Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage on 16 September (HL576), when they expect to announce what percentage of the 1.5 million homes will be social housing.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. At the Budget we said that at the multi-year Spending Review next spring, we will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and home-ownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent. This funding will secure the pipeline of affordable homes and put us on the right path to delivering 1.5 million homes over this Parliament.
As part of the consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, the Government is seeking views on implementing golden rules to ensure development in the Green Belt is in the public interest. These rules include a target of 50% affordable housing on land released from the Green Belt for residential development, which includes social housing. The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Hayman of Ullock on 28 October (HL1706), on what dates the three separate incidents self-reported by United Utilities (UU) mentioned in the question arose; and what assessment they have made of reporting by the BBC that UU failed to report non-compliant sewage discharges into Lake Windermere between January 2021 and September 2023.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency received three self-reported pollution incidents from United Utilities relating to operations at Glebe Road Pumping Station, Windermere. These were reported on 26 January, 29 February and 21 May 2024.
The Environment Agency has launched an investigation into the sewage discharges at this Pumping Station and is examining further evidence received from the company. If United Utilities is found to be in breach of an environmental permit, the Environment Agency will take the appropriate enforcement action up to and including a criminal prosecution.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the article "UK power stations burnt wood from old forest areas, Drax emails show", published in the Financial Times on 16 October, which cited internal emails from 2022 that concluded that Drax was “highly likely” to have burned wood sourced from ‘old growth’ forests in Canada.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government only supports sustainable biomass and generators only receive subsidies for biomass that complies with our sustainability criteria. The 2023 Biomass Strategy contained a commitment to consult on developing and implementing a cross-sector sustainability framework to enable greater consistency across sectors. Next steps on this will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in their discussions with the government of India about the large-scale online organisations identified by the BBC's Scam Interceptors programme, which seek to defraud UK internet users and which operate out of Kolkata.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
We applaud the BBC’s Scam Interceptors programme for the work they have done both to warn viewers in the UK about the risk of online and telephone scams, and to highlight the practices of organised fraud gangs, operating out of India and elsewhere.
The fraud threat to the UK is varied and we continue to work with key partners from across the globe to target fraud at its source and protect the UK public. This includes engaging with the Government of India directly to see what more can be done, including on law enforcement collaboration and sharing best practice on fraud prevention.
We have also introduced a series of sector charters with industry to agree voluntary actions to protect consumers from a range of fraud. This includes the Online Fraud Charter, signed by some of the largest online platforms and services. The Charter actions seek to improve blocking fraud at source, make reporting fraud easier and decreasing the time it takes to remove fraudulent content and advertisements.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accounts that United Utilities failed to report sewage discharges into Lake Windermere between 2021 and 2023.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency (EA) is carrying out an investigation into United Utilities’ (UU) discharges into Lake Windermere.
The investigation concerns three separate incidents that were self-reported by UU. One of these incidents was a retrospective report of pollution.
Where a breach of a UU permit has occurred, the EA will take the appropriate enforcement action in accordance with its enforcement and sanctions policy.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings in Ofgem’s investigation into Drax Power Limited published 29 August; and what steps they will take in response.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Following the conclusion of Ofgem’s investigation, the Government is considering the findings.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consider the case for not requiring the payment of VAT on compulsory school and boarding fees of full-time cathedral choristers who are required to board at specific schools and to live close to their choir's place of worship in order to fulfil their musical commitments throughout the religious calendar.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Where parents or families are paying fees for their child to attend a private school, they will pay VAT on those fees following this change.
Whilst developing these policies, the government has carefully considered the impact that they will have on pupils and their families across both the state and private sector, as well as the impact they will have on state and private schools. Following scrutiny by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), details of the Government’s assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes will be published at the Budget on 30 October in the usual way.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the compliance of the Drax Group with (1) biomass sustainability rules, and (2) relevant regulatory standards; and what plans, if any, they have to change regulatory standards to improve the sustainability of the power generated at Drax power station.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Ofgem published their conclusions on an investigation into Drax’s compliance with sustainability standards on 29 August 2024. The investigation found that whilst Drax complied with the standards, it failed to report data accurately. Government expects full compliance with all regulatory obligations and the size of Drax’s redress payment, at £25 million, underscores the robustness of the regulatory system.
The 2023 Biomass Strategy contained a commitment to consult on developing and implementing a cross-sector sustainability framework to enable greater consistency across sectors. Next steps on this will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the challenges posed by the nascency of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) technology; and whether they plan to support the piloting of CCUS technology in advance of committing to any full roll-out.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
CCUS will be vital to this government’s commitment to create good jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands, ensuring a just transition for the industries based in the North Sea, and accelerating towards Net Zero.
The historic investment we recently announced in Carbon Capture and Storage in the North-West and North-East is just the start, representing a vote of confidence in this technology and burgeoning industry. We have been engaging with the Track-1 and Track-2 clusters to understand their deployment and expansion plans, and we will have more to say on future projects in the coming months.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether burning biomass at Drax Power Station will be an element of their strategy for achieving their net zero carbon emissions target.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As outlined by groups including the Climate Change Committee (CCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA), Greenhouse Gas Removal technologies such as Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technologies can play a role in supporting net zero targets. No decisions on potential future support for this site have been made at this time.