Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
These initiatives were driven by Paul Flynn, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
A Bill to enable persons in England to withhold consent for organ donation and transplantation; and for connected purposes.
European Union Withdrawal Agreement (Public Vote) Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Gareth Thomas (LAB)
Business of the House Commission Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Peter Bone (CON)
I have read the letter from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure the honourable member that Government always seeks to engage people in a responsible and considered way.
The House of Commons Commission does not hold such information as it is the House of Lords which has always been responsible for the purchasing of vellum. It would therefore be for the House of Lords to reply.
The House of Commons Commission does not hold such information as it is the House of Lords which has always been responsible for the production of record copies of Acts. In his letter of 17 September 2015 to the Administration Committee, the then House of Lords Chairman of Committees said that “Between 2009/10 and 2014/15 the cost to the Lords of producing vellums averaged slightly over £100,000 per year”.
Licensees of UK nuclear sites are required by ONR to demonstrate that they have resilience against a range of external threat scenarios. These scenarios are updated regularly considering developments in technology and other areas. The airspace over UK nuclear licensed sites is restricted by the Air Navigation (Restriction of Flying) (Nuclear Installations) Regulations 2007. These impose restricted airspace of a radius between 0.5 and 2 nautical miles and to a height of between 1000 and 2400 feet above mean sea level around the centre of those nuclear licensed sites listed in Schedule 2 of the Regulations. Airspace usage in the UK is regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
The security of the UK’s civil nuclear sector is of paramount importance to the Government. The Nuclear Industry Malicious Capability Planning Assumptions (NIMCA) provide a common basis for determining the sector’s required protective security posture. It is reviewed by DECC, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), and industry representatives on an annual basis. To ensure that the NIMCA assumptions remain appropriate, these annual reviews are supplemented with assessments of threat information provided by the police and the intelligence agencies on an ongoing basis. Additionally, the ONR maintains a permanent presence within the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, which guarantees the fastest possible identification and notification of intelligence that might indicate changes to present and foreseeable threats to civil nuclear sites.
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.
Staff | Budget, £m | |
Consumer, Retail & E-exporting | 11 | 5.7 |
Creative Industries & Global Sports & Construction | 25 | 3.1 |
UKTI Education | 8 | 1.0 |
Energy & Transport | 27 | 3.7 |
Healthcare UK | 13 | 1.6 |
Information Economy | 16 | 2.9 |
Advanced Manufacturing | 8 | 1.2 |
UKTI Agri-Tech Organisation | 3 | 1.2 |
UKTI Automotive Investment Organisation | 5 | 1.7 |
UKTI Financial Services Organisation | 8 | 1.7 |
Innovation Gateway | 7 | 1.3 |
UKTI Life Science Organisation | 9 | 2.2 |
UKTI Offshore Wind Investment Organisation | 2 | 1.1 |
UKTI Regeneration Investment Organisation | 1 | 1.4 |
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.
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 8th 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 5th 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/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:
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 22nd 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:
We will promote equal pay and take a range of measures to end discrimination in the workplace. |
We will look to promote gender equality on the boards of listed companies |
We will use our relationships with other countries to push for unequivocal support for gay rights and for UK civil partnerships to be recognised internationally. |
We will introduce extra support for people with disabilities who want to become MPs, councillors or other elected officials. |
We will help schools tackle bullying in schools, especially homophobic bullying. |
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:
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.
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:
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 22nd 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 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.
Post | Company | Start Date | End date |
International Cyber Director | BAES Applied Intelligence | 2 September 2013 | 31 March 2015 |
Typhoon Campaign Coordinator | BAE Systems | 27 January 2014 | 31 December 2015 |
Joint Export Management Team Member | MBDA UK Limited | 10 February 2014 | 26 February 2016 |
Protocol Officer | BAE Systems | 8 September 2014 | 6 March 2015
|
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.
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:
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].
Staff | Budget, £m | |
Advanced Manufacturing | 6 | 1.3 |
UKTI Agri-Tech Organisation | 3 | 1.3 |
UKTI Automotive Investment Organisation | 2 | 2.0 |
Construction | 10.5 | 1.5 |
Consumer & Retail | 9 | 2.3 |
Creative Industries & Global Sports | 12 | 2.7 |
UKTI Education | 10 | 1.1 |
Energy | 20 | 2.6 |
UKTI Financial Services Organisation | 6 | 2.0 |
Healthcare UK | 8 | 1.6 |
Information Economy | 11 | 3.0 |
Innovation Gateway | 2 | 1.7 |
UKTI Life Science Organisation | 6 | 2.6 |
UKTI Offshore Wind Investment Organisation | 1 | 1.1 |
UKTI DSO | 128 | 10.5 |
[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:
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.
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 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:
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:
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
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)
2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | |
Barrels | 14,828,000 | 21,557,000 | 5,638,000 | 20,032,000 | 13,598,000 |
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)
Number of withdrawal notifications (by type of nuclear material involved)1 | Reason for withdrawal |
One notification involving plutonium (Pu), µg quantities. | One notification for use in analysis/analytical purposes (e.g. samples, standards/tracers and/or in instrument calibration) from organisations that provides standards/tracers and/or nuclear material for instrument calibration2 One notification also involved mg quantities of natural uranium2. |
Two notification involving high enriched uranium (HEU), total ~ 0.4 g. | Two notifications for material contained in radiation detectors2 (from a company that manufactures radiation detectors). |
Nine notifications involving depleted uranium (DU), total ~348 kg. | Nine notifications for depleted uranium as shielding containers3. |
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:
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.
It is a longstanding constitutional convention, set out in the Cabinet Manual and the Ministerial Code, that the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised, and the content of their advice, must not be disclosed without their authority. The convention exists for fundamental constitutional reasons and to promote the public interest in the Rule of Law. Whether the Law Officers have advised and the content of that advice is part of the collective Cabinet decision-making process. The convention reflects the public interest in collective Cabinet responsibility. It also reflects the fact that Law Officers’ advice is confidential legal advice and, as with all professional legal advice, it is subject to legal professional privilege. In addition, it acknowledges the feature of Law Officers’ advice which sets it apart from other legal advice, namely that it is sought in relation to issues of particular complexity, sensitivity and constitutional importance. It is a matter of constitutional importance that the provision of advice in these circumstances should be protected in the public interest.
A decision to disclose would require an exceptional countervailing public interest. No such case has arisen since May 2015.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) maintains no central record of defendants prosecuted for the offence of possession of cannabis. This information could only be obtained by examining CPS case files, which would incur a disproportionate cost.
The Serious Fraud Office has been following closely the emerging allegations and holds material which it is actively reviewing.
I meet the Director and other Ministers frequently to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.
The Attorney General and I frequently meet representatives of the Crown Prosecution Service to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is not an investigative agency and will only bring cases to court that have been referred by the police or another Law Enforcement Agency.
The Financial Conduct Authority has regulatory responsibility for payday lenders along with other financial institutions and may either investigate criminal conduct themselves or refer it to another agency or force, as appropriate.
There has been recent publicity about the conduct of one particular payday lender, Wonga. It was widely reported that the Financial Conduct Authority are to refer a file to the police for consideration of whether a criminal investigation is appropriate. This followed the announcement that Wonga would pay £2.6 million in compensation, after sending letters from non-existent law firms to customers in arrears.
The CPS Deputy Head of the Specialist Fraud Division has met with the City of London Police to discuss this case. City of London Police are the national police lead in substantial fraud investigations. At this stage, the police have still to consider whether a criminal investigation is required and no advice has been sought from the CPS. Any referral to the CPS will be made to the Specialist Fraud Division.
Details of Ministerial UK official visits and official meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.
