Tag: Matthew Pennycook

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether energy suppliers are obligated to report to the National Measurement and Regulation Office when a heat network is established or a lease is acquired.

Joseph Johnson

Under Regulation 3(2)(b) of The Heat Network (Metering and Billing) Regulations 2014 heat suppliers have a duty to notify the National Measurement and Regulation Office in relation to a district heat network or communal heating that commences operation after 31^st December 2015, on or before the first date of operation.

If a change of ownership occurs (or a lease is acquired) on a district heat network or communal heating that has already been notified there is no requirement to re-notify within four years of the date of the first notification submitted. If the network has not been previously notified, then the duty to notify applies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2015 to Question 8556, what progress Energy UK has made in developing the webtool www.comparemyenergy.org.uk.

Andrea Leadsom

We welcome the development by many energy suppliers of consumption comparison tools on their websites. These use the data consumers provide to make comparisons meaningful and reflective of household circumstances.

In addition, we expect the Competition and Markets Authority shortly to publish the conclusion of their work on the energy market, including how to make the energy market work effectively for consumers.

Energy UK have subsequently advised the webtool, comparemyenergy.org.uk, ceased to function from March 2015, due to very low consumer response.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will give Ofcom the power to set or cap access charges with regard to 084 and 087 numbers.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Under the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom already has the power to impose tariff principles and maximum prices for the purpose of protecting consumers. Ofcom made changes in July 2015 to simplify non-geographic numbers and make call pricing clearer for consumers. This included making Freephone 080 and 116 numbers free from all telephones; and imposing a common simplified structure on revenue generating numbers – 084, 087, 090, 091 and 118 – which splits the price of the call between the phone company and the call service. Ofcom will be reviewing the effectiveness of these new regulations after their first year of operation and will consider whether further regulation should be imposed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Access to Work; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) deafblind people and (b) people with complex needs receive the appropriate levels of support to help them into work.

Penny Mordaunt

The Government wants all disabled and people with a long term health condition to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations. Every individual should to have the opportunity to work and share in the economic and health benefits that work brings, regardless of their health condition or disability.

Deafblind customers and customers with complex needs are not recorded separately in Access to Work data, so it is not possible to assess the scheme’s performance with them. However, Access to Work has specialist teams to provide a dedicated service to particular groups of customers including both deaf customers and customers with a visual impairment. People who are deafblind are normally assisted by the Visual Impairment team

Last year, Access to Work helped over 36,000 people to take up or remain in employment. Access to Work figures may be subject to change. Official Statistics have recently been subject to a detailed methodology review which identified some technical issues. We will release a revised publication once these issues have been resolved.

We will soon publish a Green Paper on work and health and conduct a consultation aimed at disabled people, their representative organisations and a wide range of other stakeholders, who all have an important part to play in making the transformative changes needed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions she has had with the big six energy companies on the introduction of half-hourly settlements before the national smart meter rollout.

Andrea Leadsom

DECC engages regularly with energy suppliers and other industry stakeholders on half-hourly settlement. We consider there is a strong case for half-hourly settlement for domestic and smaller non-domestic customers to be enabled in step with the smart meter roll-out. Half hourly settlement, using the functionality provided by smart meters, can help support the move towards a smarter, more flexible energy system that delivers lower bills, lower carbon emissions and enhanced security of supply.

We are working with Ofgem to remove the barriers to suppliers and consumers choosing half-hourly settlement by early 2017. This work will also consider the approach for moving to mandatory half-hourly settlement with a decision to be taken on the timescale and approach in 2018.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will publish an updated set of Levy Control Framework projections.

Andrea Leadsom

The Office for Budget Responsibility published updated Levy Control Framework (LCF) spend projections alongside the Spending Review on 25 November and we anticipate they will publish an update alongside the March budget. The Department will publish further details on the LCF projections in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to bring forward proposals to add junior doctors to the definition of worker in section 43K(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

Ben Gummer

The Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 and more recent legislation, forms part of the wider employment rights legislation.

Junior doctors are protected by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, as they are employees of the National Health Service trusts at which they are based.

The Department supports NHS staff who wish to raise concerns and is implementing a range of measures to support the development of a culture in which staff are able to raise concerns without fear of repercussion or reprisal. The Department has made clear to NHS organisations that they should have policies and procedures to support and encourage staff to raise concerns, and that those concerns should be considered and, where appropriate, acted upon.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to establish a cross-government team on the deployment of renewable and low-carbon heating.

Andrea Leadsom

The Department actively engages with other Government departments, including at ministerial level, on a range of interdepartmental groups engaged in reducing emissions from heating and working towards our renewable energy targets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of isolation in the workplace on disabled people and the effect of such isolation on developing skills and career progression for disabled people.

Penny Mordaunt

The Department for Work and Pensions has not made a recent assessment of the effect of isolation in the workplace on disabled people.

However, we are committed to halving the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people. The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health have created a cross departmental Work and Health Unit to develop a strategy for system-wide reform on health, disability and employment, in order to reduce the numbers of people who are economically inactive due to a health condition or disability. The treatment of disabled people in the workplace will be among the factors the unit takes into account.

Meanwhile, employers and disabled employees continue to benefit from the support offered through Access to Work, which provides practical support, advice and guidance for both disabled people in work or entering work and their employers.

In addition, the Government’s Disability Confident scheme supports our commitment to halve the disability employment gap by focusing on employers, who have a crucial role to play in ensuring disabled people are recruited, retained and developed in their careers. Employers signing-up to Disability Confident on Gov.UK get access to a wide range of information, good practice and other resources, including links to DWP programmes which offer practical support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times limited removal directions have been used since the policy of giving such directions came into effect on 6 April 2015.

James Brokenshire

The Immigration Act 2014 provides that where individuals are informed that they have no leave they are removable without the need for a further decision.

Following related process changes individuals being removed from the UK may receive a removal decision which provides limited information about their removal. In many cases the Home Office also provides further details to individuals out of courtesy – this may include details of the specific flight they will be removed on. Information on notice of removal is published in Chapter 60 of the Enforcement Instructions and Guidance, available on the gov.uk website.

Published data is available for the period 6 April – 30 September 2015. In that period, 26,159 removal decisions were served on individuals, but records do not show how many of these were full or limited notice.