Paul Flynn

The Paris Agreement recognises the importance of averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and damage. The UK is already taking action to support insurance mechanisms that provide financial support in the event of an extreme weather event. For example, we support the G7 initiative that aims to increase by up to 400 million the number of people in the most vulnerable developing countries who have access to direct or indirect insurance coverage against the negative impact of climate change related hazards by 2020.The UK contribution to these rapid actions includes support for (i) the Africa Risk Capacity initiative and (ii) the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative (PCRAFI). Other UK-supported actions are contributing to the G7 Initiative’s overall aims.

Her Majesty’s Government maintains the capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies wherever they occur in the world.

The Department has had no such direct discussions with the Arctic Methane Emergency Group. The best practical way to limit methane emissions due to the destabilisation of methane hydrates is to keep the rise in global temperatures as low as possible. The UK government’s recent push to secure an ambitious global climate deal was rewarded on 12 December in Paris, where the world witnessed a historic step forward to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. A global agreement of 195 countries, including the world’s largest emitters, have now committed to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State made two separate visits to the COP21 conference in Paris. For the first, she travelled out by train and returned by plane. For the second she travelled there and back by train.

In accordance with the Ministerial Code, it was ensured that these were the most efficient and cost-effective options for the Secretary of State to meet her commitments at COP.

The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) negotiation is ongoing. A full sustainable impact assessment is being conducted on the TISA. The terms of reference of the report include analysis of the impact of the TISA on climate change. The final inception report can be found on the EU’s website.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not carried out any additional assessments in relation to the impact of the agreement on wider climate change policies, but works closely with the Department of Energy and Climate Change on the content of the Agreement to ensure it aligns with the UK’s wider policy objectives.

The Global Carbon Project Report 2015 sets out global CO₂ emission trends from 1870 to 2015. The UK accounts for 1.2% of global emissions and remains committed to meeting our climate change target of an at least 80% emissions reduction by 2050. The UK has already made great progress towards that goal having reduced emissions by around 30% since 1990.

In Paris, we reached an historic agreement, with the whole world committing to action which they are held to account on for the first time ever. This marks a clear turning point towards a sustainable and low carbon future. Countries will now have to come together regularly to review their climate plans and collectively ensure that the necessary action is being taken to tackle climate change.

The important COP21 negotiations and related events did not allow time for representatives from the Department to attend the World Climate Summit event.

The Government set out plans in the Spending Review to invest more in clean energy research and development over the next five years as part of Mission Innovation. By 2020/21 we will be spending in excess of £400m under Mission Innovation.

At 1 April 2015 the UK Trade & Investment Defence and Security Organisation had 140 staff-in-post. As at 1 April the 2015-16 budget for UKTI DSO was £9.75M NET.

UK Trade & Investment supports eleven sectors, and other priority sectors, such as creative industries and the information economy.

We are working with a number of other Government departments to ensure companies of all sectors are represented in Government efforts overseas.

The table below shows the number of staff on 1 April 2015 and the most recent budget information for our core sector teams and investment organisations.

These are requirements under European Law. There are no plans to review the assessment principles on imperative reasons of overriding public interest in big energy planning projects.

The framework for civil nuclear safety and security is kept under continuous review to ensure that it remains robust, effective and of an appropriate standard.

The Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative on Climate Change attended the event and spoke on a panel event entitled “what is most needed to embed innovation across public and private sector operations.”

Details of my meetings with external organisations are published on a quarterly basis and are available via the gov.uk website.

The UK is a co-signatory to the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform Communiqué. As that document covers, significant subsidy reform can help deliver major reform of global energy usage which limits global temperature rises.

The fall in the oil price over the last eighteen months creates a moment of opportunity for action around the world to reduce subsidies. The communiqué calls for clear communication and increased ambition. We support those goals. We will continue to lobby Governments overseas and support activity to make the most of this opportunity to implement meaningful reform. Doing so will enhance both UK and wider energy security, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and free up funds that Governments could use to tackle other challenges.

The Government welcomes the report produced by the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition and its aim to encourage businesses to take up carbon pricing initiatives. The UK is strongly committed to carbon pricing as a policy tool to allow carbon emissions to be reduced at least cost. The Government has encouraged businesses to recognise the cost of carbon in decision-making by pressing for reforms to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System as well as pursuing other market-based policy approaches. We also support other countries to develop pricing models through our international outreach and projects.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State is aware of the work from the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, as the UK is one of its commissioning countries. The Secretary of State welcomed the Global Commission’s reports, which underlined that growth and tackling climate change can go hand in hand.

We continue to reflect on the reports’ findings and contribution to the economic debate. It sets out how Governments of countries at different stages of economic development can achieve strong economic performance, improve standards of living, create jobs and reduce poverty, whilst simultaneously helping to reduce the risks of climate change. The reports’ evidence on the potential economic opportunities is a powerful contribution to the clear case for action. It is in this spirit that we strongly recommend all countries to consider its findings.

The Government are in regular contact with the Arab League who attended the International Syria Support Group in Vienna on 14 November. Nabil Al-Araby, Chair of the Arab League, participated in a discussion on Syria with UK representatives at the United Nations General Assembly on 30 September. We remain committed to engagement and coordination with regional partners in our efforts to degrade Daesh in Syria.

The Financial Actions Task Force (FATF) report on ‘Financing of the Terrorist Organisation ISIL’ (Feb 2015) sets out specific measures which countries should adopt, over and above general measures designed to block terrorist financing, to ensure Daesh cannot access the international financial system. The FATF conducted a report for the G20 Leaders in November 2015 on implementation. They found almost all 194 jurisdictions had criminalised terrorist financing and 90% of jurisdictions had a legal framework to enforce sanctions. There were 33 jurisdictions which had secured convictions for terrorist financing.

The Egmont Group comprises 151 members, including the UK, USA, France and regional partners such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and Lebanon. In June 2015 the Group expanded its membership; 42 new bilateral agreements to exchange information were announced to help combat global money laundering and terrorist threats. The Group also issued a communication to its members in June 2015 regarding Daesh which encouraged members to use its unique global network to combat Daesh money laundering and financing by increasing international cooperation, including the exchange of information.

In October 2015, EDF signed a Strategic Investment Agreement and Heads of Terms with China General Nuclear (CGN). This is not an agreement with the Government, so isn’t within the remit of Article 103 of the Euratom Treaty.

The Government views safety at nuclear sites as paramount. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has regulatory and operational independence and is staffed with nuclear safety experts. It carries out inspections across the nuclear estate and has a wide range of enforcement powers with which to hold duty holders to account and secure sustained compliance with the law. Further, safety is kept under regular review in line with international best practice.

The Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Statement about the nuclear industry can be found in the 2014-15 Annual Report and Accounts (pages 26-44), which clearly sets out further the work undertaken by the ONR to ensure that industry meets the safety requirements:

http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/2015/annual-report-2014-15.pdf.

The Energy Transparency Centre of Knowledge (E-TRACK) is a joint initiative of the European Commission’s Directorate General of Energy and Joint Research Centre. It is intended to monitor, disseminate and share information on good practices of public participation in energy policy. Given it has only just been launched and is yet to begin its work it is too early to assess whether its subsequent outputs will deliver benefits to the development of UK energy policy.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn) on 18 November 2015 Official Report, column 667.

I also refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave, during the Oral Statement on the G20 and Paris attacks that I made on 17 November, to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn), Official Report, column 528, and to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Mr Salmond), Official Report, column 536.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn) on 18 November 2015 Official Report, column 667.

I also refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave, during the Oral Statement on the G20 and Paris attacks that I made on 17 November, to the right hon. Member for Islington North (Mr Corbyn), Official Report, column 528, and to the right hon. Member for Gordon (Mr Salmond), Official Report, column 536.

It has been the practice of successive Governments for the incoming Prime Minister to provide written instructions to the Commanders of our nuclear armed submarines.

The letters are one of the first actions carried out by the Prime Minister on assuming office and, given the security implications, it would be wholly inappropriate to comment further on the process.

The Regulators’ Code which came into force in April 2014 was issued as guidance under the Legislative and Regulatory Reform (Regulatory Functions) (Amendment) Order 2014. The code provides guidance for all regulators whose functions are specified and a framework for how they should engage with those they regulate when exercising their regulatory functions independently from Government. This includes providing straightforward ways for businesses to engage, basing regulatory activities on risk and helping businesses to comply by publishing clear information, guidance and advice.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is required to have regard to the code when developing policies and operational procedures which guide their regulatory activities. However, the Regulators’ Code states that where a regulator concludes, on the basis of material evidence, that a specific area of the code is either not applicable or outweighed by another relevant consideration, then the regulator is not bound by that provision but should record the decision and their rationale. This acknowledges certain circumstances where regulators may not be able to follow all provisions of the code, for example decisions concerning safety and security, and that they will not be bound by the provision where these considerations justifiably outweigh provisions of the Regulators’ Code.

The ONR is expected to demonstrate compliance with the Code without compromising its core purpose of nuclear safety and security. The ONR has recently published the results of a review they undertook to assess compliance against the Code in September 2015: http://news.onr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/report.pdf.

During Prime Minister Modi’s visit India and the UK agreed a Defence and International Security Partnership that pledged to deepen our dialogue on disarmament and non-proliferation and work towards India’s entry into all Export Control Regimes. India and the UK also released a Joint Statement that welcomed the agreement reached earlier this year on Iran’s nuclear programme, and noted the strong commitment of the international community to its swift and full implementation.

Nuclear power is a proven technology which can provide large quantities of electricity continuously, reliably and predictably. Our analysis suggests Hinkley Point C will be cost-competitive with the other technologies that can be deployed at scale in the 2020s and that it will help provide affordable base load power to complement other low-carbon sources that we need to decarbonise the power sector by 2050.

The Regulators’ Code came into force in April 2014 and provides a framework for how regulators should engage with those they regulate. The code, which is underpinned by the principles of better regulation, says that regulators should carry out their activities in a way that supports those they regulate to comply and grow and to consider whether they are able to reduce the administrative burden on business or streamline certain processes whilst still achieving the same social, environmental or economic outcomes.

The Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is expected to demonstrate compliance with the Code without compromising its core purpose of nuclear safety and security. The ONR has recently published the results of a review they undertook to assess compliance against the Code in September 2015: http://news.onr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/report.pdf .

The review found that the requirements of the Code are being met and have identified eight additional actions to further embed the Code over the next year. These measures such as a commitment undertake a review of its economic impact on duty holders, which will support them in carrying out their activities in a way that supports those they regulate to comply and grow further enable economic growth. In doing so, it does not compromise effective regulation to maintain robust safety and security standards.

Whilst being a minority partner in the Taishan project, EDF expect Taishan to start generating power before the EPR at Flamanville in France, which EDF have estimated will be by the end of 2018.

The causes of the delays at Olkiluoto 3 include complex contractual structures and a series of design changes suggested by the local regulator after the start of construction. Hinkley Point C will commence construction with a more mature design. Our different regulatory regime and improved contracting arrangements will ensure that issues will not arise in the UK.