Details of Ministerial UK official visits and official meetings with external organisations and individuals are published quarterly and made available on the gov.uk website.
The Intelligence and Security Committee has been appointed following the approval of motions in both Houses of Parliament.
Details of my visit to Japan including those who accompanied me on the visit can be found in the press release issued on 30 August and which is available on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-heads-to-japan-to-build-strong-post-brexit-relationship-with-toyko
The Government has received the report of Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the Iraq Inquiry, and will be responding in due course, setting out the lessons learned.
Legislation is already in place to regulate spending by political parties on online advertising. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 regulates certain spending by political parties in the period running up to major elections. This includes spending on advertising both online and offline.
The Government is currently considering its response to both the Electoral Commission report on campaign spending and to the Lord Hodgson Review into third party campaigning.
Online political campaign advertising is regulated by the Political Parties, Election and Referendums Act 2000, in the same way as offline political campaign advertising.
The Government is committed to ensuring we have the very best people appointed to our public bodies and that the boards of public bodies reflect society as a whole.
We encourage applications from candidates with a diverse range of skills and backgrounds and have recently made a number of improvements to the appointments process, which are aimed at making public appointments accessible to the widest possible group of people.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for Ipswich (Mr Gummer) on 17 October 2016 , UIN 47620.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The costs associated with the Main Honours Committee are included within centrally-aggregated departmental administrative contracts.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments' costs are set out in its annual reports, which are available on the Committee's website at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/advisory-committee-on-business-appointments/about
The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HoLAC) makes recommendations for the appointment of non-party-political members and vets for propriety other nominations to the House of Lords. HoLAC's costs are set out in its annual reports which are available on their website.
The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HoLAC) makes recommendations for the appointment of non-party-political members and vets for propriety other nominations to the House of Lords. HoLAC's costs are set out in its annual reports which are available on their website.
The Prime Minister is clear that she will trigger Article 50 no later than the end of March next year.
The government is disappointed by Thursday's High Court judgement, but we have no intention of letting this change our timetable for triggering Article 50. We will appeal this judgement.
As set out in the Cabinet Manual, departmental civil servants provide advice to ministers on the extent of their powers. There are no plans to issue guidance from the Cabinet Office.
Triggering Article 50 falls under the prerogative executive power, the powers exercised on behalf of the sovereign by ministers. Triggering Article 50 is something for the Government to get on with. Parliament had its say in legislating for the Referendum, which it did in both Houses, and with cross-party support by a margin of 6 to 1. Parliament was clear it was for the people to decide whether to remain in the EU or leave it. The people have spoken, and it is now down to the Government to act on their orders.
There are now legal proceedings underway and it would not be appropriate for the Government to comment further on these at this time.
Prerogative powers have changed over time with legislation clarifying the limit and extent as well as in some cases the existence of the prerogative, and as such there is no definitive list. The Cabinet Manual sets out that the bulk of prerogative powers are exercised by Ministers on behalf of the Sovereign which include powers in relation to foreign affairs, to deploy the Armed Forces and to grant mercy.
A list of ministerial responsibilities has been published and can be found on the gov.uk website.
I refer the honourable gentleman to my answer of 17th October, given in response to PQ 47620.
Information about appointments taken up by former Senior Civil Servants after leaving government is published either on the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) website, or on the relevant Department’s gov.uk page.
Information about appointments taken up by former Ministers after leaving office is published on the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) website and in the Committee’s annual report.
The Civil Contingencies Secretariat does not make assessments of the current levels of radioactive contamination existing in upland areas across the UK. However, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) coordinates a report on radiological monitoring across the UK on behalf of Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Food Standards Scotland, Natural Resource Wales and Northern Ireland Environment Agency. This is reported annually in the report on Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE). The most recent report can be found at: http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/rife-20.pdf
Between 1986 and 2012, the Food Standards Agency and its predecessors managed controls and routine monitoring of sheep in certain upland areas of the UK in order to protect food safety. Following a review of the evidence (which included an assessment of the levels of radio caesium in sheep within the restricted areas) and a 12-week public consultation, the Board of the Food Standards Agency agreed the lifting of the last of these controls with effect on 1 June 2012.
See: http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/radiologicalresearch/radiosurv/chernobyl
The Anti-Corruption Summit was the first of its kind, bringing together world leaders and anti-corruption champions in business and civil society. 44 countries and seven international organisations attended, including 11 heads of state or government and the heads of the World Bank, IMF and UNDP. Leaders from those Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories that had agreed to automatic exchange of beneficial ownership information were among those invited.
We agreed a Global Declaration, a Summit Communique and a set of country statements with ambitious commitments to expose, punish and drive out corruption. These are published on the gov.uk website.
The Tackling Corruption Together conference was organised by civil society organisations, businesses and the Commonwealth Secretariat.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
When I met President Obama in London last month as well as with the G5 in Hanover we discussed a range of issues including continuing coalition efforts to defeat and degrade Daesh.
The Global Coalition’s comprehensive strategy to defeat Daesh includes a focus on squeezing Daesh’s finances. Saudi Arabia is a founding member of the Global Coalition and is one of the co-leads of the Counter-ISIL Finance Group. The Coalition is therefore working closely with Saudi Arabia to combat funding to Daesh in all its forms.
A number of Cabinet Office officials spoke at events associated with the Security and Counter Terror Expo held on 19 and 20 April 2016. They did so to set out government policy on topics of relevance to those attending.
The Civil Contingencies Secretariat participates in a wide range of events involving the resilience community. This participation is an essential part of its role in engaging with partners and stakeholders to understand the issues faced in making the UK more resilient and in explaining Government policy.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the Oral Statement I gave to the House on 11 April 2016, Official Report, column 23.
President Hollande and I discussed our shared interest in building on our strong bilateral defence co-operation, but on this occasion, did not discuss nuclear weapons issues in any detail.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 7 March 2016, UIN 29278, and to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 1 March 2016, a transcript of which can be found on the Committee’s website.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 7 March 2016, UIN 29278, and to the evidence given by the Cabinet Secretary to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on 1 March 2016, a transcript of which can be found on the Committee’s website.
I refer the hon. Member to the letter of 23 February from the Cabinet Secretary, a copy of which can be found on the gov.uk website.
Details of Ministerial overseas travel is published quarterly and is available on the gov.uk website.
This Government is fully committed to delivering its manifesto. This is why we have introduced the Single Departmental Plans as a new framework for performance tracking. Single departmental plans will replace departmental Business Plans and are currently being finalised by departments. Single Departmental Plans will set out each department’s priority objectives, and the key programmes and policies that will deliver these. They will be published on gov.uk, allowing the public to track progress against a number of performance indicators. Single Departmental Plans are owned by departments and have been designed by Cabinet Office and HM Treasury working in partnership. Officials have been actively engaging with departments to ensure that the plans provide a complete picture of the measures this Government is taking to deliver its commitments.
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Any Ministerial Direction is automatically referred to the National Audit Office, who would be expected to communicate it to the Public Accounts Committee. NAO and PAC will announce their next steps in due course.
The Government commissioned an independent review of financial and governance controls at Kids Company in 2014. This is published on gov.uk
The Cabinet Office undertakes a number of specific checks before providing funding to charitable organisations. These include asking for the following information:
1. A copy of their Memorandum and Articles of Association.
2. A copy of their most recent audited accounts, or if a new body they should be asked to provide a recent (not more than three months old) bank statement.
3. If a registered charity they should be asked to complete and return the Charity Commission Internal Financial Controls Checklist
4. Contact details, including e-mail addresses for three referees to provide (preferably previous funders).
5. Full bank details.
The Cabinet Office will also issue a grant offer letter accompanied by standard conditions of grant applying.
The Cabinet Office routinely checks that any potential grant recipients have complied with the requirements of any previous grants made (if applicable), before any further funds are released.
Any Ministerial Direction is automatically referred to the National Audit Office, who would be expected to communicate it to the Public Accounts Committee. NAO and PAC will announce their next steps in due course.
The Government commissioned an independent review of financial and governance controls at Kids Company in 2014. This is published on gov.uk
I have consulted the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments in answering this question. The Committee has confirmed that, in accordance with established procedures, information about roles individuals intend to take up is published either when an appointment is announced or when that role is taken up; and that this is the reason for the redaction of the information in the letter referred to.
The most recent estimate, in June 2012, indicated that if the number of MPs were reduced from 650 to 600, the saving would be £13.6 million a year.
The Royal Archives are private archives which offer public access to historical papers for educational purposes and academic study, including via an online digitisation and public access programme, while protecting the personal private papers of The Queen and Members of the Royal Family. Access to the Archives is the responsibility of the Keeper of the Royal Archives.
Between 1999 and 2005, the following people who are now deceased have refused honours on the Prime Minister’s List. We release only the names of those who we know to be deceased and where the award was made more than 10 years ago.
George Harrison New Year 2000
Iain Banks New Year 2001
George Melly Birthday 2001
Stuart McPhail Hall Birthday 2004
I refer the hon. Member to answer given by My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister on 4 June 2015 to UIN 556.
The inquiry into this leak was conducted by serving Cabinet Office officials responsible for security and propriety matters; it was carried out within existing resources and no additional costs were incurred.
Think tanks carrying on the business of consultant lobbying are already subject to the provisions of Part 1 of the Transparency of Lobbying Act 2014 and the activities of any think tank acting as a third party campaign group are already subject to the rules in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 so the Government has no plans to legislate further in this area.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
I refer the Hon Gentlemen 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: www.transparency.number10.gov.uk
The Iraq Inquiry is independent of Government. Meetings held by the Inquiry, and the Maxwellisation process, are a matter for the Inquiry Committee.
A breakdown of costs incurred by the Inquiry, and information on the size and makeup of its Secretariat are published on the Inquiry’s website and updated after the end of each financial year. The Government has assured the Inquiry it would have the resources necessary to do its job properly.
The Iraq Inquiry has submitted requests to declassify material from government documents throughout the life of the Inquiry. Government considers each request once it has been received, under the terms of the Protocol between the Iraq Inquiry and Her Majesty’s Government regarding Documents and Other Written and Electronic Information, available through the Inquiry’s website.
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.
The Iraq Inquiry is independent of Government. Meetings held by the Inquiry, and the Maxwellisation process, are a matter for the Inquiry Committee.
A breakdown of costs incurred by the Inquiry, and information on the size and makeup of its Secretariat are published on the Inquiry’s website and updated after the end of each financial year. The Government has assured the Inquiry it would have the resources necessary to do its job properly.
The Iraq Inquiry has submitted requests to declassify material from government documents throughout the life of the Inquiry. Government considers each request once it has been received, under the terms of the Protocol between the Iraq Inquiry and Her Majesty’s Government regarding Documents and Other Written and Electronic Information, available through the Inquiry’s website.
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.
In line with long-established convention, the Government does not generally publish information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet and its committees.
The Iraq Inquiry is independent of Government. Meetings held by the Inquiry, and the Maxwellisation process, are a matter for the Inquiry Committee.
A breakdown of costs incurred by the Inquiry, and information on the size and makeup of its Secretariat are published on the Inquiry’s website and updated after the end of each financial year. The Government has assured the Inquiry it would have the resources necessary to do its job properly.
The Iraq Inquiry has submitted requests to declassify material from government documents throughout the life of the Inquiry. Government considers each request once it has been received, under the terms of the Protocol between the Iraq Inquiry and Her Majesty’s Government regarding Documents and Other Written and Electronic Information, available through the Inquiry’s website.
In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.
The Community Life Survey results show that the increase in volunteering seen in the year of the Olympics has been sustained.
In accordance with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, under the Business Appointment Rules for Former Ministers, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments gives its advice direct to the former Minister concerned. Details about the Advisory Committee’s advice are published on its website once an appointment or employment has been taken up or announced.
I refer the Hon Gentlemen 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 www.transparency.number10.gov.uk
I refer the Hon Gentlemen 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 www.transparency.number10.gov.uk
The Horizon Scanning Programme has investigated emerging technologies, emerging economies, the changing supply and demand of resources, changing social attitudes of young people, and the future of demographic change in the UK. The Programme continues to draw on observations from these areas alongside exploring potential new areas of investigation, which include the future of work, regulation and rural communities.
The Horizon Scanning Programme has not examined the implications for environmental security in regards to nuclear facilities and does not plan to do so in the future. The risks posed in the question are however considered as part of the National Risk Assessment process.
The Horizon Scanning Programme has investigated emerging technologies, emerging economies, the changing supply and demand of resources, changing social attitudes of young people, and the future of demographic change in the UK. The Programme continues to draw on observations from these areas alongside exploring potential new areas of investigation, which include the future of work, regulation and rural communities.
The Horizon Scanning Programme has not examined the implications for environmental security in regards to nuclear facilities and does not plan to do so in the future. The risks posed in the question are however considered as part of the National Risk Assessment process.
There is on-going work assessing and mitigating vulnerabilities in UK's critical national infrastructure. Details of this work, including any assessments, are classified.
Progress against the National Cyber Security Strategy is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/uk-cyber-security-strategy-statement-on-progress-2-years-on
As was the case under the previous administration, The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. As set out in the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, public appointees are expected to uphold the standards of conduct set out in the Committee on Standards in Public Life's Seven Principles of Public Life.
The UK strongly supports action on the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from shipping, and is committed to fulfilling our obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Our strategy for the shipping industry is led by the Department for Transport and the UN body with responsibility for this area is the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which since 2003 has been working on measures to reduce GHGs from international shipping. In April 2018, Member States are due to agree the first comprehensive global strategy on the reduction of GHGs from ships at the IMO. The UK has been an active participant in these negotiations and is working to achieve a credible and ambitious outcome in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The Government is currently assessing the recommendations of the Hendry Review and will publish a response in due course.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority publishes the amount spent on decommissioning Sellafield in its Annual Report and Accounts. It also publishes a more detailed figure on the cost of decommissioning the UK’s nuclear sites in the Nuclear Provision section of its website.
The total estimated cost for decommissioning the Sellafield site is £88 billion on an undiscounted basis.
Two management contracts have been terminated early by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) in the last five years. These are the Parent Body Agreement with Nuclear Management Partners and the Management and Operation Contract with Sellafield Limited. These cancellations formed part of the process of turning Sellafield Limited into a subsidiary of the NDA which came into effect on 1 April 2016.
On 27 March 2017, my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced in Parliament that the NDA intends to terminate the Parent Body Agreement with Cavendish Fluor Partnership for the management of Magnox sites.
The issues considered by the Review are wide-ranging and complex, as they relate to an untried technology in the marine environment. The Government is currently assessing the recommendations set out in the Review, and will consider the issues which would arise from a broader lagoon programme. A Government response will be published in due course.
The Official Receiver sent a report regarding the winding up of Kids Company to creditors including Cabinet Office and HMRC on 1 October 2015. The Official Receiver’s enquiries into the affairs of Kids Company are continuing, and it would not be appropriate for us to comment on an ongoing investigation.
We have not yet received the Hendry Review. The issues being considered by the Review are complex and relate to a new, untried technology. Therefore, Government will need to look carefully at the Review’s findings.
Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly on the www.gov.uk website at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bis-quarterly-publications-april-to-june-2012
Information about officials is not held centrally.
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement given by the Prime Minister on 24 June:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/eu-referendum-outcome-pm-statement-24-june-2016.
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement given by the Prime Minister on 24 June:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/eu-referendum-outcome-pm-statement-24-june-2016.
Planning permission for site preparation works at Hinkley Point C was granted by the local planning authority, West Somerset Council under the Town and Country Planning Act (1990) and this included conditions and planning obligations on the circumstances and arrangements for site reinstatement.
The department has retained advisers in relation to this matter, however any reports they have prepared are commercially sensitive.
During Sizewell B’s periodic shutdown, inspectors from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) examined the Licensee’s arrangements for maintenance activities, reviewed test and inspection records and inspected the plant and equipment. A thorough examination (or in-service inspection) of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) was completed by EDF to confirm that it remains in good condition. An ONR team of technical specialists examined the results of the in-service inspections and they are satisfied that they demonstrate the continued integrity of the RPV and that the hydrogen flaking present in the Doel 3 and Tihange 2 reactors in Belgium is not evident at Sizewell B.
ONR inspectors did not identify any issues that would affect the safety case for the restart of the Sizewell B reactor and its safe operation up to the next planned statutory periodic shutdown in 2017, and issued clearance for it to restart on 31 May 2016. ONR expects to publish its Project Assessment Report, detailing this decision, on its website.
The UK Government has intervened in the legal challenge brought by Austria against the European Commission’s State aid decision for Hinkley Point C. We have always been confident that the Commission’s decision is legally robust and, as a party to the proceedings, we have now seen the legal arguments made by Austria in their pleadings to the European General Court. It is on this basis that we do not consider that Austria has submitted a challenge of any merit. We consider that the Austrian Government, although following the correct legal procedures in challenging certain aspects of the State aid decision through the Court, has been motivated by its political stance on the future of nuclear more generally.
Compliance with international obligations is something we take very seriously. The proposed recommendations published by the Implementation Committee are still subject to adoption by the Meeting of the Parties to the Espoo Convention at their next meeting which is due to take place in June 2017.
We are confident that we have met the relevant international requirements in relation to Hinkley Point C, however we will consider the Implementation Committee’s report in advance of the meeting.
The Government actively encourages collaboration between universities and business to ensure course content meets the needs of employers, including those responsible for critical infrastructure. Higher Education Institutions, as autonomous bodies, are independent from the Government and are responsible for the implementation of SUCCEED.
The new National Cyber Security Strategy is being developed by Cabinet Office in close cooperation with DECC and other Government Departments. Stakeholders from across the public sector, industry and academia have fed in their views. The strategy will set out how the Government will work in partnership to strengthen the UK’s defences, enhance our capabilities and develop the cyber security sector. DECC continues to engage with external stakeholders on a range of issues and as part of our contribution to this strategy.
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Ministers had no involvement in the Security and Counter Terror Conference at Olympia. Although officials had no formal involvement in the organisation of the conference, the Export Control Organisation had a stand to gather feedback from exporters about the development of a new digital export licensing system. In addition a number of officials from UKTI Defence & Security Organisation attended as delegates.
Any nuclear reactor or facility proposed for deployment in the UK is subject to regulation. Therefore, any small modular reactor (SMR) design proposed for construction would undergo safety, security and environmental design assessment, including an assessment of cyber security.
Ensuring safety and security is the legal duty of operators and safety and security at all nuclear sites are kept under regular review. The UK’s independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), carries out inspections to ensure operators are fulfilling their duties and that robust safety and security measures are in place across the industry.
DECC is working with ONR to ensure that the regulatory regime is fit for any possible future deployment of SMRs. DECC is currently developing the detail of the programme that will be taken forward as part of the £250m nuclear innovation, research and development funding announced by my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Autumn Statement. The recommendations and advice of the Nuclear Innovation and Research Advisory Board and key stakeholders will be taken into account in the process.
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will make a final decision regarding Hinkley Point C once EDF have reached a Final Investment Decision. The terms of the contract will be published (with only the most commercially sensitive information removed) once it has been entered in to by the parties.
In October 2015, the Government laid a minute before Parliament setting out at a high level the terms of the agreement reached with EDF in respect of the Hinkley Point C power plant:
We have received no direct recent representations from the Union of Construction Allied Trades and Technicians. We continue to engage in discussions with the Industry Training Boards on the implications for the construction and engineering construction industry levies of the apprenticeship levy which will be introduced in April 2017.
New nuclear power is a vital part of our work to build a secure, affordable and clean energy system to keep the lights on in the decades ahead. Nuclear is the only proven low-carbon technology that can be deployed on a large scale in the UK and provides continuous supply. Building Hinkley Point C would have significant economic benefits compared to the most likely low-carbon technologies that could replace it, such as offshore wind or carbon capture & storage. EDF expect more than 60% of the £18bn value of construction work to go to UK based businesses, with future developers also seeking to at least match this.
Further to an agreement at the 2014 UK - France Summit, the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) have been progressing work to develop a joint roadmap for collaboration, to support the Advanced Sodium Technological Reactor for Industrial Demonstration (ASTRID) project. This work was noted in the text of the 2016 UK – France summit conclusions.
Development of this agreement and the progression of actions under the associated roadmap are a commercial matter between NNL and CEA, the details of which are subject to commercial confidentiality.
The organisation of Hinkley Point C is a commercial matter for EDF. In the UK it is for developers to fund, build and operate new nuclear power stations.
The terms of the contractual documentation relating to Hinkley Point C (Contract for Difference, Secretary of State Investors Agreement, Funded Decommissioning Programme (FDP) and related Waste Transfer contracts) between the Government and EDF are in final form.
EDF and CGN have confirmed major investment in HPC and are working to rapidly conclude the detailed investment documentation.
The Final Investment Decision is a matter for EDF and we understand they will make this shortly.
In January we gave planning consent for the National Grid connection to Hinkley Point C.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has not received any requests from, or provided assistance to, Israel on either emergency planning in the event of a radiological incident, or radioactive waste management at the Dimona nuclear plant.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 02 March 2016 to Parliamentary Question UIN 28373.
The European Commission’s Annual Burden Survey will support the Commission’s Regulatory Fitness (REFIT) Programme of withdrawals, repeals and reviews of existing EU legislation.
Anyone, including UK environmental and energy safety regulators, can now submit comments about any area of EU legislation to the Commission’s ‘Lighten the Load – Have Your Say!’ website*. Suggestions received will be analysed by the Commission and may subsequently be put forward for action via the REFIT Programme. The Government will use the REFIT Programme and the Annual Burden Survey to ensure that the EU meets its commitments to simplify legislation, avoid over-regulation and reduce burdens on business.
* http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/democratic-change/better-regulation/feedback/index_en.htm
The Government's view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed European Union.
As required by the EU Referendum Act 2015, the Government is committed to producing clear information, ahead of the Referendum, on: the outcome of the renegotiation, rights and obligations in European Union law, an assessment of alternatives to membership, and the process for leaving.
The information requested is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Two specialist nuclear cargo vessels, which are UK flagged, are currently taking part in a voyage which is approved by all relevant authorities, including the UK Government. In accordance with normal procedures, no further details of their voyage can be disclosed at this stage for security reasons.
As announced in the Queen's Speech, we will put forward proposals for a Digital Charter which will set out a framework for how businesses, individuals and wider society should act online. This will ensure we get the right balance between freedom and security in the digital age, so that we can harness the power of new technology for good, and mitigate the new threats it presents.
