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1138419

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Vegetable Oils
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support businesses to develop new and more sustainable vegetation oils as a replacement for palm oil.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	276167
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government is committed to working with business and others to create a UK market for sustainably sourced palm oil for households and reduce the environmental impact of palm oil production overseas.</p><p> </p><p>In 2012, the Government convened an industry-led UK Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. This brought together trade associations for palm oil-using sectors to improve reporting, traceability and understanding of supply chains to increase the use of certified palm oil. As a result the market share of sustainable palm oil in the UK has increased from 16% in 2010 to 75% in 2017.</p><p> </p><p>Internationally, as a member of the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership, the UK is driving 100% sustainable palm oil supply chains in Europe. The UK also supports the Tropical Forest Alliance (TFA) which recently secured the Marrakesh Declaration on palm oil. The Declaration has seen seven African palm oil producing countries and major companies agree principles for responsible palm oil.</p><p> </p><p>This builds on earlier Government efforts to tackle non-household use of vegetable oils such as palm oil in sectors such as biofuels, by promoting waste-derived biofuels. Two thirds of biofuels in 2017-2018 were from such wastes.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that more remains to be done and will continue to explore opportunities to improve the sustainability of palm oil production.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 16/07/2019 14:42:53 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1137844

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Artificial Intelligence: Skilled Workers
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to support industry-led initiatives to close the artificial intelligence skills gap.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	275134
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The Industrial Strategy sets out the Government’s vision to make the UK a global centre for AI and data innovation, which includes developing the skills that will contribute to building the best environment for AI development and deployment. We have created the Office for AI (a joint unit between the departments: Business Energy and Industrial Strategy and Digital Culture Media and Sport) to oversee that vision.</p><p>The AI Sector Deal brings together commitments from Government, Industry and Academia in a near £0.95bn package of support to promote the adoption and use of AI.</p><p>To date, some of the key Government investment in AI skills and talent has included:</p><ul><li>£100m for 16 New Centres for Doctoral Training at universities across the country, delivering 1,000 new PhDs over the next 5 years;</li><li>£50m of funding agreed at Autumn Budget for new prestigious AI fellowships to attract and retain the top AI talent; and</li><li>£13.5m government funding to build new conversion courses to expand pathways into AI and Data specialisms as well as scholarships to improve diversity</li></ul><p>Further, through the Government’s Office for AI, we are working with Industry and Academia to develop a new industry-funded AI Masters programme, in collaboration with the British Computer Society and the Institute of Coding. Partnerships between industry stakeholders and universities are being established that will produce the postgraduates industry partners need.</p><p>The Office for AI is in regular discussion with industry and continues to welcome other initiatives aimed at increasing artificial intelligence skills in the UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 15/07/2019 15:43:28 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1137466

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Biofuels
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support the UK biomass energy industry to be completely sustainable.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	274460
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK Government has introduced mandatory sustainability criteria for biomass for heat and power generation. These are some of the most stringent criteria in Europe.</p><p>The sustainability criteria ensure biomass reduces carbon emissions and is sourced sustainably. The criteria include a minimum 60% lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions saving, compared to emissions from an EU fossil fuel comparator for electricity. The calculation requires transport, growing and processing emissions to be included. Generators only receive subsidies for the electricity output which complies with our sustainability criteria.</p><p>We keep the sustainability criteria under review.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 11/07/2019 13:18:33 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1137225

	registered interest
	date	05/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Consumer Goods: Carbon Emissions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to inform the public of the (a) need to de-carbonise heat and (b) potential changes required to domestic appliances.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	273751
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/07/2019 answer text <p>Heating our homes, businesses and industry accounts for nearly half of all energy use in the UK and a third of our carbon emissions. Meeting our emission reduction targets implies decarbonising nearly all heat in buildings and most industrial processes. Given the diversity of heat demand, no one solution can provide the best option for everyone – a mix of technologies and customer options will need to be available, potentially bringing extensive change for consumers.</p><p> </p><p>Public awareness of the need to decarbonise heat, and the potential impacts of doing so, is currently low. This needs to change to enable a fully informed debate about long term options. In order to support this debate, BEIS officials have commissioned research to improve our understanding of current public awareness, attitudes and preferences for different approaches to decarbonising heat, and explore options for engaging stakeholders and the wider public in the development of heat policy. The Department will publish a new roadmap for policy on heat decarbonisation next year.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 10/07/2019 11:23:47 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1136578

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Boilers: Hydrogen
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring that new gas boilers are hydrogen-ready.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	272772
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government considers that hydrogen technologies have the potential to make an important contribution to decarbonising heating.</p><p>The Department commissioned Frazer Nash to prepare the report ‘Appraisal of Domestic Hydrogen Appliances’, published in 2018, which discusses the feasibility and merits of hydrogen-ready appliances as well as the adaption of existing natural gas appliances and new designated hydrogen fuelled appliances.</p><p>The Department is also currently delivering the Hy4Heat innovation programme; an ongoing programme assessing the feasibility of hydrogen heating applications in buildings. This programme supports the design, development and testing of domestic hydrogen appliances, including investigating the potential for products, such as hydrogen-ready boilers, to facilitate conversion:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/appraisal-of-domestic-hydrogen-appliances" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/appraisal-of-domestic-hydrogen-appliances</a>.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 08/07/2019 15:06:57 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1135834

