Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management is a small advisory committee. Its budget is provided by the Department for Energy Security and Nez Zero, which also provides a small secretariat for the Committee. Committee members spent £0 on equality and diversity training the 2022-23 financial year.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the average response time to subject access requests was by their Department in the latest period for which data is available; and if they will make an assessment of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The average response time to subject access requests received by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero for the latest reporting period, 01 June 2023 to 31 August 2023, is 5 working days. All subject access requests were processed within the statutory deadline of within one month of receipt of the request.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Main Fund.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Information on the Social Housing Decarbonisation Main Fund (SHDF) is published as statistics on GOV.UK, here. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has commissioned IFF Research, in partnership with Technopolis, Building Research Establishment and University College London, to conduct process, outcome and economic evaluations of Wave 1 and Wave 2.1 of the SHDF. The evaluations will complete in 2026; the first interim evaluation report will be published in 2024. Findings from evaluation research into the effectiveness of the management and delivery processes of the SHDF Demonstrator competition can be found here. The Government will publish a final outcome and economic evaluation of the SHDF Demonstrator in due course.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she made of the effectiveness of the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department was created in February 2023 to transform Britain’s energy security and scale up affordable, clean, homegrown power. By March it had published ‘Powering up Britain’, the Government’s strategy to ensure the UK remains among the fastest decarbonising nations in the world, and announced the first £20 billion carbon capture projects for our industrial heartlands. The Department launched Great British Nuclear; scaled up Britain’s renewables; and expanded energy efficiency support. The Department’s Energy Bill will leverage private investment in clean technologies and open up almost half a million new green jobs by 2030.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what has been the average time taken to respond to public inquiries by her Department in each of the last five years; and whether she plans to introduce measures to improve this.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department does not collate this information but aims to respond to relevant reports and recommendations arising from public inquiries promptly and constructively.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what data her Department holds on the average response time to enquiries by Members; and what assessment she has made of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government places great importance on the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2022 is published on GOV.UK here: www.gov.uk/government/collections/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. Data for Q1 and Q2 2023 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on speeding up the process of getting planning applications approved for solar farms.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ministers regularly discuss planning reform with colleagues to enable a fair and efficient system of decision making for all energy infrastructure proposals, including solar. The Government is currently consulting on operational reforms to the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects regime and will publish its response in due course.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to reduce backlogs of Member correspondence in her office.
Answered by Graham Stuart
For Q2 2023 81% of enquiries from Members of Parliament were answered by the department within 15 working days, exceeding the departmental performance standard.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The last evaluation of the effectiveness of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund was published on the 23rd of March this year and can be downloaded here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-entrepreneurs-fund-phases-1-7-final-evaluation
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Government grants statistics 2020 to 2021, published on 31 March 2022, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
An independent external evaluation of UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT), which includes an assessment of the programme’s effectiveness for the period 2020-21, was carried out and the summary report is available on DevTracker.
The Government also prepares annual reviews for all international climate finance programmes. The 2020-21 UK PACT Annual Review rated the programme as “A+”, indicating it exceeded expectations over the reporting period. The report is available on DevTracker.