Andrea Leadsom
Main Page: Andrea Leadsom (Conservative - South Northamptonshire)
John Nicolson (East Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
3. What steps she is taking to support the development of offshore wind energy generation in Scotland.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
The Government have announced up to £730 million of contracts for difference support for offshore wind and other renewables. The first auction later this year will offer £290 million, and I expect Scottish projects to bid. This is a huge opportunity for the UK supply chain, and I am doing everything I can to persuade developers to buy British.
John Nicolson
The Government have cancelled the contract for difference for the Neart na Goithe wind farm off the east coast of Scotland. Without that wind farm, there will be no such projects at all in Scottish waters. Will the Minister tell us why the contract has been cancelled? Will the Government commit to redeploying the funds to another Scottish project?
Andrea Leadsom
It is not the Government who decide whether a delivery milestone is met; it is the Low Carbon Contracts Company that manages those contracts for difference. That cancellation was the result of the milestone delivery date not being met, and there are ongoing discussions about that. I recognise that the termination of a CFD is disappointing for all partners, but I can reassure the hon. Gentleman that there is quite a big project pipeline for Scottish offshore wind and I expect to see other projects coming forward at the next auction.
Andrea Leadsom
I commend my hon. Friend for both his tenacity and his command of the English language. Whether from Scottish projects or from projects in the Humber region, this project pipeline will benefit the UK supply pipeline enormously. That is what we really want. He will be aware of the ongoing east coast review, and I am talking with individual developers to try to ensure that we buy British wherever possible and use UK fabricators, and that the UK has the opportunity to get more of this valuable business, which has been a real success story for the UK.
Callum McCaig (Aberdeen South) (SNP)
Scotland’s undoubted potential in offshore wind, and in renewables more generally, is being squandered by remote control from here in Westminster. When will the Department stop treating Scotland like an absentee landlord?
Andrea Leadsom
I am unsure whether saying, “What rubbish,” is unparliamentary, but, frankly, that was absolute rubbish. There is no sense in which the UK Government treat Scotland as if we were an absentee landlord. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that 60% of the renewables obligation has gone to projects in Scotland, which has about 8% of the population. How on earth can he think that Scotland is somehow losing out? That is absolute nonsense.
Callum McCaig
If we are not being run by remote control, will the Minister tell us how many times the Secretary of State has been to Scotland since the last election?
Andrea Leadsom
I can tell the hon. Gentleman that I have been to Scotland a number of times.
Andrea Leadsom
I do not know the answer, but I can write to the hon. Gentleman. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is absolutely committed, as am I, to the success of not only wind and the renewables sector in Scotland, but, importantly, the oil and gas sector. The hon. Gentleman will be aware of the hours that she and I have spent in this Chamber desperately trying to get the Oil and Gas Authority sorted out through the Energy Bill, which he and his colleagues have tried to delay and scupper at every turn.
Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con)
4. What steps her Department plans to take to (a) require the undergrounding of power cables and (b) mitigate in other ways the effect of electricity pylons on sensitive environments.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
It is quite right that network companies give proper consideration to the protection of communities and sensitive areas, and my hon. Friend is right to speak up for his local residents. I hope I can reassure him and his constituents that legislation already puts such a requirement on network companies. Local communities will always be properly consulted on how new transmission networks might affect their local environment.
Dr Davies
I am grateful for that reply. The Minister will be aware that many miles of new electricity cabling will be required across the country for new energy projects, including in my area of north Wales. When there is controversy, does she agree that the cost of delays to such infrastructure projects could far outweigh the cost of undergrounding sections of cabling in sensitive areas to help overcome such controversy? Does she also agree that planning guidance may need firming up to enable clarity around the requirement?
Andrea Leadsom
I certainly agree with my hon. Friend that getting on with projects and avoiding delays is important, and I am sure he will appreciate that there is a balance to be struck. A recent independent study showed that the undergrounding of transmission lines can cost up to £24 million per kilometre compared with up to £4.4 million per kilometre for overhead lines, and such costs are ultimately paid through consumer bills. I reassure him that existing planning guidance will ensure that undergrounding is always fully considered.
Sue Hayman (Workington) (Lab)
I want to ask the Minister about vertical infrastructure more broadly. We have pylons going through Cumbria, and my constituency has an awful lot of wind farms and telephone masts. How do we bring all of that together when we consider new planning?
