The Growth Plan

Debate between Selaine Saxby and Kwasi Kwarteng

Friday 23rd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I am not sure there was a question. We have to focus on growth. Through growth we get more tax revenue to pay for public services. That is a fundamental notion and that is what we are focused on.

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend’s focus on productivity. Will he also use fiscal levers to tackle the productivity of housing stock in tourist locations such as my constituency? It has winter ghost villages, as second homes and holiday lets sit empty, which results in local businesses having to close and endless businesses being unable to recruit people for good jobs, as there is nowhere to live.

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

I will absolutely be focused on that. I will be very interested to hear more detail in a conversation with my hon. Friend and to discuss what more we can do to free up the property market.

Russian Oil Import Ban

Debate between Selaine Saxby and Kwasi Kwarteng

Wednesday 9th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

In conversation with the Prime Minister, we were clear that it did not necessarily make any sense to concrete over the wells. We are still in conversation about that. As I said, our position on the moratorium has always been the same: if fracking can be done in a safe and sustainable way, the Government are open to the idea. We have always said that; the position has not changed. With respect to the North sea, I fully agree with everything that the right hon. Gentleman said.

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and for the work done by Conservative Governments to increase our renewable energy capacity by 500%. As we move towards the new normal of a greener and more secure energy supply, will he commit to increase the capacity coming out of the Celtic sea and accelerate the roll-out of floating offshore wind and the target that it can deliver on?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

As my hon. Friend remarked, floating offshore wind is key to accelerating our renewables offer. In the next few days, we will hopefully be setting some slightly more ambitious targets for our 2030 ambition than we have hitherto set.

Gas Prices and Energy Suppliers

Debate between Selaine Saxby and Kwasi Kwarteng

Thursday 23rd September 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

As I have said a number of times, in this role and in my previous one, the green homes grant attempted to do three things. The first was to decarbonise public sector buildings, and that worked very effectively through Salix, the bank that disbursed those funds. The second element, which was disbursed by local authorities, has also worked very well. The third element is the one that we closed, and we want to get a renewed version of it.

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

In the final days of the last Labour Government, the UK was near the bottom of the G20 league tables for green investment and renewable energy. I therefore congratulate my right hon. Friend on his Department’s achievements on offshore and floating wind energy. Can he confirm that his Department will continue to invest in this area, particularly close to my North Devon constituency and the Celtic sea?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

Absolutely. My hon. Friend will know that we have some really exciting floating offshore wind projects in the Celtic sea that I am very pleased to see being developed. She is also right to observe that during the last Labour Government, we did absolutely nothing whatsoever to ensure security of energy supply or its diversity.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Selaine Saxby and Kwasi Kwarteng

Tuesday 23rd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

The hon. Gentleman will know that I have met ITM Power a number of times; I was honoured to meet them in Grimsby. It does a great job. He will also know that, in my time as Minister of State for Energy, I commissioned the hydrogen strategy, which will be published shortly. At the core of the strategy is a twin-track approach. We are promoting blue hydrogen—which is made through methane natural gas reformation—and, more particularly in answer to his question, we are also committed to green hydrogen, or electrolyser-produced hydrogen, in which ITM Power is the leader.

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

Country Cousins is an English language school in Ilfracombe in my constituency that every year brings students to North Devon as part of the 550,000 international students who visit the UK to study English, bringing in £1.4 billion and 35,000 jobs to our economy. English language schools were viable, profitable businesses before the pandemic, greatly contributing to their local economies and culture. I am sure my hon. Friend the Minister agrees that, given the right support they will be again. However, many of them have been excluded from the Government’s business rates relief for the next financial year and are struggling. Will my hon. Friend consider committing BEIS to work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to look at expanding the eligibility for this—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Selaine Saxby and Kwasi Kwarteng

Tuesday 9th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

What I do agree with is the fact that we have extended an unprecedented range of support and measures. I am in regular contact with my right hon. Friend the Chancellor; he has taken a nimble approach, and I look forward to engaging with him on what further support we can supply.

[Selaine Saxby [V]]

The hospitality supply chain has remained open despite a significant loss of earnings to continue supplying the NHS and schools that have to be open. Here in North Devon, Philip Dennis and Savona delivered to people’s homes and operated pop-up click and collect venues when many vulnerable households struggled for supermarkets slots. However, these companies are not eligible for the same support as the hospitality businesses they normally service; will my right hon. Friend ensure that they have the support they need so they are still trading when our hospitality sector reopens?

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

As my hon. Friend knows, in January the Chancellor announced an additional £500 million in grant funding to local authorities for the additional restrictions; this discretionary funding enables local authorities to support businesses, including, as she pointed out, those in supply chains that have been adversely impacted by restrictions but are ineligible for other measures. This funding comes on top of the £1.1 billion allocated in November 2020.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Selaine Saxby and Kwasi Kwarteng

Tuesday 21st July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kwasi Kwarteng]

The hon. Gentleman is right to highlight the key importance of the aviation sector, and the Government are supporting aerospace and its aviation customers with more than £8.5 billion, as part of our measures to support the overall economy. I understand that Airbus has drawn down £500 million on the corporate finance facility, and of course the Secretary of State and the ministerial team are happy to engage with him and his constituents on this important matter.

[Selaine Saxby (North Devon) (Con)]

I know that my right hon. Friend does not underestimate how difficult this year has been for hospitality businesses in North Devon. I warmly welcome the action the Government have taken to get people safely back into our pubs, restaurants and cafés. Will he join me in visiting The Bell Inn, in Chittlehampton, to look at the fantastic hard work that has been done there to ensure that all the appropriate measures are in place to reopen?