Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to regulate the cost of (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic heating oil.
Answered by Greg Hands
It is essential that consumers of heating oil get a fair deal. There is an open market for the supply of both domestic and non-domestic heating oil in the UK. This provides the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason domestic feed-in tariffs are not issued on a variable rather than yearly basis to better reflect the variability of the electricity market.
Answered by Greg Hands
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave my Hon. Friend the Member for Stockton South on 28 February 2022 to Question 125580.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure Ofgem domestic feed-in tariff rates accurately reflect energy market pricing for those who generate energy.
Answered by Greg Hands
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave my Hon. Friend the Member for Stockton South on 28 February 2022 to Question 125580.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the context of wood pellets being sourced from Estonia and burnt at the Drax power station, what his policy is on the minimum number of trees per hectare that need to be replanted for a forest to count as sustainably managed.
Answered by Greg Hands
In accordance with the Government’s strict sustainability criteria, biomass needs to be sourced from areas managed in a way that is consistent with sustainable forest management practices, irrespective of the sourcing location. Further information on sustainable forest management that informs the UK’s sustainability criteria can be found at:
https://foresteurope.org/workstreams/sustainable-forest-management/#.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of (a) the number of megawatt-hours of power produced by Drax power station from burning wood pellets in the last year and (b) tonnes of CO2 created by that supply chain; and whether he has made an estimate of the equivalent supply chain carbon cost in the event that that power station was still burning coal.
Answered by Greg Hands
Data regarding the electricity generation in megawatt-hours derived from burning wood pellets at the Drax power station is not available due to commercial confidentiality.
The supply chain target for biomass supported under the Renewable Obligation and Contracts for Difference scheme is 240 kgCO2eq per MWh (from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2020), and 200 kgCO2eq per MWh (from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2025), though generators may perform lower than that.
The Department does not hold supply chain emissions data for coal.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs which have been lost as a result of counterfeiting and piracy in the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by George Freeman
In a study published in 2019, the OECD estimate the job losses in the UK that result in the retail and wholesale sector due to counterfeit and pirated imports in 2016 totalled almost 60,000.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made on the impact of counterfeit and pirated goods on the UK economy.
Answered by George Freeman
In a study published in 2019 the OECD estimate the total volume of forgone sales for UK wholesalers and retailers due to counterfeit and pirated products smuggled into the UK in 2016 is £9.2 billion.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support research into understanding the biological mechanisms of long term covid-19 symptoms.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
Understanding the biological mechanisms of COVID-19 and its longer-term impacts is a priority topic in UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) research response. In partnership with National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), UKRI has announced an £8.4 million project that will investigate the physical and mental health impacts of hospitalised patients. The Post-HOSPitalisation COVID-19 (PHOSP-COVID) study, led by Professor Chris Brightling from the University of Leicester, aims to recruit 8,000 patients from across the UK. This will make it one of the world’s largest studies into the long-term health consequences of COVID-19. Results from the study will inform the development of new and better measures to treat and rehabilitate patients hospitalised with COVID-19.
Additional supported work includes a £0.6 million award to Dr James Peters at Imperial College London for the mechanisms underlying the excessive inflammatory response developed in a subset of COVID-19 patients, and a £0.8 million award to Professor John Greenwood Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, who will use magnetic resonance imaging to diagnose and understand cardiac injuries in COVID-19 patients. These awards were made through the UKRI-NIHR COVID-19 Rapid Response Rolling Call.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support research into the efficacy of a covid-19 vaccine in older people.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The University of Oxford / Astra Zeneca Phase 3 trial includes arms that specifically looks at safety and efficacy of the vaccine in those aged between 56 – 69 and over 70. For these groups, researchers are assessing the immune response to the vaccine in people of different ages, to find out if there is variation in how well the immune system responds in older people. Other vaccine developers that the Government are working with may also decide to include specific groups such as these in their trials.
In addition to the work that vaccine developers are undertaking, the Government has funded the NHS Registry, developed by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). This national registry is encouraging people who may be disproportionately affected by COVD19, such as older people, older people with underlying health conditions and people from different ethnic groups, to volunteer for clinical trials. This includes supporting the development of communications materials to provide information on taking part in COVID 19 vaccine trials via the NIHR website (Be Part of Research).
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
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 his Department has taken to prepare for the UK potentially not associating to Horizon Europe after the transition period.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
In tandem with our negotiations to associate to EU programmes we, as a responsible government, are developing alternative schemes to support international research and innovation collaboration. If we do not formally associate to Horizon Europe, we will implement ambitious alternatives as quickly as possible from January 2021 and address the funding gap. We will launch an ambitious new Discovery Fund offering sizeable grants over long periods of time to early, mid and late-career researchers, whether already in the UK or coming here from anywhere in the world, to pursue ground-breaking research. We will scale up and enhance prestigious domestic schemes, providing funding to allow UK researchers and innovators to seize opportunities and to allow our institutions to attract and retain international talent and we will make funding available to allow UK partners to participate in European schemes open to third countries.