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Graduates: Average Earnings
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ensuring universities publish potential earnings returns for all degree courses.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	271402
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Students’ ability to make informed choices is at the heart of the higher education reform agenda. The government is taking steps to improve the quality of information provided to students and how it is presented. We want to equip prospective students with the information to make the right choice for them about where and what to study.</p><p> </p><p>The value of higher education is about more than just economic returns. It provides wider benefits such as employability, social impact and important cultural value, which enriches our society. However, data shows that there are disparities between the outcomes seen from the same subject at different institutions, highlighting universities that need to improve and maximise the potential of their courses.</p><p> </p><p>The Unistats website is an official site that allows prospective students to search for and compare data and information on university and college courses across the UK, and it is available at: <a href="https://unistats.ac.uk/" target="_blank">https://unistats.ac.uk/</a>. It is owned and operated by The Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland, The Office for Students, The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales and The Scottish Funding Council and contains subject and course level data for each higher education provider. The information currently available includes average earnings 6 months after graduation, which has been taken from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, and average earnings 3 years after graduation which has been calculated from the Department for Education’s Longitudinal Education outcomes dataset. We expect that the Office for Students will launch a new information resource tool to replace Unistats in autumn 2019.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 08/07/2019 11:56:52 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1135843

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Renewable Energy: Investment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling investors to realise returns while solar power plants, onshore and offshore wind farms and hydroelectric power plants are being built to ensure that projects go ahead.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	271403
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>The existing renewable support schemes are designed so that payment is based on generation, and ensures that renewable assets are attractive to investors. Over 42GW of new renewables have been constructed through the Contracts for Difference, Renewables Obligation and Feed in Tariffs Schemes (to 2018).</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 09/07/2019 16:05:50 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1135844

	registered interest
	date	01/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools and Universities: Admissions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the June 2019 Sutton Trust and Social Mobility Commission report Elitist Britain 2019: the educational backgrounds of Britain's leading people, what steps he is taking to tackle social segregation in schools; and whether he plans to introduce contextual recruitment and admissions practices for entry to the UK's top universities.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	271404
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2019 answer text <p>The gap between state-funded schools and independent schools has never been smaller. 85% of state-funded schools are now rated good or outstanding, compared to 68% in 2010. This has been driven by a range of reforms focusing on levelling the playing field and strengthening education from the bottom up.</p><p>Phonics is helping early literacy. More pupils leave primary school meeting the expected standards in maths and English. Our reformed GCSEs make sure 16-year-olds have the knowledge parents expect. The department is also encouraging good independent schools to provide means-tested bursaries, which broadens their intake to include pupils that would not otherwise be able to attend. Furthermore, the department is seeking to increase the number of partnerships between state-funded schools and good independent schools.</p><p>Universities are independent, autonomous bodies. As such, they are responsible for their own admissions decisions. We are aware that many of them already adopt contextual admissions practices, to encourage increased numbers of applications from disadvantaged students with the potential to succeed at university and we support such initiatives.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 04/07/2019 15:33:25 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1133923

	registered interest
	date	21/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Transport: Carbon Emissions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including (a) aviation and (b) shipping in the statutory regime for the Government's net zero carbon target.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	267725
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government is clear on the need for action to tackle emissions from the whole economy – including emissions from international aviation and shipping. Emissions from domestic flights and shipping are already covered by our existing domestic legislation and our carbon budgets provide “headroom” for the inclusion of international aviation and shipping emissions. This will continue to be the case for a net zero target.</p><p> </p><p>Emissions from international aviation and shipping are a global problem requiring a global solution. That is why we are working closely with the relevant international organisations, the International Maritime Organization and International Civil Aviation Organization, to ensure we and the rest of the world are taking ambitious action.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 26/06/2019 14:00:42 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly

1132264

	registered interest
	date	14/06/2019
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Wind Power
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has plans to support local community (a) ownership and (b) control of onshore wind farms.
	tabling member constituency	Newcastle-under-Lyme
	tabling member printed	Paul Farrelly
	uin	264736
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) sets out the Government’s policy on onshore wind and explains that for new schemes to be acceptable they should be on a site allocated in a development plan and have community support.</p><p> </p><p>The NPPF also sets out that in principle local planning authorities should support community-led initiatives for renewable and low carbon energy.</p> answering member constituency Kingswood answering member printed Chris Skidmore question first answered 19/06/2019 09:24:49 answering member 4021 label Biography information for Chris Skidmore
	tabling member	1436 label Biography information for Paul Farrelly