Mike Amesbury

The Government understands the critical importance of prompt, fair and effective payment to all businesses, helping them grow and thrive.

Since 1 September 2019, suppliers already risk being excluded from winning large government contracts if they cannot demonstrate prompt payment to their supply chains. Suppliers must now demonstrate they pay 90% of their invoices within 60 days or be excluded, and provide an action plan for improvement if they are not paying 95% within 60 days, or risk similarly being excluded.

The Emergency Alerts capability is expected to be trialled nationally later this year. This will be preceded by a public information campaign culminating in a national welcome message - a simultaneous test message sent to all compatible mobile phones across the United Kingdom. This approach has been found elsewhere to maximise awareness and understanding on how recipients should react on receiving alerts.

The capability is expected to be launched with a focus over the winter on extreme weather related events. Subject to an evaluation in the spring, its scope will likely be widened out to other use cases. There will always be a very high threshold for issuing an alert based on strict criteria centred on an immediate threat to life and the applicability of the capability to the event in hand, rather than a scenario driven approach.

The Emergency Alerts capability is technically ready to launch having been tested at a local and regional level and is expected to be trialled nationally later this year. The government is currently reviewing all new spending following the Chancellor's announcement last week in accordance with the government's plan for growth. This will inform a final decision on the timing of any trial.

The Emergency Alerts capability is technically ready to launch having been tested at a local and regional level and is expected to be trialled nationally later this year. The government is currently reviewing all new spending following the Chancellor's announcement last week in accordance with the government's plan for growth. This will inform a final decision on the timing of any trial.

The Government is deeply concerned about the information that has come to light through the Grenfell Public Inquiry.

Kingspan are not direct suppliers on Crown Commercial Service’s frameworks. We expect the company to review aspects of the way it operates, to ensure that the public can be confident in construction products and corresponding marketing, particularly where public safety is paramount.

The grounds for the exclusion of bidders from public procurement procedures are set out in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. These rules set out the circumstances in which bidders must, or may, be excluded from a public procurement process.

Decisions need to be based around firm evidence and individual contracting authorities are responsible for their own decisions on these matters.

It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office.

The EnAble Fund for Elected Office opened in December 2018 and closed in March 2020. The Government has been clear that the responsibility for supporting disabled candidates sits with political parties.

An evaluation of the EnAble Fund is due to be published shortly.

The Government has provided service charities with financial support during the Covid-19 pandemic, to ensure the support being delivered by these crucial organisations can continue. In addition to the normal lines of funding offered to the service charity sector, the Government has made available £6million through the Covid-19 Impact Fund. This has been distributed to 100 charities, including the Royal British Legion. RBL social clubs may also apply for grants from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.

It remains the Government’s intention to leave the EU with a deal and not participate in European Parliamentary elections.

Returning Officers, who are statutorily independent, work with their local authority to ensure the necessary support and resource are made available to them to deliver elections, including through following guidance issued by the Electoral Commission.

The Government has made it clear that the UK intends to leave the EU with a deal and not take part in the European Parliamentary Elections (EPE) in May if possible, however, all the necessary preparations will be made for the election to take place on 23 May.

As is normal practice, the Cabinet Office is currently in process of finalising cost estimates and these will be published in the relevant Charges Order in due course.

The Government is considering the impact and role of the Small Business Commissioner as part of the Payment and Cash Flow Review. The conclusions of the review will be published in due course.

The latest available data shows that at the end of March 2023 there were:

- 79,000 business births in the last three months;

- 149,000 business births in the last six months;

- 307,000 business births in the last 12 months; and

- 661,000 business births in the last 24 months.

(ONS, Business demography, Quarterly experimental statistics, UK, Q1 2023)

The National Wealth Fund builds on the success of the UK Infrastructure Bank, expanding its mandate, with an enhanced risk budget, to support the broader Industrial Strategy.

The National Wealth Fund aims to address key barriers to investment and strengthen the entire value chain, by catalysing more private investment and accelerating investable projects coming to market to unlock growth opportunities across the UK. This will ensure robust support for domestic clean energy supply chains.

Given the key interactions between the two departments, this Department is in regular discussions with the Department of Business and Trade regarding the Industrial Strategy

Due in Spring 2025, the Industrial Strategy will channel support to eight key growth-driving sectors – those in which the UK excels today and will excel tomorrow – and this includes Clean Energy Industries. Future work will be done to determine the key subsectors, using evidence collected from the Invest 2035 Green Paper and further evidence-gathering.

The Chancellor has launched the National Wealth Fund, capitalised with £27.8bn, to mobilise billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s world-leading clean energy and growth industries.

£8.3bn has also been announced for Great British Energy which will work in lockstep with the National Wealth Fund.

The Government has just launched the Clean Industry Bonus, an addition to Contract for Difference (CfD) payments for fixed and floating offshore wind developers who invest in their supply chains.

