Oral Answers to Questions
Chris Clarkson Excerpts(6 months, 1 week ago)
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Amanda Solloway
We are ensuring that energy businesses are able to survive, and not just through the price caps. This is also a matter for Ofgem.
Chris Clarkson (Heywood and Middleton) (Con)
My constituency is home to Scout Moor, one of the largest onshore wind farms in Europe, but the north-west also has amazing potential for offshore wind; an example is the Morgan and Morecambe development off the coast of Lancashire. Such projects require huge amounts of infrastructure to be realised. Notwithstanding the reassurances that my right hon. Friend has already given, will she ensure that community consent is part of any infrastructure projects of this kind?
Oral Answers to Questions
Chris Clarkson Excerpts(7 months, 1 week ago)
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Amanda Solloway
It is important to note that we are taking this matter incredibly seriously. We are also providing funding to tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions through the energy company obligation, the home upgrade grant and the social housing decarbonisation fund.
Chris Clarkson (Heywood and Middleton) (Con)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Andrew Bowie)
The historic nuclear road map that I announced in January reconfirmed the Government’s ambition to deploy up to 24 GW of nuclear power by 2050. The road map sets out plans to make investment decisions concerning 3 GW to 7 GW every five years between 2030 and 2040.
Chris Clarkson
Nuclear is essential not just for our economy but for our national security. A truly sovereign supply does not just mean commissioning new reactors but increasing our skills base, so I welcome the £750 million invested in that. What steps is the Department taking to ensure that people in communities such as Heywood and Middleton can access that skills funding, so they can take advantage of high-skilled, well-paid jobs in the sector?
Energy Security and Net Zero
Chris Clarkson Excerpts(1 year, 5 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Grant Shapps)
I mentioned before that we are paying around half of the household energy bill. We are paying around half of wholesale energy costs for some businesses.
Energy Price Guarantee Extension
The following is an extract from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero questions on 18 April 2023.
Chris Clarkson (Heywood and Middleton) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Grant Shapps)
The energy price guarantee has been extended at the same level for a further three months until the end of June. By then, the Government will have covered nearly half of a typical household’s energy bills during this winter, and a third to a half of business bills as well.
[Official Report, 18 April 2023, Vol. 731, c. 111.]
Letter of correction from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Grant Shapps):
An error has been identified in my response to my hon. Friend the Member for Heywood and Middleton (Chris Clarkson).
The correct response should have been:
Oral Answers to Questions
Chris Clarkson Excerpts(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Chris Clarkson (Heywood and Middleton) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Grant Shapps)
The energy price guarantee has been extended at the same level for a further three months until the end of June. By then, the Government will have covered nearly half of a typical household’s energy bills during this winter, and a third to a half of business bills as well.
Chris Clarkson
I welcome the Secretary of State and his entire team to their places in this important new Department. I thank him for his response, but does he agree that the best way to ensure the stability of energy prices long term is to develop our own sovereign supply, with technology such as small modular reactors, hydrogen and nuclear?
Grant Shapps
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. That is why we put £200 million into funding new hydrogen in the “Powering up Britain” document just a few weeks ago. He will know about Great British Nuclear. I intend that we launch a competition, pick a winner for that by the autumn and get on with it.