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, when he plans to publish his Department’s Life Sciences Strategy.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Office for Life Sciences are leading on the development of a Life Sciences Sector Vision, which is due to be published over the Summer.
The Vision will form part of the HM Treasury Plan for Growth agenda, published at the Budget in March and will build on the successes of the 2017 Life Sciences Strategy, spearheaded by Sir John Bell.
The Life Sciences Vision will be co-developed with industry and set out the Government’s ambitions for the Life Sciences sector over the next decade. It provides an opportunity to take into account the strengths of UK Life Sciences illustrated by COVID, put fresh energy behind the 2017 strategy themes, and identify new and emerging opportunities for the sector.
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, if his department will publish (a) the full criteria applied to applications for the Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund and (b) an annual list of successful applicants to that fund.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The full criteria applied to applications for the Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund has been published and can be accessed via the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/988194/mdmtf-medicines-diagnostics-manufacturing-transformation-fund-scheme-guidance.pdf.
The fund runs only for a single year. We will ensure that the names of successful applicants to the fund are published in a timely manner.
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, if his Department will publish (a) the full criteria applied to applications for the Future Fund: Breakthrough scheme and (b) an annual list of successful applicants and their co-investors.
Answered by Paul Scully
Future Fund: Breakthrough, due to launch later this summer, is a new £375m UK-wide scheme that will encourage private investors to co-invest alongside government in high-growth, innovative firms. The scheme will be run by the British Business Bank.
Future Fund: Breakthrough will provide equity finance to innovative companies that are able to attract a minimum level of investment from the private sector. Companies must be UK-based with significant UK operations, they must have a track record of investment in research and development, and applications must be led by an established venture capital investor.
More details, including the full eligibility criteria, will be published on the British Business Bank’s website at the launch of the scheme. Arrangements for publishing investments will be decided in due course.
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, when his department plans go publish the Hydrogen Strategy, and whether that strategy will make an assessment of the role that hydrogen can play in decarbonising steelmaking.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We intend to publish the first ever UK Hydrogen Strategy before summer recess. The Strategy will set out what is required to build a hydrogen economy fit for 2030, Carbon Budget 6 and beyond, whilst maximising economic benefits. It will also discuss the role of low carbon hydrogen as a leading option for decarbonising industrial processes. Alongside this, we will also consult on priority policies including a hydrogen business model, a low carbon hydrogen standard, and the £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.
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 £1bn NZIP portfolio, 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, when he plans to publish his Department’s Innovation Strategy.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
In the recent ‘Build Back Better: our plan for growth’ published alongside Budget, the Government announced the publication of a new Innovation Strategy in the summer. In line with its commitment, BEIS is currently working across government to develop the Strategy in time for then.
The Strategy will outline how we will achieve our ambitions in innovation and where we want to focus our efforts over the next decade. It will aim to set out the strategic objective and create the confidence for increased business investment in R&D and innovation.
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 he has made of the potential merits of establishing a new Department or Ministerial position dedicated to accelerating the replacement of animals in research with artificial intelligence, the use of human cells or tissues, organ-on-a-chip technology and other human relevant methods.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The use of animals in research is carefully regulated and remains important in ensuring new medicines and treatments are safe. The Government funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds a portfolio of research projects involving humans, human materials, animal models, and non-animal technologies. At this time, whole organism approaches continue to be important as they can replicate aspects of disease complexity when experimentation in human volunteers is not possible for safety or ethical reasons. We do recognise the increasing value of in vitro and in silico models, including organs-on-chips and 3-dimensional mini-brains, which can greatly aid the development of new healthcare innovations and also reduce, refine or replace the use of animals in research.
Between 2015-2019, UKRI’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (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. These methodologies have the potential to reduce the use of animals in research and provide more effective tools for studying human and animal biology. In addition, BBSRC supports the UK Animal Research Network which aims to bring the animal research community together to improve collaboration, and help sustain and develop UK animal welfare research.
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 he is taking to learn from international efforts to accelerate the replacement of animal experiments with human-relevant methods, including (a) the commitment made by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to stop funding and requesting tests on mammals by 2035 and (b) the collaborative work being undertaken in the Netherlands to develop strategies for research without using animals.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed to ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of global efforts to improve the use and welfare of laboratory animals. The use of animals in research is carefully regulated and remains important in ensuring new medicines and treatments are safe. The government 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 UKRI 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. Across the UK, the NC3Rs has invested £71 million in research through grants to universities.
We recognise the important signal that the commitment of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to phase out animal testing on mammals by 2035 sends. The UK through the NC3Rs has been effective at changing international regulations on chemical and pharmaceutical safety assessment. For example, the US Office of Pesticide Programs which is part of the US Environmental Protection Agency has recently changed its fish testing requirements for bioconcentration factor studies based on the NC3Rs work in this area.
The NC3RS CRACK IT Challenges, which funds R&D to solve major challenges relating to the use of animals, includes funded research teams in the EU with the NC3Rs committing £4.35 million to teams led by organisations in the Netherlands. The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development has launched Create2Solve, a funding call in its ‘More Knowledge with Fewer Animals’ programme, that is entirely based on the NC3Rs CRACK IT Challenges programme.
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 discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on allowing heritage sites to offer socially distanced showgrounds to couples looking to book a wedding venue, ahead of Step 3 of the Roadmap.
Answered by Paul Scully
BEIS Ministers are in regular contact with Cabinet colleagues on matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including issues relating to reopening.
Venues will only be able to open for viewings, including show rounds for wedding couples, where the venue is permitted to open, or where a relevant exemption applies. Where a venue is required to close for the purposes of a viewing people could have a virtual tour.
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 discussions his Department has had with (a) Ofgem and (b) distribution network operators on (i) taking steps to tackle technical energy losses in the energy system and (ii) investing in efficient cabling to prepare the energy system for an increase in demand.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recognises the importance of managing energy losses to reduce emissions and protect consumers from unnecessary costs. We have regular discussions with Ofgem, which has the relevant regulatory powers in this area.
Under the regulatory regime, distribution network operators have licence obligations to ensure that losses are as low as reasonably practicable and are incentivised to take action to reduce losses. As a result, for example, it is now standard practice for distribution network operators to ‘oversize’ replacement and new lower voltage cables, which reduces losses and also provides future proofing for demand increases.
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 the (a) effect and (b) cost of energy losses in the UK when developing the Energy White Paper.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Energy White Paper sets out our long-term strategic vision to deliver an affordable, secure and reliable energy system, consistent with net zero emissions by 2050.
As we pursue this vision, we recognise the importance of managing energy losses to reduce emissions and protect consumers from unnecessary costs. We have regular discussions with Ofgem, which has the relevant regulatory powers.