Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Energy and Clean Growth of 16 October 2019, Official Report column 498, what progress the Government has made on reviewing the use of anaerobic digesters and the sustainable sourcing of biofuels.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Committee on Climate Change published their report on ‘Biomass in a low carbon economy’ in November 2018. The report was a significant contribution to the evidence base and will inform future policy development on renewable energy, including the use of anaerobic digesters and sustainability criteria for biomass.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the cost to his Department has been of the Renewable Heat Incentive, and what assessment he has made of the value for money of that incentive.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Payments to participants on the Renewable Heat Incentive are funded through Annual Management Expenditure (AME) rather than Department Expenditure (DEL). Once all heat readings are submitted, we expect the cumulative AME spend on the RHI to the end of 2018/19 to be approximately £2.68bn.
Ofgem e-Serve administers the scheme on behalf of the Department alongside a number of other schemes. Funding for delivering those schemes was just over £19 million in 2018/19.
In relation to value for money, this is assessed as part of regular Impact Assessments, the last of which was published in February 2018.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the key obstacles to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Answered by Andrew Murrison
We consistently call for an immediate end to all actions that act as key obstacles to peace and undermine the viability of the two-state solution, including terrorism, anti-Semitic incitement, settlement expansion, demolitions in the West Bank and the dire situation in Gaza.. We continue to believe the best way to achieve this is through direct negotiations between the parties, supported by the international community, leading towards a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that large companies issue payments to contractors within reasonable times.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Last year Government launched a Call for Evidence to assess what further steps and intervention may be needed to create a responsible payment culture. A full response will be published shortly and will contain a full package of policy measures.
During the Spring Statement, the Government announced that it will require large company’s Audit Committees to review payments practices and report them in their annual accounts. This will elevate payment practices to Board level and increase transparency.
Government is clear that unfavourable payment practices is a serious issue, particularly for smaller businesses. That is why we have a range of measures in place with the aim to address the imbalance in market power between parties, increase transparency and encourage better payment practices through culture change.
The Payment Practices and Performance Reporting Requirement requires large businesses to report biannually on their payment practices and performance. Businesses must publish this information on gov.uk, providing transparency in payment practices and making payment behaviour a reputational, board room issue. To date over 13,000 reports have been submitted.
The Small Business Commissioner, launched in December 2017, is committed to supporting Britain’s 5.7 million small businesses to resolve payment disputes with larger private sector businesses, helping drive a culture change in payment practices.
Government continues to support the Prompt Payment Code as a best practice in payment standards. Last year, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced a new, tough and transparent compliance regime to ensure the Code is rigorously enforced. The Secretary of State also announced that he had appointed the Small Business Commissioner to the Prompt Payment Code Compliance Board.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what type of asbestos was contained in Sea King helicopters; and in what parts of the helicopter that asbestos was located.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Sea King first entered service in 1969 and the final aircraft were retired from the active inventory on 30 September 2018.
Historically, Asbestos Containing Material was used where resistance to heat or an insulating property was required.
In the Sea King this was principally in gaskets and seals located around the engines, gearboxes, heating and ventilation systems.
A detailed investigation is ongoing, however the Design Organisation, Leonardo Helicopters, has confirmed that to the best of their knowledge, Chrysolite (white) asbestos is the only asbestos type that was used.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what arrangements he has planned for agriculture chemicals registration in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Eustice
The EU Withdrawal Act 2018 converts the current EU legislation controlling pesticides used in agriculture into retained law in the UK. This approach will ensure a smooth transition in the event of no deal and provide certainty for consumers, workers and businesses by maintaining existing laws wherever practicable.
It will be necessary to make some minor corrections by statutory instrument but only where this is necessary so that the regulations can continue to work sensibly in a non-EU context, for example, replacing EU processes set out in the regulations with national processes.
We are also planning for the regulatory capacity we would need to implement the regulation of plant protection products in the UK, building on the existing capacity in the Health and Safety Executive’s Chemicals Regulation Directorate.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps he is taking to reduce problem gambling.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
We take problem gambling very seriously and protecting vulnerable people is a key aim for the Government and the Gambling Commission.
The rate of problem gambling among the adult population in Britain has remained relatively stable over many years, and is currently 0.8%.
Our consultation on gaming machines and social responsibility closed in January. It made clear we will cut stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals. It also included measures to strengthen protections around other gaming machines, online gambling and gambling advertising.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to maintain subsidies to UK farmers after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
This Government has pledged the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of the parliament, expected in 2022. This is a greater level of security and certainty for farmers and landowners than anywhere else in the EU, where funding is guaranteed only to 2020. This total includes all EU and Exchequer funding provided for farm support under both Pillar I and Pillar II.
Leaving the EU gives us an opportunity to set new policies which specifically benefit agriculture and the environment. The government is committed to providing the best possible value for money to the taxpayer and we are exploring various options to achieve these aims.
Asked by: Colin Clark (Conservative - Gordon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of the UK's diplomatic relations with New Zealand.
Answered by Mark Field
The UK has excellent diplomatic relations with New Zealand.