Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many businesses received support through the Energy Bills Discount Scheme; and what the total amount of support received was, by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
As of 30 September 2023, the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) had a cumulative expenditure of £114 million. For more detail on the expenditure incurred by the EBDS and other departmental energy schemes, I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 22 April, Official Report, HCWS421.
The Secretary of State will provide an update to Parliament on the EBDS in due course.
Information on the number of businesses receiving this support and levels of support broken down by parliamentary constituency is not held centrally, and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many businesses received support through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme; and what the total amount of support received was, by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Government’s intervention meant that many businesses saved around half on their wholesale energy costs during Winter 2022/23, with £7.52 billion being delivered through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS). For more detail on the expenditure incurred by the EBRS and other departmental energy schemes, I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 22 April, Official Report, HCWS421.
Information on the number of businesses receiving this support and levels of support broken down by parliamentary constituency is not held centrally, and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she made an assessment of trends in the level of exports from the offshore wind sector since 2015 and; whether she has made an estimate of their total value.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates of offshore wind exports in Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Economy estimates (LCREE). The table below shows data from 2015 to 2022. It indicates an estimated ten-fold increase over the period, averaging around £2.4 billion for 2021-2022.
Offshore wind exports (£ thousand) | ||||||||
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
UK | 221,500 | 237,500 | 470,500 | 492,000 | 1,153,000 | 790,500 | 2,452,500 | 2,393,000 |
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households received support through the Energy Price Guarantee; and what the total amount of support received was by parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) was introduced in October 2022 to protect millions of households from the rising high cost of energy. Together, the EPG and Energy Bills Support Scheme covered around half of a typical household energy bill between October 2022 and June 2023, with a typical household saving £1,100 through the EPG. For more detail on the expenditure incurred by the EPG and other departmental energy schemes, I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement made by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State on 22 April, Official Report, HCWS421.
The vast majority of households have benefitted from EPG support, paying less for their energy bills than they would have otherwise with no government intervention.
Information on support levels broken down by parliamentary constituency is not held centrally and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to Table 16 of the Impact Assessment for the Carbon Budget Order 2021, published on 16 April 2021, if she will publish an annual undiscounted table of the costs and benefits of each option.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Impact Assessment compared the costs and benefits of meeting net zero in 2050 for different options for the level of the Sixth Carbon Budget, including the level recommended by the Climate Change Committee which has since been voted into law. Costs and benefits were aggregated over 2020-2050 to reflect uncertainty around the precise annual profile. Given this uncertainty, the table below sets out the undiscounted costs and benefits over 5 yearly increments.
Table 1. Costs and benefits breakdown by sixth carbon budget options, Core pathway only
| Costs and benefits relative to Option 1 (Do Nothing baseline of 2100MtCO2e) | 2021-2025 | 2026-2030 | 2031-2035 | 2036-2040 | 2041-2045 | 2046-2050 |
Costs (incl. capital & finance) | Option 2, Looser, 1105Mt | 34 | 88 | 160 | 217 | 277 | 381 |
Option 3, CCC level, 965Mt | 37 | 91 | 186 | 256 | 309 | 395 | |
Option 4, Tighter, 865Mt | 38 | 94 | 206 | 301 | 328 | 389 | |
Benefits (incl. fuel & emissions savings) | Option 2, Looser, 1105Mt | 2 | 68 | 182 | 357 | 526 | 739 |
Option 3, CCC level, 965Mt | 4 | 71 | 168 | 401 | 554 | 757 | |
Option 4, Tighter, 865Mt | 12 | 98 | 174 | 387 | 540 | 762 |
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of the number of new businesses that have been established since 2010.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
There were some 4.4 million registered business ‘births’ between 2010 and 2022 (the latest year for which data is available).
Source: ONS: Business Demography
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what purchases her Department made of international carbon credits in the most recent five years for which figures are available; and what the average cost per tonne of CO2 was.
Answered by Alan Mak
The Department has not purchased any carbon credits since its inception in February 2023.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many businesses that have employees there were in (a) 2010, (b) 2015, (c) 2020 and (d) the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Minister without Portfolio
Estimated number of employing businesses in the private sector at the start of 2010, 2015, 2020 and 2023 (the latest year for which data is available) are provided in the table below.
Table: Estimated number of employing businesses in the private sector by year
| Number of employing businesses |
2010 | 1,224,500 |
2015 | 1,311,900 |
2020 | 1,412,700 |
2023 | 1,445,000 |
Source: Business Population Estimates
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of homes that have an electricity smart meter.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
Quarterly statistics on the rollout of smart meters in Great Britain, covering both gas and electricity smart meters installed, are available online: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/smart-meters-statistics.
This includes information about the number and proportion of electricity smart meters.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what purchases her Department made of international carbon credits in the most recent five years for which figures are available; and what the average cost per tonne of CO2 was.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
DESNZ compensates for emissions associated with the flights taken by Ministers and their support staff by purchasing high quality international carbon credits, annually and in arrears.
The Department is close to finalising its first purchase of international carbon credits in respect of emissions from the Department’s creation to the end of last year.
In 2022, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) purchased 151 carbon credits to compensate for the emissions associated with flights taken in 2021 by BEIS Ministers and their support staff. This was at a cost of £1,394.89, making the cost per tonne £9.24.