Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what analysis his Department has made of the effect of reciprocating gas and diesel generation on (a) the likely Third T4 auction price and (b) the likelihood of securing new combined cycle gas turbine generation capacity.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The prequalification results for the 2016 four-year ahead Capacity Market auction have been published on the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Body’s website[1]. Around a quarter of the pre-qualified capacity is new-build, and nearly half of this is from combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs). Approximately 6.1GW of reciprocating engines (existing and new) have also prequalified.
The competitive nature of the auction means it is difficult to predict accurately the specific technologies and projects that will win agreements. CCGTs and gas reciprocating engines differ with respect to their cost and revenue profiles, with both technologies able to play a valuable role in the electricity market – CCGTs are highly efficient at providing baseload generation, whereas gas reciprocating engines are highly flexible and useful for helping balance the electricity system. Both will also compete against new interconnection, storage and demand-side response bids.
My department has been working – as have Ofgem and Defra – to address potential distortions in the wider market and so ensure all projects compete on a level playing field.
A mix of new build technologies, in addition to existing capacity, could win, with competition bearing down on the auction cost to deliver value for money for the consumer.
[1] https://www.emrdeliverybody.com/CM/prequalification.aspx
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the proportion of installed smart meters that cannot work because they do not have adequate mobile signal.
Answered by Jesse Norman
During the current Foundation Stage of the roll-out of smart metering, energy suppliers are installing smart meters using their own communications systems, which typically use mobile phone network services. The Government does not hold information on the adequacy of the coverage of these communications systems.
For the main installation stage beginning later this year, the Data and Communications Company (DCC) is putting in place a shared communications network across GB to send and receive information from smart meters to energy suppliers, energy network operators and energy service companies via a Wide Area Network (WAN) using both cellular and long range radio technologies.
The DCC has contracted services to provide coverage of at least 99.25% of GB premises by the end of 2020 and has already achieved coverage of more than 80% of GB premises.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many sub-1000MW reciprocating engines have prequalified for the Third T4 Capacity Market auction; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of such pre-qualifications on the UK's ability to meet its carbon emission targets.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Approximately 6.1GW of reciprocating engines have prequalified for the 2016 four-year ahead Capacity Market auction.
Reciprocating engines emit less carbon per unit of generation than coal-fired power stations. They can also emit less carbon than larger gas-fired generation plants under certain conditions [1].
[1] National Physical Laboratory (2015): Carbon savings of demand side response of a UK energy
aggregator http://www.npl.co.uk/content/ConPublication/6739
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if his Department will undertake an assessment of the potential effect on business of introducing a minimum wage of £17.50 per hour.
Answered by Sajid Javid
Increasing the National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 25 and over to £17.50 in 2020 would represent an increase of 143% on the current NLW (£7.20) and of 94% on the current forecasted NLW of £9.00 by 2020.
Based on an underlying assumption that the wage distribution from April 2015 grows in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) average earnings forecast made in March 2016, we estimate that in 2020, a NLW of £17.50 would be equivalent to around 116% of the projected median wage. Around 15 million employees would be covered by such an NLW, and labour costs would be around £150 billion higher in 2020 compared to a counterfactual of forecast average earnings growth (in nominal terms) due to the direct effects of the NLW. This is equivalent to an increase in total compensation of employees of almost 15%.
We also estimate that there would be somewhere close to 1.75 million job losses and somewhere between 65,000 and 119,000 business deaths. There would also most likely be a substantial reduction in hours worked, increased labour costs and increased prices, and obvious disincentives to starting new businesses.
This assessment is based on BIS analysis of provisional data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2015 and is subject to significant uncertainty given that a National Living Wage of £17.50 is considerably higher than any previous NMW increase or any minimum wage internationally. Our cost estimates do not include estimates of any ripple effects higher up the wage distribution if employers were to restore wage differentials above the NLW.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to help support research into the Zika virus.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
In February we allocated £1 million from the Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund to help urgently tackle the Zika virus; the Medical Research Council (MRC) received over 100 applications for support through its Rapid Response Initiative. To meet this demand, in March we committed up to an additional £2 million, with a further £1 million from the Wellcome Trust, bringing the total that was available up to a maximum of £4 million of funding.
Today, the MRC has announced that it has allocated c. £3.2 million of this funding to tackle the emerging and unknown threats of this virus. Our commitment to protect the science budget in real terms to the end of the Parliament means we can react quickly to help tackle these life-threatening global challenges.
Asked by: James Heappey (Conservative - Wells)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 28 December 2015 to Question 19725, if, when considering complaints on breaches of the Trading Schemes Act 1996, his Department will take into account the contents of franchisees' contracts on the terms of trade and the relationship between the franchisee, master franchisor in the UK and overseas franchisor in order to determine (a) the number of master franchisors in the UK of an overseas based franchisor and (b) if the trading scheme was subject to the Trading Schemes Regulations, whether its contracts complied with those regulations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
Further to the answer given on 28 December to question UIN 19725, the Department, or any authority investigating, would take into account all the relevant circumstances and the applicability of relevant legislation, before deciding whether to pursue a case.