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, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23662, if she will make an assessment of the risk of coal sourced by owners of power stations in the UK coming from countries where safety and labour standards in mining are poor.

Andrea Leadsom

Decisions on where to source coal are a commercial matter for the owners of coal-fired power stations. Contracts for the purchase of coal are awarded to individual mining companies, not countries. The majority operators of power stations in the UK are members of BetterCoal, an industry-led initiative which is taking action to promote responsible coal mining and has established a set of ethical, social, and environmental principles which companies in the supply chain are expected to align with.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will apply EU Directive 41/2003 on Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision to the Local Government Pension Scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

We are satisfied that the Scheme is consistent with the way in which Directive 41/2003 on the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive was transposed into national law. It is not therefore necessary to take any further legislative steps to ensure compliance.

In March 2014 the European Commission published proposals for new Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provisions Directive. The implications for the scheme will be fully considered if these proposals are taken forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will assess the suitability of the hinterland of the Port of Blyth as a location for an ultra-super critical coal fired power station; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

With the exception of proposals for nuclear generating stations, the choice of location for any energy generation project is a matter for the developer concerned, and the location`s suitability will be considered as part of the consent application process. Any new coal plant must demonstrate carbon capture and storage on at least 300 MW of its proposed generating capacity and comply with the Emissions Performance Standard.

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 make an assessment of the potential effect of absorbing the EU emissions trading system tax on fossil fuels into the UK’s carbon price support tax for fossil fuels.

Amber Rudd

At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

The UK supports the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) as the best means of achieving the EU’s emissions reduction targets to 2030 and beyond at least cost for business and consumers, through a market-based approach. Emissions trading works better at the European level, creating a larger and more liquid market and a level playing field between Member States. The UK has been a consistent champion of the EU ETS and first piloted a national cap-and-trade scheme in 2002 before its launch. The UK has been at the forefront in securing recent measures to reform and strengthen the EU ETS, including securing EU agreement in September 2014 to a Market Stability Reserve to address the surplus of allowances in the system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department holds data on the amount of heat a tonne of biomass gives off when burned compared to a tonne of coal; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department annually publishes the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES). Appendix A of DUKES contains data on the calorific value of fuels:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447648/ DUKES_2015_Annex_A.pdf.

The gross calorific value of dry biomass fuels, (the DUKES values have been corrected for moisture content), vary between 10 gigajoules per tonne (GJ/t) for poultry litter and 24 GJ/t for meat and bone meal. A typical dry wood based fuel has an energy content close to 19 GJ/t. Treatments such as torrefaction or charcoal production increase the energy density of biomass derived materials. However these manufactured biomass fuels are not commonly used for heating in the UK.

A tonne of coal can also vary in heat content, depending on the rank of the coal, but lies between 24 GJ/t for bituminous coal as used in the pulp, paper and printing industries and 34 GJ/t of fuel for anthracite used in households. Typical bituminous house coal has a gross heat content of 30 GJ/t.

These values represent the maximum heat available from a fuel in a laboratory test. The useful heat provided by combustion of that fuel to the business or home will depend on the efficiency of the combustor in which it is burnt and the design of the energy distribution system. The combustor efficiency can range from an open fire which may provide 20% of the energy in the fuel as useful heat, to modern condensing wood pellet boilers with gross efficiencies around 90%.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the combined effect of the (a) increase in national insurance contributions and (b) one per cent 2015-16 pay increase for NHS staff which both took effect from 1 April 2016 on the take-home pay of NHS nurses.

Alistair Burt

The impact on take-home pay for National Health Service nurses, of the combined effect of these measures will depend on individual circumstances, in particular how much they are paid, whether they are members of the NHS Pension Scheme, whether they also received an annual increment and their personal tax allowance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 10 May 2016 to Question 36679, which of those specific groups of people referred to in that Question he has shared a speaking platform with in an official capacity.

Mr David Cameron

Details of my official speeches are available on the gov.uk website.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the expansion of the Doctaly scheme on patients’ access to GP services.

David Mowat

The Department has made no assessment of the potential effect of the expansion of the Doctaly scheme on patients’ access to general practice (GP) services.

The General Practice Forward View, published in April 2016, announced that an extra £2.4 billion a year will be invested in GP services by 2020/21. As part of overall investment in general practice, NHS England will provide over £500 million of recurrent funding by 2020/21, on top of current primary medical care allocations, to enable clinical commissioning groups to commission and fund extra capacity across England. This is to ensure that by 2020, everyone has access to GP services, including sufficient routine appointments at evenings and weekends to meet locally determined demand, alongside effective access to out of hours and urgent care services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what impact assessment she has made of the proposed closure of the Visa and Entry Clearance Office in Dhaka; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

Decision making on UK visa applications lodged in Bangladesh was moved from Dhaka to New Delhi in September 2014. An internal assessment of the potential impact was completed in early 2014 which covered various aspects including decision quality and customer service. UKVI retains a small team in the British High Commission, Dhaka to carry out the remote printing of visas and local checks.

There has been, and will be, no change to the process for customers in Bangladesh. Customers are still able to apply in the same Visa Application Centres with applications being processed under the same global customer service standards of 15 working days.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will take steps to develop and fund a new home energy efficiency programme.

Andrea Leadsom

A reformed domestic supplier obligation (ECO) from April 2017 will upgrade the energy efficiency of well over 200,000 homes per year. This will help to tackle the root cause of fuel poverty and continue to deliver on our commitment to help 1 million more homes this Parliament.

We are providing support for households to improve their energy efficiency through the new supplier obligation, which will run for 5 years.

Our extension of the Warm Home Discount to 2020/21 at current levels of £320m pa will alsohelp households who are at most risk of fuel poverty with their energy bills.