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Energy: Meters

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will seek to establish (a) how many households in Britain have a gas meter installed but receive no supply of gas to their property and (b) how many customers are subject to standing charges for such meters. [189218]

Michael Fallon: The most recent data the Department holds are for 2012 and from this we estimate that up to 326, 673 households in GB have a gas meter but consume no gas. The Department does not hold information as to how many of these households are subject to standing charges for such meters.

The energy market regulator, Ofgem, is currently considering concerns raised about the fairness of some consumers having to pay a standing charge even though they do not use their gas supply, and therefore have zero consumption. It has issued a request for information to suppliers on the subject:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/request-information-%E2%80%93-standing-charge-gas-customers-zero-consumption

Energy: Prices

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2014, Official Report, column 575W, on energy: prices, what estimate his Department has made of the number domestic customers on fixed-price deals. [188846]

Michael Fallon: The Department estimates that, as of quarter 3 of 2013, the latest data available, 18% of standard electricity customers (about 4.3 million) and 21% of gas customers (about 4.5 million) were on fixed-price deals.

These figures are in tables 2.4.2 and 2.5.2 of the DECC publication Quarterly Energy Prices, which can be accessed online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-price-stastics

Estimates for quarter 4 of 2013 will be available on 27 March 2014.

Mr Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many households have registered in each collective switching scheme supported by the Cheaper Energy Together fund; and how many such households have switched energy suppliers. [188952]

Michael Fallon: The following table shows how many households registered and how many switched in each collective switching scheme supported by the Cheaper Energy Together fund.

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Mr Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department takes to (a) monitor the level of and (b) support (i) individual and (ii) collective switching of energy companies by customers. [188955]

Michael Fallon: Levels of individual switching are monitored through the switching statistics released in the DECC publication Quarterly Energy Prices. These figures are sourced from Ofgem and count switches between different suppliers. The latest available figures are for quarter 3 of 2013, and are available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quarterly-domestic-energy-switching-statistics

On support for individual switching, Ofgem’s Retail Market Review reforms provide all consumers with clearer tariff choices. We recognise vulnerable consumers may need extra help and advice to engage with the energy market and to give them the confidence to switch. DECC has recently announced a further £l million funding for the Big Energy Saving Network to continue this programme of consumer outreach led by around 500 specially trained energy advisers from voluntary organisations and community groups, into 2014-15.

We have also announced plans to speed up the time it takes to switch energy supplier and we have recently taken a power in the Energy Act to require energy suppliers to provide key consumer data through QR

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codes on all energy bills, to help facilitate the development of smartphone or tablet applications which could make switching quicker and simpler.

The Department has published data on the level of collective switching of energy companies by customers from collective switching schemes supported by Cheaper Energy Together, however we do not monitor this on an ongoing basis. The evaluation of Cheaper Energy Together is available at this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/253862/Helping_Customers_Switch_Collective_ Switching_and_Beyond_final__2_.pdf

DECC continues to support the development of new collective switching schemes that will help consumers get the best deal, for example, we recently published updated guidance for organisers of collective switching schemes.

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he has taken to investigate higher charges for non-direct debit domestic customers of energy utility companies. [902739]

Gregory Barker: Energy companies are required under the terms of their licence to ensure any differences in charges to consumers, between different payment methods, reflect the costs to the supplier that particular form of payment.

Ofgem are looking at payment differentials, including higher charges for customers who choose not to pay by direct debit in the competition assessment, which will be published this spring.

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to help vulnerable people reduce their energy bills. [902742]

Michael Fallon: In December 2013 the coalition announced a package of policy changes to save families an average of £50 off their bills.

In 2013 the Energy Company Obligation made 290,000 low income vulnerable homes warmer and cheaper to run through insulation and heating improvements. We are proposing to extend the scheme to 2017 and broaden support available-making more low income areas eligible for support through the Carbon Saving Communities Obligation, and encouraging delivery to a wider range of homes including those off the gas grid.

Additionally, this winter over 2 million households have received help under the Warm Home Discount. Government also make winter fuel payments and cold weather payments.

Forests

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consultations he undertook before the announcement in December 2013 of the contribution by the Government of £75 million to the new Sustainable Forest Landscapes initiative of the World Bank's Biocarbon Fund; and what the outcome of those consultations was. [188838]

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Gregory Barker: There were many discussions with stakeholders before the decision was taken to invest in the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (the Fund).

