Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 support residents in flats with communal boilers who are not covered by the energy price cap.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Energy suppliers to communal heat networks use commercial contracts. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) provides a price reduction to eligible Heat Suppliers. The EBRS Pass-through Requirement (Heat Suppliers) Regulations 2022 requires eligible heat suppliers to pass on the benefits of the discount to heat customers in a just and reasonable way.
Support provided via the EBRS is in addition to other help available, such as the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) which gives all domestic electricity customers in Great Britain £400 off their bills.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Departments position on the UK's membership of the Energy Charter Treaty of the withdrawal of (a) Germany, (b) France, (c) the Netherlands, (d) Spain, (e) Poland, (f) Slovenia and (g) from that treaty.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is monitoring developments closely in the Energy Charter Treaty as part of its engagement with the Treaty’s modernisation process.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to consult (a) civil society organisations representing people (i) with disabilities, (ii) by age groups and (iii) with other protected characteristics and (b) the public in the preparation of the equalities impact assessment for the heat and buildings strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government considers the equalities impacts of all its individual policies, including preparing an equalities impact assessment wherever appropriate, once those policies reach a suitable point in their development. That is the case for the policies set out in the Heat and Buildings Strategy.
Engagement with industry and civil society groups was undertaken during the development of the Heat and Buildings Strategy, including through the process of policy consultation.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 provide details of the equalities impact assessment which will be undertaken for the heat and buildings strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We consider the equalities impacts of all our individual policies, including preparing an equalities impact assessment wherever appropriate, once those policies reach a suitable point in their development. Equality analyses to fulfil the requirements of the Public Sector Equalities Duty are living documents that are updated as policies develop, and therefore, it is not common practice that these are shared publicly. However, as individual policies develop, impact assessments, which include consideration of public sector equalities duties, are published at an appropriate time in the policy lifecycle (for example, during a consultation).
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 energy providers on sharing smart meter data with local and central government.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The smart metering Data Access and Privacy Framework permits proportionate access to energy consumption data from smart meters by authorised parties while safeguarding consumers’ privacy.
As the smart meter rollout progresses, the Government will continue working with industry and consumer groups to assess further potential benefits of sharing smart metering data to address policy challenges, subject to appropriate privacy safeguards. The Framework ensures that consumers have control over who can access their energy consumption data and for what purposes, except where this is required for regulated purposes (for example, billing).
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling the sharing of smart meter data across (a) the energy sector and (b) local and central government.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The smart metering Data Access and Privacy Framework permits proportionate access to energy consumption data from smart meters by authorised parties while safeguarding consumers’ privacy.
As the smart meter rollout progresses, the Government will continue working with industry and consumer groups to assess further potential benefits of sharing smart metering data to address policy challenges, subject to appropriate privacy safeguards. The Framework ensures that consumers have control over who can access their energy consumption data and for what purposes, except where this is required for regulated purposes (for example, billing).
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential role of smart meter data, beyond influencing the behaviour of energy companies and consumers, in the better regulation of building energy efficiency and reaching net zero.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department recognises the role that smart metering and smart metering data can play in improving building energy efficiency. The BEIS-funded Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Efficiency Rating Innovation Competition developed, demonstrated and assessed new methods for measuring the thermal performance of homes using smart meter and other data.
The Department is continuing to work with industry to assess how smart meter metrics can be used to support the delivery of net zero emissions from heating and powering homes.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 set out his plans for supporting the community energy sector in the future.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government recognises that community energy groups have a role to play in the Department’s efforts to decarbonise the economy.
Through the introduction of UK-wide growth funding schemes, such as the Towns Fund, the Government is enabling local areas to tackle net zero goals in ways that best suit their needs. The Government encourages community energy groups to work closely with their local authority to support the development of community energy projects within these schemes.
The Government also plans to reintroduce the Community Energy Contact Group to strengthen engagement with the sector.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
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 his Department's press release of 25 January 2022 entitled £60 million boost for floating offshore wind, what the local content requirements stipulated by the match-funded projects are.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Lead applicants to the Floating Offshore Wind Demonstration Programme needed to be UK-based registered with Companies House. One of the criteria that applications to this innovation and R&D programme were assessed upon was their ability to deliver new and disruptive UK supply chain content. I am pleased that a Doncaster-based ropes manufacturer are partners in two of the successful projects, which serves of a great example of how Yorkshire is benefiting from this Government's programme creating jobs in their constituency
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield, Hallam)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the context of relocating his Department's policy official roles from Sheffield to London in 2016, what assessment he had made of the implications for (a) staff welfare and (b) value for money of the decision to begin relocating 1,350 BEIS roles out of London.
Answered by George Freeman
I am unable to comment on the decisions taken by the former BIS Department, to close the Sheffield office as part of the BIS 2020 programme and relocate policy roles to London, as this was taken by senior officials from a legacy department. Following the EU Exit referendum in 2016, the consequential machinery of government change that brought about the formation of the new BEIS department, also brought an end to the BIS 2020 programme and since then, BEIS policy roles have not been confined to London only.
BEIS’ contribution to the Government’s Places for Growth agenda was agreed in 2019/20 and forms part of the overall 22,000 roles that are being relocated, of which our commitment is 1350 roles outside London by 2025. Support is in place for line managers and members of staff working in these new locations, including managing cross-site teams. As the organisation becomes less London-centric, we will see a cost saving for the Department.