Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the demand for coal has been excluding electricity generation in each year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
The table below gives the demand for coal excluding electricity generation from 2010 - 2017:
| UK coal demand (thousand tonnes) (1) |
2010 | 9,827 |
2011 | 9,658 |
2012 | 9,141 |
2013 | 10,333 |
2014 | 10,061 |
2015 | 8,121 |
2016 | 5,689 |
2017 | 5,459 |
(1) Includes coal used for heat generation, coke manufacture, blast furnaces, patent fuel manufacture, energy used in coal extraction and final consumption by industry, transport, domestic and other users.
Source: Energy Trends table 2.1 June 2018 available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the main policy priority is for his Department for 2018; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Department’s priority is to build an economy that works for everyone, with great places across the UK for people to work and for businesses to invest, innovate and grow. To do this, we are delivering the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy, which sets out a long-term plan to boost the productivity and earning power of people throughout the UK.
This ambition is all the more important as we leave the European Union, a move which allows – and requires – the government and the country to make long-term decisions about our economic future, and set out a positive and bold vision for the country’s future.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average efficiency is of the UK coal-fired power station fleet; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
The thermal efficiency of UK coal-fired power stations on a gross calorific value basis was 35.0 per cent in 2016, the latest available data.
The data is published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), table 5.10, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much electricity an average UK household consumed per annum in each year since 2010 for which information is available; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
Average annual electricity consumption in the UK is shown in the table below;
Average annual consumption per household (kWh)
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
kWh | 4,520 | 4,214 | 4,292 | 4,209 | 3,971 | 3,921 | 3,889 | 3,750 |
* Source; Quarterly Energy Prices, Average annual domestic electricity bills, table QEP 2.2.5
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much coal is required to produce (a) one KWh of electricity in a UK coal-fired power station ( b) one tonne of cement and (c) one tonne of steel; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
Regarding the coal required to produce a) electricity, b) cement, and c) steel:
a) In 2016 coal power stations in the UK used 0.4 kg of steam coal per kWh of electricity.
(Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES) tables 5.1 and 5.3.)
b) We do not hold data at a sufficient level of disaggregation to estimate the steam coal required to produce one tonne of cement. However, the World Coal Association reports that the production of one tonne of cement requires around 200 kg of coal.
(Source: https://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-coal/coal-cement)
c) We do not hold data at a sufficient level of disaggregation to estimate the coal required to produce one tonne of steel. However, the World Coal Association reports that the production of steel requires around 770 kg of coking coal through the Basic Oxygen Furnace production route.
(Source: https://www.worldcoal.org/coal/uses-coal/how-steel-produced)
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what research his Department has undertaken on the factors responsible for the recent increase in coal consumption globally; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department draws on a variety of data sources, such as the International Energy Agency, to analyse global energy trends. According to the International Energy Agency, global coal demand rose by around 1% in 2017, but this followed declines in the previous two years. The increase in 2017 is also well below the average annual growth rate of the preceding decade which was 3.3% and global coal demand is still well below its 2014 peak. Coal demand from the power sector drove the increase; lower demand from industry went some way to offset that. Developing economies in emerging Asia saw the largest increases, while demand fell in Europe and the United States.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
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 his counterparts in other governments on the UK supplying coal for their domestic power, steel and cement markets after the UK leaves the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
The sourcing of fuel for industrial purposes is a commercial matter for the businesses concerned.
I have regular discussions with Ministers in other governments on a range of topics, including the production and use of coal, promoting the UK’s Industrial Strategy and maximising opportunities for UK firms after Brexit.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people were employed in the (a) cement production, (b) steel production and (c) sugar production industries in the UK for each year since 2010; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Manufacturing supports 2.7 million jobs (with estimates of 5 million across the whole manufacturing value chain) and contributed £188 billion to the UK economy in 2017.
Employment statistics on smaller specific manufacturing sectors such as steel and sugar are available but tend to suffer from data availability issues due to the small number of firms involved. Those for cement are not available due to the same issues.
We found figures for steel and sugar production:
| GB steel sector employment |
2010 | 30,600 |
2011 | 32,000 |
2012 | 30,900 |
2013 | 30,700 |
2014 | 34,500 |
2015 | 31,400 |
2016 | 32,200 |
| Sugar sector employment |
2010 | 2,000 |
2011 | 2,000 |
2012 | * |
2013 | 2,000 |
2014 | * |
2015 | * |
2016 | * |
(Source: ONS Business Register and Employment Survey)
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many contractors currently vemployed by his Department are paid £1,000 or more per day.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
None.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people were employed in the (a) deep mine and b) surface mine coal production industry in each year since 2010 up to the most recent year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
The table below gives the number of people employed in deep mine and surface mine coal production in Great Britain at the end of each year since 2010:
| Deep Mined | Surface Mining |
2010 | 3,546 | 2,468 |
2011 | 3,695 | 2,277 |
2012 | 3,441 | 2,386 |
2013 | 1,953 | 1,762 |
2014 | 1,766 | 1,835 |
2015 | 477 | 1,498 |
2016 | 48 | 783 |
Source: The data is provided by the Coal Authority and published in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), table 2A, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/632495/Chapter_2.pdf