Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Lloyd’s Register Decarbonisation Hub’s Zero Carbon Fuel Monitor, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding for electrolysers to help increase production of renewable and zero carbon hydrogen.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Register and Fuel Monitor are valuable tools in supporting decarbonisation of the UK’s maritime industry, for which hydrogen is a potential solution. The Government has committed to at least half of its 10GW hydrogen production capacity by 2030 ambition coming from electrolytic hydrogen and has included in the Growth Plan its intention to accelerate hydrogen electrolyser capacity deployment. Further details on the Government’s plans to accelerate UK infrastructure projects will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to support roofers experiencing liquidity challenges in the context of inflation on roofing materials.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is aware that construction materials price inflation is creating liquidity challenges for some businesses in the sector. We are working closely with the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) Product Availability Group to monitor product and material availability and mitigate the impact of price increases and we would encourage any companies who are concerned about this to get in touch with the CLC so that their comments and views can be considered a part of that work.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
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 extend to March 2022 or extend indefinitely the validity of already issued Green Homes Grant vouchers in response to supply chain problems in the construction industry.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Officials are working with industry representatives to better understand the global supply chain issues which are affecting various sectors.
This will allow continuity of support to installers, while also informing future Government energy efficiency schemes.
Following the closure of the Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme the Government is refocussing efforts and funding towards alternative approaches that will both maximise the delivery of home retrofits for consumers who are most in need, and support the supply chain to keep delivering.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
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 will take to provide sector specific support to the wedding industry in response to the restrictions to guest numbers being in place until 21 June 2021.
Answered by Paul Scully
Over the course of the pandemic the Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to businesses, including those in the wedding industry, which we keep under regular review.
My Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Budget a raft of new measures to further support businesses, including those in the wedding industry. These include:
My Rt hon Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer also announced the launch of the Events Research Programme, to pilot events with larger crowd sizes, including weddings with the aim of removing restrictions on events in Step 4 of the roadmap.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has plans to participate in the forthcoming UK Research and Innovation review of open access policy.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Plan S is a set of high-level principles which are in line with current UK Government policy and ambitions for Open Access (OA), and identify common ways to accelerate the implementation of OA to meet the European Competitiveness Councils target, set by ministers in 2016, of making all publicly funded research Open Access by 2020.
The UKRI OA Review is working within the framework of Government policy, due to report in autumn 2019. The Review will examine the best way to implement and operationalise Government’s ambitions around Open Access. BEIS will be represented on the OA Review Steering Group. The UKRI OA Review is focused on the effectiveness of UKRI policies and should any change to Government policy be proposed, Ministers will be consulted.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he made of the potential economic effect of Science Europe’s Open Access Coalition Plan S before UK Research and Innovation signed up to that plan.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
Plan S is a set of high-level principles which are in line with current UK Government policy and ambitions for Open Access (OA), and identify common ways to accelerate the implementation of OA to meet the European Competitiveness Councils target, set by ministers in 2016, of making all publicly funded research Open Access by 2020.
The UKRI OA Review is working within the framework of Government policy, due to report in autumn 2019. The Review will examine the best way to implement and operationalise Government’s ambitions around Open Access. BEIS will be represented on the OA Review Steering Group. The UKRI OA Review is focused on the effectiveness of UKRI policies and should any change to Government policy be proposed, Ministers will be consulted.
Asked by: Andrew Lewer (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received on the potential erosion of UK intellectual property resulting from potential UK trade partners introducing widening copyright exceptions.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Government receives representations from creative industry stakeholders which raise a range of issues relating to copyright. We are aware that a number of our potential future trading partners are currently reviewing their respective domestic intellectual property frameworks, including limitations and exceptions to copyright.
The Government believes that copyright owners should receive appropriate remuneration for use of their works, wherever that may be in the world. To this end, we support adherence to the standards set by international copyright treaties, including the Berne Convention’s “three step test” which ensures that exceptions to copyright are proportionate.