Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

As any responsible government does, we manage our vaccine supply to meet our projected needs and to offer the best protection to those who need it, when they need it. Delays to Valneva’s contracted delivery schedule have meant that their ability to deliver an effective vaccine in the timeframe contracted for was unachievable. As such the vaccine no longer aligns with its planned use in our vaccination programme. Given the maturity of the UK’s vaccination programme, and with over 80% of the UK population now double vaccinated and now an alternative (in the absence of Valneva's product) autumn/ winter vaccination campaign underway, the government has therefore taken a decision to cancel the agreement with Valneva. Due to commercial sensitivities, we cannot disclose the details of our commercial discussions with them.

UK Government officials are engaged in constructive discussions with Valneva now to seek to reach a mutually beneficial resolution to the matters.

Future funding decisions are subject to the outcome of the Spending Review which will set budgets from 2022/23 to 2024/25. The Chancellor has reiterated the Government’s commitment to cement the UK’s position as a science superpower through an ambitious R&D package.

The Government increased investment in R&D to £14.9bn for 2021/22, putting public investment at its highest level for four decades. We are committed to achieving our target of total UK investment in R&D increasing to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

The UK and the EU agreed the terms for our association to Horizon Europe under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

As the underpinning EU legislation was not yet adopted when the TCA was agreed, this was accompanied by a Joint Declaration on Participation in Union Programmes and Access to Programme Services, which set out the parties’ intention to formalise UK participation at the earliest opportunity.

Now that the EU legislation underpinning the Horizon Europe programme is in force, the UK stands ready to formalise our participation at the earliest opportunity. UK entities are eligible and are strongly encouraged to apply for Horizon Europe funding, which the Commission has made clear in the Q&A on their website.

The UK and the EU agreed the terms for our association to Horizon Europe under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

As the underpinning EU legislation was not yet adopted when the TCA was agreed, this was accompanied by a Joint Declaration on Participation in Union Programmes and Access to Programme Services, which set out the parties’ intention to formalise UK participation at the earliest opportunity.

Now that the EU legislation underpinning the Horizon Europe programme is in force, the UK stands ready to formalise our participation at the earliest opportunity. UK entities are eligible and are strongly encouraged to apply for Horizon Europe funding, which the Commission has made clear in the Q&A on their website.

The UK and the EU agreed the terms for our association to Horizon Europe under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).

UK entities are eligible to apply for Horizon Europe funding; the Commission has made this clear in the Q&A section on their website.

The UK stands ready to formalise our participation at the earliest opportunity. UK entities are eligible and are strongly encouraged to apply for Horizon Europe funding, which the Commission has made clear in the Q&A on their website.

Future funding decisions are subject to the outcome of the Spending Review which will set budgets from 2022/23 to 2024/25. The Spending Review process will conclude on 27 October. We are working with HM Treasury to agree an ambitious R&D package. In announcing the Spending Review, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer reiterated the Government’s commitment to cement the UK’s position as a science superpower.

The Government is already investing £14.9bn in R&D across government in 2021/22, putting public investment at its highest level for four decades. We are committed to achieving our target of total UK investment in R&D increasing to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.

The UK and the EU agreed the terms for our association to Horizon Europe under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This includes participation in 2021 projects run by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

The UK stands ready to formalise our participation at the earliest opportunity. UK entities are eligible and are strongly encouraged to apply for Horizon Europe funding, which the Commission has made clear in the Q&A on their website.

The UK and the EU agreed the terms for our association to Horizon Europe under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. This includes participation in 2021 projects run by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

The UK stands ready to formalise our participation at the earliest opportunity. UK entities are eligible and are strongly encouraged to apply for Horizon Europe funding, which the Commission has made clear in the Q&A on their website.

The Government recognises the critical importance of global research partnerships and supporting UK researchers to collaborate across the world. Our commitment to research and innovation has been clearly demonstrated by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget announcement of increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22; and as set out in the Integrated Review, international collaboration is central to a healthy and productive R&D sector.

On 1^st April, the Department set out an additional £250m of funding for the R&D sector. As a result, UK scientists will have access to more public funding than ever before. This takes total Government investment in R&D to £14.9 billion in 2021/22 and follows four years of significant growth in R&D funding, including a boost of more than £1.5 billion in 2020/21.

For example, our commitment is demonstrated through the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, of which the UK is a founding country. In June 2021 the start of construction in Australia and South Africa was announced at a total cost of £1.7 billion, to which the UK is committing over £270 million. When complete, this radio telescope network will be the most advanced on Earth, and its headquarters are in the UK, at Jodrell Bank just south of Manchester.

Additionally, the Department administers approximately £10m in tactical funds to enable agile, catalytic R&D collaborations with international partners. The funds support Integrated Review ambitions, Government research priorities including Net Zero, and Innovation.

Given we are currently conducting a Spending Review, it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome and comment on future spending plans.

We remain confident that gas and electricity security of supply can be maintained under a wide range of scenarios.

The UK benefits from having access to highly diverse sources of gas supply to ensure households, businesses and heavy industry get the energy they need.

Gas storage is not a component of overall winter supply. GB gas storage stock levels are currently comparable to previous years ahead of the winter months and storage is expected to continue its role as a source of system flexibility. BEIS is continuing to explore the future of the gas storage landscape through the UK Hydrogen Strategy, which considers the role of hydrogen storage in greater detail and whether further regulation or support mechanisms are needed to maximise its potential.

The Government has published the first ever UK Hydrogen Strategy that builds on our ambition, working with industry, for 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.

The Government has not set specific hydrogen demand targets for different sectors of the economy because the precise mix of decarbonisation solutions will depend on how technologies and markets develop over the coming decades.

The UK is monitoring international progress on low carbon steel making trials, using hydrogen and other technologies, and the funding and policies that support them.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution committed to establishing two industrial Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) clusters by the mid 2020s, with the aim of four of these sites by 2030, capturing 10Mt of carbon dioxide per year. As part of the CCUS deployment process, we have announced the clusters eligible for Track-1 and expect to announce the selected Track-1 clusters from 25 October 2021.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have been in regular contact with the regulator, Ofgem, and energy suppliers.

On 20 September 2021, a roundtable was held with leading energy suppliers and consumer groups to hear about the challenges they currently face.

A further roundtable was held on 21 September 2021 with smaller and challenger energy suppliers.

We are thoroughly investigating reports of forced labour in the global solar panel supply chain. In January, we announced a comprehensive package of measures to help ensure no UK organisations are complicit in the serious human rights violations being perpetrated against the Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.

The Government remains open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing tidal energy. Any such consideration would of course be subject to rigorous value-for-money assessment.

As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out in a statement to the House on 20 September, higher natural gas prices have been seen internationally in 2021 for a number of reasons, however the diversity and reliability of GB’s sources of gas continues to minimise the risk of gas shortages.

The Energy Charter Treaty already calls on Member States to minimise the environmental impacts of energy operations.

Member States of the Energy Charter Treaty are currently engaged in a process to modernise the Treaty and ensure it is aligned with our climate objectives.

Ofgem updates the energy price cap to reflect changes in underlying costs, such as purchasing wholesale gas and electricity prices, which are global markets. Wholesale prices are increasing, but the energy price cap still saves 15 million households on default tariffs up to £100 a year.

As set out by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 20 September, higher wholesale gas prices have been seen internationally in 2021. A number of factors have contributed to this increase. This increase in global gas prices is reflected in the British wholesale gas market.

There has been an increase in global gas demand as a result of economies rebounding following the removal of measures put in place to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Combined with low levels of European gas in storage following a cold winter in Europe, this has led to a much tighter gas market with less spare capacity. In addition, high demand in Asia for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), which is transported globally by ship, and weather events in the US, have meant less LNG than expected has reached Europe.

