High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors
Debate between Lord Vallance of Balham and Lord Spellar(1 week, 1 day ago)
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Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)
I think public opinion is changing, and it has changed quite a lot in the past few years, but the noble Lord is right that there remain a lot of obstacles to moving fast in this space. That is why the Fingleton report, with its 47 recommendations, is so important. We will be responding fully to that within the three-month period—that is, by the end of February—and will propose to drive that forward as fast as we can, for exactly the reasons he has raised.
Lord Spellar (Lab)
My Lords, the Government’s impetus on the nuclear programme is extremely welcome, but would it not be even better for the nations and regions of this country, and for our important manufacturing industry, if our world-leading position were being reinforced by doing the maximum amount of engineering for the construction of these projects here in the UK?
Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)
The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is that, as we move towards contract completion with Rolls-Royce for the small modular reactors, we want to ensure that 70% of the supply chain, both onsite and offsite, is through British construction.
Digital ID
Debate between Lord Vallance of Balham and Lord Spellar(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Lord Spellar (Lab)
My Lords, underpinning any individual ID scheme has to be an individual ID number. Other countries normally seem to base that on date of birth plus a scheme of other numbers. Can the Minister make clear to us whether we have decided what our system will be? How far have they advanced in developing it, and when is it likely to be rolled out?
Lord Vallance of Balham (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for his question. The consultation will start later this year. It will be very broad, and we welcome input from many groups. We know that this is not straight- forward; it will require considerable thought about how to get it exactly right. The answer is that we do not yet have a view on exactly how the system will be designed. That will be part of the consultation process. It will not be done overnight, and it will require us to come back to this House on many occasions. It will have great public input and technical input as we design it.