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10 Nov 2008 : Column 848W—continued
Office of Rail Regulation
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what regard the Office of Rail Regulation is required to have for the consultation responses it receives before concluding its periodic review; and if he will make a statement. [234276]
Paul Clark: The Office of Rail Regulation stated in the ‘Periodic Review 2008, determination of Network Rail’s outputs and funding for 2009-14’ that
“In making our determination we have considered carefully all the responses we received to our draft determinations”.
For further information you may wish to contact the chief executive of ORR, Mr. Bill Emery, at the following address: 1 Kemble Street, London, WC2B 4AN.
Plain English
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department has spent on Plain English Campaign training courses in each year since 2005. [231233]
Mr. Hoon: The central Department and its agencies spent the following on Plain English Campaign training courses in each of the last three financial years:
| £ | |
Public Footpaths: Access
Mr. Goodwill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment his Department has made of the levels of use of canal towpaths by cyclists and walkers. [234513]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has made no assessment, since the monitoring of local travel patterns is a matter for local authorities and the usage of canal towpaths, a matter for British Waterways.
River Thames
Mr. Amess: The ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to work with the Mayor of London on use of the River Thames for (a) passenger and (b) freight traffic; what discussions he has had with the Mayor of London on the subject since June 2008; and if he will make a statement. [233850]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Passenger services on the Thames are a matter for Transport for London (TfL) and the Mayor. However, the Department is always ready to engage with the Mayor and TfL on issues of this nature. The Department is also ready to engage with the Mayor on freight traffic; although this is not his exclusive remit.
The Secretary of State has not had any discussions with the Mayor on these areas since June.
Energy and Climate Change
British Energy: EDF
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether the Government has elected to receive the (a) cash offer and (b) partial CVR alternative following the sale of British Energy to EDF. [231243]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: In the context of EDF’s proposed takeover of British Energy, HMG has given an irrevocable commitment to accept the cash offer of 774p per share rather than the partial CVR alternative.
Energy: Care Homes
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assistance his Department provides to care homes with meeting energy costs. [231604]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: None. Care homes fall outside the usual scope of the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target, which is an obligation on energy suppliers to promote energy saving in the household sector. However action by energy suppliers in care homes may be approved by Ofgem, the scheme regulator, on a case-by-case basis.
Nuclear Power
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what electrical output of each nuclear power station has been in each of the last 24 months. [231244]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Department compiles information on the output of electricity generation companies only for the purpose of producing aggregate statistics. Company level data are commercially sensitive and thus cannot be released.
Net electricity supply (generation minus own use of electricity) by all nuclear stations, for each of the last 24 months, is given in the following table.
| Net electricity supplied by nuclear sources in the last 24 months | |
| Net electricity supplied (TWh) | |
| Source: Energy Trends table 5.3, last updated 25 September 2008 on: http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/energy/statistics/source/electricity/page18527.html | |
Sellafield
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on which date the previous Energy Minister, the right hon. Member for Croydon North, placed in the Library a copy of the departmental minute covering the indemnification of the new Sellafield parent body organisation, to which reference was made in the letter by the then Energy Minister to the Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts on 14 July 2008. [232173]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The intention was to place a copy of the departmental minute in the Libraries of the House on 14 July. Because of an administrative error the minute was not deposited in the Libraries until 15 October. The error is regretted. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee on 3 November, to apologise for the omission, and a copy of his letter has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Solar Power: Housing
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to (a) reduce the cost of solar panels and (b) promote their use. [233277]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Low Carbon Buildings Programme, launched in 2006, is the Government’s £86 million capital grant programme funding the installation of on-site technologies for householders, communities, public sector and business. The main objectives are to demonstrate the potential for encouraging both energy-efficiency and small-scale technologies in a range of buildings and to drive down costs through economies of scale.
Since 2002, the Government have spent £26 million on the Solar PV programme and £10 million on PV field trials. To date, the Low Carbon Buildings Programme has allocated £21,471,508 to 7,731 projects using solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technology.
Electricity generated from Solar PV is also eligible for support under the renewables obligation (RO), which is the Government’s main mechanism for encouraging new renewable electricity generation. Generators currently receive one Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) for every 1MWh of renewable electricity. Under reforms to the RO, we are proposing that solar PV receive two ROCs per MW. We recently announced that we will implement a feed-in tariff for small-scale generation up to three MW alongside the Renewables Obligation for large-scale projects.
The Government have also brought an amendment to the Energy Bill that would allow the establishment of a Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), which is a feed-in tariff for renewable heat. The RHI would provide financial support to solar thermal water heating units.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Arts: Copyright
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what his policy is on the application of copyright and related rights regulations to the beneficiaries of creators in all sectors of the creative industries; and if he will make a statement. [234126]
Mr. Lammy: There are many rights which may be regarded as related to copyright, and they have arisen in different ways for different reasons in different sectors. Given these differences, it is not possible to say that one general policy should apply for the beneficiaries of all of these rights. The UK must continue to comply with its international and European obligations to beneficiaries of creators.
Departmental Databases
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Rochford and Southend East of 7 October 2008, Official Report, column 549W, on departmental databases, how the Student Loans Company responds in cases where the MOSAIC data predict a decreased likelihood of repaying the student loan. [233394]
Mr. Lammy: The Student Loans Company (SLC) uses a composite modelling tool which includes access to one element of MOSAIC data only.
The tool helps the SLC to predict the likelihood that borrowers who are not currently making repayments would be in a position to do so. It cannot provide any firm assessment of borrowers’ ability to repay but it does provide SLC’s loan administrators with indicative background when approaching borrowers. Once borrowers’ actual positions are established—on a one-to-one confidential basis—action is agreed accordingly, e.g. to re-establish scheduled instalment repayment amounts, to negotiate lower repayment amounts or, for those earning under the repayment threshold, to facilitate deferment of repayments.
This applies only to mortgage-style student loans, which were offered to students who started their higher education course before 1998. Since that date, this type of loan has been replaced by income contingent loans which are collected through the UK tax system by HM Revenue and Customs.
Derby University: Research
Mr. Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much Quality Related funding the University of Derby received in the latest funding round contingent on the results of the 2001 research assessment exercise; and how much of that funding was contingent on rating of research as being of (a) national and (b) international excellence. [234264]
Mr. Lammy: The 2001 research assessment exercise (RAE) assessed submissions on a seven-point scale:
HEFCE mainstream quality-related research (QR) funding is allocated to only the top three categories—5*, 5 and 4—the lowest of which recognised attainable levels of national excellence in virtually all of the research activity submitted. None of the university of Derby's submissions achieved that rating.
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