Andrea Leadsom
I hope I can reassure the hon. Lady that local authority planning processes do always take into account the cumulative impact of yet one more project getting under way. I suppose that this is a question for the Department for Communities and Local Government, but the existing planning arrangements not only allow for proper local consultation and proper consideration of all the alternatives, including undergrounding to take infrastructure right out of sight, but consider what one more project will do and whether things can be brought together. If an area is affected, different projects can be undertaken in the same place, rather than being spread out and ruining the landscape.
Will Quince (Colchester) (Con)
5. What steps her Department is taking to reduce energy bills for businesses and households.
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)
9. When the application for state aid clearance for the remote Scottish islands will be submitted to the European Commission.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
We have had extensive correspondence with the Commission during the pre-notification process. The Government will publish as soon as we can the decisions about the contract for difference allocation round for all less-established technologies in pot 2, including strike prices. We will take all the steps needed to deliver the allocation, including submitting any necessary notifications to the European Commission.
Mr Carmichael
I am grateful to the Minister for that answer, but she will know that the application for state aid clearance for the island strike price has been ready and sitting in the Department since the new year. The continuing failure to submit it is causing enormous uncertainty and a massive loss of confidence among renewable energy generators in the Northern and Western Isles. Will she agree to meet me and the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Mr MacNeil), along with a delegation of local renewable energy developers, to discuss this so that she can hear from the horse’s mouth and understand just how serious it is for our industry and our islands?
Andrea Leadsom
The right hon. Gentleman and the Chair of the Select Committee on Energy and Climate Change met my officials only recently to discuss these issues. I assure the right hon. Gentleman that my officials have also met several representatives of the renewables industry specifically to discuss remote island wind. I will certainly be happy to meet the remote islands forum again to discuss our decisions once we have taken them.
Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)
Does the Minister not agree that the very fact that we have to go begging to the European Union before we can help our fellow citizens in this country amply demonstrates why we would be better off, and why those citizens would certainly be better off, if we left the European Union, took charge and were able to decide for ourselves how we spent taxpayers’ money in this country?
Andrea Leadsom
What I can say as an Energy Minister is that the Government’s position is that the UK should stay in a reformed European Union.
Christina Rees (Neath) (Lab)
10. When her Department plans to start its consultation on the phasing out of coal-fired power stations.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
We are among the first developed countries to consult on phasing out coal. It is vital for our decarbonisation that we move away from the dirtiest fossil fuels, so holding a consultation is extremely important to make sure that we get views on how best to achieve our goal while ensuring energy security, which, as the hon. Lady will know, is non-negotiable. The consultation will begin in the near future.
Christina Rees
I am grateful to the Minister for her response. There are still many people in the UK, in Wales and, indeed, in my constituency of Neath, who work in or are connected with the coal industry. What assurances will the Minister provide that the consultation will be properly thought through and will take time to explore the issues thoroughly so as not to leave people unduly concerned for their livelihoods?
Andrea Leadsom
The hon. Lady is exactly right to speak out for her community, which is precisely why we are undertaking the consultation. We want to take all the factors into account. I am sure that she and Opposition Members will agree that it is right that we move away from the dirtiest fossil fuels over time, but in a measured way, taking into account the impact on local communities and their livelihoods and what other opportunities there are for them in the energy space and in the workplace. I can totally assure her that we will consult carefully.
Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase) (Con)
12. If Rugeley B, a coal-fired power station in my constituency, shuts this summer, will my hon. Friend commit to working across Departments to ensure that any application for a new gas power station can be dealt with in a timely manner that will help to create future job opportunities for the highly skilled workforce at the plant?
Andrea Leadsom
I congratulate my hon. Friend again on all the work she has done on that. I know it is an incredibly important constituency issue for her. I met her and a number of colleagues only recently to talk about the possibility of coal-fired power stations due to close becoming new combined cycle gas turbines. I welcome and encourage her efforts to support such an outcome. I have already told her that I will happily write to the Department for Communities and Local Government to ask what more, if anything, can be done to make it easier for planning permission to be granted for a new CCGT on the site of an old coal-fired power plant, and I will do that. She will be aware that DCLG is separately holding a consultation for those who are interested in making that transition, so that they can better understand the processes they would need to go through.
Mary Robinson (Cheadle) (Con)
11. What steps she has taken to ensure that the renewable heat incentive is cost effective.
Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)
13. What assessment she has made of trends in the level of take-up of domestic solar photovoltaic systems since the relaunch of the feed-in tariff in February 2016.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
In the first quarter of our new, more sustainable cost control regime under FITs, six out of 11 deployment caps were reached, including the two largest of the four solar caps. Take-up of domestic solar photovoltaic systems is strong but still within the cap. We estimate that FITs will support over 178,000 new solar PV installations at domestic scale by 2018-19.