There were discussions between DECC and a significant number of expert stakeholders about the Fund. Some of these discussions happened in the wider context of whether to test so-called jurisdictional REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) approaches at scale. Many NGO stakeholders provided evidence that further multilateral investment was needed in forests. DECC also tested interest in the Fund with key private sector stakeholders. Several major companies expressed interest in working with the Fund to explore opportunities to move to more sustainable production. Unilever, Mondelez International and Bunge Environmental Markets announced their interest in participating and partnering with the Fund at the launch event in Warsaw.

The Fund Manager, the World Bank, has also undertaken extensive consultation with businesses, governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to inform design of the Fund. They also convened over 30 agribusiness, bank, investment fund, commodity broker and retail business representatives for a workshop in May 2013 to assess their needs.

Nuclear Power Stations

Ms Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the carbon impact of new nuclear power plants as a result of (a) obtaining uranium, (b) processing uranium and (c) storing radioactive waste. [188922]

Michael Fallon: New nuclear power stations will form part of the UK's low-carbon energy mix and the level of carbon emissions from nuclear is low when compared with those from fossil fuels and comparable to those from renewable technologies. Life cycle analyses of the complete nuclear fuel cycle from uranium mining and processing to waste disposal are cited in the Nuclear White Paper and in the Regulatory Justification decisions on the EPR and AP1000 reactors, copies of which were placed in the Library of the House.

Warm Home Discount Scheme

Sir Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will make it his policy to extend the Warm Home Discount to include families where the parents are (a) unemployed and (b) have an annual income of less than £10,000. [189251]

Gregory Barker: Low income families are already included in the warm home discount scheme. Families, including where the parents are unemployed and have an annual income of less than £10,000, can access the scheme through their supplier under their broader group criteria. In winter 2012-13, over 500,000 households who qualified for the broader group received direct rebates of £130 off their electricity bills from their suppliers. Figures for winter 2013-14 will be available later in 2014.

We will be consulting this year on changes to the scheme for 2015-16 and will include considerations of how to ease access to the scheme for households in or at risk of fuel poverty.

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Deputy Prime Minister

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effect on the size of the electorate of the removal from the electoral register of electors who fail to fill in the household registration form for two successive years. [187379]

Greg Clark: Electors are removed from the electoral register when the Electoral Registration Officer is satisfied that they are no longer resident at that address, or entitled to remain registered.

Culture, Media and Sport

Diamond Jubilee 2012: Medals

Mike Thornton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who set the eligibility criteria for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal; and whether consideration was given to making it available to veterans. [188876]

Mrs Grant [holding answer 26 February 2014]: The eligibility criteria for the Diamond Jubilee Medal were agreed across Government and received Royal Assent.

As with the Golden Jubilee, the Diamond Jubilee medal was only to be issued to those who met the eligibility criteria and who were in service on and including 6 February 2012.

Equality

Mr Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many publications her Department has produced for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity in each of the last five years; and what the cost of producing such publications was in each such year. [188896]

Mrs Grant [holding answer 26 February 2014]: During the last five years DCMS has not produced any publications for the purposes of monitoring or promoting staff equality and diversity. Information on staff diversity under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 has been published annually on the Department's website and, more recently, on data.gov.uk. The most recent information can be found at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/237397/DCMS_Equality_Workforce _Data_2012-2013.csv/preview

Film: Ethnic Groups

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many feature films produced by ethnic minority film makers have been supported by BFI in the past year; and what proportion of total spending on feature film support such support was. [188978]

Mr Vaizey: In 2012-13 the British Film institute (BFI) funded six feature-length films written or directed by ethnic minority filmmakers, investing £3.31 million

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in production. This represents 22.5% of total production funding. A further £428,000 has been invested in the development of projects with black and minority ethnic talent during 2012-13. This represents 11.6% of total development funding.

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department provides for ethnic minority film makers; and if she will make a statement. [188980]

Mr Vaizey: The Department provides support through the British Film Institute (BFI) Lottery Film Fund which supports film development, production and distribution for film makers from all backgrounds. The BFI also provides Lottery funding to its partner Film London, which champions emerging Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic film talent through its London Calling Plus shorts scheme. The BFI has set diversity targets for all its funded schemes and delivery partners.

Football: Insolvency

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to reform the Football Association's rule on football credits in insolvency cases. [188875]

Mrs Grant [holding answer 26 February 2014]: The Financial Fair Play rules now introduced across football, combined with compliance checks that the FA and league administrators carry out on participating clubs, aim to improve financial management and stability across the leagues.

