Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support the Northern Ireland hydrogen economy.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is committed to developing hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier across the UK. Low carbon hydrogen presents an opportunity for Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole to deliver against our clean growth goals – meeting our decarbonisation needs while capturing commercial opportunities. This is especially important as we support our economy to recover from Covid-19.
In order to realise the opportunities from hydrogen, we are undertaking a range of activities:
We will be setting out further plans in the UK Hydrogen Strategy, which we intend to publish in early 2021.
In order to aid this work, we established the Hydrogen Advisory Council to formalise regular engagement with Industry. The Council met for the first time on 20 July and membership includes officials from Northern Ireland government as well as Ryse/Wrightbus. We look forward to the Council’s ongoing input as we build a new low carbon hydrogen economy for the UK.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
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 initiate an inquiry into Post Office Ltd's handling of the problems with the Horizon IT system.
Answered by Paul Scully
Postmasters are the backbone of the Post Office, and their branches are vital to communities across the country. That is why Government takes POL's relationship with its postmasters very seriously.
Government is committed to establishing an independent review to consider whether the Post Office has learned the necessary lessons from the Horizon dispute and court case and to provide an independent and external assessment of its work to rebuild its relationship with its postmasters.
We are continuing to make progress on the scoping of the Independent Review and on the identification of a suitable Chair. We will announce further details on this shortly.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps have been taken to support the aluminium industry during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is in regular contact with the aluminium industry; I recently spoke to representatives of the Aluminium Federation alongside other industry leaders to discuss the impact of COVID-19.
The Government recognises that it is crucial for the aluminium sector to continue providing essential materials to support the economy, and I am grateful to those working in the industry for their contributions to the national effort during this time of extraordinary disruption.
We have put in place an unprecedented package of Government support to help with business continuity and to give manufacturers - including businesses in the aluminium sector - the support they need.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps have been taken to enable the aluminium industry to access the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is open to eligible businesses with annual turnover of under £45m operating in most sectors, including the aluminium industry.
To be eligible for the CBILS, businesses must:
For more information on the scheme, businesses should visit the British Business Bank website: www.british-business-bank.co.uk/ourpartners/coronavirus-business-interruption-loan-schemes/clbils/
The Government has responded to feedback to ensure that companies feel the full benefits of available support through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) by:
The Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) facilitates access to finance for medium-sized and larger businesses with annual turnover of above £45 million, affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. This is also open to eligible businesses operating in most sectors, including the aluminium industry.
The Government will continue to monitor the schemes.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on how many occasions the Government guidelines on earth tremors have been breached by fracking operations in each of the last three years.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Traffic Light System for monitoring induced seismicity was introduced after consideration of advice from three scientists, following operations at Cuadrilla’s Preese Hall site in 2011. The level of magnitude 0.5 at which operators must pause operations, was set in consultation with industry as an appropriate precautionary measure. These regulations have been working as intended and there are no plans to review the traffic light system.
Three seismic events, equal or greater than magnitude 0.5, were recorded during pumping operations at Preston New Road between October and December 2018. Following these red traffic light events the operator temporarily paused operations, reduced pressure and monitored for any further seismic events.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Government has to review the guidelines on earth tremors caused by fracking operations.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
I refer the hon. Member the answer I gave the hon. Member for Lewisham East on 1 May 2019 to Question 247160.