Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 potential merits of introducing a carbon border levy.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As we deliver our 10 point plan, we recognise it is important to ensure that our ambitious policy interventions do not lead to increased emissions elsewhere. We are working across government to better understand this potential issue, known as carbon leakage, including the impact it could have on the UK.
As set out in the interim report of the Net Zero Review published in December, a range of approaches could potentially help to address carbon leakage. The EU’s proposed carbon border levy is one policy option, which we are monitoring closely.
The UK will continue working closely with all our international partners to address climate change across the economy, using our G7 and COP26 Presidencies to ensure that we build back better following the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the effect of higher carbon levies on steelmaking in Port Talbot.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has introduced a UK Emissions Trading Scheme, enabling steelmakers, and others in industry, to use markets to decarbonise in a cost-effective way. The Department works closely with both HM Treasury and the Devolved Administrations on this Scheme. The Government recognises the important role that the UK steel industry plays in keeping our economy moving and growing post COVID-19, and has therefore put in place a package of ongoing measures to support it during this challenging time and beyond. This includes more than £500 million in relief since 2013 to make the sector’s electricity costs more competitive.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Welsh Government on the effect of higher carbon levies on steelmaking in Port Talbot.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has introduced a UK Emissions Trading Scheme, enabling steelmakers, and others in industry, to use markets to decarbonise in a cost-effective way. The Department works closely with both HM Treasury and the Devolved Administrations on this Scheme. The Government recognises the important role that the UK steel industry plays in keeping our economy moving and growing post COVID-19, and has therefore put in place a package of ongoing measures to support it during this challenging time and beyond. This includes more than £500 million in relief since 2013 to make the sector’s electricity costs more competitive.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 plans to provide financial support to the planned new Britishvolt factory in Blyth.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
I welcome Britishvolt’s announcement. As my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister set out recently in his 10 Point Plan, manufacturing electric vehicles and developing the required supply chain right here in the UK is a key part of building back better and greener. A Gigafactory will support industry, provide high quality jobs and help the automotive sector transform over the coming decade - as we make strides towards our world-beating net zero goals.
The Government has announced nearly £500m of support through the Automotive Transformation Fund to drive the electrification of the UK automotive sector. This is part of the up to £1 billion that this government previously committed to these efforts. The application process is managed by the Advanced Propulsion Centre on behalf of BEIS and funding will be allocated on a competitive basis, dependent on a full assessment of the relative value for money of any request received.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 had discussions with representatives of Britishvolt on its planned factory in Blyth.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
I welcome Britishvolt’s announcement. As my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister set out recently in his 10 Point Plan, manufacturing electric vehicles and developing the required supply chain right here in the UK is a key part of building back better and greener. A Gigafactory will support industry, provide high quality jobs and help the automotive sector transform over the coming decade - as we make strides towards our world-beating net zero goals.
The Government has announced nearly £500m of support through the Automotive Transformation Fund to drive the electrification of the UK automotive sector. This is part of the up to £1 billion that this government previously committed to these efforts. The application process is managed by the Advanced Propulsion Centre on behalf of BEIS and funding will be allocated on a competitive basis, dependent on a full assessment of the relative value for money of any request received.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much capital spending took place on research and development in 2019 by population share in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) England.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is planning to release in spring 2021 estimates of gross domestic expenditure on research and development in 2019 including estimates of R&D performed in different parts of the United Kingdom.
The latest available figures are for 2018: the ONS has estimated R&D performed was £786m in Wales, £2,706m in Scotland, £715m in Northern Ireland, and £32,862m in England. Dividing by the ONS mid-year population estimates would give figures of about £250 for Wales, £498 for Scotland, £380 for Northern Ireland, and £587 for England.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 merits of a public information campaign aimed at raising awareness about the risks posed by counterfeit electrical products.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is developing plans to run a pilot public awareness campaign focussing on counterfeit goods in the beauty and hygiene sector in 2021. If successful, the IPO will consider further campaigns for other product sectors such as counterfeit electrical products.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 effect on the number of people buying unsafe electrical products online of introducing regulations to require online sales platforms to (a) immediately remove goods deemed unsafe, (b) notify the buyer when they become aware that an unsafe item has been purchased and (c) take other steps to accept responsibility for the goods bought and sold on their websites.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products can be sold in the UK. Distributors, including those selling online, have legal responsibilities under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 to ensure that equipment has the required labelling and that they do not make equipment available on the market where they know or suspect it to be unsafe. Manufacturers and importers must ensure that only safe electrical products are placed on the market, monitor the safety of their products in use and keep distributors informed of the monitoring.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) are conducting a review of the Product Safety framework to ensure it remains one of the best in the world in both protecting consumers and enabling businesses to innovate and grow. The review will consider the impact on product safety of new technologies and new business models, including e-commerce.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on what date he plans to publish his Energy White Paper.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Energy White Paper is a priority and it will be published this Autumn.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
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 publish the dates on which the Hydrogen Advisory Council is planned to meet.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The inaugural meeting of the Hydrogen Advisory Council (HAC) was on 20 July 2020. It is expected to meet quarterly for at least the next two years with the next meeting scheduled on 14 October 2020.