Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to help encourage the manufacture of new zero-emission aircraft.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
As part of the Jet Zero Strategy, government co-invests in zero-carbon aircraft technology through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme. To date, it has supported collaborative R&D projects totalling over £500m which will help develop new and enabling technologies for zero emission aircraft.
Government provided a £15m grant to the ATI-led FlyZero project, which found that green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power future zero-carbon emission aircraft. Building on FlyZero, government is funding the ATI-led ‘Hydrogen Capability Network Phase 0 Project’ to accelerate the development of liquid hydrogen propulsion aircraft technologies, capabilities and skills in the UK.
Government also set up the Jet Zero Council, a partnership with industry to drive the ambitious delivery of new technologies and innovative ways to cut aviation emissions. It includes a focused Zero Emission Flight Delivery Group to advise on how government and industry can put the UK in a leading position in the race to achieve zero emission flight.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an estimate of the potential impact of the introduction of sustainable aviation fuel on the cost of flights in the next five years.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has committed to introduce a mandate to supply sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from 2025 to help decarbonise the aviation sector in line with our Jet Zero Strategy. The Government recently launched a consultation on the future levels of the SAF mandate targets including analysis of the costs and benefits of a range of trajectories.
The uncertainty around future SAF costs makes it difficult to predict exactly how much ticket prices could increase by. However, any impact is expected to be relatively small.
Passing SAF costs onto passengers is ultimately a commercial decision for airlines.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to provide funding for manned surveillance operations by 5 Regiment Army Air Corps after the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by James Heappey
The Department focuses on capability requirements when making platform replacement decisions. Any future requirement to provide 5 Regiment Army Air Corps with a crewed surveillance aviation platform beyond financial year 2023-24 will be framed by the 2021 Defence Rotary Wing Strategy and evolving operational demands.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the UK is able to take advantage of (a) drones and remotely piloted aircraft and (b) other emerging flight technologies.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The UK’s strategic vision is to maximise benefits of future flight technologies – for the economy and for communities – whilst ensuring their emergence is both safe and secure, positioning us as a global leader. The Government will soon publish a Future of Flight Plan to set out strategic direction for this burgeoning industry, developed through the newly established Future of Flight Industry Group (FFIG). The first meeting of the FFIG was held on 8 March 2023 and chaired by the Aviation Minister.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the US Inflation Reduction Act and the need for a price support mechanism for sustainable aviation fuel in the UK on the future levels of domestic production of those fuels.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The government is committed to supporting the uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). A SAF mandate will be introduced to drive demand. A consultation setting out further detail on the mandate and potential uptake trajectories for SAF was published on 30 March. It reaffirms our commitment that at least 10% of fuel must be made from sustainable sources by 2030.
The government is investing in SAF plants to boost supply. 8 SAF plants received support through the green fuels, green skies competition. A further £165m is being invested through the Advanced Fuels Fund between 2022 – 25 to support UK SAF plants reach commercial scale.
DfT commissioned an independent review in October 2022 to understand how to accelerate investment in a UK SAF industry. The government will publish the review and respond to it shortly. The government has been clear that it wants to see the UK continue to capture its share of the global SAF market and play a leading role in the development, production and use of SAF. As the response to the independent report will set out, government will continue to work in partnership with industry and investors to explore the best approach to addressing barriers to investment.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an estimate of the future value of sustainable aviation fuel to the British economy.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The government is committed to supporting the uptake of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). A SAF mandate will be introduced to drive demand. A consultation setting out further detail on the mandate and potential uptake trajectories for SAF was published on 30 March. It reaffirms our commitment that at least 10% of fuel must be made from sustainable sources by 2030.
The government is investing in SAF plants to boost supply. 8 SAF plants received support through the green fuels, green skies competition. A further £165m is being invested through the Advanced Fuels Fund between 2022 – 25 to support UK SAF plants reach commercial scale.
DfT commissioned an independent review in October 2022 to understand how to accelerate investment in a UK SAF industry. The government will publish the review and respond to it shortly. The government has been clear that it wants to see the UK continue to capture its share of the global SAF market and play a leading role in the development, production and use of SAF. As the response to the independent report will set out, government will continue to work in partnership with industry and investors to explore the best approach to addressing barriers to investment.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to support the manufacture of new zero emissions whole aircraft in the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 setting out an approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050.
As part of the Jet Zero Strategy Government co-invests in ultra-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technologies through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme. The ATI programme is investing £58m in the development of whole new zero emission aircraft led by Vertical Aerospace, ZeroAvia Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Rolls-Royce and Hybrid Air Vehicles. Industry has co-invested £57m alongside these grants. As all the aircraft are still in the development phase none have yet entered full scale production.
To support further work on zero emission flight the ATI led the £15m FlyZero project. This in-depth research study, which was completed in March 2022, found green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power future zero-carbon emission aircraft.
Asked by: Marquess of Lothian (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current political and security situation in Myanmar; and what steps, if any, they are taking to hold the military authorities in Myanmar to account, particularly in view of international concerns over war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to condemn the military coup in Myanmar and the violence against the people of Myanmar. Since 1st February 2021, the UK has been at the forefront of the international response. We will continue to use all possible measures to target those who seek to facilitate and profit from the military's human rights violations. On 31st January, we announced our fourteenth tranche of targeted sanctions, to target companies and individuals who are responsible for supplying aviation fuel to the Myanmar Air Force. On 21 December 2022, the UN Security Council passed the first ever resolution, which was led by the UK, on the situation in Myanmar. led by the UK. The resolution highlighted the oppression faced by people across Myanmar, and demanded an end to violence and the release of all those arbitrarily detained. To end the culture of impunity in Myanmar, we have established the Myanmar Witness programme, which collects and preserves evidence of human rights violations for future prosecution.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the policy paper entitled Inclusive Transport Strategy, published on 25 July 2018, what recent progress his Department has made on helping to ensure equal access for people with disabilities on public transport.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Good progress has been made on the Inclusive Transport Strategy (ITS), and the majority of commitments have now been completed.
In the last year, the Department has delivered a number of commitments from the ITS, including:
We are committed to delivering the remaining ITS commitments. In January 2022, the Department published a baseline evaluation report, which provides a detailed picture of disabled people’s experience using the transport network as we work towards full implementation of the ITS. This will be used as a baseline for future evaluation, including the annual scorecard of disabled people’s experiences using the transport network. The next scorecard is due to be published this spring, and a final evaluation report will be published in 2024.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to further review the annual allowance tax charge for those in receipt of a pension in (a) the aviation sector and (b) other sectors experiencing skill shortages in order to ensure that highly skilled workers are retained in those sectors.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Pensions tax relief is one of the most expensive reliefs in the personal tax system. In 2020/21 Income Tax and employer National Insurance Contributions relief cost £67.3 billion. The annual and lifetime allowances help to ensure that the highest earning pension savers do not receive a disproportionate benefit. 99 per cent of pension savers make annual contributions below £40,000, the level of standard annual allowance.
All aspects of the tax system are kept under review as part of the annual Budget process, and in the context of the wider public finances.
We are fully committed to supporting the aviation industry as it is vital to our future as a global trading nation as well as playing an important role in local economies. In May 2022, the Government published Flightpath to the Future - our strategic framework for the sector to build back better, make UK aviation cleaner, greener and more competitive than ever before. It also explores key issues including workforce and skills, recovery, global impact, innovation and decarbonisation.