Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much Official Development Assistance his Department plans to allocate to projects in China in 2021.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The majority of the Department’s Official Development Assistance spend is allocated thematically, rather than geographically. Information on the level of funding for work with China in 2021 will not be available until the completion of the Statistics on International Development (SID) return at the completion of this Financial Year.
BEIS only funds work with China on addressing global development challenges together. China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and a key driver of global growth. Meeting the Paris Agreement and limiting global temperature increase to 1.5°C is impossible without action from China.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many green homes grants have been awarded in (a) Edgbaston, (b) Birmingham and (c) the West Midlands.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Official statistics for the Green Homes Grant (Voucher) Scheme were released on 18 March. The data published in this release is for all applications received to the end of February 2021.
From this release, the number of vouchers issued are as follows:
(a) Edgbaston Parliamentary Constituency - 17
(b) Birmingham Local Authority - 923
(c) the West Midlands Region – 3,522
The figures above represent the number of measures approved for installation under the scheme, with a voucher for each measure awarded to the customer.
Further scheme statistics will be published in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households in (a) Edgbaston, (b) Birmingham and (c) the West Midlands have applied to the Green Homes Grant scheme to date.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Official statistics for the Green Homes Grant (Voucher) Scheme were released on 18 March. The data published in this release is for all applications received to the end of February 2021.
From this release, the number of household applications received are as follows:
(a) Edgbaston Parliamentary Constituency - 82
(b) Birmingham Local Authority - 2,443
(c) the West Midlands Region - 9,106
A ‘household application’ refers to a grant application submitted to request Voucher scheme funding for all measures to be fitted in a single household.
Further scheme statistics will be published in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 the results of the Government's consultation on subsidising overseas fossil fuel projects.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government published its response on the 24th March. The link to this publication will be available soon.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 informed the UKRI of their Official Development Assistance budget for the financial year 2021-22.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The 21/22 Official Development Assistance allocation for my Department was confirmed on 27th January through the settlement letter issued by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary. BEIS communicated proposed 21/22 ODA allocations to our Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund Delivery Partners – including UKRI – within two weeks of receiving this confirmation. These proposed allocations remain subject to final confirmation, as part of the Departmental allocations process for R&D (ODA and non-ODA). We aim to update our partners on final allocations for 2021/22 as soon as possible.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) he or (b) Ministers in his Department met with the UKRI's advisory groups prior to the announcement that his Department's allocation of Official Development Assistance in 2021-22 would leave a £120 million gap between allocations and commitments to grant holders.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All Government Departments with responsibility for spending Official Development Assistance took part in a cross-government process, led by my Rt. Hon. Friend the First Secretary of State, to review in detail how ODA is allocated between key priorities - recognising the difficult economic circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ministers across multiple departments engaged in these discussions as part of the process. BEIS ministers regularly meet with UKRI on allocations and other issues.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his officials in his Department instructed representatives of UKRI to discuss planned budget reductions with stakeholders and recipients of Official Development Assistance funded projects after the Spending Review in November 2020 and the 10 March 2021.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
All Government Departments with responsibility for spending Official Development Assistance took part in a cross-government process, led by my Rt. Hon. Friend the First Secretary of State, to review in detail how ODA is allocated between key priorities - recognising the difficult economic circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ministers across multiple departments engaged in these discussions as part of the process. BEIS ministers regularly meet with UKRI on allocations and other issues.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 the level of employment in (a) the UK and (b) overseas of the reduced Official Development Assistance allocations to UK Research and Innovation.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises the importance of supporting international research partnerships, and supporting the UK research sector. Our commitment to research and innovation has been clearly demonstrated by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget announcement of increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22, and as has been set out in our Integrated Review ambitions, international collaboration is central to a healthy and productive R&D sector.
We are working with UKRI and all our Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund Delivery Partners to manage next year’s ODA allocation.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 effect of the reductions in ODA to the UKRI on the UK's relationships with international partners.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government recognises the importance of supporting international research partnerships, and supporting the UK research sector. Our commitment to research and innovation has been clearly demonstrated by my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget announcement of increasing investment in R&D across government to £14.6bn in 2021/22, and as has been set out in our Integrated Review ambitions, international collaboration is central to a healthy and productive R&D sector.
We are working with UKRI and all our Global Challenges Research Fund and Newton Fund Delivery Partners to manage next year’s ODA allocation.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an estimate of the potential number of job losses (a) in the UK and (b) overseas as a result of the reduced Official Development Assistance allocations to UK Research and Innovation.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
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 making difficult decisions when it comes to prioritising how we spend aid money to deliver the most impactful outcomes.
BEIS is working with its ODA Delivery Partners, including UKRI, to manage the implementation of the 21/22 ODA settlement.