The Minister of State, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Former Conservative MP for Devizes
This is also my last Prime Minister’s questions, and I want to follow the comments that have been made about your strong leadership from that Chair, Mr Speaker, and, indeed, your kind comments about my good friend my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke) and others. I would also like, if I may, to take this opportunity to thank the staff of this place,...
I am grateful for the opportunity just to say how wholeheartedly I support my right hon. Friend in what she is doing, particularly in the environmental space. Does she agree that the ability to take the leadership that the UK has demonstrated in so many areas to the rest of the world in the absolutely critical conference of the parties next year will help us to sell the benefits of the green...
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Energy efficiency.
Witnesses: Claire Perry MP, Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Ben Golding, Director, Energy and Efficiency and Local, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
I see many colleagues standing, but I thank the shadow Minister for his commitment and his support for cross-party, and I want to answer some of his points. The hon. Gentleman raised, rightly, the question of natural resources and the contribution they can make in carbon reduction. I am sure he will be pleased to know that, since 1990, emissions from that sector have halved. He is absolutely...
I thank my right hon. Friend for his comments, and I would also like to pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd), who did so much in this brief before I was lucky enough to take it on. My right hon. Friend the Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames) is absolutely right: a sense of proportion is hugely important. I can go further and say...
As I set up the green finance taskforce, along with my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, I am absolutely committed to bringing forward many of its proposals. Indeed, we have been making progress on its proposals. We are very lucky—again, it is a source of great success for us—that we have one of the most innovative financial capabilities in the world, and we are really...
I am disappointed that my right hon. Friend’s constituents are finding it difficult to engage, because leadership in the public sector is actually something on which we can really demonstrate progress. We have introduced a voluntary public sector emissions reduction target of 30%. We have actually over-achieved on the central Government estate on narrower targets. We have set up a new...
I am not surprised that the right hon. Gentleman makes such a profound point, given his experience. Whatever we do in the UK and however much we talk about our progress, it is an infinitesimal part of the current emissions profile. Two things have happened since Paris. First, I know it sounds very boring and dull, but the development of a rule book, so that we can look each other in the eye...
We are regularly engaging at Ministerial and official level with interested countries and the Western European and Others Group of the United Nations, as part of a coordinated cross-Government effort to demonstrate the UK is a committed, effective and ambitious leader on climate change and a good potential COP26 host. Our offer to host builds on the strong progress we have made towards the...
The attached table shows the number of measures delivered under the current phase of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO3) for the latest data available (October 2018 – February 2019) for each Parliamentary constituency in Great Britain. In order to manage the risk of revealing personal or commercial data, our approach is not to release non-zero counts of less than five for a small...
The Environment Agency provides advice on how businesses should comply with environmental law through guidance on Gov.uk. In order to regulate businesses it provides advice on the best available techniques and approaches that enable businesses to comply with the law and helps businesses with the best available compliance techniques. We are also committed to working closely with the private...
In 2018 we consulted on the level of the Warm Home Discount rebate and decided to maintain the current level in order to provide it to the maximum number of households. Since then, the Government has also taken action to protect 11 million households with the introduction of the energy price cap. Disabled people on means-tested benefits are eligible under the Broader Group of the Warm Home...
The Department considered whether solar thermal should be allowed for space heating when the scheme was being designed in 2012/2013. The decision to restrict support to domestic hot water only solar thermal systems for the domestic RHI was based on the following considerations:At the time that we made our decision, market intelligence showed that only a small minority of solar thermal systems...
Transforming how we heat our homes is one of the most difficult decarbonisation challenges facing the country. A number of options have the potential for achieving this, including heat networks, heat pumps, hydrogen and biogas. We need to continue exploring and testing different approaches to heat decarbonisation. Through the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme we are spending £4.5 billion...
As part of the environmental permit application, and before any hydraulic fracturing can take place, operators must submit a waste management plan to the Environment Agency for approval. This describes the processes and the types of extractive waste that will be generated at the site. The plan must set out how the operator will manage, minimise, reuse, recycle and dispose safely of the...
Where an energy supplier fails its customers are quickly transferred to another supplier appointed by Ofgem and their account balances are protected. Ofgem are considering a range of options to limit consumers’ exposure to the costs of supplier failures and plan to consult further in the summer. The choice for consumers has increased from 13 suppliers in 2010 to around 60 now, with a wide...
