Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many workers in the Scottish Borders will benefit from the increase in the (a) National Living Wage and (b) National Minimum Wage from April 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
This Government is committed to building an economy that works for everyone. Through the National Minimum Wage (NMW) and the National Living Wage (NLW) the Government protects the lowest paid within our society. The National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage have increased every year since their introduction – and this extraordinary year is no exception.
On 1 April 2021, the Government will increase that NLW by 2.2% to £8.91. This will be the highest ever UK minimum wage. The NLW currently applies to workers aged 25+, however, from April 2021 it will be extended to those aged 23+, following previous recommendations from the LPC. The government will also introduce inflation-beating increases in the NMW rates for younger workers and apprentices of between 1.5% and 3.6% on 1 April 2021.
Across Scotland, our best estimates suggest that around 100,000 workers will benefit from the planned rise in the National Living Wage, with a further 15,000 benefitting from the planned rise in the National Minimum Wage rates.
Further details on the regional impact of the NLW/NMW rate increase are contained in the NLW/NMW 2021 Impact Assessment. You can find further information here.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people in Scotland are in receipt of the Warm Home Discount.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
In 2018/19, the latest scheme year for which we have data, £341 million was spent on energy bills support for low income and vulnerable households across Great Britain.The scheme provided 2,220,194 rebates, worth £140, to Core Group and Broader Group recipients, and over £30 million worth of support through Industry Initiatives activities across Great Britain.
The breakdown of scheme spend, as well as the report for the 2018/19 scheme year, can be found in the Ofgem scheme reports: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/social-programmes/warm-home-discount/warm-home-discount-reports-and-statistics.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether covid-19 vaccine procurement has been carried out at a UK-wide level.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The UK Government has secured early access to 355 million vaccines doses through agreements with seven separate vaccine developers, which have been purchased for the whole of the UK.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
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 energy security in relation to the reported early closure of Hunterston nuclear power station.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Hunterston B has been generating low carbon electricity for more than 40 years. Over its lifetime, it has produced enough low carbon energy to power the whole of Scotland for 8 years.
The Capacity Market ensures security of electricity supply by providing all forms of capacity with the right incentives to be on the system and to deliver electricity when needed. It secures the capacity we need, including new capacity to replace aging power stations as they retire, through auctions held either four years or one year ahead of delivery (T-4 and T-1). To date, these capacity auctions have secured the majority of the capacity that Great Britain needs until 2023/.
Hunterston B holds capacity agreements for around 0.9 GW of capacity in 2020/21 and 2021/22. In light of EDF Energy’s decision to end generation at Hunterston B by 7 January 2022, we will have the opportunity to secure replacement capacity in the T-1 auction for 2021/22 if required.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applicants in (a) the Scottish Borders, (b) Scotland and (c) the UK have been granted loans under the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) has been introduced to help small and medium-sized businesses to borrow between £2000 and £50,000.
As of 10 May, over 268,000 loans have been issued in the UK with a total value of over £8.3 billion.
Issuing new loans is the priority for lenders and the British Business Bank and we are working to ensure that companies receive the full benefits from the support being provided.
At this time, we are unable to provide a breakdown of funding or number of applications by region. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
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 bring forward phasing out coal from the energy sector to 2024.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We have confirmed our commitment to put an end to unabated coal power generation from 2025, and on 4 February 2020 my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced the Government’s intention to consult on bringing forward the coal closure date to 1 October 2024. A closure in 2024 would mean that in 10 years we have reduced our reliance on unabated coal generation from around a third of our electricity supply to zero. We will consult on this in due course.
As a result of our existing policies, including carbon pricing and our support for renewables, we have already made great headway in reducing our reliance on coal, which fell from 39% in 2012 to less than 3% in 2019.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has he made of the potential merits of the energy price cap for consumers in (a) the Scottish Borders, (b) Scotland and (c) the rest of the UK.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government introduced the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act on 1January 2019 to protect GB consumers on default tariffs This followed the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) two-year investigation into the energy market, which concluded that energy customers on default and standard variable tariffs were being significantly overcharged.
The cap currently protects around 11 million households on default tariffs across GB. Ofgem estimate that the tariff cap is saving consumers between £75 and £100 per year on average and a total of £1 billion annually.