Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an estimate of the percentage of the UK's total energy requirement that will be delivered through the Advanced Nuclear Fund in each of the next ten years.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Advanced Nuclear Fund (ANF) is a £385m fund that supports innovation in nuclear energy. It was announced in 2020 and is due to conclude in March 2025. It includes a grant of up to £210m to Rolls Royce SMR Ltd to develop their Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design, as well as other funding for Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) research and development.
The Government has set out a commitment for SMRs to be operational in the UK by the mid-2030s, and to build an AMR demonstrator by the early 2030s, as part of the wider ambition for nuclear power to provide up to 25% of the UK’s electricity by 2050. The ANF promotes innovations that will help to meet these goals, and therefore its contribution to the UK’s total energy requirement will be from the mid-2030s.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the value of tuition fee repayments that were written off due to lower graduate salary levels between 2020 and 2023.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
As education is a devolved issue, the following answer concerns the student finance system in England only. The student finance systems of the devolved administrations differ from that of England.
The department makes regular assessments of the expected write-off amount of student loans issued in each financial year. These forecasts are published on GOV.UK.
The headline statistic Resource Accounting and Budgeting (RAB) charge is the percentage of the loans (both tuition and maintenance) outlaid to students in a given financial year, that the government expects to subsidise, i.e. write-off.
Repayments are calculated based on income, not on the amount borrowed. Borrowers earning less than the repayment threshold repay nothing at all, and loans are cancelled at the end of the loan term with no detriment to the borrower. The Student Loans Company will also cancel a borrower’s liability to repay a loan if the borrower dies or receives an eligible disability-related benefit and because of the disability is permanently unfit for work. It is not possible to disaggregate the pure impact of salary levels of borrowers (graduates and non-graduates) on loan write-offs.
The latest publication of the student loan forecasts for England was published in June 2023, and will be updated at the end of June 2024. The RAB charge for full-time undergraduate higher education (plan 2) loans issued in the 2022/23 financial year was forecast to be 28%.
Student loan repayments volumes are sensitive to the wider economic environment. Earnings of borrowers (both graduates and non-graduates), interest rates, inflation rates, repayment threshold freezes, policy changes and modelling improvements, all influence the RAB charge forecasts. For these reasons RAB forecasts from the past are not directly comparable year-on-year.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 20 November 2023 to Question 1823 on Business: Insolvency, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the trend in the number of companies declaring insolvency in that period.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government was pleased to see that the latest statistics reported by the Insolvency Service showed the number of corporate insolvencies in March 2024 had fallen by 28% compared to March 2023.
The Government continues to help businesses, including through a swathe of policy measures in the Autumn explicitly aimed at ‘Backing British business’. Recent and current policies supporting businesses include:
• Energy Bills Discount Scheme that provided discounts on high energy bills to eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users from April 2023 to April 2024.
• Continued frozen small business rates multiplier and business rates relief for the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure sector, the latter policy supporting around 230,000 properties up to £110,000 per business.
• Payment and cashflow review outlining measures to combat late payments that can jeopardise stable cashflows.
The Government will continue to monitor the UK corporate sector, using official data and engaging with firms and business groups to inform policy decisions.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2023 to Question 6089 on Home Office: Training, whether participants in the e-learning training on FGM were asked to provide an approval rating for that course.
Answered by Laura Farris - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Ministry of Justice) (jointly with Home Office)
Upon completion of the course, attendees are asked a series of questions to gather feedback on their experience of the course.
This includes, how much their knowledge of FGM has improved and whether they recommend it to others.
According to the most recently available data, 95% of those who have completed the FGM course have said they would now do something differently in their role as a result.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will have discussions with the UN on establishing responsibility for the (a) bombing of the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza in October 2023 and (b) recent deaths of four Israel Defence Forces soldiers at Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
As the Prime Minister said on 23 October, the Government's judgement is that the explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital on 17 October was likely caused by a missile, or part of one, that was launched from within Gaza towards Israel. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the strike on 05 May which killed four Israel Defence Force soldiers at Kerem Shalom.
Our priority is doing all we can to reach a long-term solution to this crisis. This means the removal of Hamas' capacity to launch attacks against Israel, Hamas no-longer being in charge of Gaza, the release of all hostages, a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza, and a political horizon to a two-state solution.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February 2024 to Question 15230 on Northern Ireland Strategic Migration Partnership, what each of those multiple agreements in place with Northern Ireland government departments are.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office continues to engage with Northern Ireland government departments to progress agreements to ensure continued delivery for service users in Northern Ireland. We have agreements with the following departments: The Executive Office, The Department for Health and The Department for Economy.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) stakeholders on the timelines for the announcement of capital requirements for the stadia for the Euro 2028 Championships.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
EURO 2028 is a fantastic opportunity for the UK and Ireland to showcase world class sport as hosts. The UK Government is continuing to work closely with relevant stakeholders including with regards to host stadia for EURO 2028.
The Government remains committed to ensuring EURO 2028 leaves a lasting legacy across the UK
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his planned timetable is to amend the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to differentiate between (a) domestic and (b) foreign politically exposed persons.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has already amended the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to distinguish between domestic and non-domestic politically exposed persons (PEPs).
The amendment came into force on 10 January 2024 and makes clear that regulated firms must apply a lower level of enhanced due diligence to domestic PEPs and family members or close associates of domestic PEPs, compared to non-domestic PEPs, unless other risk factors are present.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 27 April 2023 to Question 182232 on Confucius Institutes, if she will make an estimate of the cost to the Chinese authorities of maintaining the Confucius Institutes in the UK in 2023/24.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to UK Export Finance's Business Plan 2024-29, published on 30 April 2024, what steps she is taking to help companies in Northern Ireland Companies to export globally.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Export Finance (UKEF) offers support to businesses across the whole of Northern Ireland. It has a network of Export Finance Managers who are valuable contacts for businesses with export potential, including those based in Northern Ireland. Contact details are available at: Find an Export Finance Manager - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
UKEF has a proud history of supporting business in Northern Ireland. For instance, in February 2024, UKEF announced it was guaranteeing a $100 million dollar facility to EOS IT Holdings, based in Country Down.