Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of assessing the energy and trade intensity of individual businesses, including commercial laundries, rather than wider sectors defined by standard industrial classification codes.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
During the review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, analysis of a large number of contributions from different individual companies in the private sector in addition to trade associations, the voluntary sector and other types of organisations were assessed. HM Treasury decided which types of business were given additional support in addition to the universal Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS).
There are over 5.5 million businesses in the UK, not including other non-domestic consumers. Considering their energy bills on an individual basis would not have been practical.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 27 April to Question 155863, on Energy: Standing Charges, what recent assessment he has made of the role of Ofgem in relation to the way in which suppliers set the standing charge and unit rate in those cases where the price cap is not triggered; and what recent discussions he has had with (a) energy suppliers and (b) Ofgem about the apportionment of energy bills between standing charges and unit rates.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
For tariffs that are caught by the price cap, and for tariffs which are not caught by the cap, suppliers can decide how they structure their standing charges. Ofgem requires energy suppliers to separate out the standing charge from the energy unit rate so consumers can see what the different charges amount to.
The Government has regular discussions with energy suppliers and Ofgem on a range of issues, including standing charges.
Ofgem is currently consulting on a review of part of the standing charge in relation to the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) costs: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/open-letter-review-how-costs-supplier-failure-are-recovered.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the level of increases to daily standing charges in energy usage; what comparative assessment he has made of the impact of those increases on (a) low income and (b) other households; and whether he plans to take steps to encourage energy companies to return to previous levels.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The setting of the standing charge is a commercial matter for individual suppliers. The standing charge reflects the on-going costs that fall on a supplier to provide and maintain a live supply to a customer’s premises. One component of these costs relates to transmission and distribution costs, which have recently increased due to the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) levy. The majority of the levy consists of purchasing wholesale energy, at current high prices, to serve transferring customers. Standing charges are capped under the price cap and ensure millions of households pay a fair price for their energy.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the impact of the recent increase in the cost of heating oil on households in rural areas who have no alternative means of fuelling their heating and hot water.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Heating oil prices are primarily driven by the underlying price in the global market of crude oil, though are also influenced by a range of other supply and demand factors, including refining capacity, stock levels, distribution costs, retail margins and seasonal demand variations with prices rising in winter as demand increases. There is an open market for the supply of domestic heating oil in the UK as the Government believe this provides the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices.
Financial support remains available for heating oil customers with energy bills, if eligible, through the Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payment and Cold Weather Payment schemes.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 National Space Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the potential contribution of the Defence Space Portfolio to supporting wider space sector growth.
Answered by George Freeman
In September 2021, the Secretaries of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and Defence published the UK’s first joint civil and military National Space Strategy. A core part of that strategy is delivering the defence space portfolio, which will support our goals in space including both protecting and defending the UK and supporting economic growth.
As reaffirmed in the recently published Defence Space Strategy, the MOD is investing an extra £1.4bn in Defence space technologies over the next 10 years. This is in addition to the £5bn investment in Skynet satellite communications over a similar timeframe. This represents a significant increase in Government funding for the UK space sector and will play a part in stimulating innovation, commercialisation, and growth across the wider sector. Defence will utilise elements of the Defence Space Portfolio funding to further support Space Science & Technology (which includes Research & Development), alongside existing funding.
Ministers and officials engage regularly with the Ministry of Defence to understand the opportunities and challenges to enable the UK’s space sector to grow and flourish, and I look forward to continuing to engage in that process as we implement the National Space Strategy.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether a detailed implementation plan for the National Space Strategy will be published.
Answered by George Freeman
The National Space Strategy, published in September 2021, sets out the government’s plans to build one of the most innovative and attractive space economies in the world. Government is already pivoting to build on the success of the strategy’s publication to drive forward its delivery and prioritise commercial and investment enabling activities.
The newly stood-up BEIS Space Directorate is working closely with the Ministry of Defence to develop an implementation plan to guide strategy delivery, as we work through this process a decision will be made on publication. We will engage with industry, academia, and the sector in due course.
BEIS jointly co-chairs the newly established Director-level National Space Board with the Ministry of Defence to oversee and drive delivery of the National Space Strategy’s ambitions and commitments across government. The strategy will be delivered jointly by several government departments and with the support of our thriving space sector: businesses, innovators, entrepreneurs, and space scientists.
Monitoring and evaluating the impact of initiatives against key success factors will be an integral part of delivering the strategy’s vision. Government will work with the space sector on finding the right set of metrics to raise ambition, drive progress and monitor delivery.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has for developing an advisory board for space.
Answered by George Freeman
The UK has a Space Sector Council comprising senior members from the space industry, academia and government. This Council is the most senior-level forum for the sector to raise and discuss issues of strategic importance. It is co-chaired by the President of UKspace and the Minister for Science and meets quarterly.
Following the publication of the National Space Strategy, the sector is piloting a new National Space Partnership, comprising of stakeholders from industry, academia and government, to identify, assess and consolidate views across the whole of the UK’s Space Sector in order to better deliver the ambition of the National Space Strategy.
Government will work closely with the sector to review the effectiveness of these structures and recommend continuation or changes as needed.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of utility companies adopting a household ownership model similar to South West Water’s WaterShare+ scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
The WaterShare+ scheme is model in which customers can choose whether to have their share of the outperformance payment as either a credit on their water bill or shares in Pennon Group plc, SWW’s parent company.
We welcome companies supporting customers in different ways. In addition to South West Water’s WaterShare+, some water companies make a financial contribution to their social tariff schemes and others have established charitable trusts.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
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 ensure that medical research involving the use of animals is only being undertaken where there is no alternative.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government considers that the carefully regulated use of animals in scientific research remains a vital tool in improving the understanding of how biological systems work both in health and disease, and in the development of safe new medicines, treatments and technologies.
At the same time, the Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no viable alternative. The Government actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs), and supports ongoing UK-led efforts to encourage greater global uptake of non-animal alternatives.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations were received from (a) USDAW, (b) other trade unions, (c) ACS and (d) other trade and workers' associations in response to the government's consultation, Devolving Sunday trading rules, published on 5 August 2015; and what (i) number and (ii) proportion of those respondents answered (A) yes, (B) no and (C) otherwise to Question 1 in that consultation.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The Government received 7,171 responses to the consultation, though a significantly smaller number used the standard online consultation form and addressed the questions directly.
USDAW responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. USDAW answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.
TUC and the National Union of General and Municipal Workers (GMB) also responded to the consultation and their representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation. UNISON responded to the consultation but did not meet with officials. All three (100%) responded no to Question 1 in the consultation.
ACS responded to the consultation and its representatives met with officials during the course of the consultation answered no to Question 1 in the consultation.
The department does not hold full data from this consultation broken down by respondent type as a large portion of respondents chose to respond in their own words rather than addressing the consultation questions directly, and/or did not indicate the type of organisation they represented.