Tag: Callum McCaig

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will commission independent research on the effect of fixed-odds betting terminals on the health of their users and on the communities in which they are prevalent.

Tracey Crouch

The Responsible Gambling Strategy Board (RGSB), was set up to by the Gambling Commission to advise on priorities for research relating to responsible gambling. Research into gambling related harm is commissioned by the independent charity, the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT), taking into account the priorities set out by the RGSB. At the request of the RGSB, the RGT is currently commissioning research to define Gambling Related Harm which will consider the wider health impacts of problem gambling. The Government continues to encourage such research.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Ministers of the Scottish Government on City Deals in Scotland.

Andrew Percy

This Government has worked with the Scottish Government and local partners to deliver City Deals that drive local economic growth. The Aberdeen deal, for example, will deliver crucial infrastructure to support the oil and gas sector.

Most recently, My Noble Friend Lord Dunlop met Keith Brown to discuss this agenda on 30 June.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the installed capacity required to meet the Government’s 2020 renewable heat target in each year from 2015 to 2020.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government does not have a renewable heat target for 2020, but by that year the UK is required to obtain 15% of its final energy consumption from renewable sources under the EU Renewable Energy Directive. This includes renewable heating, where the level of renewables has more than doubled since 2012/13 to reach 4.9% in 2014.

Progress towards the overall target is monitored via interim milestones. The UK is continuing to make progress; and we are set to meet the next interim target, which is an average of final energy consumption over 2013/14. The provisional figure, released on 25 June, showed 6.3% of final energy consumption for 2013/14 came from renewable sources, against a target level of 5.4%.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans her Department has to increase electricity generation in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Andrea Leadsom

Our priority is to ensure that British families and business have access to secure affordable energy supplies. We are working with National Grid to make sure there is always sufficient generating capacity available to meet demand even in challenging conditions, such as extremely cold weather.

National Grid forecasts show Peak demand for electricity for 2015/16 and 2016/17 is expected to be broadly stable, which is consistent with recent trends.

Since 2014 National Grid have had the ability to procure a Contingency Balancing Reserve and they have secured 2.4GW of capacity through this mechanism to ensure supplies for this winter.

On 15 October, Ofgem commenced its consultation on the extension of the cost recovery arrangements for the contingency balancing services to allow National Grid’s contingency balancing services to continue for the winters prior to the introduction of the Capacity Market in 18/19. National Grid’s Tender for the Contingency Balancing Reserve (subject to the outcome of the Ofgem consultation) opened on 2 November. The Government supports the position taken by National Grid and Ofgem that Grid should retain the ability to procure the contingency balancing services for the next two winters and that this tool will help ensure sufficient margins until the first delivery year of the Capacity Market.

Beyond winter 2017/18, the Capacity Market will take over as the long term solution for security of supply, driving new investment in gas and demand side capacity in the future. The first Capacity Market auction was successfully concluded in December 2014 and the next will commence on 8December 2015. We have announced our intention to procure a total of 47.9GW capacity for the delivery year 2019/20 and that the target capacity for the auction this December will be 45.4GW. The balance (2.5 GW) will be procured in 2018, one year ahead of delivery.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of devolving to the Scottish Parliament all aspects of (a) gaming and betting legislation, (b) including curbing the terminals’ speed of play and maximum stakes for fixed-odds betting terminals and (c) other regulation of fixed-odds betting terminals.

Tracey Crouch

The Scotland Bill will give the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Ministers the power to vary the number of sub-category B2 gaming machines (FOBTs) permitted by new betting premises licences. The UK Government will retain the equivalent powers on FOBTs for the rest of the UK, except for Northern Ireland where gambling is a devolved matter.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress his Department has made on developing an Energy Innovation Strategy.

Mr Nick Hurd

Following the recent Machinery of Government changes, the detail of the Department’s energy innovation programme is being considered by Ministers. The 2016-2021 programme, over £500m, announced as part of the last Spending Review was developed as a cross-Government initiative by the former Department of Energy and Climate Change. The Department is also collaborating internationally with other countries, including through ‘Mission Innovation’ – a global partnership of 21 members announced at COP21 in Paris, pledging to double support for clean energy innovation over the next five years and strengthening transparency and collaboration.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimates her Department has made of the amount of carbon dioxide displaced as a result of the introduction of the (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department has made projections of carbon dioxide savings (MtCO2) from the domestic and non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme in the Updated Energy & Emissions Projections (EEP), last updated Sept 2014. In the absence of funding arrangements after 2015/16, these carbon savings assume an extrapolation of RHI deployment to 2020.

The projected savings will be updated if required for any RHI scheme changes following the Spending Review outcome.

The EEP, which include the relevant carbon saving projections from the RHI, are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/406805/Copy_of_Annex_D__corrected_17-Feb-2015_.xls.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether COBR has a role in considering resilience issues relating to security of energy supply.

Andrea Leadsom

COBR may be used as a mechanism to coordinate the government’s response to disruption to energy supplies that have a national impact, and where the response requires central government support and coordination.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will investigate the circumstances surrounding the leak of natural gas at the Brae Alpha platform of 26 December 2015; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that a similar incident does not occur on that platform or any other offshore installation.

Justin Tomlinson

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is investigating the circumstances of the leak of natural gas from the Brae Alpha platform on 26th December 2015. It will ensure any lessons to be learnt to prevent a recurrence are shared with the operators of this and other platforms in the sector. If necessary it can use its formal enforcement powers to address significant shortcomings in systems and arrangements to manage risks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many tonnes of carbon dioxide were displaced by renewable (a) electricity and (b) heat generation in (i) the UK, (ii) England, (iii) Scotland and (iv) Wales in 2015.

Mr Nick Hurd

The table below shows how many tonnes of carbon dioxide were displaced by renewable electricity in each of the UK, England, Scotland and Wales in 2015.

	UK	England	Scotland	Wales
Carbon dioxide displaced by renewable electricity generation (million tonnes)	51.6	33.6	13.4	3.2

Carbon emissions displaced by renewable electricity generation have been calculated as renewable electricity generation multiplied by the average emissions factor for electricity supplied by fossil fuel stations in 2015.

Information on the carbon savings from the total renewable heat produced in the UK is not available.