Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 19th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

You will know, Mr Speaker, that I hate to be the curmudgeon at the party, but I must inform the Secretary of State that, according to findings published this morning by the Leeds university research team, we have entirely failed to meet proper carbon emission reduction targets, and must redouble our efforts if we are going to take account of all the goods that we import from China and other parts of the world.

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Gentleman has clearly not read the report, and he has clearly not read what the Chair of the Energy and Climate Change Committee, and indeed Greenpeace, has said about it. Not only are we more than meeting our carbon emission reduction targets, but as the hon. Gentleman will see if he reads the report, there are different ways of accounting—we have made that point a number of times—and we are accounting in the way that is internationally recognised. If the hon. Gentleman wants to change that system on the eve of climate change talks, he must be completely barmy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 6th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, because that is something I have been pushing for strongly. We have had a consultation, which has now concluded, and we are analysing the responses, which have been very positive about our proposals for minimum energy standards in the private rented sector. We will update the House in due course.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Minister knows that many of us think that smart metering can deliver real energy efficiency to the consumer, but are the Government not getting themselves into a bit of a mess? First, it will no longer be compulsory, so it will be more expensive. Secondly, will he be very careful, because the technology is changing very fast? Much of the early smart metering is already out of date because of the innovation of companies such as Nest and Hive. Will he look at that carefully in case we end up spending £20 billion on the wrong technology?

[Mr Davey]

We have looked at this very carefully, taking on the programme started by the previous Government. The hon. Gentleman will understand that the smart metering equipment technical specifications—SMETS 1 for the first generation of smart meters and now SMETS 2—set a minimum floor for standards, but of course we are seeing energy companies, through the competition we put into the implementation, actually compete on improving the technology, so there is room for innovation over and above the standards that have been set.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Does the Secretary of State get the message that most people in this country, including my constituents, are quite fair-minded about new ways of producing energy and know of its urgency, but that, be it energy from waste, solar or wind power, they want to know why the incentives and benefits for local communities cannot be more generous and are not more widely known?

[Mr Davey]

This Government have done more than any other to enable that to happen: we have worked with industry to increase the community benefits on offer through the community energy strategy—Britain’s first ever—that I published in January; and we have set up several taskforces, one of which, the shared ownership taskforce, is reporting today and will enable the co-ownership of new energy by local communities. I therefore refer the hon. Gentleman to all the work we have been doing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 4th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful for my right hon. Friend’s question and he has been a real champion of that issue. When I visited his constituency I saw how some rural properties off gas grid have high energy bills because they cannot use gas. This is very much at the heart of the new thinking in our draft fuel poverty strategy, which is now out to consultation. The Department has stepped up its work on that, and we hope to bring proposals to the House by the end of the year.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

T3. Has the Minister seen the report from scientists in Aberdeen working with Cambridge university about the predicted 80% increase in global greenhouse emissions from the production of food, and particularly our increasing reliance—worldwide, but in this country too—on red meat? Will he talk to his colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about that and say what he will do about it?

Energy Prices

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Wednesday 18th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

My hon. Friend has spotted a point to which I will return. There is a bit of inconsistency there.

The historians among us might note that the two proposals for price control regulations are particularly interesting because they reverse the policy that Labour backed in government. In 2002, under Labour, Ofgem abolished all price controls on gas and electricity. Is it not interesting that, even though there is now more competition than in 2002, Labour has done a U-turn and wants price control regulations back?

[Mr Sheerman]

I have a lot of respect for the right hon. Gentleman, as he knows, but he has spoken about history and about inconsistencies in Labour policy. We were all prepared to oppose the greenest Government ever. If he wants to get the history right, he will recognise that there has been a wholesale retreat from that commitment.

[Mr Davey]

I am very grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. This is the greenest Government ever. We have the green investment bank. We have more than doubled renewable electricity. Low-carbon electricity is booming. This is the top place in Europe for renewable electricity, the best place in the world for offshore wind, the best place in the world for tidal investment and the second best place in the world for biomass. I could go on. I hope that he intervenes on that point again.

