Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has asked his new permanent secretary i) if he has read the December 2022 report by the Drax company secretary on whisteblowing allegations ii) if he concluded that there was a cover up and iii) if he is satisfied the company can be trusted to be the largest recipient of the department’s £20 billion biomass subsidy programme.

The Secretary of State has not asked the Permanent Secretary to reach conclusions on matters that are subject to Ofgem’s independent regulatory processes.

Ofgem has confirmed that whistleblower accounts formed part of its extensive 2023-4 investigation into Drax’s compliance with reporting requirements. Its investigation did not find any evidence that Drax had been issued with subsidies incorrectly. Shortcomings were identified in Drax’s data governance and controls related to annual profiling data which are not used for subsidy calculation under the Renewables Obligation. Drax has subsequently made a significant payment of £25m to the Voluntary Redress Fund and improved its policies and procedures around reporting data.