Climate Change Committee: Carbon Budget Report

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Tuesday 16th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My noble friend makes some very good points. As we were both aviation Ministers, I am delighted to tell her that today we launch the Green Fuels, Green Skies competition, which will provide up to £15 million in funding for the early-stage development of first-of-a-kind, large-scale sustainable aviation fuel projects in the UK.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

I refer noble Lords to my interests in relation to sustainable development and low-carbon heat. Does the Minister agree that the switch from coal to gas was successful primarily because it was made easy and simple for households to make the switch by connecting to the infrastructure that was put into the great majority of streets in the UK? Is there more that the Government could do to support low-carbon networked heat solutions to make it similarly easy for people to connect and go low-carbon?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes some very good points. Networked heat will be one of a number of different contributions that we will need to make to encourage transition to low or no-carbon heating. A number of different options are available, supported through a range of government incentive schemes.

Uber: Supreme Court Ruling

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Lord Callanan) (Con)]

The Government are committed to improving the clarity around employment status and to bringing forward an employment Bill, which we will do as soon as possible. The Bill will protect and enhance workers’ rights, promote fairness in the workplace and strengthen workers’ ability to get redress for poor treatment.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister will be aware that Uber has made statements suggesting that it believes that the ruling is limited only to a handful of individuals and that subsequent changes mean that it will not apply to current staff—but that is not the advice that others are giving. HMRC has statutory responsibility for enforcement of the minimum wage, and it can take action either on its own initiative or in response to complaints made online. If enforcement action is taken by HMRC, then it will be for Uber to prove that it has complied with its obligations, and the two-year limit on claims will not apply. Is HMRC expected to take that action, and is government encouraging it to do so?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord will be aware that I cannot comment on individual cases, but, of course, HMRC is fully empowered and able to take all the action that it requires in order to get people to comply with the law.

Green Economic Recovery

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Monday 14th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

As the noble Lord rightly acknowledges, next year the UK will issue its first sovereign green bonds, subject to market conditions, and it intends to follow up with a series of further issuances to meet growing investor demand. However, this is a matter for the Treasury, whose Ministers will update Parliament shortly.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

My Lords, first, I draw attention to my registered interests in renewable heat and sustainable development. Will the Minister acknowledge that the present taxation system fails to reflect the shift in the carbon intensity of energy, with sustainable electricity—and, indeed, electricity in general, which is now much more low-carbon—costing four times, per kilowatt, what gas now does? Is it not time to shift the tax system to reflect the priorities the Government have in their green agenda to shift what people do?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for trying to tempt me down the road of reforming the tax system, but I will happily leave that for the Chancellor to announce.

World Energy Outlook 2020

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Baroness makes a very good point. It is important that everybody’s behaviour is changed. There will be a number of campaigns, both by government and by various NGOs and interested parties in the run-up to COP 26, which we see as a major global lever that we can use to change fundamental behaviours.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

My Lords, I draw attention to my interest in sustainable development and low-carbon heat, as listed in the register of interests. Can the Minister accept that it makes no sense to build literally a million or more homes over the next few years with carbon heating technologies when low-carbon technologies could be cheaply put in place today, leading to zero carbon by 2050, rather than facing householders and government with the enormous costs of retrofitting even more homes than those already built today?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The noble Lord makes a good point; heating decarbonisation will be a crucial part of the race to net zero, and we will be bringing forward a detailed heating decarbonisation strategy shortly.

Post Office: Horizon Accounting System

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Monday 7th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

The lady that my noble friend mentions is one of many tragic cases arising from this. It is indeed an appalling scandal. Of course, there has already been a judicial finding of faults in this, and the comments of Mr Justice Fraser are well worth reviewing. We want to go further than that: we want a proper review, and to be fully assured that through the review there is a public summary of the failings that occurred at the Post Office through this scandal—drawing on the judgments from the Horizon case and by listening to those most affected—without repeating the findings of Mr Justice Fraser.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

This has been the most appalling scandal. Those impacted are still waiting for justice, not just for themselves but in holding to account those who appear to have sought, at every stage, to cover up what actually went wrong. Can the Minister give some assurance that the appointment of a chairman, and this going ahead, is imminent, and that those responsible at the Post Office and elsewhere will be held to account?

