Tag: Adam Afriyie

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-09-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to attract international FinTech companies to the UK.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Government is committed to making the UK the leading global FinTech hub, and has announced a large number of policy initiatives, including more supportive regulatory regimes for peer-to-peer, digital currencies, and other innovative firms.

    The Government built on this record at the Summer Budget. First, Eileen Burbidge was appointed as the UK’s ‘Special Envoy for FinTech’, where she will represent UK interests in FinTech at home and around the world. Second, an international FinTech benchmarking exercise was announced to measure the UK’s performance and identify areas of best practice from around the world.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits to the UK economy of blockchain technology.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government Office for Science is conducting a review of distributed ledger technology, which encompasses Blockchain technology, to highlight the potential benefits of distributed ledgers to the delivery of public services, and to help government identify and remove roadblocks to their safe and effective use.

    The review is being conducted by a panel of experts drawn from academia, business and government under the direction of the Government Chief Scientific Adviser. Their findings and recommendations will be published in a report this autumn.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she has taken to remove barriers to small energy providers using the services of the Data Communications Company.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC has undertaken a continuous programme of outreach with independent suppliers. This has allowed us to monitor their views on a range of issues, including costs and their ability to use the services of the Data Communications Company (DCC). One challenge we recognised independent suppliers may face was the cost effective procurement of adaptor software enabling them to access DCC services. Over the last twelve to eighteen months, this challenge has been taken up by a number of commercial providers bringing managed service IT solutions to the market which allow independent suppliers to access the DCC with minimal upfront cost. We will continue to monitor the situation to verify that smaller suppliers are able to access the DCC services satisfactorily.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the fixed charge system outlined in the Smart Energy Code on the ability of small energy providers to access the services of the Data Communications Company.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Data Communications Company (DCC) charges for access to the DCC’s services in proportion to suppliers’ market share, calculated on a meter point basis, rather than an equal amount per supplier. This is designed to strike a balance between ensuring a fair contribution from all parties who will have access to the DECC services, and not disadvantaging those parties that are likely to use these services less than others.

    The amount small energy providers will pay in fixed charges is therefore directly reflective of their smaller customer base and likely more limited use of the system that results from their lower market share.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent estimate she has made of the annual cost to British businesses of the EU’s pollution directive.

    Rory Stewart

    There are a number of EU directives covering a wide range of pollution issues. This answer refers to the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU), which was transposed into law in England and Wales in February 2013. The Directive requires operators in a range of industrial sectors to comply with certain standards to ensure the reduction of emissions from their activities.

    Prior to transposition of the Directive, our impact assessment estimated that the annual regulatory and compliance costs for the main affected sectors would be £105m for operators of large combustion plants and £0 – £15m for a range of other installations in the waste treatment and wood treatment sectors.

    The impact assessment estimated that the annual human health benefits due to a reduction in emissions of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and particulate matter from large combustion plants alone would be £188m. Other benefits for human health and the environment were also expected to arise from other pollutants that could not be monetised.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the radio spectrum is earmarked for (a) military purposes, (b) radar purposes and (c) public service broadcasting.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Officials have consulted Ofcom who hold such information. Ofcom advise that they do not hold such information for bands below 87.5MHz, but have provided information for bands from 87.5MHz-30GHz.

    Ofcom has identified the proportion of spectrum accessed for public sector uses (not limited to the military), defined as all spectrum bands used by the public sector with Crown immunity (i.e. without need for authorisation by Ofcom). For the purpose of this analysis, this category includes all aeronautical uses of spectrum.

    Crown use of spectrum as a % of total weighted spectrum

    87.5 MHz

    30 GHz

    54%

    26% of the total weighted spectrum in the 87.5MHz to 30 GHz is allocated for radiolocation services/radar.

    Ofcom cannot provide specific information with regards to spectrum in use for public service broadcasting as the national allocation of frequencies does not distinguish between public service broadcasting and non-public service broadcasting. The table below provides information with regards to the proportion of total weighted spectrum in use for terrestrial broadcasting, split into TV and radio.

    Terrestrial broadcasting spectrum as a % of total weighted spectrum

    TV

    Radio

    87.5 MHz

    30 GHz

    8%

    7%

    1%
  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the (a) 30-300MHz, (b) 300-3000MHz and (c) 3-30GHz bands of the radio spectrum is in the operation of the private sector.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Officials have consulted Ofcom who hold such information. Ofcom advise that they do not hold such information for bands below 87.5MHz (as frequencies above this are considered to be the most important and usable), but have provided information for bands from 87.5MHz-30GHz.

    The table provides an overview of the proportion of total weighted spectrum accessed for market uses by band.

    Lower frequency

    Upper frequency

    Spectrum authorised for Market uses as a % of total weighted spectrum

    87.5 MHz

    328.6 MHz

    47%

    328.6 MHz

    3.1 GHz

    73%

    3.1 GHz

    30 GHz

    80%

    The Public Sector Spectrum Release Programme aims to release 500MHz of sub-5GHz spectrum from public sector use by 2020. The most recent Programme update can be found on the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spectrum-strategy

    “

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on the Lower Thames Scheme.

    Dan Rogerson

    Further to my answer to the hon. Member for Windsor on Monday, 24 February 2014, Official Report column 83W, the Environment Agency is continuing to work with partners to develop the River Thames Scheme (Datchet to Teddington). This includes flood channel capacity improvements, property level protection measures and the construction of three new channels.

    Preparatory work, which is under way, includes establishing appropriate consents and approval needed with planning authorities, undertaking surveys needed to gain consents, and the development of a funding package with other risk management authorities. The Environment Agency is planning to submit its Strategic Outline Case for this project to Defra as part of the HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority approvals process.

    The Environment Agency aims to start the work on improving weir capacity in 2016.

    Full appraisal and outline design of the flood channel and capacity improvements will commence this summer. It is expected that this will take three to four years to enable the proposal for the new flood channels to be submitted for planning consents and authorisations. It is estimated that the construction of the flood channel will commence in 2020 and will take five to six years to complete.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of how many properties at risk of flooding in (a) Windsor constituency and (b) the Thames Valley that will not be covered by the new Flood Re scheme.

    Dan Rogerson

    The assessment of the impact the scope of the Flood Re Scheme will have was done at a UK level. There was no specific assessment for individual constituencies or regions.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Adam Afriyie – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2014-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on encouraging computer science and programming in UK schools.

    Elizabeth Truss

    As part of the reforms to the national curriculum, the Department for Education is strengthening the teaching of computing in schools by replacing information and communications technology with computing. The new programmes of study for computing, which will be taught in maintained schools from September 2014, have a much greater emphasis on computer science. For example, pupils at key stage 1 will be taught to create and debug simple programs and key stage 3 pupils will be taught to use two or more programming languages.

    We also working with exam boards and sector experts to review the computer science GCSE and A level so that they reflect and build upon the changes made to the curriculum. The inclusion of computer science in the English Baccalaureate will provide further encouragement for pupils to take up the subject at GCSE level. We are also providing funding for several projects to help teachers acquire the necessary subject knowledge and skills to teach the new computing curriculum.

    We are funding the British Computer Society to build a network of 400 ‘Master Teachers’, create online teach-yourself resources and deliver 800 in-school workshops to help primary school teachers improve their subject knowledge. A further £500,000 competitive match-funded scheme was announced on 4 February to support excellent computing teaching and lever additional investment and engagement from business.