Asked by: Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the import of natural gas from the European Single Market.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Gas is an important fuel for homes and businesses across Great Britain. Great Britain benefits from highly diverse and flexible sources of gas supply. Analysis shows GB supplies can meet gas demand even under severe weather conditions for an extended period of time, and this has always happened.
This diverse range of sources for natural gas including indigenous production, six international gas pipelines to Norway and the EU and four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals which import gas from a wide and growing range of global sources. We recognise the importance of having access to an affordable, secure and sustainable supply of energy for business and domestic use.
Asked by: Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether Post Office Ltd includes a count of temporarily closed post offices in meeting the Government's criteria for ensuring fair and reasonable access to post offices.
Answered by Margot James
The Post Office takes into account temporarily closed branches before reporting on its performance against the access criteria. The Post Office’s 2015/16 Annual Network Report was laid in Parliament on Monday 20 February and can be accessed from the Post Office’s website - http://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/sites/default/files/networkreport2016.pdf.
Asked by: Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post offices in Scotland have closed since 2010.
Answered by Margot James
The Post Office reported that there were 1,446 post offices in Scotland at March 2010 and 1,410 at March 2016.
Further information on network numbers can be found in the Post Office’s 2015/16 Annual Network Report: http://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/sites/default/files/networkreport2016.pdf; and also in a recently published Briefing Paper by the House of Commons Library:
http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN02585/SN02585.pdf.
Asked by: Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many post offices are currently operational in Scotland.
Answered by Margot James
The provision of post offices is the responsibility of Post Office Limited.
I have asked Paula Vennells, the Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the Hon Member on this matter and provide the information requested. A copy of her reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.
Asked by: Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2017 to Question 58726, on wind power, whether the costs associated with electricity generation that make up each Strike Price comparator in the BEIS Electricity Generation Cost report are based on Frontier Economics' research into whole system impacts; and what plans he has to publish that research.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Electricity Generation Costs report focuses on estimates of the levelised costs of electricity generation. These levelised costs cover the total capital and operating costs accruing to the owner/operator of a generation asset.
To improve the Department’s understanding of the impacts of individual electricity generation technologies, Frontier Economics were commissioned to develop a comprehensive framework to define whole system impacts and their components and drivers, which can be applied to a range of electricity generation technologies. The resulting methodology report and its peer reviews will be published in due course.
Asked by: Callum McCaig (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what account was taken of (a) the cost of land, (b) the effect on the transmission system and (c) balancing costs of the strike price for Hinkley Point C.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The Strike Price for Hinkley Point C accounts for all charges incurred by the developer in the production of electricity, including the cost of land, the generator’s share of transmission losses and an expectation of Transmission Use of Service Charges. Balancing services are not accounted for as the Strike Price for Hinkley Point C only includes costs that are directly incurred by the project.