Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 that elderly people living in park homes who do not have internet access are able to access the £400 energy bills discount.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government will ensure that households without internet access can apply for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding over the phone.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to help the hospitality industry to tackle shortages in the workforce.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
This Department is working with the Hospitality Sector Council to deliver on our Hospitality Strategy to improve the resilience of hospitality businesses.
To help address the immediate challenges of labour shortages in the hospitality sector, the Department for Work and Pensions has been working hard to fill ongoing vacancies by using work coaches to help find local talent and Plans for Jobs programmes, such as Kickstart and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 plans to publish further information on the operation of the Energy Price Guarantee for (a) single fuel and (b) other customers.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is engaging with energy suppliers, industry payment bodies, and Ofgem to ensure that suppliers are accurately compensated for their actual energy usage during the Energy Price Guarantee’s reconciliation period. The Government has considered which data flows will most accurately reflect total energy use and will publish more details in due course.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 his international counterparts on best practice for preventing business takeovers by hostile state actors.
Answered by Paul Scully
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 14th July 2020 to Question 69694. The Government engages frequently with its closest allies on a range of subjects, including investment screening.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made on introducing a UK emissions trading scheme.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We intend to establish a UK Emissions Trading System (UK ETS), which will increase our ambition on carbon pricing.
The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020 draft Order in Council required to set up the UK ETS was laid on 13 July 2020 in the UK and Scottish Parliaments, and on 15 July 2020 in the Welsh Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly. Further UK ETS legislation is on track to be laid by the end of 2020, in all four legislatures.
Work on the technical systems required for a UK ETS is also proceeding as planned.
in order to ensure a carbon price remains in place in all scenarios, the UK published a consultation in July 2020 on the design of a Carbon Emission Tax as an additional alternative to a UK ETS.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 reduce the reliance on China for (a) pharmaceuticals, (b) microchips and (c) cobalt batteries.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is working hard to ensure we have resilient and diverse supply chains in place to ensure the continued flow of essential goods for UK consumers. This includes looking at our trading relationships with a range of international partners, as well as considering domestic initiatives to promote our economic recovery.
The Government committed £146 million through the first Life Sciences Sector Deal to grow medicines manufacturing in the UK. We have established the Medicines Manufacturing Industry Partnership with industry to ensure that the UK is recognised as a world-class advanced centre for medicines manufacturing.
The Government has also committed £274 million to the Faraday Battery Challenge to support the research, development, and scale-up of world-leading battery technology in the UK. The Faraday Battery Challenge is funding research to reduce our dependency on raw mineral supply and make better use of global resources such as cobalt.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will review the level of involvement of state-owned Chinese companies in the UK’s critical energy infrastructure.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Department works very closely with industry and other government departments to maintain a detailed picture of ownership and foreign involvement in critical national infrastructure.
The Department ensures protection of infrastructure and critical services through a broad range of mitigations, including legislative and regulatory powers. Foreign involvement in critical national infrastructure undergoes the highest levels of scrutiny.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 Written Statement of 22 June 2020, Official Report, HCWS305, Business Update, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) Australia, (b) Canada, (c) New Zealand and (d) the United States on best practice for preventing business takeovers by potentially hostile state actors.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government engages frequently with its closest allies on a range of subjects, including investment screening. A number of our Five Eyes partners, including Australia, Canada and New Zealand have – like the UK – made changes to their investment screening regimes in response to Covid-19.
Asked by: Anthony Mangnall (Conservative - Totnes)
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 households to improve their energy efficiency.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
In the Clean Growth Strategy, the Government set an aspiration for as many homes as possible to be Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C by 2035 and is developing a suite of mutually supporting policies and measures that will help deliver this:
Our current Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme and its successors will drive over £6bn of additional investment to support energy improvements in low-income, vulnerable and fuel poor households between 2018 and 2028. Government is currently considering what the objectives and overall ambition of a successor ECO scheme should be, from 2022 to 2026.
In order to improve rented properties, we introduced the Private Rented Sector Minimum standard regulations on 1?April 2018. The regulations require landlords to bring their properties to EPC Band E or above. We will consult on tightening the minimum energy standards in due course.
We have also committed to consult on requirements for mortgage lenders to help households improve the energy efficiency of the homes they lend to and last summer we launched the £5m Green Home Finance Innovation Fund to support the development of green finance products.
There are 21.5 million smart and advanced meters across Great Britain, as of the end of March 2020. As part of a smart meter installation, households are offered an In-Home Display which provides near-real time information on energy consumption and costs, enabling consumers to easily understand how they can use less energy and save money on their bills. Research shows that 73% of people with smart meters have taken steps to reduce their energy use.
In addition, we have launched Simple Energy Advice, a digital platform offering impartial and tailored advice for consumers on how to make their homes more energy efficient.