Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will introduce new protections for policy holders with companies in administration, to ensure that they are reimbursed the full amount of their policy is worth if that policy becomes invalidated through no fault of their own.
Answered by Paul Scully
Consumers who hold a policy with an insolvent company are usually classed as unsecured creditors. Other unsecured creditors might include employees and trade suppliers. Changing the order of ranking for policy holders would have a detrimental effect on these other unsecured creditors as well as having wider implications for the economy, including on the cost of borrowing for firms.
The Government continually reviews the insolvency framework and will make changes where it is necessary to do so. Insurance and other related policies, however, are often protected by other methods, including regulatory regimes which provide statutory protections for consumers.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
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 a four day working week.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government does not believe there can be a ‘one size fits all’ approach to work arrangements. That is why we put individual agency and choice at the heart of our consultation on “making flexible working the default”, which closed on 1st December 2021. We are currently reviewing the responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will introduce standardised tests for people seeking exemption from the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill under clause 18(1)(b) to prove their suitability for that exemption.
Answered by Paul Scully
The circumstances under which an overseas entity might be exempted from giving notices in accordance with the requirements of clause 12 of the Bill have been carefully considered to provide an appropriate balance between clarity and flexibility. Given the key objectives of the register of overseas entities are to improve transparency and combat money laundering, these exemptions will be used very carefully, and only for evidenced and legitimate reasons.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the evidential basis is for the inclusion of clause 18(b) in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill.
Answered by Paul Scully
The circumstances under which an overseas entity might be exempted from giving notices in accordance with the requirements of clause 12 of the Bill have been carefully considered to provide an appropriate balance between clarity and flexibility. Given the key objectives of the register of overseas entities are to improve transparency and combat money laundering, these exemptions will be used very carefully, and only for evidenced and legitimate reasons.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government has held discussions with OneWeb on the further suspension of future rocket launches from Russia.
Answered by George Freeman
The OneWeb Board voted to suspend all the remaining launches of its first generation of satellites, which were scheduled from Baikonur. The Government is reviewing our participation in all further projects involving Russian collaboration extremely carefully in light of the current situation.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what measures in the Government's National Space Strategy will take account of the increased prevalence of coronal mass ejections.
Answered by George Freeman
Alongside the National Space Strategy, the government published the Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy.
A key commitment within the Severe Space Weather Preparedness Strategy is to enhance our understanding of severe space weather, its impacts, and our ability to forecast events such as coronal mass ejections.
An increase in coronal mass ejections has been anticipated within the context of the Strategy, which will inform effective mitigation processes and resilience planning against the impacts of space weather to the UK.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which aspects of the National Space Strategy his department is responsible for.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is the Department responsible for co-ordinating civil space policy and strategy across government and co-authored the National Space Strategy with the Ministry of Defence. It is also the sponsoring department of the UK Space Agency and UK Research and Innovation, which are key agencies for the delivery of the National Space Strategy.
BEIS jointly co-chairs the newly established Director-level National Space Board with the Ministry of Defence to oversee and drive delivery of the National Space Strategy’s ambitions and commitments across government. The strategy will be delivered jointly by several government departments and with the support of our thriving space sector: businesses, innovators, entrepreneurs, and space scientists.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress he has made on delivering the commitments of the UK hydrogen strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Good progress is being made since the Hydrogen Strategy was published in August 2021. In November, the Government’s Net Zero Strategy announced the Industrial Decarbonisation Hydrogen Revenue Support scheme, worth £100 million and in December, the Government published a call for evidence on ‘hydrogen-ready’ industrial boiler equipment which will remain open until 14 March. Later this month the Regulators’ Forum will have its first meeting to advise on the identification and prioritisation of regulatory roles, barriers and standards in the H2 value chain.
The Government has also published consultations on the proposed design of the £240m Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, a hydrogen business model and a UK standard for low carbon hydrogen. The Government will respond to these consultations, which closed in late October 2021, in the first quarter of this year alongside indicative Heads of Terms for the business model. The Government will then launch the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Standard.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
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 projects to create district heating networks using geothermal energy from abandoned coal mines that are underway or being considered throughout the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Heat Networks Investment Project has made two awards totalling £9.7 million for the construction of projects which use geothermal heat from minewater. The first of these is the Gateshead District Energy Scheme, which was awarded a grant of £5.9m for the expansion of the Gateshead District Energy Scheme and will deliver significant decarbonisation through the installation of a 6MW mine water source heat pump. The second is the Seaham Garden Village district heat network, which was awarded a grant of £3.8m to supply low-carbon geothermal heat from former coalmines to the new garden village in south Seaham.
The Coal Authority has an ongoing programme to review opportunities for the use of geothermal energy from abandoned coal mines with both Local Authorities and private entities across the former coalfields. At present, there are 15 schemes being assessed.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
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 takes to ensure that at least one official from his Department is present during all (a) meetings and (b) phone calls relating to Government business between Ministers and third parties.
Answered by George Freeman
Ministers holding meetings or phone calls on government business are routinely accompanied by a private secretary or other official, in line with the expectations of paragraph 8.14 of the Ministerial Code.