Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2022 to Question 9043 on Heat Pumps, what the process is for installers to be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme; and what checks are made to ensure quality of work by installers once accredited.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is an independent quality assurance organisation. MCS sets out the process for installers to become certified on their website. MCS Certification Bodies are responsible for carrying out checks on installers and are accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to assess products and installers to the MCS Standards, within the ISO/IEC17065 accreditation framework.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on taking steps to encourage investment in the manufacturing of hydrogen vehicles.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly meets his Cabinet colleagues to discuss measures to support the transformation of the road transport sector to net zero, including investment opportunities in hydrogen vehicles.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to help support businesses that export hydrogen.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is working with industry to assess strengths and capabilities in UK supply chains to help them benefit from the emerging global hydrogen economy and capitalise on export opportunities as they arise. In its British Energy Security Strategy, the Government doubled the UK’s hydrogen production ambition to up to 10GW installed capacity by 2030, driven by policies including the Hydrogen Business Model and Net Zero Hydrogen Fund. The primary objective of these policies is to kickstart the UK’s low carbon hydrogen economy.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households have prepayment meters or (a) electricity and (b) gas; and what proportion of each category has smart meters.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Official statistics show that, at the end of 2021, 14% of households had a prepayment service; the proportion is the same for both gas and electricity. The latest statistics on Quarterly Energy Prices are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-energy-prices-march-2022.
The Government’s official statistics on the rollout of smart meters show that, at the end of 2021, 13% of all smart meters were in prepayment mode, broadly in line with levels of prepayment meters in the market. These statistics are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/smart-meters-in-great-britain-quarterly-update-december-2021.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals for ECO 4 before the summer recess; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is working quickly to lay regulations as early as possible. A Written Ministerial Statement will be issued once the ECO4 regulations are laid.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on ensuring that the provision of hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for transport is considered in the development of new hydrogen production facilities.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department continues to work closely with the Department for Transport on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising transport. Government support has included £30m for refuelling infrastructure, which helps support the deployment of 124 hydrogen fuel cell buses.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of hydrogen transport in delivering the increased hydrogen production target set out in the British energy security strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Hydrogen will be fundamental to achieving the full decarbonisation of UK transport. The UK has increased its ambition for up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030. Government analysis, set out in the UK Hydrogen Strategy, shows that transport will be a leading early market for low carbon hydrogen, with up to 6TWh demand in 2030 and up to 45TWh demand in 2035. The Government is exploring all options for low carbon hydrogen use across road freight, buses, trains, maritime and aviation to support the development of a thriving UK hydrogen sector – including through the recently announced £200m Zero Emission Road Freight Demonstrator programme and £206m UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE).
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what accreditation processes are in place for contractors installing heatpumps under the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (DRHI) scheme closed to new applications on 31 March 2022. In order to be eligible under that scheme, installations needed to be completed by installers that were certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the number of households which (a) are in fuel poverty at present and (b) his Department expects to be in fuel poverty if the energy price cap rises to the anticipated level in October.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The latest fuel poverty statistics and estimated projections for fuel poverty in England in 2022 can be found through GOV.UK.
The Government’s published projection for the number of households in England that are in fuel poverty for the year 2022 is 3.03 million households (12.5%).
Fuel Poverty is a devolved issue in Scotland.
Asked by: Alan Brown (Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the revised estimated dates are for the commissioning of Hinkley Point C (a) reactor one and (b) reactor two; and whether there is any estimated additional programme risk on these dates.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
EDF updated the forecast cost and schedule for Hinkley Point C on 19 May 2022. The forecast shows a Unit 1 Commercial Operation Date (COD) of June 2027 (12 months later than the current baseline schedule). Unit 2 is forecast to start 12 months after Unit 1. EDF estimate the risk of COD delay to both Units 1 and 2 is 15 months.