Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will direct the Oil and Gas Authority under the provisions of the Energy Act 2016 to investigate the financial viability of gas storage operations in the UK.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
It is not the role of the Oil and Gas Authority to conduct such an assessment. The Department has recently undertaken a full strategic assessment of our long-term gas security, and we will publish this in due course.
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many times government ministers have met the Coal Authority in the last two years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Coal Authority has met with Government Ministers four times in the last two years.
The Minister of State for Energy met the Coal Authority on three occasions between October 2014 and October 2016:
The Coal Authority also met the then Under-Secretary of State Environment and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart) on 20 November 2015.
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many times the Secretary of State has exercised his powers to make payments above £15,000 under the House Loss Payments Scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has not exercised his powers to make payments above £15,000 under the House Loss Payments Scheme.
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the Coal Authority has spent on external legal advice in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Coal Authority’s external legal spend over the last five years is broken-down as follows:
Oct 2011 - Sep 2012 448,512.24
Oct 2012 - Sep 2013 615,208.40
Oct 2013 - Sep 2014 418,516.90
Oct 2014 - Sep 2015 371,561.44
Oct 2015 - Sep 2016 771,867.78
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people have been employed in the Coal Authority in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Total Coal Authority average headcount for the last five years is broken-down as follows:
2016 183
2015 168
2014 143
2013 136
2012 139
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is his Department's policy that compensation for subsidence damage under the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 is in line with the Code of Practice which was based upon the Land Compensation Act 1973.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 and the Coal Industry Act 1994 set out the duties on the Coal Authority in relation to coal mining subsidence and includes provisions for purchase of properties and home loss payments. Principles relating to compensation reflect similar principles referred to in other codes of practice relating to compulsory purchase procedures instigated by other public bodies. However, the Coal Authority has no compulsory purchase rights relating to subsidence. There are, however, differences in the minimum and maximum degree of compensation paid.
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to amend the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991 to allow the Coal Authority to take into account blight when making compensation payments.
Answered by Jesse Norman
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no plans to review the powers under the Coal Mining Subsidence Act 1991.
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many properties affected by subsidence have been compulsorily purchased by the Coal Authority in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Coal Authority has no compulsory purchase powers in relation to subsidence and as such has not purchased any properties on that basis in the last five years.
Asked by: Alan Campbell (Labour - Tynemouth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many households are in receipt of (a) feed-in tariff payments from solar PV installations, (b) domestic renewal heat incentive payments and (c) both such payments.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
By the end of March 2016, there were
722,559 households with solar PV benefitting from feed-in-tariff (FIT) payments.
45,789 households with installations benefitting from renewable heat incentive (RHI) payments
The number of households in receipt of both FIT and RHI payments is not available.
Source data:
RHI: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rhi-deployment-data-march-2016-q1-2016 (table 2.10)