Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025 to Question 38543 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, whether he has made an estimate of how much DPC schemes costs will increase household water bills.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bill impacts will be considered as part of Ofwat’s DPC approval process. In providing its consent to a water company to enter into a DPC contract, Ofwat will take into consideration the impact on customer interests, including the impact on bills. For example, through its pathfinder DPC project for United Utilities' Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project, Ofwat included the estimated bill impact during the AMP8 period in United Utilities published Price Review 2024 Final Determination.
Ofwat will share future estimated bill impacts when projects have progressed, and the estimations have been made. Ofwat's initial indication based on pathfinder is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% through delivering a scheme as a DPC.
The full programme of all major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery, but bill impacts will not be known until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2025, to Question 38543 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, if he will publish his calculations on the savings by delivering the scheme through DPC.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Bill impacts will be considered as part of Ofwat’s DPC approval process. In providing its consent to a water company to enter into a DPC contract, Ofwat will take into consideration the impact on customer interests, including the impact on bills. For example, through its pathfinder DPC project for United Utilities' Haweswater Aqueduct Resilience Project, Ofwat included the estimated bill impact during the AMP8 period in United Utilities published Price Review 2024 Final Determination.
Ofwat will share future estimated bill impacts when projects have progressed, and the estimations have been made. Ofwat's initial indication based on pathfinder is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% through delivering a scheme as a DPC.
The full programme of all major projects is listed in PR24 Final Determinations: Major Projects Development and Delivery, but bill impacts will not be known until companies have finished the procurement process and final bids are received and approved.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many of her Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There have been no staff working in the department since July 2024 who were seconded from the Institute for Economic Affairs, the Policy Exchange, the Adam Smith Institute, or Labour Together.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many of his Department's officials have been seconded from (a) the Institute for Economic Affairs, (b) the Policy Exchange, (c) the Adam Smith Institute and (d) Labour Together since July 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since July 2024 no staff have been seconded into Defra from the Institute for Economic Affairs, the Policy Exchange, the Adam Smith Institute or Labour Together. The response to the request is Nil staff.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Since July 2024 we have had no staff seconded into Defra from Hakluyt.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff their Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Secondments are one way of bringing talent and experience into the Civil Service for short periods of time and have been used by successive governments. Secondments are arranged at a business unit level, which is also where the data is held.
There have been no staff working in the department since July 2024 who were seconded from Hakluyt.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 32929 on Cabinet Office: Palantir, whether his Department has seconded staff from Palantir between 4 July 2024 and 11 March 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Secondments are part of a range of ways of bringing talent and experience into the civil service for short periods of time and have been used by successive governments. Secondments are arranged at a business unit level and must follow the processes as set out in the Civil Service Recruitment Principles, however based on the information held centrally, there is no record of any secondees from Palantir.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2025 to Question 36586 on Water Companies: Infrastructure, what estimate he has made of the potential impact of each Direct Procurement for Customers scheme on the annual cost of water bills for households in Yorkshire.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Prior to entering into a DPC arrangement, Ofwat considers the value for money of delivering the project as a DPC and also the impact on customer bills. The impacts on customer bills are unlikely to be known until a procurement for a scheme has been run, when the capital and operational costs of the project will be better understood. Currently the estimates provided through the price review are not mature estimates and are likely to change as the projects develop.
Our initial indication based on pathfinder projects is that there could be savings for customers of between 6% and 40% by delivering a scheme through DPC.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the report by Oxfam entitled Fast, Fair, Funded and Feminist: A pathway to a just and transformative climate transition within and beyond the UK, published on 10 March; and whether he plans to implement the recommendations on supporting lower-income countries in publicly funded energy transitions.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government’s approach to this transition is built on the principle of fairness – ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the transition and reap the benefits – and is core to the UK’s Clean Energy Superpower Mission. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to deliver jobs, growth and prosperity.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many staff his Department has seconded from Hakluyt since July 2024.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade has hosted no secondees from Hakluyt since July 2024.