Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Dunne Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

The hon. Gentleman knows that the North Sea Transition Authority launched the UK’s first ever carbon storage licensing round yesterday. I am very happy to meet him or to ensure that a Minister from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy meets him.

[Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend has just told the House that at the G20 meeting of environment and climate change Ministers, the agreement was reached to phase out global coal. Did he support that measure on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government?

[Alok Sharma]

As my right hon. Friend said, the agreement we reached was for the G7 to phase out domestic coal. Of course, we want to see that happen in developing economies across the world and that is why we are working, as we did with South Africa, to ensure that funding is made available to a number of other countries that are major emitters to ensure that they are able to make that transition to clean energy.

--- Later in debate ---

[Philip Dunne (Ludlow) (Con)]

Q13. My right hon. Friend may be aware that the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has recently submitted a revised outline business case in support of its £312 million capital allocation made by the Department of Health and Social Care four years ago. Does he agree that, in order to make progress and complete the ambitious hospital building programme, the NHS decision-making processes need to be not only levelled up, but speeded up?

[The Prime Minister]

My right hon. Friend certainly speaks for many in this House in wanting faster decisions on planning and the NHS, and that is what we are doing. We are pushing through, as he knows, 40 hospitals by the—[Interruption.] Forty hospitals we are building, and what that needs is the funding. I tactfully point out again that Members on the Opposition Benches are bellowing away, but they voted against the extra £39 billion that we are putting in.