Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 implications for his policies of reports that Drax has paid more than $3 million in fines related to pollution in the US south, and if he will review Government support for Drax.
Answered by Graham Stuart
US air quality regulatory bodies have established robust processes for ensuring air quality requirements are adhered to. UK Government officials have discussed air quality with US counterparts and continue to liaise with them to ensure the government continues to have the most up-to-date information.
The forthcoming Biomass Strategy will review the amount of sustainable biomass available to the UK and how this resource could be best utilised across the economy to help achieve our net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050 while also supporting the delivery of our wider environmental targets.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 Panorama report, aired on 3 October, on the environmental and financial cost of shipping wood pellets from North America to be burnt at Drax power station, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of those potential (a) financial and (b) environmental costs.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK only supports sustainable biomass use which can deliver genuine greenhouse gas emissions savings compared to fossil materials. The regulator Ofgem is responsible for auditing the sustainability of biomass used by electricity generators which receive support under the Renewables Obligation. Ofgem routinely checks whether the sustainability criteria have been met by generators.
Sustainability information is publicly available on Ofgem’s website, with the latest dataset accessible here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/biomass-sustainability-dataset-2020-21. The forthcoming Biomass Strategy will set out recommendations for further enhancing the UK’s stringent biomass sustainability criteria.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 made on 30 June 2021 that the Government would remove unabated coal from the UK’s energy mix by 2024, whether that remains the Government's policy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government remains committed to phasing out unabated coal generation by October 2024. The UK has already made excellent progress in reducing coal usage, with coal’s share of our electricity supply falling from 40% in 2012 to less than 2% in 2020.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings he or his Ministers have held with the Financial Reporting Council since the fines issued in June 2022 to PWC for their audits of Kier and of Galliford.
Answered by Jane Hunt
Ministers have not met with the Financial Reporting Council in response to fines issued in June 2022 to PWC for their audits of Kier and of Galliford.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings he or his Ministers have held with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US in response to its record fine against audit firm Ernst & Young in June 2022 for cheating on professional education courses to maintain its certified public accountant licensure; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Hunt
Ministers have not met with the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to its fine against Ernst & Young.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 publish legal advice received in relation to the Liability of Trade Unions in Proceedings in Tort (Increase of Limits on Damages) Order 2022.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government does not propose to publish any legal advice received in relation to this Order.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason he did not carry out a consultation before laying the Liability of Trade Unions in Proceedings in Tort (Increase of Limits on Damages) Order 2022.
Answered by Jane Hunt
This change only increases the limits in line with inflation to match what they would have been had they increased year on year since 1982.
As no other changes to the trade union liabilities for damages regime are being proposed, the Government does not consider that further consultation is necessary.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason he did not initiate a consultation before laying the draft Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses (Amendment) Regulations 2022.
Answered by Jane Hunt
BEIS did consult. BEIS ran a consultation from 15 July to 9 September 2015 to gather views on what the impact would be of repealing the ban on agency workers. We received 167 substantive responses from a range of stakeholders. In addition to these responses, the TUC also submitted a petition opposing the repeal signed by 25,000 members, 1,500 of whom also made comments.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Strategy, when he will bring forward the audit reform bill referred to in the Queen's Speech on 10 May 2022; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Hunt
Alongside the Queen’s speech, the Government announced that we will prepare and publish a draft Bill on audit and corporate governance reform during this session of parliament. The Government will legislate when parliamentary time allows.
Further detail can be found in the Government Response to the consultation on “Restoring trust in audit and corporate governance”.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
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 asked the Financial Reporting Council to investigate audit firm Ernst & Young in response to the record fine issued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2022 for cheating on professional education courses to maintain its certified public accountant licensure.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator and independently decides whether an investigation should be commenced. The recent fine imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Ernst & Young (EY) in the United States relates to the conduct of EY and its audit professionals in the United States. The FRC is responsible for oversight of the qualification of external auditors in the UK and meets regularly with the SEC and also the Public Company Accounting and Oversight Board in the United States to discuss issues of common interest. The FRC has written to the seven largest UK audit firms about the impact of this issue and has published that letter on the FRC website on 13 July 2022.