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 recent steps his Department has taken to assess the EU retained law it wishes to (a) keep, (b) amend and (c) reject at the end of 2023.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The public Retained EU law (REUL) dashboard can be accessed through GOV.UK. To support transparency the dashboard will document the government’s progress in accelerating regulatory reform and reclaiming the UK statute book. The government is committed to maintaining high standards across the UK and ensuring that vital protections continue to be upheld in all areas, including compliance with our international obligations. All departments including BEIS are reviewing their REUL to determine whether to repeal, replace or preserve it.
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 Local Net Zero Forum, how often the Forum has met; what the membership of the Forum is; and whether minutes from the Forum will be published.
Answered by Graham Stuart
To date, the Local Net Zero Forum has held two meetings, with further meetings planned for the new year. The membership list will be published on gov.uk in due course.
The Forum strengthens the engagement between central government and local government on net zero by allowing discussion of net zero policy and delivery issues between officials. Forum discussions feed into ongoing policy and delivery work but the Forum itself does not make decisions or produce publications.
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, when he plans to establish the Energy Efficiency Taskforce announced in the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022; and which organisations he plans to invite to join that body.
Answered by Graham Stuart
More details on the timing, scope and membership of the Taskforce will be announced in due course.
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 announcement in the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022 that the Government will invest £700 million in the proposed Sizewell C nuclear power plant, (a) whether he plans to allocate any additional public funds to that plant and (b) whether he expects that private finance will be required for that plant.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government aims to approve the pledged investment in Sizewell C this month, subject to final approvals for the investment. This funding would come from the up to £1.7bn of Government funding made available in the 2021 Spending Review for developing a large-scale nuclear project to final investment stage in this Parliament.
Final approvals and details surrounding this investment will be announced in due course. Details of the project’s potential financial structure are subject to ongoing, commercially sensitive negotiations.
The Government has established a Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model to attract private investment into new nuclear projects.
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, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on audit reform.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government set out its plans for audit and corporate governance reform in the 31 May 2022 Government Response to the White Paper, ‘Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance’, following a sixteen-week consultation. The Response stated that the reforms will be delivered through primary and secondary legislation and through the UK Corporate Governance Code, as well as market-driven reforms, and that companies which are large public interest entities will be required to publish resilience statements and audit and assurance policy statements. Draft legislation is being developed for publication in due course.
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 is taking steps to bring forward legislative proposals to make (a) resilience statements and (b) audit and assurance policies a new statutory requirement for public interest entities.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government set out its plans for audit and corporate governance reform in the 31 May 2022 Government Response to the White Paper, ‘Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance’, following a sixteen-week consultation. The Response stated that the reforms will be delivered through primary and secondary legislation and through the UK Corporate Governance Code, as well as market-driven reforms, and that companies which are large public interest entities will be required to publish resilience statements and audit and assurance policy statements. Draft legislation is being developed for publication in due course.
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 his planned timetable is for the publication of the draft Audit Reform Bill; and whether he plans to consult with stakeholders on the content of an early draft of the Bill.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government set out its plans for audit and corporate governance reform in the 31 May 2022 Government Response to the White Paper, ‘Restoring Trust in Audit and Corporate Governance’, following a sixteen-week consultation. The Response stated that the reforms will be delivered through primary and secondary legislation and through the UK Corporate Governance Code, as well as market-driven reforms, and that companies which are large public interest entities will be required to publish resilience statements and audit and assurance policy statements. Draft legislation is being developed for publication in due course.
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 impact of any plans to amend its biomass sustainability criteria in the forthcoming Biomass Strategy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government issued a call for evidence in 2021 (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/role-of-biomass-in-achieving-net-zero-call-for-evidence) to seek stakeholder views and evidence on a range of biomass-related questions. This included potential improvements to the biomass sustainability criteria. The responses to the call for evidence, alongside feedback from extensive stakeholder engagement, are feeding into recommendations for further strengthening of the UK’s already stringent biomass sustainability criteria, which we will set out in the forthcoming Biomass Strategy.
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 percentage of staff previously employed in the Investment Security Group were employed in the Investment Security Unit as of 6 July.
Answered by Jane Hunt
As of 6 July 2022, there are 94 full time equivalent posts in the Investment Security Unit. As with any organisation, actual staffing levels fluctuate over time. The ISU operates a ‘hub and spoke’ model, bringing together expertise from across government and the intelligence community to scrutinise acquisitions and assess the need for intervention to protect the UK’s national security, ensuring the Business Secretary can make well evidenced decisions.
The Investment Security Group team was previously based in the Cabinet Office but moved to BEIS in April to form the basis of the ISU.
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 percentage of staff employed in the Investment Security Unit as of 6 July were previously employed in the Investment Security Group.
Answered by Jane Hunt
As of 6 July 2022, there are 94 full time equivalent posts in the Investment Security Unit. As with any organisation, actual staffing levels fluctuate over time. The ISU operates a ‘hub and spoke’ model, bringing together expertise from across government and the intelligence community to scrutinise acquisitions and assess the need for intervention to protect the UK’s national security, ensuring the Business Secretary can make well evidenced decisions.
The Investment Security Group team was previously based in the Cabinet Office but moved to BEIS in April to form the basis of the ISU.