Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
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 number of jobs in the green economy.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) carry out an annual survey to report on economic activity in the low carbon and renewable energy sector in the UK.
The latest release provides first estimates for 2015 and shows that an estimated 233,000 full-time equivalent employees were working directly in low carbon and renewable energy activities.
The ONS has not yet published estimates for 2015 of the additional employees supported in the supply chain to the sector. However, estimates for 2014 indicate that this activity could amount to around a further 200,000 full-time equivalent employees. Further information on the ONS releases can be found at the links below.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/finalestimates/2015
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether local planning authorities can only grant hydraulic fracturing consent for a well after an environment impact assessment directive compliance assessment has taken place.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Infrastructure Act 2015 makes clear that my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will not grant consent for associated hydraulic fracturing unless the environmental impact of the development, which includes the relevant well, has been taken into account by the local planning authority.
We will expect operators to complete an Environmental Impact Assessment in order to fulfil condition 1 in section 50 of the Act.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her Department's policy is on restricting the import of cheap, inferior-quality coal to the UK.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The decision of where to source coal is a commercial decision for companies. Through our efforts to decarbonise our electricity system, we are increasing the diversity of our energy mix and reducing our reliance on unabated coal.
Asked by: Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which projects in Wales have received European Commission funding in each of the last five years; and how much each such project received in each year.
Answered by Anna Soubry
A list of all projects financed by the European Structural Funds in the 2007-13 period can be found on the Welsh Government website under ‘Funding’, ‘European funds in Wales’, ‘Previous European Structural Funds programmes’, ‘Approved project database 2007-2013’.
Implementation of the 2014-2020 European Structural Funds programmes is at an early stage. A list of projects to be financed in Wales by the Structural Funds for 2014-2020 can be found on the Welsh Government website under ‘Funding’, ‘European funds in Wales’, ‘European Structural Funds 2014-2020’, ‘Approved projects and ideas under development’.
The Seventh Framework Programme 2007-2013 has provided grants to research and innovation projects across the EU. The European Commission’s figures show that the total value of grants awarded to organisations in Wales under this programme was €145,243,199 (up to and including 11 November 2015). For 2014-2020, the Horizon 2020 programme (the successor to the Seventh Framework Programme) has awarded grants with a total value of €39,932,431 to organisations in Wales (up to and including 23 February 2016).