Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Financial Secretary to the Treasury will respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich of 3 February 2021 on his constituent’s concerns on long-term financial support to the hospitality sector.
Answered by Paul Scully
The hon. Member’s correspondence about financial support for the hospitality sector was transferred to BEIS from HM Treasury on 19 March. I will write separately in response to the hon. Member.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
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 his Department's consultation on Aligning UK international support for the clean energy transition which closed on 8 February 2020, when he plans to announce which option will be used for implementing the policy shift to ending new direct financial or promotional support for the fossil fuel energy sector overseas.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government is considering its response to the consultation and will respond in due course. This includes the Government’s decision on the timing of the policy implementation.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the results of the consultation entitled, Aligning UK international support for the clean energy transition, which concluded on 8 February 2021, will be published.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK Government is now considering the information received and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish an updated series of Carbon Values consistent with the Government's latest commitments under the Paris Agreement and Climate Change Act 2008.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
BEIS is reviewing the Carbon Values used to value emissions in government policy appraisal. Once this review is completed the updated values will be published later in the year.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to implement the Clean Steel Fund.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In August 2019, the Government announced a £250 million Clean Steel Fund to support the UK steel sector to transition to lower carbon iron and steel production, through investment in new technologies and processes. The Fund will help the sector towards achieving our target of net zero emissions by 2050, by maximising longevity and resilience while harnessing clean growth opportunities.
Steel industry stakeholders provided positive responses to our Call for Evidence, including responses on possible timelines for the Fund. Feedback generally indicated that companies could be ready with projects for funding by 2023 or 2024. A summary of the responses was published in December 2020. Officials will work with industry to decide the most appropriate timeline for the scheme.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
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 made a recent estimate of levels of Chinese investment in West Cumbria Mining Ltd’s proposed Woodhouse Colliery deep coal mine project in Whitehaven, West Cumbria.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Planning decisions are made at a local level wherever possible. The planning application for the Whitehaven coal mine has not been called in by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and is a matter for Cumbria County Council to decide. There is no consultation role for my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in this decision.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many times the Green Jobs Taskforce has met since its inception; and whether (a) he or (b) the Minister for Business, Energy and Clean Growth will chair that taskforce.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Green Jobs Taskforce will assess how the UK jobs market and the skills sector will adapt to support net zero. I chair the taskforce jointly with my Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills. Following the first meeting in November, the 2nd meeting of the Taskforce will take place on the 22nd of February, with further meetings planned with the aim of concluding our work in spring 2021. The resulting actions will feed into policy development across Whitehall on Net Zero, including our Net Zero Strategy to be published later in the year.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he has made on implementing the Clean Steel Fund.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
In August 2019, the Government announced a £250 million Clean Steel Fund to support the UK steel sector to transition to lower carbon iron and steel production, through investment in new technologies and processes. The Fund will help the sector towards achieving our target of net zero emissions by 2050, by maximising longevity and resilience while harnessing clean growth opportunities.
Steel industry stakeholders provided positive responses to our Call for Evidence. A summary of the responses was published in December 2020 and will inform the scheme’s design. As we develop the Fund, we will continue to engage closely with the sector to ensure that it meets the needs of businesses.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
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 Ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, published on 18 November 2020, which infrastructure projects will be funded as part of that plan; how funding for that plan will be distributed across Government departments; and what the planned timescale is for that funding to be spent.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Spanning clean energy, buildings, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the Ten Point Plan will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030; level up regions across the UK; and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs. The wide range of sectors with funding outlined in the Ten Point Plan span across Government Departments, including BEIS, DfT and DEFRA and further details of funding will be published over the course of this year through a number of sectoral strategies as well as a Net Zero Strategy.
This includes a range of infrastructure projects funded through the Ten Point Plan. For example, we will be supporting the Offshore Wind industry, investing £160 million into modern ports and manufacturing infrastructure. We are currently running a competitive process to support the development of a large coastal manufacturing site for offshore wind. The deadline for applications was 8th January and we are currently assessing the proposals received.
We will also be investing £1 billion through the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Infrastructure Fund which will provide industry with the certainty required to deploy CCUS at pace and at scale. Decisions have not yet been taken on how the Fund will be allocated. In parallel we will continue to develop and implement the necessary CCUS business models to enable deployment and unlock private sector investment in CCUS across power, industry and hydrogen production.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to extend the UK Emissions Trading Scheme to the two thirds of uncovered emissions, as set out in the Energy White Paper.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) replaced the UK’s participation in the EU ETS on 1 January 2021. The UK ETS initially applies to energy-intensive industries, electricity generation and aviation.
In the Energy White Paper, we committed to exploring expanding the UK ETS to the two thirds of uncovered emissions, including how the UK ETS could incentivise the deployment of greenhouse gas removal technologies. We will set out our aspirations to continue to lead the world on carbon pricing in the run up to COP26.