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

I can certainly give the noble Lord the assurance that the appointment will be made as quickly as possible. We are under no illusion about the urgency of the case and the need to get on with it as quickly as possible. I am hoping that an announcement can be made very shortly.

UK Internal Market: White Paper

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Wednesday 29th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

I am not sure I completely understood what the noble Viscount is getting at. Perhaps I can write him on that matter.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

My Lords, the Minister did not answer one of the questions put by my noble friend Lady Kramer; perhaps he can now do so. How is unfettered access compatible with the terms of the Northern Ireland protocol?

[Lord Callanan]

I think it is fairly self-evident that we are committed to having unfettered access for goods from Northern Ireland to the UK single market, and this legislation will help to underpin that.

EU Coronavirus Vaccine Programme

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Monday 13th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

The noble Lord asks a number of hypothetical questions. All I can say is that we will continue to collaborate internationally both in the EU and across the world on vaccine development. It is something that we all have a stake in, and we all need to work together to achieve it.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

My Lords, Wellcome’s head of global policy has described the EU policy as “morally right” because it ensures that the priority will be to spread the use and availability of vaccine across all countries according to need, treating those at the highest risk first. If the Government are not to be part of the EU scheme, will they at least commit to ensuring that vaccine is available to all, across borders, by priority and that they will not simply prioritise UK people? The coronavirus is not a respecter of international borders.

[Lord Callanan]

The Prime Minister has already said exactly that. Of course, we want to collaborate internationally; of course, the virus is affecting virtually every country in the world. We have to work across borders, and the vaccine should go to those who need it most.

Environmental Projects

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Thursday 2nd July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

We remain completely committed to taking all the necessary action to improve the energy efficiency of the UK’s buildings, delivering a UK economy that is stronger, cleaner, more sustainable and more resilient after the crisis.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD) [V]]

I draw attention to my interests in sustainable development and renewables, as in the register. The Minister is aware that it is vastly more expensive to retrofit old homes than to build new ones to the right standards in the first place, but the new standards for homes—the elimination of gas, for example—will not come in until 2025. As part of the programme to get people back to work, would it not make sense to make sure that the homes we build are built to the highest standards in the first place and that those standards are brought forward using proven technologies, as some councils are already doing?

[Lord Callanan]

That is an important issue. We keep things such as the building regulations under constant review, but we need to proceed at a pace that the building industry can cope with and that consumers will accept.

UK Net Zero Emissions Target

Lord Taylor of Goss Moor Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, my noble friend is right to say that what we do on our own about emissions will not make that big a difference. However, the leadership we can show is important. That is why we are committed to going further and trying to secure the hosting of COP26 next year. We will do all we can to continue to show leadership in that area.

[Lord Taylor of Goss Moor (LD)]

My Lords, I strongly welcome the Government’s commitment, particularly given the Chancellor of the Exchequer apparently trying to argue that they should not make it. This is an important moment, supported across the House.

I work in development, housing and renewable heat. I should declare that, but I do so because I am deeply concerned that, while a car may last a decade or so, the houses we build today will—we hope—last a century or much longer. Between now and 2025, when the Minister said we would introduce the new regulations, we will have built some 2 million more homes. Retrofitting old homes to meet zero carbon targets for heat and water is extremely difficult. We have that problem for all those we have already built. We should not build millions more without making that long-term decision now. The Committee on Climate Change has pointed that out and asked for urgent action. London has shown that if you bring in new standards, the market quickly moves to them. Will the Minister bring forward the changes that he has indicated will not come through until 2025?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, on his first point, the noble Lord is wrong to say that the Chancellor was trying to squash this: he was merely pointing out potential costs. As was made clear in the Statement, the climate change committee estimates that the annual cost of delivering a net zero target is within the same range as the 80% target was when it was set in 2008. Our own assessment of costs is within that range. It is right that the Chancellor takes an interest in the likely costs—after all, he is responsible for these measures.

The noble Lord is right to point to the importance of what we do about homes. We have an appropriate target and have announced what we want to do about energy efficiency by 2025. We will stick to that date, which will allow us to meet our target.