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63842

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Solar Power: Subsidies
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what his policy is on future public subsidies to onshore solar energy projects; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Peterborough
tabling member printed	Mr Stewart Jackson
uin	202360
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p>The UK has seen a remarkable transformation in solar PV deployment under the Coalition Government; we now have over 3GW of installed capacity. The measures that we set out in our Solar Strategy will ensure that solar PV continues to be a vital part of the UK's renewable energy mix for many years to come.</p><p>Alongside those measures, we are consulting on proposals to change the small-scale feed-in tariff scheme to enable more communities to benefit from ownership of renewable electricity generation, as well as proposals to encourage more deployment of solar PV on buildings.</p><p>We are also consulting on changes to the renewables obligation in relation to support for large-scale solar projects, and are working closely with industry to ensure that transition to the new contracts for difference mechanism supports the on-going development of the solar sector in the UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bexhill and Battle answering member printed Gregory Barker question first answered 03/07/2014 15:17:36 answering member 1389 label Biography information for Lord Barker of Battle previous answer version 7740 answering member constituency Bexhill and Battle answering member printed Gregory Barker answering member 1389 label Biography information for Lord Barker of Battle
tabling member	1551 label Biography information for Lord Jackson of Peterborough

63845

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	HM Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	CaTreasury
hansard heading	Business: Government Assistance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps he has taken to support businesses with five or fewer staff.
tabling member constituency	Isle of Wight
tabling member printed	Mr Andrew Turner
uin	202335
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p>The Government's long term economic plan is backing small businesses as they set up and grow. As part of this plan we are cutting taxes and reducing red tape to help businesses. In particular, the Employment Allowance was introduced in April 2014, and allows businesses and charities throughout the UK to deduct up to £2,000 off their employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) bill each year. Over 60% of the total benefit of the policy is expected to go to businesses with fewer than 10 employees, and a business employing three people on the median full-time private sector wage of £25,800 in 2014-15 will see their typical NICs bill cut by over 25 per cent.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, Autumn Statement 2013 announced the extension of the Small Business Rate Relief until April 2015, taking 350,000 small businesses out of business rates.</p><p> </p><p>The British Business Bank was launched in October 2013 to make finance markets work better for small firms, allowing them to prosper, grow and support the UK economy. Over the next five years, the Bank aims to unlock up to £10 billion of financing for viable smaller businesses. Business Bank programmes facilitated a total of £782m of new lending and investment in the fiscal year 2013/14, to over 30,000 businesses. This represents more than a doubling of activity on the previous year. The Business Bank also supported £100m of new Venture Capital investment in 2013/14. StartUp Loans is a £322m scheme to help individuals to access finance and support to start a business. Over 18,000 loans totalling more than £90m have been made since the launch in April 2012.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>These measures are all part of our economic plan that is building a stronger, more competitive economy.</p> answering member constituency South West Hertfordshire answering member printed Mr David Gauke question first answered 03/07/2014 15:52:24 answering member 1529 label Biography information for Mr David Gauke
tabling member	1426 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Turner

63871

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Minesweepers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent on the Unmanned Sea Vehicle-based Mine Countermeasures Hydrographic Programme Sweep Demonstrator project.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	202367
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p>The Mine Countermeasures Hydrographic Programme's sweep demonstrator project is in its pre-contract award stage; spending to date has been on technical preparation activities at a cost of approximately £40,000.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 03/07/2014 13:59:16 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

63872

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Minesweepers
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Shallow Water Influence Minesweeping System was purchased; on what vessels it operated from; whether it is still operational; and what the total cost of the system has been.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	202361
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Shallow Water Influence Minesweeping System was purchased as an urgent operational requirement in financial year 2002-03 to be operated remotely from Mine Countermeasures Vessels in the Gulf for 12 months, at a cost of approximately £3.5 million. It has been non-operational since 2004.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 03/07/2014 14:00:58 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

63873

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Submarines
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost is of the Weapon Handling and Launch System and Submerged Signal Ejector support contract.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	202362
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Weapon Handling and Launch System support contract, which includes Submerged Signal Ejector support, has an agreed fixed price of £22 million to provide defined technical and logistic support until 31 March 2019. The contract also allows for further tasking of the support contractor by the Ministry of Defence and the purchase of consumable spares when required at an additional cost.</p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 03/07/2014 13:59:54 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

