Oral Answers to Questions

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

13. What recent steps he has taken to support businesses in Taunton Deane constituency.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Andrew Stephenson)]

The Heart of the South West local enterprise partnership, which covers both Somerset and Devon, is receiving £239 million through the local growth fund to drive regional economic development. That includes an investment of over £24 million in projects in Taunton Deane, such as the redevelopment of Taunton station and improvements to junction 25, which is one of the largest investments that we have made in the south-west through the local growth fund to date.

[Rebecca Pow]

I welcome the Minister to his new role. Will he join me in congratulating all those involved in the development of the new headquarters for the UK Hydrographic Office, the opening of which I attended in Taunton last week? Will he also join me in supporting the endeavour to use its expertise in marine data to open a marine geospatial innovation centre at Firepool in Taunton to open up opportunities in the blue economy?

[Andrew Stephenson]

I will of course join my hon. Friend in congratulating those involved in the opening of the new UK Hydrographic Office headquarters in her constituency. It is a world-class natural asset. The UKHO is working with local partners to scope the feasibility of developing a marine geospatial innovation centre in Taunton, and it plays a key role in the south-west’s local industrial strategy.

Climate Change Policy

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I pay tribute to the hon. Lady and the Environmental Audit Committee. She knows that I and others are very impressed with the work she does. She raises an important point. The whole-of-Government approach is so valuable. We can no longer just point to a silo and say that if we have solved that, the problem is solved. We have to advance on all fronts. I will look at what she suggests we review. If improvement is needed, we will deliver it.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

The Minister quite rightly outlined the very wide-ranging ways we are decarbonising across all sectors. That is absolutely the right thing, but does she agree that better management of our soils could go a very long way to achieving many of our emissions targets—indeed, getting to net zero sooner—if only we managed the soils better? We have a great opportunity to get this right through the 25-year environment plan, the Agriculture Bill and the environment Bill, which will be the biggest piece of environmental legislation since the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Does that not show that while we get the message about the crisis—we are hearing that—the way to put it right is through policies?

[Claire Perry]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s work on this topic, on which she is something of an expert. She had a very successful soil summit just before the recess. We have realised that some of the most cost-effective ways of sequestering carbon, such as soil improvement, changes in land use management and forestation, are also those that are best for the natural environment. I think we have all collectively realised how we need to continue to invest in these important areas.

Climate Action and Extinction Rebellion

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

The good news is that all the devolved Administrations and the Westminster Government have worked incredibly hard on the low-carbon transition. It is a joint project; we calculate on a joint account. Of course, the taxpayer subsidies that have gone into so much of the energy generation system, helping Scotland with its transition, have come from UK taxpayers and UK tax policy.

I cannot speak for the diary of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, but I am always delighted to meet groups of people, as is the Environment Minister. As I have said, we worked really hard today to try to get our diaries to mesh with the plans of the groups coming here and we offered various meetings, but apparently they were not available at those times. It is a total pleasure to meet people to discuss these issues. Like so many other Members, I am sure, I only have to go home to hear my own children telling me what more we need to do and asking whether they should take part in the protests. I say to them, “Wouldn’t it just be easier to tell mum what you want over a cup of tea?” but it is more fun for them to protest. We genuinely have to listen and move on this issue, and we will continue to do so.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

It is a testament to my constituents—young, old, of no religion, of any religion, whatever shape and size—that they have come to me about the environment. This is an overridingly important issue for everybody. Sustainability should be at the heart of every Government Department, and cross-party should be the name of the game. If we can do one really positive thing to reverse climate change, it will be to reduce our emissions to net zero, and to do so fast. I take my hat off to the Minister for going to the Committee on Climate Change and for asking for its advice on how we could possibly address this more quickly than our targets. The committee’s advice was that we could not do so by 2050. I am hopeful that it will change its mind. Will she please update us on that and will she tell us when aviation and shipping might be included, as they need to be?

[Claire Perry]

To answer in reverse order, there has been progress made on aviation and shipping. That continues to be an international challenge because flights and ships leave and take off from different places, but there is work accelerating on it, and indeed some investment going into low-carbon fuels, which could be hugely important. I will happily update the House when we have received the net zero report and talk about the various aspects in that. We are investing in the first net zero industrial cluster in the UK, with £170 million of funding from the industrial strategy challenge fund. As my hon. Friend has reminded me, it is not just the young who are protesting: one of the most effective and wide-scale campaigning organisations in the UK in this area is the Women’s Institute, which has over 9,000 climate ambassadors. This is a problem that affects all of us, and the solution will involve all of us.

Leaving the EU: Protection for Workers

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Wednesday 6th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

On the good work plan, we will be introducing an employment Bill and it will of course be amendable, in the manner of legislation. We are provided, though, with a more immediate opportunity: that Bill is for the next Session, whereas I very much hope that the withdrawal Bill will be available during the weeks ahead and provide that immediate opportunity to express our determination to apply the commitment that the Prime Minister made on this issue.

