Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 on food prices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report entitled, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, published in April 2022, which said that widespread use of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage could use up to 46 per cent of the world’s arable land; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s Biomass Strategy, which will be published later this year, will establish the role which Bioenergy with Carbon Capture & Storage (BECCS) can play in reducing carbon emissions across the economy and set out how the technology could be deployed. No decision has been made on future BECCS deployment.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 the names of the forests from which Drax sources its wood pellets.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not hold this information.
Information on country and region of sourcing of generators is publicly available at https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/biomass-sustainability-dataset-2019-20.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 effect of rising fuel prices on household finances in Blackburn constituency.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is conscious of the impact of fuel prices on household finances across the country.
That is why we have kept fuel duty frozen. This is the twelfth consecutive freeze, saving the average UK car driver a cumulative £1,900, compared to the plans set out by the previous government in 2010.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 the list of projects that have been allocated European Structural and Investment Funding in (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK will remain in European Structural & Investment (ESI) Fund programmes (ERDF, ESF, EAFRD and EMFF) until the end of December 2023, and after this they will be closed. Allocations are published in the Operational Programmes for each fund. These allocations need to be spent within three years of being allocated or by 31st December 2023.
Published information on all ESI funds can be accessed from the ESIF Home Page on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/european-structural-investment-funds, through which links to the websites of the Devolved Administrations can also be accessed.
Published information on ESI funding (ERDF and ESF) in Gibraltar can be found at www.eufunding.gi.
National authorities responsible for managing each Operational Programme will report progress against these allocations in their Annual Implementation Reports to the European Commission. For ESI funds in England the Annual Implementation Reports are available on GOV.UK. Annual Implementation Reports for ESI funds in the Devolved Administrations are available on their respective websites.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 the amount of European Structural and Investment Funding that is (a) unallocated and (b) allocated but yet to be spent in the next three years.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK will remain in European Structural & Investment (ESI) Fund programmes (ERDF, ESF, EAFRD and EMFF) until the end of December 2023, and after this they will be closed. Allocations are published in the Operational Programmes for each fund. These allocations need to be spent within three years of being allocated or by 31st December 2023.
Published information on all ESI funds can be accessed from the ESIF Home Page on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/european-structural-investment-funds, through which links to the websites of the Devolved Administrations can also be accessed.
Published information on ESI funding (ERDF and ESF) in Gibraltar can be found at www.eufunding.gi.
National authorities responsible for managing each Operational Programme will report progress against these allocations in their Annual Implementation Reports to the European Commission. For ESI funds in England the Annual Implementation Reports are available on GOV.UK. Annual Implementation Reports for ESI funds in the Devolved Administrations are available on their respective websites.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 England will receive as part of previously allocated funding from the European Structural and Investment Fund in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23, (c) 2023-24 and (d) 2024-25.
Answered by Paul Scully
No approved data is yet available for allocations of European Structural and investment Funds (ESIF) for 2021/22, 2022/23, or 2023/24. We do not expect any allocation for 2024/25 as ESIF programmes will end in 2023.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 support Business Improvement Districts with their operational costs.
Answered by Paul Scully
BIDs are a proven and effective vehicle for leveraging private investment and have a significant role to play in high street regeneration: in 2019, 259 BIDs across England raised over £106.7 million through levy payments to invest back into their respective towns and cities. Their role will be even more important in the recovery phase from the current crisis.
During 2020, the Government paid £5.8m of support funding to 260 BIDs in England to assist with their core running costs. The funding was delivered through non-ringfenced section 31 grants to Local Authorities, who distributed this to the BID bodies in their area.
The Government included provisions within the Coronavirus Act 2020 that enables BIDs to delay any renewal ballots due to take place before 31 December 2020, until 31 March 2021. This is to allow businesses to focus on recovery from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic before deciding whether to participate in future BID arrangements. While this extension will come to an end on 31 March 2021, we have heard many positive examples of BIDs who have undertaken successful renewal ballots. We also know that many are also seeing the BID levy continuing to be paid by members.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to prevent the outflow of businesses and investment from the UK.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains a great place to do business. Our ambitious Industrial Strategy is comprised of a range of policies designed to build an economy fit for the future, fostering a competitive environment where businesses have the confidence to invest and thrive. This includes building long term strategic partnerships with businesses through Sector Deals and committing £37bn through the National Productivity Investment Fund by 2023/24.
We are ensuring that innovative businesses have access to the finance they need. Through the British Business Bank, we are already supporting finance to over 78,000 SMEs. We are facilitating £20bn investment in high potential businesses, including establishing the £2.5bn British Patient Capital programme to co-invest with the private sector into venture and growth fund commitments.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
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 level of fuel poverty in (a) the North West and (b) Blackburn constituency.
Answered by Claire Perry
The latest sub-regional fuel poverty statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-sub-regional-statistics
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent comparative assessment his Department has made of the level of fuel poverty in each region.
Answered by Claire Perry
Fuel poverty figures by region can be found in Table 6 of the fuel poverty detailed tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-detailed-tables-2018