Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to (a) expand and improve Britain’s energy storage systems and (b) improve the resilience of the national grid.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government recognises the need to have energy storage in place to provide system flexibility.
All possible options are considered to maintain security of gas supply, and that includes the future of natural gas storage if required. We are exploring options to store clean energy, such as hydrogen and electricity, through the UK Hydrogen Strategy and the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan.
The Government works with the energy industry, regulators and others to continually improve the resilience of energy infrastructure, networks and assets.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that future impact assessments considering the impact on net zero targets of Government policies are as (a) transparent, (b) accurate and (c) reliable as possible.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Impact Assessments use a sound evidence base and are assessed for their quality by the independent Regulatory Policy Committee. Impact assessments are subsequently published online for transparency. HM Treasury publishes the Green Book guidance on how to appraise the impacts of government policy. As part of this, BEIS publishes supplementary guidance to the Green Book, on how to estimate the impacts on energy and greenhouse gas emissions based on the latest science and in line with internationally recognised standards: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/valuation-of-energy-use-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions-for-appraisal.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 support independent businesses whose finances have been impacted covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Our ‘Pay as You Grow’ options for Bounce Back Loan Scheme borrowers provide additional flexibility for those who need it to repay their loans over a longer period and in a way that better suits businesses’ individual circumstances. So far, over a fifth of borrowers have used one or more of the options available.
The Recovery Loan Scheme provides government-guaranteed loans and other types of finance, up to £2 million per business group, for SMEs that would not be able to access a fully commercial facility, or would only be able to do so on worse terms.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) generators and (b) heating systems will be provided to Ukraine via (i) coordination or (ii) funding from the Government in the next two months.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In March 2022, BEIS set-up a Ukraine Electricity Network Support Taskforce, involving distribution network operators and the Energy Networks Association. Through this Taskforce, BEIS has funded the procurement of more than 850 mobile generators for Ukraine, worth £6.1 million. This supports the UK’s overall humanitarian response, led by FCDO. BEIS regularly engages with Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy to discuss priority needs.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) generators and (b) heating systems have been provided to Ukraine via (i) coordination or (ii) funding from the Government in this year.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In March 2022, BEIS set-up a Ukraine Electricity Network Support Taskforce, involving distribution network operators and the Energy Networks Association. Through this Taskforce, BEIS has funded the procurement of more than 850 mobile generators for Ukraine, worth £6.1 million. This supports the UK’s overall humanitarian response, led by FCDO. BEIS regularly engages with Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy to discuss priority needs.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which Department is coordinating the provision of generators and heating systems to Ukraine.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In March 2022, BEIS set-up a Ukraine Electricity Network Support Taskforce, involving distribution network operators and the Energy Networks Association. Through this Taskforce, BEIS has funded the procurement of more than 850 mobile generators for Ukraine, worth £6.1 million. This supports the UK’s overall humanitarian response, led by FCDO. BEIS regularly engages with Ukraine’s Ministry of Energy to discuss priority needs.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
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 apply the energy price cap to residential blocks of flats being classified as non-domestic buildings because they use a communal boiler.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has announced that it will effectively cap the price of heat sold by heat networks through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme this winter by reducing the commercial prices of energy used by networks and introducing Regulations requiring networks to pass on the benefit of the EBRS to end consumers.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department will publish the impact assessment for the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Dean Russell
The impact assessment for the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill is currently being scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee (RPC). We are waiting for the RPC opinion before making it publicly available.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department will update the retained EU law dashboard.
Answered by Dean Russell
Since the publication of the dashboard in June, the Government has continued to develop this authoritative catalog of where EU-derived legislation sits on the UK statute book. Subsequently, we anticipate over 100 additional pieces of legislation will be added to the REUL dashboard.
Government officials are currently working to quality assure this data and any amendments to the data will be reflected in an update of the dashboard this Autumn.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many further pieces of retained EU law his Department plans to add to the retained EU law dashboard in its next update, broken down by Department.
Answered by Dean Russell
Since the publication of the dashboard in June, the Government has continued to develop this authoritative catalog of where EU-derived legislation sits on the UK statute book. Subsequently, we anticipate over 100 additional pieces of legislation will be added to the REUL dashboard.
Government officials are currently working to quality assure this data and any amendments to the data will be reflected in an update of the dashboard this Autumn.