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 measures she is putting in place to minimise the number of Notifications of Inadequate System Margin issued by the National Grid; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A Notice of Inadequate System Margin is one of the tools National Grid use to maintain margins in the system and can happen at any time for a variety of reasons. Issuing a NISM does not mean that demand is about to outstrip supply: it is a notice to the market to bring forward further capacity. National Grid issue NISMs ahead of dispatching capacity from its supplementary balancing reserve, which will include 3.5GW of dispatchable generating capacity next winter. This will give any remaining capacity in the market first opportunity to respond but does not signal any significant risk of shortages. National Grid’s objective is to secure supplies and the NISM is an important tool to achieve that objective with minimum distortion to the market.
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 cost to the public purse was of the Notifications of Inadequate System Margin issued on 9 May 2016 by the National Grid; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There was no cost to the public purse resulting from the Notice of Inadequate System Margin issued on 9 May.
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 produced and imported into the UK is used for (a) electricity generation, (b) steel production, (c) cement manufacture, (d) domestic uses, (e) carbon fibre goods, (f) liquid fuel manufacture, (g) mobile phone components and (h) heritage railways in the latest year for which figures are available.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The table below gives the proportion of coal produced and imported into the UK by sector for 2014. DECC only produces industry consumption data for the main industrial sectors. Therefore, data is not broken down specifically for cement manufacture, carbon fibre goods, liquid fuel manufacture and mobile phone components. For industry the table shows the two largest consumers and iron and steel.
| Thousand Tonnes | Proportion % |
Total Demand | 48,500 |
|
Transformation | 45,665 | 94.1% |
Of which: Electricity Generation | 38,400 | 79.2% |
Industry | 2,240 | 4.6% |
Of which : Mineral Products | 1173 | 2.4% |
Pulp, paper, printing, etc | 136 | 0.2% |
Iron and Steel | 54 | 0.1% |
Heritage railways | 13 | 0.03% |
Domestic | 547 | 1.1% |
*Other | 35 | 0.1% |
*includes energy industry use, public administration, commercial and miscellaneous.
Source:
DUKES table 2.4 available at:
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Prime Minister, with reference to the Answer of 10 May 2016 to Question 36679, which of those specific groups of people referred to in that Question he has shared a speaking platform with in an official capacity.
Answered by Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton - Foreign Secretary
Details of my official speeches are available on the gov.uk website.Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that NHS England implements the NICE recommendation for NHS funding for Translarna as a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Answered by George Freeman
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently evaluating Translarna (ataluren) for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy through its highly specialised technology programme. The expected publication date for NICE’s final guidance is July 2016.
National Health Service commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE highly specialised technology guidance within three months of its final guidance being issued.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many meetings NHS England has had with PTC Therapeutics to discuss an agreement on price for Translarna to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy since 15 April 2016.
Answered by George Freeman
NHS England has advised that on 4 May 2016 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) asked NHS England and PTC Therapeutics to continue to work towards agreeing an acceptable managed access arrangement for Translarna (ataluren) for the treatment of children aged five and over with Duchenne muscular dystrophy caused by a nonsense mutation.
NHS England and the company have been asked to reach agreement on the cost of the drug to the National Health Service by 7 July.
NHS England has advised there have not been any commercial meetings with PTC Therapeutics in the period since 15 April 2016, however, it is in regular contact with the company.
NHS England will be meeting with PTC Therapeutics when it has concluded the detailed preparatory work required to effectively respond to NICE's request within the set timescale.
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 discussions he has had with higher education institutions about the potential effect of changes in the level of university teaching staff on casual employment contracts on the quality of teaching.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
We have had no such direct discussions with higher education institutions.
In the 2016 Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Grant letter we asked HEFCE to look into the two issues of (a) the contractual status of academic staff and (b) teaching intensity/weighted contact hours across different subjects.
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 many staff were employed on (a) fixed-term and (b) atypical contracts at UK universities in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on academic staff employed at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The numbers of staff employed on fixed-term and atypical contracts in each of the last five years are presented in the table:
Academic Staff on Fixed-Term and Atypical Contracts | ||
UK Higher Education Institutions | ||
Academic Years 2010/11 to 2014/15 | ||
Academic Year | Fixed-term Contracts | Atypical Contracts |
2014/15 | 70,035 | 75,560 |
2013/14 | 69,415 | 75,040 |
2012/13 | 65,990 | 74,075 |
2011/12 | 65,710 | 82,045 |
2010/11 | 60,320 | 78,340 |
Source: HESA Staff Record Note: Figures in the table have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 5. | ||
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the implications for his policies are of the 19 January 2016 Motion for a Resolution of the European Parliament on the situation in Ethiopia and the report by UN special rapporteurs of 21 January 2016 on Ethiopia's use of force against Oromo protestors; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK Government is aware of both the European parliament’s Motion for a Resolution on the situation in Ethiopia and the UN special rapporteurs’ report on Ethiopia’s alleged use of force against protestors in Oromia. We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador also raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns with the Ethiopian government, including on the use of force.
We will continue to work with our partners, including the US, in urging the Ethiopian government to use restraint in their handling of the protests in Oromia.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the implications for his policies are of the position of the US State Department on Ethiopia's use of anti-terror legislation to detain politicians and protestors, set out in its press release of 29 April 2016; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK Government is aware of both the European parliament’s Motion for a Resolution on the situation in Ethiopia and the UN special rapporteurs’ report on Ethiopia’s alleged use of force against protestors in Oromia. We remain deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and have repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in that region. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador also raised the issue with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and raise our concerns with the Ethiopian government, including on the use of force.
We will continue to work with our partners, including the US, in urging the Ethiopian government to use restraint in their handling of the protests in Oromia.