Asked by: Luke Graham (Conservative - Ochil and South Perthshire)
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 the Government has allocated to offshore wind in Scotland since 2010.
Answered by Claire Perry
Offshore wind is supported under the Renewables Obligation (RO) and Contracts for Difference (CfD). The RO was available to all eligible generators[1]. Since 2015 onwards, support has been awarded on a competitive basis using Contracts for Difference (CfD). The offshore wind capacity brought forward in Scottish waters through RO and CfD since 2010 is approximately 2.3 GW[2].
The costs of these schemes are paid for through consumers’ energy bills and managed by Ofgem and the Low Carbon Contracts Company. From 2010 to 2017/18, the last financial year for which spend figures are available, there has been £355.6 million of spending under the RO on offshore wind in Scotland. No CfD payments were made in respect of offshore wind generation in Scotland during the same period.
Innovation has been key in bringing down the costs of offshore wind. The work of the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, based in Glasgow and Levenmouth, has been, and will continue to be, important, in this. For example in June 2018 the ORE Catapult announced a £1.3 million programme of technology innovation projects designed to advance Scotland’s offshore wind sector[i]. In 2018, the Government also announced a further £73.5 million, five-year funding plan for the ORE Catapult.
[1] The RO closed to new capacity on 31 March 2017 (with exceptions that extended the deadline to 31 March 2018 for certain offshore wind stations). Accredited capacity will receive support for 20 years or until the final closure of the scheme on 31 March 2037, whichever is the earlier.
[2] CfDs awarded for 2,062 MW; under RO total installed at the end of 2017/18 was 218.5 MW.
[i] https://ore.catapult.org.uk/press-releases/innovation-funding-boost-scottish-offshore-wind/
Asked by: Luke Graham (Conservative - Ochil and South Perthshire)
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 (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to promote tidal power schemes since the decision was taken not to fund the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon project.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department has had regular engagement with Parliamentary colleagues and industry to discuss energy policy matters, including on tidal energy.
Since 2003 the Government has made £174m innovation and grant funding available to wave, tidal stream technologies (£80m of that since 2010). As set out in the Clean Growth Strategy, wave, tidal stream and tidal range technologies could have a role in the long-term decarbonisation of the UK, but they will need to demonstrate how they can compete with other forms of generation.
Asked by: Luke Graham (Conservative - Ochil and South Perthshire)
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 promote entrepreneurship and start-ups by means of the Government's Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
Our Industrial Strategy sets out our aim to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a business.
We are ranked top 10 in the world for doing business by the World Economic Forum and World Bank and amongst the very best in Europe. But as the Patient Capital Review identified, we could do better in the longer-term process of building up successful businesses to reach large-scale and as the Scale-Up Taskforce has highlighted, more can be done to increase the number of businesses that achieve their full potential.
So as part of the Industrial Strategy, we have an action plan to unlock over £20bn of investment in high potential businesses, including through establishing a new £2.5bn Patient Capital investment fund incubated within the Government owned British Business Bank (BBB). The BBB, through its Start Up Loans programme, has lent over £410m to more than 55,000 entrepreneurs across the UK to start their own businesses. The New Enterprise Allowance Scheme from the Department of Work and Pensions also provides money and support to help people receiving certain benefits to start their own business.
Through the Industrial Strategy we are continuing to invest in 38 Growth Hubs across England alongside the Business Support Helpline. Business support is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. All businesses can access core services, information and guidance on starting up and running a business, as well as their statutory rights and obligations, on GOV.UK.
More widely, the Small Business Commissioner has been launched with the purpose to assist small businesses to prevent and resolve late payment issues with their larger business customers. And we are opening up public procurement to SMEs, with a commitment to one pound in every three of central government procurement spend going to SMEs by (directly or via the supply chain) 2022.
We will also drive change through the biggest increase in public investment in R&D in our history, raising total R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Finally, we will support businesses to access international markets. This means driving up exports by the Government and private sector including identifying smaller businesses with the potential to succeed and grow as exporters.
Asked by: Luke Graham (Conservative - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's policy is on the inclusion of support for the aerospace sector in the Tay Cities Deal.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Government is working with the Tay Cities region to fulfil the commitment we made in the 2016 Budget to agree a City Deal with the local area. In line with the national Industrial Strategy, we are keen that City Deals build on local strengths and support key sectors, and the UK Government will consider supporting any local proposals in our reserved policy space that support these aims. All proposals will need to have the support of key stakeholders and will need to show that they use public money effectively to drive growth and productivity.
Asked by: Luke Graham (Conservative - Ochil and South Perthshire)
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 promote the space sector in Scotland.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department works closely with the Scottish authorities to promote the space sector in Scotland. Space companies and organisations in Scotland directly employed some 7,000 people in 2014/15, 18% of the UK’s total employees in space. In February 2018, the UK Space Agency, working with the European Space Agency, announced over £4m in investment in Spire Global to develop cutting-edge small satellite technology in Glasgow. The Space Industry Act 2018 has also received royal assent, which will boost plans to develop new space launch services in Scotland.
The UK Space Agency is also co-funding the Satellite Applications Catapult’s Scottish Centre of Excellence, which has a Scotland-wide remit to promote opportunities for increased awareness and uptake of Satellite Applications, broker partnerships and identify funding opportunities. It has also supported Space start-ups in the Tontine business incubator in Glasgow. In addition, the UK Space Agency’s Space for Smarter Government Programme is providing a training programme for Scottish Public sector organisations to help them to understand how space services can be used to deliver more efficient public services.