The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his assessment is of the latest date on which the process of organising an election in May 2017 for a Regional Mayor in the north east of England can begin.
James Wharton
For local elections the last date by which the notice of election must be published is the 25th working day before the day of election.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will place a summary of how the UK’s energy interconnectors are funded in the Library.
Andrea Leadsom
Yes, I will be placing a copy in the Libraries of the House.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent any person convicted of animal abuse from owning an animal.
George Eustice
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 already allows courts to make a disqualification order in respect of someone who has been found guilty of causing any unnecessary suffering to an animal. It is for the courts to decide whether to make such an order and, if so, for how long based on the individual circumstances of the case. If a court decides not to impose such an order, it must give its reasons in open court. I consider, therefore, that the courts have the necessary powers to impose appropriate penalties in relation to acts of animal cruelty
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2016 to Question 6502, what the reasons are for the time taken to answer that question.
Anna Soubry
The hon. Member’s question was approved on time, but an administrative error with submitting the answer through the Question and Answer system meant that the reply was not sent. Procedures have been put in place to ensure that this issue does not reoccur.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what measures she is putting in place to minimise the number of Notifications of Inadequate System Margin issued by the National Grid; and if she will make a statement.
Andrea Leadsom
A Notice of Inadequate System Margin is one of the tools National Grid use to maintain margins in the system and can happen at any time for a variety of reasons. Issuing a NISM does not mean that demand is about to outstrip supply: it is a notice to the market to bring forward further capacity. National Grid issue NISMs ahead of dispatching capacity from its supplementary balancing reserve, which will include 3.5GW of dispatchable generating capacity next winter. This will give any remaining capacity in the market first opportunity to respond but does not signal any significant risk of shortages. National Grid’s objective is to secure supplies and the NISM is an important tool to achieve that objective with minimum distortion to the market.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Blaydon of 19 August 2016 on the application of the Apprenticeship Levy in Scotland.
Robert Halfon
The hon. Member should have received an email response on 14 October, with a hard copy to follow.
Skills policy is devolved, which means that the Scottish Government is responsible for managing apprenticeships in its own territory. This has been the case since the Scotland Act 1998 and UK employers understand that they need to engage with different funding bodies in different parts of the UK. The introduction of the apprenticeship levy in April 2017 will not change this position.
On 12 August, we published detailed proposals on how we will fund apprenticeships in England when the levy is introduced in April 2017. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/apprenticeship-changes. We are committed to publishing the final apprenticeship funding policy information for England before the end of October. It will be for the Scottish Government to set out its own plans for funding apprenticeships in Scotland.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 29 June 2015 to Question 3036, whether the estimated reduction in household bills in 2030 indicated in that Answer has changed to take into account the deal on nuclear new build with the Chinese government.
Andrea Leadsom
We currently estimate that a new nuclear programme could reduce average household bills by up to around £30 (real 2012 prices) in 2030. This is calculated by comparing the costs for consumers in a modelled scenario for the future electricity mix with Hinkley Point C and a further roll out of the new nuclear programme with the cost for consumers in a scenario where there are no new nuclear power stations by 2030. Savings could be higher or lower depending on changes in the cost of alternative generation technologies and what mix of technologies would ultimately be used. Earlier analysis had identified a higher saving, but other low carbon energy technologies have become far more cost competitive which has brought down the cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how much has been paid into the Exchequer from surpluses accrued by the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme since privatisation of the coal industry.
Andrea Leadsom
I refer the hon. Member to House of Commons Library Briefing Paper Number SN01189 dated 25 November 2015 which contains at page 17 a table showing the total gross payments made to the Guarantor from the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme since privatisation:
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01189/SN01189.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of demand for clinical trial capacity at UK muscle centres; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman
The United Kingdom is a world–leader in neuromuscular research, bringing a combination of excellent translational science, well-defined patient cohorts and a sophisticated and successful clinical research system. These attributes make the UK an outstanding location for the global life sciences industry to undertake clinical trials and collaborate with leading clinical scientists.
The National Health Service and the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) are working collaboratively to support the increasing number of clinical trials in neuromuscular disease.
The current pipeline of neuromuscular studies for 2016 includes four phase I studies, six phase II studies, three phase III studies and one phase IV study.
Currently, the most intensive trials are supported in Great Ormond Street Hospital, London and in the John Walton Neuromuscular Centre in Newcastle, where NIHR supports dedicated clinical research facilities alongside the Medical Research Council funded muscle research centres. These centres supported colleagues at Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool, to collaborate in a recent study supported by the NIHR Alder Hey Clinical Research Facility.
Building on these successes, the NIHR is using its Clinical Research Network and Biomedical Research Centres to increase capacity and expertise at existing sites and prepare other muscle centres to be able to support the pipeline of studies. Additionally, NIHR leaders have engaged with patient organisations for neuromuscular disease and presented innovative models to enable charities to partner the NHS in developing more capacity in existing and new sites.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy that the House be given an opportunity to debate in advance any decision to deploy UK Reaper aircraft outside Syria and Iraq.
Michael Fallon
No.