Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
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 effectiveness of the employment tribunal naming scheme.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government launched the scheme as part of the Good Work Plan in response to concerns that rates of employment tribunal payments are unacceptably low. Employers who have failed to pay a tribunal award of £200 or more at least 84 days after the original judgment will be eligible for naming.
The scheme was launched on 18 December 2018 and the Government will publish the first list of employers in due course. Therefore, it is too early to have assessed the effectiveness of the scheme.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what ongoing estimate he is making of the number of people who have not received payments due to them following employment tribunals and mediation processes.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
It is right that people get what they are owed, and we know employment tribunal awards are not always paid promptly. Government commissioned research in 2013 found that only 53% of successful claimants received full or part payment without enforcement action. 35% had not received any payment at all.
Following this research Government introduced the BEIS penalty scheme in 2016 and have since recovered over £1.5 million to workers of previously unpaid awards. We will now also name employers who do not pay employment tribunal awards within a reasonable period.
We have also recently commissioned research on employment tribunals that will include payment rate information for employment tribunal awards, Acas conciliated and private settlements.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on what basis levels of biomass subsidies have been set under the (a) Renewables Obligation Certificate, (b) Contracts for Difference, (c) Feed in Tariff and (d) Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
The basis on which levels of support provided to biomass technologies is calculated varies according to each scheme.
(a) Legislation[1] requires a series of factors to be taken into account when setting Renewables Obligation (RO) support levels, including the generation costs and revenues for each technology; the desirability of securing long-term growth and industry viability as well as costs to consumers and impacts on the market for Renewable Obligation Certificates. The most recent comprehensive review of RO support levels was completed in 2012[2].
(b) Strike prices awarded to successful projects in Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation rounds are determined through a competitive bidding process[3]. Strike prices for biomass projects that were awarded contracts under the Financial Investment Decision Enabling for Renewables programme, an early form of CfDs, were set out in the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Plan and Annex B: Strike Price Methodology [4].
(c) In the last review of Feed-in Tariff levels for Anaerobic Digestion projects undertaken in 2016[5], a return on investment of 9.1% was assumed.
(d) Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) tariffs are set to compensate generators for the added cost of renewable heating, over and above what would have been paid otherwise. For a given installation, the lifetime cost of the renewable technology and the alternative system (e.g. oil boiler) are considered. The RHI tariff is then set using an economic model so that the rate of return targeted for the applicant population is achieved over the full lifetime of the heating system.
[1] Section 32D(4) of the Electricity Act 1989, as amended by the Energy Act 2008.
[2] Renewables Obligation consultation at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/renewables-obligation-banding-review
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/contracts-for-difference/contract-for-difference
[4] Electricity Market Reform Delivery Plan and Strike Price Methodology Annex: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-market-reform-delivery-plan
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many recipients of biomass subsidy payments there have been under the (a) Renewables Obligation Certificate, (b) Contract for Difference, (c) Feed in Tariff and (d) Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive in each of the last five years.
Answered by Claire Perry
The number of individual installations in receipt of biomass support payments in each of the last five financial years is shown in the table. The table includes data for technologies supported by these schemes which generate electricity, heat or Combined Heat and Power from biomass, which is material derived directly or indirectly from plant or animal matter, fungi, algae or bacteria, including wastes and residues of biological origin. The biomass technologies eligible for support under each scheme are set out in the relevant legislation and guidance.
| 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
Renewables Obligation[1] | 674 | 709 | 737 | 855 | 753 |
Contracts for Difference | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Feed-in Tariff | 83 | 166 | 249 | 365 | 409 |
Renewable Heat Incentive | 3,416 | 15,663 | 24,145 | 26,701 | 28,497 |
[1] The Renewables Obligation figures are based on Ofgem’s certificate report as at 23/08/2018 from their Renewables and CHP Register.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
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 cost to the public purse of subsidies provided to renewable technologies burning wood for fuel under the (a) Renewables Obligation Certificate, (b) Contract for Difference, (c) Feed in Tariff and (d) Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive in each of the past five years.
