The UK has made tremendous progress securing investment into green technologies. Recent figures indicate that the UK saw £60bn of investment in 2023.

Government continues to bring forward targeted funding, regulation and policy to drive investment – such as confirming the funding boost for our Contracts for Difference scheme, publishing our CCUS vision, and our recent announcement of support for advanced nuclear fuel.

My hon. Friend is another doughty champion for one of the expanding sectors in which we are investing: his championing of the hydrogen industry in this country is unmatched. I should be happy to meet him to discuss how we can progress further and speed up investment in hydrogen, which will be key to securing the progress of so many of our ambitious projects.

The UK has already made tremendous progress in securing investment in green technologies. Recent figures indicate that the UK saw £60 billion of investment in 2023, meaning that since 2010 the UK has seen £300 billion of public and private investment in low-carbon sectors. As a Department, the ministerial team and I meet regularly with investors, such as through our second hydrogen investor forum event and regular roundtables to understand how we can better encourage investment.

I thank my hon. Friend for his support for this really important sector in Rother Valley. We have a number of schemes, including £541 million of funding available in the Faraday battery challenge. We also have the £1 billion automotive transformation fund. As a result of the efforts that he and many others have made, we now get 40% of our electricity from renewable sources—the second highest in Europe—and much more progress is to come.

I have set out our national ambition to be the world’s next silicon valley. We are making good progress; last year we were ranked the world’s third largest technology market after the United States and China.

The Government understands the importance of technology-critical minerals and metals supply chains to the economy, as well as the importance of the role of technology (including distributed ledger technology), data and collaborative ventures in the supply chains for these vital materials. This close interest extends across Whitehall and so a range of input is needed to provide a holistic understanding of resilience issues across Departments. We are working towards a single Government vision in this crucial area, and our priority is to enable effective inter-departmental collaboration to drive unified and coordinated Government action to support this sector.

The Government understands the importance of technology-critical minerals and metals supply chains to the economy, as well as the importance of the role of technology (including distributed ledger technology), data and collaborative ventures in the supply chains for these vital materials. This close interest extends across Whitehall and so a range of input is needed to provide a holistic understanding of resilience issues across Departments. We are working towards a single Government vision in this crucial area, and our priority is to enable effective inter-departmental collaboration to drive unified and coordinated Government action to support this sector.

The Government understands the importance of technology-critical minerals and metals supply chains to the economy, as well as the importance of the role of technology (including distributed ledger technology), data and collaborative ventures in the supply chains for these vital materials. This close interest extends across Whitehall and so a range of input is needed to provide a holistic understanding of resilience issues across Departments. We are working towards a single Government vision in this crucial area, and our priority is to enable effective inter-departmental collaboration to drive unified and coordinated Government action to support this sector.

Mission 1 of the National Data Strategy commits to unlocking the value of data held across the economy. We will publish a policy framework to set out government's role in enabling improved data availability, and we will pilot the most promising interventions. In May, we announced a new National Data Strategy Forum to ensure diverse perspectives beyond government and the public sector inform the implementation of the National Data Strategy.

Collaboration with the private sector is already an important part of our work. The Geospatial Commission ran a pilot project over the past two years to consider the value and feasibility of creating a National Underground Asset data sharing platform to help locate buried assets for safer and more efficient work. The pilot involved more than 40 different public and private asset owners - from local authorities to national infrastructure providers, independent network operators and major utilities. In the next year, work will commence on a production platform starting by building a regional product for three regions, the North East of England, Wales and London.

The UK is committed to carbon pricing as a tool to drive decarbonisation to support our transition to a Net Zero economy by 2050.

The Government will implement an ambitious and effective carbon pricing regime to replace our membership of the EU Emissions Trading System following the Transition Period and is legislating to establish potential negotiated and alternative options to support this.

A linked UK Emissions Trading System (UK ETS) remains the Government’s preferred option, provided that any link negotiated suits both sides’ interests. As outlined in a Government Consultation Document published in July 2020, a Carbon Emissions Tax is being explored as an alternative option.

As part of its consultation on the Carbon Emissions Tax this summer, the government set out proposals to incentivise decarbonisation of industry and other sectors through taxation. A summary of responses will be issued shortly.