Gas production has also been reduced, with several planned and unplanned outages, such as in Norway and the US. Other factors include essential maintenance, including projects rescheduled from 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK Government has been engaging regularly with the Northern Ireland Executive on the Subsidy Control Bill, at official and ministerial level. BEIS officials have met with Northern Ireland Executive officials 23 times since September 2020. BEIS Ministers have also met with Northern Ireland Executive Ministers 6 times since September 2020. The primary purpose of these discussions has been to discuss the detail of the Subsidy Control Bill, and to invite feedback from Northern Ireland Executive Ministers and officials. We are committed to continuing our close engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive, including as the Bill passes through Parliament.

Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme lenders are not specifically required to notify the British Business Bank of loan repayments. This is because, at the time the scheme was launched, a decision was taken to streamline administrative burdens on lenders to allow them to concentrate resources on processing the large number of applications from businesses.

However, lenders do have an overarching duty to ensure that accurate records are kept, and loans that have reached maturity are automatically removed from the Bank’s web based reporting tool.

Further information related to loan repayments for the Government’s Covid-19 loan schemes will be included in the Department’s 2020-21 Annual Report and Accounts, to be published in due course

The Government takes the issues associated with the sale and use of fireworks seriously and we understand the concerns that some people have about the potential for distress caused to animals.

We have no current plans to place further restrictions on the sale of fireworks to the public. Through our public awareness campaign for the 2021 fireworks season, we are working with a variety of stakeholders, including animal welfare groups, to promote the safe and considerate use of fireworks to the general public, to ensure that those using them do so safely and considerately.

The Government recently announced a package of measures to ease temporary supply chain pressures in food haulage industries, brought on by the pandemic and the global economy rebounding around the world. Up to 4,000 people will soon be able to take advantage of training courses to become HGV drivers. 5,000 HGV drivers will be able to come to the UK for 3 months in the run-up to Christmas, providing short-term relief for the haulage industry. A further 5,500 visas for poultry workers will also be made available for the same short period, to avoid any potential further pressures on the food industry during this exceptional period. Ministers from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are working very closely across Government to monitor labour supply chains, identify pinch points and consider any further necessary government action.

BEIS is also working closely with other Government Departments and industry to address sector-specific challenges, which are being faced by countries around the world. For example, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently announced the implementation of the Downstream Oil Protocol. This measure will provide a temporary exemption of companies operating in the oil industry from the Competition Act 1998 for the purpose of sharing information and optimising fuel supply in the event of a disruption.

The Government is keen to see employers make long term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad, and businesses should be looking at how to make employment more attractive, including through wage increases and offering training. Progress is already being made in testing and hiring, and a big push towards improving pay, working conditions and diversity.

The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain and ensuring that equality and opportunity is available for all. That is why my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister established the independent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which published its independent report on March 31st.

We welcome the opportunity to consider the Commission’s findings, and are looking at them in light of the work that has already taken place within government, including the consultation on ethnicity pay reporting. We will be publishing our response to the Commission’s report later this autumn.

MArRinav was funded by the UK Space Agency, through the ESA NAVISP Innovation programme. It was led by UK industry as a collaboration of 8 organisations and completed in 2020. The outputs can be viewed on MArRinav's website.

The UK Government welcomed the project outcomes, and the detail was incorporated into the evidence assessment during the development of a UK PNT Strategy, in particular the need for maritime integrity and a system-of-systems approach to PNT resilience in the UK.

The UK Government is working closely with Devolved Administration colleagues at Ministerial and official level to achieve our climate goals. This includes input into the Net Zero Strategy to deliver on the UK’s carbon budgets leading up to 2050.

This close working is facilitated through a Net Zero Inter-Ministerial Group involving Ministers from the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations, a senior-official level Net Zero Nations Board which meets on alternate months, a monthly supporting working group, a programme of deep dives this summer across a range of economic sectors and enabling activities, and through considerable sector-specific engagement.