Helen Hayes
Domestic solar installers in my constituency report that demand for their services has plummeted over the past year, and domestic solar installations across the country are down 80% on this time last year. Will the Minister now acknowledge that the new tariff is too low and that the disastrous approach that this Government are taking to solar energy is effectively stopping individuals who want to make a contribution to combating climate change in their own homes by installing solar panels from doing so?
Andrea Leadsom
No, I do not recognise what the hon. Lady says. Solar deployment in this country has been amazing, and far in excess of all our expectations. Some 99% of solar installations have taken place since 2010—under this Government and the previous Government, not under the Labour Government. It has been a huge success story. As I have said, our subsidy regime takes into account the interest for the consumer who has to pay it and the developer who is continuing to build. Some of the caps have already been met and others are performing strongly.
Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)
14. What assessment she has made of the potential effect of the proposed removal of support for solar thermal on the UK solar thermal and cylinder manufacturing industry.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
We launched a consultation in March with proposals for reform of the renewable heat incentive. As the right hon. Gentleman will be aware, the consultation, which closed on 27 April, included a proposal to withdraw RHI support for solar thermal technologies. We are looking carefully at all the responses. I can assure him that in coming to our conclusions we will consider all relevant factors, including the impact on the UK supply chain.
Tom Brake
Does the Minister accept that solar thermal has the lowest CO2 footprint of all heating generation technologies, has no significant ongoing fuel commitments, has relatively low space requirements and is ideal for homes for vulnerable people because there is no requirement for homes to be heavily insulated? Why are the Government proposing to cut support for solar thermal?
Andrea Leadsom
I absolutely agree that it certainly plays a part, but I can tell the right hon. Gentleman that, as part of the reform of the RHI, we are trying to ensure that the budget offers the best value for money. Solar thermal requires the highest subsidy from the Government of all RHI technologies, and the evidence suggests that nearly 50% of RHI respondents said they would have installed it anyway, even without Government subsidy. We always need to look at the balance between keeping the costs down for the bill payer and supporting these technologies.
Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)
15. What steps her Department is taking to encourage growth in the green research and development sector.
Hannah Bardell (Livingston) (SNP)
17. What steps she is taking to increase exploration for oil and gas in the North sea.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
This year the Government have pulled out all the stops to support the oil and gas sector. This includes a fiscal package worth £1.3 billion over five years, £20 million for new seismic surveys and, of course, our core policy of establishing the Oil and Gas Authority, whose job is to maximise economic recovery from the North sea. This is a vital UK industry, and we are totally committed to keeping the UK continental shelf as an attractive destination for investment, securing hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Hannah Bardell
I thank the Minister for her answer, and I do appreciate the work that is being done. However, while the SNP welcomes the support announced in the Budget and what has been done, those who have lost their jobs in the north-east would not necessarily agree with her characterisation. It is essential that we listen to those in the industry who are calling for a strategic review of the fiscal and regulatory regime. What steps are being taken to review the tax rates and the investment allowance?
Andrea Leadsom
As I said, the Treasury has already taken enormous steps through fiscal policy towards the North sea to promote further oil and gas exploration. It is constantly looking at that; in fact, I am having a dinner next week to talk again to the maximising economic recovery group of operators and investors, the Oil and Gas Authority and so on to look at what more we can do, and the Treasury plays its full part in that.
However, we have to be clear that the Oil and Gas Authority is already transforming things such as production costs and the level of co-operation between different operators in the North sea. This is an incredibly important area. We have an inter-ministerial group, which I think is meeting again next week to discuss what more can be done. We are pulling out all the stops for the North sea.
Mr Peter Lilley (Hitchin and Harpenden) (Con)
Although I sympathise with the constituents of the hon. Member for Livingston (Hannah Bardell) who have lost their jobs in the North sea, would not the best thing for them be for us to create new jobs by allowing fracking in Scotland for those very people, with those skills, who have been denied the prospect of such jobs by the hypocrisy of the SNP Government in Scotland?
Andrea Leadsom
I absolutely agree. Obviously, it is a matter for the Scottish Government to decide, but one of the policy options I am looking at in my Department, together with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, is what more we can do in the energy space for those who have lost their jobs. For example, an experienced offshore engineer may well be able to retrain to work with offshore wind or even nuclear. There are therefore other opportunities in the energy space, and I know the Scottish Government are looking at that. I would certainly be delighted if they wanted to think again about the importance of shale gas.
