Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the forecasted geographic share of North Sea Revenue for Scotland is in the next ten financial years from 2023-24.
Answered by Alister Jack - Secretary of State for Scotland
The production forecasts produced by the North Sea Transition Authority are for the whole of the UK continental shelf up to 2050; forecasts are not produced for each individual constituent part of the UK. Historical trends show that the share in Scotland’s geographical waters averages around 80% and the UK Government expects this trend to continue over the next ten financial years.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to provide support with heating costs for households that use wood pellets for heating in the context of rises in the cost of wood pellets.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Alternative Fuel Payment will provide a one-off payment to UK households that use alternative fuels for heating. This will come in addition to the £400 provided by the Energy Bills Support Scheme, and a further £800 of one-off support provided to eight million of the most vulnerable households to help with the cost of living.
The Government will continue to monitor the prices of alternative fuels and will consider further intervention if required to protect UK households from extraordinary fuel prices.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
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 make an assessment of the potential impact on the adequacy of compensation received by affected consumers of the Ofgem Quality of Service Guaranteed Standards Regulation 9, 2.24, which defines a restoration of power as a period over three minutes; and if he will hold discussions with Ofgem on the potential merits of reviewing that provision.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government expects energy companies to deliver the best support to customers after a disruption to energy supply. Ofgem monitors and enforces the guaranteed standards relating to quality of supply. When a distribution company fails to meet the level of service required, it must make a payment to the customer, subject to certain exemptions.
As part of the Storm Arwen Review, Ofgem has commissioned a review of the guaranteed standards to assess the current compensation provision and payment structure.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the energy profits levy on investor confidence in the North Sea energy sector.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Energy Profits Levy is a temporary measure, the revenues from which will help to provide vital support for households facing cost of living pressures.
The government expects the combination of the Levy and its investment allowance to lead to an overall increase in investment.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the safety and security of independent council candidates in the context of the requirement to provide a visible address on election literature in local authority elections.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
Imprints are required on any printed election material, including that of independent candidates at local elections, to provide voters with the level of transparency they rightly expect about who is campaigning. The imprint requirement also supports the rules on campaign spending limits. The requirement to include an address as part of the imprint is important to enable the police and the courts to enforce the rules relating to candidate election material with legal certainty.
The safety of election campaigners and candidates is our utmost priority. For this reason, while candidates must use a postal address where they can be contacted, a range of addresses are permitted under the imprint rules. Therefore, candidates have alternative options if they feel uncomfortable publishing their home address on printed election material. As outlined in Electoral Commission guidance, this can be an office or business address. Candidates may also use a PO Box address or other mailbox service.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with British Telecom following Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie on the rollout of the BT Digital Voice.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS has frequent discussions with the BT Group, and others, to discuss a range of issues, including resilience to storms and the migration to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP).
Through the Electronic Communications Resilience & Response Group, DCMS is working with Ofcom, BT, and other providers to complete a Post-Incident Review following Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie. We will carefully consider the findings and work with the telecoms sector to understand where improvements can be made in future.
DCMS is also engaged in regular discussions with BT and other providers regarding the migration from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to VoIP services. The PSTN is an outdated technology, and becoming difficult to replace and repair due to a lack of spare parts. Given it cannot be maintained, it will become increasingly unreliable.
While the PSTN upgrade is an industry-led process, the government is also working with Ofcom to ensure consumers and sectors are protected and prepared for the upgrade process. This also includes close engagement with the emergency services, such as the Police, the NHS and the Fire Brigade.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether further resilience measures are planned for the Emergency Services Network following recent storms in the North East of Scotland.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) works closely with user organisations and EE to enhance levels of resilience across the ESN network. This includes enhancing power resilience across the ESN network by deploying standby alternative power solutions in the event of mains power being lost.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with representatives of EE on improving the resilience of the Emergency Services Network following Storms Arwen, Malik and Corrie.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Regular discussions are ongoing between the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESCMP) and EE to ensure the ESN network is resilient in the event of major disruption. The Programme is providing additional investment to enhance resilience of the ESN network in addition to what has already been provided by EE.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits of including in the forthcoming Broadcasting White Paper statutory provisions for the creation of a Gaelic language media service with Public Service Broadcaster status and (b) economic and social benefits of such a service for Gaelic speaking communities.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The UK Government has a strong record of demonstrating its commitment to minority language broadcasting to ensure that our broadcasting sector serves all audiences of the UK nations and regions.
Minority language broadcasting has an important role to play in the UK’s broadcasting ecology. It provides an opportunity for audiences - such as the Gaelic speaking community - to access content in a language familiar to them, and is a vital means of cultural expression.
The Government has been undertaking a strategic review of public service broadcasting and will set out conclusions in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department are taking to ensure that UK humanitarian aid in Gaza is not diverted to the Hamas terror group.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and robust controls against the diversion of aid. We select our partners for the strong safeguards they have in place, which reduces risks and ensures the maximum impact of UK aid for Palestinians. In Gaza, we have strong controls in place to monitor spending, including enhanced due diligence assessments, annual audits, and field visits; all to ensure UK aid reaches its intended beneficiaries and achieves value for money for the UK taxpayer. The UK's funding agreements also commit partners to understand and comply with UK and international counter terrorism legislation.