Asked by: Neale Hanvey (Alba Party - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much the Government has allocated to the carbon capture utilisation and storage Scottish cluster in each financial year since 2017-18.
Answered by Graham Stuart
This information is being gathered. As soon as it is available, the information will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an estimate of the government's budget for carbon capture and storage expenditure over the next five years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In the 2023 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced an unprecedented £20 billion investment in the early development of carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS). The quantum of spend within a given period will depend on the outcome of commercial negotiations and will be subject to confirmation at the next and subsequent spending reviews.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of a bridging mechanism to support generators in the transition from unabated biomass to power bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Government is assessing whether transitional support, such as a bridging mechanism, may be appropriate for facilitating the transition from unabated biomass generation to power Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the estimated full unit cost of (1) energy produced from various carbon fuels utilising carbon capture and storage, and (2) energy produced by various renewable means.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government regularly publishes its view of the levelised cost of generating a unit of electricity from various technologies, including renewables and gas-fired power generation with CCUS, in the Electricity generation costs report which was updated in 2023.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much funding the Government has provided to support net zero innovation projects in 2020 Parliament.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Across financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22, UK government spent £1.975 billion on energy research, development and demonstration. This included support for net zero innovation projects across energy efficiency, renewables, nuclear, hydrogen, carbon capture utilisation and storage, power and storage technologies as well as cross-cutting research on clean energy solutions.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has had recent discussions with biomass generators on the potential merits of implementing a bridging mechanism to support generators as they transition from unabated biomass to power bioenergy and carbon capture.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department has held preliminary discussions with biomass generators that passed the power bioenergy with carbon capture and storage project submission process about the potential merits of a bridging mechanism.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make it her policy to promote the North Sea as a location for carbon capture, usage and storage technology.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) is a priority for this Government. The UK continental shelf, and particularly the North Sea, provides a unique geological opportunity for the UK to become a world leader in this sector. The recent announcements on Track 1 and Track 2 reaffirm Government commitment, and the North Sea Transition Authority has estimated that as many as 100 CO2 stores could be required to meet net zero.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to improve productivity.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Chancellor has outlined his plans to boost private sector productivity and long-term economic growth with a package of measures under the ‘four Es’ of economic growth: Employment, Enterprise, Education, and Everywhere.
The Government has introduced several fiscal measures to increase productivity. For example, we have introduced full expensing – giving the UK the most generous capital allowances regime in the OECD on a Net Present Value basis to increase business investment and boost labour productivity. We increased the R&D Expenditure Credit relief rate to 20% – the joint highest uncapped headline rate of R&D tax relief in the G7 for large companies.
We are supporting our world leading green industries. For example, up to £20bn of funding has been provided for Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage, and we are working with investors through our Automotive Transformation Fund to build a globally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK. Furthermore, the Investment Zones programme will catalyse 12 high potential knowledge-intensive growth clusters across the UK.
We are also ensuring our labour market is more productive through our investment in skills and the Chief Secretary is currently leading a programme across government to identify the most ambitious ways to improve productivity in the public sector.
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Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what progress he has made on extending the Skills Passport for offshore oil and gas workers to work in (a) renewables, (b) Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage and (c) hydrogen industries; and how many workers are involved in the pilot version of the Skills Passport.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Skills Passport was initially envisaged to enable the transition of workers between offshore oil and gas and offshore wind, but is now planned to be applicable to workers in emerging sectors such as Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage and hydrogen.
The mapping of technical qualifications between the oil and gas and offshore wind sectors has been completed, and work is underway with representatives from emerging energy sectors to explore the mutual recognition of training to support the transition of offshore oil and gas workers.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support exists for farmers who are not claimants of the Basic Payment Scheme and who want to plant hedges and trees for the purpose of carbon sequestration.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
There are several options available for farmers who are not claimants of the Basic Payment Scheme. Under the Countryside Stewardship (CS) Scheme, we pay for the management of hedgerows by rotational cutting and leaving some hedgerows uncut (BE3) and capital grants to plant and restore hedgerows. This includes hedgerow laying, hedgerow cropping and hedgerow gapping up.
We pay for actions to create woodland under CS and the England Woodland Creation Offer (EWCO). This includes capital grants which are required to create woodland, such as planting trees and allowing natural colonisation of trees. Producing woodland creation plans ensure all proposals for new woodland consider any impacts on existing biodiversity, landscape character, water, soil and the historic environment, and that local stakeholders have been consulted. Maintenance payments are also essential to support the establishment of young trees.
Woodland creation maintenance payments currently exist across multiple schemes including CS, EWCO and the Tree Health Pilot. We plan to bring these together into a single offer when EWCO transitions into the Environmental Land Management schemes. For Woodland management, under CS, we pay for producing a woodland management plan, woodland improvement and restoring plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites.
Farmers and land managers can also apply to get money for projects that support carbon sequestration via our Landscape Recovery Scheme.