Tag: Paul Flynn

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what estimate he has made of the net benefit to the Welsh economy of the steel to be used in the construction of the Hinkley C nuclear power plant.

Alun Cairns

The UK Government does not hold the specific figures requested. The decision to proceed with the first new nuclear power station for a generation will provide a huge boost to the regional economy including South Wales. Construction at the Hinkley site will provide 26,000 jobs and apprenticeships, and 64% of the project’s costs will be spent in the UK.

Welsh companies are already taking advantage of the opportunities this project presents, for example, Express Reinforcements in South Wales was given preferred bidder status for a £100m contract to supply 200,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel for the project.

I would encourage businesses in Wales to register with EDF in order to take advantage of upcoming supply chain opportunities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to extend badger vaccination schemes in 2017.

George Eustice

There have been a number of private badger vaccination initiatives in England over the last three years, some of which have received Defra grant funding. Resumption in Defra-supported vaccination in 2017 will depend on the availability of the vaccine, current supplies of which are being prioritised by the Government for public health use.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the Care Quality Commission’s recent progress in meeting its inspection programme’s targets.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. The CQC is an executive non-departmental public body accountable to the Secretary of State for the efficient and effective discharge of its functions, duties and powers. The Department monitors CQC’s financial and operational performance and risks, including progress with recruitment of inspectors, at a general and strategic level through regular formal and informal accountability meetings. Ministers and the Permanent Secretary also hold regular meetings with the Chair and Chief Executive of the CQC and its Chief Inspectors.

The CQC has advised that it expects the inspections of NHS acute hospitals to be completed as planned by the end of March 2016 and the inspections of the remaining NHS Hospitals by June 2016. Further planning is required for the independent health sectors to enable the December 2016 commitments to be met.

The CQC is currently behind the planned trajectories to have rated all adult social care and general practitioners and out of hours services by 30 September 2016. The time it has taken to both recruit the required numbers of inspectors and to ensure they are fully trained to conduct inspections has contributed to the current position. The CQC is considering what steps it can take to bring the programme back on track.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has held with the Care Quality Commission’s Head of Inspection on the number of vacant posts in the Commission’s inspection teams.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. The CQC is an executive non-departmental public body accountable to the Secretary of State for the efficient and effective discharge of its functions, duties and powers. The Department monitors CQC’s financial and operational performance and risks, including progress with recruitment of inspectors, at a general and strategic level through regular formal and informal accountability meetings. Ministers and the Permanent Secretary also hold regular meetings with the Chair and Chief Executive of the CQC and its Chief Inspectors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of patients being offered a choice of outpatient facility by their GPs.

Ben Gummer

We are committed to giving patients more choice and control over their health care, as this can help drive up standards and improve patient care.

As set out in the Five Year Forward View, the health system is focused on embedding patient choice and, as part of this, NHS England is working to secure improvements in awareness and uptake of choice across physical and mental health services.

In addition, we have asked NHS England to come up with proposals, before the end of the year, to make sure there is choice and control over services offered in maternity and end-of-life care, as well as for those with long-term conditions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she received the report by the group Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) Nuclear Power: New Evidence: a call for a full-scale statutory review of the Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy (EN-1); and what response she has made to the correspondents sending that report.

Andrea Leadsom

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State received a copy of the report on 9 July 2015. The report was discussed with officials at a meeting of my department’s Nuclear NGO Forum on 21 July and it was agreed that a sub-group of the forum should be set up to discuss the Nuclear National Policy Statement. The Department wrote to Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) on 29 July confirming these arrangements. The subgroup will hold its first meeting next month.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many meetings her Department has had with Westinghouse officials to discuss the potential partnership between Westinghouse, interested nuclear industry partners and the Government on developing small modular nuclear reactors.

Andrea Leadsom

Officials within my Department have met Westinghouse on two occasions to receive their proposal on small modular reactors (SMRs). Receipt of this proposal was acknowledged by officials and it will be considered as part of Government’s wider work on SMRs which includes evidence building through the techno-economic assessment and engagement with SMR vendors where appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what response she has made to the proposal put forward on 21 October 2015 for a partnership between Westinghouse and the Government to develop small modular nuclear reactors.

Andrea Leadsom

Receipt of the proposal was acknowledged by officials and it will be considered as part of Government’s wider work on SMRs, which includes evidence building through the techno-economic assessment and engagement with SMR vendors where appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of the safety issues identified in the Generic Design Assessment for the European Pressurised Reactor that EDF Energy plans to build at Hinkley Point C have still not been resolved to the satisfaction of the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

Andrea Leadsom

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has advised me that safety issues remaining at the end of Step 4 of Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of the European Pressurised Reactor were captured either as GDA Issues or Assessment Findings. GDA Issues are items that ONR requires to be addressed before a Design Acceptance Confirmation can be issued, successfully ending the GDA process, or before nuclear safety related construction can commence on site. All of the GDA Issues were addressed and closed by ONR in 2012. These Issues, the resolution plans to address them and information on their closure are published on ONR’s website:

http://www.onr.org.uk/new-reactors/

Assessment findings are addressed throughout the post GDA phase through routine regulation under the nuclear site licence.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, for what reasons the construction cost of the planned Hinkley Point C power station has reduced from £24.5 billion to £18 billion.

Andrea Leadsom

The £24.5 billion figure included financing costs (interest and guarantee costs) assuminga £16 billion IUK guarantee. The £18 billion figure is not directly comparable as it does not include these financing costs.