Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce legislation that would enable people and businesses to buy community energy locally.
Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is hugely ambitious about the role that local energy will play in achieving our mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower.
The Department – with Great British Energy – are looking at the issue of local supply and the options available.
In parallel, Elexon have been progressing the P441 code modification through a series of workgroup roundtables and have recently concluded a consultation to gather wider sector responses on proposed P441 changes. These changes if supported would clarify and simplify balancing and settlement arrangements for complex metering sites, such as those likely to be used by many community energy schemes.
The Government will continue to monitor these developments closely and will publish the Local Power Plan in due course.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Environment Agency is investigating a large-scale illegal waste crime site in Wigan, as reported by Sky News on 28 October; whether it was on the list of six sites provided to the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee; and, if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is undertaking operations in response to an illegal waste site located at Bolton House Road, Wigan. These operations consist of two key components. The first is a complex criminal investigation involving multiple lines of enquiry. The second is a coordinated multi-agency effort, working alongside Wigan Council, Greater Manchester Police, and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, to assist in the development of a plan for the removal of the waste—subject to the identification of funding. The EA remains committed to collaborating with partners to safeguard the environment and protect the wellbeing and livelihoods of residents and workers affected by the site. Due to its smaller size and lower volume of waste compared to the site at Hoads Wood, the Bolton House Road site did not meet the criteria for inclusion on the list sent to the Committee.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to review the effectiveness of Ofcom in addressing complaints relating to climate change misinformation.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ofcom, by law, carries out its duties independently of the Government. Ofcom is accountable to Parliament for the regulation of broadcasters, and the Government does not intervene in Ofcom's operational decisions. Ofcom is required by legislation to enforce a Broadcasting Code for television and radio, to ensure that audiences are adequately protected from harm. This includes rules that factual programmes do not materially mislead audiences, and that news, in whatever form, is reported with due accuracy.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many meetings ministers have held with climate scientists and scientific advisory bodies on climate change since July 2024; and whether they will publish a list of those meetings comparable to the published data on meetings with representatives of the fossil fuel industry.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Ministers engage regularly with the scientific community and trusted experts, including the Climate Change Committee, to ensure our climate policies are based on the best available advice and evidence. A list of ministers’ meetings with external organisations is published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all cars sold in the UK meet appropriate anti-theft standards and are adequately protected from relay attacks.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
All passenger cars placed on the UK market need to be Type Approved. This process ensures compliance with requirements for anti-theft and car alarm systems.
The Government is protecting vehicles from relay attacks through provisions in the Criminal Justice Bill. The Bill will create new offences to enable prosecution of those who possess, make, adapt, supply, or offer to supply electronic devices; where there are reasonable grounds to suspect those devices will be used for the purposes of vehicle theft.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to implement statutory measures to ban the sale of zombie knives and machetes.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
Between 18 April and 16 June 2023, the Government ran a consultation on new knife legislation proposals to tackle the use of machetes and other bladed articles in criminal activity. The Government published the response to the consultation on 30 August 2023.
Alongside other proposals, the Government intends to ban the import, sale and possession of zombie style knives and machetes.
The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment, Surrender and Compensation) Order 2024 was laid in Parliament on 25 January 2024.
Once the legislation has been approved by Parliament, a surrender scheme will be launched this summer to remove these knives from our streets.
Once the surrender scheme has been completed, the manufacture, supply, sale and possession of zombie-style knives and machetes will be outlawed from 24 September.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor and ensure that the National Highways meets its legal duty to ensure its land is kept clear of litter under sections 89(1) and (2) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
National Highways is monitored against a litter performance indicator as part of the Road Investment Strategy (RIS2). This requires them to report on the percentage of the Strategic Road Network (SRN) where litter is graded at B or above under the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' Litter Code of Practice. National Highways performance on this metric is reported to the Office for Road and Rail and published annually.
National Highways consider litter to be a very serious problem. It is harmful to the environment, damaging to their reputation, and upsets their customers. It also creates a risk to the substantial number of people who collect it, and uses resources that could instead be better used to improve the road network.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in achieving their target for motorway stations to have six rapid or ultra-rapid chargers by the end of 2023; and when they expect this to be achieved.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
The Department has recently collected updated chargepoint numbers for the end of 2023 from motorway service area operators (MSAOs). There are now 800 open-access (can be used with any electric vehicle) rapid (50kW) and ultra-rapid (150Kw+) chargepoints at motorway service areas (MSAs) in England.
More than 565 chargepoints are ultra-rapid. This is a substantial increase of over 300 extra ultra-rapid chargers at MSAs in the last year.
56 of the 114 MSA sites now have at least six ultra-rapid open access chargepoints. Government is working closely with the distribution network operators, MSAOs, chargepoint operators and other key stakeholders in industry on wider challenges to chargepoint rollout and overcoming barriers at those sites that still need to reach their baseline provision.
One of the challenges faced by some is the cost of the grid upgrades. To address this, the £70m Rapid Charging Fund pilot, launched in December 2023, will help support MSA sites with the cost of the grid connections where it is currently not commercially viable, investing alongside the private sector.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Turing Scheme: evaluation of year 1, published on 3 January, which found that 79 per cent of universities had difficulties with the Turing scheme application process, whether they intend to review that process.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
For applications to the Turing Scheme for the next academic year, the department has been working with users across the education sector, including universities, to develop a new online application process that is as concise and user friendly as possible, reducing the application burden on education providers.
The department has published information for 2024/25 academic year applications to the Turing Scheme, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/turing-scheme-apply-for-funding-for-international-placements. Schools, colleges, and universities across the UK can now review the guidance and prepare their applications for funding ahead of the application window opening in February 2024.
Asked by: Earl Russell (Liberal Democrat - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans (1) to accelerate the uptake of heat pump installations and support jobs and skills in this sector, and (2) to increase the availability of a new generation of higher temperature heat pumps using new refrigerants, including R290, or propane.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In October, the Government increased the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for heat pumps to £7,500. In the first full month after the uplift, we saw double the number of vouchers redeemed compared to those redeemed prior to the uplift. Government is also supporting skills in the sector through the £5m Heat Training Grant which launched in July 2023.
Government has funded innovation in new technologies, like higher temperature heat pumps that use alternative refrigerants, through the Net Zero Innovation Programme and such technologies are eligible for support under various Government grant schemes, including the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.