Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in meeting the target of cutting UK carbon emissions by at least 68 per cent of 1990 levels by the end of 2030.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Half of English councils have committed to reducing their direct emissions to zero by 2030, enormously supporting the ambition set by the Prime Minister. Local action can accelerate deployment of new technologies and drive significant cost efficiencies through strategic coordination, including vital new energy and transport infrastructure.
As we continue to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic we need to ensure that our recovery plans support our climate change response. By building back greener and better, we can achieve our climate goals, protect our biodiversity and natural capital, and sustain climate-resilient economic development, all in a fair and inclusive way.
A significant amount of support has been made available for councils to act on climate change, from heat networks to cycle paths to flood defences. Councils are uniquely positioned to align local needs, opportunities and resources to deliver strategic interventions at all scales. We will continue to work with councils to enable them to build back greener and better locally, through an effective planning framework and devolution.
Environmental principles are embedded in?growth funds and the national planning framework. To give a few?examples:
Finally, MHCLG is supporting clean growth initiatives through existing funding pots, including the Towns Fund and Local Growth Fund, and local institutions are using strategic plans to support the UK’s net zero by 2050 commitment. My officials are working with other departments including BEIS and DEFRA to ensure that green recovery and clean growth form a key part of our emerging local economic recovery planning.
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, with reference to the £385m Advanced Nuclear Fund announced in his Department's Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, published November 2020, how much of the fund was previously announced as part of the £172m of Government funding within the nuclear sector deal.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has announced a broad set of policy measures to drive the UK to net zero, including a new £1bn net zero innovation portfolio from 2021 to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative low-carbon technologies, systems and business models in power, buildings and industry.
The £385m Advanced Nuclear Fund contains funding for both Small and Advanced Modular Reactors. Up to £30m of existing contracts and commitments from the nuclear sector deal for the nuclear innovation programme will continue to be funded through the Advanced Nuclear Fund.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to work with (a) the oil and gas sector and (b) other parts of the private sector to support the technical and vocational skills training required to achieve the Prime Minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The oil and gas sector has a key role to play as we move to a net zero economy and this Government has committed to supporting this energy transition with a transformational North Sea Transition Deal. The focus of this deal will be on ensuring the sector can support the energy transition and anchoring the supply chain across the UK. This also includes a focus on skills, supporting high-quality jobs in new energy technologies that will help to decarbonise our economy.
Private sector engagement through employers is also key to our work in helping shape future policies and programmes. The new Green Jobs Taskforce, which was launched on 12 November 2020, has been set up to help the UK build back greener and deliver the skilled workforce needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. This is a joint initiative between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Education.
Working with employers and relevant stakeholders such as BP and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB), the Taskforce will develop an action plan to support 2 million good-quality, green jobs and the skills needed by 2030, supporting the UK to transition to a net zero economy and deliver a green recovery.
One key aim of the Taskforce is to identify the support needed for workers transitioning from high carbon industries such as oil and gas and how to best mobilise their skills for a Green Industrial Revolution.
Taskforce members will represent views of businesses, employees and the skills sector. Involvement in this work will not be limited only to Taskforce members, and there will be opportunities for a wider set of stakeholders, including the private sector, to contribute.
Details of the Taskforce including a full list members can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-launches-taskforce-to-support-drive-for-2-million-green-jobs-by-2030.
We are also working closely with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education who are convening a Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel to guide the Institute in identifying existing apprenticeships that support the green economy and encouraging trailblazers to align those apprenticeships to net zero and wider sustainability objectives. The Panel will also advise where there is a need for new apprenticeships to be created by employer groups. The Institute will be working to ensure that apprenticeships play their part in helping workers reskill and support a move to green sector jobs.
The ECITB grant also supports a wide range of training in the oil and gas sector, from craft, apprenticeships, and technical training to project management. The ECITB’s recently announced COVID-19 support package is directly focused on the oil and gas sector, including the ‘Train to Retain’ initiative, which will support the retention and development of graduates and apprentices, ensuring that vital engineering skills are secured in the industry.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to work with the (a) oil and gas industry and (b) other parts of the private sector to support the technical and vocational skills training required to meet the commitments in the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The oil and gas sector has a key role to play as we move to a net zero economy, and this Government has committed to supporting this energy transition with a transformational North Sea Transition Deal. The focus of this deal will be on ensuring the sector can support the energy transition to anchor the supply chain across the UK. This also includes a focus on skills, supporting high-quality jobs in new energy technologies that will help to decarbonise our economy.
