Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
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 Answer of 2 May 2019 to Question 247159, what progress has been made on tackling the widespread theft of the UK creative industries intellectual property rights by the pirate network beoutQ.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Officials in the Intellectual Property Office work closely with their counterparts in the Department for International Trade work, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on matters relating to the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights around the world.
Government Ministers and HM Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have raised this matter with the Saudi Arabian Government and will continue to make representations about any alleged broadcast infringement activities of UK IP.
We understand broadcasting piracy in Saudi Arabia, through the pirate operator beoutQ, has now stopped. This followed pressure by the UK, the US, European countries, and major sports rights holders.
The Government will continue to with the UK creative industries to try to understand the commercial effect of the alleged piracy by beoutQ.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether her Department plans to establish a Hydrogen cluster by the end of the next Parliament.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Low carbon hydrogen could play a vital role in meeting the UK’s net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050, supporting both our Industrial Strategy and the revitalisation of the economies of the UK’s industrial areas.
Government is committed to exploring hydrogen’s potential through up to £108 million in innovation funding and £100 million to deploy low carbon hydrogen production capacity. The Government has also committed to invest £800 million to build the first fully deployed CCUS cluster by the mid-2020s and £500 million to help energy-intensive industries move to low-carbon techniques, which could include the use of hydrogen.
Hydrogen is likely to play an important role in achieving the Industrial Clusters Mission, creating the world’s first net zero industrial cluster by 2040 and at least one low carbon cluster by 2030. This is supported by up to £170 million from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to support the deployment of low carbon technologies and enabling infrastructure in one or more clusters.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Government plans to publish its plan for how the UK will achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Tackling climate change is a top priority for the Department. We were the first major economy to legislate for a net zero target and have already made great progress towards it. Since 1990 we have reduced emissions by 42% while growing our economy by 72%.
The government’s Clean Growth Strategy and Industrial Strategy set out strong frameworks to deliver the target in a way that maximises the economic benefits of our transition to net zero. This includes building on our strengths in electric vehicles and offshore wind. In 2018, 1 in 5 battery electric cars sold in Europe were built in the UK[1] and we are spending nearly £1.5 billion out to 2021 to support the take-up of ultra low emission vehicles. The UK has the largest offshore wind capacity in the world, with 34% of global capacity[2]. At the latest contracts for difference allocation round, 12 renewable electricity projects won contracts at record low costs. The auction has delivered enough energy to power 7.2m homes by 2025.
On 15 October, the Government published its response to the CCC’s latest annual Progress Report, setting out the suite of recent announcements made in support of our net zero target, and describing further actions that the Government will take to deliver net zero and meet our carbon budgets. These include plans for the publication in 2020 of an Energy White Paper, a Transport Decarbonisation Plan and a Heat Roadmap.
[1] OLEV (2019) fast facts briefing; ONS (2019) Low carbon and renewable energy economy final estimates: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/datasets/lowcarbonandrenewableenergyeconomyfirstestimatesdataset (Updated 19/07/2019 Nelli Vanninen)
[2] GWEC (2018), Global Wind report 2018, https://gwec.net/global-wind-report-2018/, (Updated 16/07/2019 Nelli Vanninen) last updated 07 May 2019 CED briefings
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Government has to support electricity network companies as they work to enable the transition to a low carbon economy.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Government expects network companies to work with Ofgem, the independent regulator, to ensure a settlement for the upcoming set of energy network price controls which is fair to investors and consumers, including in relation to Government’s net zero and clean growth ambitions. Network regulation is a matter for Ofgem. By law, Government has no role in this process.
Ofgem has recently taken steps in this regard. In August 2019 Ofgem published an open letter, asking network companies across all sectors to clearly propose and evidence how their business plans for the next price controls are able to adapt to support delivery of the net zero target. Final business plans for electricity transmission will be submitted to Ofgem in December, with determinations to be made by the regulator in 2020 ahead of those new price controls starting in April 2021.
