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62786

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
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	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 23) on energy prices, how they reconcile the Department of Energy and Climate Change's estimate in paragraph 4.3, page 28 of its February consultation on the plans for the offtaker of last resort that "Backstop PPAs [will be] available to generators from early 2016" with the statement made to Parliament on 4 November 2013 at Report stage of the Energy Act 2013 that they intended "a scheme to be in place by the time the first CfDs are signed" in late 2014 (HL Deb, col 25); and whether concerns have been raised by independent generators about the distinction between having "a high degree of clarity about the arrangements for OLR" and "a scheme being in place".
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL466
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p>We are on track to introduce enabling regulations to have the OLR mechanism in place ahead of the first CfD allocation in Autumn 2014. This will include a final version of the Backstop Power Purchase Agreement (BPPA) contract terms that generators will be entitled to. Generators will therefore have a high degree of clarity about the arrangements well in advance of the first auctions. We are shortly publishing a draft version of the BPPA contract terms this week to give generators further clarity on the terms they can expect.</p><p>Whilst the OLR will be in place, generators will not be able to access a Backstop PPA contract immediately, with BPPA contracts being available from April 2016 at the very latest. In light of the time taken to commission projects and the likelihood that a PPA falls away and cannot be replaced, the period between the legislation being in place and the first BPPA contract being available is unlikely to have significant impacts in practice. This process has been tested with stakeholders, including the Offtaker of Last Resort Advisory Group, and we continue to work with Ofgem to bring forward the date when the first BPPA contracts can be awarded.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 30/06/2014 12:52:46 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

62787

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
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	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 23–24) on energy prices, what assessment they have made of the time needed for suppliers to develop a conditional Contracts for Difference (CfD) powerpurchase agreement (PPA), for it to undergo an internal credit approval process, to be negotiated competitively with independent generators, and to be assessed by the generator's putative financiers before they can offer finance terms to independent generators; and what impact they consider that timeframe will have on conditional PPAs being agreed prior to the first allocation round of CfDs.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL467
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>We anticipate that some generators will seek to establish the terms of any PPA and financing arrangements before they participate in the CfD allocation round, in order to understand better their likely costs. Agreements between generators and PPA providers could take a number of different forms, from indicative terms to a signed contract. The decision to sign a conditional PPA ahead of the auction, and the duration of any agreement, are ultimately commercial matters.</p><p>We anticipate that the Offtaker of Last Resort (OLR) will encourage competition in the PPA market both at the outset of the CfD and once any initial PPA has expired. Generators agreeing to a conditional PPA would be able to participate in the later short-term PPA market, once their initial PPA had expired; backed by the protections afforded by the OLR.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 26/06/2014 11:11:51 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

62788

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
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	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 23–24) on energy prices, what evidence there is to suggest that smaller suppliers will be capable of developing a conditional Contracts for Difference (CfD) powerpurchase agreement (PPA) in time for the first CfD auctions in October 2014; and whether their reliance on the development of conditional PPAs to support the participation of independent generators is in line with the suggestion made by the Minister of State for Energy, Michael Fallon MP, on 4 December 2013 during the passage of the Energy Act 2013 that electricity market reform would "result in greater competition among PPA providers and support smaller suppliers, as generators will not have to rely on large incumbents with strong credit ratings to sell their power in the market" (HC Deb, col 970).
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL468
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>We anticipate that some generators will seek to establish the terms of any PPA and financing arrangements before they participate in the CfD allocation round, in order to understand better their likely costs. Such conditional PPAs could take a number of forms, from indicative terms to a signed contract.</p><p>In 2013, DECC officials established an industry Market Readiness group to prepare the market for offering CfD PPAs. There are now a number of PPA providers discussing terms with potential developers but these discussions are commercially sensitive.</p><p>The Offtaker of Last Resort will allow generators to develop their projects using shorter-term PPAs with smaller suppliers. We are on track to introduce enabling regulations to have the OLR mechanism in place ahead of the first CfD allocation in Autumn 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 26/06/2014 11:13:10 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

