Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they will respond to the Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes consultation, which ran from 30 September 2020 to 8 January 2021.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has carefully analysed the responses received and is considering how best to ensure the cost relating to energy efficiency improvement are fair and proportionate to landlords and tenants. The Government will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Office for Product Safety and Standards is sufficiently staffed and skilled to enforce the new regulations on mandatory recycling labelling.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has agreed, in principle, to act as a National Regulator for the new regulations on mandatory recycling labelling, which form part of proposed Producer Responsibility Obligations under the Environment Act 2021. No final decision has been made that OPSS shall adopt this enforcement role, but should OPSS become the regulator it will be funded to ensure the necessary resources, including suitably qualified staff, are available.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the powers held by Trading Standards to tackle the illegal sale of disposable vape products to underage young people.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Trading Standards already have powers to tackle underage sales of products. Where there is evidence of shops selling age restricted products to underage people, this should be reported to Citizens Advice on 0808 223 1133 or through its website in the first instance.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what capacity of gas storage is likely to be achieved at the Rough gas site off the coast of Yorkshire for this coming winter.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government welcomes Centrica taking the necessary steps to seek approvals to re-open the Rough storage facility this winter. Information on the available capacity of the site is a matter for Centrica.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to refit the electrical grid to handle different kinds of energy flows.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recognises that the electricity network will require substantial investment and technical evolution to deliver a clean, secure and affordable British energy system. The British Energy Security Strategy includes proposals to accelerate the delivery of network infrastructure. Later this year, the Government and Ofgem will set out their approach to transform the network in more detail through the Electricity Network Strategic Framework.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the development of Drax into the world’s first carbon neutral industrial cluster on (1) safeguarding existing jobs, and (2) creating new green skilled jobs, in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In November 2020, the Government published the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which set out the government’s ambition to have two operational industrial clusters by the mid-2020s and a further two clusters operational by 2030. The CCUS programme will contribute to the creation of high skilled, high wage and sustainable jobs in every part of the UK, with the expectation of supporting up to 50,000 jobs in 2030[1]. The Net Zero Strategy outlined an ambition to deploy at least 5MtCO₂/yr of engineered removals by 2030, in line with CCC and National Infrastructure Commission assessments. Our long-term approach to engineered GGR technologies, which includes technologies used by Drax, is to have a market-driven and technology-neutral competitive framework. We intend to assess jobs, the type scale and CO2 emission reduction potential, as part of the evaluation and selection process of GGR projects.
[1] Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener; Green Jobs Taskforce