argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to discuss the potential siting of a gigafactory. He will appreciate that through the getting building fund the Government have already committed to supporting a lithium extraction pilot plant in Cornwall, and our Faraday battery challenge already supports work to find and use lithium across the United Kingdom. This is a critical issue. We fully understand the importance of the security of the supply chain, and I would be happy to discuss that, and more specific Cornwall-related issues, with my hon. Friend at a time convenient to us both.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): We are talking about it—we are talking with the company directly to secure vital investment. We want those jobs, and we have said time and again that we are 100% committed to the energy transition and to having world-class automotive manufacturing in the UK.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government are committed to exploring opportunities that will support the next generations of clean technologies, and we are looking very much at the field of critical raw materials. My hon. Friend will remember that when I was Minister for Business, Energy, and Clean Growth, I was particularly committed to that form of technology. It is an exciting development, admittedly in its early stages, and I am always looking to drive innovation in that area.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): On the specific question, I have met Steve Rotheram a number of times in previous ministerial roles, and I believe I am setting up a meeting with him soon. He has great knowledge of the area, and is interested not only in Ellesmere Port but in the possibilities of the HyNet industrial cluster, and decarbonising that. I am sure I will speak to the Mayor very soon.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Jacob Young (Conservative, Centre-right): I appreciate that I am the fifth Member to stand up and ask for it, but as regards the gigafactories, my right hon. Friend should look no further than Redcar and Cleveland. In Teesside we have a fantastic workforce. May I invite him to come to Redcar and Cleveland to see a potential site for a gigafactory?
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I would be delighted. I am clearly going to be a much-travelled Secretary of State investigating all these potential sites for gigafactories. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the excellent work that he has done in his short time in the House of Commons. He has really made an impact and got his voice heard, and the people of Redcar are very well served. I would be very happy to visit the constituency, as I have done in the past, to look at the opportunities for the energy transition.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Technology
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I really appreciate those words of support and help. This is a cross-national issue and a cross-party issue, and I would be very happy to engage with the hon. Gentleman. He knows that I have already made a commitment to visit the HyNet industrial cluster near his constituency. I am very much committed, as previous Secretaries of State have been, to doing all I can to make sure that we get the right investment and the right result.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Alun Hugh Cairns (Conservative, Centre-right): The Secretary of State will be familiar with my long-standing ambition to see a battery valley—or a battery vale—established in Wales, so I was delighted when Britishvolt prioritised St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, my constituency, as its preferred site for its gigafactory, although I was later disappointed when it decided to shift its priority elsewhere, possibly because of the lack of capacity or expertise within the Welsh Government in order to serve its needs in bringing such a large, major investment project to Wales. Does my right hon. Friend agree that his Department needs to play an active role in co-ordinating such large, complicated investment projects for the UK, wherever they may be in any nation within the UK, so that my constituency will not necessarily lose out as it has now?
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): There are huge opportunities in Wales for the siting of gigafactories, and also, particularly, in terms of the net zero challenge. I spoke to Ken Skates of the Welsh Government only this morning. There is a huge appetite in Wales to drive the net zero agenda. I would be very happy, as my right hon. Friend knows, to have a conversation with him on how best we can work together to do that.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Michael Jon Wood (Conservative, Centre-right): JLR is leading the way in committing to an all-electric future, boosting our strong manufacturing base in the west midlands, so it was disappointing that Labour discounted the west midlands from its plans. Will my right hon. Friend demonstrate his superior judgment by backing the campaign by west midlands Conservative MPs and our fantastic Mayor, Andy Street, for a west midlands gigafactory so that the west midlands truly can be the engine for growth?
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I think the hon. Gentleman is quite right. Levelling up is clearly heart and centre of what the Government are trying to do. We are doing all we can to get the right result for the people of Ellesmere Port and also for the UK. It is a hugely significant investment.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Environment
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is quite right. The UK Government are absolutely committed not only to the manufacturing of these critically important batteries, but to recycling. We want to see a circular economy for electric vehicles. If we attain that, we will surely maximise the economic and environmental opportunities of the transition to zero emission vehicles.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): We are absolutely committed to that. When I was energy Minister, people like the hon. Member were saying, "When is the energy White Paper going to come out? What is the plan?" We have a 10-point plan, which has been widely accepted and welcomed. We also have an energy White Paper that sets out the path and we are developing strategies for how we get to net zero at a record pace. The Government are delivering. We have a very clear direction, and the industry has broadly welcomed that.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Philip Thomas Hollobone (Conservative, Centre-right): Existing electric vehicle batteries are too big, have a too limited range and take too long to recharge. I welcome the Government’s £318 million investment in the Faraday battery challenge. Will the Secretary of State tell the House how the Faraday battery challenge will lead to smaller batteries with a longer range that do not take very long to recharge?
