Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April 2016 to Question 34542, whether his Department has made an assessment of risks from lasers; and how he plans to use the General Product Safety Regulations to ensure the safe use of lasers in driverless cars.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Government, via Public Health England, has made an assessment of the health risks posed by different classes of lasers, and as a result my Department has advised Trading Standards to use their powers under the General Product Safety Regulations to remove laser pointers higher than Class 2 from sale.
However, we are also aware that there is a second risk from the intentional directing of a laser at aviation (and other modes of transport) so as to dazzle or distract the pilot (or driver).
This is a cross-Whitehall issue and we are working with other departments to address it, including looking at legislative options. However, the practical implementation of the General Product Safety Regulations is a matter for Local Authority Trading Standards.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33237, what assessment his Department has made of the potential health risks of the use of lasers by driverless vehicles.
Answered by Anna Soubry
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills believes that the General Product Safety Regulations should ensure that lasers used by driverless cars do not present an unacceptable health risk.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2016 to Question 6502, what the reasons are for the time taken to answer that question.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The hon. Member’s question was approved on time, but an administrative error with submitting the answer through the Question and Answer system meant that the reply was not sent. Procedures have been put in place to ensure that this issue does not reoccur.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether education will be exempt from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anna Soubry
We have protected public services, including education, in all of our trade agreements and will continue to do so in the EU-US free trade agreement, also known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This is non-negotiable.
The Government remains committed to providing the best quality education for all children and young people. TTIP will not change this. The government of the day, not our trade partners, will always set the rules governing how the education system is run.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) statutory and (b) other guidance is available to higher education institutions on their duties under the Equality Act 2010 towards disabled students.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support their students, including those with disabilities.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has produced a range of guidance for institutions on their obligations under the Equality Act 2010, including technical guidance setting out the detail of the law.
Guidance is also produced by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), a higher education sector body that supports equality and diversity for staff and students across the UK, including for disabled staff and students on managing “reasonable adjustments”. The ECU also published a report on the implications for institutions of the key issues contained in the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department has made a detailed assessment of the effect of the Government's energy policy carbon dioxide emissions in the UK in each year since 2010; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Provisional statistics for 2015 indicate that greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 38% since 1990 and 17% since 2010.
Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990
Units: MtCO2e | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015(p) |
Emissions reduction since 1990 | -24% | -31% | -28% | -30% | -35% | -38% |
Source: DECC (2016) Provisional UK greenhouse gas emissions national statistics 2015
A significant proportion of this reduction is being driven by policies. For those policies where we have been able to estimate the emissions impacts, annual estimates are detailed in Annex D of our Energy and Emissions Projections, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2015.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all users of electromagnetic radiation emitting devices comply fully with IEC/EN62471 regarding Photobiological Safety of Lamps and Lamp Systems.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Electrical equipment, including electromagnetic radiation emitting devices, sold in the UK must be safe to comply with the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994. European harmonised standards, including EN62471:2008, are not mandatory, but offer one route to meeting the requirements of the legislation.
Enforcement of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations is undertaken by Local Authority Trading Standards for consumer products, and the Health and Safety Executive for commercial and industrial products.
Where use of electro-magnetic radiation within the optical region of the spectrum could present a hazard in the workplace, employers must comply with the Control of Artificial Optical Radiation Regulations, which are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will estimate the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that have been saved in each year since on-shore wind farms have been commercially deployed in the UK; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The table attached shows the amount of carbon dioxide emissions estimated to have been saved in each year since onshore wind farms have been commercially deployed in the UK. This is calculated as the amount of generation from onshore wind multiplied by the carbon dioxide emissions factor for the fossil fuel mix for the corresponding year.
NB. Data for 1990 to 1995 are not available, so the 1996 emissions factor has been used; data for 2015 are not yet available, so 2014 has been used.
Sources:
Onshore wind generation, 1990-2014:
Digest of UK Energy Statistics, table DUKES 6.1.1, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-of-energy-chapter-6-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes
Onshore wind generation, 2015: Energy Trends table ET 6.1, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-trends-section-6-renewables
Carbon Dioxide emissions factors (all fossil fuels): DUKES 2015 Chapter 5, Table 5D, available at:
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many medals have been issued to men conscripted into UK coal mines under the Bevin Boys Veterans Badge scheme.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Since 25th March 2008, when the first Bevin Boys Veterans Badge was issued, to the end of March 2016 the Department has issued just over 5,100 Badges to former Bevin Boys and their widows, where their husbands passed away after the Badge was announced on 20 June 2007.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department holds data on the amount of heat a tonne of biomass gives off when burned compared to a tonne of coal; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department annually publishes the Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES). Appendix A of DUKES contains data on the calorific value of fuels:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447648/ DUKES_2015_Annex_A.pdf.
The gross calorific value of dry biomass fuels, (the DUKES values have been corrected for moisture content), vary between 10 gigajoules per tonne (GJ/t) for poultry litter and 24 GJ/t for meat and bone meal. A typical dry wood based fuel has an energy content close to 19 GJ/t. Treatments such as torrefaction or charcoal production increase the energy density of biomass derived materials. However these manufactured biomass fuels are not commonly used for heating in the UK.
A tonne of coal can also vary in heat content, depending on the rank of the coal, but lies between 24 GJ/t for bituminous coal as used in the pulp, paper and printing industries and 34 GJ/t of fuel for anthracite used in households. Typical bituminous house coal has a gross heat content of 30 GJ/t.
These values represent the maximum heat available from a fuel in a laboratory test. The useful heat provided by combustion of that fuel to the business or home will depend on the efficiency of the combustor in which it is burnt and the design of the energy distribution system. The combustor efficiency can range from an open fire which may provide 20% of the energy in the fuel as useful heat, to modern condensing wood pellet boilers with gross efficiencies around 90%.