Nuclear Update

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Thursday 17th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I repeat my commendation of the hon. Gentleman. He has been a consistent and passionate campaigner not only for the interests of his constituents but for the excellence of the industry in north Wales, and in Anglesey in particular. I can give him that wholehearted commitment. My officials will certainly meet him, but they will also come with me and my nuclear Minister and we will work together in a completely open-book way on all the options. The hon. Gentleman serves with distinction on the Select Committee, which I think will also want to scrutinise the options and the potential for financing. I repeat the commitment I gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd West (Mr Jones) that we continue to regard the north Wales growth deal as an excellent base to reinforce the strengths of the area, and I will work very closely with him on this.

The hon. Gentleman also mentioned marine energy, which is one of the opportunities that we have in his constituency and around north Wales. Far from having closed the door to marine technologies, we want to continue to invest in innovation. When it comes to deployment, the technologies need to demonstrate value for money, but we will work with them, as we did with the offshore wind sector, to bring costs down so that they can win at auction alongside other technologies.

[Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that it remains highly desirable to have a diversity of providers and technologies in civil nuclear generation? Will he therefore confirm, particularly in the light of recent concerns expressed about some Chinese investments, that the Government will remain fully supportive of the proposal from China General Nuclear to invest in a new power station at Bradwell-on-Sea in my constituency, subject of course to a generic design assessment and other permissions being obtained?

[Greg Clark]

As my right hon. Friend knows, CGN is an investor in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, which is being built as we speak. That is proceeding at pace. When it comes to Bradwell, CGN is again making successful strides through the approval process. All investment is subject to that process, but I can confirm that it has our full support as it goes through the regulatory approvals.

Nuclear Power

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Monday 4th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady has, as she describes, a fundamental disagreement: she does not see any benefit from nuclear to the resilience and supply of our electricity. That has long been her view, but I am surprised that she would talk down our country’s achievements on renewables. She should know that as a result of decisions taken by this Government and our predecessor, we are now the leading nation in the world for the deployment of offshore wind. Taking a strategic approach and investing in the future with a pipeline, just as we propose for new nuclear, has resulted in jobs being created around the towns and cities, in particular the coastal towns, of this country. I would have thought she would recognise and welcome that.

[Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree it is important to maintain not just diversity of supply but diversity of suppliers within the nuclear industry? Will he therefore welcome the progress made in the construction of unit 3 of the Fangchenggang power station in China, which is the reference plant for the proposed HPR1000 reactor at Bradwell-on-Sea? Will he reaffirm his support for that project, subject to the generic design assessment and regulatory approvals?

[Greg Clark]

I agree with my right hon. Friend that having a diversity of energy sources is important, but so is having some degree of competition between suppliers. That is why I referred in my statement to the pipeline that is in prospect. On the GDA process, we of course welcome progress through that. For each of these projects, it is foundational that the safety case is demonstrated. It is important that they should meet that, but it is also important that they demonstrate that they offer value for money for both the taxpayer and the bill payer. In each of these cases, negotiations will focus on that as well as on other aspects.

Draft Companies (Disclosure of Address) (Amendment) Regulations 2018

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Thursday 29th March 2018 General Committees

[Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

I of course support the regulations. Indeed, I recall that there was a serious risk particularly from animal rights protesters who threatened serious violence to company directors engaged in entirely legal activities. It is right that those directors should have protection.

I have a couple of questions. First, one might think that the number of those on the register before the restrictions came in, whose addresses therefore cannot be suppressed, would be declining as time moves on. However the explanatory memorandum says that there have been

“an increasing number of serious and concerning complaints”.

Will the Minister say what “serious and concerning” means? Is that just fraud, or are an increasing number of threats of violence being made?

The Minister referred to identity fraud being a serious risk to all those with their name on the register. Presumably that applies to every single company director. Is there any restriction on any company director saying he is worried that his identity may be stolen and who therefore wishes to have his name removed from the register? If he goes behind a service address, can we be sure that it is not one of these boxes somewhere in the backstreets of Victoria, where 200 companies can be registered behind small letterboxes and be almost impossible to trace? Can we be sure that the regulations will not allow directors who are perhaps dodgy to conceal their addresses and give their customers less opportunity to identify and find them to take action against them?

