Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1314430

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
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	Belt and Road Initiative: China
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 role his Department has in the Belt and Road Initiative Strategic Oversight Board; who the primary lead is for that Board; what the objectives are of that board; who attends meetings of that board and in what capacity; which other (a) Government departments and (b) external individuals attend meetings of that board; how often such meetings take place; who the lead Minister is of those meetings; and whether the board Minutes are published online.
tabling member constituency	Wealden
tabling member printed	Ms Nusrat Ghani
uin	1109
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Strategic Oversight Board is a cross-Government coordination mechanism led by senior Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) officials. Other departments represented on the Board at senior civil service level include HM Treasury, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Department for International Trade (DIT), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the Cabinet Office. Through the Board, the FCDO ensures that other departments considering engagement with projects associated with the BRI are aware of the wider spectrum of UK interests, the strategic context, and priorities such as adherence to international standards. This applies to both engagement with specific BRI projects and to Government activities intended to influence the BRI at a more systemic level. BEIS representatives have attended regarding China’s climate influence through the BRI. The Board meets quarterly or as required. Minutes are not published, reflecting normal practice for internal meetings between civil servants. There are no external or Ministerial attendees.</p> answering member constituency Berwick-upon-Tweed answering member printed Anne-Marie Trevelyan question first answered 18/05/2021 12:50:18 answering member 4531 label Biography information for Anne-Marie Trevelyan
tabling member	4460 label Biography information for Ms Nusrat Ghani

1314438

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
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	Post Office
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will list the (a) dates and (b) attendees of all meetings held between Ministers and Post Office Limited from 2010 to 2015.
tabling member constituency	North West Norfolk
tabling member printed	James Wild
uin	1209
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>Departments publish quarterly details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations on GOV.UK. In July 2016 the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) replaced the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Details of ministerial meetings for the Department for Business, Innovation &amp; Skills from 2010 to 2015 are available at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bis-quarterly-publications-april-to-june-2012" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bis-quarterly-publications-april-to-june-2012</a>.</p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 18/05/2021 16:09:27 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4787 label Biography information for James Wild

1314475

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
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	Energy: Housing
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 the Government is taking to support low income families that are unable to afford green energy improvements to make their homes energy efficient and contribute to the Government's net zero target.
tabling member constituency	Brent Central
tabling member printed	Dawn Butler
uin	1024
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>The Government has recently published a strategy, <em>Sustainable Warmth – supporting vulnerable households in England</em>, which sets out our plans to support fuel poor households in more detail.</p><p> </p><p>As of 2019, there are 1.2 million fewer low-income households living in the least energy efficient homes (Band E, F or G) compared to 2010. There are a number of Government schemes which make funding available to support low-income families make their homes energy efficient.</p><p> </p><p>The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a GB-wide scheme currently worth around £640m per year, which provides energy efficiency and heating measures to low income and vulnerable households. We have committed to expanding ECO from 2022 to 2026 to a value of £1bn per year.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is investing £1.3 billion in energy efficiency, up from the £1 billion announced in my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan. The Green Homes Grant (Voucher) low-income scheme had issued 26,281 vouchers by the end of March, worth over £156 million. We have also provided support for Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery and for Social Housing – £500 million worth of works is already being delivered and additional funding will be disbursed this summer.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Upgrade Grant has been allocated an initial £150 million to specifically support low-income households with energy efficiency and low carbon heating upgrades to the worst-performing off-gas-grid homes in England. The Home Upgrade Grant is due to commence delivery in early 2022.</p><p> </p><p>We recently consulted on strengthening the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for private landlords. These new standards would require landlords to invest up to £10,000 towards improving their property to energy efficiency Band C, or register an exemption. For social housing, the Government has also invited experts to review whether the Decent Homes Standard should be refreshed.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to help with energy efficiency measures, over 2 million households get direct assistance with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount. We have committed to expanding that scheme from 2022 to 2026 so that it will reach around 3 million households across Great Britain.</p> answering member constituency Berwick-upon-Tweed answering member printed Anne-Marie Trevelyan question first answered 18/05/2021 12:42:42 answering member 4531 label Biography information for Anne-Marie Trevelyan
tabling member	1489 label Biography information for Dawn Butler

1314488

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
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	Photographs: Coronavirus
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 effect of the covid-19 pandemic on the travel photography industry.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	1184
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>Throughout the pandemic, the Government has sought to keep as many business sectors open as we can to protect the economy, whilst delicately balancing the need to protect the NHS and save lives. The Department engages regularly with business representatives, stakeholders and local partners to understand the impact of Covid-19 across all sectors of the economy.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, the Government has provided an unprecedented package of support to businesses and individuals affected by the pandemic, including those in the travel photography industry. This support includes grants, loans, the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, the Self Employment Income Support Scheme, the trade credit insurance guarantee and tax deferrals.</p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 18/05/2021 16:09:15 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1314496

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
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	Animal Experiments: Surveys
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to publish an update to the Public Attitudes to Animal Research survey last published in 2019.
tabling member constituency	Easington
tabling member printed	Grahame Morris
uin	1041
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>The Government understands the importance of this research; the Department is working to ensure that this survey can be undertaken and the results published as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 18/05/2021 14:59:30 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	3973 label Biography information for Grahame Morris