Michael Tomlinson (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (Con)
T3. I have been contacted by a number of constituents who are concerned about fracking in Dorset. What reassurance can the Minister give to me and to my constituents about environmental considerations, about issues of public consultation and letting local residents have their say, and, importantly, about fracking being considered only in appropriate locations?
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)
I can absolutely assure my hon. Friend that the UK has more than 50 years of safely regulating onshore and offshore oil and gas. We have the best regulatory environment in the world. The Environment Agency looks very carefully at any proposals for hydraulic fracturing, the Health and Safety Executive monitors all activity in that area, and of course local authorities will consult widely with their local communities. I am desperate for local communities to be given the proper facts—that is a really important part of the job for us and for local authorities to do.
Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)
I think that people across the country will be really concerned by the lack of an answer in the response just given by the Minister. They will also be looking very closely at Ryedale, where North Yorkshire County Council is set imminently to make a decision about whether fracking should be given the green light there. If so, will she extend the same courtesy to that community as she has extended to communities affected by wind farms and promise the people of Ryedale that she will not override their wishes and impose fracking against their will?
Andrea Leadsom
With regard to safety is absolutely paramount the industry for hydraulic fracturing. If there was any likelihood, chance or risk of any of the issues in the scare stories that the hon. Lady likes to propagate being real, this Government would not be looking at promoting this vital industry. We provide 40% of our own natural gas; the rest is imported from overseas. It is vital for our energy security that we continue to use home-grown resources wherever we can. It is also a massive jobs and growth opportunity for very many communities where employment is desperately needed, and she should take some interest in that.
Mr Speaker
The Minister, rather like the hon. Member for Brent North (Barry Gardiner), cannot be accused of excluding from her observations anything that might be in any way, at any time, to any degree material. She is certainly comprehensive; we are most grateful.
Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
T4. I am going to push the Minister of State further on fracking, because a week tomorrow an important decision will be made. In Ryedale, one energy company wants to frack the beautiful landscape just south of the North York Moors national park. More than 4,000 well- informed local people want to protect their local community and environment. Who should have the greatest influence?
Andrea Leadsom
I say again: the shale industry is vital to the UK’s energy security future, and we absolutely support the idea of local consultation and local people having their say, but as in all planning matters—[Interruption.] If the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) could just stop chuntering for one minute—every time I try to answer a question, she chunters. There is a balance between the absolutely right case that local people should have their say, and the national interest. That is why there is a very clear local consultation process, and that is why the people of Ryedale will have their views taken into account and the local authority will balance up those interests.
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
What progress has my right hon. Friend made in securing new nuclear power stations and, in particular, modular power stations of a smaller scale?
John Nicolson (East Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
T7. The Minister will be aware of the devastating Super Puma helicopter crash in Norway less than a fortnight ago, which killed 14 people, including Iain Stuart from Laurencekirk. Super Pumas have ditched in the North sea three times since 2009, citing problems such as gear box and oil pump failure. We do not yet know the cause of the crash on 29 April, but 14 families, including Mr Stuart’s, will be desperate know what it was. Will she engage with her counterparts in Norway to ensure that any lessons learned from their investigations can be applied to offshore commercial helicopter flights in the UK?
Andrea Leadsom
We were all completely devastated to hear about that crash. Having been on one of those helicopter trips to an offshore rig, I have seen the amount of effort and the focus there is on health and safety, and that makes it doubly tragic. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the UK Civil Aviation Authority has grounded the helicopter model involved. I assure him that we are working very closely with it and with colleagues in Norway to understand exactly what happened so that we can make sure that it cannot happen in the future.
Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)
Does the Minister agree that historic market towns built for the horse and cart, such as Bradford on Avon in my constituency, could not cope, because they do not have the infrastructure, with the extra traffic that fracking will bring?
Andrea Leadsom
I absolutely think that is one of the factors any local authority planning committee will take into account. That is precisely the point of having local authority involvement and a community say, because local people of course know best what is suitable for their area. Local planning is one aspect of this, but the whole safety regulatory environment—the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency—is, nevertheless, absolutely vital. I assure my hon. Friend that there will be no compromise either on safety or on the view of the local community.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
The Secretary of State will know that we now have scientific evidence that noxious fumes from diesel engines are poisoning our children and poisoning our air. Are those fumes also related to the deterioration in our climate?