Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has a policy on the stockpiling of critical materials.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Critical Minerals Strategy sets out the Government’s plans to make critical mineral supply chains more resilient. The Department of International Trade’s Supply Chains Resilience framework highlighted stockpiling as one of five possible areas to explore when building resilience in supply chains. We are analysing the pros and cons of stockpiling, including engagement of stakeholders and international partners, before making commitments.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 publication of the Critical Mineral Strategy, what steps is his Department taking to engage with mineral-rich countries.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
We work collaboratively with mineral producing countries, putting environmental, social and governance considerations at the heart of our engagement. In recent months the UK has signed a Partnership on Minerals for Future Clean Energy Technologies with South Africa and agreed to deepen collaboration on critical minerals with Saudi Arabia. To support this work, I will be travelling to the Mining Indaba in South Africa, where I will meet with my ministerial counterparts to strengthen UK ties with key producer countries, attend the Minerals Security Partnership Ministerial, and promote the UK’s key role in global critical mineral supply chains
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will provide support for rural coal users who are unable to obtain gas or oil and rely on coal to heat their homes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Households not on standard gas or electricity contracts, such as those in rural areas, will receive equivalent support to that provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, and the Energy Price Guarantee. The Government is working at pace to determine the most practical and tested routes to deliver this support. As part of this, for households who do not use gas for domestic heating, the Government has committed to provide an additional payment of £100 to compensate for the rising costs of other fuels such as coal.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what involvement The Insolvency Service has on the matter of redundancies at P&O Ferries; what the cost to the public purse of that engagement is; what assessment his Department has made of the solvency of P&O Ferries; and what plans the Government has to safeguard ferry services in the event that P&O Ferries becomes insolvent.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 1 April 2022 the Insolvency Service commenced formal criminal and civil investigations into the circumstances surrounding the recent redundancies made by P&O Ferries. As these are ongoing investigations, no further comment or information can be provided at this time.
The Department for Transport regularly looks at resilience of businesses within the maritime sector.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 safeguard the operation of the (a) Billingham and (b) Ince fertiliser plants.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
An industry agreement reached in October ensured that CF Fertilisers on Teesside could continue to operate for 3 months. This market-led agreement was renewed in January 2022 and continue a the current time, even with high global gas prices.
The Government welcomes industry’s agreement which is in the best interests of businesses.
The continued operations at Billingham, and any decision to restart operations at Ince, remains a commercial matter for the company. In the longer term, the Government would like to see the market take measures to improve resilience, and we are engaging on ways this could happen. We would encourage industry, where possible, to pay a price necessary to continue to secure the supply of these critical chemicals and to continue to build their resilience plans.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-introducing Double Summer Time.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government believes that the current daylight-saving arrangements represent the optimal use of the available daylight across the UK. There is not currently sufficient evidence to support changing the current system of clock changes, and any decision to change the current system would need to be supported by a wide-ranging cost benefit analysis.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 meet with eye research charities to discuss addressing age-related sight loss within the proposed Health Advanced Research Programme as part of the Government's work on the ageing society.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Health Advanced Research Programme (HARP), as articulated in Sir John Bell’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, proposes that industry, charities, NHS and Government collaborate on ambitious and long-term projects targeted at global healthcare challenges, using tech to transform healthcare in the future and drive UK economic growth. HARP is a proposal in development at this stage, and eye research charities are welcome to write to me and request a meeting to discuss their views on this, and the Government’s work on an ageing society.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 meet with eye research charities to discuss addressing age-related sight loss within the proposed Health Advanced Research Programme as part of the Government's work on the ageing society.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Health Advanced Research Programme (HARP), as articulated in Sir John Bell’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, proposes that industry, charities, NHS and Government collaborate on ambitious and long-term projects targeted at global healthcare challenges, using tech to transform healthcare in the future and drive UK economic growth. HARP is a proposal in development at this stage, and eye research charities are welcome to write to me and request a meeting to discuss their views on this, and the Government’s work on an ageing society.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
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 promote awareness of counterfeit standardised tobacco.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Although the Department supports a range of awareness raising activities regarding counterfeit goods, none of these campaigns to date have been focussed exclusively on counterfeit tobacco.
Asked by: Daniel Kawczynski (Conservative - Shrewsbury and Atcham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what notice period his Department gave to the industry before the Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme and Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2017 came into force.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department announced these changes in a response to consultation published on 16 December 2016. The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2017 were laid on 30 August 2017 and came into force on 20 September 2017.