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16 Dec 2009 : Column 1339W—continued
Tidal Power: River Severn
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps have been taken to ensure that the results of the Strategic Environmental Assessment of short-listed options for the generation of tidal power in the Severn Estuary have been made available to the developers of proposals under the Severn Embryonic Technologies scheme. [307584]
Mr. Kidney: The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is still underway and results will not be available until it completes next year. The SEA work is at this stage specific to five shortlisted schemes and its findings do not necessarily apply to the fundamentally different embryonic technologies being considered by the Severn Embryonic Technologies scheme.
Severn Embryonic Technologies scheme proposers have been briefed on the findings from the scoping stage of the SEA and are using this information and the range of published feasibility study reports as they progress in further defining their emerging designs. Proposers have also benefited from advice from the Parsons Brinckerhoff consortium, who are conducting the SEA.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what mechanisms are in place to ensure that delays in completion of the Strategic Environmental Assessment of short-listed options for the generation of tidal power in the Severn Estuary will not adversely affect the development of proposals under the Severn Embryonic Technologies Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [307585]
Mr. Kidney: We are not anticipating delays to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) that would impact on the proposals under the Severn Embryonic Technologies Scheme (SETS). The final reports from the proposals supported under the scheme are expected to be received from the project proposers before completion of the SEA.
The SEA work is at this stage specific to five shortlisted schemes and its findings do not necessarily apply to the fundamentally different embryonic technologies being considered by the Severn Embryonic Technologies Scheme.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the ad hoc working group on Long-Term Co-operative Action of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [307371]
Mr. Kidney: The ad hoc working group on Long-Term Co-operative Action of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has provided an effective process for ensuring the input of the 194 parties to the convention.
Utilities
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if his Department will take steps to require energy utility companies to put in place resilience measures sufficient to prevent cyber-attacks rendering their services temporarily ineffective. [303798]
Mr. Kidney: The Department of Energy and Climate Change works closely with the Home Office and the Centre for Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), incorporating input from the UK Office of Cyber Security, to identify proportionate security measures to mitigate cyber and other threats, and to maximise the resilience of the Energy sector.
The Department has strong relationships with the energy sector. It has not been necessary for the Government to take steps to require such mitigations to be put in place. Rather we have adopted a partnership approach to enhance security and resilience which recognises that it is in all of our interests, both from a national security perspective and from a commercial perspective, to work together to continually improve the resilience of the UK's energy sector.
Warm Front Scheme: Derbyshire
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households applied to receive grants under the Warm Front Scheme in (a) Chesterfield and (b) Derbyshire in each year since the inception of the scheme. [307244]
Mr. Kidney: The requested data for the present phase of the scheme (2005-to present) are shown in the following table. Prior to 2005, the scheme was managed by a different delivery body in Derbyshire and the data retained by the current scheme manager are not sufficient to provide a consolidated response.
| Number | |
Waste Management
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change at what location on his Department's website can the United Kingdom's third national report on compliance with the obligations of the joint convention on the safety of spent fuel management and on the safety of radioactive waste management be found; how the information contained in this report has been conveyed to the public; and when the national reports from member states to the convention were last reviewed under IAEA auspices. [304684]
Mr. Kidney: The United Kingdom's third national report on compliance with the IAEA Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management can be freely accessed by the public on DECC's website at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/uk_ supply/energy mix/nuclear/radioactivity/government/international /iaea_jointconv/iaea_Jointconv.aspx
The last review of national reports from contracting parties to the joint convention
was undertaken at the joint convention review meeting in Vienna in May 2009.
Wind Power
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many offshore wind turbines became operational in UK waters in each of the last five years. [303527]
Mr. Kidney: The following table sets out the number of offshore wind turbines that became operational in UK waters in each of the last five years.
| Number of turbines | Installed capacity (MW) | |
| (1) Does not include the Beatrice demonstrator project which is outside UK territorial waters. Source: AEA Technology. | ||
Wind Power: Offshore Structures
Mr. Truswell:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many gigawatts of (a) renewable and (b) non-renewable energy in applications receiving
consideration under (i) section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 and (ii) the Transport and Works Act 2002 relate to offshore wind farms in English waters. [307772]
Mr. Kidney: The Department is dealing with five consent applications under section 36 of the Electricity Act for proposed wind farms in English waters. The total generating capacity of these applications is nearly 2.25GW. There are currently no TWA applications under consideration for wind farms in English waters. There are no applications under either regime for non-renewable energy projects in English waters.
International Development
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many staff of his Department were in its redeployment pool on 1 (a) January, (b) April, (c) July and (d) October 2009. [306714]
Mr. Michael Foster: It was unnecessary for the Department for International Development (DFID) to maintain a Redeployment Pool prior to 1 October 2009.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much has been paid in bonuses to civil servants in his Department in each year since 2007. [306426]
Mr. Michael Foster: The Department for International Development (DFID) Senior Civil Service (SCS) members are eligible to be considered for a year end non-consolidated performance award. Awards are intended to reward delivery of personal business objectives during the reporting year or other short-term personal contributions to wider organisational objectives. In considering SCS members for an award, line managers are asked to take into account:
performance against agreed priority business objectives or targets total delivery record over the year
relative stretch (i.e. the challenge of the job compared to that of others)
response to unforeseen events that affected the performance agreement.
Awards are funded within existing pay bill controls, have to be re-earned each year against the pre-determined criteria above and, as such, do not add to future pay bill costs.
The annual size of the non-consolidated performance pay pot for SCS members is based on recommendations by the independent Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).
The following table show the amount allocated in each of the last three years for year end non-consolidated performance related awards.
Staff in grades below the SCS are eligible to be considered for a year end non-consolidated performance award. Awards are intended to reward both the delivery of personal business objectives during the reporting year and demonstration of DFID's values.
The following table show the amount allocated in each of the last three years for year end non-consolidated performance related awards.
| Year end non-consolidated performance related awards (£) | |
| Notes: 1 Payments made are for the financial year indicated but relate to performance achieved in the previous reporting year 2 DFID's reward arrangements did not allow for the payment of any performance related awards in the 2008-09 financial year to staff below the Senior Civil Service. | |
DFID does not operate an in-year performance related award scheme for any staff.
Departmental Training
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on away days in the last 12 months; and what the (a) subject and (b) location of each away day was. [306405]
Mr. Douglas Alexander: This information can not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.
Palestinians: Overseas Aid
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much aid his Department has provided to Gaza in each of the last five years. [306474]
Mr. Michael Foster: Many of the projects funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) cover both the west bank and Gaza and so it is not possible to give figures for Gaza alone. Detailed figures of DFID expenditure are included in the Annual Report and Statistics on International Development which are available in the Library and on the DFID website. In recent years direct DFID funding to the Occupied Palestinian Territories has increased from £17.6 million in 2004-05 to £60 million in 2008-09 (including our support to the UN Relief and Works Agency).
Since the start of the Gaza conflict the UK Government have pledged nearly £47 million to help the people of Gaza, of which £20 million has been provided so far this year for humanitarian aid and early recovery. In 2007-08 DFID also provided £3 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to meet immediate humanitarian needs in Gaza.
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