Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has been given in subsidies to biomass plants in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Biomass plants are currently eligible for support under the Renewables Obligation (RO) and the Contracts for Difference (CfD) schemes.
The latest available annual data on support paid to biomass plants[1] relates to plants accredited under the RO for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16.
Year | RO Certificates | Value (£m) |
2013/14 | 10,433,116 | £438 |
2014/15 | 15,923,305 | £689 |
2015/16 | 19,914,962 | £883 |
The figures have been derived by collating the number of RO certificates[2] issued to the technology group of ‘biomass’ in a financial year and multiplying this by the associated buy-out price[3]. Both sets of data are published by Ofgem. CfD payments for one project have commenced end of December and are therefore not included.
[2] https://www.renewablesandchp.ofgem.gov.uk/
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
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 amount of biomass fuel used in the UK which is sourced from inside the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department published 2015 figures on energy production and trade in the most recent Digest of UK Energy Statistics. The attached table shows the amounts for different categories of biomass fuels.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) mechanisms and (b) monitoring systems are in place to ensure that fuel pumps at filling stations deliver the correct amount of fuel so that motorists are not defrauded whether accidently or deliberately.
Answered by Margot James
Fuel pumps are required by law to be of an approved design based on national and international standards including requirements for accuracy. Each pump must be tested and verified before use. Local authority trading standards monitor the market place and can require any pump found to be inaccurate or not meeting the requirements to be taken out of use.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans he has to regulate the power level of laser pens offered for sale in Britain.
Answered by Anna Soubry
It is already illegal to sell unsafe laser pens – generally defined as those over 1 milliwatt – to consumers in the UK. However, we are looking closely at a range of potential legislative options for controlling further the sales, use and possession of unsafe laser pens, especially in relation to children.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the implications are for the Government's policy of bringing into force provisions of the Easter Act 1928 to fix a date for Easter of recent comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
I understand that the Archbishop of Canterbury has recently indicated that he is working with other Christian churches to agree on a fixed date for Easter. At present, Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon following the spring equinox. The suggestion is that Easter be fixed in the second or third Sunday in April. The Easter Act 1928, which remains on the Statute Book, would set the date for Easter to fall on the Sunday that follows the second Saturday in April (i.e. between 9 and 15 April). The Act has not been brought into force. To so would require an Order in Council, with the approval of both Houses of Parliament. The Act also requires that, before the Order is made, “regard shall be had to any opinion officially expressed by any Church or other Christian Body." If the Christian churches were to agree on moving to a fixed date for Easter then the Government would consider, depending on what date is agreed, whether to bring into force the Easter Act 1928 or to make such other legislative provision as may be needed. However, there is no indication yet whether or when a date will be agreed or what that date would be.