Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
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 the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount Core Group 2.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government published a draft Eligibility Statement for the Warm Home Discount scheme for England and Wales over the summer, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/warm-home-discount-england-and-wales-draft-eligibility-statement. The Government has considered the responses to the draft and the final Eligibility Statement has now been published, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/warm-home-discount-eligibility-statement-england-and-wales.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
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 take up rate amongst pre-payment meter customers of vouchers for the £400 rebate; what plans he has to support those who are digitally excluded; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Suppliers are reporting to the Department on scheme delivery, including the redemption of prepayment meter vouchers. These figures will be published in due course.
Prepayment meter customers in England, Scotland and Wales should have already received their first Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) discount voucher. These have been sent by SMS text, email or post.
Suppliers are obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure the EBSS voucher is provided and redeemed, including by making a minimum of three attempts by at least two different methods to contact customers who have not redeemed their payment to encourage them to take action.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
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
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 Haltemprice)
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 Haltemprice)
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
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.