Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support (1) Airbus, and (2) other aerospace companies to (a) ensure the survival of such companies, and (b) protect high-skilled jobs in the aerospace industry, during, and after, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government regularly speaks with Airbus, as well as other aerospace companies and the Aerospace Growth Partnership, to assist the sector through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department has discussed the immediate challenges of the crisis with representatives from the sector, including how to help companies survive, and what will be needed to assist recovery in the aerospace sector after the pandemic.
Aerospace companies are also accessing the unprecedented package of support measures the Government has put in place, including loans, flexibilities with tax bills, and financial support for employees.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the impact on the ability of the construction industry to recruit skilled workers from the EU of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government has set up a cross Whitehall skills group to review the construction skills shortage and the effect of a reduction in migrant workers in a no deal outcome. The analysis highlighted the effects of the government’s current training efforts and improved uptake on digital and offsite construction and the impact it would have on the construction skills shortage. CITB’s Construction Skills Network forecasts that the construction industry will need to fill 168,500 jobs between now and 2023. If construction continued to grow at the current rate of 1.1% – the average growth rate for the last five years – to 2030 this would increase to just over 250,000 jobs to fill by 2025, and 410,000 by 2030.
Government will focus on high skills to prioritise those migrant workers who bring in the most benefit to the UK, including the 7% of EU nationals working in UK construction to maximise the benefits of immigration through a single skills-based system. Government is therefore committed to engaging with industry on the Immigration White Paper over the coming year to shape the details of the final policy and processes; and we are introducing measures to increase skills and apprenticeships through the Construction Sector Deal which aims to transform the productivity of the sector.
The deal sets an industry-led target of increasing the number of apprenticeships starts to 25,000 per annum by 2020. Other measures include £34m investment in the Construction Skills Fund, to establish 20 onsite training hubs by 2020; an improved careers portal for the sector (through CITB’s GoConstruct), to help improve diversity of recruitment; work with industry to ensure sufficient high-quality work placements are available for the introduction of construction T Levels in 2020; and using public procurement to help drive investment in construction skills.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to implement the Copyright Directive in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Lord Henley
Whether the Government is required to implement the Directive will depend on the nature of our departure from the EU. Any new legislation after a no-deal exit would be subject to usual legislative processes, including public consultations and full impact assessment.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to support the inclusion in the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market provisions to ensure that creators receive fair remuneration for the use of their works.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government has considered the provisions on fair remuneration in the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which is still under negotiation. We support the principle that creators should be fairly rewarded for their work, but also want to ensure that these measures do not undermine incentives to invest in the creation of new content.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - 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 Brexit on the reciprocal relationships between the UK and the EU that enable Collective Management Organisations to collect royalties from EU countries and distribute to creators in the UK.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government has considered this issue in the context of our work on the UK’s exit from the EU. It has concluded that the reciprocal arrangements between UK Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) and EU CMOs to collect royalties from EU countries and distribute to creators in the UK are private commercial agreements which are expected to continue after the UK has exited the European Union.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements they are making for UK citizens to be able to open businesses in the Netherlands after the UK has left the European Union; and what advice, if any, they provide to those who wish to do so.
Answered by Lord Henley
The UK and EU negotiating teams have reached agreement that common rules will remain in place during an implementation period that will start on 29 March 2019 and last until 31 December 2020. During this implementation period UK citizens will be able to open businesses in the Netherlands as they do now. As stated in the Prime Minister’s speech before the House of Commons on 15 November, the intention is for the UK and EU to secure a deal to ensure a close ongoing relationship on services and investment after the implementation period. The Government has published advice on a “no deal” scenario through a number of technical notices, which citizens may wish to refer to.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of research carried out by the Institution of Engineering and Technology and Nottingham Trent University published in their report Scaling Up Retrofit 2050, and the report’s conclusions that meeting legal energy-savings target set in the Climate Change Act 2008 will not be possible by relying on new builds alone; and what plans they have to encourage more retrofitting of old, cold homes to meet 2050 climate targets.
Answered by Lord Henley
The Government agrees that retrofit of existing buildings is a crucial part of meeting our goals. In the Clean Growth Strategy published last year, we set an aspiration that as many homes as possible should be upgraded to an Energy Performance Certificate Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable. We set out a range of policies and proposals towards meeting the aspiration, across both owner occupied and rented homes.
In May, my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced the Buildings mission under the Clean Growth Grand Challenge. This set an ambition to halve the energy use of new buildings by 2030, as well as halving the cost of reaching the same standard in existing buildings.
In order to reduce costs for retrofit and build supply chain capacity we are launching five demonstration projects to address the non-financial barriers to retrofit, such as supply chain fragmentation and the high hassle costs of installing measures.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - 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 climate change policies of the government of the United States and their implications for the global effort to address climate change.
Answered by Lord Henley
The UK is fully committed to working with other countries to tackle climate change and achieve the Paris Agreement goals including limiting global average temperature increase to well below 2°C and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. My rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister has raised the issue of climate change with the President of the United States. She has been clear that she believes the Paris Agreement is the right global framework for tackling climate change.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to prioritise deliveries of fuel to local authorities after Brexit so that crucial local services, including public safety and waste collection and disposal, continue to operate.
Answered by Lord Henley
Her Majesty’s Government has been implementing a significant programme of work to ensure the UK will be ready to leave the European Union from day one in all scenarios, including in the unlikely event of a ‘No Deal’ scenario in March 2019. Our priority is to maintain (as close as possible) normal fuel deliveries in any of these scenarios.
The Government believes that in most circumstances the fuel industry is well positioned to respond to disruptions to the supply chain from whatever cause. However, we also have a longstanding, all-risks National Emergency Plan for Fuel, which includes schemes for prioritising the delivery of fuel for essential services.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - 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 extent to which this year’s sustained period of dry weather is a symptom of climate change; and whether they will discuss climate change with the President of the United States during his visit to the UK.
Answered by Lord Henley
The 2017 Climate Change Risk Assessment projects that the likelihood of hotter and drier summers in the UK will increase with climate change and that heatwave events such as in 2003 are projected to become the norm in the UK by the 2040s. It is not yet possible, however, to say to what extent the recent period of warm and dry weather has been affected by human influence on the climate until a full scientific study has been carried out. This study will be carried out by the Met Office Hadley Centre, as part of the Met Office Hadley Centre Climate Programme, once the full context of the current warm spell is clear. It is expected to report in the autumn.
My rt.hon. Friend the Prime Minister will discuss a number of issues with the President of the United States during his visit to the UK. The Prime Minister has raised the issue of climate change with the President of the United States previously. She has been clear that she believes the Paris Agreement is the right global framework for tackling climate change.