Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
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 help ensure the retro-fitting of private rented housing to meet net zero carbon targets.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Since April 2020, all privately rented homes in England and Wales are required to meet a minimum energy efficiency standard of EPC band E, unless a valid exemption applies. BEIS has consulted on raising the minimum energy efficiency standards for privately rented homes in England and Wales to EPC band C. Under the Government’s lead proposed option, landlords would be required to spend up to £10,000 to reach EPC Band C for new tenancies from 1 April 2025 and all tenancies by 1 April 2028.
In the Net Zero Strategy, the Government committed to consider an ultimate backstop date to ensure that all homes meet a net zero minimum energy performance standard before 2050, where cost effective, practical, and affordable.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
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 it his policy to support the Mersey Tidal Power Project towards an investment position by the mid-2020’s.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government remains open to considering well-developed proposals for harnessing tidal energy. Any such consideration would of course be subject to rigorous value-for-money assessment.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
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 research into new SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has invested nearly £500 million towards 2,200 new research and innovation initiatives, both in the UK and globally. These initiatives are diverse and include research into new SARS-CoV-2 variants.
The University of Liverpool is part of a new national research project to study the effects of emerging mutations in SARS-CoV-2. Supported by £2.5 million of funding from UKRI, the G2P-UK National Virology Consortium will study how mutations in the virus affect key outcomes. This includes factors such as how transmissible the virus is, the severity of COVID-19 caused, and the effectiveness of vaccines and treatments.
The Consortium will bring together leading virologists from 10 research institutions, including the University of Liverpool. The university will work alongside the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) consortium, which plays a world-leading role in virus genome sequencing, as well as Public Health England, to boost the UK's capacity to study newly identified virus variants and rapidly inform the Government’s policy.
The current overall UKRI portfolio of COVID-19-related grants, including awards supported by Innovate UK, involves vaccine projects that provide greater diversity of approaches than for the first generation of vaccines developed. More details can be found on the UKRI website.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to prepare for the UK potentially not associating to Horizon Europe.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As part of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) published on 24 December, the UK has agreed to associate to Horizon Europe which represents a valuable collaboration on science and research to tackle global challenges, and in fields that will benefit the British people. The Government is committed to establishing the UK as a science and research global superpower, and this deal fulfils our manifesto commitment to collaborate internationally in this regard. As a responsible government, we were also prepared for a scenario where we did not agree to participate in Horizon Europe and were ready to implement a suite of domestic alternative schemes to support international research and innovation collaboration if required.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
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 for the UK’s future association with the Horizon Europe programme.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
As part of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) published on 24 December, the UK has agreed to associate to Horizon Europe which represents a valuable collaboration on science and research to tackle global challenges, and in fields that will benefit the British people. The Government is committed to establishing the UK as a science and research global superpower, and this deal fulfils our manifesto commitment to collaborate internationally in this regard. As a responsible government, we were also prepared for a scenario where we did not agree to participate in Horizon Europe and were ready to implement a suite of domestic alternative schemes to support international research and innovation collaboration if required.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
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 issue guidance to (a) supermarkets and (b) other large retailers on maintaining appropriate (i) social distancing and (ii) other safeguards under the local covid-19 Tier restrictions.
Answered by Paul Scully
Our Safer Working guidance was updated on 26 November to reflect the new tiers.
Our shops and branches guidance can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/shops-and-branches.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
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 a timetable for (a) bringing forward legislative proposals in support of the real living wage and (b) allocating resources to provide pay rises for key workers.
Answered by Paul Scully
My Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced during his Spending Review increases to the National Living Wage (NLW) and National Minimum Wage (NMW) to come into force from 1 April 2021. These increases mean that a full-time worker earning the NLW will be over £345 better off over the year, and allow the Government to make progress towards its long-term ambition for the NLW to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. The Government remains committed to supporting low paid workers, including key workers, and so is continuing with an increase to the NLW this year.
In July, the Government delivered a significant real-terms pay increase to 900,000 public sector workers across 9 workforces. For 2021/22, we will target resources where they will have the most benefit. The NHS Pay Review Body and Doctor and Dentist’s Review Body will make their recommendations as usual next year. We will also protect the lowest paid, with 2.1 million public sector workers earning less than £24,000 receiving a minimum £250 increase.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
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 extend the deadline for the Green Homes scheme to 31 March 2022 to mitigate the effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We understand that COVID-19 restrictions may affect the availability of installers, along with their ability to install measures in households. We have therefore stated installers must follow government guidance on ‘Construction and other outdoor work’ and any other relevant COVID-19 guidance when undertaking installations. Based on the latest advice from my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister, tradespeople may continue to work as they are unable to do so from home.
The Green Homes Grant voucher scheme is designed to help stimulate economic recovery and to support and create tens of thousands of jobs. The time-limited nature of the Scheme is determined by the nature of the funding available from HM Treasury. Any potential funding allocations for future years will be determined in the next Spending Review.