The hon. Gentleman mentions the measures on the gig economy that are being contemplated by the European Union. Actually, that is a fine example of what I said earlier: those measures follow the commitments that we have made in the good work plan, and they are now making their way through Brussels. We were in advance of that. As I made clear in my statement, both those EU directives would go through the procedure that I described and would be available to the House, if Members thought there was anything extra in them. Actually, though, we think the directives are in many respects modelled on our own proposals.

On the ability of this House to enforce high standards, I say that that been the tradition. My experience as a Minister at European Councils over recent years is that our record of high standards when it comes to workers’ rights, employment protection and health and safety is looked at with admiration by many of our counterparts across the European Union. This allows us to continue that leadership.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

I welcome this statement and the proposed clauses therein. As my right hon. Friend has been touching on this matter, does he agree that it is often the UK rather than the EU that has led the way not just on workers’ rights, but on environmental standards, and that we should be proud of that? Will he confirm that today’s announcements will ensure that we continue with these high standards in both areas and that we give due regard to any strengthening of environmental protections and regulations by the EU once we leave?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is quite right. Again, the provisions adopted by the Climate Change Act 2008 were not required by the European Union. They were a set of decisions that were taken by this House, and that has been our record. The proposals that I have set out allow us to continue to do that, while making sure that the House is not only properly informed but required to make an explicit determination that, if there are new policies that are adopted and directives that are proposed, they are debated and considered in this House. That seems to me to be a good mechanism to ensure that we are always aware of what is being done in the European Union after we have left it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I admire the hon. Lady’s passion. I feel I am rather front-running my answer to Question 9, which I know the hon. Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies) is teed up to ask, but I will publish today the consultation on the Government’s proposals for a smart export guarantee to bring forward this valuable source of energy at a price so that people are not providing it to the grid for free, and to support its development in what we want to call our smart systems plan going forward.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

While supporting new energy technologies is of course important, so too is supporting technologies that make our energy production more efficient, and many of these technologies are low carbon so they help us meet our climate change targets and cut consumers’ household bills. Can the Minister update us on progress made in this area and on the call for evidence I have asked for on this subject?

[Claire Perry]

My hon. Friend has been a doughty campaigner on this issue and will know that we have contributed almost £20 million to the industrial strategy heat recovery fund, and the low-carbon heating technology innovation fund is also receiving funds of up to £10 million. I entirely agree with my hon. Friend’s principle. I am not convinced that a further consultation is required, but I am always happy to discuss it with her.

Oral Answers to Questions

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Tuesday 20th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Energy and Clean Growth (Claire Perry)]

I applaud the hon. Gentleman for his long-standing interest in this important area. It is going better by the day. Over 400,000 smart meters are now being installed every month. As of the end of October, some 97,500 SMETS2 meters, including one in my home in Devizes, have been installed. He will know better than many about the long-term benefits that this brings, both to people’s ability to control and reduce their energy use, and to delivering the most efficient and digitised energy system in the world.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

T5. Taunton would be the ideal place for the one of the Geospatial Commission’s geospatial hubs, building on the expertise of the UK Hydrographic Office’s oceanic data-gathering skills. Will the Minister agree to visit Taunton to consider this proposal?

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

rose—

Oral Answers to Questions

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Tuesday 16th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Speaker]

Ah yes! The voice of Taunton Deane.

[Rebecca Pow]

Preliminary talks are under way in Taunton Deane on the establishment of a digital geospatial centre, to maximise the expertise of the UK Hydrographic Office, which makes the world’s shipping maps. Is not this exactly the kind of unique high-tech enterprise that will open up job opportunities, and exactly the kind of worldwide collaboration that we ought to be including in the industrial strategy?

[Mr Speaker]

Very exciting, I must say! Let’s hear from the Minister.

Green GB Week and Clean Growth

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I again have to commend the hon. Lady’s long-standing and non-virtue-signalling commitment in this area; she is one of the few people who takes the advice on diet. I would love to know about electric charging stations between Bristol and London, because I will hopefully be making that transition shortly.

The hon. Lady is right, however. One of the key things that came out of the IPCC report, and will come forward, is that we may overshoot. What are we going to do about that? What are the technologies that will help us get back under 2°? We are one of the first Governments in the world to invest substantially in greenhouse gas removal technologies. I am not saying that that is the answer—I would not want to go there, and I would rather change—but if we have to pull CO₂ out of the air or somehow get it out of the ecosystem, we will be one of the first Governments who are able to do that. That is something—[Interruption.] Well, I am afraid we need to consider it, and that is what the IPCC and the CCC have advised us to do.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

First, I commend my right hon. Friend on the advances she is making in asking when and how we might reach a net zero carbon economy, because that laudable endeavour fits entirely with the Government’s moves to leave the environment in a better place than we found it in. However, does she agree that reducing our greenhouse emissions need not come at the expense of growing the economy, because we can invest in new technologies to achieve that? That would cut our energy bills, reduce emissions and increase efficiency. All those things were covered by my recent ten-minute rule Bill, and my right hon. Friend was extremely supportive of it.

Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Wednesday 18th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, because it enables me to say four things. First, I am grateful to the noble Members of the other House, because legislation is always better when it is scrutinised carefully. I think amendment 1 is helpful, so I am not unhappy to have the chance to talk about it.

Secondly, the new chair of Ofgem, Martin Cave, who will shortly take up his post, is a brilliant campaigner in support of the idea that customers should benefit from this regulated energy market. Indeed, I think he proposed the original idea of a tariff price cap. His appointment and the Bill will both help to strengthen Ofgem’s powers. Members will know that he wrote to the Chairman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee—I think it was only last week—setting out Ofgem’s determination to use its powers as widely as possible.

Thirdly, I reassure my hon. Friend that I have come to the House from a meeting with Ofgem, at which we discussed its progress on the price cap. That is well under way, and Ofgem has an extremely good team working on it. Ofgem has already published various technical papers setting out the methodology behind the cap calculation, and it intends to publish in full the details of that in very short order. That will give everybody a chance to scrutinise the cap and make sure that there is nothing untoward.

Fourthly, I wrote to the chairmen of the big six—I think they are all men—last week setting out that the Government would take an extremely dim view of companies that sought to frustrate the introduction of the cap, for which we have all worked so hard, by some sort of legal challenge; and that instead they should work with Government in this exciting time in the energy markets and look to their own activities to see how they can drive down costs, and drive up efficiency and customer service.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

On that note, does the Minister believe that the Bill will narrow down competition, and thereby affect prices, or increase it? Competition is generally viewed as good for a market, because one tends to get lower prices as companies try to attract customers.

[Claire Perry]

I strongly believe in competitive, well-regulated free markets. Indeed, in this market there are now more than 60 energy suppliers, all bidding for our business. I have recently switched again to a company that appears to be offering a very good green tariff. However, the problem, and the reason for the Bill, is that there is a very large group of customers who are sticky—who stay on expensive standard variable and default tariffs because they do not know how to switch, or they are not aware that they can. We can all think of grandparents, parents and others who fall into that category—it also includes young people who are renting accommodation—and they tend to be the furthest from the white heat of the switching market.

Understanding what the Bill does to the economic conditions in the market is, of course, an important part of Ofgem’s role. To go back to the original CMA report, however, we also know that the current pricing practices result in £1.3 billion of what it described as “excessive” returns, and we expect that number to come down. If you will indulge me, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wanted to make sure that the House was aware of that.

It is important that we have a level playing field for companies in the market. I have received representations stating that the customer accounts threshold for offering warm home discounts and ECO should be dropped to ensure that more companies can offer them to customers. We introduced legislation recently to reduce that threshold from 200,000 to 150,000, in increments of 50,000. Customers in receipt of warm home discounts will have a lower chance of losing them if they switch.[Official Report, 4 September 2018, Vol. 646, c. 2MC]

I hope the House agrees that amendment (a) is the most appropriate response to the concerns that have been raised, and that it will be welcomed by Members in this place and the other place. I hope that we will be able to move swiftly on this issue and keep our remarkable outbreak of cross-party consensus going, because I think the Bill is an absolutely vital piece of legislation.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Heappey]

What a joy it is to be in this Chamber when consensus abounds, after a couple of days of tearing strips off one other. It is really rather nice to be in here, all agreeing. That has rather characterised the progress of the Bill throughout its time in this place and in the Bill Committee, on which I had the privilege to serve. I think it is right that we seek to remove the amendment that the Lords have sent back, but I am glad that a compromise has been agreed between the two Front-Bench teams and I think that the amendment in lieu that we have proposed is very sensible.

Since the Bill has been delayed by this extra lap in Parliament, I think it is worth while to rehearse the arguments once again. The price cap is only a part of the challenge, so I want to add a few other things to the exhortation from my hon. Friend the Member for Stirling (Stephen Kerr) about smart meters. The Government must push on with those very urgently, because the savings from them will be far greater than the savings that we will achieve for our constituents from this Bill.

First, on decentralised generation, putting storage in behind the meter and aggregated demand-side response, I know that the Minister is looking at what comes after feed-in tariffs when they start to run out next year. I hope that she can see merit in finding a mechanism to replace them that really unlocks the market for people who want to install generation in their homes or businesses, storage, demand response and the capacity that comes from electric vehicles.

