Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether Ministers in his Department will attend the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas, between 10 March 2025 and 14 March 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of Ministers' and Permanent Secretaries' meetings with external individuals and organisations are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether any civil servants from his Department will attend the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Texas, between 10 March 2025 and 14 March 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Details of meetings held by officials are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the sources of funding were for the Climate and Environment Conference hosted by the Civil Service Climate + Environment Network.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The 2025 conference was funded by learning and development budgets from across government.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which companies have received curtailment payments; and what those payments were in each year since 2015.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department does not hold this information. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for managing constraints and publishes yearly breakdowns by cost and volume, which can be found here: Constraint Breakdown Costs and Volume | National Energy System Operator. This is aggregate data and does not show which companies have received constraint payments.
Increasing the capacity of Great Britain’s electricity network is essential for reducing curtailment and constraint payments. This is why the Government is working to accelerate the build of new network infrastructure, so more cheap, homegrown energy can power up our homes and businesses.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of (a) copper, (b) aluminium, (c) steel, (d) concrete and (e) other metals required to upgrade the electricity (i) transmission and (ii) distribution grids over the next five years.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Grid expansion will be dependent on equipment manufacturers securing the materials required to produce grid components to meet global demand. The UK Critical Mineral Intelligence Centre (CMIC) recently published a study into requirements of our national grid infrastructure to reach net zero. The cumulative material demand between 2023-2050 for upgrades is expected to be between 1.1m-1.6m tonnes of copper and 200,000-300,000 tonnes of aluminium.
As part of the Government’s upcoming Plan for Steel, we are working to better understand domestic demand and explore what can be done to ensure our steel sector is best positioned to capitalise on it.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of monthly market price variability on plans to decarbonise the grid by 2030.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Currently, the market price varies strongly based on fossil fuel prices, which we do not expect to impact the delivery of Clean Power 2030.
As the action plan makes clear, homegrown renewable energy is the key to energy independence. Clean Power 2030 will reduce our exposure to volatile international gas markets and the leverage of hostile petrostates like Russia.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether staff in his Department will be given paid time off to attend the Climate and Environment Conference hosted by the Civil Service Climate + Environment Network.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Attendance at the Civil Service Climate + Environment Conference is treated like other professional development opportunities within the Civil Service. Staff may attend with their line manager's agreement as part of their learning and development, in line with standard departmental policies. This aligns with the Civil Service's commitment to continuous professional development and cross government collaboration.
This is the second such conference, with the inaugural event in 2023 attended by Ministers from the previous administration in which the Hon Member was a Minister
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much civil service time has been spent organising the Climate and Environment Conference hosted by the Civil Service Climate + Environment Network.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Civil Service Climate + Environment Network is run by volunteers across government who typically dedicate around 5% of their time to network activities, often as part of their learning and development. The annual conference is delivered primarily through this voluntary commitment, with minimal impact on departmental resources.
This is the second such conference, with the inaugural event in 2023 attended by Ministers from the previous administration in which the HM was a Minister.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much civil service time is spent on organising the Civil Service Climate + Environment Network each week.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Civil Service Climate + Environment Network is run by volunteers across government who typically dedicate around 5% of their time to network activities, often as part of their learning and development. The annual conference is delivered primarily through this voluntary commitment, with minimal impact on departmental resources.
This is the second such conference, with the inaugural event in 2023 attended by Ministers from the previous administration in which the HM was a Minister.
Asked by: Andrew Bowie (Conservative - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the (a) overall cost and (b) breakdown of expenditure was for the Climate and Environment Conference hosted by the Civil Service Climate + Environment Network.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Information on departmental expenditure is made publicly available the usual way through the Department's annual report and accounts.