Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made on bringing communal heating networks under OFGEM regulation and making them subject to the energy price cap.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government remains committed to the important measures in the Energy Security Bill to deliver change in the energy system over the long term, including giving new powers to Ofgem as the preferred regulator for the heat networks sector. The UK is facing a global energy crisis and the Government must ensure it prioritises, delivering the measures in the Energy Prices Act, including introducing the Energy Price Guarantee and Energy Bill Relief Scheme. The Energy Security Bill contains powers to set price caps in the heat network sector but government has committed only to utilising these powers in the future cautiously as ‘heat tariff’ caps would risk deterring investment and innovation in a nascent market key to lowering emissions and reducing consumer bills over the longer term.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to provide energy bill support for the two year duration of the energy price guarantee to households such as those living in park homes or on heat networks who do not buy mains gas and electricity directly.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Households in Great Britain that are eligible for these payments will receive £100 as a credit on their electricity bill this winter. Households who are eligible for, but do not receive Alternative Fuel Payment or the £100 heat network payment, because they do not have a relationship with an electricity supplier for example, will receive the £100 via the Alternative Fuel Payment Alternative Fund, which will be provided by a designated body. The Government will confirm details of the AFP Alternative Fund shortly.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to place a cap on energy price support provided to households such as those living in park homes or who are on heat networks who do not pay directly for mains gas and electricity.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Where intermediaries benefit from the Energy Price Guarantee, Energy Bills Support Scheme or Energy Bill Relief Scheme, they are required to pass the support they receive to their end users, such as residents of park homes or those on heat networks. Intermediaries should pass on the discount irrespective of how the end user pays for their energy use. If the intermediary charges based on the end user’s usage, they must do this at the same price they pay, including any benefit under the Energy Price Guarantee and Energy Bill Relief Scheme. If the intermediary charges an “all inclusive” rent the intermediary should pass the discount on in a fair and proportionate way.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the announcement made on 29 July 2022 on Energy Bills Support Scheme, whether it is his policy that people such as those living in park homes or on heat networks who do not pay directly for mains gas and electricity will need to make individual claims for energy bill support.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government will be announcing details in the Autumn for how these households, including park homes and those on heat networks, will receive the £400 of support.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has held meetings with (a) Daniel Kretinsky and (b) representatives of VESA Equity Investment SARL in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Ministers regularly meet with external stakeholders. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings.
The latest published data covers January to March 2022, further data will be published in due course. In line with Cabinet Office Guidance organisations are listed instead of individuals.
Details of meetings held by officials are not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will introduce a car scrappage scheme which incentivises people to replace their higher-polluting vehicle with an electric or hybrid vehicle.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is providing significant support to consumers and businesses to purchase and run ultra-low emission vehicles and therefore has no plans to introduce a car scrappage scheme.
The Government has already committed £1.5 billion to support the early market and remove barriers to zero emission vehicle ownership. Alongside the new phase out dates of 2030 and 2035 my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced in his Ten Point Plan in November, we have pledged a further £2.8 billion package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the transition to zero emission vehicles. This package includes up to £1 billion for R&D and capital investments in strategically important parts of the electric vehicle supply chain, £1.3 billion to accelerate the roll out of charging infrastructure and £582 million for plug in vehicle grants.
Additionally, the Government already provides a number of subsidies for consumers and businesses to purchase and run ultra-low emission vehicles, including the plug-in car and van grants (£2,500 towards eligible cars costing less than £35,000, small vans can receive up to £3,000 and large vans up to £6,000) lower tax rates, and grants towards the installation of chargepoints.
The transition to zero emission vehicles will help meet greenhouse gas reduction goals, contribute to reducing poor air quality in our towns and cities and can contribute to economic growth in the UK by providing skilled jobs in the automotive sector.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to publish the Pathway to Net Zero strategy.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We will publish a comprehensive Net Zero Strategy ahead of COP26, setting out the Government’s vision for transitioning to a net zero economy. This will raise ambition as we outline our path to meet net zero by 2050, our Carbon Budgets and Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 training and apprenticeships in the construction sector to increase the number of qualified insulators to help meet targets to reduce emissions from people’s homes.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) launched a £6.9m skills competition in September 2020 to provide training opportunities for energy efficiency and low carbon heating supply chains to deliver works and scale up to meet additional consumer demand. Funding is provided to support training individuals with existing skills and those new to the sector in energy efficiency and clean heat measures, along with support for installation companies to gain the required PAS 2030 standards or Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) accreditation, including possible contribution to certification costs.
Applications for the scheme are now closed. 18 successful applicants have been awarded a total sum of £6.4 million and have now started training, offering free or subsidised courses covering a wide range of skills and certifications across both energy efficiency and clean heat measures.
The Government is investing in the UK workforce to ensure that people have the right skills and qualifications to deliver the low-carbon transition and thrive in the high-value jobs this will create. BEIS and the Department for Education (DfE) are jointly leading work to consider the skills and jobs needed to help deliver net zero, including green retrofit skills. The Green Jobs Taskforce is working with industry, unions and providers to develop solutions and recommendations that will be refined into a shortlist of high impact actions that will make up a final Green Jobs Action Plan due to be published in Summer 2021.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
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 ensure umbrella companies comply with legislation on the payment of holiday pay.
Answered by Paul Scully
It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason his Department committed to allocating research grants to universities through the Official Development Assistance programme before the budget was reduced.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Effective research and development programmes are frequently long-term and involve considerable planning and application stages in order to ensure value for money. It is standard therefore for some commitment to be made in advance of a project’s initiation. This commitment is always made on the understanding that there is no guaranteed funding past the point of the current Government spending review period.
The challenging financial situation we face due to the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a temporary reduction in the UK’s aid spending target from 0.7% of GNI to 0.5%. This means having to make unexpected and difficult decisions when it comes to prioritising how we spend aid money to deliver the most impactful outcomes.