As I was saying, the interventionist approach of the Opposition is not our approach. We want to aim our intervention at ensuring that our energy markets are more competitive and work harder for consumers. We want to get more energy firms into the market, make it easier for customers to change energy supplier when they do not get a good deal and prevent firms from abusing their market dominance. Price controls will not do any of that.

My argument today is that our reforms to Britain’s energy market are beginning to work. Increased competition is beginning to help people not only to freeze but to cut energy bills. Our approach, fixing the messed-up energy markets we inherited from the Leader of the Opposition, is now bearing fruit.

Energy Price Freeze

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Wednesday 2nd April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I think it will have hardly any effect, if any effect at all. The case for shale gas is to do with energy security, as I have made clear many times.

Returning to my thought experiment, let us imagine what would happen if there were a legally imposed price freeze—prices frozen by the state, not by individual firms. What would happen if wholesale prices shot up? Let us say Russia invades Ukraine and gas prices in Europe shoot up. Would a Labour Government keep prices frozen then? I do not know if they are sure themselves. The right hon. Member for Don Valley might want to confirm whether they would keep prices frozen then. Their price freeze is not really a price freeze; it is a con. Let us assume, however, that whatever happened to wholesale gas markets and prices, they would freeze prices. The truth is that would hit the small players and play into the hands of the big six. As Ian McCaig, chief executive of First Utility, the largest of the new independents, said:

“Bluntly, it could put me under… How am I going to absorb those costs? I only retail, I don’t generate. The answer is, I can’t.”

[Mr Sheerman]

rose—

[Mr Davey]

Maybe the hon. Gentleman will tell me how small suppliers would cope.

[Mr Sheerman]

I think it was Harold Macmillan who said, “Events dear boy, events.” Of course there will be major events—ones that we could not predict at this moment—but I know the right hon. Gentleman to be an honest gentleman so he must acknowledge that the real difference—it changed the whole momentum of this debate—was the speech at the Labour party conference by the Leader of the Opposition.

[Mr Davey]

That is simply not true. We were reforming the markets from day one because we had inherited the big six from the Labour party.

Let us return to the small independent competitors. In its response to Labour’s Green Paper, Good Energy said:

“The proposed price freeze poses a disproportionate impact for smaller companies such as ourselves as we do not have the same level of vertical integration as the big 6 which allows us to control our costs.”

If raw energy costs rise during a freeze, vertically integrated firms with deep pockets can withstand a profits squeeze, but smaller, retail-only firms would go bankrupt. Result: reduced competitive pressure on the big six and higher overall prices when the freeze comes to an end.

Energy Markets Competition Assessment

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 27th March 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I completely disagree with the hon. Gentleman; this coalition Government have been acting from day one. We inherited Labour’s big six. We have deregulated, and we now have 18 independent new suppliers taking on the big six. The best buy tables show that people can save hundreds of pounds by switching from Labour’s big six to the new competition that has come about under this Government. We have been making lots of efforts, but because we are impatient and frustrated and we want to do more, we set up this annual competition assessment and we welcome its proposals today.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. I always remember him as a fair-minded, independent Liberal Democrat, and I get on very well with him, but it does stick in my craw when I hear him repeating this Conservative mantra about the big six and Labour. I have been in this House long enough to remember the botched privatisation of the energy sector, which is at the heart of the rotten energy sector we have inherited today. That is the truth, and he is better than what he said today.

