Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding has been allocated from the (a) UK Community Renewal Fund, (b) Levelling Up Fund, (c) Community Ownership Fund and (d) UK Shared Prosperity Fund to projects in (i) Scotland, (ii) Wales, (iii) England and (iv) Northern Ireland (A) overall and (B) in each financial year for which figures are available; and if he will publish a breakdown by project.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Information on the projects that these funds have supported and the dates when commitments were announced are publicly available and can be found on gov.uk:
Delivery of UKSPF is delegated to local authorities.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to help support the development of (a) hydrotreating kerosene and (b) other cleaner aviation fuels.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In July 2022, Government confirmed that a SAF Mandate would be introduced in 2025 requiring at least 10% (around 1.5 billion litres) of jet fuel to be made from sustainable feedstocks by 2030.
In the second SAF mandate consultation, it was proposed that increasing targets be set out in legislation from 2025-2040. The levels of these targets will be confirmed in a Government response to the consultation due to be published in Spring 2024.
The SAF mandate will support SAF produced using a range of feedstocks and technologies including biofuels from waste materials via the hydrotreated ester fatty acids process.
Our £135m Advanced Fuels Fund is supporting 13 different SAF projects reach commercial scale in the UK. These cover a range of technologies to drive innovation and diversity of supply. Once operational, these projects are expected to collectively produce over 700 kilo tonnes of SAF and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.7 million each year.
In September 2023, the Government also committed to introduce a revenue certainty mechanism to support SAF production in the UK. The intention is that it will be industry funded. The mechanism will provide revenue certainty for SAF production, supporting investor confidence in UK SAF projects.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has targets for the commercial use of sustainable aviation fuel.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In July 2022, Government confirmed that a SAF Mandate would be introduced in 2025 requiring at least 10% (around 1.5 billion litres) of jet fuel to be made from sustainable feedstocks by 2030.
In the second SAF mandate consultation, it was proposed that increasing targets be set out in legislation from 2025-2040. The levels of these targets will be confirmed in a Government response to the consultation due to be published in Spring 2024.
The SAF mandate will support SAF produced using a range of feedstocks and technologies including biofuels from waste materials via the hydrotreated ester fatty acids process.
Our £135m Advanced Fuels Fund is supporting 13 different SAF projects reach commercial scale in the UK. These cover a range of technologies to drive innovation and diversity of supply. Once operational, these projects are expected to collectively produce over 700 kilo tonnes of SAF and reduce CO2 emissions by 2.7 million each year.
In September 2023, the Government also committed to introduce a revenue certainty mechanism to support SAF production in the UK. The intention is that it will be industry funded. The mechanism will provide revenue certainty for SAF production, supporting investor confidence in UK SAF projects.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which army unit is alleged to be the subject of the research entitled Are British soldiers adequately prepared to make safe sexual health decisions when deployed to areas with high HIV prevalence?, published in the British Medical Journal Military Health on 21 March 2024 on initiation ceremonies in Kenya.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The article was originally published in the British Medical Journal Military Health in July 2022. The purpose of the research was to consider the effectiveness of the sexual health brief Service personnel receive when they arrive in Kenya to determine whether the brief had any influence on soldiers’ approach to sexual health. Information about which units’ participants served with was not captured as part of the research.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which British Army regiments have trained in Kenya since 2012; and on what dates that training took place.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The table below shows the Army units which have trained in British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) between 2019 – March 2024. Due to a change in information technology systems and the way in which records are held, data prior to 2019 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Exercise date | Unit |
Feb – Mar 24 | 3rd Battalion, The Rifles |
Oct – Nov 23 | 1st Battalion, The Grenadier Guards |
Jun – Jul 23 | 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment |
Mar – Apr 23 | 1st Battalion, The Coldstream Guards |
Oct – Nov 22 | 1st Battalion, The Rifles |
Mar – Apr 22 | 1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment |
Oct – Nov 21 | 2nd Battalion, The Rifles |
Feb – Mar 21 | 2nd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment |
Mar – Apr 20 | 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland |
Jan – Mar 20 | 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment |
Oct – Nov 19 | 2nd Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland 1st Battalion, The Coldstream Guards |
May – Jun 19 | 2nd Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment 1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland 2nd Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment 4th Battalion, The Rifles |
Feb – Mar 19 | 2nd Battalion, The Rifles |
Jan – Feb 19 | 1st Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment |
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has held discussions with UK Export Finance on (a) the closure of the ethanol plant at Grangemouth and (b) the proposed INEOS plant in Antwerp.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Export Finance and the Department for Business and Trade are strategically and operationally aligned, and routinely share relevant information across all business areas.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 19719 on INEOS: Belgium, how many (a) ethanol and (b) ethanol-related products will be produced at the new Ineos site in Antwerp.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The INEOS Project One plant will not be producing ethanol or ethanol related products.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the UK's participation in the military operation in defence of Israel on 13 April 2024 was carried out under the terms of the agreement signed between the British Armed Forces and the Israeli Defence Force on 2 December 2020.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
No.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20433, (a) how many such consignments have been declared and (b) whether HMRC has taken such enforcement action since 21 July 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The indirect supply prohibition, concerning Russian Origin imports of Oil and Oil products came into force on 05 December 2022.
HMRC publishes UK trade data on the www.uktradeinfo.com website.
HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20431, whether HMRC has taken enforcement action on oil originating in Russia and imported from a refinery in India since 21 July 2022.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Revenue and Customs does not comment on operational enforcement matters pertaining to specific import or export scenarios.