Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help tackle fuel poverty, in the context of the anticipated increase in the number of households who will be in fuel poverty in 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has announced a package of additional measures to provide immediate support, totalling over £37 billion this year, including a £400 grant to households to help with their energy bills when it will be needed most.
Energy efficiency remains the best way to tackle fuel poverty in the long term, reducing the amount of energy required to heat a home and contributing to lower energy bills and carbon emissions. Support is available through schemes including the Energy Company Obligation which will be worth £1 billion pa, the Home Upgrade Grant and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 an assessment of the impact of the increase in fuel prices on his Department's policies; and if he will hold further discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on financial packages to help support people affected by that increase.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government understands that fuel prices are an important component of UK household and business expenditures, and is sympathetic to the impact of road fuel costs on UK consumers.
The Government recently announced a £15 billion package to support households with the cost of living, in addition to over £22 billion that had already been committed.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to (a) identify and (b) allocate sites for new small modular reactors.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recognises that there are areas across the UK with experience hosting nuclear developments and appreciates the potential benefits that these locations could offer to new nuclear projects.
The Government is developing a siting strategy, and a new National Policy Statement for nuclear electricity generation infrastructure deployable after 2025. The Government will consult on the strategy in due course.
The Government remains open to considering development proposals for projects at sites which stakeholders consider suitable, including existing nuclear sites. Any future project would be subject to planning and development consents.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of deploying small modular reactors in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As outlined in the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government’s long-term ambition is to increase plans for the deployment of civil nuclear power by 2050. In order to facilitate this, the Government has committed to a number of nuclear ambitions, including developing an overall siting strategy for the long term.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 nuclear power’s contribution to energy security in the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government believes that the UK needs a diverse mix of electricity infrastructure to come forward in order to deliver a secure, reliable, affordable, and net zero consistent system in 2050.
The Energy Security Strategy seeks to ensure that the UK is one of the best places in the world to invest in nuclear and sets an ambition for deployment of civil nuclear of up to 24 GW by 2050, around 25% of our projected electricity demand.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 mitigate the effects on consumers of rises in fuel costs.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
On 26 May 2022, the Government announced a £15 billion package of cost-of-living support. This is in addition to the over £22 billion announced previously for the cost of living now totalling over £37 billion this year. This means almost eight million most vulnerable households will get £1,200 of one-off support in total this year, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 direct the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to commence discussions with Small Modular Reactor (SMR) vendors on using NDA sites for SMR developments.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The NDA has a clear mission to decommission their sites safely, freeing up land for future uses. The NDA welcomes engagement from all stakeholders with a potential future use of their land and has a history of engagement and land transfer across their portfolio including with SMR vendors. The NDA requires permission from Government prior to any actual disposal/sale of land, but this does not prevent the NDA from discussing the future use of their land with interested parties, including SMR developers.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the additional volume of natural gas which would be required to offset the electricity generated by nuclear power in 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Nuclear power generation scenarios are published in the Energy and Emission Projections here:
Fuel usage in the power sector is published in DUKES here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes.
Conversion factors between fuels are published by National Grid here: https://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/gas-transmission/document/128886/download.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 contribution of nuclear power to the UK's energy security.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government believes that the UK needs a diverse mix of electricity infrastructure to come forward in order to deliver a secure, reliable, affordable, and net zero consistent system in 2050.
The Energy Security Strategy seeks to ensure that the UK is one of the best places in the world to invest in nuclear and sets an ambition for deployment of civil nuclear of up to 24 GW by 2050, around 25% of our projected electricity demand.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to assess the efficiency of the process for approving new nuclear power stations.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The British Energy Security Strategy sets out the Government’s aim to ensure the UK is one of the best places in the world to invest in nuclear. The Government will work with the regulators to understand the potential for streamlining, or removing duplication from, the consenting and licensing processes to approve new nuclear power stations, without impacting the robust safety, security and environmental protections offered by UK regulatory regime.