Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 supply shortages in the used light goods vehicle market on inflation; and if he will publish projections of that impact for the next two years.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility set out its forecasts for inflation in the October 2021 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 correlation between supply and demand in the (a) secondhand van and (b) greener vehicles market.
Answered by Lee Rowley
The latest industry statistics show that demand for electric vehicles is stronger than ever, with about as many fully electric car registrations in 2021 as in the five years of 2016 to 2020 combined. In 2021 as a whole, 11.6% of all new cars registered were fully electric, trending upwards throughout the year, with over 1 in 4 new cars sold being fully electric in the month of December.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
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 extend the provisions made under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 to cover (a) the holding of AGMs and (b) other aspects co-operative society governance.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 introduced temporary measures to provide companies and other qualifying bodies - including co-operative societies - with flexibilities in the manner in which they conducted general meetings (including annual general meetings) in the light of coronavirus restrictions. Originally due to expire on 30 September 2020, these flexibilities were extended first to 30 December and then again, by regulations laid before Parliament on 25 November, to 30 March 2021.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to support communities that wish to invest in renewable community energy.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
BEIS supports communities that wish to invest in renewable community energy. At the end of May, the Rural Community Energy Fund re-opened to support communities seeking to develop a wide range of low carbon activities. The £10m fund provides grants to communities for feasibility studies to scope out ideas, and where projects are viable, another grant to help develop the project to investment readiness.
The Rural Community Energy Fund will be delivered through the Local Energy Hubs which were created as part of the BEIS Local Energy Programme. There are five Hubs across England, including one in the North West which is managed by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The Hubs also provide wider commercial, technical and project management support to enable communities and Local Authorities to develop low carbon energy projects.
BEIS acknowledge the importance of a route to market for small-scale low-carbon generation for communities. On 10 June we launched the Smart Export Guarantee, which will ensure that small-scale low-carbon generators are paid for the power they export to the grid. The SEG provides space for innovative market solutions to come forward, and supports the uptake of flexible technologies such as batteries - reinforcing our smart energy agenda.
Eligible community projects will be able to benefit from the SEG, however we recognise that it may be more suitable for some projects than others. We are continuing to consider what measures we could take to support the efforts of communities that wish to invest in low-carbon community energy.