Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what funding they plan to provide towards (1) the prevention of coastal erosion, and (2) new housing and infrastructure in inland areas as a result of any such erosion.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The Government is investing £2.6 billion between 2015 and 2021 to better protect the country from flooding. This will deliver over 1,000 flood defence schemes to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021.
Of this £2.6 billion, over £1.2 billion of the current Government funding programme will better protect 170,000 properties from coastal change.
The National Planning Policy Framework expects local authorities to make provision for development and infrastructure that needs to be relocated away from Coastal Change Management Areas. There are a range of Government funding mechanisms (for new homes and growth for example) that can be used proactively to support change in communities. Coastal Protection Authorities (usually District Councils) lead on coastal erosion risk management activities in their area.
We are looking at current funding arrangements and an assessment of funding needs beyond 2021. We will continue to work with the Environment Agency to consider future investment needs and the Government’s role in supporting the resilience of communities.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what are their targets for the production of clean energy achieved by nuclear fusion by (1) the public, and (2) the private, sector.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. I will correspond directly with the noble Lord.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce noise both in the internal environment, in particular, with regard to underground trains, and the external environment, with greater use of noise barriers.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes that it is important to minimise the noise impacts of the railway on its neighbours and on passengers. We have actively contributed to the development of the new European noise technical specification for interoperability that sets limits on noise from new and upgraded rolling stock.
In the Government's most recent rail innovation competition, £2.75m of funding was awarded to projects aimed at reducing environmental impacts such as noise pollution. One of these projects will develop a noise barrier with an innovative design that will deflect noise upwards in order to reduce noise at a level comparable to a barrier of three times the height.
Transport for London is responsible for the London Underground and its noise impacts.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote investment by the insurance industry into applied research, new technologies, and infrastructure; whether information about any such investments will be published on an annual basis; and if so, where.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The treatment of infrastructure investment by insurance undertakings for the purposes of prudential regulation is set by the Solvency II Directive. In March 2019, the EU adopted new Solvency II rules to help insurers to invest in equity and private debt and to provide long-term capital financing. This means that insurers will be able to hold less capital for such investments and will therefore find such investments more attractive. The Government does not collect information about such investments, but individual insurance firms often include such details in their annual reports.
The government provides competitive R&D tax reliefs to support businesses to invest. Support for businesses through R&D tax reliefs rose to £3.7 billion in 2015-16, up by almost a quarter from the previous year. The government is also carrying out the Infrastructure Finance Review, to support private infrastructure investment and ensure that infrastructure projects, including those using new technologies, are able to access the finance they need. The review will conclude alongside the National Infrastructure Strategy in the Autumn.
In 2018, the UK Government provided £20m of ‘pioneer funding’ through the Next Generation Services Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to explore how new technologies could transform the UK accountancy, insurance and legal services industries
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what changes, if any, they have advocated to the World Meteorological Organization about the changes to the organisation and funding of the hydrological work of that organisation; and what are the connections of that work with the hydrological programmes of UNESCO.
Answered by Lord Henley
The UK’s Permanent Representative to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), with support from the UK Hydrological Adviser, was actively engaged in discussions at the World Meteorological Congress in June 2019, promoting efficiency and transparency in the intergovernmental agreements on the budget and reform of WMO. The UK remain closely involved in the hydrological work of WMO, with the UK Hydrological Adviser promoting the establishment of appropriate links between WMO and UNESCO, supported by his role as vice-chair of UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what analyses they have conducted into the operational lifetime of offshore and onshore wind energy machines; and what guidance they intend to provide in that regard to relevant individuals and organisations.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government does not provide guidance on the operational lifetime of wind turbines.
Previous government research relating to onshore wind turbine longevity is available on the government’s website, titled ‘Onshore Wind - Direct & Wider Economic Impacts’.
The Offshore Wind Innovation Hub, a collaboration between Innovate UK and Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, has jointly agreed innovation priorities around four areas, one of which is operations & maintenance and windfarm lifecycle.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - 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 difficulties associated with the maintenance of wind turbines and associated equipment; and what steps they are taking, if any, to work with the offshore wind energy industry to address such difficulties.
