Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

How many of the Warm Homes: Local Grant programmes will be delivered in Huntingdon constituency.

The Government does not hold data on Warm Homes: Local Grant delivery at the constituency level, as funding is awarded to local authorities and local authority consortia. Huntingdonshire is a member of the Cambridge consortium, which includes Cambridge, East Cambridgeshire, South Cambridgeshire, Fenland, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough. This consortium was allocated £8.57 million under this scheme and can spend up to an average of £15,000 on energy performance improvement and £15,000 on low carbon heat per eligible home. How the funding is allocated within the consortia is determined by the consortia lead through individual retrofit assessments and not by the Government.

What estimate he has made of the number of current North Sea (a) oil and (b) gas fields that cease production by 2030.

The North Sea Transition Authority publishes this data at UKCS Decommissioning Cost and Performance Update 2025

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 September 2025 to Question 71955 on Compressed Natural Gas: Huntingdon, what steps his Department is taking to help to continually (a) improve and (b) maintain the (i) resilience and (ii) security of Huntingdon Gas Compressor.

The Government takes the protection and resilience of energy infrastructure incredibly seriously. We continue to work extensively with the energy sector, industry and other key stakeholders to identify and implement improvements to ensure energy infrastructure, including Huntingdon Gas Compressor, can safely operate and are resilient both now and in the future. Ofgem is currently developing the RIIO-3 price control framework 2026–2031, which will set the level of permitted investment in maintaining and upgrading the gas network. This ensures companies can continue to invest in safe and reliable infrastructure, while keeping costs fair and transparent for consumers.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, when he plans to make a decision on the implementation of zonal pricing.

As part of the REMA Summer Update on the 10th of July 2025, we announced that we will not implement zonal pricing.

How many jobs there are within the civil nuclear sector.

DESNZ do not produce their own figures on the number of jobs within the civil nuclear sector. Cogent Skills, who published their industry-led 2024 Nuclear Workforce Assessment, estimated that the civil nuclear sector supported over 51,000 jobs in 2024.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on building the world’s first commercial scale High Assay Low Enriched Uranium fuel supply chain.

The UK’s £300m HALEU programme will be the first commercial scale capability outside of Russia and is due to deliver in the early 2030s.The programme is already underway with site preparation work having commenced on the £196 million enrichment project at Urenco’s Capenhurst site, to develop an enrichment capability. Further funding has been allocated to support the HALEU supply chain through awards to National Transport Solution on transportation prototypes (including testing and development of pilot transport packages for safely and securely moving HALEU), the regulators and our National Nuclear Laboratory building our technical capabilities. This project will support building resilient nuclear supply chains, free from political interference and reduce global reliance on Russia.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what progress he has made on strengthening connections to the EU energy market.

The Common Understanding between the European Commission and the United Kingdom, agreed at the UK-EU Summit on 19 May 2025, sets out the progress made on strengthening connections to the EU energy market. Both sides have committed to exploring the UK’s potential participation in the EU’s internal electricity market, including access to trading platforms across all timeframes. Discussions are ongoing to define the parameters of such an arrangement. The UK and European Commission also agreed to continue technical regulatory exchanges on new energy technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, and biomethane.

With reference to the Modern Industrial Strategy, what recent progress he has made in delivering the STEP prototype fusion power station in West Burton.

The STEP prototype fusion powerplant will be delivered by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd. (UKIFS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), itself sponsored by DESNZ and fully owned by the UK Government. STEP will be delivered in several phases. The first has been completed producing the powerplant concept design, site selection (West Burton) and identifying the appropriate regulatory framework. Site characterisation is ongoing, and a live tender is underway to select industrial partners to work on the plant with UKIFS, and Fusion R&D Partner UKAEA.

By when does he plan to conclude the policy development phase of the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements.

As part of the REMA Summer Update on the 10th of July 2025, we concluded the REMA policy development and published our decision to retain a single national, GB-wide, wholesale market pricing regime and introduce an ambitious package of reforms to improve the efficiency of our power system. We will not implement zonal pricing. We will set out how the reforms will be implemented in our Reformed National Pricing Delivery Plan later this year.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, what work Great British Energy has undertaken with (a) Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, (b) Cambridgeshire County Council and (c) Huntingdonshire District Council on energy projects in Huntingdon constituency.

