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 her Department has taken to ensure that small businesses in East Yorkshire are prepared for the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Department is maintaining efforts to ensure businesses across the UK are ready to leave the EU on 31 October. We are pursuing a range of actions to promote awareness and understanding of what businesses, including SMEs, need to do.
We have published an SME Brexit guidance leaflet and launched a series of Get Ready Roadshows. These specifically target SMEs with information and advice and ensure intermediaries, such as banks and accountants, have the information needed to support businesses. We also recently unveiled a £10 million Business Readiness Fund for business organisations and trade associations to support businesses across the UK in understanding the steps they should take to prepare for 31 October.
Along with key local partners, the Humber LEP and Growth Hub are playing an important role in helping to deliver events and provide information to support local businesses. We will also be hosting a Brexit Business Readiness Event in Hull on 3 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, if he will make an annual estimate of the number of bats (a) killed and (b) injured by onshore wind turbines; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
BEIS does not produce estimates on the number of bats killed and injured by onshore wind turbines.
Updated guidance is available for developers and planners to ensure that onshore wind energy developments pose minimal risk to bats. This was produced jointly by Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural Resources Wales, RenewableUK, and others. The guidance can be accessed through the Government’s Planning Policy Guidance on Renewable & Low Carbon Energy, or directly through this link: https://www.nature.scot/bats-and-onshore-wind-turbines-survey-assessment-and-mitigation
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 his Department has for the future of nuclear power in the UK as a result of the collapse of the NuGen consortium; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
This Government believes that new nuclear has an important role to play in the UK’s energy future as part of a diverse range of low-carbon technologies. However, we have always been clear that any technology must provide value for money for consumers and taxpayers. It was this Government that agreed a landmark Nuclear Sector Deal, as well as commissioning Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear power station in a generation.
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, whether he has plans to raise the minimum legal safety requirements for for (a) fridges and (b) freezers.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
There are already strict product safety laws in place that apply to fridges and to freezers.
Under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations, manufacturers must only place safe electrical goods on the market and they must continue to monitor safety in use and to take appropriate action if those products are subsequently identified as being unsafe.
The UK is leading on proposals to enhance the standard for fridges and freezers at an international level.
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 from 2019 onwards.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
At present, Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon following the spring equinox. 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." I understand that the Archbishop of Canterbury has indicated that he is working with other Christian churches to agree on a fixed date for Easter. 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.
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 safeguards are in place to ensure that grants from his Department are not given to renewable energy projects which have been constructed or are being operated without the required planning permission.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department’s main support schemes for renewable energy projects are based on providing revenue support based on generated output.
The current main support schemes for renewable electricity projects are the Contracts for Difference and the Feed-in Tariff schemes.
The Contracts for Difference scheme requires applicants to demonstrate that they hold the applicable planning consents when applying for support. In addition, it is a contractual obligation for generators to continue to hold the required planning consents for the duration of the support.
Under the Feed-in Tariff scheme, the scheme’s administrator has powers to withdraw, suspend or alter an installation’s accreditation in certain scenarios, including when it has received notice from a relevant public authority that the construction or operation of the installation is in breach of any provision of legislation or of any licence or consent granted for the installation.
Installations that are or were funded under the domestic RHI, Renewable Heat Premium Payment, and certain installations under the Feed-in Tariff schemes; are unlikely to require planning permission due to their scale.
The Government intends that all new Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) applicants have all necessary planning permissions in place before they are supported by the scheme. The Government has recently laid regulations in parliament to introduce this requirement.