Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of (a) legislation and (b) regulatory guidance on the forcible installation of prepayment meters by energy suppliers; and whether his Department is taking steps to help tackle the forcible installation of prepayment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Prepayment meters (PPMs) allow customers to pay for energy on a pay-as-you-go basis and serve an important function by helping the avoidance of debt and court action.
Ofgem has stringent rules on the force-fitting of PPMs and has recently published a letter where it outlines steps it will be taking on tackling inappropriate supplier PPM practises including making sure suppliers are complying with those rules, which can be found here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/letter-jonathan-brearley-secretary-state-business-energy-and-industrial-strategy-tackling-inappropriate-energy-supplier-prepayment-meter-practices.
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has also asked energy suppliers to commit voluntarily to stop this practice.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to ban the forcible installation of prepayment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Prepayment meters (PPMs) allow customers to pay for energy on a pay-as-you-go basis and serve an important function by helping the avoidance of debt and court action. A ban on PPM installation as a last resort could lead to an increase in bailiff action and physical disconnections. The Government has no plans to remove this option.
Ofgem has stringent rules on the force-fitting of PPMs. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has written to Ofgem asking them to conduct a review to make sure energy suppliers are complying with those rules. He has also asked suppliers to commit voluntarily to stop this practice.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the terms of the bailout loan provided to Celsa Steel, including (a) the detail of the conditions applied on (i) jobs, (ii) climate, (iii) governance and (iv) tax, (b) how those conditions are legally binding, (c) the steps the Government plans take to monitor compliance with those conditions and (d) what options the Government has available to it and will take if those conditions are not met.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
As set out in my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s Written Ministerial Statement on 2 July, the details of the loan to Celsa UK are subject to commercial confidentiality.
The loan has been designed to benefit the workforce, business, and wider society. This will ensure that public money is used to further benefit the UK, including protecting over 1,000 jobs. The loan requires further financial commitments from shareholders and existing lenders and will be monitored by the Government in line with HM Treasury’s rules on ‘Managing Public Money’.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when Whirlpool first notified the Office for Product Safety and Standards of (a) the safety fault with its machines and (b) its intention to recall over 500,000 affected appliances, announced on 17 December 2019; what targets the Office for Product Safety and Standards has set Whirlpool for carrying out the recall of its washing machines; what quality assurance the Office for Product Safety and Standards has carried out on the modification that Whirlpool is proposing to offer to consumers as part the recall; and how long the Office for Product Safety and Standards expects affected Whirlpool customers will have to wait to have their at-risk washing machines repaired or replaced following the recall.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Whirlpool informed the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) in October 2019 that it was investigating a potential issue with door locks on some models of washing machine. OPSS required the company to provide detailed data on this issue in order to have clarity on the nature and scale of the problem and to identify the appropriate response to protect public safety. Following assessment of the issue, it was agreed that a full recall should be instigated and the recall programme was announced on 17 December 2019.
OPSS is acting to ensure the company conducts an effective recall with a process that is as quick and easy for consumers as possible. OPSS is monitoring Whirlpool’s actions closely and will hold the company to account. Data on the recall, including on the time taken for customers to receive a remedy will be published by OPSS.
In order to include a modification as part of an appropriate response, a manufacturer must provide scientific and technical evidence that the modification addresses the problem identified; that those undertaking the modification have received full training on applying the modification; and that there is a robust quality assurance process in place for each modification.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate the Office for Product Safety and Standards has made of the number of modifications that Whirlpool has made to the dryers referenced in its November 2015 safety announcement to date.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards is undertaking a review of the actions taken by Whirlpool in relation to its modification programme and we will report to the House in due course.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the incidence of Whirlpool tumble dryer modifications being deployed incorrectly in machines manufactured (a) between April 2004 and September 2015 and (b) machines manufactured after September 2015.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards is undertaking a review of the actions taken by Whirlpool in relation to its modification programme and we will report to the House in due course.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the January 2017 enforcement notice issued by Peterborough Trading Standards, what steps the Office for Product Safety and Standards has taken to ensure that Whirlpool (a) identifies and (b) repairs the estimated one million fire-risk dryers in homes.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Office for Product Safety and Standards is undertaking a review of the actions taken by Whirlpool in relation to its modification programme and we will report to the House in due course.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when his Department plans to publish the findings of the investigation into the fridge identified as the seat of the fire at Grenfell Tower.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Department’s product safety investigation into Hotpoint model FF175 is ongoing and results will be published as soon as possible.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the funding the Office for Product Safety and Standards has been allocated from existing Departmental budgets; and whether it represents an increase in spending on product safety.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
New funding for the Office for Product Safety and Standards has been allocated from within existing Departmental budgets to increase spending on product safety. When the Office is fully operational its budget will include an additional £12m per year for new product safety activities, as announced in the Government’s response to the Working Group on Product Recalls and Safety. The budget for the Office for its first full year of operation in 2018/19 is expected to be around £25m in total which includes around £9m additional funding for product safety.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff are planned to work within the Office for Product Safety and Standards; and what proportion of those staff will be (a) newly recruited and (b) transferred from within his Department.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
When fully staffed the Office for Product Safety and Standards will employ around 290 people. This includes approximately 180 existing staff covering pre-existing functions and up to 110 new posts specifically for product safety. The new posts will enable the Office to significantly increase national capacity in scientific, technical, enforcement and other product safety functions. Recruitment to those posts has already begun and positions are being filled by a mix of internal and external recruitment to ensure the Office has the specialist expertise it needs.