Flamanville 3 has experienced delays as a result of changes to the design after the start of construction, changes to regulatory requirements, including modifications to take account of lessons learned from the accident at Fukushima in 2011, and quality problems with key components. In the UK, responsibility for delivery and compliance with regulatory requirements lies with EDF and its co-investors. The shareholders in the project carry the full construction risk.

EDF Energy, overseen by the UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation, will apply any relevant lessons learned and ensure the delivery of high standards of nuclear safety for its new nuclear power plants in the UK.

During last month’s State Visit, President Xi Jinping and I discussed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear programme, and the importance of working together to halt its progress. The UK also engages with China on multilateral disarmament, and a range of nuclear disarmament issues, through the mechanism of the P5 Dialogue.

The Department publishes labour market statistics for English domiciled graduates and postgraduates relative to non-graduates as part of the Graduate Labour Market Statistics series. The latest figures refer to the quarter from April to June 2015 and are available at the link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-labour-market-statistics-april-to-june-2015

The Government takes these issues seriously. Higher Education Institutions, as autonomous and independent bodies, have clear legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support their students, including those with mental health conditions.

Ensuring the wellbeing of students is important to our universities. Institutions are best placed to determine what welfare and counselling services they need to provide to their students and to ensure mechanisms are in place to identify students in need.

There is a great deal of guidance and support available to institutions from a range of sector and medical bodies. In February 2015, Universities UK published a Good Practice Guide on, student mental wellbeing in higher education. It aims to support institutions in building and improving their provision for students with mental health problems including to help prevent suicide.

The Department of Health also published a cross-government suicide prevention strategy in September 2012, ‘Preventing Suicide in England.’ The objectives of the strategy are to reduce suicide and support people bereaved or affected by suicide.

Big Energy Saving Week is a Great Britain wide consumer awareness raising campaign run ahead of winter in partnership with respected partner organisations Citizens Advice and the Energy Saving Trust (EST), with around £300,000 funding provided by DECC.

The campaign was delivered 26-30 October 2015 and focussed on supporting consumers to understand how they can save money by switching tariff, supplier and payment method and improving energy efficiency, through hundreds of face to face outreach events run by Citizens Advice offices and a national, regional and social media campaign delivered by EST.

The last campaign in October 2014 was a big success with over 500 events nationwide reaching an estimated 100,000 consumers face to face or through dedicated helplines with many millions more reached through a complementary media campaign.

The waste transfer contracts for the Hinkley Point C power station have been prepared in line with the approach set out in the Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology published in 2011.

As set out in the methodology, the contracts provide for the setting of a Waste Transfer Price for the provision of a waste disposal service. The Waste Transfer Price will be set at a level over and above estimated costs and include a risk premium to compensate the taxpayer for taking on the risk of subsequent cost escalation.

In line with the methodology, the contracts provide that the Waste Transfer Price, and hence the risk premium, is not set at the outset but instead is deferred for a specified Deferral Period to enable greater certainty over expected costs. Therefore the waste transfer contracts for Hinkley Point C do not specify a risk premium. Rather, the contracts set out how the Waste Transfer Price, and hence the risk premium, will be determined at the end of the Deferral Period and the approach in the contracts is in line with the published methodology.

DECC appointed Slaughter and May to provide legal advice in the negotiations on the waste transfer contracts for Hinkley Point C.

The basis on which my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State considers the likelihood of the potential waste transfer contract liabilities arising to be very low is set out in the Departmental Minute laid before Parliament alongside the Written Statement on 21 October, which for ease of reference is annexed.

Two waste transfer contracts are proposed (but have not yet been entered into) for Hinkley Point C, one for intermediate level waste and one for spent fuel. In line with the published Waste Transfer Pricing Methodology, we would expect to publish as much of the waste transfer contracts as possible, except for material of a sensitive nature, if the Secretary of State decides to enter into the Contract for Difference and the waste transfer contracts are signed. We would expect to make these documents available on the www.gov.uk website.

Receipt of the proposal was acknowledged by officials and it will be considered as part of Government’s wider work on SMRs, which includes evidence building through the techno-economic assessment and engagement with SMR vendors where appropriate.

A range of studies has been commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in order to deliver a techno-economic assessment of small modular reactors. The organisations currently under contract to deliver projects for the techno economic assessment are: Atkins Limited (contracted on 22/7/15); Energy Technologies Institute LLP (contracted on 3/8/15); National Nuclear Laboratory Limited (contracted on 3/8/15); Checkendon Hill Ltd (contracted on 25/6/15); and Ernst and Young LLP (contracted on 201/10/15).

The total budget for this study is up to £4.5million excluding VAT. The equivalent of approximately 4 full time staff are supporting the study in my Department.

The final report will be delivered in Spring 2016.

The £24.5 billion figure included financing costs (interest and guarantee costs) assuminga £16 billion IUK guarantee. The £18 billion figure is not directly comparable as it does not include these financing costs.

Officials visited China twice, in July and September, as part of my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s visits at the same time. The cost of the first visit for the relevant officials was £8,900, the cost of the second visit was £6,750. I do not intend to publish minutes of the meetings, which discussed commercially sensitive information.

Officials within my Department have met Westinghouse on two occasions to receive their proposal on small modular reactors (SMRs). Receipt of this proposal was acknowledged by officials and it will be considered as part of Government’s wider work on SMRs which includes evidence building through the techno-economic assessment and engagement with SMR vendors where appropriate.

Delays at the Olkiluoto 3 and Flamanville 3 reactors have resulted from a combination of technical, regulatory and contractual reasons, many of which are unlikely to be repeated at Hinkley Point C due to differing regulatory regimes, improved contracting arrangements and in light of the experience that the developer is gaining from these projects.

In addition, there are strong commercial incentives built into the contract for difference to minimise construction delays and cost overruns. The Contract for Difference (CfD) Strike Price cannot rise if there are construction cost over-runs so any cost overrun would have to be borne by the Project’s investors. Further, low carbon payments under the CfD will only be made once the plant starts generating. The incentives are therefore on the developer to deliver the Project within budget and on time, and if it succeeds in bringing it in under budget, there is a construction gainshare mechanism to ensure sharing of any savings with the consumer.

We have a robust system in the UK for examining whether investments into our country are in the national interest. Safety and security in the civil nuclear industry are of paramount importance to the Government. Companies involved in the UK nuclear industry must do so in accordance with the UK’s stringent regulations enforced by an independent regulator. On this basis we welcome companies which can demonstrate the capability to contribute to safe and secure nuclear power generation in the UK.

There is a longstanding convention of successive Governments not commenting in detail

on security and intelligence matters.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has advised me that safety issues remaining at the end of Step 4 of Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of the European Pressurised Reactor were captured either as GDA Issues or Assessment Findings. GDA Issues are items that ONR requires to be addressed before a Design Acceptance Confirmation can be issued, successfully ending the GDA process, or before nuclear safety related construction can commence on site. All of the GDA Issues were addressed and closed by ONR in 2012. These Issues, the resolution plans to address them and information on their closure are published on ONR’s website:

http://www.onr.org.uk/new-reactors/

Assessment findings are addressed throughout the post GDA phase through routine regulation under the nuclear site licence.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State received a copy of the report on 9 July 2015. The report was discussed with officials at a meeting of my department’s Nuclear NGO Forum on 21 July and it was agreed that a sub-group of the forum should be set up to discuss the Nuclear National Policy Statement. The Department wrote to Together Against Sizewell C (TASC) on 29 July confirming these arrangements. The subgroup will hold its first meeting next month.

The Joint Research and Innovation Centre (JRIC) is envisaged to be the subject of a commercial agreement between the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation.

These two organisations are still in the process of negotiating such an agreement and will need to consider details on the structures, funding, governance and accountability of the JRIC. As such, it is too early for Government to be able to comment on the outcomes of such a negotiation.

We continue to maintain an interest in developments of these discussions and will work, where appropriate, with our counterparts in the Chinese government to ensure that outcomes are mutually beneficial to the research landscape of both nations.

The Joint Research and Innovation Centre (JRIC) is envisaged to be the subject of a commercial agreement between the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation.

These two organisations are still in the process of negotiating such an agreement and will need to consider details on the structures, funding, governance and accountability of the JRIC. As such, it is too early for Government to be able to comment on the outcomes of such a negotiation.

We continue to maintain an interest in developments of these discussions and will work, where appropriate, with our counterparts in the Chinese government to ensure that outcomes are mutually beneficial to the research landscape of both nations.

The Joint Research and Innovation Centre (JRIC) is envisaged to be the subject of a commercial agreement between the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation.

These two organisations are still in the process of negotiating such an agreement and will need to consider details on the structures, funding, governance and accountability of the JRIC. As such, it is too early for Government to be able to comment on the outcomes of such a negotiation.

We continue to maintain an interest in developments of these discussions and will work, where appropriate, with our counterparts in the Chinese government to ensure that outcomes are mutually beneficial to the research landscape of both nations.

The Government will always act in defence of the UK and in accordance with our legal obligations.

The Centre of Nuclear Excellence is a Cumbrian partnership of public and private organisations which aims to maximise the benefit of the region’s nuclear capability and expertise for the local economy and UK as a whole. The organisations involved support the initiative’s work with in-kind contributions of manpower.

A number of communication meetings, seminars, and reciprocal visits have taken place under the Memorandum of Understanding. No projects have as yet been taken forward.

My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Ministers regularly meet stakeholders from across the Higher Education sector to inform policy development including on Higher Education student support.

I refer the hon. Member to the press release published by my office on 10 September. The press release is available on the gov.uk website.

Civil nuclear safety and security are priorities for the Government. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) regulates safety and security at UK licenced nuclear sites and site licensees are required to demonstrate appropriate security plans against a range of relevant threats, which are updated on an on-going basis. The details of these threats are not released on grounds of National Security.

As my statement to the House on Monday 7 September made clear, at a meeting of the most senior members of the National Security Council, it was agreed that should the right opportunity arise, military action should be taken. The Attorney General attended the meeting and confirmed that there was a legal basis for action. Information about the detail of internal proceedings and discussions are not normally disclosed.

The Government is committed to keeping energy bills as low as possible as part of a long-term, coherent and affordable policy framework. The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund was not specifically targeted at those in fuel poverty. We have a number of other policies that do target those in, or at risk of, fuel poverty including the Energy Company Obligation, the Central Heating Fund and Warm Home Discount. .

ECO has delivered more than 860,000 energy efficiency measures in over 700,000 homes with low incomes or in low income areas between January 2013 and the end of June 2015. It will continue to support a further 260,000 of these households each year to March 2017.

CHF recently awarded 20 projects across England a share of £25 million worth of government funding to install first time central heating systems in more than 7,000 fuel poor households.

Warm Home Discount provides financial support to over 2 million low income households each winter with a £140 discount on their energy costs.