As announced in the Clean Energy Sector Plan of the Industrial Strategy, Great British Energy and Great British Nuclear will invest more than £8.3 billion over this Parliament in homegrown clean power. Specifically, as part of the £10 million Mayoral Renewables Fund announced by Great British Energy on 17 July 2025, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority was awarded £700,000 to deliver clean energy projects in their communities helping to lower energy bills. Additionally, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Authority received a share of 6.8m to host the Greater South East Net Zero Hub, and a further share of £5 million through the Great British Energy Community Fund, which it can use to support projects in the Greater South East region, including in Huntingdon.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, which energy infrastructure projects will receive quicker pre-application periods from the reduction in consultation requirements.

The Government is currently consulting on proposals to streamline the infrastructure planning process for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects.Our reforms aim to ensure the system is flexible, proportionate, and responsive to Government priorities and build on proposals in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill that could reduce the typical time spent in pre-application by up to 12 months. Subject to passage of the Bill this would apply to all projects seeking development consent under the Planning Act 2008.Once the consultation closes on 27 October 2025, the Government will carefully analyse all responses received to shape the final policy decisions and any legislative changes.

With reference to the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy, CP 1337, published on 23 June 2025, when he plans to publish plans for (a) civil and (b) defence nuclear collaboration.

In the Industrial Strategy the Government has committed to further align our civil and defence nuclear capabilities. We plan to set out further details of our plans for future collaboration later this year.

How many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.

Between the 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025 the department lost 18,203 days to sickness absence. The average days lost per employee was 3.9.

What assessment has he made of the adequacy of (a) fire service and (b) police coverage of the Huntingdon Gas Compressor.

The Government works closely with the energy industry, regulators and other stakeholders to continually improve and maintain the resilience and security of energy infrastructure, including sites such as the Huntingdon Gas Compressor. Government also works to reduce the vulnerability of assets, and to ensure an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents considering a range of risks.

With reference to the Sun-Ways project in Switzerland, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using photovoltaic panels between rail tracks for electricity generation.

The Government is committed to working with industry to radically increase our existing solar capacity by 2030 through a variety of methods. Rail track solar could be a feasible solution. However, there are some current obstacles that may inhibit the deployment of this technology in all areas. We will continue to look into these issues with Network Rail to determine what is possible.

How much has been paid in compensatory (a) constraint payments and (b) balancing payments to operators of solar power generating facilities following switch-off orders issued by the National Energy System Operator since 5 July 2024.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system, which includes managing constraints. Constraint payments are part of Balancing Use of System charges, which are the costs incurred to balance the supply and demand of the grid. NESO publishes total balancing costs here, and more detail on specific bids and offers can be found by Elexon here. The Government is working to reduce constraints and improve energy security and resilience by accelerating the building of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system.

How many switch-off orders have been issued to solar power generating facilities by the National Energy System Operator since 5 July 2024.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system, which includes managing constraints. NESO publishes total balancing costs. Constraints are a natural part of operating an efficient electricity system and electricity systems around the world use the constraint payment model. Government is working to reduce constraints and improve energy security and resilience by accelerating the building of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system.

What steps he is taking to ensure a gas supply at MBR Acres in Wyton in Cambridgeshire.

The Department is aware of concerns regarding the continuity of supply of LPG to MBR Acres in Wyton due to ongoing protests and the potential impact on the delivery of liquefied petroleum gas. We have and are continuing to engage cross-government as well as with LPG suppliers to ensure that lawful supply chains can continue to operate safely.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on (a) oil prices and (b) the economy.

Oil and gas markets are well supplied and functioning normally. Though they have responded to events in the Middle East, prices remain within the bounds we have seen over the last year. We have not witnessed any material reduction of traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz. DESNZ will continue monitoring closely for any future impacts. The Government's Clean Energy Superpower Mission, supported by the largest investment in home-grown clean energy in British history, will enhance energy security by boosting our energy independence, protecting billpayers, and reducing exposure to global supply shocks.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 May 2025 to Question 53710 on Private Rented Housing: Energy, how the total undiscounted capital expenditure required to meet the standards was calculated.

DESNZ’s National Buildings Model, which is based on a representative sample of properties in England, was used to simulate landlords installing measures to bring their properties up to the proposed standards. For the preferred consultation option, the measures that landlords were modelled to install by 2030 are shown in Table 5 of the Options Assessment. The total undiscounted capital expenditure incurred by landlords is based on summing the costs of installing all measures, using measure cost assumptions that are based on a range of evidence sources. Undiscounted means that costs are not discounted over time with a social discount rate.