Answered by Lord Henley
Operators are responsible for maintaining turbines and associated equipment for their projects.
The Offshore Wind Innovation Hub, a collaboration between Innovate UK and ORE Catapult, has jointly agreed innovation priorities around four areas, one of which is operations & maintenance and windfarm lifecycle. As set out in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, the sector will look to build on existing work by, for example, exploring the application of robotics and Artificial Intelligence in optimising maintenance and reducing costs.
The renewables share of electricity generation reached 33.3% in 2018 – a record high – with 111TWh generated from renewable sources. Offshore wind generated 26.6TWh which equated to 8% of the UK’s overall annual generation.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Lord Henley on 7 March, whether the proposed clauses on workers' rights for inclusion in the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill will include improvements to air quality and water quality both outside and inside the workplace.
Answered by Lord Henley
New EU legislation that provides workers’ rights which member states are obliged to confer will be covered by the proposed clauses. Workers’ rights include labour protections regarding health and safety at work. The Government will be required to report on those new rights, whether they go further than current domestic rights, and if so the action the Government proposes to take. Air and water quality standards are only in scope to the extent that they fall within the definition of workers’ rights.
The Government has been clear that the UK will maintain and enhance environmental protections as it leaves the EU. As part of the 25 Year Environment Plan, the Government has set an ambition to be the first generation to leave the environment in a better state than it found it – and has already put in train a number of policies to achieve this.
The Environment Bill will be introduced early in the second Session of this Parliament, and will include ambitious legislative measures to take direct action to address the biggest environmental priorities of our age: air quality, nature recovery, waste and resource efficiency, and water resource management. In the Environment Bill the Government will legislate to ensure there is a robust framework for the maintenance and strengthening of environmental standards as the UK leaves the EU.
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how, in developing policies to reduce annual average carbon emissions, they collaborate with other countries who share the same objectives.
Answered by Lord Henley
We work collaboratively with other countries to tackle climate change in a variety ways including via multi-lateral fora and global alliances.
We work on climate via the G7 and G20; we promote ambitious action alongside other countries via the High Ambition Coalition and we drive collective action on the ground through, for example, our hosting of the world’s first zero emission vehicle summit; and creation of Powering Past Coal Alliance, to reduce emissions from the most polluting fuel, which now has over 70 members. We play a key role within the UN Climate Framework, helping secure the agreement of 195 countries to sign up to the historic Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 and then bringing it to life last year at COP24 via the creation of a common rulebook. We are also working with our UN partners to ensure the Secretary General’s Climate Summit in September 2019 brings together key international actors, across the public and private sectors, to drive transformative action on building resilience to climate change.
UK leadership is reflected in the actions of other countries. For example, we were the first country to introduce long-term legally binding emission reduction target, which has now been emulated across the world, including by France, Denmark, Sweden and Mexico
Asked by: Lord Hunt of Chesterton (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure (1) UK residents, and (2) medical organisations are aware of the guidance that has been issued on access to medicine in the case of a no-deal Brexit.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department has been working closely with the National Health Service, pharmaceutical companies and others in supply chains to make sure medicines continue to be available for the NHS, if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without a deal.
The Department and NHS England published guidance on their websites for patients, including the online only policy paper, Getting Medication, on 18 January 2019. We have also been engaging with patient groups, trade associations and health care providers about messaging regarding access to medicines in a ‘no deal’ scenario.
The Department has issued guidance to all NHS trusts, pharmacies and general practices informing them of the Government’s plans for ensuring continuity of supply of medicines and advising them that they can expect to be able to continue accessing medicines through their existing supply routes in the event of a ‘no deal’ EU exit on 29 March. This guidance explained how hospitals, general practitioners and community pharmacies throughout the UK do not need to take any steps to stockpile additional medicines, beyond their business as usual stock levels. There is also no need for clinicians to write NHS prescriptions for larger quantities of medicines than usual. A copy of the Department’s letter of 7 December 2018 to the NHS in England is attached.