Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of carbon neutral fuel; and if he will publish the data his Department holds on that matter.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
BEIS publishes a range of statistics on renewable energy in Energy Trends at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-trends-section-6-renewables and in DUKES at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/renewable-sources-of-energy-chapter-6-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes
The Department for Transport regularly publishes data on renewable fuel supplied under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, including the carbon intensity of these fuels.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he expects to reach agreement on participation in Horizon Europe; what estimate he has made of the number of current UK based research project bids that are reliant on participation; and what plans he has he made to support those bids should agreement not be reached before their commencement dates.
Answered by George Freeman
The UK is committed to and stands ready to formalise our association to Horizon Europe at the earliest opportunity. At the recent EU-UK Specialised Committee the EU confirmed they were unwilling to move on UK association but we continue to push the EU to formalise our association.
We recognise that delays by the EU have led to uncertainty for researchers, businesses and innovators based in the UK. To provide reassurance the Government has guaranteed funding for all of the eligible, successful applicants in the first wave of Horizon Europe calls. The guarantee is a short-term measure to support the UK sector while delays to our association continue. The UK Government has stated that it will monitor the situation closely and may consider whether it is appropriate to change the scope of the guarantee, in which case, it will provide updated guidance. The EU have not yet publicly published full results for applications into all parts of Horizon Europe so it is not possible to estimate the number of current UK based bids.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 reopening the Green Homes Grant scheme; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme was designed to provide a short-term economic stimulus while tackling the country’s contribution to climate change. However, it was not delivering at the rate and scale the government had originally intended, facing a number of delivery challenges. The scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2021 and will not reopen.
To ensure we continue to deliver on our net zero ambitions and support a thriving building retrofit industry, the Government will be expanding its funding commitment for both the Homes Upgrade Grant scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with up to £950 million and £800 million in additional funding respectively over 2022/23 to 2024/25. This takes total funding to over £6.4billion across the lifetime of this Parliament. The Government is also introducing a new Boiler Upgrade Scheme worth £450 million, which will provide capital grants towards the cost of a heat pump.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 4 November 2021 to Question 69684, on Ofgem: Standards, whether he has plans to request an account of the insolvencies in the energy supply market to be made by Ofgem to Parliament.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers have regular conversations with Ofgem. As an independent regulator Ofgem is available upon request to give an account of the recent insolvencies in the energy supply market directly to Parliament.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 plans to work with the Office for Product Safety and Standards to review the safety regulations for the use of fireworks in the context of distress caused by fireworks to (a) people with learning disabilities, (b) young children and (c) animals.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government takes the issues associated with the sale and use of fireworks seriously. That is why there is a comprehensive regulatory framework in place that aims to reduce the risks and disturbances to both vulnerable people and animals.
As part of the Government’s programme of action, we continue to commission research and use evidence to inform our work. This has included developing and publishing an evidence base on fireworks and undertaking engagement with a wide range of interested groups, including charities supporting vulnerable groups and animal welfare organisations.
Through our public awareness campaign for the 2021 fireworks season, we promoted the safe and considerate use of fireworks to the general public, to ensure that those using them do so safely and considerately. The campaign was far reaching and had a potential reach of 4.1 million people on Twitter (10 October-7 November 2021).
The Office for Product Safety and Standards is part of the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Green Homes Grant deadline for an additional 12 months.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme was designed to provide a short-term economic stimulus while tackling our contribution to climate change. However, it was not delivering at the rate and scale the government had originally intended, facing a number of delivery challenges. The scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2021 and will not reopen.
Last month, the Government published the Heat and Buildings Strategy which allocated more than £3.9 billion of new funding for decarbonising heat and buildings. This will fund the next 3 years of investment through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, the Home Upgrade Grant scheme, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the Heat Networks Transformation Programme and reducing carbon emissions from public buildings through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 effectiveness of Ofgem market entry requirements which came into effect in January 2021 in preventing company failures.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The process for awarding supply licenses, including market entry requirements, is independently set by the regulator Ofgem. Ofgem is the independent regulator of the gas and electricity markets in Great Britain and is accountable to Parliament.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to review Ofgem's processes for awarding licences to energy supply companies (a) in general and (b) for Avro Energy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The process for awarding supply licences is independently set by Ofgem. Ofgem are reviewing their approach to supplier licensing, to ensure that appropriate protections are in place against poor customer service and financial instability. New market entry requirements came into effect in January 2021 focussed on the ongoing requirements on suppliers operating in the market to promote responsible risk management, improved governance and increased accountability.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has held discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on whether the forthcoming Women's Health Strategy is planned to inform the criteria for the allocation of funding from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) and (b) ARIA on prioritising research into women’s health prior to the publication of that strategy.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
ARIA’s leaders, not Government, will be responsible for the strategic direction of their programme portfolio. While there are many UK funding programmes for which Ministers do set the strategic direction, ARIA is specifically being set up without those constraints. We aim to establish ARIA in Spring 2022.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 increase funding for (a) epilepsy treatments and medication and (b) UK life-sciences research more widely.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funds research into epilepsy primarily through the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Funding for research projects that specifically refer to epilepsy in the project title or abstract in each of the last five years are set out in the table below. This does not include wider funding that contributes to epilepsy research.
Financial year 2014/2015 | Financial year 2015/2016 | Financial year 2016/2017 | Financial year 2017/2018 | Financial year 2019/2020 |
£8m | £6.2m | £8.4m | £9.7m | £10.6m |
The DHSC-funded National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) facilitates and enables life science research, from early translational research, through clinical research, to applied health research. Life science companies can access NIHR resources at any stage in their clinical development process and DHSC ensures all parts of the NIHR are open to collaboration with industry.
The Government is committed to making the UK a global hub for life sciences. This means building on our strengths in basic science and medical research to ensure the UK remains at the forefront of worldwide efforts to tackle the most pressing healthcare challenges, from cancer to dementia.
As part of our commitment, the Government will raise total UK investment in R&D to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Life Sciences is critical to this – with the pharmaceutical industry accounting for one fifth of the total industrial spend on R&D in the UK1.
We will also continue to support our fantastic research infrastructure, which bolsters the sector, stimulates economic growth and drives better outcomes for patients.