Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions she has had with devolved Administrations on ensuring that warning lights on onshore wind turbines do not compromise gold tier dark sky parks including the Galloway and the Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Civil Aviation Authority set the requirements for warning lights on wind turbines in excess of 150 metres tall, to ensure high safety standards. Planning policy is a devolved matter in Scotland and it will be for the relevant Scottish Local Authority to consider the impact of light pollution from wind turbines.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions her Department has had with the devolved Administrations on distribution density of onshore wind turbines and the effect of that distribution density on communities.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
I regularly have conversations with my counterparts in the Devolved Administrations on a wide range of issues, most recently on 24 October. The Government is rightly proud of its record on reducing emissions, and we continue to be ambitious in the deployment of renewables. Working with Devolved Administrations, the Offshore Wind Sector Deal aims to deliver 30GW of offshore wind by 2030, while boosting the UK economy, enhancing growth in the regions and continuing to reduce costs.
As planning policy is a devolved matter, it is for the Devolved Administrations to establish their planning policy and approach to deciding planning applications.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps she is taking with devolved Administrations to address negative perceptions of the effects of onshore wind turbines in the (a) Carrick area of south Ayrshire and (b) Cumnock area of east Ayrshire.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
I regularly have conversations with my counterparts in the Devolved Administrations on a wide range of issues, most recently on 24 October. The Government is rightly proud of its record on reducing emissions, and we continue to be ambitious in the deployment of renewables. Working with Devolved Administrations, the Offshore Wind Sector Deal aims to deliver 30GW of offshore wind by 2030, while boosting the UK economy, enhancing growth in the regions and continuing to reduce costs.
As planning policy is a devolved matter, it is for the Devolved Administrations to establish their planning policy and approach to deciding planning applications.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effects of (a) low-frequency sound and (b) amplitude modulation from onshore wind turbines on public (i) health and (ii) quality of life.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
In 2016 the Department for Energy and Climate Change published a report which makes recommendations for how local planning authorities can assess amplitude modulation and use planning conditions to control it where necessary.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
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 Government's January 2019 Clean Air Strategy, what assessment he has made of the (a) effect on air quality of the Renewable Heat Incentive programme and (b) implications of that effect for the future of that programme.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Biomass Boilers supported under the RHI scheme must meet strict air quality and feedstock sustainability rules. The air quality requirements ensure applicants for both RHI schemes with a biomass boiler (including Combined Heat and Power) will need to have emissions levels no higher than 30 grams per gigajoule (g/GJ) net heat input for particulate matter (PM) and 150g/GJ for oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which are the two main pollutants.
In the Clean Air Strategy, the Government committed to consult on removing Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme support for new biomass installations in urban areas which are on the gas grid. The Government published the consultation Renewable Heat Incentive: Biomass Combustion in Urban Areas in May 2018, seeking views on a number of proposals including the removal of RHI support for some or all new biomass boilers in urban areas, imposing geographical restrictions on biogas combustion and introducing regular maintenance checks on existing biomass boilers under the RHI. The consultation also contains an assessment of the impacts of this policy change. We will be publishing a government response to this consultation shortly.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
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 establish a hydrogen and fuel cell task-force within his Department to assess the future role of hydrogen and fuel cells in delivering clean growth and decarbonisation.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department is undertaking a range of activity to examine and further develop the evidence to support our own understanding of the potential role of hydrogen and fuel cells in delivering clean growth and decarbonisation in the UK.
We recognise the value of engagement with partners beyond Government and work with many bodies representing the broad range of hydrogen and fuel cell interests, including industry groupings, regional groups, infrastructure providers, and network operators.
This engagement and our ongoing assessment of the developing evidence base, shortly to include new advice from the Committee on Climate Change on meeting the UK’s long-term climate change targets, is important in informing Government ambition on hydrogen and fuel cells. We recognise the valuable role that Task Forces often have in shaping action to deliver Government ambition, and in that light we will keep the need for a specific hydrogen and fuel cell task force under review.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
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 ban businesses found to have mis-sold green deal products from setting up (a) similar and (b) linked businesses again.
Answered by Claire Perry
Green Deal Providers, who are responsible under the scheme for selling Green Deal Plans, must be authorised by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. The authorisation process involves assessment of a wide range of factors, including the ability to comply with the Green Deal Framework Regulations and Code of Practice, in which past history of the applicant and its principals can be taken into account. Authorisation can be withdrawn if a firm is found to have breached the terms of the scheme or other consumer protection legislation.
In addition, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) can remove or restrict a firm’s permission to engage in FCA-regulated activities, including consumer credit lending or broking, or take other supervisory or enforcement action against regulated firms and individuals.
The Government is reviewing the Green Deal scheme and the interests of the consumer will be foremost in the review. We will consult on any significant changes to the scheme.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to extend the Green Deal scheme to cover people that are seeking to withdraw from a feed-in tariff contract to sell their property.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government has no plans at present to extend the Green Deal scheme, but we are reviewing the scheme and will consult before making any significant changes. The interests of the consumer will be foremost in the review.
Whilst the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) scheme allows for householders to assign the rights to FIT payments to third parties, for example under a rent-a-roof scheme, it does not prescribe how such arrangements should work; it is for the parties involved to arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement. These are private agreements entered into between the consumer and the third party which are not regulated by the Green Deal regulatory framework or the FIT scheme. We would always advise householders who are considering entering into such an agreement to seek legal advice before doing so to satisfy themselves that the proposal being offered will be acceptable to them.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
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 protect consumers who are owed goods or services from a company which has ceased trading without any apparent residual assets, particularly in cases where the registered owner has a record of previous companies dissolving in similar circumstances.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Where a business collapses with no assets there are limited opportunities for consumers to obtain refunds, but the Government has issued guidance to help Insolvency Practitioners to highlight the best options to consumers.
Where a consumer has paid by credit card and not received the goods or the services they have paid for there are extra protections where those goods cost between £100 and £30,000. In these cases, the consumer can claim back the total value of their prepayment by contacting their credit card issuing company. Consumers who purchased goods by debit card may also be able to claim through a chargeback scheme as long as they do this within a certain time period (normally 120 days). Further information on chargeback can be found at: http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/individual/chargeback-for-credit-and-debit-card-purchases.asp.
In August 2018, the Government announced its intention to extend existing powers to investigate, disqualify and prosecute directors of insolvent companies to also cover former directors of dissolved companies. This includes instances of directors repeatedly dissolving companies and leaving behind debts and other liabilities – often to the detriment of small businesses, consumers and employees.
Asked by: Bill Grant (Conservative - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether an assessment has been made of the potential merits of creating a regulatory body to oversee the pricing of domestic LPG supplies.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government believes that it is essential that domestic Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) consumers get a fair deal and therefore the powers held by an independent Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provide the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices and consumer protection.
The supply of bulk domestic LPG remains subject to regulation under the Domestic Bulk LPG Investigation Order 2006 and the Domestic Bulk LPG Investigation (Metered Estates) Order 2009 and the CMA continues to monitor compliance by the suppliers.
We therefore have no plans to create another regulatory body to regulate the LPG sector.