The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-11-30.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to upgrade the Hebrides Range radar on St Kilda.
Mr Philip Dunne
The Ministry of Defence’s current planning assumption for the Watchman radar on the Hebrides Range is that it will be upgraded in November 2020.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2016-01-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when her Department will implement a programme of enhanced preliminary accreditation for large scale renewable heat projects to provide bankable investor certainty.
Andrea Leadsom
We intend to reform the Renewable Heat Incentive (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. Ofgem will continue to run the RHI under the current rules, while we consider the reform of the scheme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what bids her Department received for the carbon capture and storage technology completion which the Government is no longer funding.
Andrea Leadsom
The CCS Competition opened in April 2012, with bids invited by July 2012. Eight bids were submitted: North East Oxyfuel Project, Peterhead CCS, Teesside Low Carbon, White Rose (Capture Power), Captain Clean Energy Limited, Don Valley CCS, National Grid Humber Cluster and National Grid Teesside Cluster. Four full chain projects were shortlisted in October 2012. On 14 January 2013, shortlisted bidders submitted revised proposals and later that year the Government announced two preferred bidders, Capture Power Ltd’ White Rose Project and Shell’s Peterhead Project, who were later awarded contracts to undertake Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) studies. Captain Clean Energy and Teesside Low Carbon, the remaining two shortlisted bidders, were appointed as reserve projects until such time as FEED contracts were signed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she plans to take to address the practice of energy companies charging for the installation of prepayment meters in cases where customers are already in debt to those energy companies.
Andrea Leadsom
The vast majority of suppliers offering prepayment meters as a means to repay an energy debt do not charge when consumers agree to the installation, including all of the 6 major suppliers. As of December 2015, Ofgem estimated that only 1% of consumers in debt face a charge.
Ofgem is currently consulting on the use of the warrant process used by suppliers to install prepayment meters for non-payment of energy, which includes the level of charges and how suppliers engage with consumers on energy debt. The consultation, which is available on Ofgem’s website, closes on 25 February 2016:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/proposals-improve-outcomes-prepayment-customers
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much EU funding was allocated to the operation of carbon capture and storage projects which is not now available for spending on UK projects.
Andrea Leadsom
In 2009 the Don Valley Project was awarded a €180m European Energy Programme for Recovery grant which contributes towards the feasibility and design phase of the project’s development. The award is still in place and ~€125m has so far been claimed. In 2013 the White Rose CCS project was awarded up to €300m in potential NER300 funding. This award, which remains available, is subject to the project being able to successfully store carbon dioxide before the end of June 2020.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what progress is being made on introducing data sharing arrangements between the Valuation Office Agency and the Department for Work and Pensions that would allow the up-front identification of fuel poor households; and whether she plans that those arrangements will be introduced in 2017 in time to support the new energy efficiency obligation announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.
Andrea Leadsom
We intend to consult this year on the future design of the Energy Company Obligation, including the use of Government data to help identify fuel poor households in greatest need of support. The Government is considering how access to data, including that held by the Valuation Office Agency, could be improved for the purposes of providing assistance to fuel poor households.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she made of the value for money of carbon capture and storage before the Government’s carbon capture and storage competition was suspended; and how much from the public purse had been spent on that competition at the time of suspension.
Andrea Leadsom
The provision of ring-fenced capital support for CCS was judged against other Government funding priorities as part of the Spending Review. My department has paid £78.6m between 2011/12 and November 2015 on the CCS Competition including the investment in Front End Engineering and Design (approximately £60 million), independent professional technical, legal, financial and commercial advice and civil service staff.
The Government continues to view CCS as having a potential role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK’s power and industrial sectors, and considers that the investment to date remains value for money to the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost of state pensions to the Government as a proportion of GDP was over each of the last 30 years; and what the projected cost of state pensions as a proportion of GDP is over each of the next 30 years.
