Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 help protect Marine Protected Areas during new oil and gas licensing rounds.
Answered by Graham Stuart
I refer my hon. Friend to the answers I gave the hon. Member for Brighton Pavilion on 8th November 2022 to Questions 74614, 74616 and 74617.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
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 the Rosebank oil field development in the North Sea does not damage marine habitats.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The environmental impacts of offshore oil and gas developments, including the likely impacts on marine habitats, are subject to rigorous regulatory assessment by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED). This includes consultation with government nature protection bodies and with the public.
If required, OPRED can put in place conditions to protect marine habitats from significant impacts which may occur during preparatory work, installation and operation of the facilities.
The Environmental Statement for the Rosebank Field Development is currently being reviewed by OPRED and a decision will be published in due course.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
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 new licencing round for 898 blocks in the North Sea, if he will publish a list of the pollutants which could be released into the marine environment from oil and gas exploration, drilling, and transportation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has undertaken an Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment (OESEA4) of a draft plan for licensing and leasing areas for future offshore energy developments including offshore oil and gas, offshore gas and carbon dioxide storage, offshore renewables, and offshore hydrogen, in relevant waters of the UK Continental Shelf.
Public consultation on the OESEA4 Environmental Report took place between 17 March and 27 May 2022. The Government response to the OESEA4 was published in September 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/uk-offshore-energy-strategic-environmental-assessment-4-oesea4.
A Written Ministerial Statement adopting the plan was made in September 2022: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-09-22/hcws295.
In advance of any licence award, as part of the 33rd Offshore Oil and gas Licensing Round, a further Habitats Regulations Assessment will be undertaken.
Asked by: Siobhan Baillie (Conservative - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has taken recent steps to (a) strengthen protections for and (b) promote the restoration of saltmarsh habitats.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
HM Government recognises the important role that nature-based solutions, including blue carbon habitats, such as saltmarsh can play to prevent biodiversity loss and support adaptation and resilience to climate change, alongside their carbon sequestration benefits.
England’s Environment Agency (EA) reports on the extent and zonation of saltmarsh in England. The latest report (looking at saltmarsh area change over a decade from 2006-2009 to 2016-2019) is published on GOV.UK and has mapped existing restoration sites and supports further restoration practices. 38% of UK waters are already in Marine Protected Areas, covering the majority of saltmarsh habitats. Our focus is now on ensuring these are effectively managed.
The EA also lead the ‘Restoring Meadows, Marsh and Reef Initiative’, working with partners across government, the eNGO sector, academia and industry to streamline regulatory processes, build capacity and share knowledge to facilitate the accelerated restoration of estuarine and coastal habitats, with an initial focus on three priority habitats - saltmarshes, seagrass beds and native oyster reefs. At COP26, as part of this initiative, the EA also launched its Saltmarsh Restoration Handbook, a guide written by practitioners and experts to support groups wanting to undertake their own saltmarsh restoration project, one of 3 ‘Blue Carbon Restoration Handbooks’.
We are also working to increase private investment in nature. The £10 million Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund is also supporting three projects with almost £300k of grants, to explore, develop and then test methodologies to measure and verify the carbon storage potential in saltmarsh habitats. This includes a project to develop a Saltmarsh Carbon code from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Finally, through the UK Blue Carbon Evidence Partnership, UK Administrations are working with the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Estate and Defra to continue to strengthen our evidence base relating to blue carbon habitats including saltmarsh. The first aim of the Partnership has been to identify and then clearly set out the most pressing research questions relating to blue carbon within an Evidence Needs Statement that will act as a signal to the research community for further work.
Asked by: Clive Lewis (Labour - Norwich South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the Rosebank oil field with respect to the Government's objective to protect 30 per cent of the UK's oceans by 2030.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment & Decommissioning (OPRED) is in the process of considering the environmental statement submitted by Equinor in support of the proposed Rosebank development. As part this process, OPRED completes an Environmental Impact Assessment ; consulting with Statutory Nature Consultation Bodies, including the Joint Nature Conservation Committee and the Marine Management Organisation, which are key delivery partners of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and will take into account the impact a project may have on the environment within marine protected areas, designated by UK Government and Devolved Administrations under relevant legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the CSIRO report Dispatchability and energy storage costs for complementary wave, wind, and solar PV systems, published on 27 September, and (2) the potential for wave energy to assist with maintaining grid stability in the UK as the share of renewable energy increases.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Analysis has confirmed the predictability, resilience and potential cost-effectiveness of marine energy, which could play a key role in delivering net zero, as noted in the cited report. The Government is pleased that, at the last contracts for difference auction, four tidal stream projects were successful. The Department continues to explore options to increase the production of wave and tidal energy, including innovative funding mechanisms.
Asked by: Steve Double (Conservative - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support maritime and shipbuilding.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Marine sector and shipbuilding are an important part of my Ministerial portfolio. BEIS is supporting the delivery of the refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy led by the Ministry of Defence. The Home Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme will underwrite lending, in partnership with commercial lenders, for domestic operators to encourage more UK builds and is a key priority for early delivery. I am bringing forward our specific proposals for the scheme to Government colleagues, with a view to updating Parliament and launching a scheme this calendar year.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the finding in the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research paper, Paint it black: Efficacy of increased wind turbine rotor blade visibility to reduce avian fatalities, by Roel May and others, published in Ecology and Evolution in July 2020, that the number of birds killed by wind turbines can be cut by 72% by coating one of the blades black, if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on ensuring that wind turbines (a) procured for use and (b) manufactured in the UK are required to have a contrast third blade.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We understand offshore wind developments have an environmental impact. Impacts on seabirds are of concern given the future acceleration of offshore wind to support the British Energy Security Strategy and the Growth Plan.
Defra is working with other Government departments, marine regulators, Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies, industry, NGOs and academics to understand the impacts on seabirds more fully and to find ways to manage and mitigate them.
Prompted by the findings of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research's paper which focused on a terrestrial location, Natural England has recently published a report to determine the applicability of this mitigation approach at sea. In Marine birds: vision-based wind turbine collision mitigation, Natural England reviewed the use of black and white patterns on turbines and blades, considering how various bird species with differing visual capabilities can best detect them under a range of conditions at sea, and so avoid collisions.
Defra is developing a suite of Offshore Wind Environmental Standards which aim to ensure that offshore wind farms are designed, constructed, operated, monitored and decommissioned in a way that minimises their impact on the marine environment. As part of this work, we will be further investigating the applicability of blade painting for offshore windfarms.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding in the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research paper, Paint it black: Efficacy of increased wind turbine rotor blade visibility to reduce avian fatalities, by Roel May and others, published in Ecology and Evolution in July 2020, that the number of birds killed by wind turbines can be cut by 72% by coating one of the blades black; and if he will take steps to ensure that this measure is used in the UK.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
We understand offshore wind developments have an environmental impact. Impacts on seabirds are of concern given the future acceleration of offshore wind to support the British Energy Security Strategy and the Growth Plan.
Defra is working with other Government departments, marine regulators, Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies, industry, NGOs and academics to understand the impacts on seabirds more fully and to find ways to manage and mitigate them.
Prompted by the findings of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research's paper which focused on a terrestrial location, Natural England has recently published a report to determine the applicability of this mitigation approach at sea. In Marine birds: vision-based wind turbine collision mitigation, Natural England reviewed the use of black and white patterns on turbines and blades, considering how various bird species with differing visual capabilities can best detect them under a range of conditions at sea, and so avoid collisions.
Defra is developing a suite of Offshore Wind Environmental Standards which aim to ensure that offshore wind farms are designed, constructed, operated, monitored and decommissioned in a way that minimises their impact on the marine environment. As part of this work, we will be further investigating the applicability of blade painting for offshore windfarms.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 support tidal stream projects; and if he will set a target for marine energy generation.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Tidal stream is a home-grown industry of considerable promise, and the UK remains the world leader in tidal stream generation technologies, with almost half of the world's deployment of this cutting-edge approach situated in UK waters.
The Government announced on 7 July that over 40MW of new tidal stream power has been secured in Scotland and Wales via the flagship Contracts for Difference scheme. This will quintuple the UK’s installed capacity and could treble the global capacity of installed tidal stream capacity by 2027.
It provides the industry with the opportunity to demonstrate the cost-efficiency and proof of scalability that the Government needs to see from our sources of renewable electricity.