Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps she is taking to increase the amount of electricity generated from hydro sources; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government acknowledges the valuable contribution of hydropower to the UK energy mix over many decades, including at times when other renewables do not generate.
Hydropower accounts for almost 2% of total electricity generation in the UK. Studies in Scotland, England and Wales indicate that there is a maximum remaining technical potential of around 1.5GW for small-scale hydro across these countries, with the majority in Scotland. Economic and environmental constraints mean that in practice the viable remaining resource is less than 1GW or 1% of total electricity generation capacity.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to encourage the building of new nuclear power generation plants in the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
This Government believes nuclear power has an important role in achieving our net zero targets as we transition to a low-carbon economy. We are building the first new nuclear power station in a generation at Hinkley Point C, have published a landmark nuclear sector deal and are looking at alternative funding models for nuclear, where our consultation on the Regulated Asset Base model recently closed. We are reviewing consultation responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 nuclear industry on the development of new nuclear power stations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government believes that nuclear has an important role to play as we transition to a low-carbon economy. Ministers and officials meet developers regularly. Our commitment to new nuclear is demonstrated in the development of the first new nuclear power station in a generation at Hinkley Point C and underpinned our landmark £200m Nuclear Sector Deal. The forthcoming Energy White Paper will set out our approach to new nuclear.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what sanctions Trading Standards is able to apply to companies which are found to be operating in unacceptable ways; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Given the wide variety of legislation which Trading Standards can enforce, I am limiting my answer to consumer law.
Where a company has committed a criminal breach of consumer law under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008), Trading Standards can prosecute in the criminal court and the court can impose a fine or imprisonment for a serious offence.
However, there are no equivalent sanctions available to Trading Standards in the civil courts and the Government has therefore committed to introducing court based civil sanctions for breaches of civil law. We are also considering further options to ensure that our system of consumer protection provides a robust response to both local and national threats following the Modernising Consumer Markets Green Paper in 2018.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 (a) Cabinet colleagues, (b) the Government of Japan and (c) representatives of Hitachi on that company's policy on the development of nuclear power stations in the UK through Horizon Nuclear Power; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This Government continues to believe that nuclear energy has an important role to play in the UK’s future energy mix, but it must provide value for money for taxpayers and consumers. Talks with Hitachi and the Government of Japan in relation to the Wylfa Newydd project are continuing at an official level. As my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has stated to Parliament, we intend to publish an Energy White Paper in due course which will include an update on our approach to financing new nuclear.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2019 to Question, 251894 on Caravan Sites, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit owners of caravan holiday home parks from being able to make assessments of potential purchasers of caravans before granting authority for that sale; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prohibit owners of caravan holiday home parks to be able to make assessments of potential purchasers of caravans. However, we are engaging with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government about a range of issues relating to caravan parks and consumers.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban owners of caravan holiday home parks vetting potential purchasers of those caravans; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has made no such assessment.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of electricity generated by (a) solar and (b) other renewable sources.
Answered by Claire Perry
For the 12 months ending June 2018, of total UK electricity generation
a) 3.5 per cent was generated by solar photovoltaic sources;
b) 27.3 per cent was generated by other renewable sources.
Source – Energy Trends table 6.1, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-trends-section-6-renewables
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of electricity generated by solar panels.
Answered by Claire Perry
We are committed to ensuring the UK has secure energy supplies that are reliable, affordable and clean. Our country generates electricity from increasingly low carbon sources and the electricity powering the UK's homes and businesses in 2017 was the greenest ever, with 50% coming from clean sources - up from 19% in 2010.
We are currently considering the responses received to the recent consultation on Feed-In-Tariffs export payments alongside the generation tariff for new applications after 31st March 2019. A Government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 classify small businesses as preferential creditors in cases of (a) insolvency and (b) bankruptcy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Certain debts, mostly relating to employees’ remuneration or pension scheme entitlements, are paid before other categories of creditor when a company enters liquidation or administration or an individual becomes bankrupt.
Giving small businesses a similar preferential status would reduce the level of returns for other groups of creditors affected by an insolvency, potentially including a reduction in the returns received by existing preferential creditors such as employees. The Government therefore does not intend to change the status of debts owed to small businesses in insolvencies.
In the recently-published Insolvency and Corporate Governance consultation, Government has proposed removing or increasing the current £600,000 cap on the proportion of funds realised from assets subject to floating charge security in a liquidation, administration or administrative receivership that can be ring-fenced and paid to unsecured creditors (known as the “prescribed part”). Doing so would increase returns to unsecured creditors, including small businesses, without changing their status.