My Lords, the report identifies barriers to timely delivery of nuclear projects, including duplication and inefficiencies in environmental and planning assessments. The Government welcome the interim findings and continue to work with the regulators to understand opportunities to streamline the regu…
I should have read the Answer I read out more carefully; I thought that when I read out “in due course”. The serious point, I say to my noble friend, is that the report outlines the fact that recommendations are needed. Those recommendations will be made in autumn 2025. The Government are already di…
I agree that 75% is quite challenging for the island of Great Britain. The economics of rail freight work much better over thousands of miles than over hundreds of miles. However, rail freight growing by 5% last year is evidence that it can be done. The market is segmented into a number of areas suc…
I think that many local authorities recognise the significance of grass-roots music venues, not least as a way of attracting people to live in their areas. The Government are also of the view of my noble friend that supporting grass-roots music is vital. To that end, we are providing £2.5 million fo…
My noble friend makes an important point. He will know that one of the actions of the Government was to see the fleet solid support ships now built in Belfast. That is a really important success that the Government have had. But he is also right that we must ensure that, as far as we can, we rebuild…
My Lords, the Minister has rightly outlined some of the concerns regarding the Chinese Communist regime and the way that it treats its nationals, let alone its international activities. However, international relations between states have never implied approval of those states, or indeed of their do…
My Lords, as we are the unelected House, I completely agree that it is for the electorate—I have faced them several times; they liked and then did not like me—to decide who they seek to represent them and to have an understanding of the values of those people. I thank my noble friend, but we have ve…
I thank my noble friend for his question. He is absolutely right: we need to do whatever we can to make sure that those barriers to work are torn down. To refer back to the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, obviously we need to make sure that we have fair employment practices, t…
I believe that we are looking at this very seriously. Of course, medicine supply chains are complex, global and highly regulated, so there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted and a number of reasons why supply might not be specifically as we would like. Unfortunately, some of those a…
I would not take quite such a harsh view as my noble friend. On how the Government respond to the industry, there is a big industry here and we know that, as a result of the national code having to be withdrawn, it produced an update to the industry code, so the industry is trying to do something to…
My Lords, Great British Nuclear is overseeing the small modular reactor competition for UK deployment. Following a period of detailed negotiation, bidders have now submitted final tenders, which Great British Nuclear is evaluating. Final decisions will be taken shortly.
My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord for his congratulations. What better way to spend my birthday than answering his Question? I understand his frustration. Of course, we want to get this SMR programme over the line. Great British Nuclear is coming to the end of its evaluation process. I …
My Lords, those are excellent points. We want to help individuals see their own potential and help employers see the potential in everyone who comes in. I am answering questions today, but I am also the Minister in the DWP who is responsible for working with ex-prisoners, ex-offenders and people who…
My Lords, the Statement says that the GB system is “highly resilient” but, in reality, has that not eroded over recent years, as was demonstrated recently at Heathrow, when we have known for some years about capacity problems in west London? The Minister will also be aware of the bottlenecks on the …
But, my Lords, the fundamental flaw in the pricing system introduced at the time of privatisation is that the average price of electricity was determined by the marginal price of the last kilowatt, which is normally produced by gas and, as the Minister rightly said, is therefore driven by internatio…