Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to undertake a review of the criteria used to determine which industries are included in its carbon border adjustment mechanism proposals.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government will implement a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) from 1 January 2027 to ensure that UK decarbonisation efforts lead to a true reduction in global emissions. The CBAM will apply a carbon price to relevant imported goods at risk of carbon leakage from the following sectors: aluminium, cement, ceramics, fertiliser, glass, hydrogen, iron & steel.
In making the decision around the initial sectoral scope of the UK CBAM, the government looked primarily at three factors: inclusion in the UK ETS as the purpose of the CBAM is to ensure a comparable treatment of imported goods and domestic products from a carbon pricing perspective, carbon leakage risk, and feasibility and effectiveness.
The scope of the UK CBAM will be kept under review. Further details on the design and delivery of a UK CBAM, including the precise list of products in scope within the announced sectors, will be the subject of consultation in 2024.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she has taken to support the ceramic industry financially since the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Eligible businesses in the ceramics sector are eligible to apply for the government’s Energy Intensive Industry (EII) Exemption Scheme and have received around £15m from it since 2013.
The sector will also benefit from the related British Industry Supercharger (BIS), with the government committed to rolling out its measures between April 2024 and April 2025.
This is in addition to the broader support with energy bills provided for business through the Energy Bill Relief and Discount schemes and the support provided by the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) to help invest in energy efficiency and low carbon technologies.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate her Department has made of the impact of the ceramics industry on gross domestic product in the last five years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Business and trade estimates that the ceramics industry was worth £1.1 billion in 20211. Over the last five years, the ceramics industry has represented 0.1% of UK GDP2.
1- ONS Annual Business Survey accessed here
2- ONS Gross Value Added accessed here
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 his Department is taking steps to help support the ceramics industry to achieve net zero emissions.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is committed to working with the ceramics industry to support decarbonisation. Innovative ceramics fuel mixes were supported through the Industrial Fuel Switching competition, with £300,000 for hydrogen trials in Stoke. On 5 June the Government launched the Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans competition, which will provide support to local areas and could further support initiatives for ceramic decarbonisation. Funding for deployment of low carbon technologies, and for feasibility /engineering studies, is also available through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund.
Asked by: Andrew Percy (Conservative - Brigg and Goole)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with brick manufacturers on the future economic performance of the ceramics industry.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Department for Business and Trade ministers and officials are in regular contact with the ceramics sector, specifically brick manufacturers to discuss current and future priorities around energy costs, decarbonisation, and competitiveness.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Government's policy on the UK Emission Trading Scheme on the (a) economic growth and (b) international competitiveness of the UK ceramics industry.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) incentivises industries to find the most cost-effective solutions to decarbonise, enabling green growth. Industrial participants in the UK ETS, including those in the ceramics sector, are provided with free allocations reducing exposure to the carbon price and mitigating carbon leakage risk.
The Government has guaranteed free allocations at current levels until 2026, and as part of an ongoing review will look to target support more effectively to sectors most at risk of carbon leakage. The Government is consulting on wider carbon leakage mitigations such as a carbon border adjustment mechanism and mandatory product standards.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to take steps to help decarbonise the UK ceramics sector.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Innovative ceramics fuel mixes were supported through the Industrial Fuel Switching competition, with £300,000 for hydrogen trials in Stoke. On 5th June, the Government launched the Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans competition, which will provide support to local areas and could support initiatives for ceramic decarbonisation. Funding for deployment of low carbon technologies, and for feasibility/engineering studies, is also available through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF). Subject to business case approval, IETF Phase 3 will open for applications in early 2024, worth up to £185m.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps with her Cabinet colleagues to promote careers in the ceramics manufacturing sector through schools.
Answered by Robert Halfon
High-quality careers information, advice, and guidance is key to helping young people to make informed decisions about their future. This includes the ability to find out about and consider different careers options available, such as in the ceramics manufacturing sector.
Whilst an essential element of careers advice is that it is impartial, the department works with the Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) to support schools and colleges to embed best practice, so that young people are aware of the full range of careers and have access to meaningful encounters with a range of employers and workplaces.
The department funds Careers Hubs, which lead partnerships of secondary schools, colleges, employers, Local Enterprise Partnerships, local authorities, and careers providers to help young people connect closely to local skills and economic needs through a responsive careers education programme. Through this network, schools can make links with employers from a wide range of sectors who are working with schools and colleges to improve careers education to support young people to make informed choices, and to develop the skills they need and employers want.
The CEC can work with business and sector bodies to help them to engage with schools and colleges across England. Sector bodies can register their interest via the CEC at: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/employers/industry-partnerships/. Individual employers can also register their interest to support schools and colleges through the Enterprise Adviser Network or as a Cornerstone Employer via the CEC’s Employers webpage at: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/employers/. Cornerstone Employers are a flagship group of employers from a range of sectors that work with networks of schools and colleges to improve careers education and ensure key skills for their sector are understood by teachers and education leaders.
In addition, the National Careers Service, a free, government-funded careers information, advice, and guidance service draws on a range of labour market information to support and guide individuals. The Service website gives customers access to a range of useful digital tools and resources to support them including ‘Explore Careers’ which includes more than 130 industry areas and more than 800 job profiles. These include a range of manufacturing roles, and describe what those roles entail, qualifications, and entry routes.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value was of exports of UK-manufactured ceramic products in each year since 2019.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria. However, it should be noted that HMRC does not hold data regarding the manufacture of those exported goods.
Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist you in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Trade Tariff. Goods moving from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff.
Ceramics can be classified under a number of commodity codes depending on the item produced. The classification codes in chapter 69 are used for ceramic products other than porcelain and china. However, there are other Tariff chapters that may also contain ceramic in them.
The value of ceramics exported from the UK since 2019 is available from the above uktradeinfo website. As referenced above, the online data available does not distinguish where the ceramics are manufactured.
The Office for National Statistics do publish statistics on UK manufacturers’ sales by product (latest available 2021), of which Division 23 SIC(07) 2341 to (07)2349 may be of interest. However, these statistics do not differentiate between domestic and export sales.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps with her Cabinet colleagues to ensure that businesses in the UK ceramics industry benefit from adequate (a) local energy network capacity and (b) infrastructure connections.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The electricity networks infrastructure is regulated to ensure adequate grid capacity through the price control. For the low-voltage electricity network price control, Ofgem has allowed £22.2bn for networks to invest, including £3.1bn for network upgrades to allow for adequate grid capacity to meet anticipated demand