Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Graham Stuart and Richard Fuller

Tuesday 28th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Richard Fuller (North East Bedfordshire) (Con)]

T2. Paragraph 3.10.14 of the National Policy Framework Statement EN-3 states that new solar farms should avoid the use of “‘best and most versatile’ agricultural land where possible”,using the designations of the agricultural land classifications. But there are concerns that field surveys can artificially downgrade land. Will my right hon. Friend say that both she and the planning inspectorate will be vigilant in protecting best and most versatile land and in ensuring the integrity of land classification?

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

I thank my hon. Friend for all his work championing both this area and the concerns of his constituents. As he rightly says, planning policy and guidance encourage large solar projects to locate on previously developed or lower value land and we will indeed undertake to be vigilant in ensuring that those principles are respected.

Draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2023

Debate between Graham Stuart and Richard Fuller

Tuesday 21st November 2023 General Committees

[Graham Stuart]

My right hon. Friend, with his customary acuity, will have noticed that the draft order does not apply to Northern Ireland. As it happens, there are not counterparties in Northern Ireland to which these particular provisions apply, but energy in general is devolved to Northern Ireland, and it is up to Northern Ireland to take care of it.

The statutory instrument will implement a number of necessary changes and improvements to the UK ETS. The changes relating to aviation free allocation rules and to the treatment of electricity generators follow the announcements made by the UK ETS Authority in July, in our response to last year’s consultation on developing the UK ETS. The final change remedies an inconsistency with free allocation and carbon capture at UK ETS installations.

On aviation, the SI will cap the total amount of aviation free allocation that operators are eligible to receive at 100% of their verified emissions.

The SI makes technical changes to free allocation rules regarding the electricity generator classification for industrial installations—a minority sport, if ever there were one. It will amend the electricity generator classification to consider only electricity exports in the baseline period, instead of all electricity exports since 2005, allowing operators to change their installation’s electricity generator classification if they have put a stop to the export of electricity. Electricity exports representing no more than 5% of the total produced will also be excluded from consideration in this classification.

The SI will amend the electricity generator definition to exclude installations that have produced electricity for sale if that electricity was produced by means of a high-quality combined heat and power plant operating as part of an operator’s industrial activity. That will limit reductions in free allocation entitlements and provide further encouragement for industrial operators to achieve improved efficiency for their combined heat and power plants.

The SI makes an operational amendment to the electricity generator classification to allow electricity generators to be eligible for free allowances after the application date if they can demonstrate that they produced measurable heat by means of high-efficiency co-generation during the allocation period.

The SI remedies an inconsistency in legislation to make it clear that carbon capture and other types of regulated activity may be carried out on the site of the same installation. It will allow provision of free allowances to industrial installations at the same site as a carbon capture plant.

As the Northern Ireland Assembly is not sitting and cannot consider affirmative legislation, the SI covers only Great Britain. Officials in Northern Ireland have agreed that none of the provisions currently affects operators in Northern Ireland.

These changes will deliver on commitments made by the UK ETS Authority and improve the operation of the scheme. For aviation, the SI will ensure that free allocation is distributed appropriately until full auctioning for the aviation sector begins in 2026. That follows the decision announced in July that aviation free allocation will be phased out by 2026.

On free allocation technical changes, the SI will ensure that installations classed as electricity generators, whose eligibility for free allocation is limited, are able to change their classification if they are no longer exporting electricity. The SI will also ensure that industrial installations with high-quality combined heat and power plants that export excess electricity to the grid are not classified as electricity generators, in order not to limit their eligibility for free allowances.

On the electricity generator operational amendment, the SI will ensure that electricity generators can become eligible for free allowances during an allocation period if they meet the eligibility criteria.

On free allocation rules for carbon capture, the SI will prevent industrial installations from being disqualified from receiving free allowances because they are on the same site as a carbon capture plant—a situation that would pose a risk of disincentivising the uptake of crucial carbon capture technology.

These changes either follow appropriate and comprehensive consultation with stakeholders or did not require consultation. In the “Developing the UK ETS” consultation in 2022, the UK ETS Authority considered what technical improvements could be made to the current aviation free allocation methodology until aviation free allocation is phased out. The responses to the consultation called for an end to over-allocation. The policy intent of aviation free allocation is to mitigate the risk of carbon leakage, and the policy did not intend for aircraft operators to receive more allowances than their verified emissions. To that end, in July the UK ETS Authority announced the decision to cap aviation free allocation at 100% of verified emissions.

In the “Developing the UK ETS” consultation, we considered technical changes to free allocation rules regarding the electricity generator classification. The majority of respondents agreed with our suggested amendments, and the UK ETS Authority announced that it would proceed with changes to the electricity generator classification.

