Campaign Response: Heat pumps - 20 July 2020
Thank you to constituents for writing to me recently concerning the future of government support for heat pumps.
I fully agree with constituents on the importance of ensuring that the government delivers on all of its commitments so that we leave our environment in a better state than it currently is for future generations. This is why I take a great interest in our environment and the achievements to date. For instance, I am very proud that the Duchy leads the country in geothermal projects and wind and solar power. The UK has just achieved two months of power generation without the use of any coal fired stations – the first time this has happened since the start of the Industrial revolution and Cornwall can take at least some of the credit. These are exciting times as we see our constituency paying an increasingly important role in improving our environment.
On the issue of heat pumps specifically, the Business Secretary Alok Sharma have made clear that the government remains committed to investing in heat pumps:
"Heat pumps are key to decarbonising heat and we remain committed to investing in this technology for the long term as part of meeting our target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050."
“Most immediately, we have extended the commissioning deadline to benefit from our successful Renewable Heat Incentive to 2022, but are also investing £590million in green heat networks more widely."
The government has proposed introducing a 45kW capacity limit for projects that were eligible for support in order to target taxpayer funding most effectively in helping support the installer base for off gas grid projects.
The majority of the heat pump installations supported under the RHI have a capacity less than or equal to 45kW, while almost half of total domestic and non-domestic biomass installations have a capacity less than or equal to 45kW. A 45kW capacity limit is also consistent with that covered by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) for a single renewable heating product. It therefore provides a framework for ensuring installation and product standards.
The Clean Heat Grant scheme has been designed as part of a broader package of commitments to support the decarbonisation of heat in buildings and in heat networks and as such larger installations are likely to play a significant role in many of these schemes.
I trust constituents will find the information above helpful in providing a reassurance that the government will continue to provide targeted packages of support to low carbon energy.
Campaign reply - Reopening Beauty Salons - 6 July 2020
Thank you to those constituents who have sent a copy of the campaign email entitled “opening Beauty Salons.”
I was genuinely concerned to learn how badly the lockdown has impacted your businesses. This is a very worrying time for so many. Having been in business myself I know the pressures you face – without the added burden of the current medical crisis.
The government continues to monitor the situation closely and it is in everyone’s interest that we see all businesses open as soon as possible.
The number of infections, hospitalisation and deaths have consistently fallen week on week. This allows the government to gradually open up the economy and I very much hope that all businesses will be able to do so soon.
There is likely to be another group of businesses allowed to open soon. The government continues to work with trade bodies too, on establishing safe practice and precautions thought necessary prior to various business types opening.
There is an almost impossible balancing act to be achieved in these unprecedented times and I can understand the frustration and concerns.
I and many MPs have raised the very real problems businesses that remain closed, are facing with ministers. The situation is known and understood in Westminster. I have made sure of that! I am hopefully that you will be allowed to open in the next tranche subject as ever to the medical advice.
I understand the pressures and problems you are facing. I assure you I am doing all I can to see you and others able to reopen as soon as possible.
Campaign reply - BA - 1 July 2020
A number of constituents have sent me a copy of a campaign email expressing concern over redundancies proposed by British Airways.
You may have caught the exchanges in Parliament, last Wednesday 3 June, following an urgent question on the airline industry. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Kelly Tolhurst) was very clear where the governments stands and their view. I copy below some of the key comments:
Huw Merriman (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
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To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on covid-19 and the economic impact on aviation.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Kelly Tolhurst)
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My right hon. Friend the Chancellor has asked me to respond on his behalf.
The covid-19 crisis has affected every person in the country and every sector of the UK economy, and aviation is essential to that economy. It connects the regions together and it plays a huge part in the UK’s future as a global trading nation. That is why the Government have responded to the crisis with an unprecedented package of measures. On 24 March, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer wrote to the aviation sector setting out the schemes being made available, including the deferral of VAT payments, the covid commercial finance facility and the coronavirus job retention scheme. The Civil Aviation Authority is also working with airlines, airports and ground handlers to provide appropriate flexibility within the regulatory framework. If airlines, airports or other aviation organisations find themselves in trouble because of coronavirus and have exhausted the measures already available to them, the Government have been clear that they are prepared to enter into discussions with individual companies seeking bespoke support.
