Asked by: Brandon Lewis (Conservative - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to help support communities that are tackling identified deficits in (a) green and (b) amenity spaces in Great Yarmouth.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Great Yarmouth is one of many places around the country that is benefitting from our mission to level up the UK. The Norfolk Devolution Deal, signed on 8 December, will provide £600 million over 30 years, allowing Norfolk to invest in its local residents’ and businesses’ priorities. Further to this, Great Yarmouth has received funding through the Levelling Up Parks Fund, the Towns Fund, and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will help create new or refurbished green spaces where they are needed most in the area, catalyse wider investment to support regeneration, recovery, jobs, and growth, and identify the area’s own needs and capitalise on its strengths to build pride in places and improve life prospects.
Asked by: Lord Inglewood (Non-affiliated - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reconsider their priorities for agriculture and rural land use policy owing to the impact of the war in Ukraine.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 30 March the Government announced steps to assist farmers, address uncertainty and keep costs down. Planned changes to the use of urea fertiliser have been delayed by at least a year. The delay has been made to help farmers deal with rising input costs and to give them more time to adapt.
The Government also published revised statutory guidance on how farmers should limit the use of slurry and other farmyard manure at certain times of the year. This will be supported through new slurry storage grants as of this year, helping farmers reduce their dependence on artificial fertiliser.
Alongside this, the Government has published further details on the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The scheme will pay farmers to build the health and fertility of their soil and reduce soil erosion which are essential for sustainable food production, helping to bolster food security and longer-term resilience of the sector.
The Government will pay farmers to help with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures or in advance of their crops. This will help substitute some of their fertiliser requirements for the coming season and reduce their dependence on manufactured fertilisers linked to the price of gas. In addition, an industry fertiliser roundtable has been set up and chaired by the Farming Minister, to work on these issues, identify solutions and better understand the pressures facing farmers at this time.
Asked by: Gareth Bacon (Conservative - Orpington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will provide a list of (a) professional staff networks and (b) social clubs operating within his Department; and if she will provide the (i) budgets and (ii) FTE staff time allocated to each group within each of the last three years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
(a) DCMS has the following staff networks:
Ability Network (Beyond Disability)
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Network
Carers Network
Direct Appointee Network
EU Nationals Network
Faith and Belief Network
Fair Treatment Ambassadors
Flexible Working and Job Share Network
Gender Equality Network
Grade B Network (HEO / SEO Grade equivalent)
Grade C&D Network (AO & EO Grade equivalent)
Green Network
Ideas Panel Network
LGBT+ Network
Mental Health and Wellbeing Network
New Joiner Network
North Network
Parenting Network Group
Social Mobility Network
South West Network
Volunteering Network
(b) The Sports and Social Network is a Network for all staff to access and organise sport and social activity in DCMS. The social clubs that currently operate within this network include:
Choir
Football teams:
London Men’s team
London Women's team
Manchester team
Netball
Film Club
Book Club
Bake Club
Board Games
Meditation Club
(i) Budgets allocated to each group within each of the last three years
The annual budget allocated to all network activity is £10,000. This has been the same for the past three years. Networks are able to access funding on a case by case basis for events or training.
(ii) FTE staff time allocated to each group within each of the last three years
FTE staff are not allocated to networks, the role of network chair is a voluntary role and as such the time they allocate to each network is not recorded or reported upon. As part of the DCMS ‘business deal’ for network chairs, in agreement with line management and subject to business need, 10% of the network chair’s working hours can be allocated to network activity increasing to up to 20% in periods of high demand.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
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 potential of the UK significantly to reduce global warming if it achieved net zero unilaterally whilst other countries did not; what arrangements are in place to verify whether (a) Russia, (b) China, (c) the US and (d) India are pursuing net zero policies in parallel with the programme currently followed by the UK; what estimate he has made of resources of (i) North Sea (A) oil and (B) gas and (ii) shale gas, potentially available to the UK; under which circumstances the Government would begin to exploit those resources; and whether it is Government policy to pursue net zero for the UK irrespective of what other countries do.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
While the UK was the first major economy to commit to net zero, today 90% of global GDP is covered by net zero pledges (which includes Russia, China, the USA and India). We are absolutely committed to delivering on net zero and ensuring the UK is at the forefront of the rapidly growing global green economy.
The North Sea Transition Deal sets out how the UK’s offshore oil and gas sector will help deliver on net zero while continuing to contribute to UK energy security, in the last year two new fields were consented.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many new complaints his Department has received on the mis-selling of Green Deal loans by HELMS in each month since January 2020.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As of 30 November 2021, there have been 308 complaints to the Secretary of State about mis-selling by Home Energy and Lifestyle Management Ltd (HELMS). Of these a total of 81 have been completed, defined as meaning that the Secretary of State’s final decision has been issued and there has been no subsequent appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, or that the case has been withdrawn. 13 cases have been appealed to the Tribunal and are not yet resolved.
A total of 105 complainants have received Intention Notices. Of these, 85 have also received final decision letters. 20 have received Intention Notices that have not yet been followed by final decision letters (and therefore may be taken as outstanding).
Of the final decisions issued, 81 have been to impose sanctions, these being either the reduction or cancellation of loans. We do not hold data on how many are “rejected” by the complainant in favour of an offer from the Green Deal Finance Company. Once the sanction has been imposed, there is no further action for the Department under the Green Deal Framework Regulations, unless the complainant decides to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. If there is no such appeal within twenty-eight days of the date of the decision letter, the Department considers the case to be complete.
The table below provides numbers of complaints to the Secretary of State about mis-selling of Green Deal Plans by HELMS in each month since January 2020.
Month | Number of complaints about mis-selling by HELMS |
2020 | |
January | 7 |
February | 14 |
March | 7 |
April | 1 |
May | 4 |
June | 8 |
July | 7 |
August | 11 |
September | 5 |
October | 6 |
November | 3 |
December | 1 |
2021 | |
January | 7 |
February | 5 |
March | 5 |
April | 6 |
May | 1 |
June | 7 |
July | 2 |
August | 6 |
September | 3 |
October | 3 |
November | 0 |
We are progressing cases as quickly as possible, and looking at ways to speed up the review process.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 tightening the definition of what counts as a new fossil fuel extraction project for the purposes of ensuring the effectiveness of the Government's climate compatibility checkpoint.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK is the only major economy to have published a blueprint to transition it’s oil and gas sector to the green economy. The Government's landmark North Sea Transition Deal could support up to 40,000 high-quality direct and indirect supply chain jobs and sets a world-leading example for other countries who need to decarbonise their economies.
The Government’s recent review into the future of offshore oil and gas licensing concluded that a formal climate compatibility checkpoint, building on current practice, should be established. This will help ensure that any future licences are only awarded following an assessment of their compatibility with the Government’s broad climate change ambitions, including the UK’s target of reaching net zero by 2050.
BEIS will consult on the design of the checkpoint in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to promote climate action and a green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of COP26.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As part of the Government’s commitment to build back better from the pandemic, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister set out in his Ten Point Plan for the UK to lead the world into a Green Industrial Revolution. This innovative programme set out ambitious policies and £12 billion of government investment to support up to 250,000 green jobs across the UK, accelerate our path to reaching net zero by 2050 and lay the foundations for our green recovery by building back greener from COVID-19.
We are making real progress in delivering the Ten Point Plan while setting out plans for further climate action. Since last November, we have secured new investments in offshore wind, electric vehicles and battery manufacturing and supply chains, and rolled out schemes to decarbonise homes and buildings - supporting green jobs across the UK. We have also published our Energy White Paper, North Sea Transition Deal, Transport Decarbonisation Plan, Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Strategy and consultation on Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) business models.
This November, the UK will host COP26 in Glasgow bringing together world leaders, climate experts, business leaders and citizens to agree ambitious action to tackle climate change. Ahead of COP26, we will bring forward further bold proposals, including a Net Zero Strategy, to cut emissions and create new jobs and industries across the whole country, going further and faster towards building a stronger, more resilient future and protecting our planet for this generation and those to come.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to take steps to reduce health inequalities through housing in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We recognise the increased importance of good quality, safe and decent homes. By law, all landlords must ensure properties are fit for people to live in. All registered providers of social housing (which includes homes owned by local authority landlords) must meet standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing. This includes complying with the Government's Decent Homes Standard, which ensures homes are safe and decent. Social landlords are responsible for addressing any breaches of statutory requirements in the homes they provide.
