Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 1 June 2015 to Question 610, what forecasts her Department has made of the amount of coal that will be imported from each country in (a) 2015, (b) 2016 and (c) 2017.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not produce projections on imports of coal.
Coal is abundant worldwide and widely traded on a flexible international market. The table below gives UK steam coal imports by country for the first quarter of 2015 in thousand tonnes and as a percentage of total steam coal imports:
Country of Origin | Steam Coal Imports (thousand tonnes) | Share of all Steam coal imports |
Russia | 4,879 | 49.3% |
Colombia | 2,632 | 26.6% |
United States of America | 1,985 | 20.1% |
Republic of South Africa | 268 | 2.7% |
European Union (1) | 128 | 1.3% |
Total all countries | 9,892 |
(1) European Union includes non-EU routed through the Netherlands
Source: DECC Energy Trends https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-trends
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 1 June 2015 to Question 610, what amount of coal has been imported to the UK from each country in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Nearly 90 per cent of all coal imported to the UK is steam coal, therefore figures for this type of coal are provided.
In the past ten years, over 90 per cent of UK steam coal imports originated from four countries: Russia, Colombia, the USA, and South Africa. Nearly half (49 per cent) of all coal imports in this period came from Russia. The table below gives UK steam coal imports by country from 2005 to 2014 in thousand tonnes:
Country of Origin | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
Russia | 16,888 | 22,543 | 20,185 | 21,193 | 18,414 | 9,166 | 12,093 | 17,459 | 19,177 | 15,831 |
Colombia | 3,369 | 3,883 | 3,842 | 5,294 | 5,233 | 6,236 | 8,010 | 11,749 | 11,388 | 9,269 |
USA | 266 | 707 | 1,121 | 2,792 | 3,112 | 2,349 | 4,461 | 8,858 | 9,528 | 7,687 |
EU (1) | 1,001 | 1,584 | 482 | 933 | 1,136 | 881 | 1,056 | 583 | 1,111 | 690 |
South Africa | 12,862 | 12,746 | 7,941 | 4,249 | 3,034 | 763 | 647 | 546 | 478 | 129 |
Other Countries | 2,845 | 2,146 | 2,175 | 2,920 | 1,865 | 356 | 205 | 425 | 1,313 | 569 |
Total all countries | 37,230 | 43,609 | 35,746 | 37,382 | 32,794 | 19,751 | 26,472 | 39,619 | 42,995 | 34,174 |
(1) European Union includes non-EU routed through the Netherlands.
Source: Energy Trends table 2.4 available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she plans to give the Bradwell nuclear site to (a) the Chinese State Nuclear Corporation or (b) another Chinese state-owned company in order to build a Chinese-manufactured reactor.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Bradwell new build site identified in the National Policy Statement Nuclear as one of 8 sites potentially suitable for deployment of a new nuclear reactor by 2025 and is owned by EDF.
The development of the site is a commercial matter for EDF.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to tackle dangerous levels of air pollution in towns and cities.
Answered by Rory Stewart
We are fully committed to complying with EU air quality standards as soon as possible. We have already committed over £2 billion since 2011 in transport measures to improve air quality and will be publishing revised air quality plans for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) by the end of this year. The plans will set out actions at all levels, including national and local, to achieve compliance with legal limits for NO2 in the shortest possible time.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking to tackle low pay in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Theresa Villiers
The Prime Minister announced in March 2015 that the National Minimum Wage will increase by 3% to a new rate of £6.70 per hour, effective from October 2015. This is the largest real-terms increase in the National Minimum Wage since 2006, and over 1.4 million of Britain’s lowest-paid workers are set to benefit.
In the March 2015 Budget, the previous Coalition Government committed to raising the tax free personal allowance to £11,000 by 2017-18. This means that since 2010, 103,000 people in Northern Ireland will have been lifted out of income tax altogether by 2017-18, and 698,000 people will see an average real terms gain of £561.
As the Conservative manifesto at the 2015 General Election made clear, this Government plans to go further. We will raise the personal allowance to £12,500. This means that by the end of this decade one million more people throughout the UK will be lifted out of tax, and anybody who works for 30 hours a week or more on the increased national minimum wage will pay no income tax at all. We will also pass a new law ensuring that the personal allowance rises in line with the national minimum wage.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the benefits of ensuring that any deal with foreign investors on the funding of new nuclear power stations is independent from the manufacture and supply of the components required to build that infrastructure.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK welcomes high quality overseas investment in the UK and the safe and economic development of nuclear power. It is the responsibility of the developers of new nuclear power stations to source components for the plant, in line with the UK’s robust nuclear regulatory regime. This regime requires the highest standards in safety and security to be met by developers and their technology providers. Quality assurance of all components for a nuclear power station are included within this regime.
The Government has made its policy clear in discussion with developers, that UK content to the supply chain should be maximised and is hence working closely with them to identify further UK opportunities in support of this. The Government also has supplier development and improvement programmes (Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and Fit for Nuclear (F4N)) in place to help the UK supply chain better position itself to bid for these opportunities.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to increase electoral registration.
Answered by John Penrose
Over £14 million has been invested over the last two financial years to support the completeness and accuracy of the register, including in the run up to the General Election.
The Electoral Commission is due to publish an analysis of the electoral registers used for these elections in June and the Government will consider further steps in the light of this report.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will take steps to prevent the funding for new nuclear power stations being linked to the supply of technology from Chinese companies; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK welcomes high quality overseas investment in the UK and the safe and economic development of nuclear power. It is the responsibility of the developers of new nuclear power stations to source components for the plant, in line with the UK’s robust nuclear regulatory regime. This regime requires the highest standards in safety and security to be met by developers and their technology providers. Quality assurance of all components for a nuclear power station are included within this regime.
The Government has made its policy clear in discussion with developers, that UK content to the supply chain should be maximised and is hence working closely with them to identify further UK opportunities in support of this. The Government also has supplier development and improvement programmes (Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) and Fit for Nuclear (F4N)) in place to help the UK supply chain better position itself to bid for these opportunities.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions her Department has had with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on the possibility of a Chinese state company building a new reactor at the Bradwell nuclear site.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has had no discussions with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on the possibility of a Chinese state company building a new reactor at the Bradwell nuclear site.
Asked by: Harry Harpham (Labour - Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to maintain the number of sure start centres in England.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
It is up to local authorities to decide how to organise and commission services from children’s centres in their areas. They are best placed to understand local needs and the different ways they can be supported locally. Local authorities must demonstrate that they have devised ways to ensure that services continue; what matters is the quality and impact of services, and how local needs are being supported.
We are clear in statutory guidance that there is a presumption against closure, and local authorities have a duty to consult where changes are planned to local children’s centre provision.