Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
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 merits of allowing access to specialist shoe shops during the covid-19 lockdown restrictions for people who cannot buy those products online.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has set out its roadmap to cautiously ease lockdown restrictions, including the reopening of non-essential retail no earlier than 12 April, subject to the data.
Under current restrictions all shops in England are permitted to operate click-and-collect services online, by telephone/text or via post.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what process was used to select the members of the UK COP26 team; what assessment he has made of the effect of that process on gender balance in that team; and what plans his Department has to review the selection process to ensure better representation of women in future COP teams.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The UK is committed to championing diversity and inclusion throughout our COP26 Presidency and all civil servants in the Cabinet Office COP26 Unit have been appointed in line with Civil Service guidance and rules.
Forty five percent of the Senior Management Team in the COP26 unit are women. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister recently appointed my Hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed as the COP26 Adaptation and Resilience Champion.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
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 merits of creating an Address and Collect service at Post Offices to allow those affected by (a) homelessness and (b) domestic violence to access their post safely.
Answered by Paul Scully
Officials are working with Royal Mail and the Post Office to consider the recommendations from Citizens Advice on an Address and Collect Service and a Poste Restante service for vulnerable groups.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
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 compatibility of the recent loan given to Versarien PLC by Innovate UK with (a) Innovate UK's guidelines (b) the eligibility criteria for businesses to receive funds from Innovate UK and (c) the Government's guidance on Managing public money.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Graphene has the capability to become one of the sectors that will power our economic growth – and Versarien is at a crucial phase in its development as it strives to become one of the UK’s leading players in the production of graphene. Materials such a graphene can also provide a valuable contribution towards the Government’s Net Zero targets and has the potential to contribute significantly to a number of national infrastructure projects. Versarien’s G-SCALE project, which this loan will fund, will allow the firm to carry out later stage R&D to enable it to supply the market with commercial quantities of graphene-enhanced materials.
Similar to many companies, Versarien seeks investment from a number of sources, including private funding. Innovate UK has a good understanding of Versarien’s business and has previously awarded the company several grants to support its development. Innovate’s loan scheme was set up to broaden the range of innovation finance support available to businesses, so they can access funding at all stages of innovation.
In order to be eligible, a business needs to show that it can afford the interest and repayments on the loan and that they cannot obtain finance from other sources such as banks and equity investors for a particular project. It is on this basis the loan was made.
Indeed, this loan was made on Innovate’s usual terms, that is an interest rate of 7.4% per annum with half of the interest deferred until the repayment period commences. Loan repayments will start 45 months after drawdown and be paid over a subsequent period of 36 months.
The loan award was made after Innovate UK’s rigorous process of innovation assessment and credit evaluation – the same level of scrutiny and assessment that accompanies any loan award that Innovate UK makes.
The assessment process for awarding the loan was compatible with the key principles set out in the guidance on Managing Public Money.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
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 ensure that following his consultation on contracts for difference for low carbon electricity (a) biomass plants are ineligible to compete for those contracts with offshore wind and other renewable technologies and (b) the greenhouse gas threshold and minimum efficiency requirement applied in 2018 will be included in regulations and applied to all future allocation rounds.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The consultation on changes to the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme closed on 29 May 2020 and a Government response will be published in due course.
As part of this consultation, we indicated our intention to remove biomass conversion technologies from the CfD scheme. Sustainable, low carbon bioenergy is helping the UK move to a low-carbon energy mix, increasing our energy security, and keeping costs down for consumers. We have introduced mandatory sustainability criteria for biomass generation for heat and power. This is to ensure biomass continues to support the UK’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions and is sourced sustainably. Generators only receive subsidies for electricity output which complies with our sustainability criteria.
The greenhouse gas (GHG) threshold and minimum efficiency requirements applied in 2018 were incorporated into the CfD Standard Terms and Conditions and so will apply to future allocation rounds.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Labour - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to commence his policy on enabling onshore wind and solar power projects.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Onshore wind and solar have already been deployed successfully in the UK with appropriate local support, generating enough electricity in 2018 to power over 11 million homes and producing nearly 13% of the UK’s electricity.
Government announced on Monday 2 March that onshore wind and solar projects will be able to bid for contracts in the next Contracts for Difference allocation round planned to open in 2021. We will announce the auction parameters and auction timings in due course.