For the grants awarded in the financial year 2015/16, delivery of the grant conditions, were monitored by Cabinet Office officials. A summary of progress can be found on Parliament’s website:
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-administration-and-constitutional-affairs-committee/kids-company/written/23362.html
A summary of the reporting process can be found in NAO’s review of Government’s funding of Kids Company:
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Investigation-the-governments-funding-of-Kids-Company.pdf.
For the first part of 2015, Methods Consulting were required to monitor the performance of Kids Company against the output measures set out in the grant. They had full access to Kids Company’s data to allow them to take an independent view. Methods Consulting also worked with Kids Company to put in place an outcomes framework.
For the 15-16 Financial Year, a dedicated CO official was responsible for monitoring Kids Company’s delivery against a set of delivery targets. A summary of these is set out on Parliament’s website: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-administration-and-constitutional-affairs-committee/kids-company/written/23362.html
Cabinet Office undertook a review of Grants making under Section 70 of the Charities Act, which fed into the wider work of Cabinet Office Grants Efficiency Programme. Minimum grant standards were introduced this month. This includes the requirement that grants will have outputs agreed wherever possible to enable active management of performance, including regular reviews and adjustment.
PACAC was informed of the progress made and offered a copy of the draft minimum Grant standards in a letter addressed to the Chair of PACAC on 30 August 2016.
A summary of the targets is available on Parliament’s website as part of Cabinet Office’s written evidence:
http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-administration-and-constitutional-affairs-committee/kids-company/written/23362.html
The Grant agreement set out a clear set of delivery targets which Kids Company were expected to achieve.
Kids Company was required to meet a clear set of delivery targets. These were regularly monitored and reviewed to ensure Kids Company were delivering the outcomes set out in the Grant Agreement.
Kids Company was required to meet a clear set of delivery targets. An independent third party was appointed by Cabinet Office to independently monitor and evaluate the grant and outcomes Kids Company were reporting.
Literature Wales is the national company for the promotion and development of literature in Wales, and works with the support of the Arts Council of Wales and Welsh Government. Literature Wales receives an annual revenue grant from the Arts Council of Wales as well as a subsidy from the Arts Council's Lottery Funds
The Government is committed to ensuring that all spectators have appropriate access to sporting venues and services. Professional sports clubs and sporting venues have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate disabled supporters.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport approved a £1.9mbid from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to deliver the Sports Equality Standard programme. The programme includes support and guidance for improving the physical and cultural accessibility of sporting venues. As part of this programme, the EHRC is actively working with a range of sports to deliver access audits at a number of grounds over the next two years, which will enable clubs to identify areas where access can be improved.
The policy for continuation of free television licences for over-75s is set out in the published government and BBC agreement, which says that, at the BBC’s request, the BBC will take responsibility for the policy following this Parliament.
Previous Governments ran out of parliamentary time to bring forward the necessary legislation to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and accede to its two Protocols.
This Government’s priority is to bring forward legislation to allow this at the first opportunity.
I refer the Hon Gentlemen to Departmental Business Plans which record all commitments, timescales for completion and progress against them. The Business Plans are fully transparent, and the DCMS Business Plan is available at http://transparency.number10.gov.uk/business-plan/17
In December 2014 the Responsible Gambling Trust (RGT) published a package of research which looked at potential markers of harm in gaming machine play (including FOBTs). I have encouraged the bookmaking industry to take on board and respond to the findings of this research.
New Regulations come into force on 6 April 2015 which will end unsupervised high stake gambling on FOBTs.
I meet regularly with Ofcom to discuss a variety of issues.
Ofcom is concerned about unclear telephone charges and is introducing rules which make the cost of calling 118 numbers clearer for telephone users.
Under changes coming into effect this summer, both telecoms and 118 service providers will have to be clear on what they each charge for 118 calls. The costs of calls will be split out into an access charge and a service charge so consumers can compare costs for calling different 118 services – and see where their money is going.
The DCMS is currently undertaking two market test projects which are trialling satellite broadband as part of its programme to explore options for delivery of superfast broadband to premises in areas of the UK which are not within the 95% of premises covered by the main superfast broadband programme.
BDUK has allocated £56.93m under Phase 1 and up to £12.11m under Phase 2 of the Superfast Broadband programme, alongside investment from the European Regional Development Fund, Welsh Government and BT, to the Superfast Cymru project taking coverage to at least 96% of Welsh premises by the end of 2017. Work is now under way in all 22 Local Authority areas in Wales, including those along the border area.
A total of £31.5m has been allocated to the local projects that border Wales (Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, Cheshire and Shropshire) under Phase 1 of the programme, taking coverage in these areas to a further 233,185 premises. Up to £25.1 million has been allocated to these projects under Phase 2. Full details on individual project allocations are available on the following link: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zwLLqmDnfnjA.khRmsBv2kR70
Accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar are the cornerstones of effective written communication.
The new national curriculum, introduced in 2014, sets higher expectations supporting pupils to realise their potential in an increasingly competitive global market.
The new programmes of study for English aim to ensure that all pupils acquire a wide vocabulary, a good understanding of grammar, and proper knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and written language. Explicit teaching of grammar is fundamental to this.
For children from homes where parents read and share books with the family, it may be possible over time to assimilate grammatical forms such as modal verbs and fronted adverbials. For a great number of children, however, the easiest way for a teacher to explain to their pupils the rules that govern our language is to establish a shared vocabulary of grammatical terms.
We have increased the range of grammar and punctuation that should be taught and the terminology that pupils should learn – the meta-language. The aim and the emphasis, however, is not on naming grammatical terms but on being able to use the grammar to be able to speak and write for a full range of purposes.
We are committed to retaining the 50 per cent cap for faith free schools and have no plans to extend the 50 per cent cap on faith-based allocation of school places.
The cost of the new childcare entitlement of 30 hours per week for working families will be considered as part of the normal Budget and Spending Review process.
The Government wants to see more schools and employers working together to help young people understand the world of work. This expectation has been set out in statutory guidance underpinning schools’ duty to secure independent careers guidance. Beyond the requirements set out in this document, it is at the discretion of each school as to how to configure their careers programme and which employers they choose to engage.
All the commitments made in the 2010 Coalition Agreement that relate to the current remit of the Department for Education have been implemented or are currently being implemented.
The Hunting Act 2004 came into effect on 18 February 2005 and bans all hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Act. Many hunts have since turned to trail hunting as an alternative to live quarry hunting.
The Government neither has plans to assess the risk of laying scent trails nor to assess the merits of banning the laying of scent trails. There are also no plans to assess the risks posed by hunting hounds using scents laid by trail hunts drifting across the transport network.
The Hunting Act 2004 came into effect on 18 February 2005 and bans all hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, except where it is carried out in accordance with the exemptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Act. Many hunts have since turned to trail hunting as an alternative to live quarry hunting.
The Government neither has plans to assess the risk of laying scent trails nor to assess the merits of banning the laying of scent trails. There are also no plans to assess the risks posed by hunting hounds using scents laid by trail hunts drifting across the transport network.
The duration of the cull period is intended to achieve a balance between sufficient intensity to achieve disease control and what is operationally deliverable by a cull company. The length of each cull operation between 2013 and 2016 has already been published as part of the annual badger control monitoring summaries (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers). The assessment of 2017 operations will be published on gov.uk in due course.
The duration of the cull period is intended to achieve a balance between sufficient intensity to achieve disease control and what is operationally deliverable by a cull company. The length of each cull operation between 2013 and 2016 has already been published as part of the annual badger control monitoring summaries (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bovine-tb-controlling-the-risk-of-bovine-tb-from-badgers). The assessment of 2017 operations will be published on gov.uk in due course.
The US authorities are currently in the process of amending their regulation to formally lift their ban on EU ruminant products (including lamb).