[Mr Davey]

I like the hon. Gentleman, despite his question. It is not a Conservative mantra—it is a Liberal Democrat mantra, a coalition mantra and a consumer mantra. Let us remember that the people who have been calling for this reference include Which?, Citizens Advice, Consumer Futures and the Federation of Small Businesses, and we are delivering on that today.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 16th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

If an audit is recommended in the review that I have instigated, we will of course proceed with it. I must stress, however, that more than 750,000 homes lost power between 24 and 28 December, and 93% of them were reconnected within 24 hours. I do not, of course, underestimate the difficulties experienced by people whose Christmases were ruined and who lost power for more than 48 hours—15,000 houses were affected in that way—but I think that we should see them in proportion. The industry did a very good job, and its preparedness has greatly improved in recent years.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Paul Goggins used to sit next to me in the Chamber, and the difference between us when we used to make trouble on a Thursday was that he was nicer than me. He was a true Christian, whereas I am more the curmudgeonly type, but I am thinking of him today.

I worry about this question. I think that it should be seen in context. Is the new Minister for Portsmouth on side? Is he aware that flooding and the change in our weather patterns have something to do with climate change? Has he looked at the BP long-term survey of energy use, which was published this morning and which points to a very changed world market? That will also have an impact on our weather.

[Mr Davey]

I do not think the hon. Gentleman is curmudgeonly at all, and I welcome his question. I think it is important to think about whether events are connected to climate change. As he will know, climate change scientists are reluctant on this because the evidence does not suggest that particular weather events are connected with climate change, but the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change fifth annual report last year showed that there is increasing concern because both the theory and practice of climate change analysis suggests there are likely to be more severe weather events if we do not tackle it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

We certainly want to ensure that we are doing everything to help consumers; that is why we are having this review. The hon. Lady’s proposal might create a little more uncertainty than we are trying to achieve and we need certainty for the investment.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the Secretary of State stand up to the Conservatives on this? There is no doubt that the Conservatives are using the green levy as a fig leaf. The fact is that we need an intelligent policy that delivers great environmental change in our country; he should not let the Tories defer that.

[Mr Davey]

My colleagues and I will stand together. On the green levy review, we need to do all we can to help consumers with energy bills and I should have thought that the Opposition supported that, but I have made it clear that we will not do that on the backs of the fuel poor—we will keep our support for them in the levy—and that we will ensure that there is investment in renewable energy.

UK Nuclear Energy Programme

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Gentleman was doing so well. I have to tell him that there are zealots on all sides of this argument, as I have found, which is why I take, I think, a more balanced, pragmatic approach in favour of a mixed, diversified electricity supply focused on low carbon. I am a zealot not about nuclear, onshore or any particular renewable technology; I am a zealot about climate change. That is what every Member needs to be a zealot about. Climate change is one of the big challenges for this political generation, and we have to face up to it, so I plead guilty to being a zealot about tackling climate change.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I have long been a mild supporter of nuclear energy, but I am concerned and nervous about today’s statement, because I have not got the competence—I do not think most people in the Chamber have the competence—to judge whether this is really a good deal. But let me say this: owing to the botched privatisations of the ’80s and ’90s, we have not got the capacity in the energy sector to do this deal ourselves; it will be led by French technology and manufacturing and backed by Chinese finance. What sort of humiliation is this for Britain?

[Mr Davey]

It is not a humiliation, but a big triumph, actually, that many other countries want to put their money into the UK market to build nuclear. I hope the hon. Gentleman is moving from mild to enthusiastic support and that my earlier point to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas)—that the National Audit Office will look at this—reassures him that the details will be properly scrutinised both in this House and by the NAO.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I am sure the Secretary of State knows about the Innovate UK conference held in Islington in London this week. Will he take a greater interest in clean, energy-efficient, sustainable production? There is a great market for Britain in this field; we lead the world, but we need leadership to make sure we conquer China, India and other markets.

[Mr Davey]

I was not aware of that particular conference, but I did attend an exhibition called Ecobuild, which showed many British companies that are innovating in saving energy. I am extremely aware of companies that are involved in clean energy, and I am working with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to develop supply-chain policies so not only are low-carbon technologies developed, but innovating British firms get the benefit and we have green jobs in this country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 31st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

My hon. Friend knows that we have been looking at the issue and we will continue to keep it under consideration, but it has to be seen in the wider context of the community energy strategy that we are developing.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I have seen many Ministers in the House and I think the Minister of State, the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr Hayes), is one of the better ones I have heard.

