Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 12th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Michael Shanks]

The hon. Lady and I have had a number of conversations, and I recognise her commitment on this issue. We have committed in the local power plan to delivering investment in community energy across the country. Importantly, we want not only to invest in schemes, but to deliver across Government the mechanisms needed to make it more possible for communities to deliver such schemes. That will build capacity in communities so that we can see more community energy.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

What is the beef behind the Government’s reluctance to embrace with enthusiasm locally generated community energy? Why did they vote against the amendment tabled to the Great British Energy Bill by the hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse)?

[Michael Shanks]

I think the right hon. Gentleman thinks that was a “gotcha” question, but, of course, the Conservative party did not vote for the Bill at all. Amendment or not, I do not think he can really speak about what Great British Energy might deliver, because, despite it being one of the most popular policies at the last election, the Conservatives failed to bother to vote for it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

We have been working flat out with energy suppliers to ensure that they are providing additional support to families who will struggle with bills this winter. In August, I met all the suppliers, and there was a shared commitment to do everything we can to support vulnerable households. We have been working with them, the industry body, Ofgem and Citizens Advice to ensure that there is a proper package of support in place this winter so that we can support families who we know are struggling with their bills.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Would it not have been better to put that proper package of support in place before the Government withdrew the winter fuel allowance from so many pensioners?

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 21st May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Amanda Solloway]

That is absolutely not the case. We stand here incredibly proudly as Ministers in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, and we have made a commitment. We are doing more than has ever been done on renewables and offshore wind, and we have done more to help people with the affordability of their bills.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

6. What steps she is taking to help improve energy efficiency in social housing.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Amanda Solloway)]

The social housing decarbonisation fund is upgrading to EPC C a significant amount of the social housing stock that is currently below that standard. We have already committed over £1 billion of Government funding, with a further £1.25 billion already committed for 2025 to 2028.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

By how much has the Minister increased the level of insulation, and what significance does she attach to it?

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 16th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

1. What steps her Department is taking to support floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic sea.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

14. What plans she has to support floating offshore wind farms.

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Claire Coutinho)]

Britain is a pioneer of floating offshore wind. We are working with the Crown Estate to lease 4.5 GW of seabed capacity for floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea, and we are supporting emerging technologies with a separate funding pot in allocation round 6.

--- Later in debate ---

[Claire Coutinho]

I thank my hon. Friend, who is a doughty campaigner for floating offshore wind. I am unable to comment on any specific concerns about a particular planning decision, but I am sure the relevant Minister will be happy to meet her to discuss how the Government can provide better guidance on compensation. People whose land is acquired compulsorily should not be left worse off financially, and compensation should be offered in line with the statutory compensation code.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

What assistance can be had for those fast-growing enterprises principally reliant on equity?

[Claire Coutinho]

I thank my right hon. Friend for a typically pithy question. We are doing an enormous amount to support the landscape for investments in this country that rely on equity, whether that is through full capital expensing, or, in my area of responsibility, the green industries growth accelerator.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 19th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Amanda Solloway]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point on skills. In fact, we have invested £15 million in subsidised training over the past three years and have provided 16,800 training opportunities. We will continue to support this important industry.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

10. Whether she plans to issue guidance to people with oil-fired heating on replacement of boilers.

[The Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero (Graham Stuart)]

The Government have created an online advice service to help consumers in replacing fossil fuel heating systems, including oil boilers, with a heat pump. We are also providing funding through the boiler upgrade scheme.

[Mr Speaker]

This will be helpful.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

Absolutely, Mr Speaker. There is a panic now in Germany as its premature ban on gas-fired boilers approaches. The Minister will want to avoid a similar panic as we approach our own premature ban on oil-fired boilers, won’t he?

[Graham Stuart]

As ever, I thank my right hon. Friend. We are listening. As the Prime Minister set out, we will reduce our emissions in line with our obligations but do so in a way that recognises the challenges that families face. Off-grid households will be supported through the transition, and we will respond to the consultation in due course.

Offshore Wind Contracts

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Tuesday 12th September 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Gentleman and his party never fail to trash this country—[Interruption.] He can heckle all he wishes. I will be meeting industry representatives this afternoon and, as I have said, we will be announcing in two months’ time the price ceiling for the next round—[Interruption.] I am getting heckling, not least from His Majesty’s Opposition, who left us in that parlous situation. We are the world leader in so many of these technologies and we are going to continue to be. If the hon. Member for Angus (Dave Doogan) were to recognise the need to attract investment to this country and not talk it down, he might find that Scottish jobs would be even stronger in the pipeline than they are already.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

If any, how much of the completed wind capacity still requires connection to the national grid?

[Graham Stuart]

Until wind capacity is constructed, it is not normally connected to the grid. That which has not been connected to the grid will need to be connected to the grid.

Energy Bill [Lords]

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 9th May 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Grant Shapps)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

For much of the past 50 years since the oil shock and energy crisis in the 1970s, Britain has enjoyed abundant and reliable electricity. Over these years, some may have traded in their teasmades for barista coffee machines, swapped their electric fondue sets for air fryers or replaced cassette players with Spotify—I do not know why I am looking at the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband)—but energy has remained largely plentiful for the best part of half a century. In the past 15 months, that secure foundation has been fundamentally shaken, with Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and his subsequent attempts to weaponise energy forcing up bills for millions of families.

This Government have stepped in and paid half the typical energy bill this winter, but frankly, those are just stopgap measures. Putin’s war marks a fundamental turning point for Britain and the world’s energy security. After years of growing reliance on fossil fuel imports around the world, this is a moment when the globe has woken up and needs to apply changes to its energy supplies for the future.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

I know it is early, but will my right hon. Friend allow me to intervene?

[Grant Shapps]

If my right hon. Friend will give me a moment, I will make a little progress first, and he can be sure that I will give way shortly.

We will replace those oil and gas imports with home-grown renewables and, critically, nuclear power to deliver resilient and reliable energy, powering Britain from Britain. We will reduce wholesale electricity prices to among the cheapest in Europe by 2035, protecting the British consumer from volatile international energy markets.

[Grant Shapps]

My right hon. Friend makes an excellent comment, as ever, on interconnectors, but I would point out that with the growing number of interconnectors, particularly electricity interconnectors, last winter, for example, we were able to export 10 TW to France through interconnectors, providing us with income. The answer is that they work in both directions, and in some cases, they provide the reliability of, for example, France’s vast nuclear fleet of 56 reactors. When whose reactors were down last winter—because even nuclear power sometimes has to come offline—we have been able to export our power to France, and it has been a net export. Our mission is to secure the clean and inexpensive energy that Britain needs to prosper.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

On clean energy, I am very enthusiastic to see the hydroelectric generator that we used to have on the Avon at Ringwood generating electricity once again. Will my right hon. Friend use the powers afforded to him in clause 273 to take on the huge barriers to entry that prevent community energy generators from selling to customers?

[Grant Shapps]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right about the importance of hydroelectricity in the overall energy mix. It is something that we are working on, he will be pleased to know, and I am happy to offer him a meeting with the Bill Minister, the Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, my hon. Friend the Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), to discuss his constituency case in more detail.