Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 provide additional support to those disabled people who are disproportionally affected by higher energy prices due to a requirement for high energy usage due to their health conditions.
Answered by Graham Stuart
To support the public with their energy bills, the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) is delivering a £400 non-repayable government grant. The Energy Price Guarantee will save a typical household in Great Britain £900 this Winter. People with disabilities are also entitled to one-off £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment. The Government is currently reviewing the Energy Price Guarantee. This consultation will explore the best ways to ensure that vulnerable high energy users, such as those with medical requirements, are not put at risk.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 plans to implement the Contracts for Difference auction and allocation on an annual basis.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On 9 February 2022, the Secretary of State announced that Contracts for Difference allocation rounds will be held on an annual basis from March 2023, when the next round (AR5) will open to applications.[1]
[1] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2022-02-09/hcws600
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 make an assessment of the adequacy of the £20 million of ring-fenced funding for tidal marine energy as part of the Contracts for Difference Scheme; and if the Government will provide increased ring-fenced funding should that assessment find those funds to be insufficient.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The next Contracts for Difference round will be the biggest yet, affirming this Government’s commitment to fully decarbonise the electricity system by 2035. The £20m ringfenced support for Tidal Stream is sufficient to kick-start innovation across the UK and balances our objectives of decarbonisation, fairness and value for electricity billpayers.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 announcement to include £20 million of ring-fenced in the fourth allocation round of the Contracts for Difference Scheme, what target is in place for electricity gigawatt output generated through tidal marine energy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The £20 million ring-fence of UK government funding for Tidal Stream was announced on 24th November. The Government has no specific target for gigawatts of capacity from tidal sources.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 Royal Society's report, entitled A review of the UK and British Channel Islands practical tidal stream energy resource, published in November 2021, what assessment he has made of the feasibility of reaching 11.5 gigawatts of electricity output for tidal marine energy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has made targeted support available for tidal stream energy projects in Great Britain through allocation round 4 of the Contracts for Difference scheme. Promising technologies in the early commercial stage of development must prove their viability and scalability by driving down prices before the Government takes a view on whether the levels of deployed capacity are feasible.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 level of service delivery SmartDCC met of the UK network; and what plans his Department has for the introduction of smart meters in the Maryburgh, Dingwall area.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Data Communications Company (DCC), the organisation responsible for the national smart metering data and communications infrastructure across Great Britain, has contracts in place for the provision of communications coverage to at least 99.5% of premises across its ‘North Region’ (which covers Scotland). Industry information shows that there is communications coverage in the Maryburgh, Dingwall area.
Energy suppliers are responsible for installing smart meters in households and small businesses. The Government will continue to work closely with the DCC and other industry parties to ensure that households across Great Britain can realise the benefits of smart meters.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made on the roll-out of national smart metering infrastructure in the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Data Communications Company (DCC), the organisation responsible for the national smart metering infrastructure, has contracts in place for the provision of communications coverage to at least 99.5% of premises in its ‘North Region’. Data on smart meter installations is not collected at a constituency level.
The DCC is required by licence conditions to seek to provide communications services to all premises where it is practicable and cost proportionate and is also required to assess opportunities to increase the overall level of coverage.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timeframe is for the introduction of smart meters on Glenhinnisdal on the Isle of Skye.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Smart meters are operating on the Isle of Skye and smart metering communications services are being provided to the island.
The Data Communications Company (DCC), the organisation responsible for the national smart metering infrastructure, has contracts in place for the provision of communications coverage to at least 99.5% of premises in the North Region by the end of 2020. Glenhinnisdal does not currently receive network coverage for smart meters due to mountainous terrain affecting wireless coverage in the area. The DCC is required by licence conditions to seek to provide communications services to all premises where it is practicable and cost proportionate, and is also required to assess opportunities to increase the overall level of coverage.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 whether Whirlpool has (a) implemented adequate product safety checks and (b) carried out satisfactory repairs on models of tumble dryer that had been found faulty.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards has conducted a full review into Whirlpool’s modification programme for tumble dryers. This review concluded that the risk to modified tumble dryers was low. A decision letter was sent to Whirlpool, placing a number of requirements on the company.
The Chief Executive of the Office for Product Safety and Standards met senior Whirlpool officials 2nd May to advise them of concerns regarding the adequacy of their response to the requirements placed upon them and advised them on steps necessary to fulfil their obligations.
OPSS is closely monitoring the response of Whirlpool and further steps will be taken if the response is not satisfactory. Consumer safety is a key priority and the Government will hold the company to account.
Asked by: Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party - Ross, Skye and Lochaber)
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 ensure that UK maintains all EU climate change and environmental regulations in UK law after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Claire Perry
The EU (Withdrawal) Bill will ensure existing EU environmental law continues to have effect in UK law after exit, providing businesses and stakeholders with maximum certainty as we leave the EU.
Leaving the EU will not change any of our domestic statutory commitments to reduce our emissions, as laid out in the Climate Change Act 2008 – indeed, those commitments are more ambitious and challenging than those set by EU legislation.
We have no intention of weakening our current environmental protections as we leave the EU. The UK has a long history of environmental protection and we will safeguard and improve on this record. As my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister stated, ‘Brexit will not mean a lowering of environmental standards’.