The Housing Act 2004 and the Housing and Planning Act 2016 gave local authorities powers to regulate and enforce standards in the private rented sector. Where local authorities find seriously hazardous conditions, they have a legal duty to take enforcement action. Local authorities also have the power to serve legal notices requiring landlords to carry out remedial works. If landlords don't comply, or if local authorities believe the risk is high enough, local authorities can carry out remedial works themselves and recover the costs. These powers apply to Coventry North East constituency, Coventry, the West Midlands, and England more broadly. We have made a great deal of progress in recent years to help improve housing standards across the country:
Alongside this, there are also areas where we intend to go further:
MHCLG has taken the lead on many aspects of this work. However, we also recognise that the responsibility for ensuring homes and buildings are safe and decent is a shared one - lying with product designers, developers, building owners and managers and local authorities as well as central Government and devolved administrations.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by Platform, Friends of the Earth Scotland and Greenpeace UK Training & Tickets: the hidden costs for offshore oil & gas workers, published on 22 June, what steps they are taking to create a training passport scheme to allow offshore workers to transfer their experience between sectors.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The North Sea Transition Deal includes a commitment from industry to create an integrated people and skills plan, with measurable objectives, to support its transition and diversification. This will assess the industry’s future skills, training and standards requirements, and how industry will support and enable the transition of the workforce.
Furthermore, the sector has committed to work to ensure that the workforce’s skills and competencies are mutually recognised across energy sectors enabling easier job transferability. This includes promoting the uptake of relevant existing initiatives, such as the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board Connected Competence scheme and expand these as appropriate.
In order to ensure we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero, we have launched the Green Jobs Taskforce, working in partnership with business, skills providers, and trade unions, to help us develop plans for new long-term, good quality, green jobs by 2030 and advise on what support is needed for people in transitioning industries.
In addition, the offshore wind sector set out a commitment, in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, to develop an offshore energy passport (recognised outside the UK) to facilitate job mobility between different sectors. Discussions with training providers is ongoing.
We are powering forward with my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan, which will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of high quality green jobs in Tyne and Wear.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are determined to seize the once-in-a-generation economic opportunities of the net zero transition by creating new business opportunities and, by one estimate, supporting up to 2 million green jobs by 2030 across all regions of the UK. The UK has a strong base to build upon, in 2019 there were already over 410,000 jobs in low carbon businesses and their supply chains across the country. Through my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan, we will support a further 90,000 green collar jobs across the UK by 2024, and up to 250,000 by 2030.
The Getting Building Fund is investing £64.4 million in 20 projects across the North East, creating an estimated 2475 jobs. This includes £1.82 million for Tyne Dock Enterprise Park in South Shields, which will accelerate site preparation and infrastructure for the offshore wind sector. This site has been selected by Equinor/SSE to establish a major Offshore wind land-based hub to service the offshore wind farms off the North East coast and will create over 200 jobs. The Getting Building Fund is also investing £1.3 million to develop a strategic riverside offshore wind enterprise zone in Wallsend, which could create a further 500 jobs and £1.86 million in the InTEGReL Customer Energy Village research facility in Gateshead, which will demonstrate technologies enabling existing housing stock decarbonisation to net zero.
Through the Growth Deal agreed with North East LEP, we provided £379.6 million to support nearly 50 projects and programmes, which are estimated to create up to 8200 jobs and attract £300m of public and private investment. In Tyne and Wear, this included £8 million for the Swans Energy Park in Wallsend, a key strategic site for the offshore and subsea sector, which will host several hundred jobs when fully developed.
In order to ensure we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero and our Ten Point Plan, we have launched the Green Jobs Taskforce. The taskforce will conclude its work in summer 2021, with the actions feeding into our Net Zero Strategy to be published later in the year.