Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding has been allocated under the ECO4 to (a) Sunderland Central constituency and (b) the North East in 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government does not hold data on how much funding has been allocated through ECO by region but does publish data on the number of measures installed through the scheme. A breakdown by region and Parliamentary constituency can be found in tables 3.3 and 3.6 respectively in the latest Household Energy Efficiency release. Data on the number of measures installed under ECO4 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 (a) effectiveness and (b) adequacy of the process in place to transfer energy credit from liquidated energy suppliers to the customers' new supplier.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Protecting the credit balances of domestic customers when energy companies cease trading is a priority for both Government and Ofgem, who manage the service transfer under the Supplier of Last Resort process.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding his Department has provided to mental health research and innovation programmes in the North East in each of the last two years.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department committed £1.81 million in 19-20 and £1.17 million in 20-21 to research projects related to mental health that took place in the North East of England. This includes research at Newcastle University which is looking at the effect of substance misuse by parents on children and research on the shift to home-based working in the pandemic, including its impact on mental health.
In addition, UKRI has recently made a £24 million investment into seven multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research programmes, across the UK, focussed on adolescent mental health. This includes research which will focus on the wellbeing of students at university where the rate of mental health conditions is rising. The project includes a co-investigator based at Newcastle University with some of the research taking place at the university.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 update copyright law in the music industry.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government has no specific plans to update copyright law in the music industry.
However, the Government is aware of the current debate around music streaming revenues and is following it closely. Any change in the law would need to be justified by robust evidence, so we welcome the DCMS Select Committee’s inquiry into this issue and look forward to its analysis and recommendations. Alongside this, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is working closely with industry on a research project to investigate the flow of money to music creators. This project is due to report in summer 2021 and will help improve our understanding of this important issue.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 he has made of the effect of clause 182D of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 on artists' incomes.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government has made no recent assessment of the effect of section 182D of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 on artists' incomes.
However, the Government is aware of the current debate around revenues for musicians and is following it closely. Robust evidence in this area is vital, so we welcome the DCMS Select Committee’s inquiry into the economics of music streaming and look forward to its analysis and recommendations. Alongside this, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is working closely with industry on a research project to investigate the flow of money to music creators. This project is due to report in summer 2021 and will help improve our understanding of this important issue.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 review the existing surplus sharing arrangements of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The BEIS Select Committee recently undertook an enquiry into the Mineworkers’ Penson Scheme and published its findings on 29 April. I am due to meet the Scheme Trustees next month to discuss the Committee’s report and I am keen to hear their views before responding to the Committee.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 the recommendations made by the the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee in its report on the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme published on the 29 April 2021.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I am due to meet the Scheme Trustees next month to discuss the Committee’s report. I am keen to get their views and will respond formally to the Committee following that discussion.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 Government’s commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, whether the Government plans to increase the 6GW capacity cap in the Contracts for Difference auctions.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
We do not plan to increase the 6-gigawatt capacity cap for the third Contracts for Difference allocation round. Based on our understanding of the pipeline of projects, we have set the level of the capacity cap to promote competitive tension, whilst delivering significant capacity, and ensure smooth delivery of low carbon generation through the 2020s.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 help increase productivity for the (a) chemical, (b) steel, (c) aluminium and (d) other energy-intensive industries.
Answered by Nick Hurd
We have launched a consultation on an Industrial Strategy, which sets out the Government’s approach to building an economy that delivers high wages, high skills, high productivity and creates the conditions for competitive, world leading businesses across the UK. We are looking for businesses to collaborate with other stakeholders, such as universities and local leaders to produce a clear proposal for boosting the productivity of their sector. As part of the Industrial Strategy, the Government will consider how to increase energy productivity and will also set out during 2017 a long-term road map to minimise energy costs for businesses and industry.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
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 make an assessment of the potential effects of making sector-by-sector deals with certain industries after the UK leaves the EU on the competitiveness of those industries' supply chains.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Industrial Strategy Green Paper, published on 23 January, proposes industry-led “sector deals” to enable sectors to maximise their productivity and competitiveness. The competitiveness of supply chains is proposed as a key component of sector deals.
With regard to trade agreements, as my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced on 23 January, we will seek a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement with the EU. We want Britain to have the greatest possible tariff and barrier-free trade in goods and services with our European neighbours and also to be able to negotiate our own trade agreements.