Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 allocate additional financial support to businesses in the West Lancashire hospitality sector affected by covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) was announced on 9 September to support businesses in England that are required to close during enhanced local restrictions introduced in areas by Her Majesty’s Government to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
On 9 October, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced changes to the grants within this scheme to provide further support to businesses required to close due to local restrictions.
These grants will be issued for each two-week period that a business is closed following the implementation of statutory localised restrictions and business closures.
The Government continues to monitor local restrictions and will work closely with any Local Authorities that become eligible for this grant scheme.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 take steps to encourage (a) Proctor & Gamble and (b) Assist Recruitment to respond to correspondence from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 27 May 2020 on their employment policies.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department is unable to intervene in individual cases of correspondence.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much the Government has spent on subsidising biomass for electricity in each of the last three years, and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Subsidies for generating electricity from biomass are paid under three low carbon electricity schemes: the Renewables Obligation, the Feed-in Tariff, and Contracts for Difference. The Renewables Obligation does not pay a direct subsidy: instead support is provided through tradeable certificates. The costs of the Contracts for Difference scheme are levied on consumer electricity bills.
The table below provides a breakdown of payments made to biomass electricity generators under the Renewables Obligation and Contracts for Difference schemes in the last three financial years where figures are available[1]:
Breakdown of payments made to biomass electricity generators by low carbon electricity support scheme | ||||
Scheme | 2017-18 (£m) | 2018-19 (£m) | 2019-20 (£m) |
|
Renewables Obligation[2] | 864.7 | 1,076.1 | 966.3[3] |
|
Contracts for Difference[4] | 247.3 | 380.2 | 449.1 |
|
[1] Figures are not available broken down by technology for the Feed-in Tariff scheme.
[2] Renewables Obligation figures are based on Ofgem’s certificate report as at 17 June 2020 from their Renewables and CHP Register.
[3] Renewables Obligation figures for 2019/20 are provisional as not all the certificates have been issued yet, and the full notional value of each certificate is not yet known.
[4] Contracts for Difference figures are from the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC) CfD dashboard, which is available on LCCC’s website.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 remains committed to the traffic light system to regulate fracking following seismic activity.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government has always been clear that it will only support the exploration of our shale gas resources in a safe and sustainable way. The Oil and Gas Authority is undertaking a scientific analysis of the data from Cuadrilla’s earlier operations in 2018 which will be published shortly. The Government will set out our future approach once we have considered the findings.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 effect of closing Crown post offices and franchising services to WHSmith on the sustainability of the post office network.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010.
While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business and the management of the network is an operational matter for Post Office Limited. A report by Citizen’s Advice in June 2017 stated that franchised branches are performing in line with, or better than Directly Managed branches. As part of its ongoing monitoring role Citizens Advice will continue to track the impact of post office changes on consumers and customer satisfaction of post offices, including with the franchising of Directly Managed branches.
Asked by: Rosie Cooper (Labour - West Lancashire)
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 call by Cuadrilla for an increase in the threshold for the maximum magnitude level at which it is allowed to operate.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Traffic Light System is working exactly as intended. As I have already set out to this House, there are no plans to review it. The Traffic Light System ensures that induced seismic events remain at a level that prevents the risk of damage to the environment or property.