Defra has provided the US authorities with required information on the UK animal and public health controls to review equivalence with US requirements. Once their review is complete we will welcome the US to conduct an in-country inspection visit.
No such reports have been commissioned or published in the last 12 months.
The report on monitoring TB prevalence levels in cattle herds inside, and up to 2km outside, the first two badger control areas for the first two years of badger control is available here:
Of the 421 carcasses of badgers culled by controlled shooting in 2013 – 2016 that have undergone post-mortem examination the distribution of these by year is as follows:
Number of carcases examined | Number with evidence of multiple shots | |
2013 | 158 | 8 |
2014 | 234 | 11 |
2015 | 28 | 6 |
2016 | 1 | 0 |
Total | 421 | 25 |
Government veterinary experts have provided advice to the hunt kennels and hounds from the affected kennel have not been in contact with other hounds since the initial case was suspected. At this stage no further Government action is considered necessary in relation to other hunts.
We have no plans to do this.
TB in dogs, caused by Mycobacterium bovis (the bovine TB bacterium), is extremely rare and dogs pose a very low risk of transmitting the disease.
This control has been in place for some time for all pet and farmed mammals. Under the Tuberculosis (England) Order 2014 the detection of suspect TB lesions in carcases and the identification of Mycobacterium bovis from tissue or other samples (including dogs) is notifiable.
An epidemiological investigation into this incident is underway.
Bovine TB is a notifiable disease in all farmed and pet mammal species, including dogs. The disease has only very rarely been diagnosed in dogs, in this country and elsewhere, and investigations into bovine TB breakdowns in cattle herds have never identified the source of a breakdown as an infected dog.
TB cattle controls are the cornerstone of our TB eradication strategy and we continuously look for opportunities to enhance them. In April 2016, we introduced compulsory post-movement testing in the Low Risk Area (LRA) of England to reduce the risk of disease spread from cattle with undisclosed infection.
Trials have shown that reducing the badger population can help reduce the spread of bovine TB. Tests carried out during the Randomised Badger Culling Trial showed that roughly a third of badgers in the high risk area were infected with TB.
Natural England, as the licensing authority, monitors the culls to assess compliance with licence conditions and Best Practice Guides. If, as part of this, Natural England identifies a compliance issue then Natural England may request that a carcass is subject to a post-mortem examination by exception. This was done on one occasion in 2016.
Additionally, during 2013 to 2015, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) carried out post-mortem examinations of badger carcasses that were dispatched by controlled shooting. Carcasses were selected for examination at random. Further details on monitoring and post-mortem examinations are published on GOV.UK
To date, 421 carcasses of badgers culled by controlled shooting in 2013 – 2016 have undergone post-mortem examination. Of these, 25 were found to have evidence of more than one hit.
Culled carcasses undergoing post-mortem examination have not been routinely tested for TB as the RBCT established that approximately one-third of badgers in areas of high incidence of TB in cattle were infected.
BCG (the attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis used worldwide to vaccinate people against TB) remains the only viable option at present for vaccination of cattle against TB.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (formerly Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency) has shown a protective effect of BCG in cattle and developed delivery regimes for cattle. However, a DIVA test to differentiate vaccinated from infected animals must also be developed, as vaccination with BCG can interfere with the diagnostic tests routinely used to identify TB-infected cattle. APHA has developed such a test and further studies are ongoing to determine whether this will be suitable for use in the field. Once this has been determined, cattle vaccine field trials could be taken forward.
Since 2009 Defra has spent £15 million on oral badger vaccine development, using BCG (the attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis used worldwide to vaccinate people against TB). The Animal and Plant Health Agency has identified palatable bait and practical field deployment strategies. The immunity conferred by oral vaccination of badgers with BCG tends to be more variable than that resulting from the injectable formulation of the vaccine. Therefore, current studies are focusing on producing a safe, effective and affordable vaccine which provides consistent protection when eaten by badgers.
The Government notes the Green Alliance report’s focus on flood prevention, including the use of natural measures and the whole catchment approach.
A combination of measures are needed to manage flood risk, including upstream activities to store or slow flood waters. The current Countryside Stewardship Scheme includes land management measures that help to prevent flooding. Our exit from the EU provides an opportunity to consider how best future agriculture and environmental policy can contribute to flood risk management. The Government recently announced £15m specifically for natural flood management schemes across England. This builds on demonstration projects at Pickering in North Yorkshire, Holnicote in Somerset and Upper Derwent, Derbyshire.
They demonstrated that natural measures can be effective in helping to manage flood risk at a catchment scale, slowing the flow of water and reducing local impacts when carefully incorporated into a wider suite of catchment measures, but were unlikely to offer an alternative to conventional defences in areas of greatest risk.
However, we refute the assertion that twice as much is spent on dealing with the after-effects of a flood than is spent on hard flood defences. In 2014/15, the year the report is referring to with respect to hard defences, of the £802.6m spent on flood risk management, £145m was for flood response and repair costs and £657.6m for routine flood risk management measures.
Moreover, in our current 6-year capital programme, we are investing £2.5 billion over six years on flood defences (up until 2021). This is a real terms increase in capital investment. We are exceeding our manifesto commitment by building 1,500 new flood defence schemes that will better protect 300,000 more homes.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply previously given on 25 October, PQ UIN 48569.
Natural England does not hold figures for the number of operators who have been trained to undertake licensed action but does know how many are trained and are licensed. Industry organisations are responsible for running the training courses and Natural England only holds the number of trained operators who were put forward by the control companies, and subsequently become authorised to undertake licensed action. For 2016, over the 10 licensed areas, 1446 operators are authorised to carry out badger culling (latest figures: 17/10/16).
Natural England does not hold figures for the number of operators who attended refresher training. All operators who have been licensed in a previous year to undertake controlled shooting of badgers and who wish to be licensed again for the current year must attend refresher training. Industry organisations are responsible for undertaking refresher training. Natural England holds confirmation that each of these operators has attended refresher training.
Defra Badger Edge Vaccination Scheme projects in England were funded on the basis of actual work done by the grant beneficiaries with no specific total amount committed to the Scheme. Defra spent just over £92,000 on these projects in the 2015/16 financial year, with additional in-kind support in the form of free loans of equipment, supply of the Badger BGC vaccine and advice from field experts.
Although no vaccination of badgers under the Scheme is possible in 2016, we have awarded grant funding to three of the former beneficiaries for other vaccination-related work. The amounts payable to each will depend on the work that they do in the current financial year
My officials have had initial discussions with other potential suppliers of BCG vaccine about the possibility of future supply
The training course on humane shooting of badgers consists of (a) a class room theory session, followed by a written theory test; and (b) Marksmanship Competency Assessment including a rifle test. Both parts of the training course are carried out by the industry organisations. However Government (Natural England) is responsible for approving the content of the training course and auditing the course tutors and course organisation.
Article 16 of the Tuberculosis (England) Order 2014 concerns the requirement of herd owners to comply with cleansing and disinfection of premises following removal of TB reactors.
APHA inspectors carry out spot checks on a proportion of Bovine Tuberculosis breakdown farms every year to ensure compliance with these statutory cleansing and disinfection requirements.
APHA employs 208 vets and 137 animal health officers who may be involved in the administration and enforcement of these measures as part of their field duties
We have no firm date for resumption of supply of the authorised product from the manufacturer, with whom my officials and Public Health England (PHE) are in contact. PHE and Defra officials visited the production facility in September.
There have been a number of private badger vaccination initiatives in England over the last three years, some of which have received Defra grant funding. Resumption in Defra-supported vaccination in 2017 will depend on the availability of the vaccine, current supplies of which are being prioritised by the Government for public health use.