62789

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
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	Energy: Prices
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 16 June (WA 24) on energy prices, in the light of the change in language used by the European Commission between its draft and final state aid guidance to reduce the distinction between "mature" and "immature", and "established" and "less established" technologies, what steps they will take to ensure that the current proposals (1) to introduce auctioning of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) for only one particular group of technologies in October 2014, and (2) to create an enduring regime which allocates CfDs in different ways to different groups of technologies beyond 2017, will not run contrary to the new guidelines, introduced after the commencement of their consultation process.
tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
uin	HL469
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p>The EU ‘Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy 2014-2020', which were adopted in principle on 9 April 2014, set out a requirement to introduce technology neutral competition for renewable technologies, including a transitional phase, with a number of derogations. In May 2014 the Government confirmed proposals to move straight to competition for more established technologies. For less established technologies, if there is insufficient budget in a CfD allocation round to satisfy all bids, a competitive auction will apply. We believe our proposals are consistent with the guidelines.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 30/06/2014 12:50:30 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

62469

registered interest
date	18/06/2014
answering body	Cabinet Office
answering dept id	53
answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
hansard heading	Productivity
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the latest available figures on output (1) per worker, and (2) per hour worked, in the United Kingdom; and how those figures compare with the equivalents for Germany, France and the United States.
tabling member printed	Lord Birt
uin	HL398
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2014 answer text <p>The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire question first answered 23/06/2014 12:51:36 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire attachment 1 file name PQ HL398 ONS 270.pdf title ONS Letter to Peer
tabling member	2533 label Biography information for Lord Birt

62470

registered interest
date	18/06/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Diabetes
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that people with diabetes are able to access innovative medicines.
tabling member printed	Baroness Masham of Ilton
uin	HL399
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2014 answer text <p>We want to ensure that patients, including those with diabetes, have access to new and effective treatments on terms that represent value to the National Health Service and the taxpayer.</p><p> </p><p>The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended a number of medicines for diabetes. National Health Service commissioners are legally required by regulations to fund those medicines recommended by NICE in its technology appraisal guidance.</p> answering member printed Earl Howe question first answered 25/06/2014 12:55:05 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	1850 label Biography information for Baroness Masham of Ilton

62471

registered interest
date	18/06/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Diabetes
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how they plan to review NHS England's progress in implementing the Action for Diabetes plan.
tabling member printed	Baroness Masham of Ilton
uin	HL400
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/06/2014 answer text <p>Action for Diabetes sets out the broad vision and direction for how NHS England will support improvements in outcomes for people with and at risk of diabetes in the coming years, as a direct commissioner of services and supporting clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in their commissioning role.</p><p> </p><p>Outcomes for people with diabetes will continue to be measured through the NHS Outcomes Framework and the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set, which are both updated and published annually. Outcomes for people with diabetes will also be assessed through the National Diabetes Audit, which includes the core audit, the national inpatient diabetes audit, the national diabetes pregnancy audit, the national patient experience of diabetes services survey and the national diabetes foot audit. The latter of these is due to be launched this summer.</p> answering member printed Earl Howe question first answered 30/06/2014 10:55:27 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	1850 label Biography information for Baroness Masham of Ilton

62472

registered interest
date	18/06/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Diabetes
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps are being taken to ensure that people with diabetes receive the care processes recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
tabling member printed	Baroness Masham of Ilton
uin	HL401
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2014 answer text <p>The management of people with diabetes is measured and reported on through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set (OIS) and National Diabetes Audit. These publications and data are used by local commissioners, providers and healthcare professionals to assess the quality of the services provided and to drive improvements.</p><p> </p><p>General practitioners (GPs) are incentivised to ensure completion of the care processes recommended by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) through the QOF. The latest available data (2011-12) shows a 60.5% completion rate of all the eight measurable NICE-recommended care processes for diabetes. However, it is for individual GP practices, working with the CCGs in their area, to assess their own performance on completion of the care processes, and take action where improvement is necessary.</p><p> </p><p>CCGs can use the information reported from the OIS indicator on completion of the care processes for people with diabetes to assess progress in improvement in their area and against their peers. Where completion rates are low, CCGs can then take action jointly with other practices in their area to make improvements.</p><p> </p><p>To support local commissioning, NHS England has also developed a non-mandatory service specification for diabetes, based on the diabetes NICE Quality Standard, which is currently being piloted with some CCGs. The pilot will be evaluated to assess how useful the specification has been to commissioners, and this will inform decisions about its future development.</p><p> </p><p>The Patient Experience of Diabetes Services survey, part of the National Diabetes Audit, is measuring the healthcare experiences of people with diabetes in England and Wales. The survey pilot tested an online-only approach to measure patient experience in GP and specialist diabetes services. Any diabetes service in England and Wales should be able to use the survey to get feedback from their patients. The survey can help to raise standards and drive out variation, and also empower services to understand at a local level how satisfied their patients are with the service being provided.</p> answering member printed Earl Howe grouped question UIN HL402 question first answered 01/07/2014 11:37:32 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	1850 label Biography information for Baroness Masham of Ilton

