Written questions by Lavery.

What plans his Department has to accelerate domestic renewable generation, including offshore wind, tidal energy, green hydrogen and geothermal.

Accelerating renewable generation is one of this Government’s missions and that’s why we published the Clean Power Action Plan. There are a range of interventions this Government made since coming to power, including lifting the onshore wind ban in England and the significant progress already made to deliver a solar rooftop revolution. The Contracts for Difference (CfD) mechanism is one of our main levers to intervene and in Allocation Round 7, we secured a record 14.7GW of renewable capacity, including 8.4GW of offshore wind, and four new tidal stream projects totalling 20.9MW. We look forward to more capacity being released under future CfDs. We are supporting 10 green hydrogen projects across England, Scotland and Wales through the first Hydrogen Allocation Round. The Government recognises the renewable resource that the UK has for geothermal energy and is pleased to see innovation in both heat and power applications.

What assessment his Department has made of UK energy resilience to disruption to global gas or electricity markets.

The UK benefits from a strong and diverse security of supply and we continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East closely. The Government works with Ofgem, the National Energy System Operator and the Gas and Electricity System Operators to monitor the energy supply horizon and ensure industry continues to have the tools required to manage supply and demand. The Government is strengthening energy security by reducing dependency on volatile global fossil fuel markets and delivering a diverse, secure and clean energy system based on renewables and nuclear, backed up by unabated gas to be used only when essential.

How many contracts his Department has awarded to Altrad since 2022; what the value of those contracts is; and how many of those contracts relate to the removal of asbestos.

We do not hold any contracts for this supplier “Altrad”.

Whether he has had recent discussions with Ofgem on (a) the level of standing charges for (i) gas and (ii) electricity in the North East and (b) regional variations in standing charges.

Although standing charges are a commercial matter for suppliers, and are regulated by Ofgem, we know that too much of the burden of the bill is placed on them. The Government has worked constructively with the regulator on the issue of standing charges, and we are committed to lowering the cost of them. The Government understands that there is a degree of variance in electricity standing charges across the country. This arises from a regional variation in electricity distribution costs and reflects the different costs of maintaining and upgrading the distribution network in a specific area, and the number of consumers those costs are spread across. Ofgem’s recently published discussion paper sets out the options for how standing charges could be reduced, including by moving some supplier operational costs off standing charges onto the unit rate, increasing the variety of tariffs available for consumer in the market, and in the longer term, reviewing how system costs are allocated. Ofgem's publication can be found here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/call-for-input/standing-charges-domestic-retail-options. The Government will continue to support Ofgem in this work and ensure that standing charges are reduced.

Whether he plans to compensate people affected by the surplus sharing agreement with the Mineworkers Pension Scheme.

Our Manifesto committed to reviewing the surplus sharing arrangements and work is already underway to initiate that process. We are committed to transferring the Investment Reserve and ending the injustice of the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme.