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Written Question
Electricity Interconnectors: Morocco
Monday 17th October 2022

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether BEIS Ministers (a) have had and (b) plan to have discussions with local government officials on UK-side infrastructure for an interconnector between the UK and Morocco.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Ministers’ meetings with external parties are published quarterly on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings.

This may also include details of meetings with local Government officials, but otherwise the information requested is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost. There are currently no plans for such discussions in relation to the Xlinks project (the proposal to import clean power from Morocco to the UK).


Written Question
Electricity Interconnectors: Morocco
Monday 17th October 2022

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

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 list by date the meetings which Government Ministers have had with (a) other Government Ministers and (b) third parties to discuss plans for an interconnector between the UK and Morocco.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Ministers have regular meetings with ministerial colleagues. Ministers’ meetings with external parties are published quarterly on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings.


Written Question
Electricity Interconnectors: Morocco
Monday 17th October 2022

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

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 had recent discussions with (a) ministers and (b) officials from (i) Spain, (ii) Portugal, (iii) France and (iv) the EU to discuss an interconnector between Morocco and the UK.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Officials from BEIS and FCDO discussed this topic during the course of the summer but there have been no recent discussions with ministers or officials from Spain, Portugal, France, or the EU to discuss an interconnector between Morocco and the UK.


Written Question
Electricity Interconnectors: Morocco
Monday 17th October 2022

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

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 make an estimate of the (a) earliest potential start date and (b) potential peak capacity as a proportion of grid requirement of the proposed Xlinks interconnector between the UK and Morocco.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Xlinks has indicated that the project can supply 3.6 GW of capacity, approximately 8% of GB transmission demand (or approximately 6% of peak underlying – transmission and distribution – demand), from 2030. The Department has not verified the feasibility of proposed capacity of the project and project timelines.


Written Question
Electricity Interconnectors: Morocco
Monday 17th October 2022

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he will publish his decision on Government support for an interconnector between the UK and Morocco.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department has had early stage discussions with Xlinks about their proposal to import clean power from Morocco to the UK. There are currently no plans to publish a decision.


Written Question
David Miller
Wednesday 28th July 2021

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

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 make an assessment of the potential impact of Professor David Miller's research at Bristol University on that university's ratings under the Research Excellence Framework.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) assesses the quality of research from the submissions of UK higher education institutions, not individuals. The primary outcome of the REF is an overall quality profile for each submission, which will show the proportions of research activity judged to meet each of four starred quality levels. Alongside the quality profile, the funding bodies will publish the output, impact and environment sub-profiles that were combined to produce the overall quality profile for each submission. The HE funding bodies do not publish the scores for individual outputs or impact case studies. REF results inform future Quality-related (QR) research funding allocations from HE funding bodies, which are, also awarded at institutional level by the HE funding bodies, and not to individual researchers.

HE providers are independent and autonomous organisations, responsible for the management of their own affairs and for meeting their duties under the law, including those relating to freedom of expression and equalities. All HE providers should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, to investigate and swiftly address hate crime, including any antisemitic incidents that are reported.

Grant funding provided by HE Funding bodies, UK Research & Innovation and Office for Students is all subject to terms and conditions of funding set by the funder with which providers must comply. If a provider does not meet these, funding can be withdrawn or reclaimed by the relevant funder. For research grant funding this includes expectations concerning academic rigour, research integrity, open research, etc.


Written Question
University of Bristol: Contracts
Wednesday 28th July 2021

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take into account the conduct of Professor David Miller in the future letting of contracts to Bristol University.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) assesses the quality of research from the submissions of UK higher education institutions, not individuals. The primary outcome of the REF is an overall quality profile for each submission, which will show the proportions of research activity judged to meet each of four starred quality levels. Alongside the quality profile, the funding bodies will publish the output, impact and environment sub-profiles that were combined to produce the overall quality profile for each submission. The HE funding bodies do not publish the scores for individual outputs or impact case studies. REF results inform future Quality-related (QR) research funding allocations from HE funding bodies, which are, also awarded at institutional level by the HE funding bodies, and not to individual researchers.

HE providers are independent and autonomous organisations, responsible for the management of their own affairs and for meeting their duties under the law, including those relating to freedom of expression and equalities. All HE providers should discharge their responsibilities fully and have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, to investigate and swiftly address hate crime, including any antisemitic incidents that are reported.

Grant funding provided by HE Funding bodies, UK Research & Innovation and Office for Students is all subject to terms and conditions of funding set by the funder with which providers must comply. If a provider does not meet these, funding can be withdrawn or reclaimed by the relevant funder. For research grant funding this includes expectations concerning academic rigour, research integrity, open research, etc.


Written Question
Personal Care Services: Coronavirus
Thursday 9th July 2020

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the evidential basis is for permitting the reopening of hairdressers but not beauty salons and nail bars as covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.

Answered by Paul Scully

Hairdressers and barbers in England were able to reopen from 4 July to offer hairdressing services. Other close contact services, like beauty salons, remain closed until further notice. The Ministerial Taskforces have been getting scientific input from Public Health England (PHE), who have been directly involved in the taskforce meetings, helping to resolve scientific issues as they draft the guidance. This guidance has been drawn up alongside businesses, business representative organisations, trade unions, and the Health and Safety Executive, taking into account the latest scientific and medical advice.

We appreciate that this is difficult for some businesses. Our approach is guided by the scientific and medical advice, and every step is weighed against the evidence, remembering that the more we open up the more vigilant we will need to be.

The Government is working with the remaining closed services to establish a timeline for when they can reopen safely.


Written Question
Energy Supply
Thursday 2nd February 2017

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on what dates he has had meetings with the representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises to discuss strengthening UK supply chains in advance of the UK leaving the EU.

Answered by Margot James

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets with representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises regularly and discusses a range of topics. As part of these discussions the impact of the UK leaving the EU on the strength of competitive supply chains are discussed.


Written Question
Carbon Capture and Storage
Tuesday 31st January 2017

Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)

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 meet energy industry representatives to discuss the cancellation of the carbon capture and storage competition.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The Government continues to meet with the carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry on the future of carbon capture and storage in the UK following the decision to close the CCS Competition in January 2016.