Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
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 plans to maximise the potential of tidal flows on the River Severn to generate electricity from (a) barrage or (b) tidal lagoons.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government remains open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the tidal range energy in the bays and estuaries around our coastlines, including barrage schemes and other alternatives. Any such proposal would need to demonstrate strong evidence of value for money in the context of other low-carbon technologies, as well as details of its associated energy system benefits and environmental impact mitigation strategies before the Government could take a view on its potential case for support.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
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 plans to increase national energy storage potential by using grid-scale batteries.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is facilitating the deployment of electricity storage at all scales, including grid-scale batteries, through the joint BEIS and Ofgem Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan published in 2021.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
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 merits of allowing non-essential retail shops to run a click and collect service during the national covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises the importance of allowing retailers to be able continue operating during these very challenging times which is why all shops can offer click-and-collect services.
Click-and-collect allow the public to have access to goods they need quickly, where they aren’t available from retailers that can remain open and allows goods to be pre-ordered and collected without customers entering the premises, thus remaining in well ventilated spaces - which are, by definition, safer environments where transmission is less likely to occur.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has in place to report carbon emissions embedded in imports when reporting UK carbon emissions statistics.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The UK follows the agreed international approach for estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, which is for countries to report the emissions produced within their territories.
The Climate Change Act defines UK emissions as being those of greenhouse gases from sources within the UK, consistent with international reporting practice.
There is no internationally agreed approach to measuring consumption emissions. Estimates of imported emissions in particular are associated with greater levels of uncertainty than estimates of UK-based territorial emissions. These emissions do not, therefore, include emissions from the manufacture of goods imported into the UK, which are reported in the country of manufacture, as this would risk double counting. Accounting for emissions produced within each country’s own border in line with international accounting standards, therefore allows for direct comparison of the UK’s emissions with other countries.
Nevertheless, the UK is at the forefront of measuring consumption emissions with statistics published annually and policies developed to reduce emissions. Emissions on a consumption basis (i.e. including emissions embedded in imports) fell by 21 per cent between 2007 and 2017, and by 3 per cent between 2016 and 2017.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to prioritise and support research into covid-19 which (a) uses advanced non-animal scientific methods that are relevant to humans and (b) avoids the known issues of species differences which make the translation of animal research data to humans unreliable and can delay or prevent the availability of effective vaccines and treatments.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government considers that the carefully regulated use of animals in scientific research remains an important tool in the development of safe new medicines and treatments. At the same time, the Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved primarily through funding for the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs) which has invested £67million in research, and works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research.
With regard to specific research into Covid-19, human trials are already underway. The Government is currently funding two UK vaccine candidates; one at the University of Oxford and one at Imperial College, London. The University of Oxford began Phase 1 human safety trials on 23 April and have recently recruited healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 to take part in these trials.
Animal testing has not been skipped, however. Clinical trials of any vaccine must follow a predefined development pathway. It was agreed at the meeting of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities, held on 18 March 2020 that it is scientifically justified to use toxicology data and clinical data collected from other trials using animals to support a first-in-human clinical trial for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate. It was also agreed that data from animal disease models would be required to support Phase II clinical trials.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
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 effect on businesses using the (a) Port of Dover and (b) Channel Tunnel of the reintroduction of customs procedures between the EU and the UK; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Delivering a negotiated deal with the EU remains the Government's top priority, but it is the job of a responsible government to ensure we are prepared for all scenarios, including no-deal.
The Government aims to ensure that movement through ports will continue to be as frictionless as possible in a no-deal scenario, so that the effects on businesses using the Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel are minimised. To achieve this, the Government’s no deal roll on-roll off model (which applies at these ports) moves customs processes away from the border. Furthermore, HMRC on 4 February announced transitional simplified procedures (TSP) which will aid businesses using these ports, and the Border Delivery Group is actively engaging with prospective declarants on both sides of the Channel.
As the application of additional customs checks by the EU is outside of our control, the Government has undertaken a range of preparatory measures to mitigate potential impacts and ensure that goods can continue to flow into and out of the UK as freely as possible. These include Operation Brock and other traffic management measures in order to manage HGV flows effectively.