Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made a cost and benefit analysis of taking steps to ensure that the Post Office implements systems to comply with the new EU customs rules that apply following the UK's departure from the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is aware that postal operators and their sales agents are implementing systems to comply with new EU customs rules. How they do so is an operational matter for the companies concerned.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff in his Department have been allocated to deal with issues related to international trade in (a) each of the past five years and (b) the next two years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
It is impossible to provide an accurate number of staff allocated to deal with issues related to international trade within the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), as this number has and will continue to flex in line with government and departmental priorities at any given time. BEIS’ interests in international trade span trade with the EU, trade with the rest of the world, and domestic policy and consequently officials may be working on international trade issues alongside their core roles. There is a team in BEIS who are solely dedicated to international trade and who act as a central point of co-ordination across the range of these workstreams. Over the past five years the headcount figures of full time employees for this team are 37.5 for 2018, 28.2 for 2019, 18.4 for 2020, 17.7 for 2021 and 16.8 for 2022.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 holds documents on the 1984 Camell Laird dispute; and whether he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Hunt
BEIS does not hold documents related to the 1984 Cammell Laird dispute. Any records from that period will have been reviewed and either destroyed or transferred to The National Archives for permanent preservation.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 further increasing funding for tidal energy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government announced in November that the fourth Contracts for Difference allocation round will feature a £20 million annual ringfenced budget for tidal stream energy.
The Government remains open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing the tidal range energy in the bays and estuaries around the UK’s coastlines, including barrage schemes and other alternatives. Any proposal would need to demonstrate strong evidence of value for money when the Government takes a view on its potential.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the (a) viability and (b) efficacy of increasing the proportion of tidal energy in the UK’s energy mix; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets regularly with his cross-departmental counterparts to discuss key national priorities. The Government has committed over £175m in innovation funding to the marine energy sector, as well as a £20m annual budget for the procurement of tidal stream energy via the ongoing Contracts for Difference fourth allocation round, and it is for tidal power developers now to demonstrate the cost efficiency and proof of scalability that is required from the UK's sources of low carbon generation. The Secretary of State has no plans to make a specific statement at this time.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what comparative assessment he has made of the financial cost of developing and producing (a) tidal energy, (b) onshore wind, (c) solar, (d) nuclear energy and (e) fossil fuel extraction; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department’s Electricity Generation Cost Report, published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-generation-cost-projections#2020, sets out levelised cost of electricity estimates for a range of technologies, including renewables, nuclear energy and fossil fuels.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the UK's energy is targeted to be tidal energy by (a) 2025, (b) 2030, (c) 2040 and (d) 2050; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets regularly with his cross-departmental counterparts to discuss key national priorities. The Government has no specific target for the proportion of tidal power in the Britain’s energy mix. The Government has committed over £175m in innovation funding to the marine energy sector, as well as a £20m annual budget for the procurement of tidal stream energy via the ongoing Contracts for Difference fourth allocation round. Tidal power developers need to demonstrate the cost efficiency and proof of scalability of this technology.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 bringing forward legislative proposals to prevent price gouging by exploitative vendors at times of national emergency, such as during the covid-19 pandemic; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has actively sought to address consumer issues arising from the pandemic and remains committed to tackling consumer rip-offs and bad business practices, including profiteering.
The CMA monitors firms suspected of profiteering to challenge unjustifiable price increases and stands ready to take enforcement action where there is evidence that competition or consumer protection law has been broken.
The Government published its response to last year’s consultation exercise on reforming competition and consumer policy and intends to legislate to give the CMA administrative enforcement powers to tackle those businesses not treating customers fairly.
The Government continues to monitor the operation of consumer markets and keeps all options under review to ensure good value and service for consumers.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 hold discussions with relevant stakeholders on the reasons for the removal of the ATM from North Harrow Post Office; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The management of the Post Office network, including the provision for ATMs, is an operational responsibility for Post Office Ltd. It would therefore not be appropriate for Government to comment on ATM provision at individual branches.
ATMs that have been removed from the Post Office network are owned and operated by the Bank of Ireland.
Post Office agreed to take over and operate 1,411 ATMs from the Bank of Ireland and are currently in the process of migrating the Bank of Ireland ATMs onto the Post Office network.
Asked by: Gareth Thomas (Labour (Co-op) - Harrow West)
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 require that the chief executive of the Post Office publishes the full list of ATMs being removed from (a) inside and (b) outside community post offices in (i) March and (ii) April 2022; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
The decision whether to publish information on the removal of Post Office ATMs is an operational matter for the Post Office.
ATMs that have been removed from the Post Office network are owned and operated by the Bank of Ireland. The Post Office has informed us that the Bank of Ireland ATM contract expires on 31st March 2022 and there are only 48 more ATMs to be removed in their programme between now and the end of March.
Post Office agreed to take over and operate 1,411 ATMs from the Bank of Ireland and are currently in the process of migrating the Bank of Ireland ATMs onto the Post Office network.