The Government is committed to keeping energy bills as low as possible as part of a long-term, coherent and affordable policy framework. The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund was not specifically targeted at those in fuel poverty. We have a number of other policies that do target those in, or at risk of, fuel poverty including the Energy Company Obligation, the Central Heating Fund and Warm Home Discount. .

ECO has delivered more than 860,000 energy efficiency measures in over 700,000 homes with low incomes or in low income areas between January 2013 and the end of June 2015. It will continue to support a further 260,000 of these households each year to March 2017.

CHF recently awarded 20 projects across England a share of £25 million worth of government funding to install first time central heating systems in more than 7,000 fuel poor households.

Warm Home Discount provides financial support to over 2 million low income households each winter with a £140 discount on their energy costs.

In order to meet the 2050 target (80% reduction on 1990 level), we know we will need significant cuts in emissions across all parts of the economy by 2050.

This will not depend on any single technology, such as solar PV. We will need a balanced mix of low carbon technologies, including nuclear, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and renewables, to help tackle the threat of climate change while keeping the lights on and ensuring the best value for consumers.

In November 2014 DECC published estimates of the impact of energy and climate change policies on energy prices and bills.[1] The report estimated that, in 2014, support for renewable electricity projects through the renewables obligation (RO) and feed-in tariffs (FiTs) accounted for around £44 (or around 3%) of average household energy (gas and electricity) bills (in 2014 prices). Of this, an estimated £9 was spent on solar PV.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/estimated-impacts-of-energy-and-climate-change-policies-on-energy-prices-and-bills-2014

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 July 2015 to the hon. Member for Streatham (Chuka Umunna) to Question UIN 5250.

The Government launched a call for evidence on tipping practices on 30 August 2015. This call for evidence is to gather information on how tips, gratuities, cover and service charges are collected and current practice in relation to whether and how much employers deduct from their employees. This includes the use of tronc arrangements for the sharing and allocation of such payments.

As a One Nation Government we want a fair deal on pay for working people and that includes taking action on tipping abuse. The Government will assess the evidence collected through this exercise, and propose any further action to ensure fair and transparent practice in relation to tips, gratuities, cover and service charges.

Interested parties can participate in the call for evidence by responding with evidence before 10 November 2015. The call for evidence can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tips-gratuities-cover-and-service-charges-call-for-evidence.

The cost of the House of Lords is a matter for the House authorities. Any peerages to be created would be made in accordance with established procedure.

My rt. hon Friend the Secretary of State keeps the costs of all DECC’s policies under review. Decisions on departmental budgets will be made as part of the current Spending Review, due to report in the Autumn.

The new National Living Wage (NLW) is an essential part of moving to a higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare society; it ensures that work pays, and reduces reliance on the State topping up wages through the benefits system.

For younger workers, the priority is to secure work and gain experience - something that is already reflected in the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rate structure where the youth rate is currently £1.40 lower than the adult rate.

Just as the Low Pay Commission will recommend the pace of increase for the NLW, they will continue to recommend the NMW rates for all workers under 25 at a level that maximises their earnings without damaging employment prospects by setting it too high.

The Government is aware of the recent reports about Toshiba misstating its profits in Japan. Toshiba’s accounting procedures are a matter for the Japanese financial regulator.

Whipping is a matter for individual political parties and not a matter that the Government can comment on.

We support the efforts of the UK steel industry to demonstrate the quality and sustainability of its product. It is for the industry to make this case to all procurement agencies and the wider industry, and, in that regard, we welcome the voluntary charter and I am pleased that a number of Councils have signed up to it.

The Government is seeking a deal in Paris in December that keeps the goal of limiting average global emissions to below 2°C within reach. The UK has led in taking action to reduce its emissions and has reduced them by 30% since 1990. Our carbon budgets are set to deliver emissions reductions that put us on a pathway to deliver our 2°C consistent 2050 target. They take account of the fact that Britain will still need significant oil and gas supplies while we decarbonise our economy and transition to a low carbon economy, as set out in our 2011 Carbon Plan. Projections show that in 2030 oil and gas will remain a vital part of the energy mix, providing around 70 per cent of the UK’s primary energy requirements. It makes sense to make the most of the UK’s oil and gas resource as any oil and gas that we do not produce ourselves has to be imported, resulting in additional transportation costs and emissions, and increasing levels of production will help maintain security of supply as well as boost growth and jobs.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has received two relevant requests. The first in October 2014 asked:

Please would you send me under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 full documentation provided to the European Commission is support of the UK application for State Aid agreement on the Hinkley Point C nuclear project, in electronic format if possible, including: a report by KPMG on potential distortions to competition; a report by Oxera on market failures, proportionality and potential distortions of competition; a study by Pöyry on potential distortions to the internal market and alternatives to new nuclear; report by Redpoint on the evolution of the UK electricity sector; & details of the Cost Discovery and Verification process, compiled by KPMG and LeighFisher;

The second in December 2014 asked :

I seek disclosure of seven specific documents which the British government appear to have submitted to the EC in defence of its proposed state subsidy to EDF to build nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset. The EC approved this state subsidy on 8^th October 14.

We know of the existence of these documents following a leaked paper as reported by German newspaper der Spiegel. The leaked paper was drafted under the supervision of outgoing competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia. It references these seven documents as follows:

· Modelling work by DECC and analysis of counterfactual scenarios;

· Report by Oxera on market failures, proportionality, and potential distortions of competition;

· Poyry study on potential distortions to the internal market and alternatives to nuclear;

· Redpoint report on the evolution of the electricity sector;

· A description of Cost Discovery and Verification process, which involved KPMG and LeighFisher;

· KPMG report on potential distortions to competition;

· Benchmarking work on the rate of return.

In both instances all information held by DECC was withheld and both decisions are now being appealed to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Austrian challenge is against the European Commission’s state aid approval decision for Hinkley Point C. The timetable for the case will be in accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice of the European Union which are published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The reactor types being proposed for UK build by electricity suppliers are all evolutions of similar, tried and tested light water reactor systems, namely the Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR). Examples of these have been in operation for many years and there are around 356 currently operating worldwide. The UK has a robust regulatory system and any nuclear reactor used in the UK must meet our rigorous safety, security and environmental standards. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is responsible for safety regulation of the UK industry.

Independent estimates for DECC suggest that a First of a Kind (FOAK) new nuclear plant is expected to have a levelised cost of between £79-102/MWh with a central estimate of £89/MWh. As nuclear reaches Nth of a Kind (NOAK) status levelised costs are projected to fall to between £67-89/MWh with a central estimate of £77/MWh, making it a cost effective large scale low carbon technology.­^{1 2}

¹ DECC (2013), Electricity Generation Costs. Quoted costs are using technology specific discount rates.

² The levelised cost is a standardised measure of the net present value of lifetime costs divided by generation for a generic plant under each technology. Given the uncertainties involved, DECC levelised cost estimates are not intended to provide any indication of potential future strike prices for a particular technology or plant under the Feed-in Tariff with Contracts for Difference (CfD) being introduced as part of Electricity Market Reform. Strike prices will vary according to the length and design of the FiT CfD contract, technology, financing costs and in a few limited cases specific project characteristics. To the extent that project specific cost discovery processes are undertaken these will form the starting point of any process of setting a strike price, rather than relying on levelised cost data.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is responsible for monitoring the implementation of recommendations in the HM Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Report on implications from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. An extensive programme of improvements has been undertaken by operators, the ONR and UK Government in response to each of those recommendations. The latest progress update can be found on the ONR website (http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/2014/onr-fukushima-update.pdf). ONR is currently compiling a further progress update and they expect to publish it later this year.

The UK has one of the most robust regulatory and safety regimes in the world, and the sector operates on the principle of continuous improvement.

We will consider the CMA’s provisional findings carefully and respond shortly.

In the meantime this Government continues to focus on keeping bills down through promoting competition, making switching quicker and easier, and providing direct help to the most vulnerable.

We have already:

· tackled barriers hindering the entry and growth of independent suppliers through the Challenger Business Programme

· halved the time it takes to switch supplier;

· put QR codes on bills to allow switching through mobile phones

· delivered a national switching campaign, resulting in £38 million savings by 130,000 households switching energy supplier; and

· provided nearly £3m over three years to the Big Energy Saving Network which has already helped around 220,000 vulnerable consumers with their energy bills.

The Government has implemented a range of measures to support vulnerable households reduce their energy bills, including:

· Winter Fuel Payment - worth up to £300, estimated £ 2.15 billion spent in 2013/14 (specifically for pensioners);

· Cold Weather Payments - provide £25 for every week of a cold spell – in the last cold winter (2012/13) 5.8 million payments were made, estimated over £140 million spent in 2012/13 (specifically for those on low incomes);

· Warm Home Discount: provides assistance to around 2 million low income and vulnerable households with their energy costs each year. Over 1.4 million of the poorest pensioners received £140 off their electricity bill last winter (14/15), over 1.3 million of them automatically.

· Nearly £3m invested over 3 years in the Big Energy Saving Network to help the most vulnerable get the best deal for them and access to available help.

Local authorities have a responsibility to consider appropriate remediation measures, which could include signage if appropriate, where there is evidence of a potential risk to health in the environment. Local authorities in England are advised by Public Health England in relation to health risks associated with radioactive contamination and by the Environment Agency in respect of appropriate remediation measures.

Operators of all nuclear facilities in England must comply with environmental permits issued by the Environment Agency. The Environment Agency also conducts ongoing independent monitoring of the level of radioactivity in the environment and publishes results annually. There is no indication from this programme of a potential health risk in relation to the nuclear facilities at Hinkley Point.

The independent nuclear regulators, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agencies, will continue to ensure robust safety, security and environmental standards at the UK’s nuclear installations.

The 2014 Implementing Geological Disposal White Paper states that formal discussions with interested communities will not start until after a programme of work has been undertaken by my Department and the GDF Developer, RWM. As the White Paper makes clear, this includes development of the detail around how communities can engage with the process.

Radioactive waste management is a devolved matter. Therefore, the Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive each have responsibility for this issue in or as regards Wales and Northern Ireland respectively. These positions were set out clearly in the White Paper, which was issued jointly by the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.

The National Geological Screening Independent Review Panel was established by The Geological Society of London at the request of my Department. It works independently from Government with secretariat support provided by the Science Council, with costs passed to my Department. To date, my Department has allocated £7,000 for the secretariat support and delivery of facilitated public engagement.

The Department also meets the reasonable travel and subsistence costs of panel members and considers requests for recompense for loss of earnings in the case of panel members who are independent consultants. To date, members have been reimbursed a total of:

· Per diem costs - £0;

· Compensation for work time lost due to participation - £0;

· Travel and subsistence costs - £1,303.94.

The Government considers that the safe and secure permanent disposal of radioactive waste in a geological disposal facility is not incompatible with the OSPAR1 strategy to prevent pollution of the maritime area from ionising radiation.

The design and location of a geological disposal facility in the UK has yet to be determined. Full consideration of all UK obligations under international treaties will be taken into account in deciding on the design and location of the facility.

[1] OSPAR (2003) Radioactive Substances Strategy. In: 2003 Strategies of the OSPAR Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic. OSPAR 2003-21. OSPAR, London.

No assessment has been made of the merits of providing potential compensation to communities positioned along transport routes to and from a geological disposal facility.

The UK has more than 50 years’ experience of transporting radioactive waste and materials safely by road, rail and sea. Nuclear fuel is transported routinely from fuel fabrication plants to nuclear power stations, and spent nuclear fuel is transported from power stations to Sellafield for reprocessing and storage.

Transport of radioactive materials is subject to strict controls and is robustly and independently regulated in order to protect people, property and the environment. There have been no transport incidents resulting in any significant radiation dose to an individual in connection with the transportation of radioactive waste and materials between UK nuclear facilities.

No site for a geological disposal facility has been identified. We are at an early stage in the process and the Government expects formal discussions to begin with interested communities in 2017.

The 2014 Implementing Geological Disposal White Paper set out a number of initial actions that will be undertaken by the UK Government and by the developer Radioactive Waste Management Ltd (RWM) to help implement geological disposal. As set out in the White Paper, RWM, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, was tasked by my department to lead a National Geological Screening exercise in an open and transparent manner. The White Paper included a direction from my department that the Geological Society of London take responsibility for establishing an independent review panel to review and evaluate the draft national screening guidance and that this assessment should be achieved through open discussion and engagement with the developer, the public and interested stakeholders. This work has been delivered through a number of events including:

- A technical event in September 2014 organised by the Geological Society and RWM, which was open to all and attended by 80 technical experts representing academia, the geoscience community, the supply chain and non-governmental organisations.

- Nine regional geological society branch meetings, open to geological specialists and members of the public.

- Five non-specialist events for interested members of the general public.

- A meeting in public of a discussion between the Independent Review Panel and RWM on the National Geological Screening Guidance, which was simultaneously streamed live over the internet and a video of which is available on RWM’s website.

In addition, as part of wider communication on the national geological screening exercise, 17 e-bulletins have been sent out to over 550 interested subscribers detailing recent updates and information on past and forthcoming events.

All of this is made clearly available on RWM’s website where anyone can subscribe for further information: www.nda.gov.uk/rwm/national-geological-screening/

The Papal Encyclical raises a number of important issues, including the protection of the planet

The UK Government recognises the importance of tackling climate change. We were the first country to put in place a legally binding long-term target, and we have established five year carbon budgets for reducing emissions into the late 2020s. We met our first carbon budget last year, and according to our latest projections we are on track to meet the next two carbon budgets. The UK Government is also working hard to secure a global climate deal in Paris later this year.

The Department has estimated that building a new fleet of nuclear power stations could reduce household bills by around £78 in 2030. This is calculated by comparing the costs for consumers in a modelled scenario for the future electricity mix with Hinkley Point C and a further role out of the new nuclear programme with the cost for consumer in a scenario where there are no new nuclear power stations by 2030.

There is general agreement internationally that geological disposal provides the safest long-term management solution for higher activity radioactive waste. The evidence of this is set out in documents such as the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2003 report ‘Scientific and Technical Basis for the Geological Disposal of Radioactive Wastes’ and the Nuclear Energy Agency’s Radioactive Waste Management Committee 2008 collective statement ‘Moving Forward with Geological Disposal’.

Having taken into account significant public and stakeholder involvement, many countries have adopted geological disposal as their long-term management solution for higher activity radioactive waste. With the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, the Safety Standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, there is now a common framework that guides national regulatory oversight and implementation of geological disposal.

While there are countries that have yet to decide or issue long-term waste management policies, no country has adopted a permanent solution other than geological disposal.

Detailed evidence that Sweden, Finland, Canada and the US are among those implementing geological disposal is publicly available, but I have provided brief summaries of these programmes below, for your convenience.

In Sweden, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, SKB, is planning to construct a Spent Fuel Repository at Forsmark.

In Finland, the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository is currently under construction. In February 2015, Finnish regulations produced a safety evaluation and issued a statement to the Finnish Government confirming that the facility designed by Posiva can be built to be safe.

In Canada, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is carrying out preliminary assessments with communities that have expressed interest in learning more about hosting a deep geological repository and an associated Centre of Expertise.

In the US, the US Government endorsed the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future in January 2013. These included a call for prompt efforts to develop one or more GDFs.

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, which is Parliament's in-house source of independent, balanced and accessible analysis of public policy issues related to science and technology, has produced a briefing note setting out lifecycle carbon emissions of electricity generating technologies. This briefing note states that from a series of peer-reviewed studies, most estimates of nuclear lifecycle emissions internationally are below 26 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. Some studies referenced in the note place these values much lower even than 26gCO₂eq/kWh, with cited UK nuclear generation estimated to be between 5.5 and 7gCO₂eq/kWh. These figures are comparable to those for offshore wind generation, stated to be between 5.2 and 13gCO₂eq/kWh. Nuclear generation has been a proven, reliable source of electricity generation in the UK and worldwide for decades. The full note on lifecycle carbon emissions is available online at the following address:

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn_383-carbon-footprint-electricity-generation.pdf.

The UK regulatory regime is based upon the principle of an independent regulator backed up by sanctions. The Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 2006 and 2009 concluded that the regulatory arrangements of the then HSE Nuclear Directorate were mature and transparent, with highly trained, expert and experienced staff. A third and final review in 2013 commended the systematic way in which ONR had taken into account previous recommendations and the significant progress made in many areas, including on engagement with licensees, assessment of emergency preparedness and response capability, and regulatory guidance. A progress mission to the UK was carried out in November 2014, which concluded that the majority of the recommendations could be closed. The 2014 IRRS report also commented that ONR’s progress “represents a significant achievement and demonstrates the UK and ONR’s commitment to high standards of nuclear safety and the benefits of the IRRS process.”

Further steps have been taken by the Government to strengthen the UK regulatory regime in the Energy Act 2013, which established the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) as an independent statutory corporation. The Energy Act 2013 also included steps to increase the transparency of nuclear regulation and the accountability of the organisation more generally by statutory requirements to publish and lay before Parliament a five year strategy, an annual plan, an annual report and accounts and for directions made by my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State to be laid before Parliament. Additionally, the ONR publishes an annual assurance statement by the Chief Nuclear Inspector, as part of its annual report and accounts, which is designed to provide independent assurance to the public about the delivery of ONR’s regulatory functions.

The UK regulatory arrangements are considered an example to other countries. At the 5^th Review Meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management in May 2015, the UK regulatory approach to risk reduction and remediation at Sellafield was recognised as ‘good practice,’ meaning a practice that makes a significant contribution to safety and is applicable to other states with comparable programmes of hazard reduction.

DECC’s projections of electricity prices are produced using a detailed model of the electricity market1. Key drivers of the price include fossil fuel prices and carbon prices (including accounting for carbon allowances and the carbon price floor). More details of the Department’s methodology for projecting fossil fuel prices, carbon prices and the carbon price floor can be found at the following:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/360598/DECC_2014_fossil_fuel_price_projections.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/360277/Updated_short-term_traded_carbon_values_used_for_UK_policy_appraisal__2014_.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/81274/consult_carbon_price_support_ia.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/carbon-price-floor-reform.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dynamic-dispatch-model-ddm

The estimated decommissioning and long-term radioactive waste management costs for the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant have been provided by NNB Generation Ltd and reviewed by the Department.

Based on these estimates, we anticipate that the costs will account for around £2 per megawatt hour of the strike price for this power station.

Robust regulations are in place to ensure the radiological protection of nuclear workers and the public. These are enforced by the Office of Nuclear Regulation and by the Environment Agency in England and its counterparts in the Devolved Administrations. The regulations are based on scientific advice from Public Health England which is kept under review. The regulations also conform to principles and standards developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Commission for Radiological Protection as well as EU legislation on radiation safety.

Implementation is monitored and evaluated continuously through regulatory oversight at nuclear plants, to ensure the radiological safety of nuclear workers, and through environmental monitoring to ensure public safety. The UK environmental and food standards agencies jointly publish environmental monitoring results in the annual Radiation In Food and the Environment report. Their most recent report (covering the year 2013) confirmed previous findings that the levels of radioactivity of nuclear origin are well within agreed limits.

In line with recommendations set out by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Department shares national Design Basis Threat information covering the civil nuclear sector with the Office for Nuclear Regulation, and nuclear site licence companies, which include EDF and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The Government and EDF agreed a Strike Price of £89.50/MWh (in 2012 prices) fully indexed to the Consumer Price Index in October 2013. The price benefits from upfront reduction of £3/MWh built in on assumption that EDF will be able to share first of a kind costs of EPR reactors across Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C sites. If the final investment decision is not taken on Sizewell C, the Strike Price for Hinkley Point C will be £92.50/MWh.

The UK Government and EDF are working together to finalise the documentation for the Hinkley Point C project.

No exporters have taken such legal action against the Export Control Organisation in this timeframe.

Whilst this is a commercial matter for the companies we continue to monitor the situation. We remain confident in the Hinkley Point C project – EDF plans for the power station to start producing low-carbon electricity from 2023.

The timetable for completion of the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon is a matter for the project developer. The timetable will be dependent on a number of external factors, including the need to obtain all the necessary statutory consents, the successful conclusion of the Contract for Difference negotiation process and State aid approval.

I value the NGO Forum as an important means of engagement between the Department and this community. I am kept updated on discussions and my attendance will be subject to my diary availability.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) established a Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) in 2012, to provide independent, objective, authoritative, professional scientific advice to the ONR’s Chief Nuclear Inspector, and to explore potential improvements to existing methodologies for calculating accidental aircraft crash frequency.

In order to support its deliberations, the TAP commissioned research on some aspects of the data and methods used in calculating accidental aircraft crash risk. The Health and Safety Laboratory and Loughborough University conducted research and reported to the Panel.

The Technical Advisory Panel made four recommendations, addressed to the Chief Nuclear Inspector. The Chief Nuclear Inspector has fully endorsed the conclusions of the Panel and committed to implementing the report’s recommendations. The Technical Advisory Panel’s Final Report, including the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s forward setting out his response, can be found at:

http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/2015/tap-report.pdf.

Section 4.5 of the Overarching National Policy Statement for Energy and section 2.8 of the Nuclear National Policy Statement set out the Government’s views on consideration of good design in making proposals for major energy infrastructure, including new nuclear power stations. In doing so, the Overarching Energy NPS states that “high quality and inclusive design goes far beyond aesthetic considerations”. The Planning Inspectorate will take the NPSs into account in considering applications for development.

The Energy NPSs are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-policy-statements-for-energy-infrastructure.

Andrew Dunlop has served in the Prime Minister’s Office policy unit in two Governments, has wide-ranging experience of government, politics and business, played an important part in the Scottish Independence Referendum and is widely respected across the political divide in Scotland.