62473

registered interest
date	18/06/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Diabetes
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps are being taken to ensure that the treatment targets for people with diabetes recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are being met.
tabling member printed	Baroness Masham of Ilton
uin	HL402
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2014 answer text <p>The management of people with diabetes is measured and reported on through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), the CCG Outcomes Indicator Set (OIS) and National Diabetes Audit. These publications and data are used by local commissioners, providers and healthcare professionals to assess the quality of the services provided and to drive improvements.</p><p> </p><p>General practitioners (GPs) are incentivised to ensure completion of the care processes recommended by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) through the QOF. The latest available data (2011-12) shows a 60.5% completion rate of all the eight measurable NICE-recommended care processes for diabetes. However, it is for individual GP practices, working with the CCGs in their area, to assess their own performance on completion of the care processes, and take action where improvement is necessary.</p><p> </p><p>CCGs can use the information reported from the OIS indicator on completion of the care processes for people with diabetes to assess progress in improvement in their area and against their peers. Where completion rates are low, CCGs can then take action jointly with other practices in their area to make improvements.</p><p> </p><p>To support local commissioning, NHS England has also developed a non-mandatory service specification for diabetes, based on the diabetes NICE Quality Standard, which is currently being piloted with some CCGs. The pilot will be evaluated to assess how useful the specification has been to commissioners, and this will inform decisions about its future development.</p><p> </p><p>The Patient Experience of Diabetes Services survey, part of the National Diabetes Audit, is measuring the healthcare experiences of people with diabetes in England and Wales. The survey pilot tested an online-only approach to measure patient experience in GP and specialist diabetes services. Any diabetes service in England and Wales should be able to use the survey to get feedback from their patients. The survey can help to raise standards and drive out variation, and also empower services to understand at a local level how satisfied their patients are with the service being provided.</p> answering member printed Earl Howe grouped question UIN HL401 question first answered 01/07/2014 11:37:33 answering member 2000 label Biography information for Earl Howe
tabling member	1850 label Biography information for Baroness Masham of Ilton

62474

registered interest
date	18/06/2014
answering body	Ministry of Defence
answering dept id	11
answering dept short name	Defence
answering dept sort name	Defence
hansard heading	Armed Forces: Elections
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what procedures are in place to ensure that members of the armed forces posted overseas receive, and are able to post, postal ballot papers; and whether any members of the armed forces have complained as a result of not being able to do so in each of the last ten years.
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL403
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Well established processes are in place to ensure that members of the Armed Forces posted overseas are able to vote in all those elections for which they are eligible. <br><br>The MOD runs an annual information campaign on Electoral Registration which sets out the options for Armed Forces personnel and their families to register to vote. Where Armed Forces personnel are to be posted overseas they are encouraged to appoint a proxy as this removes any doubt about whether a postal vote can be received and returned in time before polls close. Some personnel prefer to cast their own vote and the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 has extended the electoral timetable so that Returning Officers are able to send postal ballot papers out earlier than previously allowed. This will give Armed Forces Personnel more time to receive and return their ballots if they have chosen this option. <br><br>The MOD continues to work with the Electoral Commission and the British Forces Post Office, as it has done for previous elections, to ensure that postal ballot papers are identified and quickly processed through the mail system where operationally possible. <br><br>Information about complaints related to an inability to vote whilst overseas for the last ten years is not held centrally.</p> answering member printed Lord Astor of Hever question first answered 26/06/2014 14:07:52 answering member 3428 label Biography information for Lord Astor of Hever
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno