Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in context of biomass fuel, what scientific advice his Department received when deciding that only 70 per cent of wood pellets would need to come from sustainable forests to qualify for renewable subsidies.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government only supports sustainable biomass and generators only receive subsidies for compliant biomass. All biomass must be legally harvested in accordance with national legislation of the sourcing country. Generators are required to demonstrate that at least 70% of all biomass must be sustainable. In developing the new Biomass Strategy, the Government will assess the UK’s existing biomass sustainability standards, which are already some of the world’s most stringent, to see where and how they can be improved even further.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 criteria are used when selecting contractors to implement the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Under the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) all contractors must be Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certified. MCS is the leading standards and quality assurance organisation in the domestic renewable heating sector. For products to be eligible for the RHI, they must be MCS certified, and for installations to be eligible, they must be carried out to the relevant MCS installation standard for that technology. As part of MCS certification, installers must also be a member of a Chartered Trading Standards Institute approved consumer code, to which consumers will have access, should there be problems with the installation.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 Centre for Economics and Business Research report, The economic impact of the UK’s New Approach Methodologies sector, on behalf of Animal Free Research UK, published 6 October 2021, whether the forthcoming Spending Review will make further funding available to (a) support the NAMs industry and (b) accelerate the replacement of animals in research with NAMs including the use of human cells and tissues, artificial intelligence and organ-on-a-chip technology.
Answered by George Freeman
Future funding decisions will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review 2021.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 Centre for Economics and Business Research report, The economic impact of the UK’s New Approach Methodologies sector, on behalf of Animal Free Research UK, published 6 October 2021, what steps he is taking to provide support for the NAMs industry and accelerate the replacement of animals in research in addition to providing funding for the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved primarily through funding for the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs), which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research.
The NC3Rs receives its core funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Medical Research Council (MRC), and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). Since the NC3Rs was launched in 2004, it has committed £100 million in research to develop 3Rs technologies.
In 2015, the NC3Rs with Innovate UK, alongside the MRC, BBSRC, Economic and Social Research Council, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, developed the non-animal technologies roadmap setting out a 2030 vision and strategy for how non-animal technologies could be used to replace the use of animals in research across a number of sectors for the UK.
The roadmap sets a vision and strategy to accelerate the translation of technologies emerging from research into tests for assessing the safety and efficacy of chemicals (including medicines and drugs) without the use of animals and to guide those working in this area to adopt more humane approaches.
In addition to funding the NC3Rs, UKRI also funds a portfolio of research projects involving humans, human materials, animal models, and non-animal technologies. The replacement, refinement and reduction principles are embedded in all the research within UKRI’s remit involving (or potentially involving) animal use. UKRI also encourages grant applicants, including those whose research does not involve animals but could contribute to greater reduction and replacement, to consider further opportunities to advance the 3Rs.
The MRC has recently launched a new Precision Medicine Accelerator to take the most exciting ideas from discovery science into research using humans, focused on early clinical application. The first step was the establishment of the Experimental Medicine Panel in 2020, which has so far awarded £5.5 million to projects investigating the mechanisms behind diseases such as liver failure, polycystic ovary syndrome, vasculitis, mild autonomous cortisol secretion and malaria.
Between 2015-2019, the BBSRC spent over £7 million on research grants aimed at developing and applying innovative methodologies to studying human and animal physiology, including in silico approaches, organ-on-a-chip, organoid and other advanced cell culture systems.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to commit to a 2035 target for near zero emissions in the steel sector in the Net Zero Strategy.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, published on 17 March, commits to work with the newly constituted Steel Council to consider the implications of the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee to ‘set targets for ore-based steelmaking to reach near-zero emissions by 2035’. The Steel Council offers the forum for government, industry and trade unions to work in partnership on the shared objective of creating an achievable, long-term plan to support the sector’s transition to a competitive, sustainable and low carbon future.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 his Department is planning to allocate the Clean Steel Fund; and when that allocation will be announced.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department announced the Clean Steel Fund (CSF) in 2019 and it is currently in development. This policy will take time to design in order to be delivered effectively.
Based on previous evidence, complex decarbonisation projects have long lead-in times and take time to set up. Due to this and other factors, the steel sector indicated in response to the 2019 Call for Evidence that their preference is for the CSF to be launched in 2023. Other schemes are available to support the sector and are live now, including the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 international progress on trials of hydrogen-based steelmaking; and if he will take steps to introduce a similar pilot in the UK.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The UK is monitoring international progress on low carbon steel making trials, using hydrogen and other technologies, and is actively engaged in international initiatives to support industrial decarbonisation innovation, including the Mission Innovation platform and the Leadership Group for Industry Transition.