Legislation remains an option if the football authorities do not demonstrate that they can reform their own governance of the game.

The Government’s position on the football creditors rule is clear.

Ministers' Private Offices

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the size, in square metres, of the offices assigned to each of her Department's Ministers is; and how many officials, at what grade, work in the private offices of each of her Department's Ministers. [188311]

Mrs Grant: The three Ministers offices are of the following sizes:

49.5 square metres

46.2 square metres

46.2 square metres

Breakdown of Minister's private offices by grade:

Principle Private Secretary:

1 x SCS

Secretary of State:

3 x Grade A

1 x Grade C

Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities:

1 x Grade A

2 x Grade B

1 x Grade C

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Minister for Culture, Communication and Creative Industries:

1 x Grade A

1 x Grade B

1 x Grade C

Minister for Women and Equalities:

1 x Grade B

Sports: Finance

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how UK Sport's commitment to equality of opportunity, as set out in its Equality and Diversity Strategy, is implemented in its funding decisions. [188853]

Mrs Grant [holding answer 26 February 2014]: UK Sport funding decisions are based on its Investment Principles, which can be found on its website here:

http://www.uksport.gov.uk/pages/investment-principles/

All Olympic and Paralympic sports are given equal opportunity to make their case for investment either at the start of the Rio funding cycle (2013-17) or at each annual review point in line with UK Sport's Equality and Diversity Strategy.

Sports: Scholarships

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2014, Official Report, column 303W, on sports: scholarships, when she expects a decision to be made on the funding of the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme after September 2014. [188852]

Mrs Grant [holding answer 26 February 2014]:UK Sport and Sport England are working together on talent development in England and Sport England is due to discuss the future funding of TASS at its next board meeting.

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of the members of Team GB at the (a) London 2012 and (b) Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been supported by the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme. [189220]

Mrs Grant: Team GB has the following number of TASS supported athletes competing in the Olympics and Paralympics:

(a) London 2012—242 out of a total of 842 Team GB athletes—of which 44 athletes won medals, 10 were multi medallists with 57 medals won overall.

(b) Sochi 2014—29 out of a total of 71 Team GB athletes—one athlete has won a medal, with the Paralympics still to take place.

TASS-supported athletes have won 79 Olympic and Paralympic medals since its inception to date.

Business, Innovation and Skills

Construction: Exports

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent steps he has taken to increase exports in the construction sector. [188721]

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Michael Fallon: The Industrial Strategy for Construction was published in July 2013. It sets out high-level ambitions to be achieved by 2025, including a 50% reduction in the trade gap between total exports and total imports for construction products and materials. The strategy is owned and driven by a range of key bodies from across the full breadth of the construction industry, and is underpinned by an action plan.

Progress to date includes the establishment of a G2G entity (a Government-owned private limited company, the British Intergovernment Services Authority, to manage government to government contracts) to provide this support to all sectors of industry including construction, and UK export finance services have been increased to provide further support to the sector. UKTI's High Value Opportunities programme supports UK businesses of all sizes to access large-scale overseas procurement projects. In addition construction companies can also benefit from a wide range of UKTI services including Trade Show Access Programme funding; Passport to Export; Gateway to Global Growth and tailored advice from international trade advisers.

Construction: Industry

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings he has had with UK construction industry executives in each of the last three years. [188723]

Michael Fallon: As Minister of State for Business and Energy I regularly meet with representatives from across industry, including the construction sector.

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase innovation in the construction sector. [188724]

Michael Fallon: The Industrial Strategy for Construction, published in July 2013, identified a vision of where construction will be in 2025 including that the industry should be efficient and technologically advanced. To achieve this, the strategy included commitments (jointly owned by industry and government):

to build the UK's competitive advantage in smart construction and digital design through the Digital Built Britain agenda; and

to work with academic and research communities to bring forward more research, development and demonstration to the wider industry and work to remove barriers to innovation.

Progress is being made, including holding two innovation workshops.

In addition the Technology Strategy Board, in collaboration with Industrial Strategy for Construction, announced in September it is to invest £60 million over the next five years helping UK businesses revolutionise the way they approach building construction. The Low Impact Buildings Innovation Programme is expected to attract an additional £60 million of industry investment over this time, plus another £30 million funding from across government and other agencies, such as research councils.

By encouraging innovations such as digital design and engineering, the funding will help the sector to reduce construction times, improve quality and make buildings more efficient.

