Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of a windfall tax on investment plans of electricity generators.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Within the Economy Update on 26th May, the Chancellor announced the Government is urgently evaluating the scale of extraordinary profits in the energy generation sector and the appropriate next steps.
As part of this process, officials are currently engaging with industry stakeholders, to gather evidence on energy generator’s level of profitability and the operation of their business models.
The PM’s ten-point plan and recent energy security strategy has set the UK on a pathway to a significant movement away from gas generation and towards renewables and low-carbon technologies.
The Government recognises that any measures, tax or otherwise, need to be proportionate and avoid creating undue distortion or impacts on UK investment.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including projects on protecting farmland from flooding in the next allocation round of Levelling Up funding.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Levelling Up Fund will support urban and rural communities to deliver benefits across the United Kingdom. It is for bidding authorities to put forward the bids that they feel will best support their Levelling Up ambitions across the themes of Regeneration, Culture and Transport.
Local authorities can also use their UK Shared Prosperity Fund allocation for this type of intervention. This includes funding for new, or improvements to existing, community and neighbourhood infrastructure projects including those that increase communities' resilience to natural hazards, such as flooding. This could cover capital spend and running costs.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) availability of pain services and (b) Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance’s core offer for pain services.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific assessment has been made. The majority of routine treatment and support for people with chronic pain is provided by local primary, community and secondary care services and commissioned via clinical commissioning groups. For patients with severe and complex pain, NHS England commissions specialised care. Upon referral to specialist centres, patients can access a range of health professionals, including consultant specialists, clinical nurse specialists, psychologists and physiotherapists and receive specialised treatment.
The core offer for pain services produced by the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance is informing guidance on the provision of high-quality services for people living with long-term pain conditions currently being produced by NHS England.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate support is provided to people who live with severe chronic pain.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The majority of routine treatment and support for people with chronic pain is provided by local primary, community and secondary care services and commissioned via clinical commissioning groups. For patients with severe and complex pain, NHS England commissions specialised care. Upon referral to specialist centres, patients can access a range of health professionals, including consultant specialists, clinical nurse specialists, psychologists and physiotherapists and receive specialised treatment.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published guidance on chronic pain in April 2021, which includes recommendations on how chronic pain can be managed through pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, such as exercise programmes, acupuncture and psychological therapy.
NHS England has established a task and finish group to produce guidance on the provision of services for people living with long-term pain conditions by September 2022. The guidance is aimed at integrated care systems, to provide core principles which can be used to inform the development of local models of care for complex pain.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to ensure that people with chronic pain have access to non-pharmacological interventions as outlined in the NICE guideline on chronic pain.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its guideline on chronic pain in April 2021 which includes recommendations on how chronic pain can be managed through pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, such as exercise programmes, acupuncture, and psychological therapy.
While NICE’s guideline describes best practice and should be taken fully into account in the care and treatment of individual patients, it is not mandatory and does not override a medical practitioner’s clinical judgement.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to provide further detail on the (a) twin track production strategy for hydrogen and (b) Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Revenue Support scheme.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government will shortly be publishing responses to the consultations on the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard, and Hydrogen Business Model. The latter provides the framework for spending under the Industrial Decarbonisation and Hydrogen Revenue Scheme. These publications will set out more detail on how the Government will support both electrolytic ‘green’ and carbon capture enabled ‘blue’ hydrogen production, as part of a twin track approach.
The Government expects that up to 500MW of electrolytic hydrogen production projects and 1GW of CCUS-enabled hydrogen will be operational or in construction by the mid-2020s.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his planned timetable is for the six-month update on the Hydrogen Strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government published its first ever UK Hydrogen Strategy in August 2021, putting the UK at the forefront of the race to develop low carbon hydrogen.
The Strategy committed to provide regular updates to the market as our policy develops, with the first of these updates expected shortly. This will include publishing responses to our consultations on the Hydrogen Business Model, Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
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 help ensure that the UK maximises the potential economic opportunities of low carbon hydrogen and carbon capture, usage and storage.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has committed to publishing a Sector Development Action Plan to set out how government and industry will support UK companies to seize supply chain opportunities, skills and jobs across the hydrogen economy. In addition, the Government’s aim to capture and store 20-30 MtCO2 per year by 2030 will offer significant opportunities for investment and UK exports.
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
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 Hydrogen Strategy and Net Zero Strategy, what progress his Department has made on understanding the (a) costs and (b) benefits of introducing hydrogen into the power sector.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government views hydrogen as an important component of the UK’s future power system. Government analysis[1] shows that having hydrogen available in the power sector could achieve lower emissions at a lower cost than scenarios without hydrogen. The extent of hydrogen’s impact is dependent on the quantity and cost of hydrogen available for generating electricity.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modelling-2050-electricity-system-analysis
Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
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 levels of hydrogen storage capacity required to (a) facilitate the anticipated growth of and (b) help guard against price spikes in that market; and what steps he plans to take to help ensure that that capacity is delivered in a timely manner.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the UK Hydrogen Strategy, the Government set out that hydrogen storage can support the hydrogen economy in a range of ways that position it as a strategic asset as part of a fully decarbonised, net zero economy. In the strategy, the Government committed to undertake a review of systemic hydrogen storage requirements in the 2020s and beyond, including its potential role as a critical enabler for some end-use sectors.
The review is underway and will consider whether funding or other incentives are needed, whether regulation might be required to ensure that the necessary storage infrastructure is available when needed, and what form this might take.