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 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.