 years, meeting 7% of the UK’s energy needs.

    GB also has 4GW of electricity interconnection infrastructure across 4 interconnectors to France, the Netherlands, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Around 7GW of projects are currently proceeding through Ofgem’s cap and floor regulatory regime, with a further 1GW progressing under the “merchant-exempt” route, more than doubling our capacity in the early 2020s. Ofgem will open a further cap and floor application window at the end of March.

    As for gas, GB has a total gas infrastructure deliverability of around 700 mcm/d compared to average winter demand of 290 mcm/d (record demand 465 mcm/d, Dec 2010) giving a surplus capacity against average winter demand of 410 mcm/d.

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding her Department has allocated for (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18 to help the UK prepare for the effects of climate change.

    Rory Stewart

    Adaptation is embedded as an integral part of policy making across Defra and all levels of Government and within a broad range of programmes and activities that directly or indirectly support and build the UK’s resilience to climate change. The first National Adaptation Programme sets out more than 370 actions to help the UK better prepare for climate change and we continue to deliver on these actions. In Defra we are taking action across the breadth of the department’s policies, from our £2.3 billion flood defence programme to the Forestry Commission increasing the diversity of its planting stock so that the Public Forest Estate is resilient to the changing climate.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to review the number of types of identification documents with which a person may register to vote.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    Ensuring the accuracy of electoral registers and taking steps to reduce fraud is critical to building confidence in the systems underpinning our democracy. In the majority of cases, applicants registering to vote will have their identity matched against government records or local data sources successfully. Where this is not possible, most applicants can be asked to provide supporting documentary evidence, which can be drawn from a wide range of sources and there are no plans to change this.

  • Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Tom Watson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many disabled members of staff in his Department are currently enrolled on the Accelerate talent programme.

    Ben Gummer

    The Accelerate scheme, launched in April 2016, is a new development programme for talented senior civil servants (SCS payband 1 and 2) from BAME backgrounds and those with a disability or long-term health condition. In the first cohort of the scheme, each department was allocated two spaces. The current number of Cabinet Office participants in the programme with either characteristic is too small to share, based on data protection and data sharing guidelines.