Viscount Ridley

In November, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out her priorities for energy and climate change policy for the coming Parliament. On the same day DECC Ministers published an update which set out recent progress made across the main responsibilities of the Department. The update is available on the DECC website.

(1) The appointment of a Chief Executive for the North East Local Enterprise Partnership is a matter for the partnership.

2) The North East LEP (NELEP) and North East Combined Authority (NECA) have agreed to establish an “Inward Investment Gateway” to manage all inward investment activity. An Invest North East England Gateway Manager was appointed in July last year to provide a focused resource to work with partners to coordinate, develop and implement this work.

UKTI is providing dedicated resource for 6 months to NELEP and NECA to determine the best options for the Invest North East England delivery model. This will help develop a North East wide inward Investment strategy and implementation plan as well as identify structure, roles, and remit of the NELEP/NECA inward investment team in this important area of the country.

The layout of the 2014 Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills report1 was reviewed to focus on overall bill impacts following feedback on the length of Annexes and confusion between the prices and bills tables in previous reports.

The price and consumption effects of each policy on domestic consumers, medium-sized businesses, and energy intensive users are converted into £ impacts and set out in a single set of tables in Annex D.

The results of fossil fuel price sensitivity analysis are summarised in Chapter 6.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014

The layout of the 2014 Estimated Impacts of Energy and Climate Change Policies on Energy Prices and Bills report1 was reviewed to focus on overall bill impacts following feedback on the length of Annexes and confusion between the prices and bills tables in previous reports.

The price and consumption effects of each policy on domestic consumers, medium-sized businesses, and energy intensive users are converted into £ impacts and set out in a single set of tables in Annex D.

The results of fossil fuel price sensitivity analysis are summarised in Chapter 6.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014

The information requested is a matter for Ofgem. Ofgem will write directly to my noble Friend and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

The information requested is a matter for Ofgem. Ofgem will write directly to my noble Friend and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

The information requested is a matter for Ofgem. Ofgem will write directly to my noble Friend and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Evidence that increases in the global mean sea level are inconsistent with natural variability can be found in the 5^th Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5). This states that it is very likely (> 90% probability) that human activities contributed substantially to global average sea level rise since the 1970s.

Instrumental and proxy data reveal that global average sea level began to rise above the long-term natural background rate in the early twentieth century. Our physical understanding of these observations and their attribution to human activity does not require computer simulations: the oceans have absorbed over 90% of the excess energy that has accumulated in the climate system from human greenhouse gas emissions, and the resulting thermal expansion of seawater accounts for 40% of observed sea level rise. Computer simulations of the climate provide further evidence that human influences, and not natural variability alone, explain these changes.

In November 2016 the Government published the Consumer-Funded Policies Report, setting out expenditure and outcomes of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s consumer funded energy policies.

The Government recognises the importance of domestic consumers having regular, reliable data on the costs and impacts of Government energy policies and on energy prices and bills and we will be publishing our latest estimates in the near future.

I refer the Noble Lord to my response to questions HL5900 and HL5901, submitted to Parliament on 18 February 2016.

Many of the findings of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and British Humanist Association echo those reported by the Chief Schools Adjudicator in her Annual Report for the 2013/14 school year.

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.

Where an objection is made to the Schools Adjudicator, if the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.

We continue to keep the Code under review, and, where we consider any changes are necessary to make the admissions system work more effectively for parents, these will be subject to a full public consultation.

Many of the findings of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and British Humanist Association echo those reported by the Chief Schools Adjudicator in her Annual Report for the 2013/14 school year.

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.

Where an objection is made to the Schools Adjudicator, if the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the Code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.

We continue to keep the Code under review, and, where we consider any changes are necessary to make the admissions system work more effectively for parents, these will be subject to a full public consultation.

There is no certified organic farmland that uses wholly non-organic seeds, as use of organic seeds is a requirement for certification. In cases where, due to limited availability, a producer cannot source the required seeds in sufficient quantities, the organic regulation does, however, allow producers to use a mixture of organic and non-organic seeds. The organic legislation recognises that the seed sector is not sufficiently developed to meet the demand for organic seeds with a 100% requirement. In these cases, non-organic seeds must make up the minimum proportion possible and the mixture must be evenly mixed and spread across the land in question.

We do not have data on the area of land in England for which such authorisations have been granted. We can, however, supply figures for the total number of authorisations and quantities involved for the UK as a whole.

Non-organic arable seed used by organic farmers: 2017 to 2019

Due to variations in year to year harvest and market conditions affecting availability there is still variation. The long-term trend, however, is that over recent years the number of authorisations needed has on average decreased, due to increasing availability of organic seeds.

