The Heart of the South West and Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are the local bodies responsible for driving economic growth opportunities in Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. As partnerships between business and local authorities, the LEPs drew up Strategic Economic Plans in spring 2014.

The Heart of the South West LEP (representing Devon and Somerset) prioritised three aims in its Strategic Economic Plan: using the area’s distinctive assets to create higher value growth and better jobs; stimulating jobs and growth across the whole economy and all sectors, and creating the conditions for growth through better infrastructure and services.

The Government agreed a Growth Deal with the LEP in July 2014 to provide £130.3m of Local Growth Fund investment between 2015 and 2021, which has enabled the LEP to secure an additional £140m of investment from local partners and the private sector. These funds will provide new transport infrastructure, open up sites for housing and employment growth, and drive investment in skills to support existing and growing industries in the area. In January 2015, the Government agreed a £65.2m expansion to the Heart of the south West’s Growth Deal.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP Strategic Economic Plan set out its aims to exploit new and emerging markets where they had identified a competitive advantage; to improve business productivity and competitiveness; and to enhance economic growth through targeted infrastructure, housing and skills programmes.

In July 2014, the Government agreed a Growth Deal with Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP in which provides £48.9m of investment between 2015 and 2021. This has been matched by an additional £150m of investment from local and private sector sources to deliver new transport and housing infrastructure, better business engagement in schools, and targeted support for high growth sectors such as marine energy. In January 2015 the Government agreed an £11.3m expansion to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly LEP’s Growth Deal.

The decision on the location of each new Catapult is made by the Catapult Chairman, working with Innovate UK, who run an independent process using experts in the field to assemble evidence and consult with stakeholders and communities to establish the role, shape and, ultimately, location of a Catapult. The choice of location will pay due consideration to a number of factors, including the accessibility and proximity to relevant businesses, academia and other existing facilities.

Innovate UK has now appointed Nick Winser as Chairman of the Energy Systems Catapult and he will make a decision on the Catapult’s location in due course.

There have been no discussions with British Airways about the resumption of direct scheduled services. Since British Airways decided to suspend their operations, they have given us no indication of an intention to resume flights to Sierra Leone. Should the situation change sufficiently for the UK Government to become content for direct scheduled services to Ebola-affected countries to resume, it would then be for individual airlines to judge whether it is viable to start services, subject to them requesting the appropriate operating permissions from the relevant authorities.

Consistent with industry best practice for all projects, Pegasus is under regular review. If a project requires a revised approval then this may be sought once a robust evidence base has been established.

Officials from the Ministry of Defence and the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) regularly discuss a range of nuclear matters with their US counterparts under the auspices of the 1958 Mutual Defence Agreement. These matters include aspects of the capital investment programme at AWE, of which Pegasus forms a part.

Pegasus is the replacement Highly Enriched Uranium component manufacturing and storage facility, and forms part of the Government's programme of investment in the Atomic Weapons Establishment sites.

Preparatory work on Box A started in May 2013 and construction work began in August 2013.

Project Pegasus received Main Gate approval in August 2011 with an approved cost of £634 million. Project Mensa received Main Gate approval in May 2011 with an approved cost of £734 million.

Consistent with industry best practice, major projects are regularly reviewed and may seek revised approvals if a robust evidence base is established.

Project Pegasus received Main Gate approval in August 2011 with an approved cost of £634 million. Project Mensa received Main Gate approval in May 2011 with an approved cost of £734 million.

Consistent with industry best practice, major projects are regularly reviewed and may seek revised approvals if a robust evidence base is established.

We do understand those concerns. It is absolutely essential that CCGs make sure that they have the right bed capacity to deal with the pressures of winters.

At the end of this Parliament, and before returning, I trust, to the same side of this Chamber in late May, I am pleased to update the House on NHS work force numbers. On the back of a strong economy, our NHS

now has more doctors, nurses and midwives than ever before in its history, including 7,500 more nurses and 9,500 more doctors. The result is 9 million more operations during this Parliament than the previous Parliament, fewer people waiting a long time for their operations, and a start in putting right the scandal of short-staffed wards that we inherited and were highlighted by the Francis report. Indeed, last year the Commonwealth Fund said that under this Government the NHS has become the safest, most patient-centred and overall best health care system in any major country.

