Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what new support he plans to put in place to ensure a sustainable energy transition for (a) Aberdeen and (b) the north east of Scotland.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The oil and gas industry supports c.270,000 jobs in the UK, around 40% of which are in Scotland, with Aberdeen and the north east of Scotland being a major hub. This sector has a key role to play as we move to a net zero economy. The Department is in early stage discussions with the oil and gas industry over plans for a transformational upstream oil and gas Sector Deal as set out in the Conservative Party Manifesto 2019. There is no formal proposal at this early stage of the process.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has for an energy transition zone in Aberdeen.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department is in early stage discussions with the oil and gas industry over plans for a transformational upstream oil and gas Sector Deal as set out in the Conservative Party Manifesto 2019. My officials have had high-level discussions on ideas around energy transition zones and I will be interested to be updated once a formal detailed proposal is available. At this stage of the process it is too early to discuss whether the proposed Sector Deal will include such plans for Aberdeen.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to make financial support available for an energy transition zone in Aberdeen.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department is in early stage discussions with the oil and gas industry over plans for a transformational upstream oil and gas Sector Deal as set out in the Conservative Party Manifesto 2019. My officials have had high-level discussions on ideas around energy transition zones and I will be interested to be updated once a formal detailed proposal is available. At this stage of the process it is too early to discuss whether the proposed Sector Deal will include such plans for Aberdeen.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what funding he has allocated to investment in a hydrogen economy between 2020-21 and 2025-26.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Government is committed to exploring the option of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier. In line with this we are currently investing up to £121 million in hydrogen innovation, supporting a range of projects exploring the potential of low carbon hydrogen across the value chain. Alongside our innovation activity, we will be engaging with Industry on the design of a £100m Low Carbon Hydrogen Fund in 2020. In addition, we are conducting further stakeholder engagement, notably around building sustainable business models to support hydrogen production. These programmes will be delivered during the period 2020/21 to 2025/26, and further budgetary decisions will be taken in due course.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to publish an updated economic impact assessment on the effect of HS2 on Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Passengers from Aberdeen will be able to connect onto HS2 services from Edinburgh and Glasgow, benefitting from improved connectivity and journeys times to the rest of the network. Better connectivity promotes growth through agglomeration which induces investment and supports the levelling up of the UK economy.
The full business case for HS2 ‘High-Speed 2: Phase One ‘moving Britain Ahead’ was revised and published in April 2020 ‘. HS2 Ltd’s ‘Economic case advice for the DfT’ publication in 2017 provides an illustrative estimate that 5% of the overall transport user benefits will be distributed to passengers from Scotland with the full HS2 network in place. As part of the Integrated Rail Plan we will consider the benefits and the best way to serve Scotland.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses in Aberdeen have (a) applied and (b) been approved for a loan from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
As of 31 May, 45,843 loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), with a total value of £8.92 billion.
Issuing new loans is the priority for lenders and the Government.
At this time, we are unable to provide a breakdown of lending or number of applications by region. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses in Scotland have (a) applied and (b) been approved for a loan from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Paul Scully
As of 31 May, 45,843 loans have been issued under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), with a total value of £8.92 billion.
Issuing new loans is the priority for lenders and the Government.
At this time, we are unable to provide a breakdown of lending or number of applications by region or devolved nation. We are working with the British Business Bank, HM Treasury and the lenders on regular and transparent data publication going forward.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the PWLB principal and debt repayments for local authorities in the 2020-21 financial year.
Answered by John Glen
The following table details expected Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) repayments in 2020-21 to the nearest £ million, for all UK local authorities and for Scottish local authorities only.
| Principal | Interest | Total |
UK | £2,700 million | £3,080 million | £5,779 million |
o/w Scotland | £372 million | £421 million | £793 million |
Most PWLB loans are structured as maturity loans so that local authorities repay no principal in any given year.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total PWLB principal and debt repayments for local authorities in Scotland in the 2020-21 financial year.
Answered by John Glen
The following table details expected Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) repayments in 2020-21 to the nearest £ million, for all UK local authorities and for Scottish local authorities only.
| Principal | Interest | Total |
UK | £2,700 million | £3,080 million | £5,779 million |
o/w Scotland | £372 million | £421 million | £793 million |
Most PWLB loans are structured as maturity loans so that local authorities repay no principal in any given year.
Asked by: Stephen Flynn (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many self-employed workers in Aberdeen (a) earn less than £50,000 each year, (b) have applied to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and (c) have been awarded a grant under that scheme.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
Applications for the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) opened on 13 May. By midnight on 24 May, HMRC had received 2.3m claims representing a total of £6.8bn claimed.
SEISS is a new scheme and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will update in due course on the types of data available and timescales for publication.