For 2016 over the 10 licensed areas, 1446 operators are authorised to carry out badger culling, (latest figures: 17/10/16).
The control companies submit details of those operators they wish to put forward to become authorised to undertake licensed action, (each operator does not submit an individual licence application). Natural England has not refused to authorise any operator where the relevant details were submitted; i.e. confirmation of attending and passing the relevant training or refresher courses and valid Firearms Certificate or Shotgun Certificate details.
The first UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA): Government Report was published in 2012 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-climate-change-risk-assessment-government-report. Along with consideration of other climate hazards, it assesses the risks and opportunities of warmer temperatures on society and human health. Work is underway on the second CCRA, which will include an up-to-date review of evidence on the effects of climate change including changes in temperature. The second CCRA Government Report and the associated evidence report will be published in January next year.
The Department of Health also carries out assessments of climate change impacts on health, the latest of which is called The Health Effects of Climate Change in the UK, published in 2012 and available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/climate-change-health-effects-in-the-uk.
The UK’s main air quality concerns relate to ambient concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, in particular close to busy roads, with diesel vehicles being the major source. Electric vehicles have zero exhaust emissions and offer a clear benefit in tackling this ongoing air quality challenge.
On pollution from particulate matter, evidence is limited. Recent research suggests that battery electric vehicles have similar total emissions of particulate matter to petrol and diesel vehicles, due to their higher mass causing increased non-exhaust particulate matter. The UK Automotive Council has identified vehicle lightweighting as a strategic technology priority, and recent Government research and development funding of £38 million will support a number of projects in this area.
Budgets for 2016/17 to 2020/21 have not yet been finalised. Defra’s internal business planning process is still underway, and it would not, therefore, be appropriate at this time to comment on how particular policy areas may be affected.
The Government considers that the British Horseracing Authority’s rules on use of the whip during horseracing, which were drawn up in consultation with the RSPCA, together with the Animal Welfare Act 2006 provide protection for the welfare of racehorses.
There are, therefore, no proposals to ban the use of the whip during horseracing.
The Government remains committed to tackling wildlife crime.
We are currently allocating our Spending Review settlement. Future funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit will be decided as part of that process.
The Vital Uplands report of 2009 was withdrawn by the previous Natural England Board and Management Team. Natural England, the Environment Agency, Defra and by academic institutions continue to closely monitor the complex science and evidence around upstream mitigation, through peatland, forestry and other natural measures. Some such measures have now been funded by the Government and piloted in schemes such as that in Pickering in Yorkshire. Natural upstream mitigation will be a key element of our planning at a catchment level, currently being taken forward through the Cumbrian Floods Partnership and our 25-year Environment Plan.
Implementation of the Water Framework Directive is devolved within the UK.
Implementation of the Directive promotes, through river basin planning, an integrated approach to managing water and promotes local decisions in catchments to take account of the particular circumstances. Where parts of rivers are managed for certain uses (including flood protection), they are formally designated as ‘heavily modified’ and the management of those rivers must take account of those uses. In England, 1,105 of 3,767 rivers are designated as heavily modified; 781 of them because of their important role in providing flood protection.
Many of the actions needed to protect and improve the quality of the water environment (for instance restoring peat land, wetland creation and sustainable management of soils) also help to reduce flooding. The Directive also promotes sustainable flood risk prevention and flood management schemes. Consideration of natural flood management measures to slow, store and filter flood water can deliver additional social and environmental benefits when used along with traditional hard defences, and can increase resilience of communities to extreme events, both floods and drought. The ‘Slowing the Flow’ project in Pickering is an example of this.
The Environment Secretary announced on Sunday 13 December a new Cumbrian Floods Partnership group that will consider what improvements to flood defences in the region may be needed, look at upstream options for slowing key rivers to reduce the intensity of water flows at peak times and build stronger links between local residents, community groups and flood defence planning.
The Environment Secretary also announced a National Flood Resilience Review will be carried out to better protect the country from future flooding and increasingly extreme weather events. This will be delivered by a new cross Government team.
I will also be taking on a special Floods Envoy role across Cumbria and Lancashire coordinating the flood recovery operation across local agencies over the coming months.
Defra is working with partners to identify actions that will help the conservation of hedgehogs though the Terrestrial Biodiversity Group, chaired by Natural England.
In addition, the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package element of the new Countryside Stewardship scheme will deliver specific management focused on improving farmland biodiversity across most farming systems. The package supports management options, including the conservation and enhancement of hedgerow systems and the creation and maintenance of field margins, which will help to provide suitable habitat for a range of species, including hedgehogs.
We also welcome the work being undertaken by a number of non-government organisations in helping to establish the facts behind the decline of the hedgehog and raise public awareness.
While the Spending Review has been driven by the need to contribute to the Government’s overall aim of eliminating the deficit, our settlement also reflects the vital importance of work done in all parts of Defra.
We are confident that the settlement will allow us to deliver our ambitions over the course of this parliament to safeguard our natural assets, support our food and farming industry and sustain a thriving rural economy.
In relation to the government estate, we are currently considering the future Greening Government Commitment arrangements. The current Greening Government Commitments, which were aimed at reducing government’s environmental impacts, have also led to financial savings (for example, the estimated savings from reducing energy, water and waste costs across government were approximately £94 million in 2013/14 compared to 2009/10).
Policy on wildlife management issues including snares is a devolved matter so I can only speak for England.
In 2012 Defra published research on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. This research included an analysis of the issues covered by the code. Ministers are currently considering options.
Defra and its agencies do not use snares on their property.
The Prime Minister has written to the President of the European Council setting out the areas where he is seeking reforms to address the concerns of the British people over our membership of the EU. As the Prime Minister said in his letter, reform in these areas would address the UK's concerns and provide a fresh and lasting settlement for our membership of the European Union.
The successful action we have taken in the UK through our voluntary approach has put us at the forefront in tackling food waste. This was reflected in our recent response to the European Commission’s consultations on the Circular Economy.
Discussions with our European counterparts on these matters will take place following publication of the Commission’s proposals on the Circular Economy.
The Government, through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), is working with food manufacturers and retailers, including all the major UK supermarkets, to meet targets to reduce food waste from the grocery supply chain under the Courtauld Commitment. Signatories have reported a 7.4% reduction in supply chain waste between 2009-2012, with interim results for Courtauld 3 showing a further 3.2% reduction by 2014.
WRAP has worked with supermarkets and consumers to support acceptance and use of ‘imperfect’ fruit and vegetables. Work is also in progress with signatories, trade bodies and redistribution organisations to build a better understanding of the amounts and causes of waste in the supply of food & drink. WRAP is currently brokering a new agreement, Courtauld 2025, which will build on this progress.
Working through the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), we are helping households waste less and save money through the Courtauld Commitment and the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. They have contributed to a 15% reduction in the amount of household food and drink waste between 2007 and 2012, from 8.3 m tonnes to 7.0 m tonnes. The current phase of the Courtauld Commitment has a target to reduce household food waste by a further 5% by the end of this year.
In addition, signatories have reported a 7.4% reduction in supply chain waste between 2009 and 2012, with interim results for Courtauld 3 showing a further 3.2% reduction by 2014.
WRAP is currently brokering a new agreement, Courtauld 2025, which is expected to start next year and will build on this progress.
Policy on wildlife management issues including snares is a devolved matter so I can only speak for England.
In 2012 Defra published research on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. This research included an analysis of the issues covered by the code. Ministers are currently considering options.
Defra and its agencies do not use snares on their property.
Policy on wildlife management issues including snares is a devolved matter so I can only speak for England.
In 2012 Defra published research on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. This research included an analysis of the issues covered by the code. Ministers are currently considering options.
