Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the economic case for small modular nuclear reactors compared with alternative options for achieving net zero.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is clear that nuclear power is and will continue to be an essential part of our journey to net zero by 2050, in combination with other low carbon and renewable technologies. Great British Nuclear is pushing forward with its SMR competition for UK deployment with final decisions to be taken this spring. The economic case for SMRs would be factored into any investment decision into the technology.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the safety implications of passenger aircrafts landing at airports during Storm Eowyn.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The safety of the traveling public is a priority for the Government. Whether or not it is safe to land at an airport is an operational decision between the aircraft operator, air traffic controllers, and ultimately the pilot in command of an aircraft.
UK aviation operates predominately in the private sector, with each airline responsible for its own severe weather plans, tailored to specific operations, locations, and infrastructure.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of public sector buildings in England will have decarbonised heating by 2030.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to decarbonising a significant proportion of public sector buildings by 2030. This initiative is part of the broader effort to reduce carbon emissions and achieve net-zero targets. The Net Zero Strategy set-out the government’s commitment to halve direct emissions from public sector buildings by 2032 and an aim to further reduce them by 75% by 2037, both against a 2017 baseline.
To support this, up to £3.8 billion is being invested through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme over the financial years 2020/21 to 2027/28 to provide grants for public sector bodies in England to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether all the 1.5 million new homes which they target to be built by 2030 (1) will have 360 insulation, and (2) will have decarbonised heating.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to ensuring that the 1.5 million homes we will build over the course of this parliament will be high quality, well designed and sustainable.
In 2021, the Government introduced an uplift in energy efficiency standards, which came into force in June 2022. New homes are now expected to produce significantly less CO2 emissions compared to those built to previous standards, with many homes already being built with better insulation, solar panels, and heat pumps.
Future standards, to be introduced later this year, will build on the 2021 standards and set new homes on a path that moves away from relying on volatile fossil fuels, ensuring they are fit for a net zero future. These homes will be future proofed with low carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency, including high quality insulation. No further energy efficiency retrofit work will be necessary to enable these homes to become zero-carbon over time as the electricity grid continues to decarbonise.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the policy of increasing the State Pension by 25p per week for pensioners reaching the age of 80.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no plans to review the current arrangements.
The 25 pence a week Age Addition is part of the old State Pension, for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016. It is paid with the basic State Pension, when somebody reaches the age of 80.
The Age Addition is not part of the new State Pension, but for those people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, the 25 pence Age Addition under the existing rules will continue.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of why the cost of incapacity-related benefit claims in the UK is rising faster than in other comparable countries.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department keeps abreast of the findings of research and analysis that covers different countries, for example that produced by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. However, as a result of the time it takes to obtain and process data from different countries, the most recent trends will not necessarily be reflected in these sources. Once the latest data is available this will feed into policy development as appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have learned any lessons from the investment strategies of successful major pension funds in other countries, including Canada, by analysing (1) what proportion of their funds were invested domestically; (2) which of the geographies in which they invested produced the highest annualised five-year net returns; and (3) what proportion of their funds were invested in infrastructure and real assets.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Phase One of the Pensions Investment Review closely considered international evidence from the Australian and Canadian pension systems. Evidence was particularly considered around the benefits of scale, asset allocations and consolidation. This was published in the Pension Investment Review and supplementary analytical document, available here:
Pensions Investment Review: interim report, consultations and evidence - GOV.UK
The analysis found:
i) 46% of Canadian pension assets and 55% of Australian pension assets are invested domestically, across all asset types.
ii) Information is not available on the exact geographies of all investments across all asset classes, nor the returns these have earned at geographical level.
iii) Canada allocates 11% of its assets to infrastructure and 13% to property. In Australia, it is estimated around 8% of its pension funds are invested in infrastructure and 7% in property.
iv) Australian pension schemes invest around 3 times more in infrastructure and 10 times more in private equity.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to require all providers of publicly available electric vehicle charging points to enable contactless payment.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that public charging is accessible for all, and it is vital that consumers can charge hassle-free. Under the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 chargepoint operators are required to offer contactless payment options for all new chargepoints of 8 kW and above, as well as all chargepoints of 50 kW and above, old and new.
These regulations have been designed to ensure that contactless payment methods are available across a large part of the public charge point network, where they will bring most significant and immediate benefits to consumers.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide bridging support to Drax in advance of a contractually binding commitment from Drax to introduce carbon capture and storage.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A consultation was held under the previous administration on whether a transitional, or ‘bridging’, support should be provided for large-scale biomass generators when their current subsidies end. No decision has been taken on proposed support. Any decision will be subject to robust analysis and the Government is considering a range of factors to inform its decision.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to establish a public inquiry into how the Church of England has responded to allegations of paedophilia.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was established to consider whether important institutions — including the Anglican Church — had taken seriously their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. The Inquiry published a report, entitled “The Anglican Church - Safeguarding in the Church of England and the Church of Wales”. The report, published in October 2020, is available on the Inquiry’s website, alongside the response to its recommendations from the Church of England and the Church of Wales. The response by the Church of England was considered by the House of Bishops on 19 October 2020 and a unanimous vote supported and accepted all of the Inquiry’s recommendations, particularly the two most significant themes arising from the report; firstly, proper redress for victims and survivors, and secondly, greater independence in safeguarding decision making.
The Chair of the Inquiry, Professor Alexis Jay, subsequently conducted an independent review, on behalf of the Church of England, into the future of Church Safeguarding, which was published in February 2024. The Government does not plan to establish a further inquiry.