Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 with Ofgem to help consumers save money on their energy bills.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
In October we extended the Energy Price Cap until at least the end of 2021, which means that 15 million households across the UK will continue to be protected from overcharging on their energy bills. Since its introduction in January 2019, the Cap has saved customers around £1 billion a year.
We have also introduced energy efficiency measures to further reduce bills and tackle fuel poverty. The Green Homes Grant voucher scheme, which opened in September 2020, provides low income homeowners in England up to £10,000 each to install energy efficiency and low-carbon heating measures in their homes. An additional £640m per year is available through the Energy Company Obligation scheme to help fuel poor and low-income households stay warm while reducing their energy bills.
In addition, the Warm Home Discount provides over 2 million low-income and vulnerable households with a £140 rebate off their winter energy bill.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 consumers to support local businesses during the Christmas 2020 trading period.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to supporting local businesses during this crucial trading period. BEIS and MHCLG have been working closely with retailers and Local Authorities for a safe and successful reopening of non-essential retail on 2 December.
In order to further support retailers, planning rules limiting opening hours will be eased to allow shops to be open for longer Monday to Saturday from 2 December, giving consumers greater flexibility to choose when they shop. These measures will run through the January sales.
We have modified the closing time for hospitality to last orders at 10pm and closing time at 11pm. This allows customers to depart gradually and provides greater flexibility.
The excellent Small Business Saturday UK event took place on the 5 December and was a great way to celebrate small and micro businesses across the UK, raise awareness of the importance of SME’s to our local communities and help them get back on their feet.
My ministerial colleagues across Government and I were delighted to be able to take part on the day itself to champion our small businesses and draw attention to the brilliant campaign.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the ability of the electricity network to support the mass charging of electric vehicles.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is investing more than £1.3bn to support new EV charging infrastructure, including £950m on future proofing electricity network capacity along the Strategic Road Network.
Electricity network operators at both the distribution and transmission levels are responsible for assessing the need for new investment to support electric vehicle charging as part of their business plans, which are then approved by Ofgem, the independent regulator. My officials regularly meet with network operators across Great Britain to discuss the impacts of the electric vehicle transition, including how the increasing demand will be managed.
Electric vehicles also present an opportunity for consumers to contribute to the efficient management of electricity supply and demand and share the benefits of doing so through smart technologies.
The necessary investment in infrastructure and the adoption of smart charging will ensure that the electricity network is able to support the mass charging of electric vehicles.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 role of hydrogen hybrid boilers in replacing natural gas boilers from 2025.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department has been considering the potential contributions of different technologies to decarbonise heat, including the deployment of heat pumps and the potential use of hydrogen on the grid.
In order to support this, prototype ‘hydrogen-ready boilers’ are being developed under the £25m BEIS Hy4Heat programme. This programme is seeking to investigate if it is technically possible and safe to replace methane with hydrogen in appliances for residential and commercial buildings and evaluate the likely costs and performance.
The Government is also supporting the uptake of heat pumps and hybrid heat pumps through the Renewable Heat Incentive and the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme. We are continuing to develop our position on the potential role of hybrid heating systems in meeting net zero by 2050 and they have been included in our large scale ‘Electrification of Heat Demonstration Project’. The project aims to gather further evidence on how these systems operate in practice, which will provide more in-depth understanding of hybrids’ role in decarbonising heating going forwards.
We will be setting out the immediate actions we will take for reducing emissions from buildings in our Heat and Buildings Strategy which we plan to publish in due course.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the increase in the level of covid-19 cases, what steps he is taking to encourage (a) supermarkets and (b) other retail stores to consider re-introducing measures to support vulnerable shoppers such as dedicated shopping hours.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government remains engaged with key stakeholders in public health, the retail industry, and trade unions to ensure the sector can continue to operate safely. Guidance issued to employers and employees is helping them take all the necessary precautions to limit the spread of the virus in working environments including shops.
The Government welcomes efforts by supermarkets and other retail stores to ensure vulnerable groups and older people can shop safely but this is a decision for each business.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what work has been undertaken by the Jet Zero Council on producing the first zero carbon transatlantic passenger jet.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Jet Zero Council met on 28 July, creating a partnership between industry and the Government to drive high ambition in the delivery of new technologies and innovative ways to cut aviation emissions.
The Council has been set up to develop bold, new thinking on ways to develop UK capability to tackle zero emission commercial flight.
This includes considering how to develop and industrialise clean aviation and aerospace technologies, establish UK production facilities for sustainable aviation fuels, and develop a coordinated approach to the policy and regulatory framework needed to deliver net zero aviation.
The Department, alongside the Department for Transport, will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders on delivering our Jet Zero ambitions.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 will take to involve precision engineering companies in (a) Bosworth and (b) the UK in the post-covid-19 recovery of the UK’s aeronautical industry.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
We regularly discuss post-Covid-19 recovery with aerospace companies across the UK, including through the Aerospace Growth Partnership.
The UK’s aerospace and aviation sectors are benefiting from over £8.5 billion from the Government’s Covid-19 business support measures, including the Coronavirus Corporate Financing Facility, support for research and development, supply chain performance improvement programmes, and export finance.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of UK businesses to increase their production of hydrogen supply.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Ministers and officials are engaging extensively with UK hydrogen stakeholders to inform development of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier for the UK, including business models to support investment in low carbon hydrogen production.
Engagement has covered interests from production to end use, including the UK’s industrial clusters with representatives from carbon capture and storage enabled hydrogen projects and potential users of hydrogen; and electrolytic hydrogen producers such as Ryse and ITM Power.
We are formalising our engagement with such stakeholders through the establishment of a Hydrogen Advisory Council, which met for the first time this week. This will enable Government to work in partnership with Industry to drive commercial demonstration and deployment of low carbon hydrogen in the 2020s.
The UK is well placed to be a world leader in both the leading low carbon hydrogen production routes - electrolysis and carbon capture and storage enabled methane reformation. We are home to the world’s largest offshore wind market, have depleted oil and gas reservoirs off our coastline that could potentially store more than 78 billion tonnes of CO2 and significant underground salt beds which could provide tens of gigawatts of cost effective hydrogen storage.
The UK has world leading companies in both these production routes who are already developing major scale production projects, and a world leading innovation base that will contribute to development of the next generation of hydrogen production technologies.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 for Enterprise Zones as part of his plans for covid-19 recovery planning.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Enterprise Zones (EZs) are designated areas that create local economic growth by supporting businesses to grow.
Currently, the Government has no plans to extend or create new EZs. However, the Government remains committed to creating up to ten new innovative Freeports across the UK, to level up the country and make sure businesses and communities benefit from the opportunities of leaving the EU. The consultation concludes on the 13th July, after which the Government will make further announcements.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 with businesses to ensure the safety of people with (a) diabetes and (b) other underlying medical conditions who are returning to work as the covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Paul Scully
It is critical that employers offer safe workplaces. The Government has published guidance to help ensure workplaces are as safe as possible during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. These guides cover a range of working environments and are available at www.gov.uk/workingsafely.
Nothing in this guidance affects employers’ existing responsibilities under employment and equalities legislation. Employers therefore need to bear in mind the particular needs of different groups or individuals, and make sure that the steps they take to address the risk of COVID-19 do not unjustifiably impact on some groups compared with others.
The safer workplaces guidance provides information to employers on how best to meet these responsibilities in the context of COVID-19.