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Written Question
Floods: Nuclear Power Stations
Thursday 2nd February 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has undertaken a risk assessment of the impact of potential flooding caused by rising sea levels on nuclear power plants.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Nuclear site licence holders must meet robust standards, including keeping plants safe against the effects of flooding throughout their lifetime.

Site licensees are required to produce a fit for purpose assessment of flood risk to inform the detailed siting, design, management, and safety case requirements of any new nuclear facility, which is assessed by the UK’s independent regulators - the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the environment agencies. This includes an assessment of all possible sources of flooding as well as coastal erosion risks and other climate change impacts.

The ONR and the environment agencies would not allow an installation to be built or to operate if they judged that it was not safe to do so.


Written Question
Energy Performance Certificates
Tuesday 31st January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

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 Improvement Energy Performance Certificates: action plan - progress update, published on 8 November 2021, what progress his Department has made on updating regulations related to Energy Performance Certificates since publication of that update.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department works closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on progressing the outstanding actions in the Energy Performance Certificate Action Plan.


Written Question
Heating: Non-ionizing Radiation
Tuesday 31st January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing the use of infrared heating.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

BEIS research to date, such as the Cost Optimal Domestic Electrification[1]project, has compared infrared heating with other electrical heating options and concluded that heat-pumps are the most cost-optimal electric heating technology for most UK homes. To improve the Government's understanding of the potential role of infrared heating in decarbonising heat, BEIS has commenced a further programme of evidence gathering on the performance of these systems relative to other technologies.

[1] Cost Optimal Domestic Electrification (CODE): research study

Ref: BEIS Research Paper Number: 2021/051, published September 2021. (Viewed on 24 January 2023)


Written Question
Wind Power: Cornwall
Thursday 26th January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what social value criteria the Department has set in the next auction for offshore wind projects in the Cornish Sea; and what assessment his Department has made of potential direct financial or other benefits that may be delivered locally in respect of those projects.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The parameters of the upcoming floating offshore wind seabed leasing process in the Celtic Sea are a matter for The Crown Estate, who have stated developers will be expected to provide a plan of their early investment in support of an internationally competitive supply chain.

Offshore wind is an important growth industry for the UK. The Government estimates the ambition of 50GW of offshore wind outlined in the British Energy Security Strategy, including up to 5GW of innovative floating offshore wind, could support an estimated 90,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2030


Written Question
Energy Bill Relief Scheme: Students
Tuesday 17th January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure students living in (a) halls of residence and (b) other properties supplied via non-domestic energy suppliers receive support under the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Students in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) have energy costs covered in their fees which are set on an annual basis. The purpose of the EBSS is to support individuals facing increased energy costs this winter, and as such students in PBSA will not be eligible for the EBSS Alternative Funding. Eligible individuals in other properties supplied via a non-domestic energy supply will be able to apply for the EBSS Alternative Funding payment by submitting a short online form via the GOV.UK webpage which opens later in January and which will outline further eligibility details.


Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: EU Law
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill on the effectiveness of parliamentary scrutiny of the Government.

Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring legislation undergoes the appropriate level of scrutiny.

The Bill contains robust mechanisms that will enable the appropriate scrutiny of any amendments or repeals of retained EU law made by the powers in this Bill. This includes a sifting procedure that will apply to regulations proposed to be made by the negative procedure under the powers to restate and the powers to revoke or replace.


Written Question
Local Enterprise Partnerships: Finance
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding the Government has provided to Local Enterprise Partnerships in each financial year since 2011.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The following table shows total allocations since the financial year 2011/12. These figures do not include wider programme spending on which Local Enterprise Partnerships provided strategic advice, but where funding was provided to another accountable organisation.

2011/12

£4,994,658

2012/13

£4,875,000

2013/14

£20,372,850

2014/15

£20,385,150

2015/16

£20,678,000

2016/17

£19,578,000

2017/18

£19,078,000

2018/19

£25,787,500

2019/20

£25,678,000

2020/21

£19,078,000

2021/22

£19,078,000

2022/23

£13,953,000


Written Question
Local Enterprise Partnerships: Regional Planning and Development
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding his Department has provided to each Local Enterprise Partnership to finance the development of local economic plans since 2011.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government first commissioned Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to submit local Strategic Economic Plans by March 2014. Since 2013/14, the Government has provided £4.625m in core funding to LEPs to facilitate, amongst other things, the development and delivery of these plans.


Written Question
Local Enterprise Partnerships: Regional Planning and Development
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of the 38 Local Enterprise Partnerships submitted local economic plans; and how many and what proportion of these were subsequently approved by his Department.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

In March 2014, all Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) submitted Strategic Economic Plans. These plans have been updated from time to time in response to changes in economic circumstances. The Government’s current national local growth assurance framework highlights that LEPs will determine their own specific priorities and develop an evidence-based strategy that identifies local strengths and challenges, future opportunities and the action needed to boost productivity, earning power and competitiveness across their area.

These plans are not specifically approved by Government, although we work with each LEP to identify and develop investment opportunities arising from the strategies, and ensure that any public funding has monitoring and evaluating plans in place. This includes an annual financial statement and a rolling schedule of funded projects.


Written Question
Local Enterprise Partnerships: Regional Planning and Development
Monday 16th January 2023

Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the local economic plans drafted by Local Enterprise Partnerships have been implemented.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

In March 2014, all Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) submitted Strategic Economic Plans. These plans have been updated from time to time in response to changes in economic circumstances. The Government’s current national local growth assurance framework highlights that LEPs will determine their own specific priorities and develop an evidence-based strategy that identifies local strengths and challenges, future opportunities and the action needed to boost productivity, earning power and competitiveness across their area.

These plans are not specifically approved by Government, although we work with each LEP to identify and develop investment opportunities arising from the strategies, and ensure that any public funding has monitoring and evaluating plans in place. This includes an annual financial statement and a rolling schedule of funded projects.