Emergency authorisation to use a product containing copper hydroxide on organic potatoes was granted for England only following an application from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. The application stated that the total area of organic potatoes grown across the UK was 800 hectares and that treatment of the full area might be required. The Government does not currently have a figure for the area that was actually treated. However, the stewardship programme agreed with AHDB requires that this information is collected and is submitted with any future application for a similar emergency authorisation.

Individual derogations are not offered for the use of non-organic antibiotics for organic livestock. Organic farmers may use non-organic antibiotics when necessary, if they have exhausted the possibilities for treatment using other measures.

This decision is under the responsibility of the veterinarian caring for the livestock. Records are kept and maintained by the producer and are referred to as part of annual and ad hoc inspections carried out by Organic Control Bodies. Therefore, no centralised records exist.

In cases where an animal requires non-organic antibiotics more than three times within 12 months, or more than one course of treatment in total if their productive lifecycle is less than one year, it cannot be sold as organic.

Wildlife conservation is a devolved matter so this reply relates to England only.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has primary control over access to two known hen harrier breeding sites: the RSPB reserve at Geltsdale and United Utilities landholding in the Bowland Fells.

Between 2015 and 2017, eight nests were located on these sites, six of which failed to fledge young.

Further details including known causes of nest failures are shown in the table below.

There were no nests on RSPB monitored land in 2017.

The table below sets out monitoring arrangements and outcomes for the 12 hen harrier nesting attempts in England in 2015.

Oral tobacco products such as snus were banned in the United Kingdom under The Tobacco for Oral Use (Safety) Regulations 1992, which implemented European Union Directive 92/41. This ban has been confirmed in subsequent regulations, most recently by the EU Tobacco Products Directive 14/40, which has been transposed into UK law in the Tobacco and Related Products Regulation 2016 (TRPR). The European Commission set out the evidence underpinning the ban in the Tobacco Products Directive’s impact assessment and in previous Directives. A copy of the impact assessment is attached.

The Department is currently undertaking a post-implementation review of the TRPR and this includes a public consultation that closes on the 19 March 2021. The Department will review the evidence submitted to consider if the regulations have met their objectives or if any future regulatory changes should be considered.

The Department is considering whether the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COT) should undertake an evaluation of non-tobacco oral nicotine pouches in its work programme in the next financial year. Oral tobacco products are banned under Tobacco and Related Product Regulations 2016 and consequently there are no current plans to ask COT to evaluate such products. COT will not consider smokeless tobacco products because their dangers and harms are well documented in the existing evidence base.

For the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) Secretariat work programme for January 2020 to December 2021, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland pays 5.9240% of the assessed contribution as a member of the Convention. This amounts to $521,340. The UK ratified the WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, in June 2018, and, as a Member, pays 14.9691% of the assessed contribution. This amounts to $748,411 for January 2020 to December 2021. The WHO FCTC publishes details of assessed contributions online on its website.

In addition, the UK Government contributes funds to the FCTC 2030 project, through official development assistance funding, which is hosted in the WHO FCTC Secretariat. £15 million has been committed to the five-year project to support low and middle income countries improve their tobacco control. The project concludes at the end of March 2021.

The World Health Organization recommends countries either ban or regulate e-cigarettes. The Government has no current plans to ban e-cigarettes in the United Kingdom and they continue to be regulated under the Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016. It remains the goal of the Government to maximise the public health opportunities presented by e-cigarettes to reduce smoking, while managing any risks. UK regulated e-cigarettes are far less harmful than smoking, but they are not risk free. Research shows e-cigarettes are effective in helping some smokers to quit. We continue to keep the evidence base on e-cigarettes under review and the next Public Health England annual review on e-cigarettes will be published this month.

The Government published its Tobacco Control Plan (TCP), Towards a Smokefree Generation: A Tobacco Control Plan for England, in July of 2017. In developing policy proposals for the plan it reviewed evidence on how other leading tobacco control countries have implemented policies to reduce tobacco use.

Smoking rates for women in England are currently at 13.7%, the lowest they have ever been. As outlined in the TCP there is a commitment to reduce smoking among adults from 15.5% to 12% or less by 2022. A copy of the TCP is attached.

During 2016-17 the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) had a total spend of £803,064; the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) had a total spend of £194,548 and £300,000 was spent by Ascension Island Government. During 2017-18 a total of £1,881,000 was spent by CEFAS, £875,000 by the MMO; £300,00 spent by Ascension Island Government; £725,000 by the British Indian Ocean Territory Administration; £39,500 spend by the St Helena Government; £140,000 by Tristan da Cunha Government; and £52,500 spent by the Government of South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands.

In both periods, up to £500,000 per year was available to all Territories through the Overseas Territories Environment and Climate Fund (also known as Darwin Plus) for bespoke marine projects.

The Government welcomes the engagement of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist group and we are giving careful consideration to the findings of the group’s inquiry.