The Government will set out its full approach to supporting UK clean energy supply chains in the Industrial Strategy in the spring.

As set out in the recent Invest: 2035 Green Paper, clean energy industries are a priority growth sector for the UK. The Government will set out its full Industrial Strategy in the spring to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in the high-growth sectors that will drive our growth mission.

The Government has just launched the Clean Industry Bonus, an addition to Contract for Difference (CfD) payments for fixed and floating offshore wind developers who invest in their supply chains.

The Government has capitalised the National Wealth Fund with £27.8bn, which will mobilise billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s world-leading clean energy and growth industries, and support the delivery of the Industrial Strategy.

£8.3bn has also been announced for the newly created Great British Energy which will work in lockstep with the National Wealth Fund.

The most recent published statistics on Warm Home Discount can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/warm-home-discount-statistics-2023-to-2024

The published statistics use parliamentary constituency boundaries as defined prior to the 2024 General Election.

The Government does not hold the data on the number of buildings where insulation has been installed through a government funded scheme and subsequently required remediation work.

Since 2019, all installations under government energy efficiency schemes have been required to be carried out by TrustMark registered and PAS 2030 or MCS certified businesses to improve the quality of installations and protect consumers. TrustMark registered installers are required to provide all consumers with a guarantee covering the installation work for up to 25 years for a range of energy efficiency measures.

The UK local and regional greenhouse gas emissions national statistics, 2005 to 2020 set out emissions data down to the local authority level.

The Government does not hold information on, nor has it estimated, the network connection date for this project. The latest publicly available information on the connection of the Aston Grange project is provided on the Scottish Power Energy Networks Embedded Capacity Register:

https://www.spenergynetworks.co.uk/pages/embedded_capacity_register.aspx.

Regional data, such as for Weaver Vale, is not yet available. Electricity suppliers, who delivered the automatic enrolment element of the scheme, are providing MPAN-level delivery data to Government, and further details will be published in due course. The Alternative Fund for the Alternative Fuel Payment, the element which requires an application, launched recently on 6 March and early data is still being collected. Transparency data also will be published in due course.

Over 85% of eligible households have received the payment automatically via their electricity supplier during February. Most households did not need to take any action to receive the support. A small proportion of households will need to apply for the AFP, for example because they do not have a relationship with an electricity supplier. Applications for this Alternative Fund opened on 6 March through a GOV.UK portal which includes an overview of eligibility and what steps households need to take to apply for support.

The vast majority of the estimated 2 million households in the UK who use alternative fuels for heating will have received their payment automatically from their electricity supplier in January / February (Northern Ireland) and February (Great Britain). The application schemes for those households who did not receive an automatic payment but are eligible for support opened on 27 February (Northern Ireland) and 6 March (Great Britain).

Transparency data will be published in due course.

Current UK hydrogen production is mostly high carbon ‘grey’ hydrogen, including that produced as a by-product of another industrial process, with an estimated annual production of 21TWh. In these cases, emissions data held by Government is based on overall site emissions, so it is not possible to estimate the direct contribution of hydrogen production. Government is supporting industrial decarbonisation and new low carbon hydrogen production as part of the Net Zero Growth Plan, with around 4-5MW of electrolytic hydrogen already in operation. The UK’s Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard will ensure any production supported by Government meets strict emission thresholds.

The precise impact of a new hydrogen levy on energy bills will depend on future policy design choices and market conditions. This means there is currently uncertainty regarding possible consumer bill impacts.

The Government will consult on the detailed levy design before laying regulations that introduce the levy. The Government intends to publish an Impact Assessment alongside the first set of regulations that is expected to provide information on the potential impacts of the levy on consumers’ energy bills.

There are no plans to remove the proposed hydrogen levy from the Energy Bill.

The purpose of the levy is to provide long-term funding for the hydrogen production business model. This could unlock significant private sector capital by 2030, create thousands of jobs, grow CCUS and hydrogen supply chains, and deliver carbon savings which help meet net zero.

The provisions in the Bill will not immediately introduce a levy. They will only enable Government to introduce a levy through secondary legislation. The decision to introduce the levy will take into account all relevant considerations, including energy bill affordability.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) budget is £450 million, split equally over three financial years (2022-2025). The Government explored options to carry over unused budget from year 1 of the scheme, but due to the accounting rules for capital spending, the Government does not expect this to be possible and the underspend will be returned to HM Treasury.

House boats with a permanent residential mooring can receive the Alternative Fuel Payment via the Alternative Fund where otherwise eligible. To check eligibility and apply, people need to search for “Apply for the alternative fuel bill support if you do not get it automatically” in the search bar on GOV.UK or in an internet search engine.

The Government is also keen to support those without fixed address. The Government is currently working to find an acceptable method for these households to provide proof of eligibility, whilst protecting public funds, so they can claim the AFP AF support.