Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether people living with cancer will qualify for the Government's proposed energy industry fund for low income disabled people at risk of fuel poverty.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Warm Home Discount is a key policy in the Government’s strategy to tackle fuel poverty. As announced in the Energy White Paper, the Government has consulted on reforming the scheme to better target fuel poverty and to provide the rebates automatically to households. The reforms include focusing support on households in receipt of qualifying means-tested benefits and with high energy costs.
However, some households currently eligible for a rebate would lose out. Recognising that some disabled people and people with long-term illness may not be eligible for a rebate and yet are struggling with the costs of heating their homes, the Government has proposed to work with energy suppliers and third-party organisations to provide alternative financial support to low-income disabled people at risk of fuel poverty under the Industry Initiatives element of the scheme and subject to sufficient interest from energy suppliers.
The Government will publish its response to the consultation in the spring, with the reforms coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of insolvency company charges on the payment of outstanding salaries of employees who have been made redundant following company liquidation.
Answered by Paul Scully
An insolvent company is unable to pay its creditors in full (including employees). The appointed Insolvency Practitioner will do their best to maximise the payments from realised assets, though it is unlikely that all creditors’ claims would be met in full.
It is for this reason that there are special arrangements for dismissed employees under the insolvency provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which ensure that they receive a basic minimum of the debts owed by the employer from the National Insurance Fund. Former employees of an insolvent employer can, in certain circumstances, claim redundancy payments and other contractual amounts (subject to statutory limits) such as unpaid wages, notice pay and outstanding holiday pay from the National Insurance Fund.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the options available to his Department to ensure that people eligible for the Warm Home Discount receive it during the winter months.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government sets the spending target for each Warm Home Discount scheme year. However, energy suppliers are responsible for administering rebate payments to eligible customers’ accounts.
Energy suppliers generally start issuing Warm Home Discount rebates in October in a scheme year and have until 31 March to apply the rebate to eligible customers’ energy bills. The Government encourages energy suppliers to make rebate payments as soon as possible once they have completed the checks on customers’ eligibility. They may, however, provide rebates at any time before the 31 March deadline, with most rebates being provided to customers by January in a scheme year. These timings allow for the data matching process and eligibility checks to be undertaken and the delivery of over 2.2 million £140 rebates to vulnerable households when they need it most, around wintertime.
The Government consulted last summer on reforms to the scheme that would enable the vast majority of customers to receive their rebate automatically, without the need to apply. This would reduce the time needed to verify customers’ eligibility. The government will publish its response in the spring, with the reforms coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of standardising the broader group eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount Scheme across suppliers.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government consulted last summer on the future of the Warm Home Discount scheme. While the Core Group of low-income pensioners would be maintained, the Government has proposed to replace the Broader Group and instead identify households on low incomes with the highest energy costs through data matching. Eligibility would be the same across all participating energy suppliers and this would enable most rebates to be provided automatically without customers having to apply, including working-age households for the first time.
The Government will publish its response to the consultation in the spring, with the reforms coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average response time was for his Department to respond to an enquiry from an MP once an enquiry had been received by the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on Gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the future of the Clean Steel Fund.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy regularly discusses a range of issues with Cabinet colleagues regarding Net Zero and levelling up, in which the UK steel industry will play a key role.
The Government recognises the vital role that the sector plays in all areas of the UK and our economy and will continue to work with the sector to support its decarbonisation. The Department announced the Clean Steel Fund in 2019 and a number of options have been explored, together with ongoing feedback from industry.
In March 2021, the Government published the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy in which we committed to working with the Steel Council to consider the implications of the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee to ‘set targets for ore-based steelmaking to reach near-zero emissions by 2035 and the business environment necessary to support the transition. We will provide further information in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that companies which receive Government support on the basis of procuring 40 per cent or more of their steel content from the UK meet those obligations.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
It is important that suppliers continue to be treated equally and fairly through open competition. Keeping our procurement market open to international competition facilitates UK suppliers being offered reciprocal rights to participate in procurements abroad.
We have established a joint industry and BEIS Steel Procurement Taskforce (launched on 12 March) with the aim of working with the sector to promote the unique selling points of UK steel and explore how best to support and position the industry for success in forthcoming major public contracts.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with representatives of Vauxhall on the use of UK steel at its sites in Ellesmere Port and Luton.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Where the UK steel industry produces the relevant grade steel this is utilised in Stellantis/Vauxhall manufacturing plants. However the company uses multiple grades of steel, not all of which are available in the UK.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on monitoring of the gap in industrial energy prices between the UK and other key nations.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a variety of issues.
The Government is committed to minimising energy costs for businesses to ensure our economy remains strong and competitive. The ability for our industries to be able to compete across Europe and globally is a priority for this Government.
Our aim is to work with the steel sector and help them to reduce carbon emissions. We will continue to support the steel sector in achieving these aims through the various funds available such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund and Clean Steel Fund.
We estimate that reduction in the various renewable costs for eligible energy intensive industries, including steel, will save them around £400m a year in electricity costs. We have also extended the schemes to compensate certain energy intensive industries for indirect emission cost to the end of the next financial year in order to minimise disruption to existing recipients whilst we conduct a review. Between 2013 and 2019, total compensation paid to the steel sector was over £480m.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the UK steel sector’s commitment to increase capital investment in the UK in the event that the Government takes steps to ensure that electricity costs are competitive.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is committed to minimising energy costs for businesses to ensure our economy remains strong and competitive. The ability for our industries to be able to compete across Europe and globally is a priority for this Government.
Our aim is to work with the steel sector and help them to reduce carbon emissions. We will continue to support the steel sector in achieving these aims through the various funds available such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund and Clean Steel Fund.
We estimate that the reduction in the various renewable policy costs for eligible energy intensive industries, including steel, will save them around £400m a year in electricity costs. Between 2013 and 2019, total compensation paid to the steel sector was over £480m.
We have also extended compensation for the indirect emission costs in electricity prices for the most energy-intensive companies at significant risk of carbon leakage by a year, to the end of 2021.