Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether he plans that upgrading of (a) oil boilers and (b) LPG boilers will be mandated to installing energy companies as being available to qualifying householders under the revised Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.
Answered by Amber Rudd
The Department has a strong package of policies delivering assistance to those in need, including: the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the Warm Home Discount and the Big Energy Saving Network. The Government also provides financial support through Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments. The All-Party Parliamentary Group and Ministerial Roundtable on heating oil and LPG supply will continue working to determine whether further action is required.
The Department does not have plans to include oil and LPG boilers as measures available under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what information his Department holds on the value of (a) Green Deal levies collected from and (b) Green Deal measures delivered to off grid areas to date.
Answered by Amber Rudd
The Green Deal is not funded through a levy.
There were 52,214 Green Deal Assessments in off-gas grid properties in Great Britain up to 30th September 2014, representing around 15 per cent of all properties with a Green Deal Assessment*.
However, the Department does not publish breakdowns of measures by property type.
*Source, Table 1.4 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-september-2014
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he plans to take to improve targeting of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund to deep rural areas and off gas grid areas.
Answered by Amber Rudd
The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund is open to applications from owners or occupiers of a residential property in England or Wales. The scheme does not distinguish between applicants from rural or urban areas, or between applicants who are on or off gas grid. Over 25,000 households have received vouchers to date.
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with Novartis during price negotiations on the meningitis B vaccine on risk sharing in the development and implementation of that vaccine.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The meningitis B (MenB) vaccine has already been developed by Novartis. Implementation of the MenB programme is dependent on the vaccine being obtained at a cost effective price as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
The Department is continuing to negotiate with the manufacturer and the content of these negotiations is confidential. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) completed its purchase of Novartis’s non-influenza vaccine business on 2 March 2015 and therefore, further negotiations are continuing with GSK.
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what accreditation staff in her Department undertaking professional programme management training receive; and how many people at each grade in her Department have received such training.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Since 1st June 2014, when the scheme first started, 253 staff members have demonstrated sufficient expertise and knowledge, through a rigorous process of accreditation, into the Programme Management Cadre. They include three Senior Civil Servants and 15% have been senior advisors or team leaders. As would be expected, the remaining are made up of programme managers across the department.
Programme Management Training within DFID started in 2013 since when over 400 have attended a three day Delivering Effective Aid Programme. Following the introduction of the Smart Rules and the new programme management architecture, the course has been modified and a further 200 have attended from all grades across the department. Each month one course is held in the UK (alternating between London and Glasgow) and one course is held in a country programme.
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many Heads of Profession there are in her Department; and what professional programme management qualifications each of those Heads of Profession holds.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Table A3.1 in Annex A3 the Independent Commission on Aid Impact Report 34 on ‘How the Department for International Development (DFID) Learns’ lists the 13 technical advisory professions. There are also 7 heads of corporate professions (Communications, Finance, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Information Technology, Knowledge and Procurement & Commercial); a Head of Policy Profession and a Head of Programme Management Profession.
We do not provide personal information on individuals and cannot give precise details on the qualifications of each Head of Profession as requested.
All the Heads of the Advisory, Programme and Policy Professions have completed essential DFID internal programme management courses (or the equivalent in a European donor), and have at least 5 years programme management experience. Several hold post-graduate qualifications in fields related to programme management as well as qualifications in their technical area. In addition three of the heads of the Corporate professions are qualified in PRINCE (Projects in Controlled Environments).
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to tackle micronutrient deficiencies in countries defined by the World Health Organisation on high burden countries; and what further steps she plans to take in relation to such countries.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Tackling undernutrition in the first 1,000 days of life is central to DFID’s strategy to improve child health and wellbeing, and tackling micronutrient deficiencies is a key part of that strategy. Details of DFID’s bilateral support is published on its Development Tracker website: http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/.
In addition to bilateral programmes, DFID provides support to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), all of which contribute to tackling micronutrient deficiencies in WHO high burden countries.
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department (a) spent on infrastructure in 2013-14 and (b) will spend on infrastructure in 2014-15 via (i) bilateral and (ii) multilateral channels.
Answered by Justine Greening
Details of DFID’s spend by sector, including Infrastructure, is shown in Table 11 of our publication ‘Gross Public Expenditure Tables 2013/14’, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistics-on-international-development-2013-to-2014-gpex-tables. Figures for 2014/15 will be published in the autumn.
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to page eight of her Department's Annual Report and Accounts, published on 15 July 2014, what the content was of the commercial skills training received by senior civil servants in her Department; what accreditation those staff received upon completion of that training; and how many people at each grade in her Department received that training.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID’s Commercial training focuses on improving commercial capability across the department, in-line with the requirements of the Civil Service Reform plan as stated in DFID Annual Report and Accounts 2013–14. To date, ninety nine DFID Senior Civil Servants have completed the training.
Asked by: Tony Cunningham (Labour - Workington)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, who her Department's top 20 suppliers were on projects in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14; and what the value was of each of those suppliers' contracts in each of those years.
Answered by Justine Greening
Information on contracts is published at http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/ .