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): The Faraday battery challenge is a key part of the industrial strategy, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Greg Clark) had a key role in implementing. It has made extraordinary progress in the past two or three years. I would be very happy to pick this issue up with my hon. Friend. Over the next 10 years, I think we will see a complete transformation in the battery technology he talks about.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree with a lot of what the hon. Gentleman says. What I would say, and how I would slightly re-tilt the emphasis, is that there is Government investment, which we have—and we are committed to £12 billion through the 10-point plan—but also private investment. If we look at the success of offshore wind, we see that it was driven largely by the investment of private capital. Exactly the same thing will happen in respect of the net zero challenge. That is why we are in conversations with the private company to secure that investment.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Environment
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The midlands, the Black Country and his constituency are a key part of this story. I have mentioned the 10-point plan many times. It was launched only in November—four months ago—and it has really set the path and set the direction in this area. He is absolutely right: we are 100% committed to success, and I hope that he and his constituents will benefit greatly—I am sure they will—from the transition to a greener and cleaner economy.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Alexander Paul Thomas Stafford (Conservative, Centre-right): This Government have shown a welcome commitment to bringing electric vehicle production to the UK, with all the benefits to the economy and the environment that that entails, and I hope that we will have that in Rother Valley However, electric vehicle components are different from those of petrol and diesel cars and include rare minerals, such as cobalt, that are mined overseas. What discussions has the Secretary of State held about developing a strategy for sourcing rare minerals in an environmentally sustainable and ethical way, particularly by supporting domestic extraction and imports from our safe, reliable, democratic allies?
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): I commend my hon. Friend for that question, which is of great importance. As I have said in earlier answers, we are absolutely committed to exploring and developing lithium mining here in the UK. We fully understand the threats, or dangers, to the supply chain My hon. Friend will also appreciate that the Faraday battery challenge, which we have mentioned a number of times, is funding research to reduce our dependency on raw mineral supply and make better use of global resources. That obviously will involve looking at how we can reduce and replace critical raw materials.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Technology
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): It would be a great outcome, and I am not going to make a partisan point about it. There are MPs of different political stripes across the hon. Gentleman’s region, as we have seen in these questions, who are very keen to develop this kind of technology I am always very happy to engage with colleagues across the House in order to get the right outcomes. It is not just a question of the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Liam Byrne); there are MPs in his area across the House representing midlands seats very ably, and I am very happy to engage with them on this.
Vauxhall at Ellesmere Port and Battery Manufacturing Strategy — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Environment
Kwasi Alfred Addo Kwarteng (Conservative, Centre-right): My view is that that issue, which is critical for the United Kingdom, is something on which I am willing and happy to engage with Members across the House of Commons. It is too important an issue for narrowly partisan views, and of course I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman and discuss opportunities to drive investment to power the net zero transition.
Covid-19: Ethnic Minority Disparities — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Government Operations
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, I can assure my hon. Friend of that. It is what I responded to my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Kate Griffiths), and I can reiterate it again now. What I would also say is that we want to assess the effectiveness of the scheme, so it is not just about letting people know that it has happened, but about checking that what we are doing and what we think is happening is working. Participating local authorities will provide regular progress reports over the course of the community champions programme, for example, so that we can evaluate exactly what is going on. One of the next steps in my report is to share the learning from the programme and to maximise the benefits from the funding we have given so that everyone, including those who have not participated in the scheme, can benefit.
Covid-19: Ethnic Minority Disparities — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): What I can tell the hon. Lady is that, certainly in the Treasury, we look at how different groups are being impacted to make sure that we target help on those who are most vulnerable. All the various schemes—not just the ones that I have mentioned such as the self-employment income support scheme or the CJRS but others such as kickstarter—are targeted at the groups that are most vulnerable, which includes ethnic minority people in particular.
Covid-19: Ethnic Minority Disparities — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Social Welfare
Olukemi Olufunto Badenoch (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We need to prioritise those who are most vulnerable, and if every single group believes that it deserves priority, that means we are not carrying out any prioritisation at all. The JCVI is independent, and we feed information into it. I wrote to it in December with the findings of my work, and it takes all of that into account. It looks at all the various factors, but we need to trust that that independent committee is doing the right thing, and I believe that it is.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Jacob Young (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend rightly points out that contracts for difference have meant a massive leap forward in our investment in wind technology and a decrease in costs for consumers. Does she agree that this is a perfect way to increase production of hydrogen as well, and will she consider meeting me to discuss how we can use contracts for difference in hydrogen production?
