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Written Question
Minerals: Recycling
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of the UK's supply of critical minerals in the next 10 years that will be met by recycling.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Critical Minerals Strategy seeks to promote a circular economy of critical minerals in the UK. Recycling rates vary significantly for different minerals. In the case of minerals for electrical vehicle batteries, end-of-life recycling is expected to provide less than 1% of UK demand in 2030. The opportunity improves by 2040: recycling is expected to account for 10-20% of battery mineral demand for electrical vehicles.

To promote recycling and recovery, the Government is funding the £30 million National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research (NICER) Programme, including a centre on technology metals. Defra expects to consult on regulations for electrical waste in 2023 and subsequently for end-of-life batteries.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles: Batteries
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Lord Wasserman (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to Britishvolt entering into administration, what steps they are taking to ensure the secure and sustainable supply of electric vehicle batteries to British manufacturers.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government remains committed to Levelling Up and is actively engaging with companies to secure investments that will ensure the UK remains a world leader in automotive manufacturing.

We continue to work through the Automotive Transition Fund (ATF) to progress plans to build a globally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK, which includes unlocking private investment in gigafactories, battery material supply chains, motors, power electronics, and fuel cell systems.

We have invested record sums in battery R&D – last October we announced a record £211 million uplift for the Faraday Battery Challenge, which brought the overall budget of this ambitious programme to £541 million. We recently awarded £27.6 million from this funding to 17 UK projects to support innovation in EV battery technology.


Written Question
Postage Stamps
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Department has made of the (a) feasibility and (b) contribution to the national heritage of continuing the use of stamps without barcodes after 31 July 2023.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The development of stamp products is an operational matter for Royal Mail. The Government is not involved in the operational decisions of Royal Mail, a private business.

Royal Mail is not barcoding special stamp issues, which are printed to commemorate a person or event.


Written Question
Tourism
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support businesses in the outbound travel industry in rebuilding their customer base in 2023.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Businesses in the outbound travel industry can access support through the Recovery Loan Scheme which helps smaller businesses access loans and other kinds of finance up to £2 million per business group so they can grow and invest. The finance can be used for any business purpose, including growth and investment, or working capital. Furthermore, At the Autumn Statement, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs. This includes freezing the business rates multiplier for another year to protect businesses from rising inflation, worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years.

The Government’s Help to Grow: Management’ scheme is helping small and medium sized (SME) businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach more customers and boost profits.

All businesses can access support through 38 Growth Hubs across England providing businesses across England with free one-to-one support and advice.


Written Question
Drugs: Manufacturing Industries
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support he is providing to businesses in the pharmaceutical sector to (a) expand their premises and (b) manufacture more products.

Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)

In 2021, the Government published the Life Sciences Vision, which set out an ambition to create a globally competitive environment for Life Science manufacturing investments. To help meet these ambitions and incentivise globally mobile manufacturing investments in the UK, the Office for Life Sciences launched the £60 million Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF) in March 2022. The LSIMF will provide capital grants for investment in the manufacture of human medicines (drug substance and drug product), medical diagnostics and medical technology products. The fund has received a large number of high-quality applications and we expect to announce the successful grant awards from spring 2023.


Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Conditions of Employment
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if they will take steps to (a) publish an equality impact assessment and (b) consult with trade unions when proposing new HR policies for their Department; and if they will make a statement.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The BEIS HR Directorate carries out equality impact assessments in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty when developing new internal departmental HR policies. BEIS does not routinely publish the equality impact assessments for new internal departmental HR policies, however, they are shared with the departmental trade unions, staff networks, and employees more broadly, upon request.

The BEIS HR Directorate consults with the departmental trade unions when proposing new internal HR policies for the Department.


Written Question
Spaceflight
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)

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 future UK spaceflight launches.

Answered by George Freeman

The Government remains committed to making the UK the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, with all the necessary infrastructure and regulations now in place to support this. £50 million has been provided to grow new UK markets for small satellite launch and sub-orbital spaceflight, with £31.5 million helping to establish vertical launch services in Scotland. This includes supporting Orbex to launch from Sutherland and Lockheed Martin to launch from the Shetland Islands. Both launches are expected to take place in 2024, with other spaceports in development across Scotland and in Wales.

The UK Space Agency is now developing the next phase of the UK Spaceflight Programme, subject to HM Treasury approval. In addition, the UK invested £12 million into the next phase of the European Space Agency’s Boost programme at the ESA Council of Ministers 2022, aimed at providing tailored support to national launch companies and related infrastructure.


Written Question
Space Technology: Wales
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)

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 help support the space industry in Wales.

Answered by George Freeman

The Government is committed to growing and levelling up the UK space ecosystem. Since 2014, the UK Space Agency has invested over £7 million through its national and European Space Agency programmes to support space companies in Wales develop new and innovative technologies, including Space Forge who have built Wales’s first satellite. In addition, the Agency also invests significantly in academic R&D institutions in Wales, which stimulate and enable industry spin-out companies and applications in other sectors. This includes the £16.5 million investment in the Cardiff University-led SPIRE instrument aboard the ESA science observatory mission Herschel and up to £2.5 million planned funding in the Ariel mission, as part of the £30 million package announced last year.


Written Question
Satellites: Manufacturing Industries
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to help support the (a) establishment and (b) growth of the small satellite manufacturing sector.

Answered by George Freeman

The Government has a long record of supporting the UK satellite manufacturing sector, and the UK space sector now excels in satellite manufacture, which includes some of world’s leading small satellite companies such as SSTL and AAC Clydespace.

Through our £1.8 billion investment in ESA programmes and £1 billion via UK agency this CSR, the Government continues to support R&D work with these and many other companies such as OpenCosmos, Alba Orbital, InSpace Missions, Orbital Astronautics and Space Forge which are developing innovative nano and microsats. The Government further supports the sector through regulatory leadership in small satellite insurance, finance and licensing as part of our aim to become the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030. Significant commercial opportunities such as the OneWeb second generation constellation offer potential to further strengthen the UK’s small satellite sector.


Written Question
Products: Safety
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many enforcement actions the Office for Product Safety and Standards took against (a) Amazon, (b) Ebay, (c) AliExpress and (d) Wish in 2022.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

During 2022 the Office for Product Safety and Standards has undertaken a programme of enforcement activity relating to the availability of unsafe and non-compliant products from online platforms including Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and Wish. This includes safety alerts and withdrawal notices as well as activity at the Border to prevent unsafe products being placed on the UK market, test purchasing and assessment of high-risk products such as small electrical goods, toys containing magnets and button batteries and personal protective equipment.

This has resulted in 308 notifications on the Product Safety Recalls and Alert system and specific Product Safety Alerts on angle grinder chainsaws, hot hairbrushes and baby self-feeding devices.