Nominations for honours for political service continue to be considered by the parliamentary and political services honours committee.

Appointments will be made in the usual way. Appointments will be vetted for propriety by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

The detail of the arbitration mechanisms contained in the EU-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be the result of on-going negotiations between the EU and the US.

Any arbitration conducted under the EU-US FTA would involve a fair and transparent procedure, with a range of public and private sector participants including, EU and Member States, investors and arbitrators, with all parties to the dispute able to appoint their own lawyers.

Arbitration proceedings under an international investment treaty are typically carried out on an ad hoc basis, with the tribunal constituted solely for the purpose of resolving a single dispute. The costs of the arbitration are apportioned according to the arbitrators’ findings. Disputing parties may rely upon an international institution, such as the World Bank or the United Nations to provide the procedural rules for the tribunal. These services are provided on a non-profit basis.

The Government is committed to improving energy efficiency. Work on energy efficiency has been carried out across several directorates in the Department over recent years. Following an internal reorganisation within the Department earlier in 2015, the Energy Efficiency Deployment Office no longer exists. The work it previously carried out is now undertaken in a number of different directorates, including those focused on home energy use and business and local energy use.

I refer the hon. Member to the letter I sent to him today. A copy is attached here, and has been placed in the Library of the House.

Appointments will be made in the usual way. Appointments will be vetted for propriety by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

Chequers, Chevening and Dorneywood are not owned by Government. They are administered by trustees in accordance with the terms of the individual trusts.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State does not plan to repeal the Infrastructure Planning (Radioactive Waste Geological Disposal Facilities) Order 2015, which brings development of geological disposal facilities, and the deep boreholes required to assess potential sites for these facilities, within the statutory definition of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects in the Planning Act 2008.

The Government believes that the Planning Act 2008 represents the most appropriate planning regime for infrastructure of this kind.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

This Government has implemented a number of political and constitutional reform proposals. We have established fixed parliamentary terms, successfully implemented individual electoral registration, legislated on MP recall and introduced reforms to lobbying. Changes in the law on succession to the Crown will be commenced across all Realms later this week, and the Bill to fast-track Women Bishops into the House of Lords is expected to receive Royal Assent.

We have also rolled back some of the previous Government’s infringements on civil liberties, including getting rid of ID cards and ending detention without trial.

Information is not available on the overall cost of external advice to support the Government’s application for State aid approval for Hinkley Point C as we do not hold a full breakdown of costs which separates out the total amount for State aid advice from the costs of other external advice associated with the project. There would be a disproportionate cost involved in providing this information.

With regards to (c), all of the relevant information regarding the UK Government’s submissions to the European Commission is available in the Commission’s Closing Decision on the Hinkley Point C State aid case, which was published on 22^nd January 2015:

http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/cases/251157/251157_1615983_2292_4.pdf.

The Government Equalities Office has implemented all of the commitments in the Coalition’s Programme for Government that fall either wholly or in part to us. These were as follows:

I refer the hon. Member to Departmental Business Plans which record all commitments, timescales for completion and progress against them. The Business Plans are fully transparent and are available at: http://transparency.number10.gov.uk

I refer the hon. Member to the Department’s Business Plan which records all commitments, timescales for completion and progress against them. The Business Plan is fully transparent and is available at:

www.transparency.number10.gov.uk.

Neither my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor I have had recent discussions with Vice Chancellor Gabriel on the implications for energy security of the use of imports of Russian gas. We do, however, continue to monitor this issue closely, and to work hard for the reforms required to improve overall energy security in Europe through the EU Energy Union. This has been a regular agenda item at the Energy Council which all EU Member States participate in. These reforms include improving interconnection between energy markets across Europe to provide Member States with more diverse supply sources and increase resilience.

We estimate that direct gas imports from Russia account for 11% of German energy demand. The United Kingdom does not physically import any gas directly from Russia. A small amount of Russian gas may be imported through our interconnector pipelines with the Netherlands and Belgium, but this is likely to be around 1% of the United Kingdom’s demand. Similarly, Germany has gas transit links with Poland, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and others. We cannot definitively determine the final destination of all Russian gas due to the interconnectedness of the pipelines within the European gas market.

Sellafield has had a Chief Security Officer, reporting directly to the Managing Director, in post at all times. The NAO report refers to the Director of Security, Emergency Management and Resilience Programmes (SERP), which is a new post specifically created to manage delivery of the portfolio of security, emergency management and resilience related programmes.

Staffing decisions at the Site Licence Companies are the responsibility of the Board of the SLC. As was appropriate the NDA and DECC were kept informed throughout the process. The new Director started in post on 5 January 2015.

The Department is reviewing the report by the Zero Carbon Hub on Assessing Overheating Risk as well as the other Evidence Review Reports which have been produced. We will take steps to ensure the Zero Carbon Hub’s research can be made relevant to the development of the tools used to assess household energy performance such as the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP).

I already answer questions from randomly-selected backbenchers at Prime Minister’s Questions.

I also refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Bradford East on 4 March 2015, Official Report, column 941.

I also appear before the Liaison Committee three times a year where I answer questions of the Committee’s choosing.

This is an important and ground breaking first report from the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board, who are to be congratulated on the depth of their analysis. I very much welcome their work and the contribution it will make to the debate on where next for the UK nuclear industry.

Work is already on-going in respect to a number of the recommendations. In December last year Government announced up to £67million of capital to provide essential nuclear R&D infrastructure over the next 6 years.

In line with recommendations from NIRAB, the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Energy and Climate Change Committee, we are already undertaking more work to build our understanding of Small Modular Reactors and whether they can play a role in the UK’s future energy mix.

Other recommendations set out by the NIRAB speak to a sustained and longer-term programme of work and will therefore need to be considered as part of any future Government review of spending.

The Government’s 2010 Severn Tidal Power feasibility study [1] assessed the potential for a tidal lagoon near Newport as part of 5 generic Severn Estuary tidal range schemes.

No assessment has been made of the Cardiff tidal lagoon recently proposed by developer Tidal Lagoon Power Ltd.

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/1-severn-tidal-power-feasibility-study-conclusions-and-summary-report

The Civil Nuclear Sharing in Growth Programme has been allocated £27.3 million from the Regional Growth Fund.

The data below details the support given since the establishment of the UKTI Events and Missions Team in 2012; to gather information from further back would incur disproportionate costs.

Since 2012 UKTI has supported, 74 unique private nuclear companies on nine outward trade missions at a total cost of £63,500. The details are:

2012

April- nuclear decommissioning to Japan

November- nuclear decommissioning and waste management to Korea

November- nuclear decommissioning and waste management to Japan

2013

October-general nuclear mission-Korea

2014

January-mission to Korea Atomic Industrial Forum January-mission to UK-China Civil Nuclear July-mission to Nuclear Dialogue-Japan September-mission to Radiex-Japan

2015

November-mission to Taiwan

The NIA has participated in three events, Japan in April 2012; Korea in November 2012 and UK-China in January 2014.

DECC has not undertaken any assessment of the adequacy of the post-accident emergency evacuation plan for the Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Somerset for citizens living on the Welsh side of the Bristol Channel.

Detailed off-site radiation emergency plans are developed by local authorities hosting nuclear sites in accordance with Regulation 9 of the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2001 (REPPIR). Such plans include the application of a range of counter-measures, one of which is evacuation. The local authority must ensure that the off-site emergency plans are resilient to a range of conditions within the Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ).

In the case of Hinkley Point, the DEPZ extends to 3.5 kilometres from the site. In order to prepare for accidents that are much less likely but could affect the wider population, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) REPPIR guidance recommends that a framework should be in place to extend the arrangements in the off-site plan to areas outside the DEPZ. Local Authorities are advised to draw up plans to enable them to extend measures described in their detailed plans if necessary (e.g. in response to very severe emergencies). These are known as “extendibility” plans. Further information about extendibility planning is available on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/69113/NEPLG_guidance_ch_9_-_extendibility.pdf.

The extendibility zones in the Hinkley Point Off-Site Plan do not extend across the Bristol Channel into Wales, however Wales would be notified by DCLG should an incident take place at Hinkley Point.

Off-site plans are reviewed and tested on a regular basis, to assess their accuracy and effectiveness, and are continually updated and improved. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) is responsible for ensuring that such reviews and tests take place in line with REPPIR. Further information about REPPIR is available on the Health and Safety Executive’s website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/radiation/ionising/reppir.htm.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and ONR also continually assess the UK’s overall preparedness in terms of planning for, and being able to respond to, nuclear emergencies.

Following the events at Fukushima in Japan in 2011, ONR carried out a detailed assessment of the implications of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami for the UK (the Weightman Report), which included analysis and recommendations concerning preparedness for severe and prolonged emergencies. The 2011 report and the assessment of progress against the report can be found on the Health and Safety Executive’s website:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/fukushima/.

The Department has received two information requests for documents that DECC provided to the European Commission to assist with their investigation into the State aid case for Hinkley Point C. The requested information was withheld as its release would damage and adversely affect international relations, the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information and the commercial interests of the UK Government in the ongoing discussions on the potential Contract for Difference for Hinkley Point C.

However, all of the relevant information is available in the Commission’s Closing Decision on the Hinkley Point C State aid case, which was published on 22^nd January 2015. This sets out how the UK Government responded to the issues that were raised in the Opening Decision in December 2013 and in the Commission’s consultation with interested parties http://ec.europa.eu/competition/state_aid/cases/251157/251157_1615983_2292_4.pdf

Any Contract for Difference agreed for Hinkley Point C must be published in line with the requirements of the the Contracts for Difference (Allocation) Regulations 2014. In addition, for Hinkley Point C the Government has also committed to publishing summaries of its value for money assessment.

The information requested is not available.

The Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) has not yet been negotiated. The European Commission carried out a public consultation on these provisions last year and has published a report on the consultation responses. The UK, with other EU Member States and the Commission, will consider the report’s findings carefully to understand what is required of ISDS provisions to protect the right of governments to regulate in the public interest.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave in response to the right hon. Member for Croydon South (Mr Ottaway), and to the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) at the Liaison Committee on 24 February 2015. A transcript can be found on the parliament.uk website.

At the European Council on 12 February, during discussions with Chancellor Faymann about the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, I emphasised the right of all EU Member States to determine their own energy mix, including nuclear, to be able to meet their own future energy needs and climate change targets. I will continue to argue this case robustly.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) on 11 February 2015, Official Report, columns 774-775.

The Government already makes clear in legislation and guidance that travel time between assignments should be paid at least the appropriate National Minimum Wage (NMW) rate. Whether a worker paid by the hour is entitled to the minimum wage for periods such as the time spent travelling between home and their first assignment and between their last assignment and home depends on the terms of their contract and whether they are working during that time. We have updated our guidance on the Gov.UK to make it clear that time spent travelling between assignments and rest breaks must be paid at least the NMW.

In relation to training, the NMW rules state that, where a worker is paid according to the number of hours they work, the NMW must be paid for all time spent training.

