Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 provide (a) infrastructure and (b) grant funding to local businesses for the provision of on-site electric car charging points in (a) Congleton, (b) Sandbach and (c) England.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is going further and faster to decarbonise transport by phasing out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, all new cars and vans must be zero emissions at the tailpipe.
The Government will invest £1.3 billion in accelerating the roll out of charging infrastructure. Businesses, charities and the wider public sector can get grants of up to £350 per socket for installing up to 40 charging sockets for their employees and fleets through our Workplace Charging Scheme. The scheme is demand-led, with 11,000 sockets installed in England and over 13,000 across the UK to date.
The Government will continue to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles. We will publish a clear delivery plan in 2021.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution published on 18 November 2020, what the process is for communities to express an interest in becoming a hydrogen town.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We will be looking to the gas industry together with local authorities and communities to put forward proposals for hydrogen heating trials, and a possible hydrogen town. We will be publishing details on this in due course.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 the efficacy of the energy regulator.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department maintains a strong working relationship with Ofgem, working closely across a wide range of policy areas. I regularly meet with Ofgem to discuss strategic priorities, while the Department engages directly with the UK Regulators Network, where Ofgem and regulators across sectors share best practice.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding his Department has allocated for embryonic stem cell research to date; and what estimate he has made of the number of such funded research projects involving embryonic stem cells which have yielded results clearly beneficial to public health.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy sets the overall budgets of the independent research councils, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Innovate UK, which then allocate funds for individual grants and research organisations in line with the Haldane Principle
The research councils have allocated the following funds to projects which include research related to embryonic stem cells. Note that projects have been included where relevant based on the information provided at the time of application. As projects may be refined following submission it is likely that some projects in the portfolio ultimately did not use embryonic tissue. Values are given as the total spend on grants that involve research using stem cells, but it may be that only a proportion of the research undertaken on a grant involves stem cells. Further information on individual projects can be found on the RCUK Gateway to Research, see: http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
| 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 |
BBSRC | £3,000,000 | £4,300,000 | £4,100,000 | £4,000,000 | £3,800,000 | £4,200,000 |
EPSRC | £216,000 | £737,401 | £969,896 | £568,611 | £486,260 | £167,303 |
MRC | £7,639,000 | £6,886,000 | £6,190,000 | £5,642,000 | £6,128,000 | £5,711,000 |
TOTAL | £10,855,000 | £11,923.401 | £11,259,896 | £10,210,611 | £10,414,260 | £10,078,303 |
Innovate UK has funded a number of projects directly involving embryonic stem cell R&D since 2007.
FY commitment | Grant Committed |
2015/16 | £205,959 |
2013/14 | £93,687 |
2012/13 | £90,067 |
2011/12 | £119,937 |
2010/11 | £158,991 |
2007/08 | £53,537 |
Innovate UK has funded the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult to conduct embryonic stem cell research and latest updated figures show an investment of £700,000 across 2015/16 and 2016/17.
Research Councils and Innovate UK collect information on project outcomes, but these are not explicitly assessed in terms of benefits to public health
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to which legislation his Department has applied the Family Test, published in August 2014.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Assessing the impact of the Department’s policies on families is an integral part of policy development in the Department. Although not a statutory requirement, the impact on families is considered as part of the Department’s compliance with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty as specified in the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
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 30 November 2017 to Question HL3576, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen families.
Answered by Margot James
The Government is committed to supporting working families and will introduce 30 hours of free childcare a week for working families with 3 and 4-year-old children. This builds on other family friendly policies which are already in place including the extension of the right to request flexible working to all employees with 26 weeks qualifying service and the introduction of shared parental leave and pay, which enables working parents to share responsibility for caring for their children in the first year.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what research the Government is conducting on carbon capture and the energy-making process.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Since 2015, Government has spent approximately £11 million on a range of carbon capture projects supporting research and development in CO2 storage, carbon capture technologies and CCS feasibility studies.
The Department has also commissioned research into the potential of carbon capture and utilisation in the UK and the next generation UK based carbon capture technologies. These will complete in 2017. Additionally, the Government Energy Entrepreneurs Fund has funded approximately £1.6 million in support to innovative carbon capture technologies.
Phase 5 of this Fund opened on 30 October 2016. This is an additional £9 million of funding which is available for CCS innovation projects. Further information can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-entrepreneurs-fund-phase-5.
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the potential effect of the Government's policy on fracking on local communities.
Answered by Jesse Norman
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave her on 2nd November 2016 to Question UIN 50945:
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what research is being conducted by the Government on carbon capture technologies.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Since 2011 the Government has invested over £130 million through innovation support to help develop carbon capture technologies and reduce their costs. This includes spending approximately £11 million since 2015 on a range of carbon capture projects supporting research and development in CO2 storage, carbon capture technologies and CCS feasibility studies. The Government Energy Entrepreneurs Fund has funded approximately £1.6 million in support to innovative carbon capture technologies. Phase 5 of this Fund opened on 30 October 2016. This is an additional £9 million of funding which is open to carbon capture projects and further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-entrepreneurs-fund-phase-5
Asked by: Fiona Bruce (Conservative - Congleton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on the potential effect of the Government's fracking strategy on local communities.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Both the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are clear that local communities will have the opportunity to take part in and comment on matters that impact on their local area. Any shale planning application – whether decided by Local Authorities or Government – will continue to require a full consultation with local people.