Defra and its agencies do not use snares on their property.
Policy on wildlife management issues including snares is a devolved matter so I can only speak for England.
In 2012 Defra published research on the extent of use and humaneness of snares in England and Wales. This research included an analysis of the issues covered by the code. Ministers are currently considering options.
Defra and its agencies do not use snares on their property.
The latest population trends indicate a recent decline in the population of UK puffins. This is thought to be due to a combination of factors, including climate change-related food shortages and inclement weather conditions during the breeding season.
The UK is currently undertaking a review of the terrestrial and coastal network of UK Special Protection Areas (SPA), classified under the EU Wild Birds Directive. The review will inform the need for any further SPA provision for this species.
The UK is also making good progress in identifying a number of SPAs in the marine environment to complete our network. These will be in addition to the existing 108 SPAs with marine components currently in place in the UK, which provide protection for just over 11,500km2 of seabird habitat.
Additionally in England, Natural England has been involved in projects to eradicate mammalian predators on Lundy and the Isles of Scilly which should improve the nesting conditions for breeding puffins.
The latest population trends indicate a recent decline in the population of UK puffins. This is thought to be due to a combination of factors, including climate change-related food shortages and inclement weather conditions during the breeding season.
The UK is currently undertaking a review of the terrestrial and coastal network of UK Special Protection Areas (SPA), classified under the EU Wild Birds Directive. The review will inform the need for any further SPA provision for this species.
The UK is also making good progress in identifying a number of SPAs in the marine environment to complete our network. These will be in addition to the existing 108 SPAs with marine components currently in place in the UK, which provide protection for just over 11,500km2 of seabird habitat.
Additionally in England, Natural England has been involved in projects to eradicate mammalian predators on Lundy and the Isles of Scilly which should improve the nesting conditions for breeding puffins.
Burbot were last reported in the UK in the early 1970s and the species has not been recorded since in the British Isles.
Various factors are likely to have contributed to the demise of the species, including the impacts of climate and environmental change. However, a precise cause remains unclear.
The number of compulsory liquidations for each of the last five years is shown below. These data are for England and Wales, separate data are not available for England. They are for the Standard Industrial Classification code covering crop and animal production and hunting (on a commercial basis for food, fur etc.)[1].
It should be noted that these are experimental statistics i.e. new official statistics that are undergoing evaluation.
Year | Company liquidations, both voluntary and compulsory | Bankruptcies where the individuals were self employed |
2010 | 33 | 93 |
2011 | 44 | 90 |
2012 | 41 | 70 |
2013 | 44 | 49 |
2014 | 39 | 30 |
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/insolvency-statistics-april-to-june-2015
[1] Excludes hunting for sport or recreational activities, and fishing
Details of all payments made under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are published annually by the UK Co-ordinating Body. The total CAP payments for the UK for each of the last five years are as follows:
Figures are Euro millions
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
Direct Payments | 3,424 | 3,309 | 3,348 | 3,326 | 3,234 |
Rural Development | 913 | 1,018 | 1,085 | 1,091 | 1,065 |
Total | 4,337 | 4,327 | 4,433 | 4,417 | 4,299 |
Defra Ministers have had no such discussions.
In 2014 UK retail sales of tea were worth £663 million and exports were worth £116 million. Tea exports increased by 16% to £59.4 million between January and June 2015, compared with January to June 2014.
Exports of food and drink are a Defra priority. British food and drink exports to China reached a record level to £287 million last year, with tea exports increasing by 583% to £2.2 million in January-June 2015 compared with the same period in 2014. The Secretary of State will be championing the best of British in China this November, including tea, and further build on the strong relationships formed with her counterparts in China during her January visit.
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 provides a comprehensive legal framework protecting the welfare of kept rabbits. Given that owners and potential owners can obtain specific advice on rabbit keeping from rabbit welfare and other animal welfare organisations, there is no need to introduce a statutory code of practice for pet rabbits under section 14 of the Act.
There is no specific EU wide legislation for the protection of farmed rabbits. In England, they are protected by the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 and Defra’s code of recommendations for farmed rabbits. This code reflects the housing requirements as set out in the 2005 European Food Safety Authority’s scientific opinion on the health and welfare of farmed domestic rabbits.
Details of all payments made under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are published annually by the UK Co-ordinating Body. The total CAP payments for the UK for each of the last five years are as follows:
Figures are Euro millions
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
Direct Payments | 3,424 | 3,309 | 3,348 | 3,326 | 3,234 |
Rural Development | 913 | 1,018 | 1,085 | 1,091 | 1,065 |
Total | 4,337 | 4,327 | 4,433 | 4,417 | 4,299 |
The last estimate of the fox population, published by the Mammal Society in 2004, indicated that the fox population in Great Britain was around 258,000.
Analysis based on a different methodology as part of the British Trust for Ornithology’s Breeding Bird Survey, which collects supplementary information on UK mammals, shows a statistically significant decline of 29% in the fox population between 1995 and 2014.
Any burbot re-introduction to inland waters in England would be dependent on further research and an assessment of the associated risks and opportunities. Factors resulting in the loss of the burbot from UK waters in the first place would also need considering in order to determine whether they remain relevant, and whether current habitats In England are suitable for the species.
The Hunting Act came into force on 18 February 2005. Between 2005 and 2014 (the latest year for which official figures are available), a total of 590 individuals were prosecuted for a range of offences under the Hunting Act. Of these, 378 were found guilty.
The Government has said that it will give Parliament the opportunity to repeal the Hunting Act on a free vote, with a government bill in government time.
The number of badgers culled in 2014 was 341 in Somerset and 274 in Gloucestershire.
The costs for 2014 are still being collated and will be published in due course.
Bovine TB threatens the future of our beef and dairy industries and is estimated to cost the taxpayer £1 billion over the next 10 years. This is why we will continue to pursue our comprehensive strategy to eradicate TB in England by 2038.
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: www.transparency.number10.gov.uk
Regulatory guidance will be published once the legislation has been made. There is an expectation that the proceeds of the charge will be donated to good causes and retailers will be required to report centrally on proceeds. As the Climate Change Act 2008 does not include powers for the Government to provide directions concerning the use of the proceeds, neither the legislation nor the regulatory guidance will mandate a particular use of the proceeds.
The Dogs Trust wrote to Defra Ministers on 13 November about their report The Puppy Smuggling Scandal. The report highlights that responsibility for stopping the illegal movement of puppies begins in the country where they are born. The UK Chief Veterinary Officer has written to the authorities in the countries highlighted in the report to remind them of their duty to ensure that the welfare of pets intended for sale is safeguarded. There is a robust checking regime for pets travelling into Great Britain. Every pet travelling with its owner on an approved route is checked for compliance with the pet travel regime and UK Border Force carry out a wide range of checks on vehicles arriving in the UK.
In England, for the purposes of the Water Framework Directive and Groundwater Directive, the Environment Agency has the responsibility for making determinations of substances that may be hazardous in groundwater. It will not permit the use of ‘hazardous substances’ for any activity, including hydraulic fracturing, where they would or might enter groundwater and cause pollution.
Hazardous substances are defined as those that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, or, for the Directives, where there are ‘equivalent levels of concern’. The Joint Agencies Groundwater Directive Advisory Group (JAGDAG) carries out peer reviews of these determinations, before recommendations are then put to public consultation. Substances that were proposed for use for hydraulic fracturing of shales in Lancashire have been assessed and were determined as non-hazardous. These were consulted on in 2012 following peer review by JAGDAG.
Information about JAGDAG, including minutes of meetings, can be found at: http://www.wfduk.org/stakeholders/jagdag-work-area-0