Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which power stations in the UK received income via the transmission charging regime between 2005 and 2015; and how much such income was received.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Payments made to or by individual power stations under the transmission charging regime operated by National Grid are commercially confidential between National Grid and each individual power station.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what modelling of blackstart capability of Scottish electricity systems has been undertaken by the (a) Government and (b) National Grid in relation to the potential closure of Longannet power station.
Answered by Matt Hancock
National Grid takes their obligation to secure the electricity network very seriously, continuously monitoring future generation and demand via their Future Energy Scenarios and System Operability Framework, designed to provide greater clarity on the likely system impacts of our scenarios. These include highly unlikely and extreme scenarios.
In relation to black starts, there are local restoration plans in place for Scotland which are regularly reviewed and updated. The most recent update was this year and it will be reviewed again following the award of the voltage control contract from the recent procurement exercise. The target capability for restoration after a black start is within 24 hours. Even in the case of closure of Longannet, the restoration times stay within this target, and supplies are set to be secure. We have measures in place to ensure security of supply with or without Longannet.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what modelling of voltage control of the Scottish electricity system has been undertaken by (a) the Government and (b) the National Grid in relation to the potential closure of Longannet power station.
Answered by Matt Hancock
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what modelling of security of electricity supply in Scotland has been undertaken by the (a) Government and (b) National Grid in relation to the potential closure of Longannet power station.
Answered by Matt Hancock
National Grid continually assess the risks to security of supply across Great Britain, including in Scotland, and are confident they have the tools to address any issues, including Longannet and other fossil-fuelled plant closing.
Even excluding unabated coal, which all major national parties have committed to close, Scotland has extensive and diverse electricity production including a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine plant at Peterhead which is investing in Carbon Capture and Storage; two nuclear power stations; onshore and offshore wind; and pumped storage. Scotland also gains increased security of supply from integration within the British energy market so that the full diversity of generators in England and Wales can also supply Scotland.
In terms of modelling the security of electricity supply, the Government and National Grid assess there will be enough generation to meet demand and maintain system stability in Scotland even if one or more major fossil fuelled plant closes. National Grid, Scottish Power Transmission and Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission (the system operator and the transmission owners in Scotland) provide analysis and advice to Government. They have stress tested 140 scenarios in which Longannet and other Scottish fossil fuelled generators closed. National Grid has the tools to secure supplies even the toughest system conditions, and the network is resilient against 1 in 600 year risks.
National Grid published the advice that it provided to my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Scottish government on this issue on their website last week:
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 27 January 2015 to Question 221347, how much UK funding of research and development directed towards the oil and gas sector since 2010 has been provided by the Government, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies; and what proportion that amount represents of all Government research and development funding in that period.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Data on how much UK funding of Research & Development (R&D) has been directed by the Government, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies towards the oil and gas sector since 2010 is not available.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much research and development funding has been directed towards the oil and gas sector since 2010; and what proportion that is of all UK research and development funding in that period.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics for expenditure on research and development performed in business enterprises (BERD) can be found here: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_385959.pdf.
Relevant data extracted from this report on expenditure on R&D performed in the extractive industries product group over 2010 - 2013 is given in the table below.
Year | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
BERD expenditure on R&D in extractive industries product group (£m) | 114 | 194 | 215 | 225 |
% of total BERD expenditure on R&D in extractive industries product group | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.3 |
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Marine Accident Investigation Branch is taking to investigate the sinking of the cargo vessel, Cemfjord, in the Pentland Firth.
Answered by John Hayes
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has commenced an investigation of the accident in cooperation with the Cypriot, Danish and Polish accident investigation authorities. Initial indications are that Cemfjord capsized suddenly, soon after entering an area of extremely violent seas to the north-west of the island of Stroma; the weather and sea conditions in the Pentland Firth at the time were atrocious. It has also been established that the vessel did not transmit any form of distress signal.
Key areas of investigation include: why the vessel foundered so rapidly; why none of the crew seem to have survived; and why it took so long for the alarm to be raised. To help answer some of these questions, the MAIB will be conducting a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) survey of the wreck when weather conditions allow.
Decisions about any further investigation of the wreck in situ cannot be made until the results of the ROV survey have been assessed. The evidence collected thus far suggests no reason to consider raising the vessel and any attempt would be fraught with such technical and practical challenges that it may not be possible to do so.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has received on the recovery of bodies from the sunken cargo vessel, Cemfjord, in the Pentland Firth.
Answered by John Hayes
No representations have been made to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency about recovering bodies from the CEMFJORD.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the reasons for the length of time taken by the emergency towing vessel to respond to the foundering of the Cemfjord in the Pentland Firth.
Answered by John Hayes
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has considered their coordination of the response to the foundering of the CEMFJORD. The correct search and rescue (SAR) resources were sent at the correct time once Her Majesty’s Coastguard had received a report of a capsized hull. The SAR response included four lifeboats, two helicopters and other vessels in the Pentland Firth area.
The emergency towing vessel was not sent as part of the SAR response but to mark the position of the capsized ship and to offer expert advice on any salvage effort.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the number of cases in which officials engaged in verifying the eligibility of applicants for tax credits where issues relating to their single status were an issue did not provide information advising how single status could be established in the last 12 months.
Answered by Priti Patel
During 2013-14 the total number of interventions carried out on single person tax credit claims with a suspicion of an undeclared partner was 140,923. HMRC amended 28,516 awards as a result of these investigations. HMRC do not hold data on the number of applicants who failed to provide information relating to their single status.