Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which priority system-level datasets supporting the operation of a renewables-led electricity system are (a) clearly defined and (b) published openly as standard.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The electricity system in Great Britain is operated by the National Energy System Operator (NESO), which uses a wide range of datasets to support system operation and publishes a substantial amount of this data through its public data portal. Where data is not made public this will be for reasons such as commercial sensitivity or system security.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support households that are not connected to the gas grid in the context of forecast increases to the Default Tariff Cap from July 2026.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government acted in the Autumn Budget to reduce electricity costs, to the benefit of all households with a domestic electricity meter, including those not on the gas grid. By scrapping the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) home insulation scheme and moving 75% of the domestic costs of the Renewables Obligation to the Exchequer, we have been able to provide immediate savings for households. The changes made by this Government remain in place, meaning energy bills will rise by less that they would have done otherwise.
This support is in addition to the support provided for families that use heating oil and LPG via the Crisis and Resilience Fund in England, as well as the continuation of the Warm Home Discount Scheme – which provides low-income households with a £150 rebate off their winter energy bill – until the end of the decade. In addition, we are upgrading as many homes as possible ahead of winter with the biggest investment in warm homes in British history.
The way to get bills down for good and avoid these price spikes is to go further and faster with this Government’s drive for clean homegrown power we control.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the exposure of domestic energy bills to volatility in international wholesale gas markets.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is going further and faster to protect domestic consumers from volatile gas prices. Firstly, we are accelerating the deployment of low-cost renewable electricity technologies to reduce our reliance on international fossil fuel markets.
Secondly, Government plans to offer legacy low-carbon generators – which provide around 30% of our power today – the option to move onto fixed price Contracts for Difference (CfDs). This will build on the success of existing CfDs for new build renewables, delinking electricity generation from volatile gas prices.
Finally, Government has raised the tax rate of the Electricity Generator Levy from 45% to 55% to limit revenues low-carbon generators can make due to gas price spikes.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential economic and social merits of a nuclear development at Oldbury to Thornbury and Yate constituency.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N) owns the potential new nuclear site at Oldbury-on-Severn.
As a site which has previously hosted a nuclear power station, Oldbury has great potential for new nuclear, and GBE-N will continue early work to evaluate the site, to ensure it is ready for future deployment. This includes the potential to support any privately-led projects that might be developed by the nuclear industry.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential for the Oldbury site to host (a) small modular reactors and (b) advanced modular reactors.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As a site which has previously hosted a nuclear power station, Great British Energy – Nuclear’s (GBE-N) Oldbury site has great potential for new nuclear.
Oldbury remains under consideration for future projects and GBE-N will continue early work to evaluate the site to ensure it is ready for future deployment. This includes the potential to support any privately-led projects that might be developed by the nuclear industry.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the scope is of Great British Energy - Nuclear's study on the UK's potential for new nuclear development.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government has tasked Great British Energy - Nuclear with identifying suitable sites that could host a potential large-scale new nuclear project.
GBE-N will report to Ministers by Autumn 2026 on potential sites to inform future decisions in the next Spending Review and beyond.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the current ownership status is of the Oldbury nuclear site.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great British Energy - Nuclear owns the potential new nuclear site at Oldbury-on-Severn.
The site hosting the legacy nuclear power plant is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment of the effectiveness of regulatory frameworks of private solar panel installations in tackling fire risks.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Under DESNZ schemes where solar is an eligible technology, installers, products and installations must all be MCS Certified.
However, the Government inherited a fragmented consumer‑protection framework for home energy efficiency measures. This framework is being reviewed with reforms announced in the Warm Homes Plan to ensure households can be confident in the quality and safety of upgrades made to their homes.
More specifically, the Building Safety Regulator will launch a public consultation on proposed updates to Approved Document B, the statutory fire safety guidance within the Building Regulations, this summer. We will monitor and engage as this work progresses.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recourse is available to consumers where an installation of Solar Panels fails to meet safety standards.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Solar panels installed under Government support schemes require installers to be certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme. This requirement ensures installers, installations, and products meet the industry gold standard. Under MCS Redeveloped Scheme, customer complaints have been centralised and a Technical Supervisor recruited to further reinforce installation quality.
More broadly, consumers can seek general advice on UK consumer protection and routes to redress by contacting the Citizens Advice consumer service or visiting their website.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making a formal recommendation to HM Treasury on extending VAT relief to Microgeneration Certification Scheme-certified heat batteries.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Tax treatment is the responsibility of HM Treasury and they keep all taxes under review.
This Government has invested £15 billion in the Warm Homes Plan to help upgrade British homes and cut bills. Whilst we expect heat pumps to be suitable for the vast majority of properties, some may be less suitable and so we are supporting alternative low carbon technologies like heat batteries, air-to-air heat pumps, and biomass boilers.
We are also expanding the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to provide more options, including heat batteries. To simplify the system for consumers and installers, Government has recently mandated Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) as the sole certification scheme for clean heat installations under DESNZ schemes.