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Written Question
Apprentices: Calder Valley
Tuesday 15th March 2016

Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the number of new apprenticeships in Calder Valley constituency in each of the next four years.

Answered by Nick Boles

The Department does not produce estimates of future Apprenticeship starts by Parliamentary constituency.

Written Question
Energy: Meters
Monday 29th February 2016

Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many smart (a) electric and (b) gas meters have been installed in Calderdale since the smart meter programme started; and what estimate she has made of the total savings achieved by consumers as a result of the smart meter programme to date.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom

Data on the number of smart electricity and gas meters installed in Great Britain is set out in the Government’s ‘Smart Meters, Great Britain, Quarterly report to end September 2015’, published on 22 December 2015:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistical-release-and-data-smart-meters-great-britain-quarter-3-2014.

The roll-out is making good progress with more than 2 million meters now operating under the Programme.

Currently, data is published only at Great Britain level. Data is not collected from energy suppliers in a format that allows constituency- or local authority-level data to be produced.

In March 2015 DECC published research on the effects of the early roll-out of smart meters – The Early Learning Project:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smart-metering-early-learning-project-and-small-scale-behaviour-trials.

This project found reductions in energy consumption consistent with DECC’s steady state projections for domestic consumers. The projections are 2.8% for electricity (prepayment and credit), 2% for gas (credit) and 0.5% for gas (prepayment).

Written Question
Exports: Developing Countries
Thursday 4th February 2016

Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department is providing to businesses to increase exports to developing economies.

Answered by Anna Soubry

Increasing exports, to all overseas markets, is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan. Government departments are working together to support UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities and to create a strong business environment that allows them to flourish both at home and overseas. A key part of this work is to identify export opportunities, many of which are based around the needs of global developing economies.

My noble Friend Lord Maude of Horsham made a statement to the House on Tuesday 19th January on the Government’s strategy to support Trade. This outlines a new, whole-of-government approach to expanding the number of exporters and the value they generate for the British economy. The aim is to make it easier for small business to access this support through better digital platforms, working more closely with partners and making sure services match the needs of business.

Written Question
Universities: Developing Countries
Wednesday 3rd February 2016

Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what support his Department is providing to universities to increase collaboration with research institutions in developing economies.

Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone

The Government is supporting collaboration with research institutions in developing countries through a number of programmes, including the Newton fund, which now operates in 15 countries. We recently announced the extension of the Newton fund to 2021, with total investment rising to three quarters of a billion pounds between 2014/15 – 2020/21. In addition, at the Spending Review, the Chancellor announced a new Global Challenges Research fund worth £1.5 billion over the next five years (2016/17 - 2020/21).

Written Question
Fuel Poverty
Friday 29th January 2016

Asked by: Craig Whittaker (Conservative - Calder Valley)

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to work with local authorities to reduce the level of fuel poverty.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom

We are working with Local Authorities on fuel poverty initiatives in several ways:


  • In March 2015 we announced the £25m Central Heating Fund, a Local Authority competition designed specifically to implement the principles of the fuel poverty strategy. 20 Local Authorities were successful and are now delivering central heating systems to low income households in their local communities. Installing a central heating system can cut the cost of heating a home adequately by over £1,000 a year, making real progress towards our fuel poverty objectives.
  • Also in March last year we distributed £1m to scale up nine existing Local Authority schemes focused on tackling cold homes to improve people’s health. The evaluation of these projects is now underway and we are working closely with the Local Authorities to assess their impacts on health and on fuel poverty, as well as the effectiveness of their different approaches to delivery.
  • Green Deal Communities awarded 23 Local Authorities funding to provide subsidy to householders to install energy efficiency measures, mainly solid wall insulation. Many of these schemes are targeting and providing funding to householders in fuel poverty.
  • We are also interested in the role Local Authorities could play in a future energy company obligation (such as ECO); using local knowledge and working with ECO obligated energy suppliers to identify households in the greatest need. We will be consulting on the design of a supplier obligation in due course.