Private sector engagement through employers is also key to our work in helping shape future policies and programmes. The new Green Jobs Taskforce, launched on 12 November 2020, has been set up to help the UK build back greener and deliver the skilled workforce needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. This is a joint initiative between the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and the Department for Education.
Working with employers and relevant stakeholders, such as the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB), the Taskforce will develop an action plan to support 2 million good quality, green jobs and the skills needed by 2030. This will support the UK in transitioning to a net zero economy and deliver a green recovery.
One key aim of the Taskforce is to identify the support needed for workers transitioning from high carbon industries such as oil and gas and how to best mobilise their skills for a Green Industrial Revolution.
Taskforce members will represent views of businesses, employees, and the skills sector. Involvement in this work will not be limited only to Taskforce members, and there will be opportunities for a wider set of stakeholders, including the private sector, to contribute.
Further details on the Taskforce, including a full list members, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-government-launches-taskforce-to-support-drive-for-2-million-green-jobs-by-2030.
The ECITB grant also supports a wide range of training in the oil and gas sector, from craft, apprenticeships, and technical training to project management. The ECITB’s recently announced COVID-19 support package is directly focused on the oil and gas sector. This includes the ‘Train to Retain’ initiative, which will support the retention and development of graduates and apprentices, ensuring that vital engineering skills are secured in the industry.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what awards have been made from the Towns Fund; to which projects those awards have been made; and what the value is of each such grant awarded.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
On 27 October, we announced the first seven offers of Town Deals, worth almost £180 million in total, for Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool, Darlington, Norwich, Peterborough, Torquay and Warrington. These landmark deals will see millions invested in projects across the country including updating Blackpool’s famous Illuminations for a return to tourism, the modernisation of Torquay town centre and plans for low carbon-living in Peterborough.
In September, we announced accelerated funding for all 101 towns selected to work with Government to develop a Town Deal. This was to support capital projects that would help them address the immediate impacts of Covid-19. Each town received a grant of £500,000, £750,000 or £1 million, depending on population size. This funding is supporting a range of projects including new green spaces, pop-up business spaces and walking and cycling routes. Further details of the accelerated funding are also here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/80-million-boost-to-towns.
Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to allocate funding to the development of future employment roles for workers in the (a) oil and gas and (b) other sectors to ensure that the economy is prepared for the transition towards net zero emissions.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The oil and gas sector, and particularly its supply chain, has a key role to play as we move to a net zero economy and we have committed to supporting this energy transition with a transformational North Sea Transition Deal. The focus of this deal will be on ensuring the sector can support the energy transition and anchoring the supply chain across the UK. Key features include a focus on new low carbon technologies, emissions reduction, skills supporting high-quality jobs, and innovation that will decarbonise our economy.
Our Ten Point Plan is our blueprint for a green industrial revolution. It combines ambitious policies with significant new public investment to deliver a vision for the UK that is greener, more prosperous and at the forefront of industries for the future. Spanning clean energy, buildings, transport, nature and innovative technologies, the Plan will mobilise £12 billion of Government investment and will support up to 250,000 green jobs.
This included the announcement to make the UK the world leader in clean wind energy, creating jobs, slashing carbon emissions and boosting exports. This includes £160 million that will be made available to upgrade ports and manufacturing infrastructure across communities in the UK. This new investment will see around 2,000 construction jobs created and these new plans will enable the sector to support up to 60,000 jobs directly and indirectly by 2030 in ports, factories and the supply chains, manufacturing the next-generation of offshore wind turbines and delivering clean energy to the UK.
The Green Jobs Taskforce, which I and the Skills Minister, my hon Friend the Member for Chichester (Gillian Keegan) will chair, forms part of the Government’s ambitious plan to build back greener and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Its aim will be to focus on the immediate and longer-term challenges of delivering skilled workers for the UK’s transition to net zero including supporting workers in high carbon transitioning sectors, like oil and gas, to retrain in new green technologies. This will also be a key aim for the upcoming North Sea Transition Deal.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Green Jobs Taskforce, how many jobs he plans to create in the offshore wind supply chain by 2030.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The number of jobs supported by the sector between now and 2030 will depend on the rate of build, the profile and level of investment, and the level of UK content in the supply chain. The offshore wind sector could support around 60,000 direct and indirect UK jobs by 2030, on the basis of 40GW of offshore wind being deployed, and the sector deal raising UK content in new projects to the target of 60%.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that offshore oil and gas workers in north east England made redundant during the covid-19 outbreak are offered support to re-train for work in the offshore wind industry.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is closely monitoring developments related to potential impacts on the upstream oil and gas industry and is in regular contact with a range of stakeholders from the sector.
In response to the pandemic, we have announced an unprecedented financial package to support businesses, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
In the Offshore Wind Sector Deal, the offshore wind sector committed to developing an Offshore Energy Passport (recognised outside the UK) to accredit offshore workers and facilitate job-mobility between offshore renewable and extractive industries. The sector has established an Investment in Talent Group, supported by a skills professional, who will identify skills needs across the sector, and develop curricula and accreditation to deepen the skills base.
The Green Jobs Taskforce, which my Hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills and I chair, forms part of the Government’s ambitious plan to build back greener and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Its aim is to focus on the immediate and longer-term challenges of delivering skilled workers for the UK’s transition to net zero including supporting workers in high carbon transitioning sectors, like oil and gas, to retrain in new green technologies. This will also be a key aim for the upcoming North Sea Transition Deal.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to establish an inter-Departmental Government committee to tackle the spectrum of health issues that result from or are exacerbated by living in homes which are unhealthy.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
We recognise the increased importance of good quality, safe and decent homes and will continue to work to improve housing standards and support vulnerable people.
We have made a great deal of progress in recent years to help improve housing standards:
The Decent Homes Standard requires homes to be free of serious hazards that could cause harm to health. In the social housing White Paper, we announced a review of the Standard to ensure it is the right ask of the social housing sector today.
My Department has taken the lead on many aspects of this work. There is extensive cross-Government work on healthy homes and buildings – from planning and place-making to design, delivery and standards and support.? Officials across all policies areas regularly engage industry and local government when developing, delivering and reviewing policies.? MHCLG recognises 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: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to improve the provision of mental health training for (a) schoolteachers and (b) university lecturers.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The government is committed to promoting and supporting the mental health of children, young people and the school, college and university staff who support them.
School, college and university staff cannot act as mental health experts, and they should not try to diagnose conditions. However, it is important that they are able to identify possible mental health problems, so they are able to put appropriate support in place. It is up to schools and colleges to decide what training to offer their staff, but we have put in place a range of training for them to draw on.
Training has been particularly important to give schools confidence to deal with issues that will have arisen during the COVID-19 outbreak. To ensure that staff are equipped to support wellbeing as children and young people returned to schools and colleges, we made it a central part of our guidance both on remote education and on the return to school. We supported this with a range of training and materials, including webinars which have been accessed by thousands of education staff. We have also accelerated training on how to teach about mental health as part of the new relationships, sex and health curriculum, so that all pupils can benefit from this long-term requirement.
To provide further support during the autumn and spring terms the department has worked with our partners, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Health Education England, Public Health England and key voluntary sector organisations, to launch Wellbeing for Education Return. This project, backed by £8 million, will train local experts to provide additional training, advice and resources to schools and colleges, to help support pupil and student wellbeing, resilience and recovery. It will give staff the confidence to support pupils and students, their parents, carers and their own colleagues, and know how and where to access appropriate specialist support where needed.
This specific support is building on our longer-term activity to help support teacher knowledge. As part of this, the government has successfully delivered on the 2017 commitment of my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, to make mental health awareness training available to all eligible secondary schools by March 2020. To help embed knowledge and practice in schools, we are now in the process of developing a bespoke senior mental health lead training programme. The training will equip senior mental health leads with the knowledge to introduce or develop their whole school and college approach to mental health, implement effective processes for ensuring pupils and students with mental health problems receive appropriate support and to promote positive mental health within the school or college so that it becomes a key part of how schools and colleges operate. The knowledge requirements and expected outcomes for the training closely align to Public Health England’s ‘Promoting children and young people’s emotional health and wellbeing. A whole school and college approach’, which is available here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/414908/Final_EHWB_draft_20_03_15.pdf.
We also remain committed to our major joint green paper delivery programme with DHSC and NHS England, including introducing new mental health support teams linked to schools and colleges, and testing approaches to faster access to NHS specialist support.
We also recognise the importance of supporting staff with their own mental health and wellbeing. This is why we are funding a £95,000 pilot project with the Education Support Partnership, to focus on leaders’ mental health, providing online peer-support and telephone supervision from experts to around 250 school leaders. This is in addition to funding of £45,000 we provided to Timewise, to provide practical support and resources on flexible working, in light of new arrangements for schools responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.
It is up to higher education institutions to decide how to support their students and what training to offer to staff. The government strongly supports the University Mental Health Charter, which aims to drive up standards in promoting student and staff mental health and wellbeing. We are also working closely with Universities UK on embedding the Step Change: Mentally Healthy Universities framework, calling on higher education leaders to adopt mental health as a strategic priority and take a whole-institution approach, embedding it across all policies, cultures, curricula and practice.