Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to instruct the Office of Nuclear Regulation to investigate the recent problems at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong, China, in order to inform the commissioning of any similar plants in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Nuclear power stations in Great Britain must comply with our stringent nuclear safety laws, overseen by a robust and independent regulator, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR). The ONR would not allow a reactor to be built or to operate if it judged that it was not safe to do so.
The ONR are already engaged with relevant contacts, including its international regulatory partners, to fully understand the issues at Taishan, and any associated learning will form part of their ongoing scrutiny of the Hinkley Point C (HPC) project.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the projected total spend of the Green Homes Grant fund for the current financial year.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As of 8th February, 22,165 vouchers have already been issued with more being issued each day.
The value of these vouchers is currently £94.1 million.
Official scheme statistics will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Green Home Grant vouchers have been issued to date in each Local Enterprise Partnership area.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As of 11 February, 22,953 vouchers have been issued under the scheme. These, given by region, are as follows (reporting 2.55pm, 11th February 2021):
The overall number of vouchers issued (22,953) and the sum of the total number of vouchers by region above (22,913) differ by 40 vouchers. This is because these vouchers do not list an English region on their application.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of Green Home Grant vouchers that will be issued in the next financial year; and how will any applications over the total budget be assessed and dealt with.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As of 8th February, 22,165 vouchers have already been issued with more being issued each day.
Applications will continue to be processed by the scheme administrator in line with the rules of the scheme. Official scheme statistics will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Green Homes Grant vouchers have been (1) submitted to ICF for payment, and (2) paid out by ICF to contractors presenting vouchers, in each month since September 2020.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Official scheme statistics will be published in due course. BEIS will continue to monitor application data as the scheme progresses.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the contractual maximum period for honouring vouchers tendered to ICF by contractors under the Green Homes Grant scheme; what proportion of payments have exceeded that period since September 2020; and what steps they are taking to accelerate such payments to contractors who have completed eligible works.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
ICF will honour vouchers in line with the Green Home Grant Scheme terms and conditions.
The payment process is a four-step process that requires: the customer to confirm the work has been completed, the installer to record the work on the TrustMark database, the scheme administrator to check the conditions of the voucher issued have been met, and then the scheme administrator to make the payment. The scheme administrator check is to ensure consumer protection and value for money, including undertaking fraud checks.
The scheme administrator aims to pay as soon as possible after this process is complete. We are working with consumers and installers to ensure they are clear on the information and checks required, so that vouchers can be paid as quickly as possible. The scheme administrator is prioritising the payment of the vouchers as a matter of urgency. Official scheme statistics will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 27 May (HL4211), what assessment they have made of the additional number of retrofit coordinators needed to deliver the £2 billion home energy retrofit programme announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 8 July; and what is their assessment of the number of retrofit coordinators who (1) have graduated, and (2) will have graduated, by 31 December.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There are currently 166 retrofit coordinators who have completed the training and over 250 more are undertaking it. Given the number of people completing the qualification is based on demand and individuals’ chosen speed of training, we have not estimated how many will complete it by 31 December 2020.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of their home energy retrofit programme on (1) employment in each region of England, and (2) the annual carbon emission tonnage reduction when the programme is completed.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A good supply of skilled workers is essential in order to meet our aspiration for as many UK homes as possible to be Energy Performance Certificate band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable.
In 2018, the domestic and non-domestic energy efficiency sectors employed 153,600 people, but more will be required. The new Green Homes Grant scheme could deliver over 100,000 green jobs throughout the many different regions of England.
The Government calculates greenhouse gas emissions savings for a range of different policies, and we will equally do so for the Green Homes Grant scheme.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to continue the home energy retrofit programme to upgrade the 20 million existing homes remaining unimproved at the conclusion of the current scheme on 31 March 2021.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government remains committed to delivering the aspiration set out in the Clean Growth Strategy for as many homes as possible to be Energy Performance Certificate Band C by 2035, where practical, cost-effective and affordable.
We are planning to publish a Heat and Buildings Strategy in due course, which will set out the immediate actions we will take for reducing emissions from buildings.
These actions include the deployment of energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating as part of an ambitious programme of work required to enable key strategic decisions that set us on a path to decarbonising all homes and buildings.
Asked by: Lord Stunell (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the Court of Appeal judgement in C Spencer Ltd vs MW High Tech Projects Ltd, what plans they have to consult on bringing forward legislation to include all construction operations in connection with process industry operations within the ambit of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has no plans to consult on bringing forward legislation to include all construction operations in connection with process industry operations within the remit of Part 2 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.