Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department has spent on opinion polling on attitudes in Scotland towards Scottish independence since 1 January 2013; and under what cost headings such money has been spent.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
As part of this Government's transparency programme, we publish spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what payments his Department has made to Ipsos-Mori for opinion polling since 1 June 2014; and what the purpose was of such polling.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
As part of this Government's transparency programme, we publish spend data over £25,000 and contracts over £10,000 on Gov.uk and Contracts Finder.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people who will reach state pension age in the 12 months from the commencement date of the single tier pension who will receive a reduced pension as a result of (a) having made reduced National Insurance contributions as a consequence of contracting out of (i) SERPS or (ii) 2SP and (b) failure to attain the qualifying threshold of a contribution record of 35 years.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Department estimates that of those reaching State Pension Age in 2016-17:
· 37% will receive at least the full rate of the new State Pension;
· 52% will receive less than the full rate of the new State Pension due to having made reduced National Insurance contributions as a consequence of contracting–out of additional pension (SERPS and/or S2P);
· 11% will receive less than the full rate of the new State Pension due to not having achieved 35 qualifying years.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest 1%.
These individuals will have their own National Insurance record valued at the higher of the old scheme or new scheme rules. Both old scheme and new scheme valuations will take account of periods of contracted out employment.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people who will reach state pension age in the 12 months from the commencement of the single tier pension who will be eligible to receive state pension at the full rate.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Department estimates that of those reaching State Pension Age in 2016-17:
· 37% will receive at least the full rate of the new State Pension;
· 52% will receive less than the full rate of the new State Pension due to having made reduced National Insurance contributions as a consequence of contracting–out of additional pension (SERPS and/or S2P);
· 11% will receive less than the full rate of the new State Pension due to not having achieved 35 qualifying years.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest 1%.
These individuals will have their own National Insurance record valued at the higher of the old scheme or new scheme rules. Both old scheme and new scheme valuations will take account of periods of contracted out employment.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether he has made an estimate of the public expenditure which has been incurred by (a) the Government, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, (b) local authorities, (c) local enterprise companies and (d) charities to support the development and consenting of offshore wind projects which will not now be supported under the contracts for difference regime.
Answered by Matt Hancock
National Grid, as the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Body, are currently running the first Contract for Difference allocation round. Under the strictures of the process my Department does not know, at this point of time, information about individual applications, numbers of applications or numbers that have qualified. As a result the Department is unaware of any offshore wind projects that will not be supported by contracts for difference under our Electricity Market Reform project. In addition, any unsuccessful applicant, should there be any, would have the opportunity to apply for support in future rounds.
Furthermore, the Department has not made an estimate of the public expenditure which has been incurred by (a) the Government, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, (b) local authorities, (c) local enterprise companies and (d) charities to support the development and consenting of offshore wind projects.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the capacity of offshore wind projects likely to bid for Contracts for Difference awarded by his Department in April 2014.
Answered by Matt Hancock
No Contracts for Difference were awarded in April 2014.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding for research and development his Department has allocated to each industry sector; and what the (a) total tax receipt and (b) proportion of total tax receipts from each of those sectors was in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Greg Clark
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) funding for industrial R&D is delivered by Innovate UK which allocates the majority of its support on a thematic rather than a sectoral basis.
The programmes and projects supported can be spread across a number of sectors, and a sectoral analysis is not available.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes Business Enterprise R&D (BERD) data on how much UK government as a whole funds R&D performed in businesses. This is analysed by 33 product groups but again this information doesn’t map easily to industrial sectors.
Tax receipts are a matter for HM Revenue and Customs.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will estimate the expenditure made to date by the developers of offshore wind projects which have received consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 which he expects to be unsuccessful in the contracts for difference process.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The National Grid, as the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Body, are currently assessing applications for Contracts for Difference under the first Contract for Difference allocation round. Under the strictures of the process the Department does not know, at this point of time, information about individual applications, numbers of applications or numbers that have qualified. As a result the Department is unable to speculate on any applications for offshore wind projects likely to be unsuccessful in the contracts for difference process under our Electricity Market Reform project. In addition, any unsuccessful applicants, should there be any, would have the opportunity to apply for support in future rounds.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate he has made of the number of rural off gas grid households in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) each county in each.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Estimates of the number of off gas properties are available at country, Local Authority and lower layer super output area level within Great Britain. These are not split by rural or urban classification. It is estimated that in 2012 the number of off gas properties in each country was:
Country | Per cent | Number |
England | 10 per cent | 2,209,000 |
Scotland | 18 per cent | 437,000 |
Wales | 15 per cent | 195,000 |
Great Britain | 11 per cent | 2,826,000 |
Estimates for local authority are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sub-national-estimates-of-households-not-connected-to-the-gas-network.
Estimates for 2013 will be published on 18 December 2014.
Asked by: Mike Weir (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many households that benefited from Affordable Warmth measures whose primary fuel type was not mains gas were using each type of fuel up to 30 June 2014.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The information requested is not available.