Under UK leadership at the G7, we have put Green Recovery from COVID-19 at the top of the international agenda and secured historic commitments such as the first ever ‘net zero G7’, with all countries committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Last November, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which brings together £12 billion of government investment to unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030; and support up to 250,000 jobs across the UK by 2030.

The proportion of households classified as living in fuel poverty has fallen from 22.1% in 2010, to 15% in 2018, driven by improvements in the energy performance of homes. There are now 1.3 million fewer low-income households living in the least energy efficient homes (Band E, F or G) compared to 2010.

We stated in the 2020 Energy White Paper our intention to undertake a review of the energy National Policy Statement (NPS) suite. This review was published for consultation on 6^th September 2021.

This consultation includes the revised overarching National Policy Statement for energy (EN-1). The revised EN-1 sets out that a new technology specific NPS for nuclear electricity generation deployable after 2025 is proposed and will be developed to reflect the changing policy and technology landscape for nuclear and support the transition to net zero. This will be consulted on in the usual manner, in due course.

The revised EN1, also sets out that the need for nuclear could be met by large scale gigawatt nuclear, Small Modular Reactors, Advanced Modular Reactors and fusion technologies.

The publication of this consultation is a first step toward a planning framework to facilitate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.

We stated in the 2020 Energy White Paper our intention to undertake a review of the energy National Policy Statement (NPS) suite. This review was published for consultation on 6^th September 2021.

This consultation includes the revised overarching National Policy Statement for energy (EN-1). The revised EN-1 sets out that a new technology specific NPS for nuclear electricity generation deployable after 2025 is proposed and will be developed to reflect the changing policy and technology landscape for nuclear and support the transition to net zero. This will be consulted on in the usual manner, in due course.

The revised EN1, also sets out that the need for nuclear could be met by large scale gigawatt nuclear, Small Modular Reactors, Advanced Modular Reactors and fusion technologies.

The publication of this consultation is a first step toward a planning framework to facilitate the deployment of advanced nuclear technologies.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have regular meetings with Ofgem senior management.

The formal investigation into the fire at the Interconnexion France-Angleterre (IFA) interconnector is being led by National Grid Ventures, in their role as joint owner of the facility.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is working closely with National Grid Ventures to support the investigation.

Our vaccination programme is continuing to make phenomenal progress, with four out of every five adults now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

I cannot comment on commercial decisions, the termination of our supply agreement with Valneva will have no impact on our vaccine supplies for autumn.

The UK has contracted for a portfolio of vaccines from a number of developers, and we have sufficient contracted supply for the expected booster campaign as well as to complete the first round of vaccinations.

Our vaccination programme is continuing to make phenomenal progress, with four out of every five adults now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

I cannot comment on commercial decisions, the termination of our supply agreement with Valneva will have no impact on our vaccine supplies for autumn.

The UK has contracted for a portfolio of vaccines from a number of developers, and we have sufficient contracted supply for the expected booster campaign as well as to complete the first round of vaccinations.

The Government’s approach to seeking a vaccine for COVID-19 has, from the outset, been to secure access to a portfolio of candidate vaccines from a range of developers. This has resulted in four regulated COVID-19 vaccines within the portfolio to date providing both diversity of supply and diversity of vaccine type.

The Government has secured early access to 332 million COVID-19 vaccines doses through supply agreements with five separate vaccine developers. This includes agreements with:

• Pfizer/BioNTech for 135 million doses of its mRNA vaccine;
• University of Oxford/AstraZeneca for 100 million doses of its adenovirus vaccine;
• Moderna for 17 million doses of its mRNA vaccine;
• Novavax for 60 million doses of its protein adjuvant vaccine; and
• Janssen for 20 million doses of its adenovirus vaccine.

Of these COVID-19 vaccines, the AstraZeneca vaccine is manufactured in the UK and Novavax has a UK supply chain subject to regulatory approval. Vaccine manufacture is a global business, and the response to COVID-19 a global effort, and we are proud of AstraZeneca’s contribution to that from the UK.