A consultation was not carried out for the CCS free allocation amendment as that is a clarification of existing policy intention and not a change to the policy.

[Richard Fuller (North East Bedfordshire) (Con)]

Would the Minister, either now or in summing up the debate, explain a bit about the phrase “free allocation”? On the face of it, if free allocation is to be set at 100% of the sector’s verified emissions, it does not sound like there is a lot of free space. He mentioned that free allocation was originally set at 127% because of concerns about carbon leakage. What has changed so that the Government are now satisfied that cutting it to 100% will not result in carbon leakage?

[Graham Stuart]

Fundamentally, due to the way the scheme was brought in, the airlines have had more free allocations than their actual emissions. The scheme was designed to cover their emissions until we phased out those allocations, as we are now doing, but they were being over-compensated, based on historical figures that no longer apply. These provisions will ensure that the airlines are not being given free allocations with a commercial value on the market over and above that which they need in order to operate. I hope that answers my hon. Friend’s question.

These alterations to the UK emissions trading scheme will support its role as a key pillar of the UK’s climate policy. They show that we will take action to improve the scheme where necessary, and they continue our record of delivering on our commitments. I commend the draft order to the Committee.

Road Fuel Prices

Debate between Graham Stuart and Richard Fuller

Monday 3rd July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

Following this report, the CMA has decided to look into the supermarkets and will report back as soon as next month.

[Richard Fuller (North East Bedfordshire) (Con)]

I thank the CMA for its report and the Government for accepting the recommendations, although I think we are putting too much faith in price transparency to solve the market problem. I was interested to see in the trend profit margins for supermarket retailers and non-supermarket retailers that supermarkets are consistently increasing their margins while non-supermarket retailers are not. Will the Minister follow up with retailers, in the light of this report, to make sure that we check that the margins come down next year and in the following year?

[Graham Stuart]

I thank my hon. Friend for his typically penetrating question. As I said, one of the recommendations is to maintain a monitoring function, which will help to give us the market intelligence so that if further intervention is required, we will have the data on which to base it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Graham Stuart and Richard Fuller

Tuesday 17th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Richard Fuller (North East Bedfordshire) (Con)]

I am afraid the Government are testing the patience of park home owners in my constituency. I have previously asked the Minister whether he can confirm that payments will be made directly to park home owners, rather than park home operators. Can he confirm that point, and that payments will be made as a block sum? Or will they be paid monthly, as per the standard programme?

[Graham Stuart]

I have spoken on a number of occasions with my hon. Friend, and with colleagues on both sides of the House, about making sure these residents are not forgotten. We have worked hard to make sure we have a system that can stand up and deliver. We give the funding to local authorities and, as soon as they have gone through the process and made the necessary verifications for the payment to go out, a single payment will be paid directly into the bank accounts of the people concerned.

Education Bill

Debate between Graham Stuart and Richard Fuller

Monday 14th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Stuart]

My hon. Friend makes my point for me: public confidence, particularly as far as a political party in power and a Prime Minister who wants to be seen to be doing something are concerned, is all, so they have come forward, as the previous Government did all too often, with a legislative response to something that needs no such response, and on the basis of no proper or considered analysis of the situation. We had 13 years of vast increase in legislative provision, but very little increase in public confidence, so I say, “Don’t stick it in a law because it looks good in this week’s papers; actually think for the long term.” If we had done so, we might not have introduced this provision.

[Richard Fuller]

Many of us have strained to have zero errors in exams. I note you achieved that on many occasions, Mr Deputy Speaker, but it is a strain for the rest of us. We therefore understand the difficulties faced by the bodies that are setting exams in reaching that accomplishment. However, I am listening intently to my hon. Friend. Does he agree that the Lords amendments could have an inverse consequence? If we set a cost for the errors made, we will essentially replace a self-correcting mechanism whereby bodies seek to achieve the highest levels because of the risk to their reputation, with a mechanism whereby the errors made are considered to be a part of the cost of doing business. That stick will end up with someone saying, “Well, if we make three or four errors, we can afford it—we’ll get away with it.” However, nothing can reimburse an organisation that has lost its reputation.

[Mr Stuart]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making my point both more succinctly and fluently that I was.

The Government may not necessarily be wrong, but we have not heard the argument. There are many awarding bodies in this country, and perhaps some have flouted and ignored Ofqual’s requirements because they can afford to do so as a cost of doing business. If there is such a case, we need to introduce the sanctions to bring those bodies into line and ensure that public confidence and quality is delivered. However, I have not heard that argument; I have only heard arguments about public confidence. As I say, that does not seem a good reason to legislate.

The explanatory notes state:

“Subsection (5) of the new clause would insert into ASCLA 2009”—

the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act—

“new sections 152A to 152C which confer on Ofqual the power to require a recognised body on which a sanction has been imposed to pay the costs incurred by Ofqual in relation to imposing the sanction.”

