Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of offering Government backed loans for fuel costs spread over a number of years.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is monitoring the significant increases in wholesale energy prices closely, and meeting regularly with Ofgem, suppliers and consumer groups to understand the future impact on consumers as well as to discuss potential mitigations.
The Government is committed to protecting energy customers, especially the most vulnerable. The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter. Low income and fuel poor households will continue to be supported with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes through the winter. Additionally, the Government announced an additional £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as utility bills.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 mitigate the impact of the rise in the cost of fuel on consumers.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is monitoring the significant increases in wholesale energy prices closely, and meeting regularly with Ofgem, suppliers and consumer groups to understand the future impact on consumers as well as to discuss potential mitigations.
The Government is committed to protecting energy customers, especially the most vulnerable. The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter. Low income and fuel poor households will continue to be supported with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes through the winter. Additionally, the Government announced an additional £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as utility bills.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 increase the number of (a) electrolyser farms and (b) hydrogen pumps in the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK Hydrogen Strategy sets out the Government’s approach to supporting low carbon electrolytic (green) hydrogen production alongside other production technologies. Support includes the £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and the Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Revenue Support scheme which will provide up to £100m of funding allocated in 2022 for electrolytic hydrogen projects, plus a further electrolytic allocation round in 2024.
The Government’s £23 million Hydrogen for Transport Programme is growing the number of publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations across the UK by delivering new stations and upgrading some existing stations, as well as deploying hundreds of new hydrogen vehicles.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 made an assessment of the likelihood that shoppers will undertake their Christmas shopping online rather than on the high street as a result of the requirement to wear face coverings introduced on 30 November 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
We’ve put in place a measured and proportionate set of restrictions and we believe we have struck the right balance in introducing measures to wear face coverings in certain settings.
The retail sector remains a key part of the high street and physical retail remains an important route to consumers. The excellent Small Business Saturday, which I was pleased to support, took place on 4 December, and provides a great way to celebrate small and micro businesses across the UK, highlighting their importance to our local communities and helping them get back on their feet as we look ahead to the economic recovery.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 made an assessment of the long term impact on pubs of covid-19 lockdowns.
Answered by Paul Scully
Hospitality businesses, such as pubs, which were asked to close during the pandemic to reduce transmission of the virus have reported reduced trading throughout the pandemic period. Official data indicates economic activity in the sector was 31% lower on average throughout the pandemic, relative to pre-COVID levels.[1] However, in Quarter 3 2021, hospitality sector activity surpassed 2019 levels.[2]
In order to support all businesses across the UK economy, including pubs, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic we have provided businesses with an unprecedented support package of £400 billion, including grants, loans, business rates relief, VAT cuts and the job retention scheme. This includes a total of over £26bn in business grants. The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) fund is open until March 2022.
[1] Data represents the average quarterly percentage change in Gross Value Added in each sector from Quarter 1 2020 to Quarter 3 2021 relative to Quarter 4 2019.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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) onshore wind needed to reach the new target for decarbonising the electricity by 2035, and (b) implications of that matter for levelling up the economy.
Answered by Greg Hands
As set out in the Net Zero Strategy, a low-cost, net zero consistent, electricity system is most likely to be composed predominantly of wind and solar, complemented by other low carbon generation technologies such as nuclear and power CCUS to ensure security of supply and a significant increase in flexibility.
However, as set out in the Energy White Paper a sustained increase of locally supported onshore wind in the 2020s and beyond will be required to meet out Carbon Budget 6 target. Onshore wind and other established renewable technologies such as solar PV will be able to compete in the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round, opening in December 2021. Government is seeking up to 5GW of capacity from established renewables technologies, with a £10m budget, which will support investment in all parts of Great Britain.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 are able to access fuel for their cars.
Answered by Greg Hands
The temporary reduction to the availability of fuel in September was driven by a sudden increase in demand. There was never a national shortage of fuel, as the industry made clear. Fuel supplies have now returned to normal levels.
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has taken three main steps to assist industry to return forecourt stocks to normal levels:
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 undertaken an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the UK's floating wind targets ahead of COP26.
Answered by Greg Hands
A Government priority is the growth of offshore wind to 2030 and beyond. The Government is committed to supporting the development of floating offshore wind, as reflected in the ambitious target of 1GW of floating wind by 2030. As announced in the Net Zero Strategy, this will put the UK at the forefront of this new technology that can utilise the North and Celtic Seas – backed by £380 million overall funding for the UK’s world-leading offshore wind sector.
Floating offshore wind projects will be eligible to bid in the next Contract for Difference allocation round, which will open in December 2021. The Government recently announced a minimum allocation for floating offshore wind in this round. This approach will provide the foundation for investment in a sustainable, competitive UK based supply chain.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support mathematics research in universities.
Answered by George Freeman
The UK is a world leader in mathematics. British mathematicians publish a large volume of highly regarded work. When compared to international colleagues, British mathematicians have the 5th largest share of publications in the world. When looking at the top 1% of most cited publications, UK mathematicians are responsible for the third largest share.
Since January 2020, UKRI has awarded £104 million of additional funding into mathematical sciences, over and above EPSRC’s core Mathematical Sciences Theme budget. The additional funding has funded institutes, small and large research grants, fellowships, doctoral studentships, and postdoctoral awards.
Future funding for mathematical sciences will be decided as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review process.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 undertaken an assessment of the effect of the energy price cap on energy companies in the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands
An Impact Assessment was published alongside the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act when it started its passage through Parliament, and Ofgem published their final impact assessment before implementation of the price cap.
Ofgem regularly reviews and sets the level of the price cap so that it reflects the underlying costs of supplying energy and that efficient suppliers can finance their licenced activities. This protects around 15 million British households on default tariffs, saving them between £75 and £100 a year on dual fuel bills.