Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Department is taking to promote the building of (a) passive houses and (b) eco-homes.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department is committed to increasing the energy efficiency of new homes.
The main way the Department seeks to do this is through Building Regulations. These set minimum requirements for the energy efficiency of new buildings and for work on existing buildings.
In the government’s Clean Growth Strategy we committed to reviewing these standards, including consulting on improving energy efficiency requirements in new and existing homes where the evidence suggests it is cost effective, affordable, practical and safe to do so.
To that end, the government has announced that this consultation is now open. This includes the proposed introduction of a Future Homes Standard by 2025 for new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency. We propose that new homes built to this standard should have 75-80 per cent fewer CO2 emissions than ones built to current building regulations standards.
The National Planning Policy Framework also expects local planning authorities to take account of how new development will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as through its location, orientation and design. Planning practice guidance provides advice for local authorities and applicants on implementing these policies.
The Department does recognise and support innovation and excellence in design. For example, the Minister of State for Housing recently visited the Goldsmith Street development in Norwich, which is built to the PassivHaus standard. At the Housing Design Awards, Goldsmith Street was the chosen Supreme Winner and winner of the Good Neighbour Award, a new category sponsored by MHCLG and agreed by the previous Housing Minister
The government also launched a consultation on stronger building regulations that will pave the way for the Future Homes Standard. These 2020 changes aim to improve the environment by cutting carbon emissions in new homes by almost a third, while keeping household bills low. The Future Homes Standard consultation can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-homes-standard-changes-to-part-l-and-part-f-of-the-building-regulations-for-new-dwellings.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to review universal credit assessment periods when claimants receive two paychecks within the same assessment period due to a change of employer.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit seeks to take earnings into account in a way that is fair and transparent. The amount of Universal Credit paid reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period, including any earnings reported by their employer or employers during the assessment period, regardless of when they were paid, or which month they relate to.
Assessment periods allow for Universal Credit awards to be adjusted on a monthly basis, ensuring that if a claimant’s income changes, they do not have to wait several months for a corresponding change in their Universal Credit award. Claimants can always discuss the implications of any changes in earnings with their case managers and work coach and can be referred to personal budgeting support to help them manage their budgeting.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to ensure all UK aid projects are environmentally sustainable.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
Good development takes account of climate change and environmental sustainability, and DFID is increasingly putting climate and environment at the heart of the UK aid agenda in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
The department’s rules for designing and implementing programmes charge staff with considering sustainability and resilience, including climate change and environmental shocks. As well as informing the appraisal of new projects, staff are expected to manage environmental risks throughout implementation, in line with DFID’s environmental and social safeguards. DFID has a cadre of specialist climate and environment advisers who support teams to meet these requirements.
In July this year, the Government committed in the Green Finance Strategy to align our Official Development Assistance with the Paris Agreement, that is to support low-carbon and climate resilient development. The Prime Minister also recently announced that the UK would be doubling the quantity of International Climate Finance we provide to support developing countries from 2021.
Since 2011, UK aid has provided 26 million people with improved access to clean energy, and helped 57 million people to cope with the effects of climate change. It has also reduced greenhouse gas emissions internationally by 16 million tonnes – the equivalent to taking three million cars off the road for a year.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on developing large-scale electricity storage solutions.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
As of 2018 there was around four gigawatts of storage on the system in Great Britain, and three gigawatts of this was from pumped hydro (National Grid Future Energy Scenarios, 2019).
Government is investing to support further development of large-scale electricity storage solutions. In January this year Government launched the ‘Storage-at-Scale’ competition which commits up to £20 million to support the development of innovative, replicable solutions that could provide an alternative to conventional commercial large-scale energy storage technologies.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what incentives have been put in place to support businesses in developing and implementing sustainable business practices.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
There is significant potential for UK businesses of all types and sizes to reduce environmental impacts, including carbon emissions, and to save money by moving to more sustainable practices. Change is needed to achieve the Government’s commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and delivery of the targets of the 25-Year Environment Plan. The Government has rolled out numerous incentives to support businesses in increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon, while ensuring the availability of affordable energy. Some of these include:
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to encourage the modernisation of train carriages.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department sets out its requirements for passenger satisfaction in each franchise agreement. The passengers’ traveling environment contributes to passengers’ satisfaction scores.
As part of the franchise competition process bidders are asked to submit proposals for initiatives to enhance rolling stock to deliver consistently high standards for passengers. This may be through refurbishment of existing rolling stock or the procurement of new trains.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the process for allocating a case to an investigator by the Financial Ombudsman Service to reduce the time taken for that process.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
This is a matter for the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which is operationally independent from Government. The question has been passed on to the FOS. The FOS will reply directly to the member for Chichester by letter. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of foreign direct investment in the UK tech sector.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The latest Tech Nation report showed the UK attracts more VC tech investment than any other European nation, with £6.3 billion raised in 2018. The UK is both a leading global financial hub and an Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub, home to more AI start-ups than any other European country with over 1000 companies and 600 investors.
Last month during London Tech Week, my department announced a further £1.2 billion of new foreign direct investment in the UK tech sector which will create more than 850 jobs.
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to review sentencing guidance for people who commit pet theft.
Answered by Robert Buckland
It is for the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which is independent of government, to develop sentencing guidelines and monitor their use.
The Theft guideline and evaluation are available here: https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/publications?s&topic=theft-offences
Asked by: Gillian Keegan (Conservative - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to review his Department's policy on pesticides.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Government intends to commence an in-depth review of pesticides policy later this year and will work closely with all interested parties as we develop our policy thinking.