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 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how often his Department has made use of its agreement with Storas Uibhist to turn off the turbines when the range has been used for training purposes or has been otherwise active.
Mark Lancaster
It has not been necessary for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to exercise its rights under the agreement with Storas Uibhist to turn off the turbines. However, the MOD retains its rights, under the agreement, to do so in the interests of air safety should this be deemed necessary.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the area of North Uist was last used for military exercise prior to the North Uist Development Company applying for planning permission in 2013.
Mark Lancaster
The Ministry of Defence holds no records of a training area in North Uist in the past 10 years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on the whereabouts of Sombath Somphone who disappeared in Laos in December 2012; and what representations his Department has made to the Laos government on Mr Somphone.
Mr Hugo Swire
We remain very concerned as to the whereabouts of Mr Sombath Somphone. We regularly raise his disappearance with the Lao government. Laos underwent its second UN Universal Periodic Review under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council, earlier this year. The United Kingdom’s recommendation calling on the Lao government to conduct a thorough, transparent and impartial investigation into Mr Somphone’s disappearance was formally accepted by the Lao government. On 11 September, 1000 days since Mr Somphone’s disappearance, I wrote to the Lao Ambassador to the United Kingdom, to urge the Lao government to rapidly proceed with conducting an investigation. Next month, at the EU-Laos Human Rights Dialogue in Vientiane, the United Kingdom, along with our EU partners, will highlight the lack of progress in the investigation into Mr Somphone’s disappearance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-10-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will estimate the cost to the public purse of deporting people who moved to the UK planning to work in the Scottish fishing industry.
James Brokenshire
Border Force has not deported anyone working in the Scottish Fishing Industry at public expense within the last 5 years.
Immigration Enforcement cannot estimate the cost of deporting people who moved to the UK to work in the Scottish fishing industry as to do so would involve a manual search of records which could only be conducted at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has for the replacement of radar capable of distinguishing between wind turbines and missiles at its Hebridean range.
Mr Philip Dunne
Air space management and missile tracking activity at the Hebrides Test and Evaluation Range requires interaction between three local radar systems. A technical upgrade of one radar system was undertaken earlier this year including capability to potentially mitigate the detection of aircraft type targets from possible interference from wind turbines. In the next few years it is also planned to replace a second radar system, although on current plans this will not include capability to mitigate wind turbine interference. There are no plans to replace the third radar system which is not susceptible to interference from wind turbines.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has for future levels of feed-in tariffs to community groups.
Andrea Leadsom
The consultation on the future of the FIT scheme closed on the 23rd October. We are currently analysing feedback submitted during the consultation. We will publish a government response to the consultation in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she expects to inform the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon renewable energy project of its contract for difference strike price.
Andrea Leadsom
We are in the first phase of a negotiation with Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay PLC for a Contract for Difference (CFD) for the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project.
This first phase is a due diligence exercise to establish a better understanding of the project, including detailed scrutiny of its costs, timescales and potential benefits.
Being in a bilateral negotiation does not mean that an agreement on a strike price will be reached or that a CFD will necessarily be awarded.
If there were to be a decision to offer a CFD, it would be subject to strict value for money considerations, the funds available within the Levy Control Framework at the time of a decision and be subject to State aid approval by the European Commission.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Brendan MacNeil on 2015-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 12 January 2015 to Question 220134, whether the 90 per cent 4G geographical coverage will cover the Outer Hebrides.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The agreement announced on 18 December 2014 will improve coverage throughout the UK, and we expect the Scottish Islands will see one of the greatest improvements of any area. Under the agreement each mobile network operator (MNO) will provide voice and text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017, and we understand that data coverage will improve in many areas. This will lock in £5bn of investment in UK mobile infrastructure, halving partial not-spots and cutting complete not-spots by two-thirds. The MNOs have now made the agreed coverage obligations legally binding, by requesting that Ofcom vary their spectrum licences on a voluntary basis.