Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 review the Government's policy on hydraulic fracturing for shale gas; and if he will consider in that review the (a) extent of public opposition to that technique and (b) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's recent findings that significant decarbonisation must take place within 12 years.
Answered by Claire Perry
There are no plans to review the policy on shale gas, it remains the Government’s view that there are potentially substantial benefits from the safe and sustainable exploration and development of our onshore shale gas resources.
Wave 25 of the Public Attitude tracker from April 2018 showed that 64% of people either supported or were neither in support or opposition to shale gas developments in the UK.
The Government remains committed to decarbonising the economy. Natural gas still meets a third of our energy demand and can have a long-term role – particularly alongside the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage – which is compatible with our climate change targets as we transition to a low carbon economy.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September to Question 168987 on Electricity: Storage, when Ofgem plans to respond to the consultation on Clarifying the regulatory framework for electricity storage: Licensing which closed in November 2017.
Answered by Claire Perry
In the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan, published by the Government and Ofgem in July 2017, Ofgem committed to modify the generation licence to include electricity storage facilities. Ofgem has consulted on this and will respond shortly. In the meantime, storage operators can continue to apply to Ofgem for the existing generation licence.
We published a progress update to the Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan on the 16th October 2018.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September to Question 168979 on Electricity: Storage, for what reason the Government has no plans to move offshore wind into Pot 1.
Answered by Claire Perry
The basis on which technologies are included in the Contracts for Difference pots is set out in our 2014 State Aid approval.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to (a) update the definition of electricity storage and (b) tackle double charging and other regulatory disparities.
Answered by Claire Perry
In our Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan, published last year, the Government committed to amending the Electricity Act 1989 to define electricity storage as a distinct subset of generation in primary legislation, when parliamentary time allows. This is an important measure to improve regulatory clarity for electricity storage, and one that we will honour.
The Plan also addressed the issue of storage operators overpaying certain levies and charges. Ofgem has consulted on a new modified generation licence for storage facilities and will respond to this consultation shortly. Storage providers that hold this licence will not pay towards certain levies (the Renewables Obligation, Feed in Tariff, Contracts for Difference and Capacity Market auctions costs). The Government has also clarified that the electricity received and stored by electricity storage facilities may be supplied to them free from the Climate Change Levy where relevant conditions are met.
Ofgem outlined in their Targeted Charging Review Consultation, their view that storage is currently overpaying network charges and stated that the industry is best placed to take forward these changes. Industry has now raised these code modifications, and these are now going through industry governance.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 25 July 2018 to Question 164267 on Wind Power: Seas and Oceans, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of the recommendation by the National Infrastructure Commission’s to move offshore wind into Pot 1.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government will respond to the National Infrastructure Commission’s Assessment in due course but there are no plans to move offshore wind into Pot 1.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission in the National Infrastructure Assessment, published on 10 July 2018, whether his Department has plans to (a) move offshore wind into pot 1 and (b) provide greater clarity on auction plans.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Clean Growth Strategy announced up to £557 million of annual support for further Contracts for Difference.
The next competitive auction for less established renewable technologies, including offshore wind, is planned to be held in spring 2019.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of pensioners who do not receive the Warm Home Discount as a result of being customers of a supplier with fewer than 250,000 customers; and whether his Department plans to extend the obligation to provide that discount to smaller energy suppliers.
Answered by Claire Perry
On 15 June, Government announced that it will lower the threshold for suppliers’ participation in the scheme from 250,000 down to 150,000 customer accounts between 2019 and 2021. From 2021, if the scheme were to continue, Government will review the threshold, with a view to continuing to reduce it, if the evidence supports this approach. A gradual approach will ensure that smaller suppliers have enough time to put the right processes in place to take part in the scheme and reflects the increasing maturity of challengers in the energy retail market.
Of the roughly 1.4m Pension Credit Guaranteed Credit recipients, over 1.2m receive the Warm Home Discount automatically on their energy bills as a result of being with a participating supplier and being named on the energy bill. We estimate that roughly 60,000 pension credit guarantee credit recipients who would be eligible under the scheme do not receive the rebate as a result of being with a non-participating supplier. As a result of the changes introduced, 20,000 more pensioners in 2019/20, and an additional 10,000 pensioners in 2020/21 could benefit from the scheme, if the eligibility criteria were to continue in their current form.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of pensioners who do not receive the Warm Home Discount as a result of being customers of a supplier with fewer than 250,000 customers; and whether his Department plans to extend the obligation to provide that discount to smaller energy suppliers.
Answered by Claire Perry
On 15 June, Government announced that it will lower the threshold for suppliers’ participation in the scheme from 250,000 down to 150,000 customer accounts between 2019 and 2021. From 2021, if the scheme were to continue, Government will review the threshold, with a view to continuing to reduce it, if the evidence supports this approach. A gradual approach will ensure that smaller suppliers have enough time to put the right processes in place to take part in the scheme and reflects the increasing maturity of challengers in the energy retail market.
Of the roughly 1.4m Pension Credit Guaranteed Credit recipients, over 1.2m receive the Warm Home Discount automatically on their energy bills as a result of being with a participating supplier and being named on the energy bill. We estimate that roughly 60,000 pension credit guarantee credit recipients who would be eligible under the scheme do not receive the rebate as a result of being with a non-participating supplier. As a result of the changes introduced, 20,000 more pensioners in 2019/20, and an additional 10,000 pensioners in 2020/21 could benefit from the scheme, if the eligibility criteria were to continue in their current form.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 attaches conditions to pharmaceutical research grants to ensure any medicines developed are affordable.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) support research grants via the Research councils and Innovate UK. BEIS does not impose conditions neither does the Research Councils or Innovate UK as part of their terms and conditions.
Research Councils invest in basic research into the development of new drugs and treatments to the point where other organisations, often industry, fund further development.
Neither BEIS nor the Research Councils have undertaken an assessment.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has been made of the extent to which pharmaceutical research grants from the Research Councils are used to develop drugs which are then manufactured by for-profit companies.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) support research grants via the Research councils and Innovate UK. BEIS does not impose conditions neither does the Research Councils or Innovate UK as part of their terms and conditions.
Research Councils invest in basic research into the development of new drugs and treatments to the point where other organisations, often industry, fund further development.
Neither BEIS nor the Research Councils have undertaken an assessment.