Asked by: Lord Offord of Garvel (Reform UK - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the carbon capture projects in Aberdeenshire and the Humber are successful.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government has announced its support for the Acorn (Scotland) and Viking (Humber) clusters and is providing the development funding to advance their delivery. A final investment decision (FID) will be taken later this Parliament, subject to project readiness and affordability.
The government has been working with clusters to understand what they need to keep them progressing to FID and are confident the Spending Review outcome will enable us to continue collaborating on that.
As agreed with Acorn, the government has established a ministerial-led forum, where UK and Scottish governments, regulators and industry representatives come together on a regular basis to drive forward momentum for the Scottish cluster. The forum convened for the first time on 22/07/25 and was chaired by the Minister for Industry.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to include (a) blue carbon habitats and (b) seabed sediments as designated features within existing Marine Protected Areas as part of the upcoming Marine Protected Area network review.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) protect a variety of habitats as designated features, including those that play a role in carbon capture and storage, such as maerl beds, saltmarsh and seagrass meadows. The MPA network review aims to identify approaches to improve climate change resilience across designated sites in English seas, including those protecting carbon-storing seabed sediments (e.g. sublittoral mud in North East of Farnes Deep Marine Conservation Zone).
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the oral contribution of Baron Wilson of Sedgefield in the House of Lords on 3 July 2025, Official Report, column 867, what plans he has to take up internationally fuel refining industry margins.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Refining margins differ from site to site and are driven by the prices of the crude oils each refinery buys and of the products that they produce. These prices are largely set by international traded markets.
The Government is determined to work with industry, workers and trade unions to ensure our UK refineries can compete in this international context. That is why, in less than 12 months in office, we have invested in carbon capture, usage and storage, which can help key refineries, such as Phillips 66 and Stanlow, through Viking and HyNet; and we are driving forward with the sustainable aviation fuel mandate, to help the refining sector maximise the opportunities created by the clean energy revolution.
We are also reviewing the methodology for the energy-intensive industries compensation scheme, to help assess whether sectors such as this should be covered in the future, and whether more can be done to help their competitiveness.
Asked by: Henry Tufnell (Labour - Mid and South Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support the future delivery of Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage projects in the South Wales Industrial Cluster.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is working to create a CCUS industry and provide increased support to UK CCUS by allocating £9.4 billion in capital budgets over the Spending Review period.
South Wales Industrial Cluster was awarded approximately £20 million in grant funding between 2019 and 2024 as part of the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, helping projects develop comprehensive plans to achieve net-zero emissions and deploy low carbon technologies.
Government is actively engaging industry on non-pipeline transport costs, risk allocation and economic licensing, aiming to publish a consultation later this year. A Call for Evidence is also planned for Q3 2025 on network strategy.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Industrial Strategy on Scotland.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our modern Industrial Strategy will drive growth in Scotland's globally competitive sectors – from advanced manufacturing in Glasgow and the UK’s second-largest financial services sector in Edinburgh, to life sciences in Dundee and Aberdeen’s status as a global energy capital. Investments including up to £750 million in a new supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh and our support for the Acorn Carbon Capture and Storage project will have a major positive impact on Scottish growth.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to increase the number of trees planted for the purpose of improving carbon capture.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy
Trees and forests are essential to our climate and nature goals. Tree planting rates in England are at their highest in 20 years and in March we launched the Western Forest, the first new national forest in 30 years.
Working together with forest countries, the UK is also playing a leading role in driving international efforts to halt and reverse deforestation and forest degradation by 2030 for people, nature and climate.
Asked by: Luke Myer (Labour - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that the non-pipeline transport of CO₂ for offshore storage does not cause marine pollution.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK has an established environmental regulatory regime in place to protect human health and the environment, with the Environment Agency (EA), and Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), and Natural Resource Wales (NRW) for projects based in Wales, all evaluating the environmental impacts of CCUS projects. The Statutory Nature Conservations Bodies are also consulted as part of this process. The UK ETS Authority has also consulted on proposals to requiring ships transporting CO2 for offshore storage to monitor and report emissions.
Asked by: Frank McNally (Labour - Coatbridge and Bellshill)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Spending Review 2025 on Scotland.
Answered by Darren Jones - Minister for Intergovernmental Relations
This Government has ensured the Spending Review delivers for Scotland. The Scottish Government is receiving an average of £50.9 billion per each year between 2026-27 and 2028-29, the largest real terms funding settlement since devolution. It also delivers on the Government’s Plan for Change in Scotland, with measures including providing development funding to advance the delivery of the Acorn carbon capture and storage project.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero on support for oil and gas workers in Scotland.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government recognises that oil and gas will continue to play a central role in the UK’s energy mix for decades to come. We recently published guidance on Scope 3 emissions in response to the Finch judgment, and soon we will publish our consultation response on the future of North Sea oil and gas licensing. Nonetheless, clean energy is our future, and many oil and gas workers have transferable skills for offshore renewable jobs. The Government’s commitment to investing in clean energy industries will ensure opportunities are created for oil and gas workers to thrive. Recently, we committed development funding to the Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Aberdeenshire, which, subject to business case, will prepare the project for delivery.
Scotland Office Ministers remain in regular contact with DESNZ Ministers regarding this issue. We also continue to engage with a variety of stakeholders from across the energy sector, including oil and gas producers.
Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the National Wealth Fund will deliver £1.8 billion in ring-fenced funding for UK ports; and how much will be allocated to ports in (a) Peterhead and (b) Fraserburgh.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The National Wealth Fund will commit at least £5.8 billion over this Parliament to green hydrogen, carbon capture, ports, gigafactories and green steel sub-sectors. The National Wealth Fund’s Strategic Plan will set out where and how the NWF can deploy its capital within these sectors.
The National Wealth Fund is operationally independent, including when making investment decisions. Like all proposals, any investment made into the ports sector will be subject to the investment satisfying the National Wealth Fund’s normal requirements for investable proposals.