Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on the possible participation of Russian and Belarussian players at the grass-court Wimbledon Championships this year; and what assessment has been made of the inclusion of those players at that event.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay
Individual, self-funded Russian and Belarusian athletes can compete in the UK, subject to following our guidance on neutrality. We therefore support the approach of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Lawn Tennis Association on the basis of following that guidance.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many sport and recreation (1) facilities, and (2) clubs, are at risk of (a) permanent closure, or (b) reduced services, as a result of sustained high energy bills.
Answered by Lord Callanan
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) provides a discount on the wholesale element of gas and electricity bills to ensure all eligible businesses and non-domestic customers, including the leisure sector, who receive their energy from licensed suppliers, are protected from excessively high energy costs over the winter period.
The EBRS discount is applied directly to the energy bills of eligible businesses by their energy providers and therefore we do not have a breakdown of support received by sectors. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has not made an assessment of how many sports and recreation facilities are at risk of closure.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support (1) swimming pools, (2) leisure centres, (3) community facilities, and (4) gyms, after the energy costs relief scheme ends on 31 March.
Answered by Lord Callanan
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) provides a discount on the wholesale element of gas and electricity bills to ensure that all eligible businesses, including leisure sector and community facilities, are protected from high energy costs this winter period.
Following an HMT-led review, the new Energy Bill Discount Scheme will run from April until March 2024, and will continue to provide a discount to eligible non-domestic customers, including the leisure sector and community facilities.
The Government will also provide over £60 million of new funding for public swimming pools in England for 2023/24.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the £6.6bn energy efficiency measures announced in the autumn statement on 17 November includes funding for Scotland and Wales; and if so, as part of which programmes.
Answered by Lord Callanan
Energy Efficiency is a devolved policy, but a national priority. The Government will work closely with devolved administrations as the Taskforce is established, drawing on experience across the UK to meet our national ambition to reduce demand. Further details on allocation of additional funding will follow in due course.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the autumn statement on 17 November, what steps they will take to improve the energy efficiency of homes in the UK; and how the intended £6.6bn investment from 2025 to insulate homes and upgrade boilers will be made available, broken down by (1) programmes, (2) annual commitments, and (3) total budgets allocated to each programme.
Answered by Lord Callanan
In order to accelerate a reduction in energy demand, the Government is announcing a new long-term ambition to reduce the UK’s final energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030 against 2021 levels.
To lead this national effort, a new Energy Efficiency Taskforce will be established. £6 billion of new Government funding will be made available from 2025 to 2028, in addition to the £6.6 billion allocated in this Parliament. This provides long-term funding certainty, supporting the growth of supply chains, and ensuring we can scale up our delivery over time.
Further details on allocation of additional funding and the taskforce will follow in due course.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reduce energy demand by 15 per cent this decade; and if so, (1) as part of which programmes, (2) at what cost, and (3) to what timeline.
Answered by Lord Callanan
In order to accelerate a reduction in energy demand, the Government is announcing a new long-term ambition to reduce the UK’s final energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030 against 2021 levels.
To lead this national effort, a new Energy Efficiency Taskforce will be established. £6 billion of new Government funding will be made available from 2025 to 2028, in addition to the £6.6 billion allocated in this Parliament. This provides long-term funding certainty, supporting the growth of supply chains, and ensuring we can scale up our delivery over time.
Further details on allocation of additional funding and the taskforce will follow in due course.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking (1) to encourage, and (2) to secure, investment in UK Continental Shelf gas fields (a) to expand production, and (b) to strengthen security of energy supply.
Answered by Lord Callanan
On 14 March, my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister hosted a roundtable of leaders in the UK’s offshore oil and gas industry to discuss domestic energy security, increasing investment in the North Sea oil and gas industry and boosting supply of domestic gas.
The North Sea Transition Authority plans to launch another licensing round in the autumn, taking into account the forthcoming climate compatibility checkpoint.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the over £1 billion of Government funding for local authorities to support cycling and walking from 2017–22 has been spent; which local authorities received funding; and in which years.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
On 7 February 2020, the Department published a detailed breakdown of annual investment in cycling and walking from 2016/17 to 2018/19 alongside the first report on progress made towards delivering the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy (CWIS). This included information on how much funding each local authority received over that period for active travel schemes.
The Department will publish a further report to Parliament shortly which will include a breakdown of annual investment in cycling and walking over 2019/20 and 2020/21 from a wide range of funding sources. It will also make an announcement shortly on the capital funding that was allocated to local authorities in 2021/22.
Copies of the previous report to Parliament and funding breakdowns by local authority covering the years up to 2018/19 are available in the House Libraries.
A summary of the capital funding provided to each local authority in 2020/21 under the Active Travel Fund is set out in table 1 attached. A summary of the revenue funding provided to each local authority in 2021/22 under the Capability Fund is set out in Table 2 attached.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the quality of physical education at schools; and how they intend to improve the provision of teacher training courses for those teaching sport and PE at Primary School level.
Answered by Baroness Barran
The department continues to work closely with schools and stakeholders to remain abreast of developments in the provision of physical education (PE) in schools. In March 2022, Ofsted published a research review into PE. Ofsted will use this understanding of subject quality to examine how PE is taught in England’s schools. Ofsted will then publish a subject report to share its findings.
In October 2021, the government announced nearly £30 million a year towards improving the teaching of PE at primary school and opening school sport facilities in England.
A series of approaches are currently being considered as to how the department can bring together the evidence on what constitutes good PE, how this can be practically delivered, and how to support schools to identify and take the steps they need to make their provision as good as it can be. Further information on this will be published as part of the update to the school sport and activity action plan.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are seeking to make provision for activities for young people to be engaged in physical activity during the 2022 summer holiday period; and if so, what are their plans.
Answered by Baroness Barran
This year, the government is investing over £200 million in its holiday activities and food (HAF) programme.
All 152 local authorities in England are delivering the programme in the Easter, summer, and Christmas holidays. The HAF provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low-income families. This benefits their heath, wellbeing and learning.
The holiday clubs on this programme must provide physical activities daily. Children take part in moderate to vigorous activities for up to 60 minutes at each session.
The department is also exploring a summer activity challenge to provide more opportunities for children to be physically active during the summer holidays.