Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate whether the procurement processes described in Dame Margaret Hodge's review of the proposed London Garden Bridge, published on 7 April, comply with best practice for government-funded projects.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) makes independent decisions on what to investigate. If there is information suggesting that anti-competitive collusion or abuse of dominant position might have occurred, it can be shared with the CMA. The CMA will consider whether there are matters that should be investigated under its enforcement powers.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what will be the effect of the Government's decision to leave Euratom on the cost, safety and regulatory processes associated with existing and planned nuclear power stations.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Maintaining the UK’s ability to trade in nuclear materials and equipment will be a key objective in negotiations to allow the uninterrupted progress of the UK’s nuclear programme, which includes existing and planned nuclear power stations. Those negotiations have not yet started, but officials and Ministers are in regular contact with industry stakeholders and will continue to work closely with them as the negotiations progress.
The Government remains committed to the highest standards of nuclear safety, safeguards and support for the industry, and the Office for Nuclear Regulation will continue to be the independent regulator for the civil nuclear sector.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their reported plans to subsidise power stations which provide guaranteed emergency electricity supply when needed on winter weekday evenings, what estimate they have made of the length of time it will take coal and nuclear power stations to reach guaranteed output capacity; and how much notice these power stations will be given of the additional demand.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Where capacity margins narrow beyond a pre-determined threshold, automated Capacity Market Notices are issued to the market providing 4 hours advance notice that additional capacity may be required.
Before bidding into the Capacity Market, participants must ensure they would be able to meet all the obligations that would fall to them in the event of successfully securing a Capacity Market agreement. Failure to fulfil these obligations during a stress event would result in clear and pre-determined penalties.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the completion date, and (2) the impact on electricity sale prices, of (a) the Swansea Lagoon project, and (b) the Hinkley Point nuclear power station.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
EDF have said that they expect Hinkley Point C to start generating electricity in 2025. Hinkley Point C is a good deal for everyone including consumers – Hinkley would provide reliable energy at an affordable cost, powering nearly six million homes for around 60 years and creating more than 25,000 jobs.
The negotiations regarding a Contract for Difference for the proposed Swansea Bay lagoon remain ongoing.
On 10 February, the Government announced an independent review to consider alternatives approaches to financing tidal lagoons, providing an evidence base to ensuring decisions are taken in the best interest of bill-payers.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much compensation has been paid or committed to any company involved in cross-channel traffic because of losses or additional costs due to the number of migrants in the Calais area.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The department has not paid or committed to pay compensation to any company involved in cross-channel traffic because of losses or additional costs due to the number of migrants in the Calais area.
The Business Support Helpline is available to businesses seeking advice on managing disruption.
In the 2015 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer committed £250 million to finding a long term solution to Operation Stack.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the reply by the Prime Minister on 9 March that "we have to make sure that we get cost-effective electricity and that we go green at the lowest cost" (HC Deb, col 276), why they have decided not to support the Swansea Lagoon project but are supporting the Hinkley Point nuclear power station, in particular in the light of the Hinkley Point project’s uncertain completion date.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The negotiations regarding a Contract for Difference for the proposed Swansea Bay Tidal lagoon remain ongoing.
Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) have put forward a number of alternative proposals to their 35 year strike price proposal and as these would be a significant deviation from Government policy it is right that we take time to consider these proposals as part of the on-going due diligence process.
Beyond the consideration of TLP’s alternative proposals the independent review, which Government announced on the 10 February, we will consider alternative approaches to financing tidal lagoons more generally, providing an evidence base to ensuring decisions are taken in the best interest of bill-payers – both today and in the future.
While we have made good progress with the TLP the review will need to have been completed before a final decision can be made on the Swansea Bay proposal.
Hinkley Point C would be a good deal for consumers – support for Hinkley would deliver around 7% of the country’s electricity needs with secure and reliable, low-carbon power.
We remain confident that the deal on Hinkley Point C will go ahead. We intend to publish a summary of the Value for Money assessment for Hinkley along with the contracts, once the documents have been entered into.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding has been allocated to Cornwall from each of the EU programmes in the last ten years.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
2007-13 (last funding round)
For the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for 2007-13, information can be found on GOV.UK under ‘2007 to 2013 ERDF programmes and resources’ at ‘ERDF Cornwall Isles of Scilly convergence operational programme’ on page 133.
For the European Social Fund (ESF) for 2007-13, information can be found on GOV.UK under ‘ESF operational programme for England and Gibraltar: 2007 to 2013’ at ‘England & Gibraltar European Social Fund convergence, competitiveness and employment programme 2007-13’ at the table on pages 190 to 191. The line item for ‘Convergence’ for each year is for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
The European Commission’s figures for the Seventh Framework Programme 2007-2013 (last updated on 11 November 2015) show that the total value of grants awarded to organisations in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly was €7,369,261 (funding is not pre-allocated to regions). Information on all EU-funded research projects since 1990 can be found at the following link: http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/home_en.html.
2014-20 (current funding round)
For the ERDF for 2014-20, information can be found on GOV.UK under ‘2014 to 2020 European Regional Development Fund Operational Programme’ at ‘European Regional Development Fund Operational Programme 2014-20’ at the table on page 195. The line item for ‘Less developed’ for each year is for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
For the ESF for 2014-20, information can be found on GOV.UK under ‘European Social Fund Operational Programme: 2014 to 2020’ at the table on page 123. The line item for ‘Less developed’ for each year is for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
The Commission’s figures for the 2014-2020 Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, last updated on 29 October 2015, show that the total value of grants awarded to organisations in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly was €1,130,444.