Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether it is her Department's policy to mandate the use of low-carbon cement in future construction projects.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade works with the construction sector to support decarbonisation and achieving Government’s net zero targets.
This support includes increased delivery of energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation, the use of lower carbon materials and products such as cement and concrete, and tools to help the sector manage carbon and understand whole life carbon considerations of infrastructure and the built environment.
The approach on what materials and products, including lower carbon materials, could be used in construction projects is agnostic, and will be dependent on the type of infrastructure or built environment structure being constructed.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much (a) public and (b) private sector funding for (i) battery and (ii) electric vehicle manufacturing has been announced since July 2022.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Since July 2022, we have seen Tata Group announce an investment of over £4bn in a UK gigafactory. JLR have also announced plans to accelerate their shift to electric vehicles and have committed to a £15bn investment in their industrial footprint, vehicle programmes, autonomous, AI and digital technologies and people skills. In addition, in the wider electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain, we have seen Johnson Matthey announce an investment of over £60m in Hertfordshire to develop hydrogen technologies, Pensana announce an investment of £145m in a rare Earth metal refinery, and Ford announce a further £150m investment in Halewood to manufacture Electric Drive Units, in addition to their £227m investment announced in October 2021.
Details of our support to companies will be published in due course as part of our regular transparency data.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of the metals recycling sector on (a) potential barriers to the sector reaching net zero, (b) support for the sector to reach net zero and (c) the potential impact of the sector on the ability of other parts of the economy to reach net zero.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and Trade has regular contact with the metals recycling sector and they have raised electrification of sites and access to hydrogen networks as potential barriers. The Government’s Electricity Networks Strategic Framework sets out a vision for the transformation of the electricity network, and the Government aims to respond to its consultation on hydrogen transport and storage infrastructure later this year.
To support decarbonisation, the sector can apply to the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, the Programme of Research and Innovation for the UK Steel and Metals sector, and the SUSTAIN Future Manufacturing Research Hub.
Metals recycling will play an important role in helping the domestic aluminium and steel sectors deliver net zero production, through the delivery of reduced residual scrap as a key feedstock.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2023 to Question 148550 on Mining: Seas and Oceans, whether she has had recent discussions with the International Seabed Authority on environmental standards for (a) existing and (b) future commercial exploitation.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
There is no deep-sea mining currently happening in areas beyond national jurisdictions, there are no exploitation licences for deep-sea mining, and no exploitation regulations have yet been agreed.
In addition, the UK has committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep-sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep-sea ecosystems and strong and enforceable environmental regulations and standards have been developed by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and are in place.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate he has made of the value of the plant-based food market to the UK; and whether his Department has made an estimate of the potential for future growth of that market.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK Government has not made an appraisal of this sector. Market intelligence agency, Euromonitor, estimates that the UK market for meat and seafood substitutes (which covers the plant-based food market) was worth around £667m in 2022. Euromonitor forecasts that the UK market for meat and seafood substitutes will grow by approximately 13% by the end of 2023.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of British Geographical Society’s report entitled Deep-sea mining evidence review – MineralsUK, published in October 2022.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government commissioned this independent review from the British Geological Survey, the National Oceanography Centre and Heriot-Watt University to provide a comprehensive description of current research related to deep-sea mining.
Informed by evidence, we continue to contribute to discussions on deep-seabed mining at the International Seabed Authority (ISA), pressing for the highest environmental standards in relation to existing exploration activity, and potential future commercial exploitation should that be approved by the ISA.