63874

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Submarines
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Weapon Handling and Launch support contract includes an obligation on the contractor to provide waterfront support in the loading and unloading of (a) conventional and (b) nuclear weapons in (i) the UK and (ii) abroad.
tabling member constituency	Moray
tabling member printed	Angus Robertson
uin	202363
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Weapon Handling and Launch System (WHLS) support contract provides technical and logistic support for all WHLS equipment on Royal Navy submarines and at Royal Navy training establishments, including Weapon Embarkation Equipment (WEE). The actual use of WEE to load and unload conventional weapons in the UK and abroad is covered by separate commercial arrangements. The WHLS support contract is not used for any aspect of nuclear weapons.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Ludlow answering member printed Mr Philip Dunne question first answered 03/07/2014 13:58:38 answering member 1542 label Biography information for Philip Dunne
tabling member	1433 label Biography information for Angus Robertson

63880

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
answering dept id	63
answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
hansard heading	Carbon Emissions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer for 4 March 2014, Official Report, column 765W, on carbon emissions, to which other technologies that Answer refers to; and whether this would still be the case if the carbon footprint of backup technologies was factored in.
tabling member constituency	Eddisbury
tabling member printed	Mr Stephen O'Brien
uin	202392
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p>Onshore wind power has a very small carbon footprint range relative to other energy generation technologies, including coal and gas-fired generation, which, in 2012, emitted, on average, 895 g/kWh and 415 g/kWh respectively (not allowing for emissions incurred during the manufacture, construction and decommissioning phases)1.</p><p>The Department does not estimate the gas turbine energy contribution (and therefore related CO<sup>2</sup> emissions) associated with the reserve generation needed to manage wind variability specifically, due to complex inter-dependencies of the power system operational parameters. However, the need for reserve generation to manage intermittent supply and demand of electricity does not change the fact that any electricity generated by onshore wind – which in the first quarter of 2014 accounted for around 7% of all electricity generated in the UK – has a carbon footprint of just 8 and 20g CO2eq/kWh. Reserve generation displaces the output of existing generating stations to maintain the balance of supply and demand, so there is no net increase of power on the system at any one time; therefore the only additional emissions from reserve associated with wind power is through the inefficiency of running separate generating stations at part load rather than fewer stations at full-load, which is relatively insignificant compared to the carbon savings made.</p><p><em><strong>[1]</strong></em><em>Coal and Gas emissions factors from table DUKES 5C, available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes</a></em></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bexhill and Battle answering member printed Gregory Barker question first answered 03/07/2014 15:19:33 answering member 1389 label Biography information for Lord Barker of Battle
tabling member	427 label Biography information for Mr Stephen O'Brien

63927

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Educational Testing Service
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, on what date her Department first became aware of the systematic cheating taking place in the tests of the Educational Testing Service.
tabling member constituency	Delyn
tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
uin	202332
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Since the last election, the Government has taken action to reduce and control <br>immigration and to crack down on the abuse of the system which the previous <br>government failed to address. We have kept the main immigration routes to <br>Britain under review and remain vigilant against abuse of the student visa <br>system. Around 750 education sponsors have been removed from the register of <br>those entitled to bring overseas students to the UK. We now know that almost <br>400 of these were linked to the sponsorship of people who obtained invalid ETS <br>certificates. Abuse of the student visa route has been the subject of various <br>lines of inquiry for some time, but Immigration Enforcement officers, together <br>with officials from UK Visas and Immigration and with the support of the <br>National Crime Agency, began conducting a detailed and wide-ranging <br>investigation into actions by organised criminals to falsify English language <br>tests provided by ETS at the start of February.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 03/07/2014 12:19:26 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

63929

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Entry Clearances: Overseas Students
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, how many students wrongly awarded language certificates (a) remain in the UK, (b) have an address known to her Department and (c) have been deported.
tabling member constituency	Delyn
tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
uin	202331
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>As I stated on 24 June in my statement to Parliament, the Home Office will provide regular updates to the House on progress with work to remove these students and on further information we receive from ETS.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 03/07/2014 12:30:20 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

63930

registered interest
date	25/06/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Educational Testing Service
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, what due diligence tests her Department undertook on the Educational Testing Service prior to awarding the company a contract for delivering language tests for visa applications.
tabling member constituency	Delyn
tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
uin	202330
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The licence with Secure English Language Testing providers is clear that <br>providers must put measures in place to combat abuse and any concerns regarding <br>fraud or abuse should be reported to the Home Office. All third-party service <br>providers, whether they are employers, education establishments or test <br>providers, must take their obligations seriously or face the removal of their <br>licence to work with us.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Old Bexley and Sidcup answering member printed James Brokenshire question first answered 03/07/2014 12:32:24 answering member 1530 label Biography information for James Brokenshire
tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson