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Written Question
Energy Charter Treaty: Climate Change
Monday 23rd January 2023

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

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 Welsh Government on the potential impact of the Energy Charter Treaty on climate targets; and if he will publish a criteria for how the Energy Charter Treaty could be updated in order to be compatible with international climate goals.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The UK Government has kept all the Devolved Administrations informed of modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty and its impacts. At the Energy Charter Conference on 22 November, the decision to adopt the modernised Treaty was postponed and the UK is closely monitoring the positions taken by other Contracting Parties.

In the event that the modernised ECT is adopted, the Government will lay an Explanatory Memorandum in Parliament which will include an assessment of how climate provisions have been strengthened to ensure compatibility between the ECT and modern international agreements, including the Paris Agreement.


Written Question
Renewable Energy: Prices
Friday 20th January 2023

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

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 has taken steps to decouple the cost of renewable energy from gas prices, including through Contracts for Difference.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Contracts for Difference are the main support mechanism for new low-carbon generation in Great Britain. They guarantee a fixed ‘strike price’ for renewable generators on the scheme, which decouples their costs from gas prices as their revenue is not impacted by wholesale market changes.

The Review of Electricity Market Arrangements is considering how the broader role of gas as a price setter for renewable energy could be reduced. This includes examining reforms that accelerate low-carbon deployment, so that gas sets the price of electricity for shorter periods, as well as wholesale market reform options that ensure lowest overall costs.


Written Question
UK Trade with EU: Small Businesses
Wednesday 11th January 2023

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) support and (b) advice the Government provides to small businesses facing higher costs when importing from the EU as a result of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government has provided extensive support to help businesses including guidance products, webinars, and ‘how to’ videos. Through the SME Brexit Support Fund and the Intermediaries Grant, the Government made over £100m available to help businesses adapt to new rules.

The Government has produced a useful step-by-step guide to help businesses understand the process for importing goods into the UK. The Government also created a customs intermediary register on GOV.UK to help businesses to find intermediary assistance appropriate to their needs. The Customs & International Trade helpline and webchat facility is also available to help businesses with customs queries.


Written Question
Parental Leave
Thursday 1st December 2022

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

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 15 November 2022 to Question 83544 on Parental Leave, and with reference to the oral contribution of the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the debate on Employment Law: Devolution to Scotland on 6 September 2022, Official Report, column 51WH, on what basis the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State stated that take-up of Shared Parental Leave is exceeding 8 per cent of the 285,000 eligible fathers.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The 2013 Impact Assessment for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) estimated that take-up would be between 2-8 per cent. Current take-up rates of SPL are based on HMRC data, this data estimates that rates fall within the middle of this range and have been gradually increasing.


Written Question
Parental Leave
Tuesday 15th November 2022

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

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 7 November 2022 to Question 77313 on Parental Leave, and with reference to Table 7 of the 2013 Impact Assessment, why the employee fathers with a self-employed partner are not included in the number of new fathers eligible for Shared Parental Leave.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The 2013 Impact Assessment for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) estimated that take-up would be between 2-8 per cent based on Labour Force Survey analysis that 285,000 fathers/partners would be eligible, comprised of 267,000 employees and a further 17,000 self-employed fathers/partners. The reply to Question 77313 focused on employees only.

The SPL evaluation will also include an up-to-date estimate of eligibility and take-up.


Written Question
Energy Bill Relief Scheme: Arfon
Monday 14th November 2022

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many small businesses have received support under the Energy Bill Relief Scheme in Arfon constituency.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a discount on energy bills for all eligible non-domestic customers, including small businesses, whose current gas and electricity prices have been significantly inflated in light of global energy prices. Discounts to eligible customers are provided directly by energy suppliers. The Government cannot provide an estimate of how many small businesses in the Arfon constituency have received support under the scheme.


Written Question
Conditions of Employment: Parents
Monday 7th November 2022

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

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 19 October 2022 to Question 63131 on Conditions of Employment: Parents, when the research took place for the (a) Maternity and Paternity Rights Survey, (b) qualitative study of parents who have taken Shared Parental Leave and (c) other surveys of employers and parents.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The 2013 Impact Assessment for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) estimated that take-up would be between 2-8 per cent based on Labour Force Survey analysis that 267,000 employee fathers/partners would be eligible.

HMRC data on the number of individuals in receipt of Shared Parental Pay provides a broad indication of SPL take-up. The SPL evaluation will also include an up-to-date estimate of eligibility and take-up based on survey data. The evaluation will be published in due course.

The fieldwork for the Maternity and Paternity Rights survey took place between Mar-Nov 2019, between Aug 2019 and Feb 2020 for the qualitative study of parents and between Sep 2018 and Feb 2019 for the Management and Wellbeing Practices Survey.


Written Question
Parental Leave
Monday 7th November 2022

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

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 19 October 2022 to Question 63130 on Parental Leave, what metrics his Department used as (a) the numerator and (b) the denominator to determine whether the level of use of the Shared Parental Leave scheme by parents is within the 2 per cent to 8 per cent range.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The 2013 Impact Assessment for Shared Parental Leave (SPL) estimated that take-up would be between 2-8 per cent based on Labour Force Survey analysis that 267,000 employee fathers/partners would be eligible.

HMRC data on the number of individuals in receipt of Shared Parental Pay provides a broad indication of SPL take-up. The SPL evaluation will also include an up-to-date estimate of eligibility and take-up based on survey data. The evaluation will be published in due course.

The fieldwork for the Maternity and Paternity Rights survey took place between Mar-Nov 2019, between Aug 2019 and Feb 2020 for the qualitative study of parents and between Sep 2018 and Feb 2019 for the Management and Wellbeing Practices Survey.


Written Question
Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs
Tuesday 1st November 2022

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the tariff levels for the Feed-in-Tariff scheme for exporters and generators.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Feed In Tariff (FIT) scheme aimed to deliver returns of approximately 5-8% for investors in small scale low-carbon generation. The methodology used to set the tariffs considered the technology costs and electricity generation expectations. The tariff rates are adjusted annually, in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to maintain that rate of return during the period of support under the scheme.


Written Question
Renewable Energy: Smart Export Guarantee
Tuesday 1st November 2022

Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)

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 recent assessment of the adequacy of the Smart Export Guarantee in incentivising small-scale renewable energy generation, in comparison with the Feed-In-Tariff scheme.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The recently published Ofgem Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) annual report highlighted a significant increase in the number of installations registering for a SEG tariff (34,020 installations compared to 4,593 from Year 1). The market continues to offer a range of SEG tariffs offering different rates for exported electricity, with some rates comparable to those which were provided in the latter stages of the Feed In Tariff (FIT) scheme.