Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North 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 will take to improve the energy efficiency of UK homes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is investing £6.6 billion over this parliament on decarbonising heat and energy efficiency. In addition, the Energy Company Obligation Scheme is in its fourth iteration which will run until 2026 with a value of £4 billion. ECO + has also been announced, worth £1 billion and will run from Spring 2023.
The Autumn Statement set out a new ambition to reduce final energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030. To support this, a new Energy Efficiency Taskforce will be established. £6 billion of additional funding will also be made available from 2025 to 2028.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Energy Efficiency Taskforce is operational; and if he will publish the membership of that taskforce.
Answered by Graham Stuart
More details on the launch and membership of the Taskforce will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason the unit cost paid per KWH under the Smart Export Guarantee is lower than the current price of electricity.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) is a cost-reflective and market led mechanism and it is for suppliers to determine the value of the exported electricity and to take account of the administrative costs associated when setting their tariffs. The SEG contract that a supplier has with a householder is at a set price which is not directly linked to the wholesale market. We are currently reviewing Ofgem’s recently published annual SEG report to ensure that small-scale generators continue to have an effective route to market.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the purpose of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is to replace the European Structural and Investment Funds programme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK in places most in need, such as ex-industrial areas, deprived towns, and rural and coastal communities, and for people who face labour market barriers.
Spending Review 2020 set out the main strategic elements of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund in the Heads of Terms. The Government will publish a UK-wide investment framework later this year and confirm its funding profile at the next Spending Review.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is the domestic successor to the EU Structural Fund programme. It will maximise the benefits of leaving the EU through quicker delivery of funding, better targeting, better alignment with domestic priorities and by cutting burdensome EU bureaucracy.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership will receive its three month overdue core funding provision.
Answered by Paul Scully
We aim to let Local Enterprise Partnerships have information about core funding for 2021-22 shortly.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the localised administration of the Additional Restrictions Grant, what mechanism exists for people whose place of business and home address fall under the jurisdictions of different local authorities.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) allows Local Authorities to put in place discretionary business support. Local Authorities are free to provide support that suits their local area, including to support those businesses not required to close but which have had their trade severely affected by the restrictions, and those businesses that fall outside the business rates system such as market traders. At Budget on 3 March, the Chancellor announced an additional £425 million would be made available via the ARG, meaning that more than £2 billion has been made available to Local Authorities since November 2020.
Businesses can apply for a grant from the Local Authority to which it pays business rates. Businesses that do not pay business rates can apply to the Local Authority where the business is located. For example, if a business is based in Derby but registered in a different Local Authority, then it would apply for a grant from Derby City Council.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Government's coronavirus taskforce on the (a) potential merits of ceasing all work on construction sites and (b) ensuring that companies are supported to ensure construction workers are furloughed during the high level of transmission of covid-19.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Construction workers play a crucial role in supporting our public services, maintaining vital infrastructure, and providing and maintaining safe, decent homes for people to live in. Throughout the pandemic, the Government has been clear that construction activity should continue, where it can take place safely.
The Government has worked with the Construction Leadership Council’s Coronavirus Task Force, construction firms, and other stakeholders to develop guidance on safer working on construction sites. This is available at:
The construction industry has also developed Site and Branch Operating Procedures for firms and merchants, as well as guidance for small firms and mineral products suppliers. These provide advice as to how construction firms can apply the Government guidance on safer working.
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) is designed to help employers whose operations have been severely affected by Coronavirus, to retain their employees and protect the UK economy. All employers, including construction companies, are eligible to claim under the CJRS.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether pubs are allowed to sell alcohol in sealed containers for people to take home during the January 2021 covid-19 lockdown period.
Answered by Paul Scully
Hospitality venues are not allowed to sell alcohol for takeaway under the new National Lockdown restrictions, although they are allowed to continue to sell food and non-alcoholic drinks for takeaway.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
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 (a) the end of the transition period and (b) covid-19-related border restrictions on the Government's ability to procure covid-19 vaccines.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The UK has put in place a number of measures to facilitate trade with the European Union to avoid impact to vaccine supply beyond 1 January 2021.
The UK’s Vaccine Taskforce, alongside the Department of Health and Social Care, have worked with COVID-19 vaccine suppliers to support them with robust contingency plans. This includes considering the use of alternative supply routes and Government procured freight capacity, in line with current Government advice.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
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 ensure customers who choose green electricity tariffs can (a) locate and (b) verify the renewable power plant from which the electricity company purchase its power.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The current legislation and licence conditions which underpin green electricity tariffs are based on the regulator (Ofgem) administering the Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) certificate accounting scheme to verify the proportion of renewable energy sourced by supplier.
Consumers are able to consult the publicly available Ofgem REGO register to interrogate which certificates their supplier holds and from which renewable power plants they were sourced.