Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to recruit armed forces personnel.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In a challenging labour market, we continue to apply an array of measures to support recruitment and retention and refine the Armed Forces’ offer including last year with the largest pay increase for more than two decades. Haythornthwaite Review teams have been stood up across Defence to implement all of Rick Haythornthwaite’s 67 recommendations, working to establish a reward and incentivisation architecture that will attract and retain the skills we need in the years ahead.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing new measures to help support businesses participating in the emissions trading scheme.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting decarbonisation. That is why it protects sectors included in the Emissions Trading Scheme against carbon leakage by allocating free allowances, with installations vulnerable to carbon leakage receiving up to 100% of their emissions allowances for free based on sector benchmarks.
The Government also delivers compensation for the majority of indirect electricity costs imposed by the ETS and CPS on the UK’s most electricity-intensive businesses, through a compensation scheme, which is worth approximately £120 million a year.
In addition, the Government offers a range of support schemes for industry to decarbonise, such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), which supports industrial sites with high energy use to transition to a low carbon future. Applications for phase 3 of the Fund, which is worth £185m, were launched in January 2024.
Lastly, at Spring Budget 2023, the Chancellor announced an unprecedented up to £20 billion for the early development of CCUS to help meet the Government’s climate commitments.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of providing relief from the emissions trading scheme to businesses that export products to external markets.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK is a world leader on carbon pricing. That is why we have an ambitious carbon pricing system, which ensures that polluters pay for their emissions.
Those businesses are protected from carbon leakage in the form of free allowances under the Emissions Trading Scheme, and from 2027, some UK sectors will be protected from carbon leakage by a UK CBAM. The CBAM is a charge on imports and is unlikely to be a suitable tool to address the carbon leakage risk related to exported goods.
The government will continue to assess the impact of carbon pricing on carbon leakage risk for UK industry, including for businesses that export products abroad.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to undertake a review of the criteria used to determine which industries are included in its carbon border adjustment mechanism proposals.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government will implement a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) from 1 January 2027 to ensure that UK decarbonisation efforts lead to a true reduction in global emissions. The CBAM will apply a carbon price to relevant imported goods at risk of carbon leakage from the following sectors: aluminium, cement, ceramics, fertiliser, glass, hydrogen, iron & steel.
In making the decision around the initial sectoral scope of the UK CBAM, the government looked primarily at three factors: inclusion in the UK ETS as the purpose of the CBAM is to ensure a comparable treatment of imported goods and domestic products from a carbon pricing perspective, carbon leakage risk, and feasibility and effectiveness.
The scope of the UK CBAM will be kept under review. Further details on the design and delivery of a UK CBAM, including the precise list of products in scope within the announced sectors, will be the subject of consultation in 2024.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of the value to shipyards of the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (SCGS) is a £500m loan guarantee scheme, supporting eligible ship buyers and operators to access finance to buy UK-built vessels and upgrade existing ones. The scheme forms part of the Government’s £4bn plan to revitalise UK shipbuilding and coastal communities through the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, announced in 2022.
The value generated by the scheme will depend on the details of individual transactions, but each SCGS deal agreed will directly benefit UK shipyards, supply chains and coastal communities right across the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of the Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Shipbuilding Credit Guarantee Scheme (SCGS) was officially launched on 26 July 2023, and we are continuing to work closely with the National Shipbuilding Office on all aspects of scheme implementation.
The SCGS is a £500 million scheme to help ship buyers and operators to access finance to purchase UK-built vessels and upgrade existing ones. It guarantees a percentage of the value of loans used to purchase, refit, retrofit or repair vessels, sharing the risk with lenders. The scheme forms part of the Government’s £4 billion plan to revitalise UK shipbuilding and coastal communities through the National Shipbuilding Strategy Refresh, announced in 2022.
There have been 32 expressions of interest in the scheme so far and we are now working at pace to finalise the first transactions supported by the scheme.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Answer of 24 October 2023 to Question 203456 on France: Foreign Relations, what recent steps his Department has taken to prepare for the commemoration of the 120th anniversary of the signing of the Entente Cordiale with France.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
On 23 January, the British Embassy in Paris and the French Embassy in London launched celebrations for the Entente Cordiale 120th anniversary year. The two embassies are collaborating on a range of events this year reflecting the breadth of the UK-France relationship. They will showcase our longstanding cooperation on issues including climate change, science, sport, culture, defence, education, and trade.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of draught relief for (a) beer and (b) cider.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Under the new alcohol duty system, Draught Relief provides a 9.2% duty reduction on draught beer and cider products below 8.5% alcohol by volume. This ensures that there will always be a lower duty rate for draught products to recognise the value of our great British pubs. This means that every pint, in every pub across the UK pays less duty than their supermarket equivalent - this is the Government's Brexit Pubs Guarantee.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms, including Draught Relief, and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market, and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate the effects of the reform.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) EU and (b) French counterparts on the implementation of the new EU entry/exit system.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new system. This includes working with port owners and operators to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts at the border. HMG’s focus is on the juxtaposed locations of Dover, St Pancras and Eurotunnel as the EES processes there will take place before departure from the UK.
Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of (a) Eurostar, Port of Dover and (b) Eurotunnel on the implementation of the new EU entry/exit system.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is engaging both the European Commission and French Government through officials holding routine technical meetings to understand and influence the implementation plans of the new system. This includes working with port owners and operators to understand and support their plans to mitigate EES and ETIAS impacts at the border. HMG’s focus is on the juxtaposed locations of Dover, St Pancras and Eurotunnel, as the EES processes there will take place before departure from the UK.