Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 introducing a scheme to allow small businesses to receive financial support to part fund improvements to their business that would contribute to reducing carbon emissions.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Support is available to businesses to reduce their carbon emissions and energy bills through the Government's Climate Change Agreements Scheme and the £289m Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
There are also a number of local advice and support schemes that businesses can apply to here: https://www.gov.uk/business-finance-support.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 written to the British Geological Survey to discuss the three month review of the evidence relating to fracking across the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is grateful to the British Geological Survey for their recent review of the science related to seismic events induced by hydraulic fracturing for shale gas exploration. The report ‘Recent scientific advances in the understanding of induced seismicity from hydraulic fracturing of shales’ has been received and carefully considered, and has also been published at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-the-geological-science-of-shale-gas-fracturing.
The Government will continue to work with the British Geological Survey on this and other matters.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is still his Department's policy to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Answered by Graham Stuart
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood will lead a rapid review of the Government’s approach to net zero, so that it delivers its target in a way that is pro-business and pro-growth.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 trends in new car sales over the last six months and the impact on the UK car manufacturing sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK automotive market showed a positive start to 2022 with new car registrations in Jan-Feb 2022 above 2021 levels, when lockdown restrictions meant showrooms were shut. However, registrations are still below pre-pandemic levels with semiconductor chip shortages continuing to constrain supply globally.
As part of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, we are allocating a further £350 million for the Automotive Transformation Fund, as part of our £1 billion commitment to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain including gigafactories.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Red Diesel Replacement competition to the metal recycling sector.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The £40 million Red Diesel Replacement (RDR) innovation programme focusses on construction, mining and quarrying sectors, accounting for 63% of UK red-diesel usage. The technologies developed and lessons learned through this programme will also benefit the metals recycling sector and will be disseminated to wider industry. Due to the financial and temporal constraints of the programme, there are no plans to expand the scope of RDR at present.
Other Government support includes:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of introducing statutory paid leave for women receiving IVF in the context of the physical impacts of the treatment.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government remains committed to ensuring women, including those undergoing IVF treatment, can participate fairly in the labour market, and that businesses build a supportive workplace environment.
BEIS speaks regularly with a range of Government departments about the best ways of achieving this, including through discussions on the Women’s Health Strategy.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 plans to take to progress the development of tidal energy generation; and if he will take steps to ensure that representatives of the fishing industry are consulted as part of that work.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has a long and continuing history of supporting the development of tidal power, with over £175m invested in marine energy innovation to date. Last week the Government announced that the UK's 4th Allocation Round of the Contracts for Difference auction scheme has secured 40MW of new tidal power.
All users of the sea have had the opportunity to engage with Government on offshore renewable energy consenting as part of the Government's ongoing work on the Energy National Policy Statements.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 to ensure that petrol station operators do not illegally benefit from the Government's proposed cuts to fuel duty.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to conduct a review of the retail fuel market, to explore whether it has adversely affected consumer interests. The Government has asked for an initial report from the CMA by 7 July. As part of this, the Government has asked for the CMA’s advice on the extent to which competition has resulted in the fuel duty cut announced in the Spring Statement being passed on to consumers. The Government is also ready to support CMA if it uses its powers to act against petrol stations if there is evidence that they are infringing competition or consumer law.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 made an assessment of the implications for his policies of a potential decision by the owner of Morrisons' to sell its (a) fisheries, (b) warehouses and (c) food manufacturing plants.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government cannot comment on commercial decisions made by individual retailers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 number of trained heat pump installers in the UK in 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
There are currently over 1300 businesses in the UK certified with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) to install heat pumps, estimated to employ approximately 4,000 installers. The total number of trained installers is likely to be greater than this, as not all trained heat pump installers are required to be MCS Certified. MCS Certification is only required for installations receiving Government grant funding. The Government has commissioned further research into the existing heating and cooling installer workforce in England, which will be completed later this year.