Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 Government's Response to the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee’s Sixth Report of Session 2019–21, Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, published on 29 June 2021, HC 386, What his timescale is for ensuring that Mineworker’s pensions are paid and scheme members receive their full entitlement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government guarantee ensures that all members of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme receive their full entitlement.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how the Better Regulation Executive oversees the regulatory framework for approving nutritional borderline substances.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances (ACBS) approves and recommends borderline substances supplied by the NHS. The Committee's recommendations are listed in the Borderline Substance list in the Drug Tariff (Part XV).
The regulatory framework for approving nutritional borderline substances is out of scope of the Better Regulation Framework which oversee regulatory measures that relate to the regulation of business activity.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with representatives from energy suppliers to ensure eligible customers are still able to access the warm home discount once their previous energy supplier has ceased trading.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
When an energy supplier leaves the market, in almost all cases, Ofgem appoints a Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) to take over its customers. SoLRs are not obliged to provide the Warm Home Discount to transferred customers; however, all SoLRs have honoured this obligation in the past and the Government would expect that any future SoLRs would continue to honour these obligations. The Warm Home Discount is one of the factors that Ofgem considers when appointing a SoLR. In rare cases, the Special Administration Regime (SAR) process may be a more appropriate option to protect customers of large energy suppliers. Warm Home Discount recipients are unaffected during the SAR process.
The Government concluded a consultation on the future scheme last summer. Under the proposals, the vast majority of households would receive their rebates automatically, without having to apply. This would make it easier for SoLRs to make the Warm Home Discount rebate payments to newly transferred customers. BEIS will publish the Government’s response to the consultation in the spring, with the reforms coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many eligible customers (a) have and (b) have not been able to access the warm home discount after being moved to a new energy supplier after their previous energy supplier ceased trading.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
When an energy supplier leaves the market, in almost all cases, Ofgem appoints a Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) to take over its customers. SoLRs are not obliged to provide the Warm Home Discount to transferred customers; however, all SoLRs have honoured this obligation in the past and the Government would expect that any future SoLRs would continue to honour these obligations. In rare cases, the Special Administration Regime (SAR) process may be a more appropriate option to protect customers of large energy suppliers. Warm Home Discount recipients are unaffected during the SAR process.
The Government concluded a consultation on the future scheme last summer. Under the proposals, the vast majority of households would receive their rebates automatically, without having to apply. This would make it easier for SoLRs to make the Warm Home Discount rebate payments to newly transferred customers. BEIS will publish the Government’s response to the consultation in the spring, with the reforms coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many tonnes of CO2 will be emitted each year by the (a) transportation and (b) burning of wood pellets imported to the UK for use in bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) energy schemes.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not hold this information
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many tonnes of CO2 are emitted from the Drax power station as a result of burning wood pellets each year.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not hold data on stack emissions from wood pellet burning at Drax. Ofgem publishes data on company-specific supply chain emissions from biomass, which can be found here https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/biomass-sustainability-dataset-2019-20
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 potential merits of introducing additional regulations for the parcel delivery sector to ensure a minimum of standard of service.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government remains committed to an affordable and accessible postal service for all users. Under its universal service obligation, Royal Mail offers a letter and parcel service for the same price and to the same delivery standards to anywhere in the UK.
Ofcom, as the UK’s designated independent regulator of postal services, is currently consulting on the future regulatory framework for post, including parcel operators outside of the universal service obligation, and plans to issue a statement in Summer 2022.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 to work with private industry to raise people's awareness of the risks associated with the purchase of counterfeit goods in the run up to Christmas 2021.
Answered by George Freeman
The Intellectual Property Office works with industry, law enforcement and government partners to raise the awareness to consumers of the social, economic and personal risks posed by counterfeit goods. It is presently working with Local Authority Trading Standards teams to support their seasonal campaigns highlighting the dangers of purchasing counterfeit goods this Christmas.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
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 has had discussions with the Office for Product Safety and Standards on safeguarding children from the sale of unsafe toys on online marketplaces.
Answered by Paul Scully
Existing product safety legislation places obligations on manufacturers, importers and distributors to ensure that consumer products are safe before they can be placed on the UK market. This includes retailers selling toys via online marketplaces.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), which is within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, is taking forward a programme of work to help ensure the safety of products sold online. Where products are identified online that do not meet the UK’s product safety requirements, OPSS works with colleagues in local Trading Standards to take action and expects online platforms to act quickly to remove them from sale. Since April 2021, OPSS interventions have led to the withdrawal of more than 10,000 unsafe products, including toys, previously listed and available in the UK via online marketplaces.
In addition, OPSS continues to run regular campaigns to improve consumer awareness of safety issues, including a Christmas Toys product safety information campaign which will run from 15th November 2021 until 17th December 2021.
OPSS is also currently conducting a review of the UK’s product safety framework to ensure it remains robust and is future-proofed so that it continues to protect consumers while enabling businesses to safely innovate and grow. This includes reviewing the impact of the changes brought by eCommerce to the product safety framework to ensure that there is appropriate accountability and clear responsibilities throughout the supply chain. The Government has analysed submissions to the product safety review Call for Evidence and is now finalising its response, which will be published in due course. We will consider a full range of options to address the challenges identified by stakeholders and any proposals for legislative change would be subject to public consultation.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will undertake an assessment of the potential merits of imposing a contractual duty of care on online marketplaces to ensure that the products they allow to be listed for sale are fit for purpose and meet regulatory requirements.
Answered by Paul Scully
Existing product safety legislation places obligations on manufacturers, importers and distributors to ensure that consumer products are safe before they can be placed on the UK market. This includes retailers selling toys via online marketplaces.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), which is within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, is taking forward a programme of work to help ensure the safety of products sold online. Where products are identified online that do not meet the UK’s product safety requirements, OPSS works with colleagues in local Trading Standards to take action and expects online platforms to act quickly to remove them from sale. Since April 2021, OPSS interventions have led to the withdrawal of more than 10,000 unsafe products, including toys, previously listed and available in the UK via online marketplaces.
In addition, OPSS continues to run regular campaigns to improve consumer awareness of safety issues, including a Christmas Toys product safety information campaign which will run from 15th November 2021 until 17th December 2021.
OPSS is also currently conducting a review of the UK’s product safety framework to ensure it remains robust and is future-proofed so that it continues to protect consumers while enabling businesses to safely innovate and grow. This includes reviewing the impact of the changes brought by eCommerce to the product safety framework to ensure that there is appropriate accountability and clear responsibilities throughout the supply chain. The Government has analysed submissions to the product safety review Call for Evidence and is now finalising its response, which will be published in due course. We will consider a full range of options to address the challenges identified by stakeholders and any proposals for legislative change would be subject to public consultation.