Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) financial and (b) personnel resources will be allocated to the Register of Overseas Entities.
Answered by Paul Scully
Companies House will operate the Register of Overseas Entities. Companies House will be receiving £63million announced at the Spending Review in order to implement its transformation programme which includes implementing the Register of Overseas Entities. Work is already underway to implement the Register.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of market speculation on oil and gas prices.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Fuel and gas prices are primarily driven by the underlying price in the global market of crude oil and natural gas. These are also influenced by exchange rates and a range of other supply and demand factors, including stock levels, logistics and distribution costs and seasonal demand variations.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will hold discussions with (a) P&O Ferries representatives, (b) P&O Ferries workers and (c) trade unions to inform an assessment of the appropriateness of dismissal of staff of P&O Ferries without statutory consultation.
Answered by Paul Scully
P&O Ferries has conducted itself in an appalling manner. There are clear requirements around both consultation and notification when making collective redundancies. The Government has demanded answers from the company as to why they think they are above these rules. We have received a response to my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s letter to P&O Ferries, and we are reviewing their explanations. The Secretary of State has also written to the Insolvency Service asking them to consider what scope there is for further action.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 strengthen and secure vaccine production in the UK.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccine Taskforce (VTF) continues to work to strengthen UK resilience for the COVID-19 response and potential future health emergencies. The VTF has invested over £380 million to secure and scale up the UK’s vaccine manufacturing capabilities to respond to the pandemic and is actively engaging with market participants to seek to further strengthen our domestic capabilities and capacity in vaccines.
In the Autumn Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a further £354 million for UK life sciences manufacturing. This includes funding to increase the UK’s health emergency responsiveness and capability in vaccine production. Areas of focus will include mRNA capability following the success of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, and investments which will strengthen the resilience of the UK’s vaccine supply chains.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has been spent to date on the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at Harwell as of 4 January 2022, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost of establishing that Centre; and when he expects that Centre to open.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) has been granted £206m of Government funding to date to support the delivery of the facility, including grants since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. As a private company, questions regarding VMIC’s facility opening date should be directed towards VMIC.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, where the new orders for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be produced.
Answered by George Freeman
In line with existing MHRA approved production procedures, we expect these doses to come from various European countries.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 shortfall from energy companies in paying for the insulating homes programme as at 20 September 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Energy Company Obligation applies to energy suppliers with domestic customer accounts exceeding 150,000.
We expect the very large majority of the overall obligation to be met, with some suppliers potentially exceeding their targets by 31 March 2022.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
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 amount of money that is outstanding from energy companies for renewable obligation certificates as at 20 September 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ofgem, the administrators of the Renewables Obligation scheme, are monitoring the amount of money outstanding from electricity suppliers and are actively engaging with suppliers who are due to make payments.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress his Department has made of the development of small modular nuclear reactors.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced an up to £385 million Advanced Nuclear Fund to invest in the next generation of nuclear technologies. The Advanced Nuclear Fund includes up to £215 million to develop a domestic Small Modular Reactors (SMR) design and up to £170 million for an Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) research and development programme, with an aim to build an AMR demonstrator by the early 2030s.
We are also committed to supporting the wider UK nuclear energy sector to help deliver advanced nuclear technologies to market.
Asked by: John Spellar (Labour - Warley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the compatibility of existing smart meters with hydrogen gas supply.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government has published the first ever UK Hydrogen Strategy, alongside key policy detail to lay the foundations for a hydrogen economy. The Department is also working with industry to assess the feasibility, costs and benefits of using 100% hydrogen for heating, to enable strategic decisions in 2026 on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising heating.
In the meantime, the HyDeploy industry consortium, at the Government-funded Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND), is working to develop the safety case for blending of hydrogen and methane together in the gas network at hydrogen concentrations of up to 20%. Part of this activity includes working with smart meter manufacturers to develop and trial a software configuration to allow accurate metering of such blends without meter replacement.
Furthermore, the £25m Government-funded Hy4Heat programme is currently supporting the development of prototype commercial, industrial and domestic appliance models including smart hydrogen meters for 100% hydrogen.