Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
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 potential per property cost for installation of (a) loft insulation, (b) cavity wall insulation, (c) solid wall insulation and (d) double glazing for non-insulated properties.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
An assessment of typical costs for these measures in different property architypes can be found in our 2017 publication, ‘Domestic cost assumptions – what does it cost to retrofit homes?’:
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
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 the average cost per KwH of energy used by his Department generated from (a) natural gas, (b) oil, (c) LPG, (d) electric direct heat and (e) air source heat pump.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The average costs per kWh for the Department have been taken from 2019/20 invoices for our headquarters building at 1 Victoria Street, London and are shown in the table below.
The Department does not use LPG and does not currently have an air source heat pump at 1 Victoria Street.
| Natural gas | Oil | Electric direct heat |
£/kWh fuel | £0.04/kWh | £0.06/kWh | £0.13/kWh |
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to review the date for the reopening of (a) massage therapist, (b) reflexology and (c) other therapeutic services as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Paul Scully
We’ve now provided other close contact services like massage therapists, reflexologists and other therapeutic services in England except Leicester with the certainty they need to reopen from Monday 13 July, subject to them following the COVID-secure guidelines.
We need to be confident services are able to reopen in a COVID-secure way for the staff and customers. Our approach is guided by the scientific and medical advice, and our guidance has been developed with input from firms, unions, industry bodies and the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and in consultation with Public Health England (PHE) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to tackle late payments to small businesses.
Answered by Paul Scully
Legislation already exists under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, which sets out that payment terms between two businesses should not exceed 60 days, unless they are fair to both parties. Additionally, suppliers can claim statutory interest, and debt recovery costs, on invoices not paid within the agreed period or (if no period is agreed) within 30 days. It also establishes maximum 30-day payment terms for transactions with public authorities.
The Government is completely focussed on fulfilling our manifesto commitment to clamp down on late payment and strengthen the powers of the Small Business Commissioner (SBC) to support small businesses who are least able to cover financial shortfalls and find temporary finance more difficult and more expensive to obtain.
The Government has transferred the administration of the Code to the Office of the SBC in March to unify prompt payment measures under one umbrella and we continue to consult on extending its powers. We have also taken a tough compliance approach to large companies who do not comply with the Payment Practices Reporting Duty and will use enforcement powers to prosecute those who do not comply where obliged.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
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 that people receive refunds from venues for weddings that have been cancelled as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under consumer law, consumers may be entitled to a refund within 14 days, depending on the nature of the contract in place. Where payments were made using a credit card, redress can be sought from the credit card company. Some businesses are also offering consumers alternative arrangements, which individuals are able to choose should they wish. The Government is engaging continually with business and consumer advocacy bodies to assess the impact of cancellations made in the light of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
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 help ensure the economic viability of the use of hydrogen-ready boilers in domestic heating.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Burning natural gas for heating accounts for a significant proportion of household carbon emissions. There is currently no clear consensus on the best approach to decarbonising heat at scale, and our December 2018 report on Clean Growth: Transforming Heating set out that using hydrogen as a replacement for natural gas, including for domestic heating, may play an important role.
BEIS is?currently?investing over £100m in hydrogen innovation. This includes Hy4Heat, a programme which aims to assess the safety and technical feasibility of hydrogen for heating in homes. This includes working with industry to develop prototype hydrogen appliances including hydrogen ready boilers and will evaluate their likely costs and performance upon completion of the programme in March 2021.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the domestic heating industry on the future role of hydrogen as a heating fuel.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Replacing natural gas in the gas grid with hydrogen may be an option which could contribute to decarbonising heat, along with other options including heat networks, electric heat pumps and biogas. The Government’s December 2018 report on Clean Growth: Transforming Heating concluded that there is currently no clear consensus on the best approach to decarbonising heat at scale and that further work is required on the hydrogen option to prove the safety and feasibility case and to better understand the costs and benefits.
The Department is working with the gas and heating industries, including representatives of the domestic heating sector, to ensure that all the R&D, testing and trialling work required to achieve this has been identified.
The Government is also spending up to £121m on hydrogen innovation, including £25m on the Hy4Heat programme which is investigating whether it is technically possible to replace methane with hydrogen in residential and commercial buildings and gas appliances.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many Energy Company Obligation ECO3 installations have been made in each Parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Claire Perry
The attached table shows the number of measures delivered under the current phase of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO3) for the latest data available (October 2018 – February 2019) for each Parliamentary constituency in Great Britain. In order to manage the risk of revealing personal or commercial data, our approach is not to release non-zero counts of less than five for a small geographic area so these have been shown as 1-4 where applicable.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which organisations provide the Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management course; and at what level of educational establishment that course is provided.
Answered by Claire Perry
Currently the Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management course is delivered by The Retrofit Academy. Other training organisations may develop their own versions in the future.
The Department does not sponsor the qualification and it does not specify which educational establishments can provide the course.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
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 cost to participants of undertaking the Open College Network West Midlands Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management course; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department does not sponsor the Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management course or specify the cost for participating in qualifications.