Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 to support the carbon capture and storage project, HyNet, to (a) safeguard manufacturing jobs in the North West and (b) position the UK as a global leader in clean growth.
Answered by Greg Hands
The 2019 Manifesto and Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution position the UK as a global leader which will create and safeguard thousands of jobs.
We have already supported Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) deployment in the North West, with an award of over £30m of development funding to HyNet, earlier this year, through the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge.
In our Ten Point Plan, the Government set out that we would deploy four CCUS clusters by 2030, at the latest. In May this year, BEIS launched Phase-1 of the CCUS Cluster Sequencing Process. An announcement on the results of Phase-1 in October of this year; as the process is ongoing, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the outcome at this stage.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the ability of the UK to achieve net zero by 2050; and whether the UK is currently on track to meet that target.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Over the last three decades, the UK has achieved record clean growth and has met its world-leading climate change commitments. Between 1990 and 2019, our economy has grown by 78% while our emissions have decreased by 44%, this is the fastest reduction in the G7.
The UK over-achieved against the first (2008-12) and second (2013-17) carbon budgets, and the latest projections show that we are on track to meet the third (2018-22). We recognise the need for further action to meet the fourth (2023-27) and fifth (2028-32) carbon budgets. Our sector decarbonisation strategies, and wider plans to deliver a green economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, will contain further proposals to support delivery of carbon budgets 4 and 5.
We have already published the Energy White Paper, Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, Transport Decarbonisation Plan and Hydrogen Strategy, and will publish the Heat and Building Strategy in due course. We will also publish a comprehensive Net Zero Strategy ahead of COP26, setting out the Government’s vision for transitioning to a net zero economy. This will raise ambition as we outline our path to meet net zero by 2050, our Carbon Budgets and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 effect of biofuels, including the burning of wood pellets in the UK, on the loss of biodiversity and deforestation overseas.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The UK only supports biomass which complies with strict sustainability criteria. This considers a range of environmental issues including protecting the biodiversity of forests from which the biomass is sourced, irrespective of its location.
Where biomass is sourced from forests, it is typically waste wood and residues from commercial forestry operations that already occur, and it is a requirement that the relevant legal requirements to protect biodiversity and the environment are adhered to. The evidence does not show that deforestation or biodiversity loss have occurred in the areas from where UK electricity generators source their biomass.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 compliance of the Insolvency Service’s rules on annual leave carry-over with the Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Insolvency Service has delegated authority for annual leave from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Insolvency Service has reviewed its policy and guidance and is content that it is compliant with the Working Time (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 (a) medium and (b) long-term effect of automation on (i) the labour market and (ii) new job creation.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is continuing to monitor the impact of automation on the labour market. The World Economic Forum estimate that robots will replace 75 million jobs globally between 2018 and 2022 but create 133 million new ones – a “net positive”.
We are committed to capitalising on this opportunity. The launch of the Robotics Growth Partnership will support our national ambition to put the UK at the cutting edge of the smart robotics revolution, turbo-charging economic productivity and unlocking benefits across society.
The Government also recognises that demand for skills will continue to change, in part in response to automation. We have committed to improving the UK's system for training in digital skills, ensuring that working people have the support they need to navigate the challenge of automation to a higher-wage future. This includes fully funding adults to take their first full level 3 qualification and a new entitlement to flexible loans over a lifetime, boosting opportunities to retrain and enhancing the nation’s technical skills.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of tidal energy projects in Britain's estuaries.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We have recently launched a Call for Evidence on supporting marine projects, including tidal stream and tidal range, to gather evidence on the scope for innovative marine energy technologies across Great Britain.