Offshore Oil and Gas: Venting and Flaring

Debate between Lord Gove and Lord Whitehead

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Whitehead (Lab)]

The ability to independently monitor those emissions has been very much enhanced by satellite technology and various aerial observances, which can accurately depict where those emissions are coming from offshore and who is emitting them, so there is an effective independent verification position in place at present, which will aid greatly towards the achievement of that target by 2030.

[Lord Gove (Con)]

My Lords, whatever improvements might be made in dealing with the consequences of extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea in environmental terms, it is undoubtedly the case that the environmental and economic benefits are greater if we extract from our own native resources than if the resources are extracted from Russia and refined in a third country. Yet this Government have decided to relax sanctions on Putin’s Russia, to accept Russian oil refined in third countries and to acquiesce in the loss of jobs and investment in Aberdeen and the North Sea. How can it possibly make sense to strengthen Putin during a war against Ukraine and to leave people in Scotland jobless as a result?

[Lord Whitehead (Lab)]

No, the Government have not relaxed sanctions against Putin and Russia. I believe the noble Lord is referring to recent decisions about how to phase in new sanctions as far as Russia is concerned, particularly concerning third-party products which arise not from crude oil itself but from the refining of it, particularly in circumstances where the UK does not have that refining capacity at home. The decisions that have been taken very recently relate only to that and not to the ongoing and increased sanctions as far as Putin is concerned.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Lord Whitehead

Monday 27th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Michael Gove)]

Before I answer the questions, may I on behalf of the Government extend my congratulations to Humza Yousaf on his election as leader of the Scottish National party? We look forward to working with him in the future. It has been noted that he won by 52% to 48%, so I hope that SNP colleagues will agree that there is no need for another vote.

Everyone should have access to a high-quality and safe affordable home. Our affordable homes programme is investing £11.5 billion to deliver tens of thousands of new affordable homes, and a significant proportion will be made available for social rent, directly helping those most in need.

[Dr Whitehead]

I was shocked to read recently that only 6,400 new social rent homes were built in England last year, when pretty much everybody agrees that about 100,000 are needed every year to deal with present and future housing needs. What figure between those two numbers does the Secretary of State think would be acceptable in developing social and rented housing in future years?

[Michael Gove]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising this issue. Actually, I believe that the figure was closer to 30,000 overall, but I believe, as the National Housing Federation and others have made clear, that we need to increase the proportion of new homes for social rent, and that is one of the aims as we reprofile the affordable homes programme.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Lord Whitehead

Monday 27th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations (Michael Gove)]

I had the enormous privilege on Wednesday last week of attending the unveiling of the Windrush memorial, which marks the fantastic contribution made to this country over more than 70 years by migrants from the Caribbean and the wider Commonwealth. I wish to place on the record my thanks not just to the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Saffron Walden (Kemi Badenoch), but to Baroness Floella Benjamin for the fantastic work she undertook to ensure that that fitting memorial could be unveiled.

[Dr Whitehead]

I welcome the proposals to extend the decent homes standard in the private rented sector in the just published, “A fairer private rented sector” White Paper. Is it the Government’s intention to include their stated targets on private rented sector energy efficiency in homes in the decent homes standard? If they do that, what sanctions will the Government be proposing for landlords who fail to make their properties energy-efficient?

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman is right that energy efficiency is a critical part of making sure that homes are decent, safe and warm, and we will be considering what steps and what proposals we might be able to put in place to ensure that landlords live up to their responsibilities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Gove and Lord Whitehead

Monday 29th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I would be delighted to meet the hon. Gentleman.

[Dr Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test) (Lab)]

T8. Bearing in mind that the Secretary of State has already said that the results of the GCSE fiasco this year were unfair, who would he advise the 137 pupils in my city who have had manifest injustice done to them as a result of the marking fiasco to put their faith in—him, to put the matter right, or the legal action against Ofqual?

[Michael Gove]

It is anyone’s right to pursue action through the courts if they believe that is the only way to secure a remedy, but the point that I would make, and have consistently made, and a point which was reinforced by the Chairman of the Select Committee, is that the design of those qualifications was flawed from the start, and it was not this Government who designed them.