Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Warm Homes Discount will continue to apply in full to individuals and organisations in Scotland after 31 March 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government has committed to extending the Warm Home Discount to at least 2025/26 and expanding the scheme spending envelope from the current £350 million to £475 million (in 2020 prices) per year. This will enable the Government to provide around 3 million rebates each winter across Great Britain, which is an increase of a third compared to the current scheme.
The Government has consulted on apportioning a fair amount of the overall £475 million annual funding to Scotland for a Warm Home Discount scheme in Scotland from the 2022/23 scheme year. The Government is agreeing a position with the Scottish Government on the future scheme. Any scheme in Scotland would be consulted on. Should the UK Government implement a scheme for Scotland, the intention would be to have consulted and have Regulations in place in advance of the summer Parliamentary recess.
The current scheme is continuing to operate across Great Britain for 2021/22.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether continued membership of Interreg programmes will be possible for UK-based organisations following the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by Paul Scully
Under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement January 2020 it was agreed that the UK would remain in European Structural and Investment Fund (ESIF) programmes in the Multiannual Funding Framework (MFF) 2014-2020. This includes Interreg programmes also known as European Territorial Cooperation (ETC) programmes. Spending on these programmes will continue until December 2023 and after this they will be closed.
The UK will not be participating in ESIF programmes in the next MFF 2021-2027, including ETC programmes, except for the Peace Plus programme in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has policy responsibility for Peace Plus.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the total cost of the Government's Carbon Capture and Storage programme is to 2030; and what the funding allocation is to each of the two successful bidders from the Track one process.
Answered by Greg Hands
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) clusters will have the opportunity to negotiate for capital support from the £1bn CCS Infrastructure Fund, as well as from the twin-track £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. In addition, further capital support may be brought forward in future spending review period, based on government’s assessment of need and value for money to the taxpayer.
No funding allocation has yet been decided on track 1 cluster. Track-1 clusters will now enter a process of negotiations and further due diligence, where the government will confirm where it is appropriate to provide financial support, and the level of support required to facilitate cluster deployment by the mid-2020s.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with representatives of Scottish retail, tourism and hospitality industries in response to their concerns about a lack of footfall in Scotland’s major cities.
Answered by Paul Scully
Ministers engage regularly with various representatives of the business, hospitality, retail and tourism industries in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland including local Chambers of Commerce, and branches of the Confederation of British Industry, Federation of Small Business and Institute of Directors on business and economic issues. In addition, DCMS Ministers who are responsible for tourism engage with Scottish tourism industry representatives via the Tourism Industry Council.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
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 using the provisions laid out in section 185 of the Energy Act 2004 to make an order to reform the UK transmission charge regime to assist Scottish renewable energy generators; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government’s assessment of the potential use of powers under Section 185 of the Energy Act 2004 to adjust transmission powers is set out in the ‘Policy Response’ section at page 7 of Government Response of June 2018 to a consultation on proposed amendments to the Contracts for Difference scheme. It is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/contracts-for-difference-cfd-proposed-amendments-to-the-scheme.
The assessment points to transmission charging as a matter for Ofgem, the value of cost-reflective charges, and Contracts for Difference contracts as the focus of Government support for renewable energy generation projects.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
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 create a ring-fenced pot in the Contracts for Difference AR4 process for tidal energy.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department published the draft parameters for Allocation Round 4 of the Contracts for Difference scheme on 13 September 2021. The Department has not set out a specific ringfence for tidal projects. However, as a less established renewable technology, tidal stream will be eligible to compete in Pot 2 in the next auction round in December.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ring-fenced support from the Contracts for Difference AR4 process for Scottish renewable tidal energy.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department published the draft parameters for Allocation Round 4 of the Contracts for Difference scheme on 13 September 2021. The Department has not set out a specific ringfence for tidal projects. However, as a less established renewable technology, tidal stream will be eligible to compete in Pot 2 in the next auction round in December.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he (a) has had and (b) plans to have with the publishing industry on ensuring the strength of the UK’s copyright laws following the UK's departure from the EU.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government holds regular discussions with stakeholders about the copyright framework to ensure it remains fit for purpose. This includes engagement with representatives from the publishing industry.
Any change to UK copyright legislation following its exit from the EU would come only after detailed consideration and assessment, including consultation with stakeholders, and would need to be driven by the evidence. This approach will help ensure that the UK’s IP and enforcement framework continues to be rated as one of the best in the world.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department’s latest estimate is of the savings that will be delivered for consumers from the successful projects in Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 3 in each of the 15 years of their Contracts for Difference.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
As part of the evaluation of Contracts for Difference (CfD), we have carried out some analysis on the estimated saving of successful projects in CfD Allocation Round 3 in comparison to the Renewables Obligation. This analysis will be published in due course.
Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the potentially eligible capacity in the fourth allocation round for Contracts for Difference in (a) Pot 1: established technologies, including onshore wind and solar PV, (b) Pot 2: less-established technologies, including floating offshore wind, advanced conversion technologies and tidal stream and (c) Pot 3: offshore wind.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
In order to be eligible to bid into the round, projects competing in all pots must first have obtained planning permission from the relevant authority and meet eligibility criteria specific to each technology.
The Department publishes the quarterly Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) which provides information on the potential pipeline for renewable technologies. This includes detail on the estimated capacities of known projects that have already obtained planning permission, and those which are currently in the planning process (although will still need to demonstrate compliance with the eligibility criteria before bidding in to the Contracts for Difference Auction). The latest published REPD can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/renewable-energy-planning-database-monthly-extract.