Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2020 to Question 14949, how many of the 33,860 scaleups identified are in (a) Dorset and (b) the South West of England.
Answered by Paul Scully
We define scale-ups using the OECD definition of high growth, i.e. an enterprise with a cumulative average annual growth in employees or turnover greater than 20 per cent per annum over a three-year period, and with more than 10 employees at the beginning of the period.
According to ONS data (Business demography – High Growth Enterprises 2018), the number of scaleups in (a) Dorset is 190 and (b) South West of England is 2,745.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if her Department will support a referral to the Competition and Markets Authority of alleged unfair and anti-competitive practices by some owners and operators of residential park home sites in England; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to tackling consumer rip-offs and bad business practices. The Department is engaging with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to follow up the evidence gathered by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on park homes regarding alleged unfair practices. The Government plans to consult with the Consumer Protection Partnership to review this evidence and agree what actions can be taken. The Consumer Protection Partnership is a network bringing together consumer bodies covering all aspects of consumer protection and includes the Competition and Markets Authority as a member.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what definition of scale-up businesses her Department uses; and what steps she is taking to support those businesses.
Answered by Paul Scully
We define scaleups using the OECD definition of high growth, i.e. an enterprise with a cumulative average annual growth in employees or turnover greater than 20 per cent per annum over a three-year period, and with more than 10 employees at the beginning of the period.
Scaleups play an important role in the UK economy: they generate around 20% of all turnover in the economy and around 15% of employment, and Scale Ups can play a role in driving innovation. The number of scaleups has risen overall by 25% over the 5 years to 2018 to 33,860.
We have taken a number of actions to create the right conditions for businesses to achieve their potential to grow to scale, including:
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent comparative assessment his Department has made of the costs and benefits of the use of solar thermal collectors as alternatives to water heated by heat pumps and solar PV panels; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The use of electricity from solar PV to heat water is most commonly achieved by directly heating water in a thermal store using an immersion heater rather than a heat pump. As heating water with heat pumps and solar PV panels is relatively uncommon, and this method is not considered to be a potential major source of renewable heat generation in the future, the Department has not made a comparative assessment of the costs and benefits of the use of solar thermal collectors against water heated by heat pumps and solar PV.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
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 it his policy to change the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme so that hot water from solar thermal collectors can be used to support a home's heating needs under that scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is tax-payer funded, and supporting solar thermal for space heating would not represent good value for money. This is because solar thermal systems are normally only capable of meeting a portion of a house’s heat demand (so a backup space heating system would be required), and are not as cost-effective in space heating when compared to other technologies.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
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 (a) costs and (b) benefits to council tax payers of local authorities in England declaring a climate emergency in their area; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government welcomes the actions of Local Authorities across England to tackle climate change. We have always been clear that to achieve our climate targets it will take significant ambition at all levels.
Achieving clean growth has to be a shared endeavour between government, local authorities, businesses, civil society and the British people. The development of Local Industrial Strategies, led by Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships, will build on unique local strengths to ensure every community, and the country, reaches their economic potential, supports clean growth and green jobs.
Most motions have committed Councils to come back later this year with programmes to achieve their stated ambitions. This Government is looking at what support we can provide through our local energy programme and other programmes to help Councils make progress in taking action to tackle climate change.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
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 effect on climate change of local authorities in England declaring a climate emergency in their area; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Government welcomes the actions of Local Authorities across England to tackle climate change. We have always been clear to achieve our climate targets will take significant ambition at all levels.
Most motions have committed Councils to come back later this year with programmes to achieve their stated ambitions. This Government is looking at what support we can provide through our local energy programme and other programmes to help Councils make progress in taking action to tackle climate change.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
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 paragraph 31 of the Government's response, dated 27 March 2018 to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee's report on the safety of electrical goods, HC920, whether the UK block on the fridge freezer Standard being accepted at European level is still in place; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The UK’s objection to the adoption of the CENELEC standard on household refrigeration appliances by the EU Committee on Standards has been in place since 2016. This reflects the specific concerns that the standard should go further in relation to fire safety. However, the UK does support other recent changes to the Standard including issues relating to electrical safety, mechanical safety and refrigerant safety.
All household refrigeration appliances sold in the UK must be safe before they can be placed on the market as they must comply with the relevant Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what changes to the funding and responsibilities of the British Standards Institute will be made when the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) are not EU bodies, although they have a special status in the EU. We are working with BSI, the UK’s national standards body and the UK member of CEN and CENELEC, to ensure that our future relationship with CEN and CENELEC continues to support a productive, open and competitive business environment in the UK and to ensure that funding provided to BSI by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy also supports this goal.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 52126, what the timetable is for the completion of work to make SMETS1 meters interoperable.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Data and Communications Company (DCC) is consulting on options for moving SMETS1 meters into the new national smart metering data and communications infrastructure to make them interoperable between energy suppliers when customers switch supplier (https://www.smartdcc.co.uk/media/409998/iepfr_consultation_-_published.pdf). Following consultation, the DCC will submit a report on enrolment options to the Government in Spring 2017. The timetable for completion of the DCC’s work on interoperability is dependent on the outcome of the consultation.
In advance of moving SMETS1 meters into the DCC, industry is separately developing interim solutions that could enable consumers with SMETS1 meters to retain their smart services upon switching supplier. Those solutions are scheduled to begin testing from 2017.