Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with the Fire Industry Association (FIA) on (a) supply chain disruption and (b) component shortages.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is aware that there are pressures on the supply chains of certain sectors, driven by global and domestic supply and demand factors. We are working with industry to understand how these pressures are impacting businesses on the ground so that we can continue to monitor the situation.
We do talk to the Fire Industry Association (FIA) regularly on a range of issues and would welcome any further feedback from them on this matter.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with Companies House on strengthening the process of removing the personal details of people who have had their names fraudulently included in a companies registration with Companies House.
Answered by Paul Scully
We announced our plans to reform Companies House in September 2020. The reforms will ensure more reliably accurate information on the companies register, reinforced by identity verification of people who manage or control companies. Companies House will have greater powers to query and challenge information. We will bring forward legislation to implement these reforms when Parliamentary time allows.
Departmental officials hold frequent discussions with Companies House counterparts on a wide range of issues, including measures we propose to take to improve the integrity of information on the companies register.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 (a) reduce the shortage of LPG cylinders and (b) ensure that off-grid domestic customers who are reliant on LPG for heating are prioritised for cylinder deliveries.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department’s officials have discussed the availability of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders with the major suppliers. The companies concerned continue to offer short term mitigations such as cylinder swaps and alternative sizes where necessary, while they develop long-term, sustainable solutions. Liquefied petroleum gas consumers are free to shop around for the best price and terms relating to the supply of bottled liquefied petroleum gas.
Liquid Gas UK, the trade association for the industry, remains confident in their members’ ability to operate to the principles set out in their Customer Charter. These include ‘Cold Weather Priority Delivery’ so that at times of restricted supply the industry will seek to ensure that priority groups do not run out of energy, particularly those who are aged 75 or older, chronically ill, or registered disabled.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 extending the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme application closure deadline beyond 31 March 2022 for the purposes of allowing applications from people who have already ordered potentially RHI eligible systems that may not be installed by 31 March 2022 as a result of shipping delays.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government intends to close the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive to new applications on 31 March 2022. In England and Wales, this will be followed by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which is scheduled to launch in April 2022. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme will provide a more targeted, accessible, and simpler offer, by providing upfront capital grants to support the installation of low carbon heat technologies. Some installations which are unable to apply in time for the Renewable Heat Incentive may be eligible for support in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme instead. The Scottish Government has made the decision to opt out of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in favour of using their budget to enhance their existing schemes such as Warmer Homes Scotland and Home Energy Scotland Loans and Cashback.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 introducing retail controls to restrict the (a) sale and (b) delivery of products that require a gas safe engineer for installation to people who qualify as gas safe engineers.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The UK’s product safety regulatory requirements are designed to ensure that all products on the UK market meet essential safety requirements and are compliant with the law. Where appropriate, UK legislation specifically requires that products contain relevant information on the safe use of products. While it is not illegal to purchase products that must be fitted by a Gas Safe registered engineer, it remains an offence to install such products unless suitably competent to do so. The Government has no plans to change this position.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 9 September 2021 to Question 41970 on Liquefied Petroleum Gas: Bottles, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with Liquid Gas UK on the (a) effectiveness of their Customer Charter in identifying vulnerable customers and (b) stock of liquified petroleum gas bottles within the market as of 14 December 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department continues to be in frequent contact with Liquid Gas UK, the trade association for the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) industry in the UK.
Liquid Gas UK remain confident in their members’ ability to operate to the principles set out in their Customer Charter.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 take steps to help ensure the financial viability of authors as the Intellectual Property Office consults on the copyright regime.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government holds regular discussions with stakeholders about the UK’s copyright framework to ensure it remains fit for purpose. This includes engagement with organisations representing authors and the wider publishing industry.
The Government is currently analysing responses to the consultation on the UK’s future exhaustion of IP rights regime, and will provide an update on this consultation in due course.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 a dedicated research and development funding allocation for a virtual motor neurone disease translational research institute.
Answered by George Freeman
This Government is committed to supporting research into dementia and neurodegeneration, including motor neurone disease (MND). Last fiscal year, UKRI spent £15.9 million on MND research. This builds on wider funding for medical research charities including £204 million Research England funding in AY 20-21, the charity research support funding element of Quality-related Research, and UKRI’s funding for the Crick Institute. The UK Dementia Research Institute, founded with £190 million of government funding through UKRI, already includes research on scientific understanding of motor neurone disease as a neurodegenerative condition.
Future funding decisions will be subject to the outcome of the Spending Review 2021.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 offsetting domestic Renewable Heat Incentive overpayments, where the original Energy Performance Certificate was undertaken incorrectly by the RHI systems original installer, in the event that that installer has since gone into liquidation.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In cases where Ofgem, the scheme administrator, finds that an EPC is inaccurate, and that the RHI scheme participant has been overpaid, Ofgem are required to request that the overpayment is repaid, in order to ensure that public funds are properly accounted for Ofgem generally try to show flexibility with regard to how funds are recovered, and usually allow repayments to be offset against future RHI payments. RHI Payments are recovered from the participant (and not the installer or EPC assessor), because it was the scheme participant that entered a contractual obligation with Ofgem when the RHI application was made.
It is usually not directly relevant whether or not the installer has since gone into liquidation, because it is not the installer who usually carries out the EPC assessment. EPC assessments must be carried out by a qualified EPC assessor; therefore, unless the installer is both Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) certified and an accredited EPC assessor, the EPC assessment must be carried out by a different person or organisation.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with the Competition and Markets Authority on monitoring for unfair market practices in construction materials supply chains while there is a shortage of construction materials.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is independent of government, with a remit to tackle individual and market-wide competition issues, including breaches of competition law. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State, BEIS officials and I have regular discussions with the CMA on a wide range of issues.
At present, global demand for building materials is far in excess of supply, leading to product shortages and rapid and sustained price inflation. The situation is being exacerbated by disruption to shipping and port operations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to work closely with the Construction Leadership Council’s Product Availability Group to monitor and manage this challenging situation.