Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) use, and (2) potential, of online voting in ballots to decide industrial action.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government previously commissioned Sir Ken Knight, the former Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser for England, to lead an independent review of electronic voting for industrial action ballots. The Government is considering the review recommendations and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by the Prime Minister on 12 October regarding Wylfa Newydd power station (HC Deb col 128), when that power station will be built; and when it will be operational.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great British Nuclear is being set up to deliver the next generation of nuclear new builds for the UK. Wylfa, which is recognised as a strong site among others, will be considered as part of this process. Once decisions have been made concerning which sites to develop, timelines for build and operations will be established.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the Energy Bill Relief Scheme beyond 31 March 2023 if prices have not returned to 2021 levels; and if so, how much notice of the extension will be given.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government announced its intention to introduce an Energy Bill Relief Scheme, for six months, from 1 October 2022. The announcement committed to carrying out a review of the operation of the scheme in order to inform decisions on future support after March 2023.
The findings of the review will be published by January 2023.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand the share of energy produced by nuclear in the next year.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has been in constructive negotiations on the Sizewell C project since January 2021 and aims to take a final investment decision in 2023, subject to all relevant approvals.
The British Energy Security Strategy announced the Government’s ambition of reaching up to 24GW of nuclear power by 2050. The Strategy also announced the Great British Nuclear (GBN) vehicle, which will be tasked with helping projects through every stage of the development process and developing a resilient pipeline of new build projects. This will be launched later this year.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to open up the Green Deal to businesses.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Green Deal framework, introduced in 2013, remains in place to enable loans to pay for energy efficiency improvements in the domestic sector and to service existing Green Deal loans and any private finance providers wishing to enter the market. The scheme therefore is already open to business as participants, although the level of activity under the scheme is very low.
In addition, support is available to help businesses to reduce their carbon and energy bills through the Climate Change Agreements Scheme, which provides reduced Climate Change Levy rates worth £255 million a year for eligible businesses in return for meeting energy efficiency targets and grants via the £289 million Industrial Energy Transformation Fund. The Government has also announced support to help businesses, charities and public sector organisations with energy costs this winter through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last assessed the merits of daylight saving time.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government believes that the current daylight-saving arrangements represent the optimal use of the available daylight across the UK.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many immigrants are currently part of the UK labour force; what estimate they have made of the value of the labour of immigrant workers in the UK; and what assessment they have made of the level of immigration required by the UK labour market in each of the next five years.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As the UK builds back from the pandemic, our new points-based immigration system will attract top talent from around the world while also supporting the enormous potential of our domestic workforce.
High-skilled migration can boost growth and drive the international competitiveness of the UK’s high-growth innovative businesses. Bespoke immigration routes will enable more students, scientists, academics, investors and entrepreneurs to come to the UK and contribute to our economic growth.
The Government recognise and value the contribution that people from all over the world have made to our culture, society and economy. The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) set out in detail the contribution to the economy by EEA migration in its 2018 report, which is published on the GOV.UK website.
The Office for National Statistics estimates the numbers of people not born in the UK and the number of people who are not UK nationals, within the UK labour force, from the Labour Force Survey. However recent level estimates have been temporarily suspended until they are reweighted to better account for the recent population movements.
The overall needs of the UK labour market are owned and kept under close review by the Department for Work and Pensions. Immigration policy and the Points Based System are matters for the Home Office.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what conclusions they drew from the COVID-19 human challenge trials; and how they used those data to inform their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The human challenge virus characterisation studies commenced in February 2021, and no results from the study have yet been analysed or published. We expect to see data on whether the virus characterisation study has been a success in the second half of 2021.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what records they maintain in relation to land and property in the UK held by non-UK citizens; and whether they will publish a list of the ten non-UK citizens who own the most property in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
HM Land Registry does not hold information on the nationality of property owners.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they are offering to those who volunteer for the COVID-19 human challenge study.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The safety of any participant in a clinical study is always the absolute priority of the research team. The studies will take place in specialised units with very close monitoring and with medics on hand with treatments if they are needed.
The volunteers for the COVID-19 Human Challenge Study will be compensated for their time. The amount that the volunteers receive will be benchmarked against previous studies and the Research Ethics Committee has reviewed this amount to ensure that it is fair. For expenses such as travel, volunteers will be compensated out-of-pocket.