May I push the ministerial team on the question of smart metering? As I understand it from the reply to an earlier question, smart metering is now going to be optional. It will not be installed in every house in the country, which would have been transformational. It has been downgraded to optional and will not be applicable across the board.

[Mr Davey]

Our proposal for the smart meter roll-out is very similar to that of the previous Government. We have a very ambitious roll-out. There is no desire for people not to take smart meters, but we have said, as the previous Government said, that if someone really does not want a smart meter, we will not force them to have one.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 13th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s question. The Environment Agency will carry out the monitoring, but because we have increased the co-ordination of regulatory bodies, my Department will be aware of it. I hope that I assured him in my answer to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) that the terms of any additional licences would have to ensure that the abstraction was sustainable and would not put at risk the rights of existing licence holders.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

14. What steps he is taking to ensure that the forthcoming capacity mechanism is not unduly biased towards large, centralised, fossil fuel generation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 12th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

The draft energy Bill is a fundamental shake-up of the electricity market, and it is widely recognised as such. That is why it has created such heated and interested debate. I have to say that I do not recognise the views the hon. Gentleman ascribes to independent generators. I have met groups of independent generators, and they welcome much of the Bill. They argued—and we listened—that more work needs to be done to ensure that finance is available, so we recently published a call for evidence to see whether we can make sure that the power purchase agreement market is as healthy as possible. That is another critical way in which we are trying to help competition.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

11. What steps he is taking to encourage biomass-based generation in appropriate and sustainable locations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Secretary of State knows that if we are to get energy security and diversity, we have to invest now in big infrastructure projects, but he knows also that nimbyism, often so rampant in the questions put in this Chamber, is a great barrier to planning permission. What is he going to do about planning for decent infrastructure to achieve those objectives?

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Gentleman knows that this House passed a relevant national planning statement and that the Department for Communities and Local Government produced the national planning policy framework. The hon. Gentleman must recognise that there is a balance to be struck between the need to make sure that the local democratic voice is heard and the need for the types of investment that both he and I support. There is a balance, but we are determined to ensure that, with electricity market reform, we get the investment needed in this country.

University Funding (Yorkshire)

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Ed Davey

Tuesday 20th July 2010 Westminster Hall

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Mr Edward Davey)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Mr Sheerman) on securing the debate. In the last Parliament, as Chair of the Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families, he was a very authoritative voice on all aspects of education and he brings that knowledge and skill to today’s debate. I am very sorry that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Universities and Science is not here, but as I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware, he is attending the Select Committee on Business and Enterprise. My right hon. Friend sends his apologies—I am very much a stand-in.

The hon. Gentleman is passionate and knowledgeable about this subject and he has shown that today. I thank him for the role he plays in partnership with Kingston university in my constituency. He is a trustee of the Rose theatre in Kingston, which has a partnership role with the local authority, local business and Kingston university in relation to creative arts. That is the sort of partnership he was talking about during his speech.

[Mr Sheerman]

I am an honorary doctor.

[Mr Davey]

The hon. Gentleman is also an honorary doctor. I should put it on the record that I am an honorary fellow of Birkbeck college, London, which is showing the way in how we can be more innovative in the higher education sector. I was interested to note that he referred us to Sir Keith Joseph’s reading list. I am not sure if he wanted us to read the books on that list—probably not; I think he was creating his own reading list. I was delighted that he included a mention of the recent speech made by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. He was generous enough to say that it was a good and balanced speech, although he made the point that it did not mention innovation, which was the main focus of his speech today.

I reassure the hon. Gentleman that the Government are keen to do what they can to promote innovation. We share his desire to ensure that higher education institutions in Yorkshire and, indeed, across the country are able to maintain their reputation for world-class research, which has been one of Great Britain’s key comparative advantages in recent decades. Although there will be some tough decisions to make, we are determined that when we make them, we will not put that huge reputation and the benefits that the wider economy gets from the work of our great universities at risk.