We recognise that there remain serious challenges for the aviation sector, despite the measures that have been put in place. It will take time for passenger numbers to recover, and the impact will be felt first and foremost by the sector’s employees. The recent announcements about redundancies from companies such as British Airways, Virgin and easyJet will be very distressing news for employees and their families. These are commercial decisions that I regret, particularly from companies that benefit from the job retention scheme, which was not designed for taxpayers to fund the wages of employees only for those companies to put the same staff on notice of redundancy during the furlough period.
The Government stand ready to support anyone affected, with the Department for Work and Pensions available to help employees identify and access the support that is available. My Department has set up a restart, recovery and engagement unit to work with the aviation industry on the immediate issues affecting the restart of the sector and its longer-term growth and recovery. As part of that, we have established an aviation restart and recovery expert steering group, which is formed of representatives across the sector, including airports, airlines and ground handlers, industry bodies and unions.
The sustainable recovery of the aviation sector is a core part of our commitment to global connectivity and growing the UK economy. With airports, airlines and other parts of the aviation sector, we are putting in place the building blocks for recovery. The House will be updated as soon as possible on the next steps.
I feel the concerns of BA workers and others, and we want to make the point to these organisations that the use of Government schemes is preferable to making redundancies. Terms and conditions are a matter for negotiation between employers and employees—the Government are not part of that—but I have already stated that we would expect employers to treat employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership.
ENDS.
You can read the full exchanges here:
This is a very worrying time for so many families and businesses and I am acutely aware of the crisis in the aviation industry. It will take years to recover and I continue to monitor the situation closely and petition ministers to look at all means possible to support business going forward wherever possible and viable.
Campaign reply - “ It's time to Buildbackbetter.” - 1 July 2020
A number of constituents have sent me a copy of a campaign email “ It's time to Buildbackbetter.”
The vision the prime minster set out for the UK before the last election was just that. To invest. To level up. As we all know the manifesto received overwhelming support.
Now, with the totally unexpected shock of the medical crisis hitting the economy the prime minister is all the more determined to not only fulfil those pledges but to go further. He has made this know in his recent speech and I copy below a statement issued shortly afterwards:
The Prime Minister has announced a New Deal for Britain, an ambitious economic strategy to rebuild Britain, putting jobs, skills and infrastructure investment at the heart of our economic recovery post-coronavirus, and delivering on our manifesto pledges to level up the entire country.
• We will use the coronavirus pandemic to tackle this country’s great unresolved challenges of the last three decades which successive governments have ducked: to build the homes, to fix the NHS, to tackle the skills crisis, to mend the indefensible gap in opportunity and productivity and connectivity between the regions of the UK, and to unite and level up.
• Too many parts of this country have felt left behind, neglected, unloved, as though someone had taken a strategic decision that their fate did not matter as much as the metropolis. Not only has a vision to change this country for the better, we have a mission to unite and level up – the mission on which we were elected last year. The Chancellor will provide an update on the economy next week.
• Over the next five years, we will invest more than £600 billion pounds in our future prosperity, and yesterday’s announcement brings forward £5 billion of capital investment projects, supporting jobs and the economic recovery across the country.
• This includes £1.5 billion this year for hospital maintenance, £100 million this year for 29 projects in our road network to get Britain moving, £1 billion to fund the first 50 projects of a new, ten-year school rebuilding programme, starting from 2020-21, over £280 million to support and modernise our criminal justice system, and a new £900 million for a range of ‘shovel ready’ local growth projects in England over the course of this year and next .
• If we deliver this plan together, then we will together build our way back to health. We will not just bounce back, we will bounce forward – stronger and better and more united than ever before.
ENDS.
The UK as it leaves the EU will double down to make a success of our future by investing and building and ensuring that everyone has fair opportunity.