Decarbonising UK industry is a core part of the government’s ambitious plan for the green industrial revolution. The Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, published on 17 March, commits government to work with the Steel Council to consider the implications of the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee to ‘set targets for ore-based steelmaking to reach near-zero emissions by 2035’. The Steel Council offers the forum for government, industry and trade unions to work in partnership on the shared objective of creating an achievable, long-term plan to support the sector’s transition to a competitive, sustainable and low carbon future. Hydrogen-based steelmaking is one of the technological approaches being examined as part of this process.
The UK steel sector will be given the opportunity to bid into industrial fuel switching innovation programmes under the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP), which is intended to promote switching away from more carbon-intensive fuel sources. The Government has also announced a £250 million Clean Steel Fund to support the UK steel sector to transition to lower carbon iron and steel production, through investment in new technologies and processes.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 Department’s long-term plan is to support the creation of green jobs in the UK steel industry.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Levelling up and ensuring high-quality employment across every region of the UK is a key element in the Government’s Plan for Growth. It is estimated that the UK low-carbon economy could grow more than four times faster than the rest of the economy between 2015 and 2030 and support up to 2 million jobs. The Government will ensure that the benefits of our growing low-carbon economy are shared fairly in every region.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 any plans to use the UK’s status as an independent nation outside the EU to set a global standard on actively phasing out animal testing.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved primarily through funding for the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs), which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and to ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research. Since the NC3Rs was launched it has committed £100 million through its research, innovation, and early career awards to provide new 3Rs approaches for scientists in academia and industry to use.
The NC3Rs is widely regarded as being world leading and has an ambitious international programme to reduce the use of animals in safety testing by working with regulators and companies from the pharmaceutical, chemical, agrochemical and consumer product sectors. This has led to changes in international regulations and company practices. Recent work includes the publication of the findings of a global data sharing project, led by the NC3Rs, that indicates that there are opportunities to shift to using one animal species rather than two for some chronic toxicity studies used in pharmaceutical drug evaluation.
There has been a concern that increased life sciences activity resulting from research to find a treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increased use of animals in research. However, as detailed in the EU Clinical Trials Register (https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/) or Clinicaltrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov/), the majority of products in these trials are “re-purposed” drugs and have already been developed for treatment of similar viral outbreaks, such as SARS and MERS, or have been used to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome or other inflammatory conditions. As such, none of these have required additional animal testing.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. The rapid development of vaccines for COVID-19 has been based on a concept that the MHRA has long followed. Previous animal work on very similar vaccines have been used to support the development of the new vaccines and has reduced the number of animal studies.
The MHRA work very closely with NC3Rs in bringing together stakeholders in academia, industry, government and animal welfare organisations to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas, and the translation of research findings into practice that benefits both animals and science.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds 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 that increased life sciences sector activity and funding does not result in increased numbers of animal experiments.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved primarily through funding for the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs), which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and to ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research. Since the NC3Rs was launched it has committed £100 million through its research, innovation, and early career awards to provide new 3Rs approaches for scientists in academia and industry to use.
The NC3Rs is widely regarded as being world leading and has an ambitious international programme to reduce the use of animals in safety testing by working with regulators and companies from the pharmaceutical, chemical, agrochemical and consumer product sectors. This has led to changes in international regulations and company practices. Recent work includes the publication of the findings of a global data sharing project, led by the NC3Rs, that indicates that there are opportunities to shift to using one animal species rather than two for some chronic toxicity studies used in pharmaceutical drug evaluation.
There has been a concern that increased life sciences activity resulting from research to find a treatment for the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in increased use of animals in research. However, as detailed in the EU Clinical Trials Register (https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/) or Clinicaltrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov/), the majority of products in these trials are “re-purposed” drugs and have already been developed for treatment of similar viral outbreaks, such as SARS and MERS, or have been used to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome or other inflammatory conditions. As such, none of these have required additional animal testing.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. The rapid development of vaccines for COVID-19 has been based on a concept that the MHRA has long followed. Previous animal work on very similar vaccines have been used to support the development of the new vaccines and has reduced the number of animal studies.
The MHRA work very closely with NC3Rs in bringing together stakeholders in academia, industry, government and animal welfare organisations to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas, and the translation of research findings into practice that benefits both animals and science.