Electricity — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is, as ever, a champion for Teesside, where, the work under way to help grow the future hydrogen capacity for our country is absolutely cutting edge. I will be absolutely thrilled to meet him to discuss this matter more fully. For now, the CfDs will be for the existing and established technologies, but he is not wrong that the future is bright for hydrogen. I look forward to meeting him to discuss it more fully We expect to increase to 55.16 GW of capacity and 546 capacity providers in 2021-22. Despite the increase in those numbers, the operational costs are expected to be marginally lower this year than last. The operational cost budgets for both companies were subject to consultation, which gave stakeholders the opportunity to scrutinise and test the key assumptions in the budgets and, importantly, to ensure that they represent value for money. The budgets remain unchanged save for one amendment, which I will briefly summarise. The consultation was published before the outcome of the 2020 spending review was known. The review had announced a pause in public sector pay rises for the majority of the workforce. Taking into account the outcome of this review and the wider economic landscape, the LCCC’ remuneration committee decided to agree a pay pause for its staff in 2021-22. Consequently, an allowance contained within LCCC’s operational cost budget for pay rises that was included in the consultation has now been removed To conclude, taking into account the removal of this allowance, the proposed operational cost budget for the LCCC in 2021-22 is £20,736,000 and £7,472,000 for the ESC. The amendments revise the levies currently in place to enable the companies to collect enough revenue to fund these budgets. Any levy collected that is not spent will be returned to suppliers at the end of the financial year in accordance with regulations. Therefore, subject to the will of Parliament, the settlement cost levy for the Electricity Settlements Company is due to come into force on the day after these regulations are made, and the operational costs levy for the LCCC by 1 April 2021. I commend these draft regulations to the House.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank hon. Members for their valuable contributions to the debate. I will do my best to answer their questions and commit to replying by letter or having meetings with any of them if they wish to follow up on any of the issues that I do not cover In answer to the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead), periodicity for future years of pricing is not yet determined. However, as he rightly set out, the challenges of the past year have meant that we felt it was more appropriate to look at it on a single-year basis this year, hoping, clearly, that things will settle and we will get back to some sort of normality in the year ahead The budgetary increase for the LCCC is in fact 19%. There are three main reasons for that. It is partly due to the impact of covid on energy and insurance markets. The LCCC will now be managing an increased number of CfDs in the year ahead. It is also having to move to a new building this year because the one it has been in is being demolished, so that is a technical reason for having to invest in a new site. The hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown) raised the question of savings. In fact, with the new building, the LCCC has taken the opportunity to look at staff working patterns and the flexibility that some staff will want to use, and that has brought a saving of £184,000 on the overall costs, which is a good thing Interestingly, in relation to the hon. Gentleman’s point about pumped hydro, he is the second person today who has raised that with me and asked that we can look at it, so I look forward to speaking to him and others on the subject. There are three pots for the contracts for difference. Pot 1 will cover onshore wind and solar, pot 2 is for the less developed technologies like tidal, wave and geothermal—that is perhaps where pumped hydro might sit if we look to do that—and pot 3 is for offshore wind, which is obviously a fast-growing sector. I hope that answers hon. Members’ questions, but if there is anything I have missed, I am happy to write to them The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) raised the important question of the challenges with fuel bills for many of our constituents following a really difficult year. I was in fact discussing exactly that with Ofgem this morning, and we will be doing a piece of work to make sure that we are as apprised as we can be of the challenges.
Electricity — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Energy
Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan (Conservative, Centre-right): It is very much a live issue, and, across the multiplicity of the energy resources that we are looking at, we are thinking very much about how we will do that. I am very happy to meet the hon. Gentleman, if he would like, to discuss that in more detail in the weeks ahead I hope that I have been able to provide the necessary assurances for hon. Members to approve the statutory instrument, and I am grateful to them for indicating their support. As I said at the start of the debate, the regulations that the Government are seeking to amend through this instrument will revise the operational cost levies for the LCCC and ESC. These companies play a crucial role in delivering the contracts for difference scheme and the capacity market. They must be sufficiently funded to perform that role effectively, but those costs must be kept to a minimum. It is my view that the operational budget for 2021-22 strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring that companies are adequately funded and that consumer bills are minimised. I therefore commend the regulations to the House Question put and agreed to.
Pensions — House of Commons, 2021-03-01
Topic: Labor
Guy Thomas Opperman (Conservative, Centre-right): I beg to move, That the draft Automatic Enrolment (Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Band) Order 2021, which was laid before this House on 20 January, be approved It is a great privilege to be here in the House to move the motion. This order reflects the conclusions of this year’s annual review of the automatic enrolment earnings threshold required by the Pensions Act 2008. This is the ninth annual review. The review considered the earnings trigger and the qualifying earnings band for the tax year 2021-22. The earnings trigger determines the point when a qualifying worker becomes eligible to be automatically enrolled into a qualifying workplace pension. The qualifying earnings band determines the earnings upon which workers and employers pay contributions into a workplace pension. This order sets a new upper limit for the qualifying earnings band and is effective from 6 April 2021. The lower earnings limit is not changed. Similarly, the earnings trigger is not changed The Government’s commitment to automatic enrolment was demonstrated through the support for the statutory minimum employer pension contributions originally included in the coronavirus job retention scheme. I thank everyone who continues to support automatic enrolment, whether that is the participating employers or, more particularly, the 10 million-plus employees who are saving 8% per annum. I can confirm that we will be pursuing the 2017 automatic enrolment review and bringing that in in the mid-2020s. The 2019 stats show the success that is automatic enrolment, with women in workplace pension participation now at 86%—that was 40% in 2012—and young people between 22 and 29 in workplace pension participation now at 86%; that was 35%. I commend the order to the House.