Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting operatively-owned wind farms from the proposed Cost-Plus Revenue Limit for power generation.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government recognises the role community and locally owned renewable energy schemes can, and do, play in supporting the UK’s national net zero targets. The Government will continue to ensure that policies will support the success of these schemes.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish details on the operation of the energy support scheme for households using home heating oil in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Households not on standard gas or electricity contracts, such as those using home heating oil, will receive equivalent support to that provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, and the Energy Price Guarantee. The Government is working at speed to determine the most practical and tested routes to deliver this support and will publish details in due course.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish further details on the operation of the six month energy price freeze for businesses.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme for non-domestic customers was announced on 21 September and details can be found at the link below:
The Government will provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers (including all UK businesses, those in the voluntary sector like charities, and public sector organisations such as schools and hospitals) whose current gas and electricity prices have been significantly inflated in light of global energy prices. This support will be equivalent to the Energy Price Guarantee put in place for households.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish details on the operation of the six month energy price freeze for households in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Graham Stuart
On 21 September, the Business Secretary confirmed equivalent support for households in Northern Ireland through The Northern Ireland Energy Price Guarantee.
Energy suppliers will reduce the unit prices within household bills by up to 17p/kWh for electricity and 4.2p/kWh for gas, and there is no need for households to take any action to receive this support. This scheme is expected to take effect from November in Northern Ireland, but the Government will ensure households receive the same benefit overall as households in Great Britain by backdating support for October bills through bills from November.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish details on the operation of the six month energy price freeze for businesses in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Graham Stuart
A non-domestic scheme will be established in Northern Ireland, providing a comparable level of support. The Great Britain scheme announced on 21 September, will need the different market arrangements in place in Northern Ireland. The Government intend to provide more information on the support for non-domestic customers in Northern Ireland by the end of September.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement the energy price freeze announced by the Prime Minister on 8 September 2022.
Answered by Graham Stuart
To ensure the scheme can work effectively for government, energy suppliers, businesses and other non-domestic organisations, with the minimum disruption to existing processes, emergency legislation is being introduced to underpin the scheme. This will be subject to the standard parliamentary process for emergency legislation.
Emergency legislation will be introduced at the earliest opportunity when Parliament is back from recess in October. The precise timeline will depend on parliamentary scheduling and is still to be confirmed.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 help reduce the impact of global energy prices on household energy costs.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is committed to helping consumers with the cost of living, particularly high energy prices. Therefore, we are implementing a scheme to provide £400 to help domestic electricity customers with energy bills over the coming winter, in addition to measures specifically targeted to help vulnerable consumers.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
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 upgrade energy infrastructure to meet increased electricity demands as a result of the transition to electric vehicles.
Answered by Greg Hands
Mechanisms are already in place to ensure that the electricity demand from the transition to electric vehicles can be met, both in terms of electricity generation capacity and electricity network capacity.
The market is already set up to bring forward investment in new generation capacity. The Contracts for Difference scheme supports investment in new low carbon generation, and additional demand can be managed through adjustments to the amount of capacity secured through the Capacity Market auctions.
Ofgem, as the independent regulator, uses the price control framework to ensure that electricity network companies provide the required infrastructure to deliver the capacity to meet both current and future demand on the network. Additionally, electric vehicles offer new opportunities for consumers to be part of a smarter and more flexible energy system. Smart charging during off-peak periods when electricity demand is low reduces the need for additional generation capacity and network reinforcement.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform relevant to his Department.
Answered by George Freeman
My Rt. Hon. Friend will be unsurprised to hear that I welcomed the radical and ground-breaking report from TIGRR. On 16 September, my Noble Friend the Rt. Hon. Lord Frost outlined the Government’s overall response to the report. This included the list of recommendations which BEIS agreed to take forward. Lord Frost also wrote to my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green. These can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/brexit-opportunities-regulatory-reforms
BEIS is continuing work to implement the agreed recommendations, subject to parliamentary time allowing.
Recent public consultations relevant to the agreed TIGRR recommendations include:
Offshore Networks Coordination – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/offshore-transmission-network-review-proposals-for-an-enduring-regime; and
Reforming the framework for better regulation – https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-the-framework-for-better-regulation.
We are analysing responses to the consultations and will announce more in due course. The conclusions of the latter consultation in particular – on which we are working closely with Lord Frost’s Brexit Opportunities Unit – will allow us to modernise our approach to regulatory design and deliver the aims for regulation in the Plan for Growth: to cut red tape, unlock cutting-edge technologies and boost competition.
Asked by: Theresa Villiers (Conservative - Chipping Barnet)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many covid-19 vaccine doses he has ordered for a booster jab programme in autumn 2021.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has confirmed we are preparing for a booster programme to take place later this year. We have secured early access to 397 million vaccines doses through supply agreements with six separate vaccine developers, of which four have been approved for use and three are currently in deployment. This includes agreements with:
In addition, the Government has a reservation agreement with GlaxoSmithKline/Sanofi Pasteur for 60 million doses and a non-binding agreement with CureVac for 50 million doses.
Final decisions on what a booster programme would look like – including which vaccines will be used - will depend on the data from ongoing clinical trials, such as the COV-Boost trial, and advice from the independent medical experts at the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).