Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of ongoing settler attacks on Palestinian communities in Taybeh in the West Bank, including the attack on St George’s Church on 7 July; and what steps they are taking to impose travel bans and financial sanctions on those responsible.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK condemns settler violence and is concerned by incidents and attacks on holy sites across the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our Consul General in Jerusalem has recently visited Taybeh with church leaders and international partners to express solidarity with the local community following attacks by settlers. We regularly raise settler violence with Israeli ministers and officials, and we are clear that the Israeli government must clamp down on settler violence and settlement expansion. The Government has introduced three rounds of sanctions targeting individuals, illegal settler outposts and organisations perpetrating and supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. We do not comment on future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representation they have made to the government of Israel to investigate and prevent the reported incidents of arson and assaults by settlers on Palestinian property, agricultural land and holy sites in Taybeh in the West Bank.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK condemns settler violence and is concerned by incidents and attacks on holy sites across the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our Consul General in Jerusalem has recently visited Taybeh with church leaders and international partners to express solidarity with the local community following attacks by settlers. We regularly raise settler violence with Israeli ministers and officials, and we are clear that the Israeli government must clamp down on settler violence and settlement expansion. The Government has introduced three rounds of sanctions targeting individuals, illegal settler outposts and organisations perpetrating and supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. We do not comment on future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have met or intend to meet representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church, Latin Church, and the Melkite Geek Catholic Church following settler violence against Palestinian communities in Taybeh in the West Bank.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK condemns settler violence and is concerned by incidents and attacks on holy sites across the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our Consul General in Jerusalem has recently visited Taybeh with church leaders and international partners to express solidarity with the local community following attacks by settlers. We regularly raise settler violence with Israeli ministers and officials, and we are clear that the Israeli government must clamp down on settler violence and settlement expansion. The Government has introduced three rounds of sanctions targeting individuals, illegal settler outposts and organisations perpetrating and supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. We do not comment on future sanctions designations as to do so could reduce their impact.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what engagement they are undertaking with producer countries as they develop an approach to implementing Schedule 17 to the Environment Act 2021 so that it delivers robust due diligence standards while ensuring that smallholder producers are meaningfully supported and not disadvantaged.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government works closely with producer countries bilaterally and through key international platforms, such as the Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade (FACT) Dialogue. FACT convenes 28 major producers and consumers of globally traded agricultural commodities to agree collective actions that protect forests and other vital ecosystems, while promoting sustainable trade and development. A core focus of FACT is the inclusion of smallholder farmers in international value chains - an issue that was central to recent meetings we convened with the Government of Malaysia.
The UK also provides direct support to smallholder farmers through its Overseas Development Assistance. For example, we are co-funding the National Initiatives for Sustainable and Climate Smart Oil Palm Smallholders programme alongside the Netherlands. This helps smallholders improve the sustainability of the palm oil sector. We also support the Living Income Community of Practice, an alliance of partners developing data and tools aimed at lifting smallholders out of poverty.
We will set out our approach to addressing UK consumption of forest-risk commodities in due course.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to deliver climate finance to communities in the UK most impacted by climate change.
Answered by Baroness Hayman of Ullock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is working hard to both understand the impacts of climate change and deliver the support needed to communities in the UK most impacted. For example, delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change, this Government is investing record levels of flood protection. We are investing a record £2.65 billion over two years (2024/25 and 2025/26) for the construction of new flood schemes, and the maintenance and repair of existing ones. With this fresh funding, 1,000 flood schemes have been or will continue to be supported, better protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026.
In addition, the Government is strengthening the capability of local authorities to protect businesses and communities from the impacts of climate change through the Local Authority Climate Services (LACS). Developed through the collaborative efforts of Defra and the Met Office, the LACS provides local authorities with targeted data on climate change impacts to their local areas to help guide the decisions made in response to climate risks and support climate adaptation planning. The UK Government Emergency alerts are also in place to warn businesses and communities of dangerous weather conditions which may impact on their affairs.
The Flood Re scheme also supports local communities. Flood Re is a joint Government and industry scheme that provides reinsurance in such a way as to promote affordability and availability of insurance for UK households at high flood risk. Flood Re does not deal directly with homeowners but instead allows insurance companies to pass the flood risk element of home insurance policies over to Flood Re for a set premium based on council tax bands.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to deliver climate finance to communities around the world most impacted by climate change.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
It remains our ambition to deliver £11.6 billion of International Climate Finance between April 2021 and March 2026, of which £1.5 billion should be Adaptation and Resilience finance for 2025 to support to the most vulnerable communities who are experiencing the worst impacts of climate change. We are working with our partners to ensure that Small Island Developing States and Least Developed Countries - among the most climate vulnerable - are able to access the climate finance they need from the global system for adaptation and resilient growth. We are also championing locally led approaches and the meaningful engagement and involvement of marginalised people in climate resilience action.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a social energy tariff for community organisations.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently.
The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy with less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.
In the short-term, the Government wants to provide businesses and community organisations with better protection from being locked into unfair and expensive energy contracts, and more redress when they have a complaint. Last year, the Government launched a consultation on introducing regulation of Third-Party Intermediaries (TPIs), such as energy brokers. This is aimed at enhancing consumer protections, particularly for non-domestic consumers. The Government published a summary of consultation responses earlier this month, and a Government response will follow in due course.
Since 19 December 2024, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 50 employees have been able to access free support to resolve issues with their energy supplier through the Energy Ombudsman. This means that 99% of British businesses can now access this service with outcomes ranging up to £20,000 in financial awards.
For domestic customers, we recognise that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we delivered the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households last winter. On 19 June we announced that we are expanding the Warm Home Discount to around an additional 2.7 million households. This means that from next winter, around 6 million low-income households will receive the £150 support to help with their energy bill costs.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the barriers faced by charitable organisations, financial or otherwise, when looking to join heat networks; and whether they will provide support to charitable organisations to overcome these barriers.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Charitable organisations use a diverse range of buildings, thus there is no one-size-fits-all solution for how they decarbonise their buildings. In high-density urban areas, heat networks are often the lowest-cost, low-carbon heating solution.
The Government has a number of schemes to support the development and growth of heat networks, including the Green Heat Network Fund, which provides funding to develop new and existing low carbon heat networks across England.
We are working across Government and with the National Wealth Fund to explore further funding opportunities for the heat networks sector that will catalyse more private investment and support more connections.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the financial barriers faced by charitable organisations when looking to change the heating in their buildings from oil and gas systems to renewable systems; and whether they will provide support to charitable organisations to overcome these barriers.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Charities may access various forms of energy efficiency support, including funding for energy-saving upgrades, tailored advice. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) continues to provide grants up to £7,500, to encourage property owners to replace existing fossil fuel heating with more efficient, low carbon heating systems for domestic and small non-domestic buildings, including charitable organisations. The maximum capacity for a single system installation under the BUS remains 45kWh.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Norwich (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support will be available to schools to decarbonise following the closure of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
More than £1 billion in public sector decarbonisation funding is still being invested through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and Integrated Settlements with Greater Manchester and West Midlands Combined Authorities through to 2028. Additionally, the government and Great British Energy committed approximately £80 million to support around 200 schools in England to install rooftop solar panels and complementary technologies. Each school on average could save up to an estimated £25 000 per year.
11 schools have already installed solar panels which is estimated to save £175 000 on their total energy bills. Great British Energy also awarded £10 million in grant funding to mayoral strategic authorities to roll out clean energy projects at the centre of communities. A significant proportion of this will be used for solar panels for schools across England.