Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the cost and quality of servicing renewable heating systems remain affordable and easy to maintain.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is working closely with industry to ensure that there are sufficient qualified installers to install and service low carbon heating systems. In September 2020 the Government launched a £6 million skills competition to provide training opportunities for the energy-efficiency and low-carbon heating supply chains, including training for heat pump installers.
The Government has also recently invested £550 million to significantly expand Skills Bootcamps. The next round of procurement for the delivery of the next wave of Skills Bootcamp, closes for bids on 28 February and includes funding for green skills, like the installing and servicing of heat pumps.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure there are enough engineers being trained to service renewable heating systems and energy efficient homes.
Answered by Greg Hands
In September 2020 the Government launched a £6million skills competition to provide training opportunities for the energy-efficiency and low-carbon heating supply chains. These programmes provided free or subsidised courses covering a wide range of skills and certifications across both energy efficiency and clean heat measures for individuals with existing skills and those new to the sector.
The Government is also investing £1.6billion through the National Skills Fund in the next three years, on top of the £375million already committed in financial year 2021-22. This includes investment of up to £550million to significantly expand Skills Bootcamps, which provide adults in England with in-demand skills in a range of areas. The Government has recently opened a new round of procurement for delivery of the next wave of Skills Bootcamps, which closes for bids on 28 February. This round includes funding for green skills, which could include the installing and servicing of heat pumps or energy efficiency measures.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
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 reduce energy costs for consumers across the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands
On 3 February, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a package of support worth £9.1 billion to help domestic energy customers with the costs of rising energy bills. This includes a £150 non-repayable Council Tax rebate in April 2022 to all households in Council Tax Bands A-D, and £144 million of discretionary funding for local authorities to support those not eligible for the Council Tax rebate.
To spread the cost of this year’s energy price shock over time, from October 2022 the Government will provide funding to all energy suppliers for them to pass a £200 reduction on to domestic electricity customers’ bills. This will be recouped through energy bills over five years from 2023.
Our exposure to volatile global gas prices underscores the importance of the Government’s plan to build a strong, home-grown renewable energy sector to further reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Improving the energy efficiency of homes is the most effective way of permanently reducing the energy bills by reducing the amount of energy required to heat the home. It can also tackle fuel poverty in the long term. There are a number of schemes specifically targeting low income and fuel poor households to enable them to improve their energy efficiency including the Energy Company Obligation (‘ECO’) and Sustainable Warmth.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a legal requirement for UK businesses to carry out human rights and environmental due diligence on their supply chains.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK Government expects all British companies to adhere to the rule of law and build respect for human rights and the environment into all aspects of their operations both domestically and in other territories.
The promotion of due diligence is already provided for under existing legislation on corporate transparency, holding businesses to account on human rights and environmental matters. UK listed companies are required to cover relevant human rights and environmental issues in their annual reports. Large businesses are required to publish supply chain transparency statements on steps they have taken to ensure that no modern slavery or human trafficking is taking place in their business and through their supply chains. Both reporting requirements compel disclosure of a company’s due diligence arrangements where these are in place.
The Government is also committed to tackling deforestation and greening supply chains. The UK Timber Regulations prohibit the placing of illegally harvested timber and timber products on the UK market and requires operators, when they are first placing such products on the UK market, to undertake due diligence. The UK is also introducing world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act, which looks specifically at tackling illegal deforestation in UK supply chains.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
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 merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to hold companies accountable in the event that they fail to prevent harm in their supply chains, including through liability provisions.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK has a strong record on human rights and environmental awareness and protection, much of which results from our framework of legislation. This includes the promotion of due diligence by holding businesses to account on human rights and environmental matters.
In certain circumstances, companies can already be held liable at law for breaches of duties of care to others where harm is suffered as a foreseeable consequence of the breach.
The Companies Act 2006 includes the need for Public Interest Entities with 500 or more employees to describe its business relationships which are likely to cause adverse impacts, and how it manages risks arising from matters such as environmental considerations and human rights.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) proactive and (b) reactive measures the Office for Product Safety and Standards' voluntary commitment will require online marketplaces to take in order to reduce the risks from unsafe products sold online.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is committed to ensuring that only safe products can be sold in the UK.
The new voluntary commitment that the Office for Product Safety and Standards is developing will build on international best practice to reduce the risks from unsafe products being sold online. This will strengthen the commitment of online marketplaces to work with UK regulators, including by taking proactive and reactive action to protect consumers.
Discussions with the online marketplaces are ongoing and more details will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to support early career researchers in the R&D People Strategy.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The R&D People and Culture Strategy, due to be published in Summer 2021, will look to ensure the UK has the people we need at all levels, working in a culture that gets the best out of everyone and delivers the best outcomes for the country.
The Strategy will set out the actions that the R&D sector, including government, funders, employers and individuals will need to take to help achieve this ambition. It will also look to ensure we value all the roles that people play in our R&D system, ensuring capacity and capability across academia and industry.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with representatives of the UK Weddings Taskforce on the potential (a) job losses in the wedding industry and (b) effect on women working in that industry of its operation at a restricted capacity until 21 June 2021 following the Government's announcement of the covid-19 roadmap.
Answered by Paul Scully
I meet regularly with the industry-led Weddings Taskforce, established to represent all parts of the UK Weddings sector, to understand the impact on jobs and businesses. We regularly discuss the sector’s financial position and the companies’ preparations for reopening, in line with the Government’s “Covid-19 Response – Spring 2021” roadmap.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions officials in his Department have had with women working in the wedding sector during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
I meet regularly with the industry-led Weddings Taskforce, established to represent all parts of the UK Weddings sector, to understand the impact on jobs and businesses, including on women who work in the sector.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what additional support the Government plans to provide to Debenhams staff and suppliers following its brand acquisition by Boohoo.
Answered by Paul Scully
The DWP Rapid Response Service is in ongoing conversations with Debenhams, who have been offered support from the service. The Rapid Response Service offers support including: helping people write CVs and find jobs; providing information about benefits; helping people to find the right training and learn new skills; and helping with costs like travel to work expenses.
We are helping those who have lost jobs in the pandemic through our £238m JETS (Job Entry Targeted Support) programme and have launched a £2bn Kickstart scheme.
Local authorities have been allocated a further £500m in discretionary funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant to support those businesses that are significantly impacted by the restrictions even though they may not be required to close. This is in addition to £1.1bn already allocated in November 2020. Local authorities have discretion to use this funding to support businesses in the way they see fit, which could include supporting businesses which supply the retail sector.