The Government’s approach to seeking a vaccine for COVID-19 has, from the outset, been to secure access to a portfolio of candidate vaccines from a range of developers. This has resulted in four regulated COVID-19 vaccines within the portfolio to date providing both diversity of supply and diversity of vaccine type.

The Government has secured early access to 332 million COVID-19 vaccines doses through supply agreements with five separate vaccine developers. This includes agreements with:

• Pfizer/BioNTech for 135 million doses of its mRNA vaccine;
• University of Oxford/AstraZeneca for 100 million doses of its adenovirus vaccine;
• Moderna for 17 million doses of its mRNA vaccine;
• Novavax for 60 million doses of its protein adjuvant vaccine; and
• Janssen for 20 million doses of its adenovirus vaccine.

Of these COVID-19 vaccines, the AstraZeneca vaccine is manufactured in the UK and Novavax has a UK supply chain subject to regulatory approval. Vaccine manufacture is a global business, and the response to COVID-19 a global effort, and we are proud of AstraZeneca’s contribution to that from the UK.

Ministers regularly discuss COVID-19 vaccine matters with the Scottish Government and other devolved administrations.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has discussed the termination of our supply agreement with Valneva with his counterpart in the Scottish Government and the UK Government will maintain dialogue with the Scottish Government on this matter.

The Government recognises the importance of the UK steel sector as a foundation industry and the role it plays in the supply chain for other important advanced manufacturing sectors in the UK, as well as for direct and indirect jobs across the country.

Decarbonising the sector is a core part of the Government’s plans to meet its stated carbon emission reduction targets, for supporting local economic growth and for our levelling up agenda.

The Steel Council was reconstituted in March 2021. This forum offers the Government and industry the opportunity to work towards creating an achievable, long-term plan to support the sector’s transition to a competitive, sustainable, and low carbon future.

The Government has announced a £250 million Clean Steel Fund to support the UK’s steel sector to transition to lower carbon iron and steel production, through new technologies and processes, placing the sector on a pathway consistent with the UK Climate Change Act. Our expectation is that the Fund will provide a proportion of the investment for projects, with the rest funded by industry.

The Government’s investment was not predicated on OneWeb’s ability to provide PNT services. Future generations of OneWeb satellites may have the ability to enhance the resilience of a sovereign UK PNT system, together with terrestrial options.

The Government recognises that decarbonising our country’s 30 million buildings is essential to meet our ambition of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Government is investing £9 billion in improving the energy efficiency of our buildings, including £1.3 billion this financial year.

Ahead of the UN climate change conference (COP26), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has launched the Together for Our Planet (TFOP) Business Climate Leaders campaign, aimed at encouraging as many UK small businesses as possible to join the ‘Race to Zero’ – a global effort to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we all generate to zero by 2050.

Small businesses join the Race to Zero via the SME Climate Commitment. Upon making the SME Climate Commitment, UK small businesses gain access to a Together For Our Planet digital toolkit so they can display to customers they are taking action as part of a UN- and Government-backed campaign.

In 2019 there were around 1.3 million fewer fuel poor households living in the least energy efficiency Band E, F or G rated property compared to 2010.

Government is committed to ensuring as many homes as possible reach EPC Band C by 2035 where practical, affordable and cost effective. Support for energy efficiency improvements is available through schemes including the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

Support for low carbon heating is currently available through the Renewable Heat Incentive, and from April 2022, the Clean Heat Grant will provide support to households switching to low carbon heating.

The Government will set out more details of how it will accelerate deployment of energy efficiency and low carbon heating in the forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy.

Ofgem updates the energy price cap to reflect changes in underlying costs, such as purchasing wholesale gas and electricity prices, which are global markets. Wholesale prices are increasing, but the energy price cap still saves 15 million households on default tariffs up to £100 a year.

The Government continues to support low income and fuel poor households with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount which provides eligible households with £140 off their bills. In addition, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will help ensure those most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months.