Ofgem has also published an open letter consultation on the proposed framework for the next electricity distribution price control starting two years later in April 2023. In this letter Ofgem states it is considering including a more direct link between network company revenues and the achievement of outcomes outside the delivery of traditional network services, for example the decarbonisation of transport and/or heat. Ofgem expects to confirm its decision on the framework that will apply in December, with further detailed consultation of key regulatory policy areas and approaches, including decarbonisation, scheduled for 2020.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
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 (a) review and (b) increase the 6GW capacity cap in the Contracts for Difference auctions to support the target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
We set the the 6-gigawatt capacity cap for the third Contracts for Difference allocation round based on our understanding of the pipeline of projects. It aims to promote competitive tension, whilst delivering significant capacity, and ensure smooth delivery of low carbon generation through the 2020s.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
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 finding of the Committee on Climate Change that the UK will require up to 75GW by 2050, if he will review the 30GW by 2030 target for offshore wind.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Offshore Wind Sector Deal foresees up to 30GW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030, provided costs continue to fall. This level of certainty, unmatched by any other major European market, sets a firm foundation for offshore wind to play its role in reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to accelerate the electrification of (a) heat and (b) transport.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The electrification of heat, notably through heat pumps, can play a key role in decarbonizing heat, which is an essential step in meeting our carbon budgets. The Government is committed to supporting the deployment of heat pumps. Through the Renewable Heat Incentive we are spending £2.8bn between 2018/19 and 2020/21 to support innovative low carbon heat technologies in homes and businesses, including heat pumps.
The Government is currently developing the future policy framework for supporting low carbon heat, including through the Future Homes Standard announced by my. rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer in February 2019. This will set standards through building regulations to drive uptake in low carbon heating.
Low consumer awareness and confidence in heat pumps also remain key issues. BEIS will launch a demonstration project on the electrification of heat in 2019, which will help demonstrate the feasibility of a possible large-scale transition to heat pumps and develop innovative solutions that work for a wide range of homes and consumers.
The Government is working to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission electric vehicles, and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040.
To achieve this, we are investing nearly £1.5bn between April 2015 and March 2021, with grants available for plug in cars, vans, lorries, buses, taxis and motorcycles, and schemes to support charge point infrastructure at homes and workplaces and on residential streets.
The Road to Zero Strategy was published last year, it sets out a clear pathway to zero emissions, to give clarity and certainty to both industry and motorists.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
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 adequacy of investment in carbon capture usage and storage to help reach the Government's net zero by 2050.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
On 27 June, a new, legally binding, target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 came into force. This will require ambitious action across the economy building on our Clean Growth Strategy, and carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) is likely to play a vital role. Our CCUS Action Plan sets out that we will move to deploying CCUS in the 2020s, working in partnership with industry to achieve this.
We are investing over £50 million in CCUS innovation programmes, supporting innovative technologies across the UK between 2017 and 2021. As part of this investment we announced on 27 June that nine companies have secured £26 million of government funding, in addition to industry backing, to advance the rollout of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) in the UK - a crucial step towards the UK’s net zero emissions and the end of the UK’s contribution to global warming. It is the next milestone for the Government’s ambition for the UK to be a world-leader in the field as laid out in the Clean Growth Strategy and the CCUS Action Plan.
One company, Tata Chemicals is being awarded £4.2m toward the construction of a facility to capture and utilise 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – the equivalent of 22,000 cars. When fully operational in 2021 it will be the largest carbon capture plant in the UK, removing 100 times more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than the country’s current largest facility.
Our Clean Growth Grand Challenge Mission sets an ambition to establish at least one low-carbon industrial cluster by 2030, and the world’s first net-zero carbon industrial cluster by 2040. The Mission is technology neutral but is focussed on technologies that can be delivered cost-effectively through the use of shared networks, and CCUS is one of the key technologies that could help to deliver the mission. The mission is backed by £170 million public investment through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
Also supporting the mission, the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund is a £315 million fund aimed at helping industry to transition to a low-carbon future. The fund will help companies cut their energy bills and carbon emissions through investing in energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies. This could include supporting technologies that are strategically important to long-term emissions reductions such as CCUS and Hydrogen.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of Growth Hubs in supporting women who want to start and grow a business; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
There are currently 38 Growth Hubs across England, led and governed by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), providing free and impartial advice and support to anyone wishing to start and a grow a business. At March 2018, Local Enterprise Partnerships have self-reported that since 2015 their Growth Hubs have helped over 26,000 entrepreneurs start their own business.
There are now 1.1 million women-led small and medium-sized businesses in the UK and I want to see that number grow. Access to finance is key area that can support that aim and I am pleased to report that the government-supported Start-Up Loans Company has provided loans worth nearly £436 million to those wishing to start a business, of which nearly 40% have been given to female entrepreneurs at March 2018.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
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 potential effect of the proposed EU ecodesign and energy labelling regulations on the sustainability of UK entertainment venues.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department does not carry out cost benefit analysis of early drafts of EU Ecodesign Regulations. Once we see the final version of this regulation before the Regulatory Committee vote in Brussels, where the UK and other Member States will vote on the regulation, we will carry out a cost benefit analysis for the UK but not specific sectors. The Ecodesign proposal for lighting that I assume you are referring to will be voted on in October/November 2018 and we would expect to see a final version one month prior to that.