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Maternity Leave

Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of civil servants in his Department who were on maternity leave in each of the last five years returned to work. [189054]

Jenny Willott: BIS central records detailing the proportion of BIS civil servants who were on maternity leave, and returned to BIS, are shown in the following table.

We are unable to provide information on whether employees who went on maternity leave and did not return to work in BIS, were subsequently employed elsewhere.

Mrs Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of civil servants in his Department who had been on maternity leave were still employed in the civil service (a) six and (b) 12 months after their return to work in each of the last five years. [189114]

Jenny Willott: BIS central records detailing the proportion of BIS employees who had been on maternity leave and were still employed in BIS after six and nine months are shown in the following table.

We are unable to provide information on whether employees who left BIS following maternity leave were subsequently employed elsewhere within the civil service.

Skills Funding Agency

Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many colleges have satisfactorily submitted their student number returns as part of the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme to date. [188645]

Matthew Hancock: The latest data collection returns from colleges were submitted on 6 February 2014. All colleges are paid on a standard monthly profile during the year. Data submitted during the year by colleges is not used to calculate payments. College payments are reconciled at the end of each academic year. For 2013/14 this will be done on data submitted on 24 October 2014. The data verified in the returns received on 6 February confirmed:

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All 329 colleges (100%) successfully submitted files to the online data collections portal.

301 colleges (91.5%) successfully submitted files through the new Data Collections and Funding Transformation system.

Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much has been paid to each contractor for the delivery of the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme to date. [188646]

Matthew Hancock: Five contracts have been let to deliver and support the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme.

1. DCFT Hosting

Contract awarded to: Fordway Solutions Ltd under the G-Cloud Framework

A two year contract for ‘Managed Infrastructure as Service' commenced on 27 March 2013

Payments to date-£598,995 inc. VAT

2. DCFT SI (Systems Integrator) Delivery

Contract FSC2313 awarded to: Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement

The work was delivered in full and a total payment made of £2,392,368 inc. VAT

3. Data Collections and Funding Transformation-Application Development

Contract FSC2312 awarded to Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement

Capgemini sub-contracted with Trinity Experts Systems for delivery of the work.

The work was delivered in full and a total payment made of £6,553,052 inc. VAT

4. Data Collections and Funding Transformation-Application Development and Support

Contract FSC2311 awarded to: Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement

Capgemini sub-contracted with Amor Group for delivery of the work

The work was delivered in full and a total payment made of £4,354,694 inc. VAT

5. Data Collections and Funding Transformation-Application Management

Contract FSC2480 awarded to: Capgemini UK plc under the ‘Connect' ICT Services Agreement

Capgemini sub-contracted with Lockheed Martin for delivery of the work.

Note-Lockheed Martin took over the Amor Group in September 2013.

A 4 month contract for ‘Application Management' commenced on 1 November 2013

Contract value £332,148 inc. VAT

No payments have been made to date

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Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when the Data Collections and Funding Transformation Programme will be fully operational. [188647]

Matthew Hancock: The new Data Collection Funding Transformation systems are operational. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) is dual running the new system alongside the online data collections portal that it is replacing. This parallel running ensures any risks moving to the new system are mitigated and allows time for providers to develop their knowledge and understanding of the new arrangements. All providers continue to be paid on time; and performance management is only undertaken on robust data. Any provider who is concerned about funding should contact their relationship manager with the SFA or the Education Funding Agency.

Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the Skills Funding Agency budget is in each Core City per head of population. [188651]

Matthew Hancock: Overall funding for adult skills for further education learners aged 19+ in the 2013-14 financial year is £4.081 billion, which includes elements that do not form part of the Skills Funding Agency budget and is presented in the Skills Funding Statement 2013 to 2016:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skills-funding-statement-2013-to-2016

FE funding is demand led and participation in local authorities is presented in the Data Annex of the document provided above.

Students: Loans

Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications for Advanced Learning loans have been (a) made and (b) issued to date. [188648]

Matthew Hancock: Information on the number of 24+ Advanced Learning Loan applications received between 8 April 2013 and 31 December 2013 is published online:

https://www.thedataservice.org.uk/Statistics/fe_data_library/other_statistics_and_research/24advancedlearningloans/

Information on the number of learners participating in further education and skills with 24+Advanced Learning Loans in the first quarter of the 2013/14 academic year is published online:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/learner-participation-outcomes-and-level-of-highest-qualification-held