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Written Question
Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries
Wednesday 22nd June 2022

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the steel industry has a sustainable future.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government recognises the vital role the steel sector plays in our economy and has supported the steel sector extensively, including providing over £600 million since 2013 to help with electricity costs. In April the Government announced the extension of this scheme for a further three years; more than doubling the previous budget and significantly increasing the level of relief.

The Government will continue to work with the sector to support its transition to a sustainable future. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I engage regularly with the sector, including through the Steel Council.


Written Question
Green Homes Grant Scheme
Monday 7th March 2022

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking in response to the recommendations of the National Audit Office’s review of the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Based on the report by the National Audit Office and its recommendations, the Committee of Public Accounts took evidence from HM Treasury and the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and published its report on the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme on 1 December 2021. The government response to the Committee’s report was published on 24 February with the government agreeing with all of the Committee’s recommendations.


Written Question
Urban Areas: Retail Trade
Thursday 27th January 2022

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support the growth and sustainability of independent shops, cafes, and restaurants on high streets.

Answered by Paul Scully

In July 2021, the Department launched the first-ever hospitality strategy to support the reopening, recovery and resilience of England’s pubs, restaurants, cafes and nightclubs. We have also launched the Hospitality Sector Council to oversee the delivery of the strategy, including working with the sector to make hospitality a career option of choice and looking at the labour and skills shortages.

In order to help address the immediate challenges of labour shortages in the hospitality sector, the Department for Work and Pensions is working hard to fill ongoing vacancies by using work coaches to help find local talent, and Plans for Jobs programmes, such as Kickstart and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes.

The Department for Education has also added hospitality and catering qualifications to the Free Courses for Jobs, as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee. Additionally, we are increasing employer-led apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by 2024-25, extending the £3,000 incentive payment for every apprentice a business hires up until 31 January 2022, and improving the apprenticeship system for employers.

On 15 July, we published the Build Back Better High Streets Strategy, where we committed to continue working with the retail sector, and the Retail Sector Council in particular, on its long-term strategic needs to ensure that businesses are profitable, resilient, innovative and support local economies in socially and environmentally responsible ways.

On 20 January, BEIS and HMT jointly launched Help to Grow Digital, a UK wide Government scheme offering eligible small and medium sized businesses access to digital technology to supercharge their business growth and help drive our recovery from coronavirus.

On 18 August, the Retail Sector Council launched a national online initiative to help small independent retailers (SMEs) cut their carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly. Green Street is an informative and accessible Hub, built by retailers for retailers to encourage planet friendly shopping.


Written Question
Hospitality Sector: Recruitment
Thursday 13th January 2022

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what long-term measures the Government has put in place to support the hospitality sector to meet its recruitment needs.

Answered by Paul Scully

The Department has launched the first-ever hospitality strategy to support the reopening, recovery and resilience of England’s pubs, restaurants, cafes and nightclubs. As part of this, we have set up the Hospitality Sector Council to oversee the delivery of the strategy, including working with the sector to make hospitality a career option of choice and looking at the labour and skills shortages.

In order to help address the immediate challenges of labour shortages in the hospitality sector, the Department for Work and Pensions is working hard to fill ongoing vacancies by using work coaches to help find local talent, and Plans for Jobs programmes, such as Kickstart and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes. The Department for Education has also added hospitality and catering qualifications to the Free Courses for Jobs, as part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee. Additionally, we are increasing employer-led apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by 2024-25, extending the £3,000 incentive payment for every apprentice a business hires up until 31 January 2022, and improving the apprenticeship system for employers.


Written Question
Fuels: Prices
Friday 10th December 2021

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

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 promote awareness on how to gain competitive fuel prices from providers.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government’s analysis shows that changes to retail prices of petroleum products such as petrol and diesel are primarily driven by the changes in global market prices for crude oil and in exchange rates.

There are both free and subscription-based mobile phone applications available which allow drivers to compare fuel prices at forecourts.


Written Question
Historic Buildings: Carbon Emissions
Wednesday 24th November 2021

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to help support historical buildings to become carbon neutral.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As set out in the recent Heat and Buildings Strategy, the Government is committed to decarbonising all homes and buildings in line with the Government’s Net Zero emissions target.

The Government recognises this includes ensuring that more historic buildings have the right energy efficiency measures and low carbon heat. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, recently published the Planning for the Future White Paper, committing to reviewing and updating the planning framework for listed buildings and conservation areas, to ensure their significance is conserved while allowing, where appropriate, sympathetic changes to support their continued use and address climate change.


