Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to introduce new energy performance standards; and when they expect them to be introduced.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In September 2020, the Government published an Energy Performance Certificate Action Plan detailing a series of commitments to maximise the effectiveness of Energy Performance Certificates. In November (2021), the Action Plan Progress Report was published detailing the significant progress made in delivering the commitments. The Department continues to work closely with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on progressing the outstanding actions in the Energy Performance Certificate Action Plan.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to support local authorities to de-risk net zero projects.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s Local Net Zero Hubs Programme supports local authorities with their capability and capacity to meet net zero. We have also funded work to develop business models to increase private sector investment in local net zero.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - 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 impact of on-site solar generation on reducing energy bills for households.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On-site solar generation enables households to reduce their energy bills with savings being dependent on the output from the device, the demand profile for the property and the tariff if exporting to the grid.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support (1) community energy, and (2) local energy development; and what funds they make available for such schemes.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Through government funding to local authorities, including the Local Government Finance Settlement, UK-wide growth funding schemes and other grant programmes, the Government is enabling local areas to tackle net zero goals in ways that best suit their needs.
The Government also funds five Local Net Zero Hubs to support local authorities to develop net zero projects and attract commercial investment. As of January 2023, the Local Net Zero Hubs are working on a pipeline of projects with a projected total capital value of over £4billion.
Ofgem also supports community energy projects and is now welcoming applications from community interest groups, co-operative societies, and community benefit societies to the Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support businesses in the outbound travel industry in rebuilding their customer base in 2023.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Businesses in the outbound travel industry can access support through the Recovery Loan Scheme which helps smaller businesses access loans and other kinds of finance up to £2 million per business group so they can grow and invest. The finance can be used for any business purpose, including growth and investment, or working capital. Furthermore, At the Autumn Statement, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs. This includes freezing the business rates multiplier for another year to protect businesses from rising inflation, worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years.
The Government’s ‘Help to Grow: Management’ scheme is helping small and medium sized (SME) businesses across the UK learn new skills, reach more customers and boost profits.
All businesses can access support through 38 Growth Hubs across England providing businesses across England with free one-to-one support and advice.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support rural households in the transition to net zero heating.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are bringing forward a range of policies to help rural households decarbonise their heating. These include schemes such as the £450 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which provides grants of up to £6,000 towards the installation of heat pumps and biomass boilers, and the £1.1bn Home Upgrade Grant, which supports lower income households off the gas grid in England to upgrade their energy efficiency and transition to low carbon heating.
We are also taking further action to help develop the heat pump market, such as the planned market-based mechanism for low carbon heat. This will provide industry with the policy incentive and confidence to invest in ways to make heat pumps a more attractive and simpler choice for UK households.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that local authorities are (1) resourced, and (2) supported, to tackle climate change.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In the Net Zero Strategy, the Government set out its commitments to enable local areas to deliver net zero.
These include continuing the Local Net Zero Hubs Programme to support local areas with their capability and capacity to meet net zero; and funding work to develop business models to increase private sector investment in local net zero.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide further support to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) experiencing a shortage of financial resources to help them survive in the current economic conditions.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Businesses will have benefitted from the Government’s reversal of the National Insurance rise, saving SMEs approximately £4,200 on average, the cut to fuel duty for 12 months and raising the Employment Allowance to £5,000.
The Energy Bill Relief and Energy Bill Discount Schemes will protect SMEs from high energy costs over the winter. The Autumn Statement announced £13.6 billion of support for businesses over the next five years, reducing the burden of business rates for SMEs.
Support is available to SMEs across the UK through the Recovery Loan Scheme and the Start-Up loan scheme. The latter has provided 100,228 SMEs with Start-Up loans to the value of £941,064,690.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of jobs in (1) offshore wind, and (2) the wider green economy.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The policies and proposals brought forward by the 10 Point Plan, Net Zero and Energy Security Strategies will support up to 480,000 green jobs across the UK.
Through the Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme, the Government has made funding available to support investment in major port and manufacturing infrastructure.
The Government is also working closely with industry, the education sector and other key stakeholders through the Green Jobs Delivery Group. The Delivery Group looks at ways of ensuring all sectors of the economy and parts of the country can benefit from the green transition whilst growing green jobs opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of efforts by Ofgem to reduce consumer energy prices following the recent fall in inflation.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The recent fall in inflation is welcome, however energy markets remain volatile and prices are still well above historical norms. Suppliers buy energy in advance of when it is delivered and Ofgem determines a maximum price suppliers can charge consumers to recover the cost of this through the price cap. The Government has introduced the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) which will save a typical household around £900 this winter, on top of a £400 discount through the Energy Bill Support Scheme.