Phillip Lee

The impact assessment (IA) of 8^th September sets out the evidence used to inform the 18^th June 2015 announcement that the Government would legislate to close the RO to new onshore wind from 1st April 2016 – a year earlier than previously planned.

After the announcement DECC undertook an engagement exercise with hundreds of industry representatives, including developers and investors. DECC is carefully reviewing the feedback provided during the engagement exercise and the IA will be updated when that work has finished.

As part of the parliamentary process, the Department will shortly publish an Impact Assessment that considers the potential effects of its proposals for closing the Renewables Obligation to onshore wind. This will be made available on the Department’s website.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are nuclear reactors with power outputs of 300MWe equivalent or less. They are modular, this means that the bulk of the design and plant can be fabricated in a factory environment and transported to site.

Government recognises the potential of SMRs to offer potential for both economic growth and energy security.

My Department is overseeing a £250m nuclear R&D programme, including a competition to identify the best value SMR design for the UK and £30m for an SMR enabling advanced manufacturing programme. Phase one of the SMR competition has been launched.

An economic and technical assessment of SMRs is due to conclude soon. We will consider publishing at the appropriate point.

Bracknell Forest local authority received £2.7m (0.2%) of the £1.4bn allocated to schools in 2015-16. This funding is for maintained and voluntary aided schools. Academies are not funded via local authorities.

Bracknell Forest local authority’s share of the £1.4bn allocations for 2016-17 and 2017-18 (and therefore the total £4.2bn for 2015-18) will depend on the number of maintained and voluntary aided schools in the local authority.

The Department has not made any formal assessment of the overall effects of open-plan teaching facilities on pupil’s learning.

On 9 February 2015 the government announced £4.2bn of allocations to schools, local authorities, academy trusts and voluntary aided partners to fund the improvement and maintenance of our schools. This includes £1.4bn in 2015-16.

While we would expect this money to be spent first on making sure that existing school buildings are in good condition, it is for these bodies to decide how to prioritise the funding, according to local needs.

In 2015-16, the Department spent £8 million on improvements to large open teaching areas in academies which had been built under the Building Schools for the Future programme, where independent evidence suggested this was having a detrimental effect on good teaching and learning.

As we committed in our manifesto, we will help teachers make Britain the best country in the world for developing mathematics, engineering, science and computing skills. To help achieve this, in March 2015, the Prime Minister announced further investment of £67 million over the next five years to train an extra 2,500 mathematics and physics teachers and improve the skills of 15,000 existing teachers.

The new national curriculum, GCSEs and A Levels all set expectations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics which meet those of countries which have the highest levels of performance in education in the world.

To support high quality teaching in science, the Department for Education funds training through a network of Regional Science Learning Centres and bursaries which reduce the cost to schools of science training. For mathematics, we fund a national network of 34 Maths Hubs and the Shanghai teacher exchange programme to raise standards based on the best international practice, and the Further Maths Support Programme to improve teaching of A level mathematics and further mathematics.

We are building on the success of the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers by providing an additional £170m over the next two years. This additional support will fund over 100,000 incentive payments of £1,500 to employers. Grants will be targeted where they will be most effective.

Apprenticeship reforms are putting employers in the driving seat of designing world-class standards for apprenticeships, making it easier for them to offer more Apprenticeships in the future.

I have introduced more stringent ministerial sign off controls and this is backed up by thorough monitoring and evaluation processes and management information to better identify underperforming programmes so they can be dealt with.

Livers are retrieved and allocated on a zonal basis and the decision whether or not to list a patient for transplantation is taken by a multi-disciplinary team at the transplant centre, of which there are seven in the United Kingdom.Patients meeting the agreed clinical criteria, and with their consent, will be added to the National Transplant List. All centres must follow a common listing policy to ensure equity of access and that organs are allocated in the most clinically effective way, resulting in 842 liver transplants between 1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015.

NHS Blood and Transplant, the organ donation organisation for the UK, launched their strategy in July 2013 – Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020, that sets the agenda for increasing organ donation and transplantation rates by increasing consent rates. Encouragingly organ donation rates have increased by around 60% and transplant rates by some 47% since 2008 mainly through a strengthening of the donation infrastructure including increased specialist nurses and improved retrieval arrangements.

There is a total ban in place on the advertising of foods high in fat, sugars and salt during children’s television programmes, on dedicated children’s broadcast channels and in programmes of particular appeal to children under the age of 16.

We have noted Public Health England’s recent assessment of evidence on the impact of marketing to children as set out in their report Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action. We are considering this advice, along with other areas of potential action, as part of our plans to bring forward a childhood obesity strategy in the new year.

Sugar Reduction: The evidence for action is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/470179/Sugar_reduction_The_evidence_for_action.pdf

The Department is not responsible for alcohol marketing.

In 2014, 8% of pupils had drunk alcohol in the last week, which is less than half the level in 2003 when this was 25%. There has been a consistent decrease the percentage children and young people drinking in the last week since 2003.

The survey data can be found at:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/article/2021/Website-Search?productid=18273&q=Smoking+drinking+Drug+use+survey+2013&sort=Relevance&size=10&page=1&area=both#top

NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations and, as a result of Government protecting the overall health budget for NHS England, NHS England announced in December 2013 that every CCG would receive a funding increase in 2014-15 and 2015-16 at least matching inflation (based on inflation projections at the time of the announcement).

The most under-funded areas, and those with the most fast-growing populations, will receive more. NHS England is spending £500 million over 2014-15 and 2015-16 to bring under-target CCGs up towards their target allocations.

The table below summarises the allocation per head for 2014-15 and the growth on prior year for each of the CCGs in East Berkshire.

The NHS England Board will meet on 17 December to decide how to allocate the £1.98 billion additional funding for frontline services announced in the Autumn Statement.

In line with HM Treasury requirements, The Department sets NHS England’s annual expenditure limits to allow for a controlled access to historic surplus across the whole health system. Access to historic surplus for a specific area has to be balanced against these overall requirements of the health system to deliver within the agreed financial envelope. The use of prior year surplus is only ever available on a non-recurrent basis and the use of such surpluses is controlled by the review of a business case for each application allowing prioritisation to deliver value for money for the taxpayer, and patient.

NHS England has responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations and, as a result of Government protecting the overall health budget for NHS England, NHS England announced in December 2013 that every CCG would receive a funding increase in 2014-15 and 2015-16 at least matching inflation (based on inflation projections at the time of the announcement).

The most under-funded areas, and those with the most fast-growing populations, will receive more. NHS England is spending £500 million over 2014-15 and 2015-16 to bring under-target CCGs up towards their target allocations.

The table below summarises the allocation per head for 2014-15 and the growth on prior year for each of the CCGs in East Berkshire.

The NHS England Board will meet on 17 December to decide how to allocate the £1.98 billion additional funding for frontline services announced in the Autumn Statement.

In line with HM Treasury requirements, The Department sets NHS England’s annual expenditure limits to allow for a controlled access to historic surplus across the whole health system. Access to historic surplus for a specific area has to be balanced against these overall requirements of the health system to deliver within the agreed financial envelope. The use of prior year surplus is only ever available on a non-recurrent basis and the use of such surpluses is controlled by the review of a business case for each application allowing prioritisation to deliver value for money for the taxpayer, and patient.