Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2022 to Question 304 on Refugees: Ukraine, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of whether people who were granted leave under the (a) Ukraine Sponsorship scheme, (b) Ukraine Family scheme and (c) Ukraine Extension scheme are likely to repay their student loans.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Student Finance England have paid 617 persons granted leave under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme student support for the 2022/23 academic year up to 18 June 2023. It is not possible to separately identify those on the Ukraine Extension Scheme in the data. The net amount paid out as of 18 June 2023 was £9,155,573, accounting for interest and any repayments received.
The granting of home fee status is a matter for universities. It is therefore not possible to provide full information on how many people who have been issued Ukraine scheme leave have received home fee status, although all those who have been granted student finance will be eligible for home fee status. There were no Ukraine Family Scheme applicants identified who have received payments.
The department has not made a separate assessment of the likelihood of people who were granted leave under (a) the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, (b) the Ukraine Family Scheme and (c) the Ukraine Extension Scheme repaying their student loans. Borrowers in receipt of student funding under the Ukraine schemes are subject to the same repayment terms and conditions as all other borrowers.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the accessibility of mortgages for Ukrainian refugees with a time limited permission to stay in the UK.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The pricing and availability of mortgages is ultimately a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene. However, there is a wide variety of mortgage products available in the market for prospective buyers.
Arrivals from Ukraine have full recourse to public services, including schools and the NHS, and local authorities are provided with unringfenced funding to support their arrival and integration into the local community. The Ukraine visa schemes are some of the most generous humanitarian schemes in the world, and the UK has already welcomed over 170k people.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the (a) efficiency and (b) reliability of ground source heat pumps in residential properties.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As part of the Electrification of Heat Demonstration Project, the Department funded the installation of 38 ground source heat pumps in residential properties across the UK, with monitoring equipment to assess the performance of the systems in situ. The Government expects the final performance data from this project, including data on the ground source heat pumps installed, to be published after the project concludes, in summer 2024.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of geothermal energy in district heating network schemes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has not undertaken a general assessment of the effectiveness of geothermal energy for district heating in the UK due to the small number of operational geothermal district heating schemes. Case studies have been developed for several geothermal schemes across Europe, which demonstrate that geothermal heat can be an effective low carbon heat source for heat networks.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help increase investment in geothermal technologies.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government committed to “explore all possible renewable opportunities afforded by our geography and geology, including tidal and geothermal.”
Geothermal power has been an eligible electricity generating technology for the Contracts for Difference scheme since its introduction. The Government anticipates that geothermal power projects may bid into the scheme's emerging technologies pot of the fifth allocation round this year. The Government keeps the scheme under review and will consider the role of geothermal power in light of the results.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of domestic households that use (a) air source and (b) ground source heat pumps for their heating in Southampton Itchen constituency.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database shows that, as of 31st March 2023, 33 air source heat pump (representing 0.1% of domestic households) and no ground source heat pump installations were registered in the Southampton Itchen constituency.
The database does not include all heat pump installations. Those installed without Government funding support, such as in new buildings, are not typically recorded in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of deep geothermal energy on the rate of decarbonisation in the energy sector.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government committed to “explore all possible renewable opportunities afforded by our geography and geology, including tidal and geothermal.”
The British Geological Survey has an active programme of research on the UK potential for geothermal power. The Government will consider the role of geothermal power in light of the results.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has taken recent steps to facilitate research on geothermal district heating.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department has contributed £31m in funding to UK Geoenergy Observatories, which will conduct geothermal energy-related research. This is in addition to supporting deep geothermal feasibility projects at the Eden Project in Cornwall and in Stoke-on-Trent.
The Department has also awarded £9.7m in capital funding to two district heating projects in Gateshead and County Durham via the Heat Networks Investment Project, which will use geothermal heat from mine-water to heat local communities.
The Government has commissioned a report, led by the British Geological Survey, into the potential contribution of deep geothermal energy in the UK. The report is expected to be published this year.
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase UK manufacturing capacity of PPE.
Answered by Will Quince
Imported personal protective equipment (PPE) is now provided by suppliers appointed to NHS Supply Chain’s Single Use PPE framework agreement. Suppliers are appointed following a competitive tender process to ensure value for money. Every product on this framework is assessed, involving work with regulators, safety standards agencies and national experts who agree the safety standards and requirements that products must meet in order to be used in the National Health Service.
From April 2022, responsibility for the operational management for retaining a pandemic stockpile of PPE transferred to NHS Supply Chain. Providers of PPE will be invited to become part of the procurement frameworks which NHS Supply Chain manages, and the current framework agreement includes a number of United Kingdom-based companies.
The Government welcomes commitment from UK-based companies to produce high-quality PPE. UK-based manufacturers are likely to be crucial in the event of another pandemic, particularly in the face of any global supply chain issues.
As of 31 March 2023, there were 12 million items of PPE remaining in storage in China. The remaining stock held in China is in categories of PPE for which the Department has sufficient stock in the UK to meet current demand, and the items were therefore surplus to requirements. In managing down the stock held in China we have made donations to other countries, but selling on surplus stock has not been financially viable for the Department. The remaining items now held in China are therefore being disposed of through incineration, with the aim of enabling an exit from this facility as soon as possible.
The Department wrote to the Public Accounts Committee on 16 March 2023 setting out strategic aims for the Department in relation to PPE, including future supply.
The letter is available at the following link:
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/34476/documents/189909/default/
Asked by: Royston Smith (Conservative - Southampton, Itchen)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure imported PPE meets quality control and provides good value for public money.
Answered by Will Quince
Imported personal protective equipment (PPE) is now provided by suppliers appointed to NHS Supply Chain’s Single Use PPE framework agreement. Suppliers are appointed following a competitive tender process to ensure value for money. Every product on this framework is assessed, involving work with regulators, safety standards agencies and national experts who agree the safety standards and requirements that products must meet in order to be used in the National Health Service.
From April 2022, responsibility for the operational management for retaining a pandemic stockpile of PPE transferred to NHS Supply Chain. Providers of PPE will be invited to become part of the procurement frameworks which NHS Supply Chain manages, and the current framework agreement includes a number of United Kingdom-based companies.
The Government welcomes commitment from UK-based companies to produce high-quality PPE. UK-based manufacturers are likely to be crucial in the event of another pandemic, particularly in the face of any global supply chain issues.
As of 31 March 2023, there were 12 million items of PPE remaining in storage in China. The remaining stock held in China is in categories of PPE for which the Department has sufficient stock in the UK to meet current demand, and the items were therefore surplus to requirements. In managing down the stock held in China we have made donations to other countries, but selling on surplus stock has not been financially viable for the Department. The remaining items now held in China are therefore being disposed of through incineration, with the aim of enabling an exit from this facility as soon as possible.
The Department wrote to the Public Accounts Committee on 16 March 2023 setting out strategic aims for the Department in relation to PPE, including future supply.
The letter is available at the following link:
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/34476/documents/189909/default/