Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much has been spent to date on the Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at Harwell as of 4 January 2022, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost of establishing that Centre; and when he expects that Centre to open.
Answered by George Freeman
The Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) has been granted £206m of Government funding to date to support the delivery of the facility, including grants since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity. As a private company, questions regarding VMIC’s facility opening date should be directed towards VMIC.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, where the new orders for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will be produced.
Answered by George Freeman
In line with existing MHRA approved production procedures, we expect these doses to come from various European countries.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the shortfall from energy companies in paying for the insulating homes programme as at 20 September 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Energy Company Obligation applies to energy suppliers with domestic customer accounts exceeding 150,000.
We expect the very large majority of the overall obligation to be met, with some suppliers potentially exceeding their targets by 31 March 2022.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the amount of money that is outstanding from energy companies for renewable obligation certificates as at 20 September 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands
Ofgem, the administrators of the Renewables Obligation scheme, are monitoring the amount of money outstanding from electricity suppliers and are actively engaging with suppliers who are due to make payments.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress his Department has made of the development of small modular nuclear reactors.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
In the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced an up to £385 million Advanced Nuclear Fund to invest in the next generation of nuclear technologies. The Advanced Nuclear Fund includes up to £215 million to develop a domestic Small Modular Reactors (SMR) design and up to £170 million for an Advanced Modular Reactors (AMRs) research and development programme, with an aim to build an AMR demonstrator by the early 2030s.
We are also committed to supporting the wider UK nuclear energy sector to help deliver advanced nuclear technologies to market.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
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 compatibility of existing smart meters with hydrogen gas supply.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government has published the first ever UK Hydrogen Strategy, alongside key policy detail to lay the foundations for a hydrogen economy. The Department is also working with industry to assess the feasibility, costs and benefits of using 100% hydrogen for heating, to enable strategic decisions in 2026 on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising heating.
In the meantime, the HyDeploy industry consortium, at the Government-funded Smart Energy Network Demonstrator (SEND), is working to develop the safety case for blending of hydrogen and methane together in the gas network at hydrogen concentrations of up to 20%. Part of this activity includes working with smart meter manufacturers to develop and trial a software configuration to allow accurate metering of such blends without meter replacement.
Furthermore, the £25m Government-funded Hy4Heat programme is currently supporting the development of prototype commercial, industrial and domestic appliance models including smart hydrogen meters for 100% hydrogen.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps is he taking to encourage the purchase of fleets of e-vans from British manufacturers.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has provided over £100m in funding through the Plug-in Van Grant (PIVG) since its launch in 2012, supporting the purchase of over 15,000 ultra-low emission vans and trucks, the majority of which are zero emission vehicles. Demand for zero emission vans rose substantially in 2020, with increased interest from commercial fleets, and we expect this trend to continue as more models are brought to market and supply increases.
More widely, the Government welcomes action to accelerate the development of British made electric vehicles and an announcement from the Electric Vehicle Fleet Accelerator Group, made up of seven major UK companies who have pledged to buy 70,000 British made electric vans by 2030. As part of the 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, nearly £500 million of funding for the Automotive Transformation Fund will be made available in the next four years to invest in capital and R&D projects to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain. This funding is the first part of the up to £1 billion committed by the Government to ensure that the UK takes advantage of this once in a generation opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the main supply chain constraints are on the expansion of covid-19 vaccine production in the UK.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has been monitoring the requirements across the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain from supplier through to patient for some time. There are clear supply chain plans in place for both the supply and onward deployment of all vaccine candidates. This includes materials, manufacturing, transport, storage and distribution. The Vaccines Taskforce has conducted supply chain risk assessments and is working with the vaccine suppliers to understand the optimal logistics and timings.
We have successfully met our target of offering a first vaccine dose to every person within priority groups 1-9, three days before our 15 April target. Our target is to offer a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to all adults aged 18 and over by 19 July, two weeks earlier than planned.
Asked by: Lord Spellar (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to his Answer of 27 May 2021 to Question 3795 on Electric Vehicles: Vans, what steps his Department is taking to maximise the manufacture of electric vans in the UK.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is continuing its longstanding programme of support to ensure that the UK automotive sector remains at the forefront of technological developments. The Government and Industry have jointly committed almost £1.5 billion through the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Faraday Battery Challenge to support the research, development, and manufacture of zero and low-emission technologies.
The Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) offers a comprehensive package of support to enable the take up of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs) including vans. This will see nearly £1.5bn of support invested over the period 2015-2021. Demand for ultra-low emission vans is increasing, with an increase of more than 70% in 2020 (5,863 new plug in van grant (PIVG) eligible vans registered), compared to 2019 (3,389).
In that time, ultra-low emission vans have risen from 1.0% to 2.1% of the new van market in the UK. Uptake has been boosted by 11 new models eligible for PIVG coming to market in 2020, including nine vans in the most popular large van segment.