Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Wylfa Nuclear Power site in North Wales to the Government's (a) net zero strategy and (b) the commitment to source all the UK electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is aware of the strong interest and support in North Wales for the development of this site and continues to discuss new projects with viable companies and investors wishing to develop sites including Wylfa Newydd.
The Net Zero Strategy is clear that nuclear is an important part of our plans to achieve net zero. Nuclear power stations provide firm low carbon power, which is required to complement variable renewable generation in order to ensure a low cost, stable, reliable, low carbon system in 2050.
The Government has set out a new £120 million Future Nuclear Enabling Fund towards the development of nuclear projects. More details of the Fund and how it will operate will be released in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure children have access to breakfast clubs in the school holidays during the 2021-2022 academic year.
Answered by Will Quince
Decisions around school funding and the provision of school food including breakfast clubs are a matter for the devolved administrations.
Data is not held on the number of schools operating breakfast clubs. However, schools have the freedom to run before school childcare and breakfast clubs.
The government is committed to continuing support for breakfast clubs in England in schools in disadvantaged areas. A further £24 million has been invested to continue our national programme for the next two years. This funding will support around 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas in England, including Opportunity Areas. This will mean that thousands of children from low income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
The department is investing up to £220 million in the Holiday Activities and Food programme in 2021. Taking place in schools and community venues across England, delivery began at Easter, ran across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. The programme supports disadvantaged children, and their families, by providing them with healthy food and enriching activities during the school holidays.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools currently use or provide breakfast clubs in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) Scotland.
Answered by Will Quince
Decisions around school funding and the provision of school food including breakfast clubs are a matter for the devolved administrations.
Data is not held on the number of schools operating breakfast clubs. However, schools have the freedom to run before school childcare and breakfast clubs.
The government is committed to continuing support for breakfast clubs in England in schools in disadvantaged areas. A further £24 million has been invested to continue our national programme for the next two years. This funding will support around 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas in England, including Opportunity Areas. This will mean that thousands of children from low income families will be offered free nutritious breakfasts to better support their attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
The department is investing up to £220 million in the Holiday Activities and Food programme in 2021. Taking place in schools and community venues across England, delivery began at Easter, ran across the summer and will run in the Christmas holidays. The programme supports disadvantaged children, and their families, by providing them with healthy food and enriching activities during the school holidays.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which of the six Type 45 Destroyers will be (a) fitted with a Sea Ceptor surface-to-air missile, (b) the first to undergo the fitting of the Sea Ceptor and when and (c) the last to undergo the fitting of the Sea Ceptor and when that fitting will be complete.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Elements of the Sea Ceptor weapon system, including the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM), will be integrated into the Sea Viper (SV) weapon system on all six Type 45 Destroyers. On current plans, the first ship is expected to achieve SV-CAMM Initial Operating Capability by early 2027 with the whole fleet rollout completed by the end of 2032. The programme is dependent on the availability of ships to receive the upgrade, balanced against the Royal Navy's standing and future operational commitments.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to ensure that all naval vessels have upgraded computer operating systems which are compatible with onshore systems.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Current legacy Computer Information Systems will be replaced imminently to ensure optimum compatibility for naval vessels. On current plans, the first installation of the new upgraded system is expected to commence in late 2021.
In addition, there is a funded programme of work to upgrade and maintain legacy systems and to ensure accreditation and interoperability is maintained.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which Type 45 Destroyer ship will next undergo upgrades as part of the Power Improvement Package; and what the timescales are for the completion of upgrades on each of the six ships.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 September 2021 in response to questions 51039 and 51040.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a cruise missile service on the Type 45 Destroyers.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
There are currently no plans to fit a cruise missile capability to Type 45 destroyers.
The Royal Navy has an effective submarine launch cruise missile capability. On a routine basis, we will continue to assess the utility and need for surface-launched cruise missiles.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on the procurement of the interim surface-to-surface missile guided weapon to replace the Harpoon on the six Type 45 Destroyer ships until the Future Anti-Ship Missile System is serviced.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
We continue to scope options for the Royal Navy’s next surface to surface guided weapon system, alongside wider lethality requirements, to allow us to deliver on the commitments outlined in the Integrated Review. No final decisions have yet been made.
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of splitting the reported data on covid-19 deaths within 28 days of a positive test by people who are (a) fully vaccinated, (b) single vaccinated and (c) not vaccinated.
Answered by Maggie Throup
Public Health England assessed that it would be in the public interest to publish data on COVID-19 deaths within 28 days of a positive test by vaccination status. This data is published in the weekly vaccine surveillance report, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccine-surveillance-report
Asked by: Sarah Atherton (Conservative - Wrexham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the planned timescales are for the completion of the Type 45 destroyer Power Improvement Package (PIP) upgrade.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
HMS DAUNTLESS, the first of class ship to receive the Type 45 Power Improvement Project (PIP) conversion, is at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead where equipment is being set to work following installation. The next phase of the programme will see HMS DAUNTLESS undertake a rigorous trials programme in harbour and subsequently at sea.
HMS DARING has been moved to the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead and will be the second Type 45 Destroyer to undergo her PIP conversion.
It is planned that all six Type 45 ships will have received the PIP conversion by the mid-2020s. The programme is dependent on the availability of ships to undertake the upgrade, balanced against the Royal Navy's standing and future operational commitments.