Secondly, I hope that we can send a strong signal to industry and the regulator over the delivery of heat as a service. Heat as a service is a huge opportunity for energy efficiency to become the responsibility of the supplier, not out of obligation, but because it sees an opportunity to make bigger margins by providing energy more cheaply and efficiently. If we can make that happen, we will secure huge savings for consumers. Thirdly, as we replace the green deal, let us allow storage to be a part of this so that again people can find savings. Fourthly, on replacing the ECO, the consultation has been completed and responses have been had, and I know that plenty of tech companies have made representations for smart thermostats and other clean tech to be included within the ECO catalogue. Let us make that the case.

We have put in an awful lot of time, in this place, the other place and in Committee, to deliver a saving to our constituents of around £100. That is not to be sniffed at, but we can prove to an awful lot of people that an enduring price cap is not the answer by getting all sorts of other things right at the same time. Energy efficiency, storage, the flexibility of demand response and decentralised generation have the potential to slash bills to a fraction of what they currently are. Let us not let this price cap distract us from the real prize, which is huge savings for our constituents from clean tech.

[Rebecca Pow]

I welcome the Bill, as it places consumers at its heart. That is really what we are talking about. In particular, I welcome the amendment in lieu, which is a tweak but a valuable tweak that makes the Bill really work. I also reiterate what my hon. Friend the Member for Wells (James Heappey) said. How wonderful it is to have unity in the Chamber after these last few days. It is welcome and a lovely feeling.

[Alex Chalk (Cheltenham) (Con)]

It’s quite unsettling.

--- Later in debate ---

[Rebecca Pow]

Quite unsettling, yes.

I believe that pressing for an absolute cap over a relative one is the right way to go. As the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee stated, a relative cap could force cheaper energy tariffs to disappear, harming consumers, not protecting them. That would run counter to the sentiment of the Bill. As we have heard, Ofgem will be given the task of making the cap work effectively with its formula and will be responsible for setting the cap and reviewing it every six months. As outlined by my hon. Friend the Member for Weston-super-Mare (John Penrose), it is beholden on Ofgem to get this right and hold people to account, otherwise it will not have been worth while. It is vital that energy companies do not take advantage of any price cap and lift their tariffs to the maximum allowed. As I mentioned earlier, the energy sector needs more price competition to encourage lower prices, and an absolute cap can help to achieve this.

I am delighted that the Government will require the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority to protect consumers beyond the end of the energy price cap. Energy companies must not slip back into their old habits as soon as the cap is lifted, putting ordinary people back in the position they were in before the cap and leaving them paying over the odds. The Bill will ensure better value for money for many people who, frankly, have been taken for a ride and been paying over the odds for the self same energy that the person down the road has been getting cheaper.

As the Minister stated, it cannot be fair that between 2012 and 2015 customers paid £1.4 billion more than they ought to have done. In 2016, this escalated to an incredible £2 billion. As I have said before, many of these people fall into the “vulnerable” category. Many are elderly. My constituency and wider Somerset have a great many elderly people. The number of over-75s is set to double in the next 10 years and they could be the people who would have been adversely affected. The Bill will help them. They are the people who do not switch very often, as are younger people and tenants. My children, in their 20s, have raised this with me. The Bill will help them. It is right that the cap system should be temporary. It is an artificial lever to control the market for a short while and is being applied in the interests of consumers. This is the right way to go, as it will still enable competitiveness in the market, which is essential. We want the market to work better for everybody.

As other Members have said, it is essential for us to engage all the different methods in the energy market, such as smart meters—we must get them right—and technology, including data-driven technology. What has not been mentioned before, however, is the need to encourage people to use less energy. There are now many devices on the market that we can put in our homes to ensure that we do not waste so much of it, and I shall be presenting a ten-minute rule Bill on that subject fairly soon. We also need even more investment in renewables. If we are to hit our clean growth strategy targets, we must do all those things, and I am delighted to say that the Government are indeed doing them. We are going in absolutely the right direction.

Nuclear Power

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Monday 4th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s welcome. He knows very well the potential of the development for his constituents and those beyond. I had the pleasure, during the Anglesey Day he hosted, to meet many of the companies that would benefit. It is the case, I think, that some young people already working on the site have been to Japan for training purposes, deepening their skills and broadening their horizons. They will be very important engineers of the future in the UK. I am delighted that, subject to the success of the negotiations, this opportunity will be available for them.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that, particularly with the electrification of more of our transport and heating, new nuclear is an essential part of providing the right energy load—including Hinkley Point C, adjacent to my constituency, with all the spin-offs it will bring—to meet our Government’s highly commendable carbon reduction commitments at least cost?

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend and I agree with her that nuclear should be a part of our energy mix. To be resilient, we should have a diverse energy mix. It is important that the cost of any project should be acceptable and affordable for bill payers as well as taxpayers. That will be an important principle in the negotiations, but if we are successful in that, it will make the contribution my hon. Friend describes.