Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the findings and recommendations of the Rodrigues inquiry, regarding the experiences of Liverpool FC fans at the Champion's League Final at the Stade de France in 2022, what plans they have to discuss with the government of France the impact on English rugby fans of the crowd control measures in place at the Rugby World Cup match at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille on 9 September.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
After some spectators experienced delays entering the Stade Vélodrome in Marseilles on 9 September, officials from HM Government engaged with the French authorities and their counterparts in the France 2023 Organising Committee and have received reassurance that improvements, including clearer signage, will be in place for future Rugby World Cup 2023 matches.
Improvements were in place for matches on Sunday 10 September. Officials continue to engage with the French authorities on security arrangements for the tournament more broadly.
The safety of all attendees at sporting events is of the highest importance to HM Government and the Secretary of State and the Sports Minister have engaged with their counterparts regularly following the Champions League Final in Paris in 2022. We continue to consider and reflect on the lessons learned from the events in Paris in 2022 to inform planning for the UEFA Champions League Final in 2024 at Wembley, as well as the UK and Ireland’s EURO 2028 bid.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they allow special advisers in government to review and delay responses to freedom of information requests.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
All Freedom of Information requests are processed according to the provisions of the Act. In 2022, government departments and other monitored bodies responded to 86% of requests within the permitted time limits. FOI statistics are published regularly and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics
It is in line with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers to give assistance and advice on any aspect of department business, including on requests for information made under the Freedom of Information Act, and to convey a minister’s views to officials. This has been the case under successive Administrations. The Cabinet Office has circulated a guidance note to cross-government practitioners which sets out the roles of special advisers in the process of responding to requests for information and which is available on Parliament’s website at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmpubadm/576/report.html#heading-1.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the annual ‘limited assurance’ report commissioned by Drax provides an adequate and appropriate level of assurance with respect to the accuracy of its sustainability data.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government has made no such assessment. Generating stations, including Drax, must provide an annual independent sustainability audit report to Ofgem, not to Government, to verify the information it reports each month. Ofgem may conduct a compliance investigation to establish whether a generator is in breach of its sustainability reporting requirements relating to the Renewables Obligations scheme if there is reason to suspect non-compliance.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the estimated full unit cost of (1) energy produced from various carbon fuels utilising carbon capture and storage, and (2) energy produced by various renewable means.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government regularly publishes its view of the levelised cost of generating a unit of electricity from various technologies, including renewables and gas-fired power generation with CCUS, in the Electricity generation costs report which was updated in 2023.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the data breach at the Electoral Commission, what plans they have to review the effectiveness of cyber defences of the Government's own technology platforms and those of other public bodies.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government Cyber Security Strategy published last year sets out our plans to significantly harden the Government’s critical functions against cyber attack by 2025, with all organisations across the public sector being resilient to known vulnerabilities by 2030.
We have already made significant progress against the strategy. Earlier this year the Government launched GovAssure, the new cyber security assurance process for government organisations. Under GovAssure, government organisations will regularly review the effectiveness of their cyber defences against common cyber vulnerabilities and attack methods. GovAssure will enable government organisations to accurately assess their levels of cyber resilience across their critical services, highlight priority areas for improvement and provide the Government with a strategic view of cyber capability, risk and resilience across the sector.
The Electoral Commission is independent of Government and is accountable to Parliament through the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission. However, we have supported the Commission via the National Cyber Security Centre, who have provided the Commission with expert advice and support to aid their recovery after the cyber incident was first identified.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 27 July (HL9538), in what ways was the Panorama on Drax (1) accurate, and (2) inaccurate, in its representation of practices by the forestry and biomass sector.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
After speaking to Canadian experts and reviewing various sources of information about forestry and harvesting in Canada and British Columbia, officials advised that the Panorama programme presented a useful overview of forestry and biomass practices. They advise that the narrative would have benefited from a fuller picture about how harvesting decisions are made in practice, more detail on the operation of the harvest licensing regime, more clarity on how the grading system is used for wood products and biomass materials, and clearer evidence supporting claims about the use of wood pellets in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government why there is a delay in connecting already installed electric vehicle chargepoints in motorway service areas to an appropriate power supply.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Around 97% of motorway service areas in England have charging available today. The Government has been working with distribution network operators and industry to ensure that once chargepoints are installed they are energised as soon as possible for the public to use. This includes supporting Ofgem’s Green Recovery Scheme, which will reinforce the electricity network at around 50 motorway service areas in England. The Government is also working with National Highways to provide battery storage at selected sites where the current electricity network capacity is limited, which will enable increased chargepoint provision.
At fixed strategic locations, such as motorway service areas, the cost of connecting to the electricity network can be high and variable. Therefore, where is it uncommercially viable for industry, the Rapid Charging Fund will part-fund future-proof electrical capacity to prepare the network for a fully electric car and van fleet.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 18 July (HL9062), what was the factual basis behind his answer on 3 July (HL Deb col 984) that the BBC Panorama programme on Drax "provided an inaccurate representation of practices by the forestry and biomass sector".
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Officials engaged extensively with the Government of British Columbia and Canadian forestry experts. They reviewed information from these sources and elsewhere about timber sales operations, timber harvests, forest stewardship, and the harvest system in place in British Columbia to assess the relevance of the claims.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with OFGEM regarding the time taken to launch its investigation into allegations, first aired by BBC Panorama in October 2022, that Drax Power Limited was in breach of the Renewables Obligation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government engages regularly with Ofgem, as they are the Renewable Obligations Scheme’s scheme administrator. Ofgem has assured us that this matter is a priority for them and they are progressing the investigation at pace.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Callanan on 3 July (HL Deb col 984) which stated that the BBC Panorama programme on Drax misrepresented the practices of the forestry and biomass sector, whether they will publish the assessment undertaken by officials of the programme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not intend to publish the assessment which was conducted internally by the Department.
Ofgem is investigating whether Drax Power Limited is in breach of annual profiling reporting requirements relating to the Renewables Obligation Scheme and other related matters. The opening of this investigation does not imply that Ofgem has made any findings about possible non-compliance by Drax Power Limited.