Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to encourage the development of tidal power in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government announced in November that the fourth Contracts for Difference allocation round will feature a £20 million annual ringfenced budget for tidal stream energy.
The Government remains open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the tidal range energy in the bays and estuaries around the UK’s coastlines, including barrage schemes and other alternatives. Any proposal would need to demonstrate strong evidence of value for money before the Government could take a view on its potential.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will bring in a public register of foreign owned properties; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 2nd November 2021, the Government remains committed to establishing a new beneficial ownership register of overseas entities that own UK property. The register will not include the details of the properties owned by the overseas entities, which are recorded at HM Land Registry. This register will help combat money laundering and achieve greater transparency in the UK property market. We will legislate when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to publish a strategy for the implementation of the National Security and Investment Act 2021.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The National Security and Investment Act received Royal Assent on 29 April and will commence fully on 4 January 2022. In advance of commencement, the Government is publishing extensive guidance on the Act and is working closely with investors and businesses to help them understand the legislation. In addition, the Government is laying in Parliament the secondary legislation that is required for commencement.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy on the publication of impact assessments in relation to (1) primary legislation, and (2) secondary legislation.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government publishes individual impact assessments in relation to both primary and secondary legislation for all measures where a significant impact on business has been identified and, where applicable, the RPC opinion, alongside either the relevant consultation document on GOV.UK or the relevant legislation on www.legislation.gov.uk.
For regulatory measures without an impact assessment, the relevant explanatory memorandum should set out the key impacts and include the rationale for not providing an impact assessment.
The current requirement for publication of impact assessments is part of the administrative process in the Better Regulation Framework as agreed across Government.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to commission a public inquiry into the Post Office.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry was set up in September 2020. My Hon. friend the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets announced to the House on 19 May that the government will put the ongoing Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry to a statutory footing on 1 June. This will ensure that the Chair, Sir Wyn Williams, has all the powers he needs to get to the bottom of what happened.
Following the change to a statutory Inquiry, the final report will now be delivered by Autumn 2022, so that Sir Wyn will have more time to determine what went wrong at the Post Office during this period to ensure the right lessons have been learnt and avoid the situation being repeated in the future.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many gigawatts of electricity they forecast will be required in 2030; and from what sources such electricity will be generated.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The table below shows projection of UK electricity generation (terawatt hours) and capacity (gigawatts) from all power producers by source for the year 2030.
| Capacity, GW | Generation, TWh |
Coal | 0 | 0 |
Coal and natural gas CCS | 0 | 0 |
Oil | 1 | 0 |
Natural gas | 37 | 67 |
Nuclear | 6 | 55 |
Other Thermal | 1 | 0 |
Renewables | 62 | 176 |
Interconnectors (net imports for generation) | 19 | 49 |
Storage (net output for generation) | 4 | -1 |
Total | 130 | 346 |
The figures are based on central estimates of economic growth and fossil fuel prices and contains all agreed policies where decisions on policy design are sufficiently advanced to allow robust estimates of impact as at August 2019. Further details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-and-emissions-projections. Figures provided are extracted from BEIS Energy and Emissions Projections (EEP) 2019 Annex J, Total electricity generation by source and Annex L, Total electricity generating capacity.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are giving to the stimulation of the development of tidal power.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
To date, nine tidal stream developers have received funding from BEIS under the Renewables Obligation scheme. In addition to that, one tidal stream developer has received funding through BEIS’ Energy Innovation Programme. Tidal stream projects are also eligible for Contracts for Difference (CFD)auctions. We will consider the role of wave and tidal energy, following further evaluation of the commercial and technical evidence.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions have been held between the UK Space Agency and the Shetland Island Council about locating a spaceport on Unst; and what have been the outcomes from any such discussions.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK Space Agency has been in regular contact with Shetland Island Council, as we have been with councils in all potential spaceport locations, to understand their plans to support the Shetland Space Centre. These meetings have ensured a collaborative working relationship between the UK Space Agency and Shetland Island Council, and that the Council is aware of the support and engagement forums offered by Government to enable them to harness the opportunities offered by commercial spaceflight. For example, the UK Space Agency invited Shetland Island Council to attend the Regulation plenary sessions as well as put them in contact with relevant officials who can provide clarity around security considerations relating to engagement with other nations. Furthermore, UK Space Agency officials visited Shetland in October 2019 and received a briefing from the Shetland Island Council on their plans to support the Shetland Space Centre.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish a White Paper on energy policy; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Energy White Paper remains a priority for BEIS and it will be published in the autumn.
Asked by: Lord Goodlad (Conservative - 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 potential effect of rises in sea levels on the operation of coastal power stations.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great Britain has a reliable energy system and maintaining a safe and resilient energy supply is a key priority for this Government.
The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) works with industry, regulators, sector bodies and other stakeholders to improve and maintain the resilience of the energy infrastructure, networks and assets, to reduce vulnerabilities, and ensure an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents.
The 2008 Climate Change Act gave the Government powers to require organisations such as electricity generating companies, to carry out climate change risk assessments on their assets, and report on how they are adapting to climate change.
Through this work, generating companies have assessed that, due to the robust flood mitigation measures that have been put in place, existing assets are at low risk from climate related hazards such as flooding.
Additionally, planning applications for all new build power stations must demonstrate that companies have adequately taken into account the potential impacts of climate change, in their design. This ensures that our power stations continue to remain resilient to future climate related risks.