Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has he made of the level of disruption to postal services as a result of covid-19 related absences.
Answered by Paul Scully
Royal Mail’s contingency plans to mitigate disruption to postal services are overseen by Ofcom, the independent regulator responsible for monitoring the delivery of the universal postal service.
Ofcom carefully monitors Royal Mail’s performance to ensure it is providing the best service possible to customers and has powers to investigate and take enforcement action if Royal Mail fails to achieve its performance targets.
Ofcom will continue to take a pragmatic and proportionate approach to compliance monitoring.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 take steps to help ensure that energy companies are offering flexible and affordable tariffs for elderly customers.
Answered by Greg Hands
The setting of energy tariffs is a commercial matter for individual supply companies.
The Government continues to support low income and fuel poor households with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Further, Winter Fuel Payments which are explicitly for the elderly, and Cold Weather Payments, ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 help ensure that customers of energy providers that enter administration will automatically be placed on an identical or similar contract with another provider.
Answered by Greg Hands
When a supplier exits the market Ofgem runs the Supplier of Last Resort process with the aim of getting the best deal for customers.
If an energy supplier enters special administration, the pricing strategy is a matter for the Energy Administrator. Administrators have a statutory obligation to continue energy supply to the company’s customers at the lowest practicable cost.
The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect customers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to update the criteria for waste sent to Northwich Incinerator so that recyclable items will not be incinerated.
Answered by Greg Hands
A public consultation into the application for the proposed expansion of the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant near Northwich in Cheshire commenced on 4 November 2021 and will close on 2 December 2021. It is not possible to comment on the merits of a live planning application given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the decision-making process. The Secretary of State will take all relevant matters, including the waste hierarchy, into account when he makes his decision.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 the use of blue hydrogen in achieving net zero.
Answered by Greg Hands
Low carbon hydrogen will be vital for meeting our legally-binding commitment to achieving net zero by 2050, with potential to help decarbonise vital UK industry sectors and provide flexible energy across heat, power and transport.
The Net Zero Strategy confirms the government’s ‘twin-track’ approach to supporting both electrolytic ‘green’ and carbon capture (CCUS)-enabled ‘blue’ hydrogen production alongside multiple other production routes. Analysis from BEIS and the Climate Change Committee suggests that both routes will be needed to deliver low carbon hydrogen at the required scale and cost.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 of the expansion of the proposed Northwich incinerator on (a) levels of heavy goods vehicle transit, (b) noise pollution and (c) air pollution in that local area.
Answered by Greg Hands
A public consultation into the Application for the proposed expansion of the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant near Northwich in Cheshire, commenced on 4 November 2021 and will close on 2 December 2021. It is not possible to comment on the merits of a live planning application given the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in the decision-making process but he will take all relevant matters into account when he makes his decision.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 metro mayors on converting the gas grid in their area from natural gas to hydrogen.
Answered by Greg Hands
A variety of joint government and industry research, development and testing projects are underway, designed to help determine the safety, feasibility, costs and benefits of converting all or part of the existing gas grid to carry 100 percent hydrogen.
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has not met with metro mayors specifically on converting the gas grid. BEIS officials have had wider engagement with local authorities to ensure their perspectives were considered in the development of the UK Hydrogen Strategy and we will continue to engage with local authorities, metro mayors and other local partners as we look to grow the hydrogen economy throughout the 2020s and beyond.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
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 his Department has made of the average cost of (a) a heat pump, (b) installing a heat pump and (c) adding internal renovations, such as changing radiators or pipework, to accompany a new heat pump.
Answered by Greg Hands
In 2020 BEIS published analysis by Delta-EE on the cost of installing heating measures in domestic properties, including heat pumps.
Since then, the Government has published the Heat and Buildings Strategy which sets out a plan to drive down the cost of low carbon heating technologies like heat pumps, working with industry to ensure that in future they are no more expensive to buy and run for consumers as fossil fuel boilers. As part of this strategy:
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Independent - Runcorn and Helsby)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason Modern Methods of Construction are not included in the Building and Heat strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Heat and Buildings Strategy is focussed on emissions from energy use within buildings. Emissions from heat used for industrial processes, and emissions from construction are out of scope for the Heat and Buildings Strategy.