Workers who are required to be available to work, either on standby or on call, should also receive at least the NMW rate for this time, although there are exceptions in some circumstances.

We encourage any care sector worker who believes that they have been underpaid to make a complaint, using the free and confidential Pay & Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368. HM Revenue & Customs investigate all complaints. In addition, they are currently undertaking proactive enforcement action into the six largest care providers.

DECC officials had initial discussions with the Commission on the possibility of a special (or ‘golden’) share for the Hinkley Point C project. Any arrangement will be designed to be fully compliant with existing EU legislation.

The research through the Decommissioning, Immobilisation and Management of Nuclear Wastes for Disposal Waste (DIAMOND) programme was funded through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and was completed in March 2013.

The research consortium has subsequently been awarded a further research grant to address the broad area of nuclear waste and decommissioning. This new grant brings together key industry partners and leading academic researchers from 11 of the UKs top research intensive universities and builds upon and consolidates the work completed through the DIAMOND programme. As part of the process to award this new grant, the effectiveness and value-for-money of the DIAMOND programme would have been assessed by experts in the field based on the evidence provided by the applicants.

The specific research outputs from the DIAMOND programme are publicly available on the Research Council Gateway to Research portal – http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/project/E898DD38-1C74-41ED-B298-F9BF53FA6376.

When operations finish, the licensees are responsible for safe decommissioning of the well(s) and for restoring the well-site to its previous state or a suitable condition for re-use. The Environment Agency also requires a site condition report to be submitted by the operator, demonstrating that the site is in a satisfactory state before allowing the operator to surrender its environmental permit.

If environmental damage occurs then, in accordance with statutory requirements and government policy, remediation of the damage will be dealt with under the main regimes for dealing with contamination. These are Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009 and Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. These regimes provide for the remediation of environmental damage and contaminated land (including water), and they apply to the extraction of both petroleum and deep geothermal energy.

The petroleum licence issued by DECC enables the Government to ensure that funds are available to discharge any liability for damage from activities under the licence. DECC accordingly assesses, before any petroleum licence is issued, whether a company has adequate financial capacity for its planned operations. DECC also checks at the drilling and, where relevant, production stage that the company has sufficient funding and appropriate insurance.

Information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees is generally not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.

The Government is open to ideas to improve our democratic system. However, online voting has been piloted in various countries, including the UK, and concerns have been raised concerning integrity and security. Therefore, whilst online voting may be something for the Government to consider in the future, it has not been a priority in the current programme.

The Department is aware that the practice of suppliers having to pay to join or remain on a supplier list can cause significant difficulties. As a result, the Government has already taken action to prohibit this practice in certain circumstances.

Our recent consultation, which closed on 2 February, sought to understand the prevalence and impact of this practice in more detail. We will provide a summary of responses shortly. This consultation will strengthen the evidence we have on supplier lists, and will allow us to understand the necessary scope, and implications of possible further changes. This will ensure that any action is appropriately targeted and achieves real change on the ground.

The Inquiry was established by the last Government which determined its terms of operation. Costs of the Inquiry, including remuneration of its Members, can be found on the Iraq Inquiry website.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will be placing appropriate information in the public domain in due course on the change of model at Sellafield.

The Government approved the original contract (for a 17 year period, with fixed review points) with Sellafield Ltd under the ownership of Nuclear Management Partners (NMP) in 2008. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsible for managing that contract. All aspects of the contract review and the decision to extend the contract into the second term were made by the NDA Board in line with its duties and responsibilities under the Energy Act 2004.

The NDA reached its decision to roll the contract forward based on a thorough review of performance in the first period of the contract and consideration of all available options. That showed that whilst mixed, Sellafield was on track to meet 90% of its targets in the first five years of Nuclear Management Partners’ contract and there had been significant improvements in safety.

The Department has oversight of all NDA activity and, given the particular importance of Sellafield, Ministers were kept fully informed of progress. We were satisfied that the NDA’s review was thorough and endorsed the Board’s decision on the basis that at the time it represented the best way forward.

The recruitment sector is regulated by the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (the ‘Conduct Regulations’). The Conduct Regulations require employment businesses to agree a number of terms with the work-seeker, including whether the work-seeker will be employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship, or a contract for services, and the rate of pay that will apply.

The Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate is not aware of any complaints about work-seekers being deliberately wrongly designated as apprentices.

The Inquiry was established by the last Government which determined its terms of operation.

No specific provision was made. If a replacement Committee member was felt to be necessary, they would be appointed in the same way as the current members.

Contractural termination costs will be determined based upon the terms of the contract with Nuclear Management Partners. The precise terms of the contract are commercially confidential but these costs will equate to approximately one per cent of average annual fee. They will be funded from the annual site funding allocated to Sellafield Limited by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, whose overall budget forms a part of the Department’s budget.

Future appointments to the Sellafield Limited Board will be made by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority based upon a thorough review of potential candidates available at the time.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority intends to engage with a number of stakeholders, including through its national forum and the West Cumbria Site Stakeholder Group, as it transitions towards the new arrangements.

In 2014 UK Export Finance (UKEF) has provided two guarantees for export credit loans made by banks for the supply of remote operated vehicles (ROVs) (£14.1m) and a pipe-laying vessel (£61m) to Nigeria and Brazil respectively for general use and not related to a specific project but which may be used in connection with oil exploration and production.

When UKEF is asked to support a project, it applies the OECD Recommendation on Common Approaches for Officially Supported Export Credits and Environmental and Social Due Diligence (the OECD Common Approaches) where this is required. It informs the way in which member Export Credit Agencies should address the environmental social and human rights (ESHR) impacts of projects at a defined location which they are asked to support. However, in the case of the ROVs and pipe-laying vessel, there is no specific project or fixed location in which they would be operated to make it possible to assess environmental impacts. Therefore, in line with the OECD Common Approaches, an impact assessment was not carried out.

The information requested is provided in the table below.

Civil nuclear safety and security are priorities for the Government. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) regulates safety and security at UK licenced nuclear sites and site licensees are required to demonstrate appropriate security plans against a range of relevant threats, which are updated on an on-going basis. The details of these threats are not released on grounds of National Security.

DECC officials are currently reviewing the evidence from the session of the French Parliament and relevant findings will be taken forward with the ONR.

I can confirm that this Department has not been provided with any such information.

The Buildings Performance Institute Europe’s report – ‘Renovation Strategies of Selected EU Countries’ – assesses the Building Renovation Strategies submitted by ten EU Member States to the European Commission in accordance with Article 4 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU).

Of the ten Member States assessed, the UK’s Building Renovation Strategy is considered, along with the reports of three other Member States, to be the most comprehensive and compliant with the provisions of Article 4.

The Department will reflect on the report’s suggestions and give consideration to how these can be addressed in future iterations of the UK Building Renovation Strategy; the Energy Efficiency Directive requires Member States to update their strategies by no later than 30 April 2017.

The 2014 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Emissions Gap report makes clear that while existing levels of global mitigation ambition are not enough to put us on a cost-effective 2˚C trajectory, there is still more than enough global emissions reduction potential to achieve 2030 emissions levels that would be consistent with 2˚C. However, realising this potential will require political will across all countries, and a significant increase in global mitigation action before 2030.

The Report effectively supports the Government's climate change strategy, of taking strong action at home within the legal framework of the Climate Change Act 2008, pressing for ambition from the EU, which recently agreed to a 2030 domestic GHG emissions reduction target of at least 40%, and pushing for credible action from other countries in the context of agreeing a global legally binding agreement at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Paris in December 2015.

The Government’s Disabled Students’ Allowances Equality Analysis considered the impact of all the changes on students with protected characteristics.

We do not believe that these proposals will discourage disabled students from entering or remaining in higher education

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no discussions with the Saudi authorities or EDF Energy on the possibility of Saudi Arabian investment in the Hinkley Point C nuclear power project.

National level lessons identified from Senator 2011 related specifically to the provision of scientific advice and the role of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).

The learning from Senator 2011 and other exercises has informed work, being undertaken as part of DECC’s National Nuclear Emergency Planning and Response Programme, to continuously strengthen the mechanisms to provide scientific advice in a nuclear emergency.

Officials from the Department meet regularly with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to discuss a range of issues on developing nuclear policy that the DECC nuclear NGO Forum decides are germane to its task.

A record of concerns raised, agreed actions and progress against actions for the DECC nuclear NGO Forum meetings are set out in the minutes of meetings which can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/non-governmental-organisation-forum.

Discussion at the Forum focussed on the competitiveness of education systems and the promotion of innovative businesses, with a particular focus on clean energy.

I discussed the issue of terrorist financing with His Highness The Emir, and the role that both our countries can play to tackle it. I welcomed the recent legislation to prevent terrorist funding in Qatar by regulating charities that are involved in politics or send money abroad and encouraged swift implementation of this legislation. We agreed to increase cooperation on sharing information on groups of concern.

The Government believes it is in the UK's interest to create modern investment provisions in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to both encourage investment and create a potential model for future trade and investment agreements with other countries. The Government wants provisions which guarantee the right of governments to legislate in the public interest, while assuring access to justice for investors who are discriminated against or treated unfairly.

As per the answer given to Question 210445, it is not appropriate to extract and publish the titles from correspondence with the European Commission:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2014-10-14/210445/.

The UK’s cross-government arrangements for responding to emergencies, irrespective of cause or location, are detailed in the Central Government’s Concept of Operations. The central government CONOPS is supplemented by a range of nuclear emergency planning guidance, available on the GOV.UK website, to ensure that local and national agencies are aware of how the response to a nuclear emergency would be coordinated and their roles and responsibilities during the response.

The UK has longstanding nuclear emergency arrangements which are continually reviewed in response to changing circumstances, improved techniques, and lessons learnt from emergency exercises and real events.

Nuclear emergency plans are developed under the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations, 2001. The Office for Nuclear Regulation regulates the requirements to review and test plans for relevant nuclear sites on a regular basis.

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) works in line with the Government’s Industrial Strategy. The whole UKTI network works predominantly in these priority sectors to support UK exporters and attract foreign direct investment to the UK.

The table below shows the number of civil service staff working in our core sector teams in our HQ, and the budget allocated to each team[1].

[1] This core resource is supplemented by specialist contractors, sector teams in our global network, and our trade advisors in the English regions. The core budget is supplemented by funding for cross-cutting activity including trade fairs and missions, marketing, and the services provided by our 430 Trade Advisors in the English regions to help UK companies export to new markets.

It should be noted that UKTI DSO operates as a separate unit, whereas the other UKTI sector teams utilise more shared resource in addition to the numbers tabled below.

At 1 April 2014 the UK Trade and Investment Defence and Security Organisation had 128 staff-in-post. As at 1 April the 2014-15 budget for UKTI DSO was £10.5M NET.

Individuals who are entitled to the National Minimum Wage should receive it and we are committed to taking the steps necessary to improve compliance; ensuring employers understand their responsibilities and workers know their rights, and ensuring robust enforcement of the law.

