Oral Answers to Questions

Mike Hill Excerpts

Tuesday 29th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Alok Sharma]

I completely understand the concerns that colleagues have about the sectors that are not open. I can only reiterate, without going into full details, that we continue to have discussions with those sectors. The hon. Gentleman talks about the particular sector that he knows, which is the responsibility of another Secretary of State, but I have spoken to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport about those issues in the past day or two. We will continue to have discussions.

I say to the hon. Gentleman that we are trying to make sure that the economy stays open, and the vast majority of the economy is open, but we need to do that in a safe way. If we all play our part, we will be in a position where we can reopen the rest of the economy and move to some sense of normality.

[Mike Hill (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

What recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of locations in the UK for (a) small and (b) advanced nuclear reactors. [R]

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Nadhim Zahawi)]

The UK is fast becoming an exciting place for developing small and advanced nuclear reactor technologies. That is why we have recently invested over £130 million to support their development. We will shortly be undertaking a comprehensive assessment of siting requirements, including suitability, safety and security.

[Mike Hill]

When will the Government publish their long-awaited energy White Paper and end the uncertainty over the future of our nuclear industry?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

We are on record saying that we will publish the energy White Paper this autumn.