Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 value for money of subsidies given for the use of biomass for electricity generation.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has in place conditions to ensure generators only receive subsidies for biomass that complies with the UK’s strict sustainability criteria. In 2021, biomass made up 12.9% of total electricity generation.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 impact of biomass used for energy generation on (a) biodiversity and (b) the UK’s overseas land footprint.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK sustainability criteria are some of the most stringent in the world and include requirements under the land criteria and GHG (greenhouse gas) criteria. The land criteria take into account a range of social, economic, and environmental issues, including protecting biodiversity and land use rights.
Where biomass is sourced from forests, the land criteria include requirements around regeneration rates and sustainable harvesting in the sourcing regions, requiring that the carbon stock of the forest from which biomass is derived is not decreased.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 economic effect of covid-19 on supply chains in the hospitality industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic the Government has worked closely with the hospitality sector, including businesses in the supply chain, to understand the impact of the pandemic on their businesses.
Businesses have been able to benefit from Government support, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Government-backed loans.
On 5 January, when the new National Lockdown began, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an extra £4.6bn in business support including a £594 million discretionary fund to support impacted businesses.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support businesses in the hospitality supply chain that have not received financial support from their local authority during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic the Government has worked closely with the hospitality sector, including businesses in the supply chain, to understand the impact of the pandemic on their businesses.
Businesses have been able to benefit from Government support, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Government-backed loans.
On 5 January, when the new National Lockdown began, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an extra £4.6bn in business support including a £594 million discretionary fund to support impacted businesses.