Tag: David T. C. Davies

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps have been taken to verify the age of children who have been recently transported from Calais to the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Secretary’s statement on Calais on 24 October (Column 55) referred to the proper safeguarding, age assessment and security checks we carry out, working closely with local authorities and social workers in the UK, to ensure that the children transferred here are eligible to come and it is in their best interests to do so.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-01-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on the rates for carbon price support in (a) 2020 and (b) 2030.

Damian Hinds

CPS rates have been capped at £18/tCO₂ until 2019/20. An announcement on the rates beyond 2019/20 will be made in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to support international electricity connectors.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government is committed to increasing electricity interconnection with projects that support our energy objectives.

A number of interconnection projects are already progressing under Ofgem’s regulatory regime1, designed to bring forward interconnection investment in the interest of GB consumers. This includes projects to France, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Ireland, which have been assessed by Ofgem as offering over £11.8bn in consumer benefits. A second window for applications for the cap and floor project is open until 31 October and the Government is keen to see more projects coming forward that can deliver strong consumer benefits.

The Government has also supported a number of mature interconnector projects to benefit from access to European grant funding as Projects of Common Interest.

Together these projects represent billions of pounds of infrastructure investment and aim to more than double our interconnection capacity by the early 2020s. This will make Britain more energy secure and will help lower consumer bills.

[1] Source, Ofgem https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/decision-roll-out-cap-and-floor-regime-near-term-electricity-interconnectors

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that people who have been subject to a deportation order are not eligible to claim benefits.

Damian Hinds

We receive regular returns from data-matching. These identify cases where benefit is in payment in respect of an individual that Home Office data suggests no longer has legal basis to remain in the UK.

When we receive this information we review the case to establish the up-to-date position. Where the claimant appears to have no legitimate call on public funds we suspend benefit and write to the claimant telling them we will close their case unless they provide further information that establishes entitlement. If no such information is provided, we end their benefit claim.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which port, harbour and coastal locations in the UK have a National Grid connection enabling a power plant connection of over 300MW.

Andrea Leadsom

Connections to the high voltage electricity transmission are a matter for National Grid, in its role as System Operator.

National Grid publishes information on current and future transmission capability, generation connections and development timescales in its annual Electricity Ten Year Statement and Customer Connection Interface Tool. These documents are available at:

http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Industry-information/Future-of-Energy/Electricity-Ten-Year-Statement/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to keep coal plants open.

Andrea Leadsom

Decisions on plant closures are commercial matters for the plant owners. However, we recently consulted on changes to the Capacity Market, which included proposals for an early Capacity Market auction for the 2017/18 delivery year to mitigate the security of supply impact of potential early plant closures. If we go ahead with this proposal, coal plants will be eligible to participate.

On 18 November we announced plans to close all unabated coal-fired power stations by 2025. Achieving this goal would make the UK one of the first developed countries to deliver on a commitment to take coal off the system. However, we have been clear that we would only proceed with these plans if we are confident that the shift to new gas generation can be achieved within these timescales.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of smart meters which rely on 2G technology.

Jesse Norman

The Government has not made an estimate of the number of smart meters that operate using 2G technology. Energy suppliers are incentivised to make sure they have procured communications to allow them to carry on operating smart meters for the whole of their life.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will update his Department’s travel advice guidance on the safety of women travellers to (a) Germany and (b) Austria to take account of recent events in those countries.

Mr David Lidington

The FCO’s travel advice is kept under constant review, and is based on objective assessments of the risk to British nationals.

Our current advice for Germany can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/germany

Our current advice for Austria can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/austria

While we condemn the criminal behaviour seen in Cologne and on a smaller scale in Hamburg, Salzburg and elsewhere on New Year’s Eve, we do not assess that this is now the standard of behaviour to expect at all public gatherings in Germany or Austria. In addition, the authorities are taking action to ensure that such attacks are not repeated.

We advise all travellers and British nationals resident in Germany and Austria to monitor our travel advice regularly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to ensure that the closure of coal-powered stations does not lead to electricity shortages.

Andrea Leadsom

We knew some old coal powered stations would likely be closing and we have already taken steps to ensure security of supply for the coming winters. National Grid has procured 3.6GW of reserve capacity for this coming winter. Looking further ahead, the Capacity Market is designed to drive new investment to help keep the lights on, as well as getting the best out of our existing power stations and we have recently consulted on proposals to introduce the Capacity Market a year early, from 2017/18. A response to the consultation will be published shortly

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in local authority care are awaiting placement with foster parents.

Edward Timpson

The Department for Education does not collect this information. If any children are awaiting placement with foster carers, that information will be kept at local authority level. As at March 2015 there were 73,845 approved foster carers in England.