Detailed guidance, including how to calculate the minimum wage, is available on the gov.uk website. Confidential advice is also available for both workers and employers through the Pay and Work Rights Helpline. Any worker who is concerned that they have not been paid what they are legally entitled to or who wants to make a complaint, should call the helpline on 0800 917 2368.

We have taken a number of steps to strengthen enforcement activity. This year, HMRC’s enforcement budget has increased by £1.2million to £9.2 million. This extra funding will enable HMRC to increase the number of National Minimum Wage compliance officers who, as well as continuing to respond to every complaint, will also undertake targeted enforcement, focusing on the worst offending employers in the highest-risk sectors.

Employers who are found to have broken the law face substantially higher penalties. We increased the financial penalty percentage that employers pay for breaking minimum wage law from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the unpaid wages owed to workers and the maximum penalty from £5,000 to £20,000. The increase came into effect on 7 March 2014. Since revising the Government’s naming scheme, we have also named 30 employers who between them owed over £50,000 in arrears, to provide further incentive to all employers to comply.

As a matter of policy the UK Government does not publish its correspondence with the European Commission in relation to State aid. In addition, it would not be appropriate to publish all the documents because they contain commercially confidential information.

The European Commission announced its decision in relation to the Hinkley Point C State aid case on 8 October 2014:

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-1093_en.htm

In Bonn, our departmental negotiators will be working towards a successful outcome at the Lima COP in December this year, where we want to: i) pave the way for countries to bring forward their post-2020 emissions reduction offers for the new agreement in early 2015, ii) agree the elements of the draft negotiating text for Paris, and iii) agree on the next steps on enhanced action to close the pre-2020 mitigation gap.

There are no extant licences for export of arms to the governments of Ukraine or Russia.

We do not hold data on actual arms sales, only on export licences we have granted.

However, we have not granted licences for arms to either the Ukrainian or Russian Governments since February 2014.

The UK and Saudi Arabia enjoy close cooperation in countering the shared terrorist threat against both our countries. The Saudi Arabian Government has condemned acts of terrorism and extremism around the world, and now has in place one of the most advanced de-radicalisation programmes anywhere.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the life cycle emissions associated with the generation of electricity from nuclear power groups are virtually zero-carbon with no direct CO2 emissions and less than 1 per cent of the life-cycle CO2 emissions of natural gas or any other fossil fuel.

The Nuclear Institute announced the formation of the N-Group, an informal group of representatives of organisations interested in the UK nuclear industry, in June. No additional resources have been provided to non-departmental public bodies responsible to the Department to support participation in N-Group and I have had no discussions with the Office for Nuclear Regulation about participation.

I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made on 1 September 2014, Official Report, columns 23-27.

Through the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) 7 grants of £1,500 each are being made available for eligible UK businesses at the World Nuclear Exhibition.

A company can be eligible if they:

- are classed as small or medium-sized or a UK university or UK publicly funded centre of higher or further learning or UK publicly funded research organisation;

- have been exporting for less than 10 years or did not exhibit at the previous edition of the event in question; and

- do not breach a limit of 12 TAP grants since 1 April 2009 including no more than 6 in non-emerging and high growth markets.

Parliamentary questions are answered by the relevant Minister.

The UK became an observer member of the SESAME Interim Council in 2001. Professor Samar Hasnain of Liverpool University has represented the UK Government at the SESAME Council, following his appointment in 2004. The Government has provided funding since 2008/9 to Professor Samar Hasnain to support his role as the UK’s representative on the SESAME council as follows:

- 2008/9 – 2013/14: £15k per annum

- Additional funding of £22k per annum was recently approved following a review of the project for the financial years 2014/15 – 2015/16

Professor Samar Hasnain in his role as an observer undertakes various activities on behalf of the Government for the progress of SESAME including:

- Representing the Government at the Interim Council meetings

- Producing an annual report on SESAME and its benefits to the UK; and

- Spreading awareness of the existence and desirability of SESAME to existing and potential SESAME member countries.

He is also an active member of the Science Advisory Committee which meets twice a year.

This Department does not currently fund any other collaborative scientific research projects between Israel, Iran and the Palestinian Authority.

Information provided to my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State on reportable nuclear safety and security events since May 2010 (including transportation of radioactive material) can be found in the following published documents, which also describe actions taken by the regulator:

Nuclear safety - Office for Nuclear Regulation quarterly statements of nuclear incidents at nuclear installations: http://www.onr.org.uk/quarterly-stat/index.htm

Transportation of radioactive material - Radiological Consequences Resulting from Accidents and Incidents Involving the Transport of Radioactive Materials in the UK – 2010 and 2011 respectively: http://www.hpa.org.uk/Publications/Radiation/CRCEScientificAndTechnicalReportSeries/HPACRCE024/ and http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1317135870611

Nuclear security - The state of security in the civil nuclear industry and the effectiveness of security regulation, April 2009 to March 2011 and April 2011 to March 2012 respectively: http://www.onr.org.uk/ocns/ocns0911.pdf and

http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/cn-security-annual-review.pdf

ONR Annual Reports - Office for Nuclear Regulation Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Report 2013: http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/cni-annual-report-2013.pdf and Office for Nuclear Regulation Annual Report and Financial Position (including Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Annual Statement) 2013/14: http://www.onr.org.uk/documents/2014/onr-annual-report-1314.pdf.

The Government is in the early stages of its consideration of small modular reactors (SMRs) and is awaiting the outcome of a feasibility study, led by the National Nuclear Laboratory with the support of a consortium formed from industry. The study will make initial recommendations on the economic, technical and commercial case for SMRs, and will inform the evidence base for any further development or action.

Should industry or any other body propose to deploy an SMR in the UK then the independent regulators will ensure compliance of the design with safety, security and environmental legislation.

The Nuclear Innovation and Research Office (NIRO) is an independent body, hosted by the National Nuclear Laboratory and contracted, by Government, to provide technical support and expert secretariat services to the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board (NIRAB). It was created at the end of 2013.

With the exception of the Chair, appointments to the NIRAB are unfunded, however Government has currently contracted NIRO for services worth £650,000 and this contract runs until March 2015. The NIRO employs four full time staff who are currently seconded from the NNL and Rolls Royce Ltd. The wages of these employees are included in the contractual arrangements. The skills make-up of the staff in the NIRO is a matter for the organisation itself.

The NIRO does not undertake research in its own right and, to date, has not issued any publications. The NIRO, in its function as the secretariat to the NIRAB, is considering the best way to make future work or documentation publically available.

The Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board was created at the beginning of 2014 and is tasked with providing information and advice to Government and other public sector funding bodies on the priorities for UK nuclear innovation and options for better coordinating the UK nuclear Research landscape. The first annual report is expected from the Board at the beginning of next year. It is intended that this will be published.

With the exception of the Chair, appointments to the NIRAB are unfunded. The NIRAB does not have an annual budget, however Government has contracted with the Nuclear Innovation and Research Office (NIRO) to provide secretariat support to the NIRAB.

Members were invited to join NIRAB, by Ministerial decision, for a period of up to three years. Members were selected on the basis of their individual ability to provide credible, authoritative and expert advice across a number of sectors related to UK nuclear research and innovation. Members are appointed as individuals and are expected to represent the interests of their sectors.

Other than the annual report, no further studies are currently commissioned from or by the NIRAB. As part of the evidence gathering activities for the annual report, NIRAB will consider the on-going feasibility study into Small Modular Reactors being undertaken by an industry consortium led by the National Nuclear Laboratory.

The NIRO, in its function as the secretariat to the NIRAB, is considering the best way to make future work or documentation, such as the minutes of the NIRAB meetings, publically available.

The Ministerial Code sets out Ministers' lines of accountability to Parliament.

The potential health impacts of chemical or radioactive exposure from shale gas activities have been considered by Public Health England, which published a draft report for comment in October 2013 and a final report in June 2014 entitled Review of the Potential Public Health Impacts of Exposures to Chemical and Radioactive Pollutants as a Result of the Shale Gas Extraction Process:

http://www.hpa.org.uk/Publications/Environment/PHECRCEReportSeries/PHECRCE009/.

Public Health England considered the University of Missouri study as part of its review of the literature and data for the final report (see section 8.2).

The report concluded overall that “An assessment of the currently available evidence indicates that the potential risks to public health from exposure to the emissions associated with shale gas extraction will be low if the operations are properly run and regulated.” It noted that “Where potential risks have been identified in the literature, the reported problems are typically a result of operational failure and a poor regulatory environment.”

In the UK, all chemicals which are proposed for use in the hydraulic fracturing process are assessed in advance by the environmental regulators. Operators will not be able to use chemicals for well stimulation unless the Regulator considers them acceptable for use.

Allowing the use of a chemical at one site does not automatically mean the Regulator will allow it to be used elsewhere. This is because the environmental risks may be different, for example, due to local geological conditions.

All civil nuclear material in the UK is subject to Euratom safeguards and the terms of the UK/Euratom/IAEA Voluntary Safeguards Agreement, including its Article 14. As part of the 1998 Strategic Defence Review, the Government announced that as a matter of policy future withdrawals of nuclear material from safeguards would be severely limited, and that the quantities of material involved would be orders of magnitude less than the amounts used to make nuclear weapons. There is no intention to withdraw from safeguards the plutonium recently allocated to the UK by Germany and Sweden. Information on nuclear material withdrawn from safeguards is available on the Office for Nuclear Regulation website at:

www.onr.org.uk/safeguards/withdrawals.htm

The Higher Education-Business and Community Interaction survey showed that contract research from business carried out by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) amounted to £441m in 12-13. However, information is not held on the precise terms of these contracts or the physical locations in which they are fulfilled.

Where an HEI is in receipt of research grants from the science budget and HE funding bodies, a requirement of the funding is that the outcomes are made publicly available, although HEIs are also encouraged to secure necessary intellectual property protection to enable subsequent exploitation. The Government is also implementing a policy of “Open Access” to the published findings of this publicly funded research. In the case of research consultancy, where the research is entirely funded by business, then the outcome would normally be owned by the business.

Government is committed to ensure the application of research and getting universities and business working more closely together. World Economic Forum evaluation now ranks UK among the top 5 in the world for university-industry collaboration in R&D. Individual institutions have obligations under State Aid regulations and under their Charity status to ensure that their contract work with business is managed appropriately.

We estimate that investment in new, cleaner energy infrastructure through the government's Electricity Market Reforms will help support up to 250,000 jobs by 2020. This reflects estimates of how many jobs could be supported by electricity generated using renewable, nuclear, and carbon capture and storage technologies, and includes jobs in the relevant supply chains.

