Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether OneWeb will use large or small launchers to create Low Earth Orbit satellite constellations.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
OneWeb currently utilises heavy launch via their ArianeSpace contract executed through the Soyuz launcher. This is currently the most economical option for launching multiple Low Earth Orbit satellites at a single time.
The UK aims to develop domestic small satellite launch capabilities from Cornwall and Scotland by 2022, which OneWeb will be able to utilise as applicable to their business operations.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that decision-making by the UK Vaccine Task Force relating to COVID-19 vaccines has been delayed by the civil service.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Vaccine Taskforce has made, and continues to make, decisions rapidly to tackle COVID-19 and its variants. This has been recognised by the Public Accounts Committee in its recent report, that “the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, NHS England and NHS Improvement, and Public Health England have made major and world beating progress in buying and starting to roll-out the vaccines.”
The Vaccine Taskforce has worked at pace, resulting in the UK being the first country to procure, authorise, and deploy the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccines. This is the largest immunisation programme in UK history and, as of 23 February, over 17.5 million people in the UK have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This has been alongside various other achievements within the past 11 months, including:
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to offer financial assistance to the owners of small businesses that are required to close as a result of restrictions put in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic and who can furlough their employees but not themselves.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Substantial grant support is being made available for businesses that are required to close or which are severely affected by restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19 and save lives.
Businesses that are mandated to close due to the national or local Covid restrictions are eligible for up to £1,500 for each 14-day period of closure. Local authorities may also choose to provide grant funding for businesses via the discretionary grant schemes.
Further to this, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on the 5th January an additional one-off top-up grant of up to £9,000 for business required to close. Additionally a top-up to the Additional Restrictions Grant of £500m has been announced, alongside the £1.1 bn of discretionary funds made available in November 2020.
The application deadline for three Coronavirus business interruption loan schemes – the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme – has been extended. Eligible businesses will be able to ‘top up’ existing Bounce Back Loans should they need additional finance.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will publish their plans for meeting their Net Zero target for carbon emissions by 2050.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Tackling climate change and delivering our world-leading Net Zero target is a key priority for the Government.
In 2020-21, ahead of hosting COP26, we will bring forward ambitious new plans to reduce emissions across key sectors of the economy – including an Energy White Paper, Transport Decarbonisation Plan and Heat and Building Strategy.
This will build on the strong foundations we have established through our world-leading progress in decarbonising our economy, our ambitious manifesto commitments, and recent announcements from my Rt. Hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer of measures to cut emissions as we build back better in our economic recovery from Covid-19.
We look forward to the Committee on Climate Change’s advice on the sixth carbon budget in December this year, ahead of setting this next ambitious target on the path to Net Zero by June 2021 as required by the Climate Change Act.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 15 July (HL6348), how they propose to be publicly accountable for their investment in OneWeb.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The deal is subject to certain regulatory clearances and is expected to close before the end of the year.
We will have strong representation on the board, fully involved in setting the strategic direction of the business and developing the company’s business plan.
Mechanisms will be implemented for the continued monitoring and evaluation of the investment.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on 26 June, what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the statement “there is a possibility that the entirety of the investment is lost and no wider benefits accrued” in relation to the investment into OneWeb.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government carried out a detailed examination of the business which demonstrated a commercial case for investment.
The fact that we are investing alongside a private commercial investor indicates a rational commercial case for investing. The deal will support the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing of novel satellite technologies, whilst boosting UK manufacturing.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the collapse of OneWeb in March; and, further to reports that they are considering investing in that company, why they are considering such an investment.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On July 3rd, 2020, the Government announced it had led a successful bid to acquire OneWeb, who develop cutting-edge satellite technology in the UK and in the United States. The move signals the government’s ambition for the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies through the ownership of a fleet of Low Earth orbit satellites.
As part of developing our bid and making the acquisition, the UK Government undertook appropriate due diligence.
The deal will support the UK to be a pioneer in the research, development, manufacturing, and exploitation of novel satellite technologies, whilst boosting UK manufacturing.
It will also allow the UK to explore other potential strategic opportunities, working with our international allies.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 23 June (HL5752), in what ways, if at all, the Horizon judgments considered the extent to which individuals were responsible for the failings of the Post Office
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Horizon Judgments did not attribute individual responsibility for the system failings. The Judgment on the first "Common Issues" trial, concerned the terms and interpretation of the contract between postmasters and Post Office, and the second "Horizon Issues" trial, concerned the function and reliability of the Horizon Point of Sale system.
The findings outlined throughout the Horizon judgments provided an extensive insight as to what went wrong at the Post Office, including an independent judicial view of the facts all sides were looking for. The Post Office has accepted that, in the past, it got things wrong in its dealings with a number of postmasters. Under the leadership of its new CEO, the Post Office is now committed to applying the lessons learnt from the litigation to build and strengthen the relationship with postmasters.
The Judge when handing down the Horizon Issues Judgment raised concerns in relation to the evidence provided by Fujitsu employees. He has referred these cases to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Ministerial Statement by the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets on 10 June (HCWS280) announcing an Independent Review into the Post Office Horizon IT System and Trials, whether that Review (1) will take account of the “significant failings within Post Office Ltd over nearly two decades” identified by Mr Justice Fraser, (2) will have the power to require Ministers, Board Members, executives, staff and suppliers associated with the organisation throughout the period to appear before it, and (3) will have the power to access all relevant documentation from throughout the period. [T]
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The?findings outlined throughout the Horizon judgments?provided an?extensive insight as to what went wrong at the Post Office, including an?independent?judicial view of the facts all sides were looking for. However, the Government accepts more needs to be done. The Government now wants to be fully assured that through the Independent Review there is a public summary of the failings that occurred at Post Office Ltd, drawing on the judgments from the Horizon case and by listening to those that have been most affected, without repeating the extensive findings of Justice Fraser.
Post Office Ltd have committed to fully cooperating with the Review. The Review will have sufficient strength and breadth and deliver in a timely manner. The Chair of the review will be fully independent of both the Post Office and Government. They will draw conclusions and make recommendations as he or she sees fit.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the 0.3 per cent improvement in UK productivity over the last decade; and why UK productivity is below that of other comparable countries.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The UK has a longstanding ‘productivity gap’ with its main competitors. This has been exacerbated in recent years by weak productivity growth, commonly referred to as the ‘productivity puzzle’.
The slowdown in UK productivity growth in the last decade can largely be attributed to changes in the finance and manufacturing sectors which saw an outsized fall in their productivity growth. Economic shocks and pressures arising from the Financial Crisis and the Euro Area crisis also had a dampening effect on productivity.
Productivity is the main driver of long-run economic growth. The UK’s ability to improve living standards is almost entirely dependent on its ability to raise productivity. In 2017 the Government published a document on the Industrial Strategy that set out a long-term plan to boost productivity by backing businesses to create good jobs and increase the earning power of people throughout the UK with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure. The Government recently published the Business Productivity Review in response to the Industrial Strategy’s core priority of addressing the UK’s productivity issue.
Furthermore, the Industrial Strategy Council – an independent, non-statutory advisory group comprised of leading men and women from business, academia and civil society – was created to provide impartial and unbiased evaluation of the Government’s progress in delivering the Industrial Strategy. The Council published its success metrics on its website in Autumn 2019.