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, what proportion of the coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations originated in the USA in the first nine months of 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
DECC does not hold figures on the proportion of coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations, by country of origin. However, from January to September 2015, 16,784 thousand tonnes of steam coal (mainly used by coal-fired power stations) were imported into the UK, while coal used for electricity generation was 22,512 thousand tonnes during the same period.
The USA provided 3,231 thousand tonnes of steam coal imports, 19% of all steam coal imports, while Russia provided 7,237 thousand tonnes (43%)
Source:
Energy Trends tables 2.1 and 2.4, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends
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, what proportion of the coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations originated in Russia in the first nine months of 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
DECC does not hold figures on the proportion of coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations, by country of origin. However, from January to September 2015, 16,784 thousand tonnes of steam coal (mainly used by coal-fired power stations) were imported into the UK, while coal used for electricity generation was 22,512 thousand tonnes during the same period.
The USA provided 3,231 thousand tonnes of steam coal imports, 19% of all steam coal imports, while Russia provided 7,237 thousand tonnes (43%)
Source:
Energy Trends tables 2.1 and 2.4, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends
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, what the spare capacity is in each of the national electricity grid systems from which the UK buys electricity through interconnectors.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The security of supply contribution that interconnectors to other countries can make is assessed annually, based on detailed market modelling to determine anticipated electricity flows from connected markets at times of GB system stress. An overview of the 2015 assessment can be found here:
In addition, there are arrangements in place for interconnectors to provide emergency response services to the System Operator outside of usual market operation. This includes reducing any exports to zero in the unlikely event of coincident stress with connected markets.
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 financial assistance is available to UK businesses in the oil industry supply chain who face financial difficulties resulting from the reduction in the price of oil.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Government has taken steps to help reinvigorate the supply chain by stimulating more investment opportunities in the UK Continental Shelf through a £1.3bn package of tax cutting measures and £20m of new funding for a second round of seismic surveys, announced at the end of January 2016.
The government has taken forward the rapid implementation of the Wood Review and the Oil and Gas Fiscal Review, establishing the Oil and Gas Authority, and in recognition of the current economic pressures hitting the industry, has established a cross-government, Ministerial oil support group. This will look at issues such as how to support the supply chain and workers through this difficult period.
UKTI also continue to work with supply chain companies to access overseas opportunities in countries including Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Mexico.
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, what proportion of coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations came from Colombia in 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Full year figures for 2015 are not currently available. In the first 9 months of 2015 (January to September) 1, 32% of imported steam coal, which is predominately used by power stations, came from Columbia.
[1] Coal Imports ET2.4: www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487870/ET_Dec_15.pdf
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, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2016 to Question 23662, if she will make an assessment of the risk of coal sourced by owners of power stations in the UK coming from countries where safety and labour standards in mining are poor.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Decisions on where to source coal are a commercial matter for the owners of coal-fired power stations. Contracts for the purchase of coal are awarded to individual mining companies, not countries. The majority operators of power stations in the UK are members of BetterCoal, an industry-led initiative which is taking action to promote responsible coal mining and has established a set of ethical, social, and environmental principles which companies in the supply chain are expected to align with.
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 discuss with her German counterpart the steps the German government plans to take to ensure that it can meet its carbon reduction targets while expanding coal-fired power stations in that country.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Ministers and officials in the department regularly discuss a range of energy and climate change issues with our German counterparts.
Emissions in the traded sector (including German energy sector) are capped under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) which is set to decrease emissions within these sectors by 43% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.
Germany has national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% to 95% below 1990 levels by 2050. In 2014, the German government published their Climate Action Programme with additional measures to achieve their 2020 target. Later this year, the German government is expected to adopt its national Climate Action Plan 2050 which will include interim targets for post 2020 period and next steps in light of the Paris Agreement.
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, how long on average the Office of the Independent Adjudicator took to close a case in 2015.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator’s Annual Report (2014), which contains the latest published figures available, states that it took an average of 207 days to close a complaint from the time the student first submitted a complaint form. Provisional figures indicate that improvements have been made since then and the 2015 Annual Report is likely to show a significant reduction in this figure.
The European Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution, which came into force on 9 July 2015, now requires dispute resolution bodies such as the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) to issue complaint outcomes within 90 days of receiving the full complaint file, unless the case is highly complex. The OIA and other alternative dispute resolution bodies are required to report to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, which is monitoring compliance with the Directive.
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 he is taking to ensure that the Office of the Independent Adjudicator is able to send the complaint outcome to the complainant and member higher education provider within 90 days of the reviewer's determination that the file is complete.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator’s Annual Report (2014), which contains the latest published figures available, states that it took an average of 207 days to close a complaint from the time the student first submitted a complaint form. Provisional figures indicate that improvements have been made since then and the 2015 Annual Report is likely to show a significant reduction in this figure.
The European Directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution, which came into force on 9 July 2015, now requires dispute resolution bodies such as the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) to issue complaint outcomes within 90 days of receiving the full complaint file, unless the case is highly complex. The OIA and other alternative dispute resolution bodies are required to report to the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, which is monitoring compliance with the Directive.
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, what proportion of electricity in the UK was generated by UK coal-fired power stations in 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
DECC will publish finalised energy market statistics including figures for electricity generation in 2015 later this year. However, provisional figures [1] show that coal accounted for 22% of UK electricity supplied over Q1 – Q3 in 2015 compared to 28% in the same period in 2014.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487838/Electricity.pdf