Tag: Parliamentary Question

Callum McCaig – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans her Department has to increase electricity generation in 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Andrea Leadsom

Our priority is to ensure that British families and business have access to secure affordable energy supplies. We are working with National Grid to make sure there is always sufficient generating capacity available to meet demand even in challenging conditions, such as extremely cold weather.

National Grid forecasts show Peak demand for electricity for 2015/16 and 2016/17 is expected to be broadly stable, which is consistent with recent trends.

Since 2014 National Grid have had the ability to procure a Contingency Balancing Reserve and they have secured 2.4GW of capacity through this mechanism to ensure supplies for this winter.

On 15 October, Ofgem commenced its consultation on the extension of the cost recovery arrangements for the contingency balancing services to allow National Grid’s contingency balancing services to continue for the winters prior to the introduction of the Capacity Market in 18/19. National Grid’s Tender for the Contingency Balancing Reserve (subject to the outcome of the Ofgem consultation) opened on 2 November. The Government supports the position taken by National Grid and Ofgem that Grid should retain the ability to procure the contingency balancing services for the next two winters and that this tool will help ensure sufficient margins until the first delivery year of the Capacity Market.

Beyond winter 2017/18, the Capacity Market will take over as the long term solution for security of supply, driving new investment in gas and demand side capacity in the future. The first Capacity Market auction was successfully concluded in December 2014 and the next will commence on 8December 2015. We have announced our intention to procure a total of 47.9GW capacity for the delivery year 2019/20 and that the target capacity for the auction this December will be 45.4GW. The balance (2.5 GW) will be procured in 2018, one year ahead of delivery.

01/01/2023
Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 7.3 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what the evidential basis is for the statement that 150,000 part-time students could benefit each year from a new system of maintenance support by 2020.

Joseph Johnson

This will be a new product, which is likely to differ from previous packages for part time students. It is therefore difficult to accurately assess its potential impact at this stage. The figures given are an initial central estimate of the number of students who could benefit from the new scheme consisting of the current numbers of students together with an element of modest growth. We have announced we will consult on the detail of the package and this will enable respondents to submit evidence on the potential numbers of students benefiting from the proposals.

01/01/2023

Lord Greaves – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2016-01-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the expenditure on the provision of English courses for speakers of other languages (1) in further education colleges and other public sector bodies, and (2) in other ways, in each of the last 10 years, including the current academic year; which bodies will deliver the extra language tuition to be provided from the £20 million announced by the Prime Minister; and when that extra tuition will commence.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The table below shows estimated funding for adult skills budget ESOL provision from 2009/10 onwards. We do not hold data before 2009/10 or collect data by the status of the providers.

BIS funding for ESOL is allocated by the Skills Funding Agency as part of a provider’s adult skills budget. In addition, there are a number of ESOL courses funded through the Agency’s community learning budget, but we do not collect data which enables us to provide a breakdown of the expenditure on these. SFA-funded providers which deliver ESOL include Further Education colleges, local authorities and a few other providers. The Department for Communities and Local Government funds a range of organisations contracted to deliver their current community-based English language projects.

Our new £20 million community-based English language training offer will be informed by the findings of Louise Casey’s Review and the learning from the six community projects we have funded as part of our current integration programme. In particular, we will work with Louise Casey to identify the most isolated communities in England to make sure this programme is targeted at those women who need it most and on the detail of how it will be delivered. We are working towards as early a launch date as possible for the programme in 2016-17.

*YEAR*	*BIS ACADEMIC YEAR* ESTIMATED FUNDING* *(Adult Skills Budget)*	*DCLG FINANCIAL YEAR* *FUNDING FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROJECTS*
09/10	£203m
10/11	£169m
11/12	£117m
12/13	£128m	£0.12m
13/14	£120m	£2.14m
14/15	£104m	£3.66m

*Funding values are estimated using data from the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Estimated funding provides an indication of the level of government funding and should not be treated as actual spend.

01/01/2023

Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-02-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has access to the refugees in camps at Calais and Dunkirk; and if not, whether they will discuss the matter with the government of France.

Lord Bates

The UK is in regular contact with France on all matters related to Calais and the migration situation, and engages with EU and multilateral partners, including the UN on a wide range of migration issues in order to find an effective and sustainable solution.

The management of the migrant camps in Calais is the responsibility of the French Government. However, we understand that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has made visits to the camps in Calais and Dunkirk, and we note the welcome given by the UNHCR to the joint declaration to address the issues in Calais signed by the UK and France on 20 August 2015.