Justin Tomlinson
The requested information is available from 1991/92 to 2045/46 in the table below:
|
UK expenditure on State Pension as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) |
UK expenditure on State Pension as a proportion of GDP per million claimants of State Pension |
|
|
1991-92 |
4.0% |
0.39% |
|
1992-93 |
4.0% |
0.39% |
|
1993-94 |
4.0% |
0.39% |
|
1994-95 |
3.9% |
0.38% |
|
1995-96 |
3.9% |
0.36% |
|
1996-97 |
3.8% |
0.36% |
|
1997-98 |
3.8% |
0.35% |
|
1998-99 |
3.9% |
0.35% |
|
1999-00 |
3.9% |
0.35% |
|
2000-01 |
3.8% |
0.34% |
|
2001-02 |
4.0% |
0.35% |
|
2002-03 |
4.0% |
0.35% |
|
2003-04 |
3.9% |
0.34% |
|
2004-05 |
3.9% |
0.33% |
|
2005-06 |
3.9% |
0.33% |
|
2006-07 |
3.8% |
0.32% |
|
2007-08 |
3.9% |
0.32% |
|
2008-09 |
4.2% |
0.34% |
|
2009-10 |
4.6% |
0.36% |
|
2010-11 |
4.5% |
0.35% |
|
2011-12 |
4.7% |
0.36% |
|
2012-13 |
4.9% |
0.37% |
|
2013-14 |
4.8% |
0.37% |
|
2014-15 |
4.8% |
0.37% |
|
2015-16 |
4.9% |
0.37% |
|
2016-17 |
4.8% |
0.37% |
|
2017-18 |
4.8% |
0.36% |
|
2018-19 |
4.8% |
0.36% |
|
2019-20 |
4.7% |
0.36% |
|
2020-21 |
4.6% |
0.35% |
|
2021/22 |
4.7% |
0.35% |
|
2022/23 |
4.8% |
0.35% |
|
2023/24 |
4.9% |
0.35% |
|
2024/25 |
5.0% |
0.35% |
|
2025/26 |
5.1% |
0.35% |
|
2026/27 |
5.2% |
0.35% |
|
2027/28 |
5.2% |
0.35% |
|
2028/29 |
5.2% |
0.35% |
|
2029/30 |
5.4% |
0.35% |
|
2030/31 |
5.5% |
0.35% |
|
2031/32 |
5.6% |
0.36% |
|
2032/33 |
5.8% |
0.36% |
|
2033/34 |
5.9% |
0.36% |
|
2034/35 |
5.9% |
0.36% |
|
2035/36 |
5.9% |
0.36% |
|
2036/37 |
5.9% |
0.36% |
|
2037/38 |
6.1% |
0.36% |
|
2038/39 |
6.2% |
0.36% |
|
2039/40 |
6.3% |
0.36% |
|
2040/41 |
6.4% |
0.36% |
|
2041/42 |
6.4% |
0.36% |
|
2042/43 |
6.5% |
0.36% |
|
2043/44 |
6.5% |
0.36% |
|
2044/45 |
6.6% |
0.36% |
|
2045/46 |
6.6% |
0.36% |
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment the Government has made of the potential contribution of carbon capture and storage to the UK meeting its 2020 carbon reduction targets.
Andrea Leadsom
In DECC’s most recently published reference scenario, Carbon Capture and Storage would generate one per cent of electricity in 2020. The UK has a carbon budget for the period 2018-22 which requires a 37% reduction in emissions on 1990 levels, which we are on track to meet and over-perform by 51 MtCO2e.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2016-10-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK solar power market of the proposed 2017 business rate rise for organisations investing in roof top solar power for their own consumption.
Mr Marcus Jones
Business rates policy in Scotland is devolved to the Scottish Government. In England, business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we do not intervene in their independent assessments. We have proposed a £3.4 billion transitional relief scheme for England to ensure that no ratepayer is unfairly penalised by the 2017 revaluation.