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 impact of biomass electricity subsidies on deforestation; what provisions are in place to minimise that impact; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK only supports biomass which complies with strict sustainability criteria, and electricity generators receive subsidies only for compliant biomass.
The criteria ensure that the carbon stock and area of the forest, irrespective of its location, is not decreased. The evidence does not show that deforestation has occurred in the areas from where UK electricity generators source their biomass.
The sustainability criteria require that biomass fuels are sourced from forest waste wood and residues from commercial forestry operations, and that the forest owner adheres to the relevant legal requirements to protect biodiversity and the environment.
Suppliers must demonstrate to the regulators (Ofgem) that they meet the criteria, and their evidence is independently audited.
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 plans he has to increase the uptake of heat pumps in domestic premises; when he plans to publish details of the new heat and buildings strategy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
In the Ten-Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced our ambition to grow the heat pump market to 600,000 installations per year by 2028 to put us on track for net zero by 2050.
The Government is developing a comprehensive package of policies to help meet this ambition. We have set out proposals for some parts of this package and will consult on others alongside the Heat and Buildings Strategy, which we will publish in due course.
The Future Homes Standard, for instance, will ensure that from 2025 new homes are built zero carbon-ready, with low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps. We will also set out plans to improve the incentives for industry to invest in developing the UK heat pump market and we will consult on regulations to meet our commitment to phase out the installation of fossil fuel heating in homes off the gas grid this decade, in favour primarily of heat pumps.
We also currently provide financial support to consumers to install heat pumps through schemes such as the Renewable Heat Incentive, and we will continue to do so through the investments we are making in the Clean Heat Grant from next year, the Home Upgrade Grant and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
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 prevalence of shill bidding taking place at auctions; what his Department's policy is on preventing, deterring and detecting that matter; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
‘Shill bidding’ refers to the practice during an online auction of a seller or a seller’s acquaintance placing bids on his or her goods in order to drive up the price. Trading Standards have brought successful prosecutions against sellers engaging in these practices under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and will continue to do so where appropriate.
Anyone who feels they have been the victim of a fraudulent sale should contact the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 or 0808 223 1144 (Welsh speaking). They provide help and advice on consumers’ rights. Citizens Advice will refer cases to Trading Standards offices for enforcement action where necessary.
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 steps he is taking with the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to ensure that there is sufficient universal broadband network coverage to enable smart meters to function effectively and continuously; and when the Government plans for such network coverage to be made available throughout Yorkshire; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Second generation smart meters use a dedicated national smart metering communications network, which uses a variety of technologies to deliver connectivity to premises. These include cellular mobile technology plus wireless mesh radio, and long-range radio technology.
The Data Communications Company (DCC), which operates the national communications infrastructure for smart metering, is obligated under the conditions of its licence to provide communications coverage to at least 99.25% of premises across Great Britain by the end of 2020.
The DCC is required by licence conditions to assess opportunities to increase the overall level of coverage beyond its contractual requirements where it is practicable and cost proportionate.
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 recent estimate he has made of the number of households in England that have insufficient broadband network coverage to support the functioning of smart meters.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Second generation smart meters use a dedicated national smart metering communications network, which uses a variety of technologies to deliver connectivity to premises. These include cellular mobile technology plus wireless mesh radio, and long-range radio technology.
The Data Communications Company (DCC), which operates the national communications infrastructure for smart metering, is obligated under the conditions of its licence to provide communications coverage to at least 99.25% of premises across Great Britain by the end of 2020.
The DCC is required by licence conditions to assess opportunities to increase the overall level of coverage beyond its contractual requirements where it is practicable and cost proportionate.
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 estimate he has made of the potential effect on electricity prices of the Government's policy to expand offshore wind power by 2030; what assessment he has made of the effect of that policy on other low emission goals; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The effect on electricity prices of deploying 40GW of offshore wind by 2030 will depend on a number of factors including the relative costs between different technologies and how they evolve, particularly in offshore wind, the outcome of our upcoming Contract for Difference Auction rounds, network costs, how costs will be spread across different consumer groups, the roll out of flexible technologies like storage and the overall profile of electricity demand.
Offshore wind projects have low operating costs and so can supply electricity cheaply, putting downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices. Wholesale prices are one of many factors that influence consumer costs and the net impact will depend on how changes in these factors are passed on to consumers.
Accelerating the deployment of offshore wind will make a key contribution to our 2050 net zero target.
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy made a Written Ministerial Statement about the announcement to increase our ambition to delivering 40GW of offshore wind by 2030 in the House on Tuesday 6 October.
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 potential merits of the UK remaining on British Summer Time to (a) encourage travel, (b) extend the tourist season and (c) reduce energy usage as part of the recovery plan from the covid-19 outbreak; and with reference to the European Union's policy on Daylight Saving Time, if he will conduct a review of the time zone most appropriate for the UK to adopt in future years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government believes that the current daylight-saving arrangements represent the optimal use of the available daylight across the UK. We do not believe there is sufficient evidence to support changing the current system of clock changes, including for travel, tourism and energy usage.
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 average (a) wholesale and (b) retail margin of profit on sales of vehicle fuels since the covid-19 outbreak; what steps he is taking to ensure that the price paid for vehicle fuels is not kept artificially high; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government monitors the national average retail prices of fuels. These are published at: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/oil-and-petroleum-products-weekly-statistics.
BEIS analysis shows that changes in the global price of crude oil is the primary driver of movements in the national average retail prices of fuels such as petrol and diesel. Other factors include currency exchange rates and the balance of supply and demand for these fuels in the wholesale petroleum products markets. Changes in the price of crude oil feed through to retail prices over the course of about 6 weeks. Since March, retail prices have broadly moved in line with movements in crude oil and wholesale product prices – falling initially as crude oil prices fell and then rising as oil prices recovered through June and July.
The UK has some of the lowest pre-tax prices in Europe for both petrol and diesel, and our evidence suggests that the?UK road fuels sector as a whole is competitive and ensures that consumers get a fair deal.
The Government believe that a competitive market is the best way to keep prices low. Retail fuel markets are subject to UK competition law under the Competition and Markets Authority.
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, if he will commission an independent judge-led investigation into the Post Office and its (a) management and (b) administration of the Horizon computer system.
Answered by Paul Scully
Government has committed to launching an Independent Review to consider whether the Post Office has learned the necessary lessons from the Horizon dispute and to assess its work to rebuild its relationship with its postmasters.
The findings outlined throughout the Horizon judgments provided an extensive insight as to what went wrong at the Post Office, including an independent view of the facts all sides have been looking for.
Government wants to be fully assured that the right lessons are learned for the future and concrete changes have taken place at Post Office Ltd to ensure that this situation will never be repeated. This is the purpose of the independent review we are in the process of setting up.
Full details of the Terms of Reference for the independent review have been set out in a Written Ministerial Statement that Minister Scully made on Wednesday 10th June. An independent chair will be announced in due course
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, if he will take steps to bring into force the provisions of the Easter Act 1928 to fix the date of Easter.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has no plans to bring into force the provisions of the Easter Act 1928 to fix the date of Easter.