More broadly, the government agrees that technologies such as hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage are important in helping the UK reach its climate targets. With this in mind, the government recently committed to £12bn of investment in the Green Industrial Revolution as part of the recently published 10 Point Plan. The aim of this investment is to create and support up to 250,000 highly-skilled green jobs in the UK, spurring over three times as much private sector investment by 2030 and ultimately accelerating the UK’s path to Net Zero.

The Government is committed to exploring the option of hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier and works closely with local partnerships across the country. In the course of work to understand the potential role of hydrogen in the wider energy system, my officials and I have met with a range of national, regional and local stakeholders.

Alongside wider adult skills reforms, the government is providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) over the course of the Parliament, for a new National Skills Fund to help adults learn new skills and prepare for the economy of the future.

Work is progressing to develop detailed plans for the National Skills Fund, including considering what role the fund could play in response to Covid-19. We will be consulting on the National Skills Fund in due course when those with an interest are better able to actively engage with it.

Apprenticeships will also have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities and supporting employers in all sectors to access the skilled workforce they need to recover and grow post-Covid-19. They can also help people re-train and re-enter the workforce. To help employers offer new apprenticeships at this time we’ve introduced a new payment of £2,000 for employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August to 31 January 2021.

The Department is regularly in discussions with other countries on a wide range of issues relating to COVID-19. This includes Israel, but this particular proposal is not an issue that has been raised during discussions between our nations. We are keen to learn from examples of best practice wherever they exist and the Department will continue to work with other countries throughout the crisis and beyond.

Apprenticeships will have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for young people, and supporting employers in all sectors to access the skilled workforce they need to recover and grow post-Covid-19. They can also help people re-train and re-enter the workforce.

Employers are at the heart of our reforms to apprenticeships, designing high-quality standards that deliver the skills that they need. Standards developed by the renewable and clean energy sectors include: dual fuel smart meter installer, commercial energy specialist and power engineer.

Additionally, the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) is undertaking work on a number of initiatives to support the energy, and wider engineering sector. This includes: scholarships that are focused on helping young people into areas of growth in the industry during the economic recovery period; connected competence to identify and facilitate transferrable skills, so that training doesn’t need to be replicated within the industry; and ‘Train to retain’ allowing existing graduates to be retained and ultimately reskill them according to emerging industry requirements.

The ECITB is also developing a programme for those at economic risk due to COVID-19 impacts on their part of the industry. This will be similar to the work ECITB and EDF collaborated on for workers at Cottam coal-fired power station, helping them transition from established parts of the energy sector into growth areas.

We continue to work with further education providers and employers to ensure they deliver the skills our workers and economy need. We are looking to support employers of all sizes, and particularly smaller businesses to take on new apprentices this year. We will set out further details in due course. We will also ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses wanting to take on an apprentice this year. In addition, we have launched a new online Skills Toolkit to provide free high quality digital and numeracy courses, the skills most sought after by employers.

Alongside wider adult skills reforms, the government is providing £2.5 billion (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) over the course of the Parliament, for a new National Skills Fund to help adults learn new skills and prepare for the economy of the future.

As my hon. Friend will have heard in the earlier answer from the Energy Minister, we are committed to developing hydrogen as a strategic decarbonised energy carrier. We are investing in the value chain and both the Energy Minister and I will be happy to meet him.

UK and Israel have a strong and important trading relationship and we are committed to strengthening that relationship. A dedicated DIT team in Tel Aviv British Embassy promotes trade cooperation between UK and Israeli companies.

A UK-Israel Tech Hub, working alongside DIT, creates partnerships between British companies and world class Israeli innovators across tech sectors, including agriculture.

Following the signature of the UK- Israel trade continuity agreement, Israel and UK expressed support for a future summit to be hosted in London aimed at increasing bilateral trade, including Agri-Tech. Planned for 2020, the event is on hold due to current corona circumstances.

The Government is working closely with technology companies, NGOs, law enforcement and other Governments to understand the impact of COVID on technology companies’ ability to identify and combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and any steps that can be taken to address this in order to protect children and stop offenders.

From initial conversations, this issue remains a priority for companies and they continue to identify child sexual abuse content albeit with reduced capacity.

The Government is working closely with technology companies, NGOs, law enforcement and other Governments to understand the impact of COVID on technology companies’ ability to identify and combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and any steps that can be taken to address this in order to protect children and stop offenders.

From initial conversations, this issue remains a priority for companies and they continue to identify child sexual abuse content albeit with reduced capacity.