[Mr Davey]

I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Minister for Universities and Science will want to reflect on those remarks, because we will be searching for new revenue streams. It is incumbent on this Government to do so as we make some difficult decisions about public funding. The hon. Gentleman’s comment is therefore very helpful. The university of Huddersfield is exceedingly expert in that area and has a unique nano-lab facility. As he was saying, that shows the great research facilities that are in the Yorkshire higher education institutions and how they benefit when they work together either across Yorkshire or, indeed, in the N8 group more broadly across the north.

[Mr Sheerman]

Yorkshire ranks No. 1 in all the regions in terms of attracting inward investment—£28 million a year—for new start-up businesses.

[Mr Davey]

I understand that. It is one of the reasons why I wanted to say to the hon. Gentleman that, although there will be a difficult funding climate—as colleagues are well aware—it is worth putting it on the record that Yorkshire universities tend to fare reasonably well compared with their counterparts in other parts of the country. That is in no small part due to their strong research performance. Yorkshire universities receive a level of research funding per higher education institution that is above the UK average, and two of its institutions are among the 20 that receive the most research funding in the United Kingdom. He is absolutely right. The Government are keen to ensure that they can build on that success.

The higher education sector is a success story for Yorkshire. The university of Huddersfield in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency illustrates what Yorkshire universities can achieve. I have mentioned the nano-lab, but the cutting edge Centre for Precision Technologies is also showing what Yorkshire universities can do for precision engineering. Huddersfield university has other areas of expertise, including automotive engineering, motor sport, computer games, electronic and electrical engineering, and multi-media and music technologies. Kingston university in my constituency also has many areas of expertise in engineering. Given Kingston’s past, those are particularly related to the aeronautical industries. I share his commitment to ensuring that universities are able to develop the innovative capacity they have shown in the past. Despite the problems that will arise over the next few years in ensuring the funding is fair, we must ensure that such a capacity to innovate is not lost, as it can play its part in reducing the public sector deficit.

The hon. Gentleman said that we should not talk down the state of the British economy. There is no desire to talk the economy down, but there is a desire to deal with the huge challenges we face—a public sector deficit that is 11% of GDP, and the highest public sector deficit within the OECD. The Government cannot sit by and do nothing. I am sure he will admit—he is such a reasonable person and is very knowledgeable—that the previous Government were considering some significant reductions in funding in this area for this year. If anything, compared with the grant letter of December last year, this Government are putting more money into HE this year for the 10,000 places, which has led to some debate. The previous Government were planning £600 million of spending reductions to take place in future years. On financing the HE sector, this Government have not uniquely decided that they want to consider reducing spending; they are taking on the previous Government’s proposals.

[Mr Sheerman]

I am sure that the Minister’s officials will have looked at the speech I made in this Chamber in January, in which I complained about the previous Government’s cut to university funding. So I agree with him on that. However, what does he think our competitors are thinking? Higher education is the one sector in which we are the world leaders—we compete with the Americans, the Australians and the Canadians—but suddenly we are going to start cutting it by 25%. That is what he is predicting—25%.

[Mr Davey]

I am glad to see that the hon. Gentleman is claiming consistency in that he says that he criticised the previous Government for their spending cut proposals. We share his vision of the crucial role that universities and innovation play in our economy, the productive sectors and so on. There is no dispute in that area, but there is a dispute about the role that the university sector must play in facing up to the immediate public finance problems facing the country.

I apologise to the hon. Gentleman because I am running out of time. I shall conclude by saying that there are no easy solutions to the challenges that this country—this Government—faces on public spending. We should not run away from those challenges, because it will be in the long-term interests of our university sector if we face up to them. With the help of Lord Browne’s review, which will conclude in the autumn, we will have the knowledge base and understanding to put forward a fair and equitable settlement. Such a settlement will ensure that our universities have sustainable funding and that access to universities is not undermined.