Tag: Richard Burden

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions the Government has had with (a) the Egyptian authorities, (b) airlines and (c) other national and international bodies on changes to the allocation of slots for flights arriving and leaving Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Both the Department for Transport (DfT) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have been in regular liaison, and worked in partnership, with the Egyptian authorities to agree the allocation of slots for UK aircraft at Sharm-el-Sheikh since the temporary resumption of UK-bound flights on 6 November. As is the usual practice, UK airlines have agreed the slot timetables directly with the Egyptian authorities for the flights being arranged. Both the FCO and DfT spoke with other national bodies at Sharm-el–Sheikh on the overall initial allocation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 16 November 2015 to Question 15540, what assistance his Department gave to (a) Kent County Council, (b) other operational organisations and (c) businesses to cover costs and losses during the implementation of Operation Stack in 2015.

Anna Soubry

My department provided no direct financial assistance to those organisations or to businesses to cover costs and losses during the implementation of Operation Stack in 2015.

The Business Support Helpline was available to businesses seeking advice on managing disruption throughout.

In the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer committed £250 million into finding a long term solution to Operation Stack.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what Government spending was on the Plug-in car grant in each of the last five years; and what estimate his Department has made of Government spending on that grant in each of the last five years.

Andrew Jones

The plug-in car grant awards consumers a discount on the cost of a new ultra low emission vehicle. It has proved successful in growing the UK’s early market for ultra low emission vehicles, which is now the largest in the EU and the fourth largest in the world. The Government intends that nearly all cars and vans will be zero emission by 2050.

Government spending on the plug-in car grant in each of the last financial years was as follows:

2010/11 £1m

2011/12 £4.5m

2012/13 £11m

2013/14 £20.5m

2014/15 £90.5m

The plug-in car grant is guaranteed to continue at £5,000 per vehicle until February 2016. The Chancellor announced at Spending Review 2015 that more than £600m will be spent on support for ultra low emission vehicles in the five years from 2015 to 2020. This funding means the grants can remain for several years after February, as long as there is a demonstrable market need. Future grant levels will be announced shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2015-12-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many households in (a) Birmingham, Northfield constituency, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK have prepayment meters; and what the change in the number of such meters has been in each of those areas over the last five years.

Andrea Leadsom

Data on methods of payment for domestic energy consumers are published in Quarterly Energy Prices, tables 2.4.2 and 2.5.2.

This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-price-stastics .

The tables below show the proportion of customers within the region using pre-payment meters for each year since 2010. Data is only available at the Public Electricity Supply (PES) region level.

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
Electricity
West Midlands	15.3%	15.8%	16.3%	16.6%	17.0%
UK	15.0%	15.4%	15.8%	16.3%	16.7%
Gas
West Midlands	13.4%	14.0%	14.8%	15.3%	15.7%
GB	12.6%	13.2%	14.0%	14.5%	15.1%

Data above are produced from a sample survey (DECC’s domestic fuel inquiry).

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the removal of eligibility for Renewables Obligations Certificates for onshore wind on businesses which are considering developing wind farms.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government was elected with a commitment to end subsidies for new onshore wind projects. Onshore wind has made a valuable contribution to the UK energy mix in recent years but has now reached the point where there is enough capacity in the pipeline for the UK to meet its 2020 renewable commitments. Having proposed early closure of the RO to onshore wind, we conducted an engagement exercise to understand better the views of stakeholders on the proposal. To protect investor confidence a grace period was proposed in June 2015, and we subsequently amended this in response to stakeholder feedback over the summer, for example to take account of a possible investment hiatus whilst the measures pass through Parliament. We consider this will strike the right balance between consumer and industry interests.

An impact Assessment was published whilst the Bill was in the House of Lords that set out the potential impacts of our proposals. This can be viewed online at:

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-007F.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the working group conducting the Post Implementation Review of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 was set up; and how many times that group has met.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Working Group conducting the Post Implementation Review of the Equality Act 2010 (Work on Ships and Hovercraft) Regulations 2011 was created in June 2014 and has met three times.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he plans to answer Question 24306 from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Northfield, tabled on 26 January 2016 for answer on 29 January 2016.

Nick Boles

I replied to the hon Member on 3 February.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 21012, what further estimate he has made of the (a) number of and (b) cost of repairs identified to date to the (i) strategic road network and (ii) local road network.

Andrew Jones

Two sections of road on the strategic road network have been damaged by the recent flooding. The river bank was washed out on both sides at Warwick Bridge on the A69 near Carlisle. This will be repaired, as agreed with the Environment Agency (EA), using gabion baskets at an estimated cost of £60,000.

A 1.5 mile section of the westbound dual carriageway on the A66 in Cumbria is currently closed following the storms. The provisional cost estimate for reopening this section of the network is between £3m and £5m dependent on the findings of a recent geotechnical survey.

The rest of the strategic road network in the North West region has now been returned to a fully serviceable condition. The cost of clearing the affected network in the North West region is estimated at £275,000.

The Department for Transport is continuing to collate a comprehensive list of damage caused to the local highway network following the recent storms encountered in some areas of the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Midland Expressway on the proposed sale of the M6 Toll road.

Andrew Jones

The Government has regular discussions with Midland Expressway Limited as the operator of a key part of the country’s road network.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to implement the policy announced on 27 March 2015 by the previous Government on funding to increase the uptake for electric two-wheeled vehicles.

Andrew Jones

The Government remains committed to supporting the UK’s zero emission motorcycle industry. We have been working with stakeholders on the details of a scheme and will make a further announcement in due course.