In nuclear energy, we estimate there will be between 69,000 and 81,000 jobs by 2020. This is made up of 29,000-41,000 jobs across the nuclear supply chain at the peak of construction activity, from the 16GW of new build capacity industry is planning to build by 2030, in addition to the 40,000 people currently employed in nuclear energy.¹

We also estimate that up to 200,000 jobs could be supported in renewable electricity by 2020. This estimate is based on the Renewable Energy Association's estimate of employment in the sector in 2012/13², and a range of possible deployment levels in 2020 as set out in the Government's Electricity Market Reform Delivery Plan.3

Within the carbon capture and storage sector, we estimate that around 8,000 jobs could be supported in the early stages of deployment by 2020.⁴

[1] The Economic Benefits of the UK's Nuclear Supply Chain Capabilities, Oxford Economics, 2013 (A report commissioned for DECC) https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/168017/bis-13-633-the-economic-benefit-of-improving-the-uk-nuclear-supply-chain-capabilities.pdf

2 REVIEW – Renewable Energy View 2013, Renewable Energy Association, April 2014 (http://www.r-e-a.net/resources/rea-publications).

3 EMR Delivery Plan, DECC, 2013 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-market-reform-delivery-plan)

4 DECC estimate DECC estimate based on AEA analysis – Assessing the domestic supply chain barriers to the commercial deployment of carbon capture and storage within the power sector (2013). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessing-the-domestic-supply-chain-barriers-to-the-commercial-deployment-of-carbon-capture-and-storage-within-the-power-sector

On June 17 2014, the UK and China signed the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation. DECC was also a co-signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Co-operation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain. Both documents are online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/multimillion-boost-to-uk-economy-as-china-and-uk-government-sign-civil-nuclear-agreement-and-sign-agreement-to-deepen-cooperation-on-climate-change

Recent changes in the estimated costs of dealing with legacy radioactive waste and decommissioning announced in the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's Annual Report and Accounts for 2013/14 are due in their entirety to the decommissioning programme at Sellafield. These costs should not be used as a guide to costs of decommissioning modern nuclear reactor sites. The vast majority of the liability at Sellafield is a result of the Cold War military programme on that site, dating back to the 1940s, and the very early days of the civil nuclear industry, dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. These historic facilities were built extremely rapidly to very different quality and safety standards compared with nuclear plants constructed today and without plans for how they would be ultimately decommissioned, These facilities present a unique decommissioning challenge requiring a complex suite of engineering projects in order to first gain access to their waste inventory before retrieving and then treating this material ready for long-term disposal. The activity required to decommission these facilities at Sellafield bears no relation to the work required to decommission modern nuclear facilities. Operators of nuclear power stations being constructed under the Government's new build programme are required to publish plans detailing how these facilities will be decommissioned and the operators themselves are liable for the costs associated with this decommissioning work.

The decision on contract extension was for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in line with its duties and responsibilities under the Energy Act 2004. The Department has oversight of all NDA activity and, given the particular importance of Sellafield, officials were closely involved throughout the contract review. From this we were assured that the NDA reached its decision based on a thorough and independent review of performance in the first period of the contract and consideration of all the options available to it. Ministers endorsed the NDA Board's decision to extend the contract for a second term on the basis that rolling the contract forward represented the best way forward, giving the opportunity for NMP to build on progress made to date, address weaker areas of performance and make further real progress in this next five year term.

As reported in the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's Annual Report and Accounts for 2013/14, the Nuclear Provision (the estimated cost to complete the decommissioning of all 17 sites in the authority's estate) is now calculated as £65bn on a discounted basis (£110bn undiscounted). These costs will be borne in their entirety by the public purse.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has not funded any co-sponsored research with US, French and German counterparts, at the US Sandia National Laboratories into the safety and security of spent nuclear fuel casks.

On 17 June 2014, the UK signed two agreements relating to civil nuclear energy at the UK-China Summit. Both the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation and the Memorandum of Understanding on Enhancing Co-operation in the Field of Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain are on the gov.uk website and can be viewed via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/multimillion-boost-to-uk-economy-as-china-and-uk-government-sign-civil-nuclear-agreement-and-sign-agreement-to-deepen-cooperation-on-climate-change

From April 12th-15th, three officials from the Office for Nuclear Development visited Beijing to discuss the Joint Statement on Civil Nuclear Energy Co-operation and Memorandum of Understanding on Enhanced Co-operation on Civil Nuclear Industry Fuel Cycle Supply Chain with the Chinese Government. Officials also attended various other meetings to understand Chinese civil nuclear capability and to explain UK regulatory requirements. The cost of this visit was £11, 787.38.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State met with Premier Li and various Chinese companies to discuss areas of on-going cooperation within the nuclear power sector. During these discussions the UK and Chinese Governments signalled a deepening of their partnership on civil nuclear energy through the signing of a joint statement on civil nuclear power.

Alongside this, HMG have signed a Four Party Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Civil Nuclear Fuel Cycle Supply Chain with the INS, CNNC and CAEA to further cooperation across the civil nuclear backend fuel cycle, creating potential commercial opportunities for UK companies.

Both countries see the importance of working together on the UK's nuclear new build programme, China's own domestic civil nuclear programme and in third country markets, to maximise the billion pound opportunities this presents for both UK and Chinese companies.

Both the joint statement and Four Party MoU are published on our website at

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/multimillion-boost-to-uk-economy-as-china-and-uk-government-sign-civil-nuclear-agreement-and-sign-agreement-to-deepen-cooperation-on-climate-change.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Barnsley East on 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 338W.

The table below shows imports of crude oil to the United Kingdom from Libya for each of the last five years. The data are rounded to the nearest 1,000 barrels and the 2013 number is provisional.

Imports of crude oil to the UK from Libya (barrels at 7.37 barrel per tonne)

Information on nuclear material withdrawn from safeguards is available on the Office for Nuclear Regulation website at www.onr.org.uk/safeguards/withdrawals.htm, in the same format as provided to Parliament on 28 July 2000 (Official Report, column 1094W) and in the written answer to Parliament on 1 March 2001 (Official Report, column 732-733W). The website provides annual reports on withdrawals from 2001 to 2013. As indicated in footnote 3 to each table, the advance notifications of withdrawal of depleted uranium shielded containers were temporary. All other withdrawals were permanent.

In 2014, the notifications received to date are as follows:

Table: Summary of Notifications of Withdrawals from Safeguards (2014, year to date)

Notes

1. Tabulated information covers advance notifications of withdrawal approved by ONR - Safeguards.

2. There are no facilities outside safeguards that have material in such quantities and forms, and defence establishment requirements for these specialist materials have therefore been met by supply from civil organisations.

3. The advance notifications of withdrawal for depleted uranium shielded containers were for temporary withdrawals, the containers being used during the replacement of spent radioactive sources at UK defence establishments.

In December 2013, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) received a notification from EDF Energy of the intention to extend the planned operating life of Dungeness B AGR power station (as required under the Nuclear Liabilities Funding Agreement). Information relating to this process was shared with the Department. The decision on whether in practice to extend the life of the plant will be a commercial matter for EDF Energy. This is subject to the relevant safety and security regulations.

On 26 May 2014, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) signed an agreement with the Shenzhen Municipal Government to set up a training and R&D centre in China's fastest growing city.

The centre in Shenzhen will deliver training on a national scale to other cities and promote its services including certifying buildings to green construction standards.

BRE aims to certify over 1,000 buildings across China to its standards which will generate £10 million income and could create up to £200 million of work for UK supply chain companies.

Safety and security are top priorities for the Government and there is a robust security framework in place for the civil nuclear industry. We seek continuous improvement in line with internationally established principles. The UK has a strong and effective independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which ensures compliance with the requirements placed on duty holders by the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 (as amended) and the performance-based National Objectives, Requirements and Model Standards (NORMS). There is extensive engagement between the Government, ONR and duty holders. The full set of UK commitments made at the Nuclear Security Summit which go towards meeting paragraph 27 of the Summit's Communiquécan be found at the following link:

https://www.nss2014.com/sites/default/files/documents/140321_uk_national_statement_on_commitments.pdf

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has published strategies for the management of spent Magnox and Oxide fuel; it is from these spent fuels that plutonium is separated. These strategies are aligned with UK Government policy and their implementation is expected to see cessation of reprocessing in Magnox and THORP facilities during this decade.

With respect to Magnox fuel, the intent is to reprocess all of it. Only a finite amount of Magnox fuel remains, which limits the amount of further separated plutonium that could be produced from reprocessing. Reprocessing is the only approved process for managing this metal fuel.

With respect to Oxide Fuel management, an NDA paper sets out the strategy which is to complete the reprocessing contracts in THORP, as far as is reasonably practicable, and place the remaining fuel and any future arisings into interim storage pending disposal. The paper can be found at http://www.nda.gov.uk/documents/upload/Oxide-Fuels-Preferred-Options-June-2012.pdf

Both these strategies see the amount of plutonium separated in the future being limited in line with national requirements.

The supplier obligation will raise funds to cover all liabilities under all Contracts for Difference (CfDs), including nuclear ones. All licensed suppliers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be obliged to pay the supplier obligation in due course.

There is a strong consensus in the global scientific community that nuclear energy represents one of the lowest carbon forms of baseload electricity generation.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that the life cycle emissions associated with the generation of electricity from nuclear power groups are 16g CO₂ per kWh electricity produced. This is very low compared to the equivalent figure for electricity produced by natural gas turbines, which is in excess of 400g CO₂/kWh, and similar to the IPCC's estimate for widespread non-baseload form of electricity generation, such as wind.

The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology report ‘Carbon Footprint of Electricity Generation' states that the operation of the nuclear power station accounts for less than 1% of the total life cycle emissions of nuclear electricity generation.

Details of meetings held by Ministers and Permanent Secretaries with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK. That transparency will be further extended by the recently enacted Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act, Part 1 of which will require consultant lobbyists that meet with Ministers and senior officials to declare their clients on a publicly available register.

I did not discuss this issue during my recent visit to Israel.

The Government consistently call on Israel to join the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state and to agree a full scope Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. We continue to support the objective of a Middle East free from Weapons of Mass Destruction and continue to encourage Israel to participate in discussions to that end.

When I met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 30 April, I discussed a range of issues, including on foreign and security policy.

It is the UK's position that all countries should join and abide by the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.

I have not met my Pakistani counterpart this month.

At our meeting on 30 April I will discuss a range of foreign policy issues with Prime Minister Sharif.

The Radioactive Incident Monitoring Network (RIMNET) is the UK Government's radiation monitoring and nuclear emergency response system which is operated on a 24 hour a day, seven days a week basis by the Met Office, on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Data from RIMNET has been inspected and shows no evidence of increased levels of radioactivity across the UK.

The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes a programme of far-field monitoring, away from nuclear sites, of radioactivity in air and rainwater. This programme involves constantly sampling air through filters in High Volume Air Samplers. Filters are changed on a weekly basis and subsequently analysed. Past Saharan dust events have not caused any detectable increase in radioactivity on the filters. Results for the changed filters on 31st March and 7th April should be available in the next few days. The results will be published as consolidated data in the annual Radiation in Food and the Environment (RIFE) report which is published jointly by a number of UK and devolved agencies. Previous RIFE reports are available here:

http://www.sepa.org.uk/radioactive_substances/publications/rife_reports.aspx.