So those bodies have to pay not only the sanction, but the costs related to the sanction. I may be a bit of a cynic about quangos, but if they see a way of buttressing their income, their number of employees and their powers, and they can get someone else to pay for it, I suggest that they will be more inclined to go down that road. I do not want such bodies doing overstretch.

The explanatory notes go on to state:

“The costs concerned would include the costs of carrying out an investigation”—

ooh! you can’t be too careful there—and doubtless those bodies would want to get quite a lot of people involved. The explanatory notes then refer to “relevant administration costs”—load on a bit more for that—

“and the costs of obtaining expert advice.”

This is an open, blank cheque to Ofqual to impose charges on awarding bodies if it sees fit to do so. Personally, I would like non-elected quangos kept on a fairly strict and short rein unless it is appropriate to do otherwise.

[Richard Fuller]

My hon. Friend has already alerted the House to the risk that the Lords amendments will result in the examination bodies treating accuracy as a cost of doing business. He is now alerting us to the risk that that may be an open-ended cost of doing business. Does he agree that the risk of the amendments is that we are replacing a self-correcting mechanism with a bureaucratic structure that has unlimited costs to the examination bodies?

[Mr Stuart]

The measures seem terribly redolent of provisions I saw in the House during the previous Parliament. I had hoped to see fewer such measures in this Parliament. My hon. Friend is right: we believe in creating the right framework and allowing the incentives within that to do their work. As far as awarding bodies are concerned, those incentives are correctly framed and their incentive to do the right thing is right. If Ofqual feels in the future that those bodies are paying insufficient attention to reducing errors in examinations, it will be able to say so. If awarding bodies then fail to comply with the direction suggested by Ofqual, that is the time to come here and discuss the matter. Ministers would be able to give instance after instance where awarding bodies had failed to act on the very clear and reasonable directions given to it by Ofqual.

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Fuller]

I appreciate my hon. Friend’s intervention, although with respect, I will stick tightly to the Lords amendments on this issue. She gives another example of how the duty on schools and local authorities to co-operate has evolved. Given that their noble Lords went so far in putting that duty back in the Bill, may I encourage the Minister and his ministerial colleagues to think further and more deeply about the evolving landscape and what that is likely to mean over the coming years?

I thank the hon. Member for Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) for his comments about school admissions, which many of us share, and I thank the Minister for the changes that have been proposed or made. If we wish to see a substantial change and more liberalisation of schools in terms of where the authority lies, we should be aware that most families and parents want schools’ admissions policies to be clear and fair in their communities. That does not necessarily mean that they have to be uniform, although many of us would indeed hope to see uniform entrance policies, particularly with free schools, because that would reinforce the success of this new idea and new policy. I therefore very much welcome Lords amendments 20 and 21. I have listened to different points of view on free schools, and I know that support for this radical idea among Opposition Members has been “on again/off again”. Indeed, it would be interesting to know whether those on the Opposition Front Bench are “on” today or “off”.

[Mr Graham Stuart]

Which one is on and which one is off?

[Richard Fuller]

Indeed. I will happily listen to the hon. Member for Cardiff West if he wishes to—[Interruption.] I can see that those on the Opposition Front Bench are not quite sure whether they are on or off, or on the fence.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Graham Stuart]

I am perhaps more optimistic than my hon. Friend. Historically, we have not had direct budgets in this area. As more people receive direct budgets, those who provide in response to them will grow in their sophistication and capability, so they will be able better to sell, communicate and market what they do for families, who will then see that they can take on a budget without having to try to commission those services from scratch themselves. My hon. Friend is right—although things might develop over time—that this might never be appropriate for some people and we must ensure that we look after their interests. However, for perhaps even more than 75%, direct budgets might prove to be the way forward.

[Richard Fuller]

I appreciate my hon. Friend’s intervention. As Chairman of the Select Committee, he is very knowledgeable in this area, and I look forward to discussing the issue with him further. Let me add a couple of additional concerns. Although we agree on the overall direction of travel, we might also reach some concordance over concerns.

The proposal in Lords amendment 37 is to deal with this issue through setting up pilot schemes in some areas. I am in favour of that. What will be the benefit for children with special educational needs? Their parents already put an enormous amount of effort into supporting their children. We call on them not only to go out and work hard, but to provide that support at home and that takes up an enormous amount of time. To place on top of that the burden of an individual budget—however it is implemented—places significant additional burdens. Let me explain a couple of them.

I have spoken to parents of children with special educational needs in my constituency. Overall, they are enthusiastic about some of the proposals in the Government’s Green Paper, but they strongly voiced their concern about the complexity of placing additional burdens on parents. They want these responsibilities, but the complexity involved is significant.