The Government’s bioenergy strategy published in 2012 established that future bioenergy policy should seek to ensure genuine carbon savings. The report, Life Cycle Impacts of Biomass Electricity in 2020, showed that biomass, when sourced responsibly, can provide a cost-effective, low carbon and controllable source of renewable energy.

The Government has introduced some of the toughest sustainability criteria in the world and we have taken steps to strengthen them further, including by bringing forward proposals for mandatory sustainability requirements. We also continue to develop the evidence on the wider impacts of bioenergy.

The report on the Life Cycle Impacts of Biomass Electricity in 2020 showed that biomass, when sourced responsibly, can provide a cost-effective, low carbon and controllable source of renewable energy. The Government has introduced some of the toughest sustainability criteria in the world and we have taken steps to strengthen them further, including by bringing forward proposals for mandatory sustainability requirements. The Department has committed to improving on the evidence base provided by the report. In December a tender was issued for a research contract to investigate the likelihood of occurrence in the period to 2030 of the scenarios identified in the report as potentially having higher carbon impacts than fossil fuelled alternatives.

As my hon. Friend is well aware, we are anticipating that a strategic defence and security review will take place following the general election later this summer, so all the planning assumptions that were introduced in the 2010 review will be reconsidered in 2015. As I mentioned earlier, as far as the frigate contract is concerned, the current planning assumption is for a like-for-like replacement of the Type 23 class.

The total spent on the Type 45 programme in each of the last four financial years is shown in the table below. This includes costs of the Type 45 build programme and the in-service support of the six ships. I am withholding information on the projected spend over the next four financial years as we are negotiating a contract for future support, and its release would therefore prejudice the commercial interests of the Department.

The total spent on the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier programme in each of the last four financial years, as published in the National Audit Office’s Major Project Report covering each of the relevant years, is as follows:

I am withholding the breakdown of the projected spend on the programme for each of the next four financial years as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests. The overall cost of the ship programme, as announced by the then Secretary of State for Defence, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), on 6 November 2013, (Official Report, column 251-254), is £6.212 billion.

Ofgem closely monitors domestic energy suppliers’ performance and publishes information in relation to debt owed by domestic electricity and gas accounts holders in Great Britain, but they do not publish data relating to families with children or constituency areas. At the end of 2013, latest data available, 1.5 million domestic electricity accounts holders and 1.4 million domestic gas accounts holders were in debt to their energy supplier:

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/92186/annualreport2013finalforpublication.pdf.

(Ofgem’s Domestic Suppliers’ Social Obligations: 2013 Annual Report)

The Ofgem Review of 2010-11 recommended that the Social and Environmental Statutory Guidance to the Gas and Electricity Market Authority should be replaced with a new Strategy and Policy Statement. The guidance will be repealed once the statement is designated. The draft statement, which Government consulted on last year, makes it clear that helping vulnerable households is one of the Government’s strategic priorities to which Ofgem should have regard to when carrying out its regulatory functions.

A very feature of the Armed Forces Covenant is the Covenant Reference Group (CRG), which is chaired by the Cabinet Office Minister for Government Policy and includes representatives from all of the main Government Departments. The CRG meets regularly to guide and direct work on the Armed Forces Covenant, including support for the veteran community. Other members of the CRG include the three Service Family Federations, COBSEO (the Confederation of Service Charities) and other charities.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is represented at cross-Departmental groups, such as the DCLG Working Group for Homeless Veterans. In addition, the MOD co-chairs with the Department of Health the MOD/UK Departments of Health Partnership Board, which is responsible for ensuring that the MOD and UK Health Departments work together to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces Covenant (an obligation which the NHS in England is mandated to deliver), and to improve the health and healthcare of the Armed Forces, their families and veterans.