Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effects of fracking on meeting global climate targets.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government issued a Written Ministerial Statement on 27 October confirming that it will adopt a presumption against issuing further hydraulic fracturing consents. This effective moratorium will be maintained until compelling new evidence is provided addressing concerns around the prediction and management of induced seismicity. As such, shale gas extraction will not impact the UK meeting global climate targets.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that care (a) providers and (b) recipients will be protected from energy blackouts in winter 2022; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of including care providers in the list of protected sites in the (i) Electricity Supply Emergency Code and (ii) other relevant Government documents.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Power cuts are highly unlikely. The Government has developed plans to protect households and businesses in a full range of scenarios this winter, despite the impact of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.
Sites that meet the criteria set out in the Electricity Supply Emergency Code https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-supply-emergency-code can apply directly through their Distribution Network Operator (or Transmission Network Operator if they connect to that directly) to be on the Protected Sites List.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the recommendations of the National Audit Office report entitled Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme published on 8 September 2021, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of replacing the Green Homes Grant with another long-term retrofit scheme.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In order to ensure the Government continues to deliver its net zero ambitions and support a thriving building retrofit industry, the Government will be expanding its funding commitment for both the Homes Upgrade Grant scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with up to £950 million and £800 million in additional funding respectively over 2022/23 to 2024/25. This takes total funding to over £6.4billion across the lifetime of this Parliament. The Government has also introduced a new Boiler Upgrade Scheme worth £450 million, which will provide capital grants towards the cost of a heat pump.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if the Government will make funding available for a public energy advice service in England which is equivalent to the funding provided by the Scottish Government to Home Energy Scotland.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
By this summer, the Government will launch a comprehensive energy advice service on GOV.UK which will provide advice and information to consumers on improving the energy performance of their homes. The Government will also launch additional support for homeowners through telephone support and specific local area advice for energy consumers with further details, including on any funding, to be announced in due course.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many grants have been awarded via Energy Company Obligation Schemes to households in (a) the UK, (b) London and c) Lewisham Deptford constituency as of 8 June 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme is not a grant scheme but an obligation that the Government has placed on larger energy suppliers to install energy efficiency and heating measures in people’s homes across Great Britain.
ECO has been in place since January 2013 and has delivered around 3.5 million measures in 2.4 million homes, of which around 172,000 are in London and 1,200 are in the Lewisham Deptford constituency. Statistics available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/household-energy-efficiency-statistics-headline-release-may-2022.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
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 help enable local authorities to install renewable power in existing social housing stock.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) will upgrade a significant amount of the social housing stock currently below EPC C up to that standard, delivering warm, energy-efficient homes, reducing carbon emissions and fuel bills, tackling fuel poverty, and supporting green jobs.
Over £1bn of funding has already been committed to the SHDF and associated Demonstrator, including £800m for the second Wave of funding from FY 22/23 to FY 24/25.
Renewable and low carbon technologies such as solar panels and heat pumps are included as eligible measures for SHDF funding. Solar is a key part of the Government’s strategy for increasing the energy performance of buildings and contributes to meeting the Government’s fuel poverty targets.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
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 introduce a minimum energy efficiency standard for all homes in the England.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government committed in the Clean Growth Strategy to improve as many homes as possible to EPC Band C by 2035 and as many private rental homes as possible to EPC band C by 2030 where practical, affordable and cost effective. In England, 46% of homes are now at EPC C or better, up from 14% in 2010.
In the Net Zero Strategy, the Government committed to consult on phasing in higher minimum standards across all sectors to meet this ambition. The Government has already consulted on higher standards in the private rented sector and will publish a Government Response in due course.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 3 February 2022 to Question 112643 on Disability Aids, what progress his Department has made towards setting research and development budgets through to 2024-25.
Answered by George Freeman
We have set out how BEIS’ record £39.8 billion R&D budget will be allocated across our partner organisations over the next three years in our ‘BEIS R&D: partner organisation allocation 2022/2023 to 2024/2025’ report published on 14 March.
BEIS will now be working with all partner organisations to determine detailed allocations within their envelopes, including at council level for UK Research and Innovation. Details of funding for specific programmes will be agreed by BEIS and partner organisations and set out in due course.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
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 he has made of the impact of disability and health status on energy costs; and if he will take steps to ensure that the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount reflects the outcome of that assessment.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Some evidence suggests that households with a disabled person have higher heating costs than average. No household-level data is available that could be factored into specifically targeting those with the highest heating costs through the Warm Home Discount.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether higher energy costs and usage experienced by disabled people are accounted for in his Department's 2030 fuel poverty target.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuel poor homes, as is reasonably practicable, achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030.
The 2030 target does not include estimates of energy costs, including estimates for any specific groups.
Improving the energy efficiency of homes is the best way to tackle fuel poverty in the long term, contributing to energy bill reductions. Disabled people living in low-income households may be eligible for support through energy efficiency schemes such as the Local Authority Delivery Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and the Energy Company Obligation.