1314621

registered interest
date	13/05/2021
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: Subsidies
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 he is taking to redirect biomass subsidies to solar and wind.
tabling member constituency	Kingston and Surbiton
tabling member printed	Ed Davey
uin	978
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2021 answer text <p>This Government has a long tradition of supporting clean electricity, and we have announced ambitious plans to support up to 12GW capacity of renewable electricity in the next allocation round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme, which would be double what was secured in the previous round.</p><p> </p><p>The Government announced in March 2020 that onshore wind and solar projects will be able to bid for contracts in the next CfD allocation round, which is planned to open in December this year. The scheme has already awarded contracts to around 800MW of onshore wind and solar capacity combined.</p><p> </p><p>We recently announced that coal-to-biomass conversions will be excluded from future CfD allocation rounds. This means there will be no new coal-to-biomass conversions under the scheme. We have no plans to remove support for biomass conversions prior to 2027 for generating stations that are already supported under the Renewables Obligation and CfD schemes.</p><p> </p><p>In the Government’s response to the Climate Change Committee’s annual progress report to Parliament, we announced that we will publish a new Biomass Strategy in 2022. This strategy will review what amount of sustainable biomass could be available to the UK and how this resource could be best utilised across the economy to help eliminate the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050.</p> answering member constituency Berwick-upon-Tweed answering member printed Anne-Marie Trevelyan question first answered 18/05/2021 12:44:40 answering member 4531 label Biography information for Anne-Marie Trevelyan
tabling member	188 label Biography information for Ed Davey

1314113

registered interest
date	12/05/2021
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	Coronavirus: Vaccination
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 11 March 2021 to Question 164467 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, how much Admiral has been paid to date for communications services; and what the total value is of the contract with Admiral.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	714
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>The Vaccine Taskforce brought onboard specialist communications support as contingent labour using the Public Sector Resourcing framework, rather than signing a contract with Admiral as a company. This contingent labour ceased involvement with the Vaccine Taskforce at the end of 2020.</p><p> </p><p>Details of commercial arrangements with all firms and contract labour used by the Vaccine Taskforce have been published in line with the usual transparency arrangements.</p> answering member constituency Stratford-on-Avon answering member printed Nadhim Zahawi question first answered 17/05/2021 13:46:48 answering member 4113 label Biography information for Nadhim Zahawi
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1314117

registered interest
date	12/05/2021
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	Business: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 25 March 2021 to Question 173011 on Business: Government Assistance, if he will publish the formula that was used to allocate the (a) Local Restrictions Support Grants (Open), (b) Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) and (c) Restart Grants; and what measure of (i) population and (ii) number of businesses was used to allocate each of those grants.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	718
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>All information relating to how funding allocations for business support grants is contained within guidance that has been issued to local authorities and which is available on GOV.UK. All allocations figures are also available on GOV.UK.</p><p>LRSG (Open) allocations to local authorities were based on a government estimate of the number of in-scope business premises. This drew on data provided by the Valuation Office Agency which gave the number of business hereditaments in the local rating lists in the relevant sectors by local authority. Local authorities were asked to use their own understanding of local businesses to determine eligibility. This was a discretionary scheme meaning central government did not mandate which businesses a local authority was required to support.</p><p>For the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) scheme, Local Authorities received an initial one-off lump sum payment amounting to £20 per head of residential population in each eligible Local Authority area when Tier 3 or widespread national restrictions in November were imposed, whichever was the earliest date. This calculation was based on ONS 2019 Mid-Year Population Estimate for the total population within a local authority. If an area agreed an enhanced package before National Lockdown, then that negotiated amount was honoured. A subsequent top-up to ARG of £500m in January 2021 was also based on the same calculation.</p><p>In March, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a further £425 million top up to ARG would be made available to those local authorities that had spent their initial two allocations. This tranche of ARG will be allocated on the basis of business population in an area, rather than residential numbers and will only be unlocked where expenditure requirements on the first two tranches are met.</p><p>The Restart Grants allocations have been made on the basis of an estimate of the number of business hereditaments in the specified sectors covered by the grant scheme. This estimate has been informed by Valuation Office Agency data on business hereditaments in the local rating lists, but local authorities are the decision makers on whether specific businesses are eligible or not. The Government paid 90% of this estimated total to Local Authorities and are committed to provide further top ups if required to cover all businesses in scope.</p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 17/05/2021 16:00:27 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1314119

registered interest
date	12/05/2021
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	Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry
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 the independent review of the Post Office Horizon scandal will consider the failures in data design of the Horizon system.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	719
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>The purpose of the Inquiry is to understand and acknowledge what went wrong in relation to Horizon and to ensure that there is a public summary of the failings that occurred at Post Office Ltd. At the Inquiry’s outset its Terms of Reference were published, which can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-office-horizon-it-inquiry-2020/terms-of-reference" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-office-horizon-it-inquiry-2020/terms-of-reference</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry’s Terms of Reference state that the Inquiry will only consider the matters set out in its Terms of Reference.</p> answering member constituency Sutton and Cheam answering member printed Paul Scully question first answered 17/05/2021 16:00:40 answering member 4414 label Biography information for Paul Scully
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

1314126

registered interest
date	12/05/2021
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	Research: Africa
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Answer of 30 March 2021 to Question 173012 on Research: Africa, if he will establish the number of early career researchers across the continent of Africa who will lose funding as a result of changes to the Official Development Assistance allocation to the Future Leaders: African Independent Research programme.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	723
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2021 answer text <p>On average, the Royal Society funds 30 new FLAIR fellowships per year through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). Thirty fellowships were awarded for the 2020 cohort, and these will continue receiving full funding throughout this year. The Royal Society will not be funding any new FLAIR fellowships for this year.</p> answering member constituency Derby North answering member printed Amanda Solloway question first answered 17/05/2021 11:53:20 answering member 4372 label Biography information for Amanda Solloway
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah