Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to reopen a consultation on its text and data mining exemption proposals.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government’s proposal on text and data mining supports its ambition for the UK to be a world leader in artificial intelligence research and innovation. However, the Government recognises the concerns of affected sectors including the creative industries, and the importance of making sure the balance is right. The Government will soon launch a period of stakeholder engagement to consider the best way to implement the policy.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 assessment of the potential merits of further extending the deadline for completed applications to the Renewable Heat Initiative beyond 31 March 2022 in the context of supply chain issues delaying installation of heat pumps.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) has already been extended once and will now close on 31 March 2022. The legislation closing the RHI is now in force and there are no plans to repeal it. Heat pump installations that are not completed in time to apply to the RHI should be eligible for the grant scheme that is replacing the RHI, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, provided they meet the relevant eligibility criteria, and are commissioned on or after 1 April 2022.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 close the gap between the 30,000 heat pumps a year currently being installed and the Climate Change Committee’s recommendation of installing 900,000 heat pumps a year by 2028.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the Heat and Buildings Strategy, the Government set out a range of policies that will enable the heat pump market to grow to 600,000 installations per year by 2028. This level of deployment will keep the UK on track to meet its net zero ambitions, without pre-empting decisions to be taken by the middle of the decade on the future of the gas grid and the role of hydrogen.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 number of businesses in Greater Manchester who have successfully registered as a certified installer to administer home improvements under the Green Homes Grant scheme.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Green Homes Grant Scheme launched for applications on 30 September and as announced on 18 November will run until 31 March 2022.
Our installer data is at Local Authority rather than regional level, so we do not have the total number of installers who cover Greater Manchester. In each of the 10 Local Authorities within Greater Manchester, there are between 57 and 83 TrustMark registered installer businesses available.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Green Homes Grant scheme, what estimate he has made of the number of businesses that are eligible to register as a certified installer to administer home improvements under that scheme; and what number and proportion of those eligible businesses have so successfully registered as certified installers.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
As of 16 November, there were 1,196 businesses that are TrustMark registered and certified to install measures under the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme, with more registering every day. The majority of those businesses have now signed up to the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme. BEIS are working with TrustMark and MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) and PAS (Publicly Available Specification) certification bodies to support installers to get registered as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Green Homes Grant scheme, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary home improvement measures have been completed since that scheme was launched.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
As of 17 November 2020, 40,837 grant applications have been received.
A breakdown of the number of individual voucher applications made for primary and secondary measures are as follows:
Vouchers become redeemable once scheduled works are completed.
BEIS will continue to monitor application data as the scheme progresses.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
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 (a) provide support to Greater Manchester's 2038 carbon neutral target and (b) ensure that the regulatory framework supports net zero innovation and new technologies to help Distribution Network Operators meet increased consumer demand for low carbon energy sources.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Local Energy Programme launched in 2017 is supporting Local Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the clean energy economy. BEIS has allocated £500k directly to Greater Manchester Combined Authority since 2017 to develop innovative business models?(for decarbonisation)?and public sector leadership (for climate change and zero carbon targets) in support of their 2038 target, which are then shared with other Local Authorities. We are currently working with Greater Manchester Combined Authority on innovative technologies and local energy market approaches to accelerate Manchester’s progress towards net-zero, and to make the city an international leader in the transition to clean energy systems
The regulatory price control for Distribution Network Operators is by law a matter for Ofgem, the independent energy regulator. Since the start of the last price control (RIIO ED1) in 2015, around £270m of innovation funding has been allocated to Distribution Network Operators, which is already supporting the move to net zero. In their Decarbonisation Action Plan (link to Plan here), Ofgem stated that they would be ‘reviewing the way our energy systems are managed to ensure they are fit for a net-zero future’. BEIS is working with Ofgem to ensure that Net Zero innovation and new technologies can assist network operators to meet increased consumer demand for low carbon energy sources.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to ensure that generating stations which qualify for Feed-in-Tariffs continue to receive equipment breakdown support after the closure of the scheme in April 2019.
Answered by Claire Perry
The consultation on the Feed-In Tariffs scheme, which closed on 13 September, requested evidence on likely replacement rates and any efficiency gains, in order to better understand the budgetary impact of any proposals to allow generators to replace any element of their plant and retain their current tariff, before we decide whether to consult further on this issue. We will publish a government response in due course.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What steps he is taking to support the renewable energy sector.
Answered by Claire Perry
The development of renewable energy is a tremendous UK success story.
Thanks to our significant investment and support, renewable capacity has quadrupled since 2010. Last year 30% of our electricity generation came from renewable sources.
The Clean Growth Strategy sets out further actions for supporting renewables.
£557 million of annual support is being made available to bring forward new renewable electricity projects, as well as £4.5bn between 2016 and 2021 to support low carbon heating under the Renewable Heat Incentive, and £177m (for renewables) between 2015 and 2021 for innovation projects.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester, Withington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations his Department has received on Savvibuy's refunding practices for customers who have experienced delayed deliveries and refunds.
Answered by Margot James
The Insolvency Service, an Executive Agency of the Department, has been contacted about the actions of Savvibuy. Due to legal restrictions the Insolvency Service cannot comment in detail on the information it has received.
The Department has received no other representations on this matter.