Answered by Claire Perry
The estimated cost of support to renewable technologies burning wood for fuel under three of the schemes in each of the last financial years is shown in the table to the nearest million pounds (in nominal prices). Wood burning is not supported by any technology eligible for support under the Feed-in Tariff scheme.
| 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 |
Renewables Obligation[1] | £441m | £678m | £853m | £767m | £520m |
Contracts for Difference | 0 | 0 | 0 | £92m | £544m |
Renewable Heat Incentive[2] | £50m | £138m | £239m | £295m | £408m |
For the Renewables Obligation, information is not available on the value of support specifically for renewable technologies burning wood. Therefore, the figures provided are the support for technologies capable of burning wood, but other biomass fuels may have been used. The figures for the Contracts for Difference reflect total payments, including to biomass projects, made during the first two financial years of the scheme’s operation and reported by the Low Carbon Contracts Company, the scheme administrator, in its annual reports. Payments by technology type are not reported separately. Wood fuel burning is subsidised under the Domestic RHI biomass tariff and the Non-domestic tariffs for biomass and solid biomass CHP. This assumes all fuel for CHP is wood, as it is not possible to disaggregate wood fuel for CHP. Other types of solid biomass fuel are also eligible for RHI CHP support.
[1] The Renewables Obligation figures are based on Ofgem’s certificate report as at 23/08/2018 from their Renewables and CHP Register.
[2] The actual spend may be different, due to delayed submission of meter readings.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
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 to make it easier for people living in properties with shared responsibilities, such as blocks of flats, to access the grant support available for installing individual electric vehicle charging points.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government recognises that not being able to recharge at home can dissuade drivers form making the switch to electric. Government’s Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme supports eligible electric vehicle owners with up to £500 towards the costs of installing a chargepoint in domestic properties, including in blocks of flats.
In addition, as announced in November 2017 in the Industrial Strategy, Building Regulations will be amended to ensure that cabling infrastructure is provided for chargepoints when new dwellings are built, to help future-proof new homes and avoid retrofitting costs.
For those without off-street parking facilities, Government’s On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme also provides grant funding for local authorities towards the cost of installing on-street residential chargepoints for plug-in electric vehicles.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to inform consumers of (a) the limitations on the interoperability of first generation meters when changing energy supplier and (b) how those limitations will be tackled through the roll-out of second generation meters.
Answered by Claire Perry
Under licence conditions, energy suppliers must inform their customers prior to the installation of a smart meter that they may lose meter functionality when switching. In addition, before any switch is concluded, the new supplier must tell the consumer about any change in how their meter will operate and the service they will receive.
These requirements aim to help consumers make informed decisions about switching, in the period before first generation smart meters are enrolled into the national data and communications platform and thus can be operated by any energy supplier. This upgrade will be done remotely.
Second generation meters use the smart metering infrastructure run by the Data and Communications Company and will enable all consumers to retain their smart functionality when they switch supplier.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has held with the devolved administrations on the Government's response to the Matthew Taylor review of modern working practices; and what the outcomes of those discussions were.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
During the course of the Review of Modern Working Practices, the panel held events across the UK including in Wales and Northern Ireland. Unfortunately due to the General Election in 2017, the scheduled event for Scotland was cancelled. Officials in the Department speak regularly to their counterparts in the Devolved Administrations and we look forward to engaging with them through the further work set out in the Government response to the Review of Modern Working Practices.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with the Scottish Government on (a) the Productivity Leadership Group and (b) the scope of that group's activities with Scottish businesses.
Answered by Sam Gyimah
As part of our ambitious Industrial Strategy, BEIS will provide up to £13m to fund "Be the Business", a charity set up by the Productivity Leadership Group to help firms become more productive. Be the Business is currently in set-up phase. BEIS officials will arrange to meet with their Scottish Government counterparts and Be the Business to discuss how its privately and publicly funded activities can benefit Scottish business, within devolved arrangements.
Asked by: Stephen Kerr (Conservative - Stirling)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to improve the rate of adoption of digital technology in everyday business practice; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
We want the UK to be the best place to start and grow a digital business. As announced in the government's Industrial Strategy, the new Business Basics Programme will trial innovative approaches to drive up the adoption of tried and tested technologies and business practices that can improve businesses’ productivity. The programme will test and encourage SMEs to adopt technologies and practices such as new accountancy software or performance management systems.
In addition, more than four million free digital skills training opportunities will be created as part of a Digital Strategy to make Britain the best place in the world to start and grow a digital business and ensure our digital economy works for everyone.
In addition, the Digital Skills Partnership (DSP) will see Government, business, charities and voluntary organisations coming together to make sure people have the right skills for the jobs in their area and are aware of all the digital training opportunities on offer.
The DSP will also build upon the 4 million pledges of free digital skills training opportunities that our corporate partners pledged as part of the Digital Strategy, published in March 2017. More than 2 million of these pledges have already been delivered; DCMS will continue to work with DSP members to develop new opportunities, direct training to areas where need has been identified, and to encourage the sharing and scaling up of best practice in digital skills provision.
The strategy includes new commitments, including a plan by Lloyds Banking Group to give face-to-face digital skills training to 2.5 million individuals, charities and small and medium businesses by 2020.