Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
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 is taking to help ensure that energy companies are offering affordable and flexible energy tariffs to customers who operate lifesaving and enhancing medical equipment from their homes.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to ensuring fair energy prices for consumers. The Government introduced the Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Act, which requires the energy regulator Ofgem to cap standard variable and default energy tariffs in 2019. The Energy Price Cap will remain in place at least till the end of 2022 to protect millions of customers and ensure they pay a fair price for their energy.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
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 it his policy to increase the UK’s gas storage capacity.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Storage plays an important role in providing system flexibility in responding to short-term changes in supply and demand. The purpose of storage is to top-up supply when demand is high.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of entering a collective bargaining agreement with Europe to regulate high gas prices enforced by Norway.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Norway is a significant, longstanding and reliable gas supplier to the UK with supply based on commercial arrangements between buyers and sellers. Current gas prices are high for many reasons including rebounding global demand as COVID-19 lockdowns ease; greater LNG demand in Asia; upstream maintenance affecting supply capacity over summer, and higher demand for gas in electricity generation on the Continent as coal is disincentivised.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
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 has plans to (a) consider the hairdressing and barber industry for Mandatory Registration or (b) devolve that decision to the devolved Administrations; and if his Department will hold discussions with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the potential merits of devolving licensing of the hair and barber industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department regularly engages with the devolved administrations and officials on a variety of issues.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure young people are consulted on plans to promote climate action and a green recovery from the covid-19 pandemic ahead of COP26.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Achieving our net zero target must be a shared endeavour. As we work to kickstart our economy and building back greener from the pandemic, we are setting out bold policies in place. For instance, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan brings together £12 billion of government investment to support up to 250,000 green jobs by 2030. It is green jobs such as these, that many young people have expressed a preference to work in.
Global appetite for climate action has never been bigger and young people play a vital role in harnessing this appetite to drive forward real-world action. This is why we have set up an International COP26 Civil Society and Youth Advisory Council, so that we can hear the views of young people. In addition, our dedicated COP26 youth engagement team continue to meet with diverse young climate leaders to involve them in our planning for COP26.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
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 meet with representatives of (a) garment manufacturers, (b) fashion creatives, (c) retailers, (d) and brands to discuss the effect of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the UK fashion industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
I regularly meet with representatives from those industries, as part of my frequent engagement with stakeholders from across the retail and consumer goods sectors. The last such meeting took place on 9 February where both the economic recovery from Covid-19 and the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement were discussed.
The Government recognises the significant contribution of the UK’s world-leading fashion and textiles sector to the UK economy, and is committed to supporting it.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of the UK fashion industry on the effect on that industry of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Answered by Paul Scully
I last spoke with various representatives from the UK fashion industry, including the UK Fashion and Textiles Association (UKFT), on the effect of the Trade and Cooperation agreement on 9 February.
Across Government, we have recently held specific workshops for Retail & Consumer Goods stakeholders as well as a webinar with the British Fashion Council (BFC) on key Trade and Cooperation Agreement issues including Rules of Origin.
We are also working closely with UKFT on guidance and case study examples for businesses to help them understand and adapt to new requirements.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it his policy that the National Grid should become carbon neutral by 2050.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government has already legislated to deliver net zero emissions in the UK, becoming the first major economy to do so, and is working closely with Ofgem, the independent energy regulator, and industry to support the transition to a smarter, more flexible energy system. In April 2019, National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO) announced it will be able to fully operate Great Britain’s electricity system with zero carbon by 2025. The ability to operate a zero-carbon electricity system in 2025 is a major stepping stone to full decarbonisation of the entire electricity system in 2050.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what additional (a) funding and (b) resources his Department has allocated to the National Grid for increased resilience of the grid since the blackouts of August 2019.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Following the power disruption that occurred on 9th August 2019, the Energy Emergencies Executive Committee (E3C) conducted a review of the incident to identify lessons learnt and put in place a robust action plan for the prevention of similar disruptions occurring and the management of future power disruptions.
The E3C’s report and 10 recommendations were published on 03 January, alongside the finding from Ofgem’s investigation, and work continues at pace to implement the action plan in full.
On completion of these actions, any significant changes to improve the resilience of the network will be agreed by Ofgem and factored into industry price controls to ensure they are allocated sufficient funding and resources.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
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 effect of changes to the level of energy operator (a) transmission and (b) connector charges on the development of localised electricity grids.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Network charging is a matter for Ofgem as the independent regulator. Ofgem is leading two major charging reforms: the Targeted Charging Review; and Access and Forward Looking Charges Significant Code Review (Access SCR). Collectively, this programme of work seeks to ensure that regulatory and market arrangements reflect and enable the energy system transition, as we move towards net zero emissions, and that consumers benefit from the changes.
The Access SCR is most relevant to localised electricity grids. It seeks to ensure electricity networks are used efficiently and flexibly, reflecting users’ needs and allowing consumers to benefit from new technologies and services while avoiding unnecessary costs on energy bills. Ofgem published illustrative examples to help explain the potential benefits of its reforms to different users, including a wind generator and local energy scheme (available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2019/12/winter_2019_-_working_paper_-_illustrative_examples_note_publish.pdf). It will be publishing a full impact assessment, alongside its minded-to decision on its proposed changes under the Access SCR, later this year.