Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff in his Department who were transferred or seconded to work (a) in other departments or (b) on other departmental briefs on preparations for the UK to leave the EU, have since returned to his Department.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
BEIS has a significant EU Exit portfolio and as such has not transferred or seconded staff to work on EU Exit in, or on behalf of, other Departments.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 the potential effect on the environment of carbon capture technology.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government believes that carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) has the potential to play an important role in meeting the UK’s climate targets. CCUS can add value to the economy and help tackle hard to decarbonise sectors.
Our CCUS Action Plan is designed to progress CCUS in the UK, including enabling the UK’s first CCUS facility to be operational from the mid-2020s. CCUS is also likely to play an important role in achieving our Industrial Clusters Mission, creating the world’s first net-zero industrial cluster by 2040.
In progressing CCUS, the UK has already established a robust regulatory framework for CCUS, with regulations applying to licensing, environmental inspection and CO2 storage, operation and monitoring activities. This means that any CCUS project will need to comply with a rigorous health and safety assessment and require permits and approval from relevant environment agencies, the Health and Safety Executive and the Oil and Gas Authority.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU (i) with and (ii) without a deal on the UK’s ability to receive gas and electricity flows from French interconnectors.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The UK does not have a gas interconnector to France so there will be no impact on gas flows.
In the event that the UK leaves the EU with a deal, the arrangements that govern electricity trading with France will be a matter for negotiations.
In the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal, we do not expect there to be any fundamental barriers to the UK’s ability to receive electricity flows from France. Alternative new rules setting out trading arrangements in the event of a ‘no deal’ have been developed by interconnection operators and were approved by national regulators on 15 March 2019.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 the effect of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal on the UK’s ability to receive gas and electricity flows from Dutch interconnectors.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
If the UK were to leave the European Union without a deal, modified access rules for the electricity interconnector have been approved by both Ofgem and the Dutch regulator. Modified access rules are not required for the gas interconnector. The Political Declaration on the future relationship sets out the parameters for the UK and EU’s future discussions on electricity and gas.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 held with his Dutch counterparts on the effect of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal on the UK’s ability to receive gas and electricity flows from Dutch interconnectors; and whether the Government received assurances from the Dutch Government that there would be no disruption to energy flows from that country as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
If the UK were to leave the European Union without a deal, modified access rules for the electricity interconnector have been approved by both Ofgem and the Dutch regulator.[1] Modified access rules are not required for the gas interconnector. The Political Declaration on the future relationship sets out the parameters for the UK and EU’s future discussions on electricity and gas.[2]
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/withdrawal-agreement-and-political-declaration
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 French Government on the effect of the UK leaving the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal on the UK’s ability to receive gas and electricity flows from French interconnectors; and whether the Government received assurances from the French Government that there would be no disruption to energy flows from France as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
There is no gas interconnector between Great Britain and France. IFA, the electricity interconnector between Great Britain and France have engaged with the French Government, supported by BEIS officials. These discussions have provided mutual assurances on the continuity of the legal and regulatory framework for the interconnector if the UK were to leave the European Union without a deal and modified access rules for the electricity interconnector have been approved by both Ofgem and the French regulator.
Asked by: Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
In the financial year 2017/18, BEIS was allocated an additional £35.1m for EU exit work by HM Treasury. In the financial year 2018/19, BEIS received a final allocation of £139.5m. The allocation for 2019/20 is £190m.
No-deal funding is aggregated as part of the Department’s overall spend and therefore cannot be reported separately.