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 it is still his Department's policy to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Answered by Graham Stuart
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Kingswood will lead a rapid review of the Government’s approach to net zero, so that it delivers its target in a way that is pro-business and pro-growth.
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 the trends in new car sales over the last six months and the impact on the UK car manufacturing sector; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK automotive market showed a positive start to 2022 with new car registrations in Jan-Feb 2022 above 2021 levels, when lockdown restrictions meant showrooms were shut. However, registrations are still below pre-pandemic levels with semiconductor chip shortages continuing to constrain supply globally.
As part of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, we are allocating a further £350 million for the Automotive Transformation Fund, as part of our £1 billion commitment to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain including gigafactories.
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 plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Red Diesel Replacement competition to the metal recycling sector.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The £40 million Red Diesel Replacement (RDR) innovation programme focusses on construction, mining and quarrying sectors, accounting for 63% of UK red-diesel usage. The technologies developed and lessons learned through this programme will also benefit the metals recycling sector and will be disseminated to wider industry. Due to the financial and temporal constraints of the programme, there are no plans to expand the scope of RDR at present.
Other Government support includes:
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 hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of introducing statutory paid leave for women receiving IVF in the context of the physical impacts of the treatment.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government remains committed to ensuring women, including those undergoing IVF treatment, can participate fairly in the labour market, and that businesses build a supportive workplace environment.
BEIS speaks regularly with a range of Government departments about the best ways of achieving this, including through discussions on the Women’s Health Strategy.