Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many offshore oil and gas workers were employed on installations on the UK Continental Shelf in (a) January 2020, (b) January 2021 and (c) in the latest month for which figures are available.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of workers employed on offshore oil and gas installations on the UK Continental Shelf. However, industry does compile statistics on the offshore workforce and these figures are provided in the Oil and Gas UK Workforce and Employment Insight Report 2021 (https://oguk.org.uk/product/workforce-insight-report-2021/), which shows the total number of offshore oil and gas workers (personnel on board) at approximately 10,000 in July 2021. This is an increase from around 7,000 offshore oil and gas workers in April 2020.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of investing in carbon, capture, utilization and storage technology.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As outlined within the recently published Net Zero Strategy, carbon, capture, usage and storage will be an exciting new industry to capture the carbon we continue to emit and revitalise the birthplaces of the first industrial revolution. It has the ability to capture CO2 from power generation, hydrogen production and industrial processes to store it underground or reuse it. In addition, carbon, capture, usage and storage could help support up to 50,000 jobs in 2030, split across industry, power and the transport and storage network.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential financial benefits of investing in carbon, capture, utilization and storage technology.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As highlighted in the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, investing in carbon, capture, usage and storage will create transformative ‘SuperPlaces’ in areas such as the Humber, North East, North west and southern England, as well as in Scotland and Wales, bringing with it a range of financial benefits.
The deployment of CCUS clusters from the mid-2020s will also be a strong enabler for UK exports globally, building UK CCUS expertise and driving international demand for UK CCUS goods and services.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 18 October 2021 to Question 52489 on Employment Tribunals Service, and with reference to the minutes of the May 2021 meeting of the National Employment Tribunal User Group, published on 2 July 2021, when he plans to publish his Department's response to the Law Commission's April 2020 report on Employment Law Hearing Structures.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government welcomes the Law Commission’s report on Employment Law Hearing Structures, and the detailed consideration the Commission has given to this important topic.
The Government is considering these recommendations and expect that the full responses will be available on the Law Commission website in due course.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the cost effectiveness of investing in carbon, capture, utilization and storage technology.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
For the UK to keep options open to accommodate the different potential outcomes in 2050, then by 2035 BEIS whole system modelling suggests that for any given level of the sixth carbon budget there should be deployment of low carbon hydrogen, CCS and greenhouse gas removal technologies at scale.[1] This assessment is supported by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) who in their Sixth Carbon Budget advice classified the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a “critical and cost-effective means of meeting the UK’s 2050 Net Zero target”. [2]
[1] Impact Assessment for the sixth carbon budget
[2] CCC (2020) The Sixth Carbon Budget - The UK's path to Net Zero, Chapter 2, page 90
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the funding required to meet the Government's carbon capture 2030 targets.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the Net Zero Strategy published on the 19th October, the Government reaffirmed the commitment to supporting Carbon Capture Usage & Storage (CCUS) via the £1 billion CCUS Infrastructure Fund. This will provide industry with the certainty required to deploy CCUS at pace and at scale and will form part of a package of government support, which will also include the Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Revenue Support (IDHRS) scheme and the £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund supporting both CCS-enabled ‘blue’ and electrolytic ‘green’ hydrogen.[1]
[1] CCC (2020) The Sixth Carbon Budget - The UK's path to Net Zero, Chapter 2, page 126
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the report by the Law Commission, Employment law hearing structures, published in April 2020, whether he has plans to implement the recommendation in that report that the employment tribunal time limit for claims be extended to six months for all types of claim.
Answered by Paul Scully
A claim to an Employment Tribunal must usually be made within three months. For certain claims, redundancy pay or equal pay, the claim must be made within six months. The Employment Tribunals already have the discretion to allow claims submitted out of time, on a case by basis.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the introduction of temporary visas for low skilled workers to supply sectors reporting labour shortages.
Answered by Paul Scully
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has regular discussions with my Rt. Hon. Friend the Home Secretary on a range of issues, including making sure businesses have appropriate access to talent from across the world so that we can build back better from the pandemic and support the national economic recovery.
We have taken action on this issue. We have expanded the Seasonal Workers Pilot to 30,000 visas for workers to come to the UK for up to six months; and have introduced measures to help tackle the HGV driver shortage.
We want to see employers make long term investments in the UK domestic workforce and make employment more attractive through offering training, careers options and wage increases.
We continue to work closely with industry to address sector challenges and our Plan for Jobs is helping people across the country retrain, build new skills and get back into work.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, published 14 September 2021, that labour shortages are the main concern of 88 per cent of recruiters for the remainder of 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is working closely with industry to address sector challenges, which are being faced by countries around the world.
We have expanded the Seasonal Workers Pilot to 30,000 visas for workers to come to the UK for up to six months; and have introduced measures to help tackle the HGV driver shortage.
We have expanded the roles which now qualify for our new Skilled Worker Route: senior care workers, healthcare practice managers, telecommunications engineers, construction and building trades not elsewhere classified and veterinary nurses are now eligible.
The Government wants to see employers make long term investments in the UK domestic workforce and make employment more attractive through offering training, careers options and wage increases.
We are investing in our Plan for Jobs because supporting people into work, ensuring they get the skills they need to get good jobs and helping businesses fill their vacancies is the best way to secure our economic recovery.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he expects to appoint a Supply Chain Champion for the offshore oil and gas sector.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Through the North Sea Transition Deal, the offshore oil and gas sector committed to appointing an industry supply chain champion to co-ordinate business opportunities with other energy sectors. Good progress has been made on this and an announcement is expected soon.