Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
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 the Government’s ambition to become a global science superpower.
Answered by George Freeman
We are funding the fastest increase in R&D spending ever to cement our position as a Global Science Superpower, driving economy-wide R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027 and priming the UK to take advantage of huge opportunities in emerging technologies like AI, Quantum computing and Fusion.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that 100 per cent of the £2 billion allocated budget for the Green Homes Grant is awarded to householders and local authorities by the deadline of March 2022.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The £2 billion pledged to the Green Homes Grant (GHG) is comprised of £500m of funding for the Local Authority Delivery (LAD) element and £1.5 billion of funding originally allocated to the Voucher Scheme for use in the 2020/21 financial year.
All £500m LAD funding is planned to be allocated to Local Authorities and Regional Energy Hubs, as appropriate, before the end of March 2021. This will be delivered in three phases:
- Phase 1A: over £74 million was allocated in October 2020 to fund energy efficiency projects in over 100 Local Authorities by June 2021.
- Phase 1B: around £126 million of grant offers were made to 81 Local Authorities in January 2021, for delivery of energy efficiency projects by September 2021.
- Phase 2: will see funding of £300m allocated to the five Local Energy Hubs this financial year, to deliver energy efficiency projects by December 2021.
The Voucher Scheme was designed to provide a short-term economic stimulus while tackling our contribution to climate change. However, the prevalence of Covid-19 since the scheme’s launch in September last year has led to an understandable reluctance on the part of the public to welcome tradespeople into their homes. We will continue to work with the scheme’s administrator to ensure voucher applications are processed as quickly as possible. As of 22 February 2021, 25,770 vouchers have been issued. £320 million of funding was announced for the Voucher Scheme for 2021/22 in the November 2020 Spending Review.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the Government's space strategy is.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are committed to making the UK a world leader in space and other high-tech industries. The UK’s first comprehensive national space strategy is being developed under the direction of the National Space Council.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many homes have been retrofitted since the Government announced its Green Homes Grant scheme on 28 August 2020.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Green Homes Grant Scheme launched for applications on 30 September and as announced on 18 November will run until 31 March 2022.
As of 20:00 on 19 November 2020, 43,126 grant applications have been received for the Green Homes Grant scheme. Vouchers become redeemable once scheduled works are completed and as yet, no vouchers have been redeemed.
BEIS will continue to monitor application data as the scheme progresses.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of jobs which could be created for the purpose of undertaking (a) environmentally efficient retrofitting of homes and (b) the construction of low-carbon homes in the next five years.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
It is estimated that the UK low-carbon economy could grow more than four times faster than the rest of the economy between 2015 and 2030 and support up to 2 million jobs. As set out in the 10 point plan for a green industrial revolution, the Government is investing £1 billion to make our homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, whilst creating 50,000 jobs by 2030.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What steps his Department is taking to support the UK space sector.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
We are committed to establishing a commanding lead in space and other industries of the future. My Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister has established a National Space Council to deliver this ambition.
We are investing in the next generation of satellite technologies, backing exciting new spaceports in Scotland and Cornwall, and using UK space expertise to tackle climate change.