Magnox: Early Contract Terminations

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady is quite right to ask her questions, and I hope she will agree that the written ministerial statement I have made today is thorough and comprehensive. I am very happy to have conversations with her and the Select Committee over the weeks and months ahead.

The hon. Lady asked some specific questions about the termination of the contract and the litigation. On the latter, there was indeed a Court hearing and judgment in July last year, and there was another one in December on which the NDA has reflected. On 1 March this year—a few weeks ago—a new chief executive and chair of the NDA took office. It seemed to me appropriate that a new set of eyes should consider these matters and the course of action, rather than those people who were responsible for and involved in the procurement exercise looking into it. In answer to the hon. Lady’s question, it was a decision for the NDA board—that is how it is constitutionally established—but its decision required ratification by me, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the accounting officer in my Department.

The hon. Lady asked some very important questions about the conduct of the original procurement process and its management. That is exactly why we need to have an independent figure—independent of Government and of the NDA—to make a report available to the House, to me and to the Cabinet Secretary, not only so that we can learn the lessons and ensure that things cannot happen again, but so that, if there is fault and an error has been made, the recommendation of disciplinary action can follow.

The hon. Lady rightly asked about the Magnox workforce, for whom this will be a difficult day. I am happy to confirm to the House that there is no question about the operational good performance of the contract; it was a question of the terms of the letting of the contract. Good progress has been made, and the workforce employed on the decommissioning contract will continue as planned. When the report is made available, lessons will be learned about the NDA’s structure, as well as any particular procedural aspects.

[Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to the workforce at Bradwell-on-Sea in my constituency? They are doing a magnificent job in decommissioning the power station there. Will he confirm that nothing in his statement will prevent that work from continuing? Will he also listen to their concerns about the effect on their pension entitlements of certain changes that have been made regarding the cap on exit payments?

[Greg Clark]

I join my right hon. Friend in paying tribute to the workforce. As he will be aware, good progress has been made in decommissioning the site in Bradwell, with the underground waste vaults containing intermediate level waste having been cleared and decontaminated. That is a reflection of the hard work. There is a separate set of discussions and consultations going on with regard to the pension arrangements, which is not related to today’s announcement.

Hinkley Point C

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Thursday 15th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I do not agree with the right hon. Gentleman. It is a good deal that will secure 7% of our energy into the future. Given that 20% of our nuclear capacity will be decommissioned over the next 10 years, it is incumbent on him and his hon. Friends to tell us how they would replace it if they are not going to be forward looking and make positive decisions such as those that we have made.

[Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, which is good news for the energy sector and for my constituents in Bradwell-on-Sea. I can assure him that they welcome the prospect of Chinese investment in the Maldon district, where there is a long history of nuclear power generation. Does he agree that any future power station should be regulated by the UK inspectorate and staffed by British employees and that the cyber-security evaluation centre, which assesses technology supplied by Huawei for the telecoms sector, sets a good precedent for addressing any security concerns?

[Greg Clark]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is important that we should welcome overseas investment, but we should also have the kind of regime and powers that other advanced economies benefit from. That is something that mature countries would expect to have, and that is what we are going to have as a result of these changes.

Oral Answers to Questions

John Whittingdale Excerpts

Tuesday 13th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The hon. Lady is right that across all forms of energy generation we need to upgrade our capacity for it. Doing that—the Government are determined to do so—will secure important advantages for other companies, including steel suppliers, right across the United Kingdom. We will take the decision on Hinkley before the end of the month, as the Prime Minister has said.

[Mr John Whittingdale (Maldon) (Con)]

Notwithstanding his earlier remarks, will my right hon. Friend confirm that, as well as the proposed nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C, the other part of the package, which is a new Chinese-designed station at Bradwell-on-Sea, remains very much on the table?

[Greg Clark]

The decision with Hinkley Point C is on the particular contract for difference. That is what we are reviewing, and we will take the decision when that review has been completed.