Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish details regarding the additional funding being provided under the Energy Bills Support Scheme to ensure that the £400 payments are extended to include people who do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an energy supplier, such as park home residents.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As announced on 29 July, the EBSS Alternative Funding will be available to provide equivalent support of £400 for energy bills for the households who will not be reached through the EBSS. This includes those who do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an energy supplier, such as park home residents.
The Government is working with a range of organisations, such as local authorities, as well as Devolved Administrations and across UK Government, to finalise the details of the Alternative Funding and have the process up and running for applications this winter.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
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 effect on his policies of trends in the level of population growth in the East of England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government recognises that the East of England is a fast growing and diverse region. The Department considers a range of factors when making policy decisions and, where population is a factor in those decisions, the latest official population statistics are used.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is the Government's policy to advocate for the UK’s return to the North Sea Energy Cooperation.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides for the establishment of a specific forum for cooperation in relation to offshore grid development and the large renewable energy potential of the North Seas region, similar to the previous North Seas Energy Cooperation. The Government is currently negotiating the terms of cooperation with the European Commission, with a view to agreeing a Memorandum of Understanding that is acceptable to both sides as soon as possible.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
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 engage his counterparts in other countries bordering the North Sea on energy cooperation in the North Sea.
Answered by Greg Hands
The North Seas cooperation, as laid out by Government in its British Energy Security Strategy, will accelerate the development of offshore windfarms with links to continental power grids. This will unleash hundreds of gigawatts of clean energy into North Seas countries’ electricity systems.
The Government has strong, cooperative relationships with North Seas partners and has recently concluded a Treaty with Norway on interconnection and a Memorandum of Understanding with Belgium on offshore cooperation.
The Government has also been working with Denmark to agree to formalise cooperation on the energy transition and is currently negotiating the terms of cooperation on North Seas Energy Cooperation with the European Commission.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent conversations he has had with his counterpart in the Norwegian Government on the North Sea Link interconnector.
Answered by Greg Hands
On 23 March 2022, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State attended the International Energy Agency 2022 Ministerial meeting and met Mr Terje Aasland, Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Norway. Following this introduction, the Secretary of State wrote to Mr Terje Aasland on 1 April 2022 and copies of that letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether officials in his Department have held discussions with representatives of network operators on the adequacy of the network's capacity to meet demand for heat pumps from 2025 and electric vehicle charging from 2023.
Answered by Greg Hands
While network regulation is a matter for Ofgem, the Government maintains regular dialogue with network operators including on their plans to prepare for heat pump and electric vehicle charging rollout. Effective integration of technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicles will enable more flexible consumption, helping minimise network and system costs.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
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 is taking steps to support the domestic heat pump manufacturing industry in advance of the implementation of the Future Homes Standard in 2025.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is putting in place a package of measures to build a globally competitive UK heat pump manufacturing sector. This includes policies to help build demand for heat pumps, like the £450 million Boiler Upgrade Scheme, as well as those that incentivise inward investment in the supply chain, such as the Super Deduction Capital Allowance Scheme and the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition. There has already been significant investment in the UK heat pump supply chain over the past 12 months from companies like Mitsubishi, Octopus Energy, Vaillant and Ideal Heating, and the Government expects this growth to continue.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
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 a record of the number of trained heat pump installers in 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) reports that over 1300 businesses are certified to install heat pumps under its scheme and estimates that this includes approximately 4,000 installers in the UK, up from approximately 3,500 at the end of 2021. The total number of trained installers is, however, likely to be greater than this, as MCS Certification is only required for installations receiving Government grant funding. The Government has commissioned further research into the existing heating and cooling installer workforce in England, which will be completed later this year.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
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 is taking steps to provide support for gas boilers installers retraining as heat pump installers in advance of the implementation of the Future Homes Standard in 2025.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is working closely with industry to support gas boiler installers retraining to install heat pumps. In September 2020 the Government launched a £6 million skills competition to provide training opportunities for the energy-efficiency and low-carbon heating supply chains, including heat pump training for over 2000 heating engineers. The Government is developing plans for a further Skills Training Competition in 2022/23 and intends to continue work with industry to support retraining.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of a heat pump installer certification scheme, similar to the Gas Safe Register, to protect consumers who are purchasing heat pumps.
Answered by Greg Hands
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Strangford on 1st July 2022 to Question 22437.