01/01/2023
Lord Falconer of Thoroton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Falconer of Thoroton on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many British nationals (1) were murdered abroad, and (2) died as a result of terrorism abroad, in each year since 2010.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not hold information on the total number of UK nationals who are victims of murder and manslaughter overseas, because we can only capture information about those cases of which we are notified. However, we have provided assistance in the following number of cases, recorded as murder or manslaughter, from 2010 to 2016:

2010 (68), 2011 (78), 2012 (53), 2013 (78), 2014 (84), 2015 (88).

The number of British nationals killed as a result of terrorism are not captured separately and are included in the figures above. In January 2015, the FCO established a new dedicated team to lead on murder and manslaughter cases.

01/01/2023
Lord Stoddart of Swindon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 3 July 2014 (HL280) about the expenses of former Prime Ministers, and in the light of the ruling of the Freedom of Information Tribunal in the case of Gabriel Webber v Information Commissioner (EA/2015/0194) that the disclosure of details of expenses paid to former Prime Ministers would not breach confidence nor invade privacy, whether they will commit to full transparency regarding former Prime Ministers’ allowances including the costs of providing security.

Lord Bridges of Headley

The Government is considering the Tribunal’s judgement in this matter, and will respond in due course.

01/01/2023
Mark Menzies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) improve the provision of care for patients with lung disease and (b) increase funding for research into lung diseases.

Jane Ellison

Respiratory disease is specifically covered in the NHS Outcomes Framework and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published Quality Standards for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and lung cancer setting out the markers of high-quality, cost-effective care.

Expenditure by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on research relating to respiratory disease has increased from £15.7 million in 2009/10 to £25.5 million in 2014/15 (the latest available figure).

The NIHR has launched a new, open competition for biomedical research centre funding from April 2017 to March 2022. In this competition, a number of clinical areas of particular strategic importance to the health of patients are highlighted including respiratory disease.

01/01/2023
Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-07-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was generated from VAT receipts in Greater Manchester in the last year for which information is available.

Mr David Gauke

This level of detail is not requested on VAT returns and therefore we do not have data available on how much revenue is raised from VAT receipts in Greater Manchester.

01/01/2023

Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much his Department has allocated to schemes to encourage investment in solar energy in each of the last five years.

Jesse Norman

Over the past five years, solar photovoltaic (PV), wind, wave and tidal electricity projects have received support from either the Renewables Obligation (RO) or the Feed-in Tariff (FITs).

Expenditure through the Renewables Obligation in 2011/12 to 2015/16 can be broken down by power generation technology shown in the table (£million in nominal prices). Solar PV and some small-scale onshore wind are also supported by the Feed In Tariff scheme, but costs are not available disaggregated by technology. Total support is shown below (£million).

RO (£million)	11/12	12/13	13/14	14/15	15/16
Onshore wind	£482.6	£557.1	£755.6	£786.8	£803.0
Offshore wind	£371.1	£698.5	£988.7	£1,108.0	£1,429.7
Solar PV	£0.1	£0.9	£34.9	£133.9	£264.8
Wave & Tidal	£0.1	£0.4	£0.4	£0.1	£0.2
TOTAL RO	£1,457.7	£1,991.3	£2,599.3	£3,114.2	£3,743.2
TOTAL FITs	£151	£506	£691	£866	£1,110

Renewables Obligations: Source Ofgem:

www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/ro/contacts-publications-and-data/publications-library-renewables-obligation

www.ofgem.gov.uk/publication-and-updates/renewables-obligation-ro-annual-report-2014-15

www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ReportManager.aspx?ReportVisibility=1&ReportCategory=0

FITs: Source Ofgem:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/fit/contacts-guidance-and-resources/public-reports-and-data-fit/levelisation-reports

The Contracts for Difference Scheme opened for delivery from 2015/16 onwards. No projects started deploying in 2015/16 so no payments were made.

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01/01/2023

Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what evaluation she made of the potential effect on delivering sustainable development (a) on the Government Estate and (b) in the UK of the planned reduction in her Department’s expenditure.

George Eustice

While the Spending Review has been driven by the need to contribute to the Government’s overall aim of eliminating the deficit, our settlement also reflects the vital importance of work done in all parts of Defra.

We are confident that the settlement will allow us to deliver our ambitions over the course of this parliament to safeguard our natural assets, support our food and farming industry and sustain a thriving rural economy.

In relation to the government estate, we are currently considering the future Greening Government Commitment arrangements. The current Greening Government Commitments, which were aimed at reducing government’s environmental impacts, have also led to financial savings (for example, the estimated savings from reducing energy, water and waste costs across government were approximately £94 million in 2013/14 compared to 2009/10).

01/01/2023