Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what (1) legislative controls, and (2) licensing agreements, govern the (a) accountability, (b) liability, (c) market restrictions, and (d) other controls, of oil and gas operators in UK waters.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK has a robust regulatory system which provides a comprehensive regime for exploration and production activities in the offshore oil and gas sector, which includes provisions to ensure safe operations and protect the environment. The legislation allows the Government to serve legal notices on any party involved in the exploration and production of an offshore oil or gas field, ensuring they remain responsible for decommissioning costs, rather than the UK taxpayer.
Offshore operators will require environmental permits from the relevant environment agencies, scrutiny by the relevant health and safety bodies, and Oil and Gas Authority consents for drilling under the provisions of their licence.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government to what extent, if at all, they monitor the information provided by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in response to questions on (1) grants, and (2) loans, for compliance with their obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation; and if they conduct such monitoring, what assessment they have made as to whether the York and North Yorkshire LEP has complied with its obligations in respect to questions from Askham Bryan College.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are subject to mid-year and annual performance reviews that consider areas of governance, delivery performance, and strategic impact. The York and North Yorkshire (YNY) LEP was considered to have met the requirements in all three areas following its 2020-21 annual performance review. The delivery assessment took account of YNY LEP’s overall performance in delivering its Local Growth and Getting Building Fund programmes, including progress on the delivery of Askham Bryan projects being funded from these programmes.
In order to provide assurance on the robust stewardship of public funds and to meet governance performance requirements, LEPs are required to develop a local assurance framework that meets the mandatory governance, accountability, and transparency requirements set out in the National Local Growth Assurance Framework.
In so doing, LEPs must put in place appropriate data protection arrangements in line with the Data Protection Act 1998, the General Data Protection Requirements (GDPR), and the Data Protection Act 2018. YNY LEP is the data controller for data they collect including any relating to Askham Bryan College. The LEP should ensure it follows the appropriate procedures and that internal processes are compliant with the legislation.
LEPs are also required to have a legal personality and must abide by the laws and regulations that apply to the legal entity they adopt. YNY LEP is a private company limited by guarantee without share capital.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether answers to questions on the use of grants and loans by York and North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to Askham Bryan College were taken into account in respect of decisions on the allocation of resources to the LEP.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The then York, North Yorkshire, and East Riding (YNYER) Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) received local growth funding of £145.9m awarded in three rounds, announced in July 2014, January 2015, and January 2017. The funds were to be spent between financial years 2015-16 and 2020-21.
Funding awards were based on consideration of local Strategic Economic Plans (SEPs), developed by each LEP. Creating skilled and inspired people was a priority in the YNYER SEP and local growth funding supported investment in agri-tech and land-based engineering facilities at Askham Bryan College, as well as a digital farm hub at the College.
A condition of local growth funding allocations to LEPs was that all projects were subject to business cases that met an agreed local Assurance Framework including representing value for money to the taxpayer, being deliverable, and having a strong strategic fit. All LEP investments and investment decisions are publicly available on LEP websites, as the Assurance Framework requires.
In 2020, the Government announced the £900 million Getting Building Fund (GBF) to deliver jobs, skills, and infrastructure across the country. LEPs and Mayors were invited to propose shovel-ready infrastructure projects that would boost economic growth, and fuel local recovery and jobs. Funding awards were based on a consideration of the strategic fit and deliverability of each project. The £15.4m GBF award for the geographically reformed York and North Yorkshire LEP included support for a Digital Skills Academy at Askham Bryan College, again subject to a business case meeting the requirements of the LEP’s local assurance framework as outlined above.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what rules govern the provision of information by Local Enterprise Partnerships on their allocations to grant and loan applicants.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The rules for provision of information by Local Enterprise Partnerships on their allocations to grant and loan applicants are set out in the National Local Growth Assurance Framework, which was published in January 2019.
This Framework provides the Department, Government, stakeholders and the public with the necessary assurances that LEPs have the policies and processes in place to ensure the robust stewardship of public funds. Specifically, it requires LEPs to publish bids and undertake a clear process of recording decisions reached and communicating these in a timely fashion to the applicant.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - 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 21 January (HL11869), with which companies they have entered into any contracts relating to the production of COVID-19 vaccines; and what plans they have to make the terms of those contracts available to the public.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK Government has secured early access to 457 million vaccines doses through agreements with eight separate vaccine developers. This includes agreements with BioNTech/Pfizer, University of Oxford/AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline/Sanofi Pasteur, Novavax, Janssen, Valneva, Moderna and CureVac.
In addition to the above, we have also funded fill and finish capability through a contract with Wockhardt in Wrexham, North Wales, as well as the expansion of the Valneva factory in Livingston, Scotland.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the total number of (1) Oxford/AstraZeneca, and (2) Pfizer/BioNTech, COVID-19 vaccine vials allocated to the UK held in stock in each month in (a) 2019, and (b) 2020.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We have been monitoring the requirements across the supply chain from supplier through to patient for some time. There are clear supply chain plans in place for both the supply and onward deployment of all vaccine candidates. This includes materials, manufacturing, transportation, storage and distribution.
Vaccines and vials are a precious resource in very high demand across the world and therefore for security reasons it is not possible to provide detail about the size of our supplies and exact detail about future deliveries. It should be noted that the UK has a sufficient number of glass vials available, due to orders already placed.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus will be fully operational for the manufacture of vaccines.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) should be partially open in summer 2021, with the facility fully operational in 2022. The VMIC is working towards having fill-finish capability by the end of 2021. The objective remains to accelerate the readiness of the VMIC by a year and we are on track to achieve this.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their investment in the rapid deployment facility for COVID-19, announced on 17 May 2020, has been allocated; and whether the facility is operational.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The £38 million investment announced on 17 May 2020 has since been revised because it was superseded following supply agreements with vaccine candidates. Therefore, the costs were limited to the equipment and the knowledge transfer. The Government has committed £8.75 million towards the rapid deployment facility which is now operational and manufacturing the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the estimated vaccine production manufacturing capacity of the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The estimated vaccine production manufacturing capacity of the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre will be up to 70 million doses of vaccine within six months, once it has opened.
Asked by: Lord Campbell-Savours (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish the details of the contract they have with AstraZeneca for the supply of 30 million COVID-19 vaccine doses and vials; if so, (a) when, and (b) how; and if not, why not.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Contracts between the Government and companies developing and producing COVID-19 vaccines will be published in due course.