Tag: David Anderson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will discuss with her German counterpart the steps the German government plans to take to ensure that it can meet its carbon reduction targets while expanding coal-fired power stations in that country.

Andrea Leadsom

Ministers and officials in the department regularly discuss a range of energy and climate change issues with our German counterparts.

Emissions in the traded sector (including German energy sector) are capped under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) which is set to decrease emissions within these sectors by 43% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

Germany has national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% to 95% below 1990 levels by 2050. In 2014, the German government published their Climate Action Programme with additional measures to achieve their 2020 target. Later this year, the German government is expected to adopt its national Climate Action Plan 2050 which will include interim targets for post 2020 period and next steps in light of the Paris Agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether there are Reaper Ground Control Stations available for use by UK Reaper Squadrons 13 and 39 in North Africa.

Penny Mordaunt

The Government has a long standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters.

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 25^th 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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