Written Question
ACAS
Wednesday 3rd November 2021

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) promote awareness of the services offered by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACSA) and (b) ensure ACAS is easily contactable.

Answered by Paul Scully

The Department has worked closely with Acas to promote their services through awareness campaigns, including a joint campaign on social media and radio aimed at vulnerable workers and recently publicising the launch of Acas’s disability hub on their website. Additionally, BEIS funds Acas to provide support and guidance on workplace matters, which any member of the public can access through its website and by contacting their helpline between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday.


Written Question
Business: Carbon Emissions
Monday 25th October 2021

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what incentives the Government has put in place to encourage businesses to contribute towards the Government's Net Zero by 2050 carbon emissions target.

Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Businesses have significant power to drive change towards achieving our domestic net zero goal both through reducing their own emissions is important, but also their role in designing the ground-breaking new technologies, world leading products and innovative approaches to reach net zero, with the private sector providing much of the investment needed.

The policies and spending brought forward in the Net Zero Strategy mean that since the Ten Point Plan, £26 billion of government capital investment for the green industrial revolution has been mobilised. The Strategy will leverage up to £90 billion of private investment by 2030.

The UK’s industrial sector plays both an essential role in the economy and is a major source of CO2 emission. The Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy, published in March 2021, and expanded in the Net Zero Strategy, sets out how industry can decarbonise in line with net zero, while transforming industrial regions by attracting inward investment, future-proofing businesses, and securing the long-term viability of jobs.

The Net Zero Strategy sets out the Government’s intention to work with businesses to produce their own business specific plans, while also encouraging businesses to take action in the run up to COP by joining the global ‘Race to Zero’ campaign, which already includes over half of FTSE 100 companies.


Written Question
New Businesses: Environment Protection
Monday 13th September 2021

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage start-ups in green growth sectors such as carbon capture.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) is integral to the UK’s Green Industrial Revolution. Building on the UK’s industrial strengths and capabilities, we are leading efforts to establish this critical technology.

In July this year we launched call 1 of a CCUS Innovation 2.0 competition[1] to:

  • support cost reductions in carbon capture, usage and storage;
  • to help UK industry to understand the opportunity for deploying next generation carbon capture technology on industrial, waste, or power generation sites for 2030;and
  • made available £19.5m of grant funding available as part of CCUS Innovation 2.0, eligible to small and medium enterprise (SME) applicants.

In order to support green growth sectors, since 2012 we have now run 8 rounds of the Energy Entrepreneurs Fund (EEF)[2].

The EEF seeks the best ideas, irrespective of source, across these energy technology areas from the public and private sector. It particularly aims to assist small and medium-sized enterprises, including start-ups, and those companies that are selected will receive additional funding for incubation support.

We also launched a £70 million Direct Air Capture (DAC) and Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR) Innovation competition in 2021.

The programme is currently in Phase 1 of the programme and has 23 innovation projects developing a range of technologies.

[1] CCUS Innovation 2.0: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ccus-innovation-20-competition

[2] Energy Entrepreneurs Fund: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-entrepeneurs-fund


Written Question
New Businesses: Manufacturing Industries
Thursday 9th September 2021

Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support start-ups in the manufacturing sector.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

The Government is committed to supporting UK manufacturing businesses, including start-ups and recognises the vital role they play in the UK economy, by driving innovation, exports, job creation and productivity growth.

We are committed to supporting manufacturers to take advantage of innovative technology and we recently announced £8 million in new government funding for the Made Smarter Adoption programme to help Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) increase productivity, competitiveness and drive up efficiency by adopting industrial digital technology, building on the success of our Made Smarter North West Pilot.

The Government’s business support schemes have been put in place to help eligible businesses to get through the pandemic, from all regions and backgrounds. Information on these schemes and other resources is available via the free Business Support Helpline.

The Start Up Loans Company, part of the Government-owned British Business Bank, provides loans and pre- and post-application support to new entrepreneurs, including a year of free business mentoring for successful applicants. Since 2012, over 86,000 Start Up Loans worth over £769 million have been issued to new entrepreneurs. We are also investing £147 million through the Made Smarter Innovation programme to help forward-thinking UK manufacturers create new, green products and processes, slash carbon emissions, drive up productivity and create thousands of highly skilled new jobs across the country.