Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 reviewing Royal Mail Group's governance arrangements.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
No such assessment has been made.
As a private business, Royal Mail’s strategic decisions are matters for its Board and shareholders. The Government does not have a role in Royal Mail’s governance arrangements.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 the Royal Mail on the financial position of the business.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials meet with Royal Mail regularly to discuss a range of issues in its role as the universal postal service provider.
Under the Postal Services Act 2011, Ofcom has powers to regulate the provision of a financially sustainable and efficient UK universal postal service.
Ofcom operates a monitoring regime that seeks to identify any threats or risks to the universal postal service. It publishes an annual summary which includes an assessment of Royal Mail’s overall financial position:
www.ofcom.org.uk/postal-services/information-for-the-postal-industry/monitoring_reports.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 a comparative estimate with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care of the number children in (a) households in fuel poverty and (b) other households who have been diagnosed with respiratory syncytial virus in each of the last five years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The table below shows the estimated number of fuel poor households with dependent children and the estimated number of dependent children within those households in the last five years:
| Fuel poor households with dependent child(ren) (000s) | Dependent children in fuel poor households (000s) |
2016 | 1,612 | 3,197 |
2017 | 1,627 | 3,276 |
2018 | 1,434 | 2,963 |
2019 | 1,279 | 2,670 |
2020 | 1,272 | 2,728 |
The fuel poverty statistics are classified based on dependent children who are defined as those under 16 or 16-18 and in full-time education
Data does not exist on the number of households with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) for each of the last 5 years. UKHSA produces a weekly surveillance report that details the number of cases - National flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports: 2022 to 2023 season.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential correlation between levels of poverty and the use of pre-payment energy meters in the UK.
Answered by Graham Stuart
A household is in fuel poverty if they are on a lower income and unable to heat their home for a reasonable cost.
Data on fuel poverty and payment methods is published in the Fuel Poverty detailed tables 2022 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-detailed-tables-2022.
Ofgem's rules require suppliers to ensure prepayment meters are only installed if it is ‘safe and reasonably practicable’ to do so, and there are strong regulatory protections in place to support prepayment meter customers.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 take steps to ensure that energy companies are not able to switch people who are unable to pay their energy bills due to poverty onto pre-payment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The energy regulator Ofgem has rules in place that restrict the force-fitting of a prepayment meter on customers who are in debt, except as a last resort.
Ofgem’s licence conditions obligate suppliers to provide appropriate support for those struggling to pay their bills by setting up repayment plans based on a customer’s ability to pay, and by directing the customer to support services.
Ofgem's rules also require energy suppliers to assess whether installing a prepayment meter, or the remote switching of a smart meter to prepayment mode, is safe and reasonably practicable for a customer. When making this assessment, suppliers are required to consider whether a customer’s vulnerability makes a prepayment meter a poor choice, for example where medical equipment is required.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to take further steps to support people who are in fuel poverty despite existing Government support for energy bills.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and supporting households both in the short and long term. Therefore, the Government is providing direct financial support for households this year in addition to established support including the Warm Home Discount.
The Government considers improving the energy efficiency of homes the best way to tackle fuel poverty and reduce energy costs in the long term. Energy efficiency measures are available to low income and vulnerable households through multiple schemes including the Energy Company Obligation, the Home Upgrade Grant, the Local Authority Delivery scheme and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 a comparative estimate of the number of (a) households that include a disabled person and (b) other households on a pre-payment meter.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not collect data on the number of households with a disabled person on pre-payment meters. Ofgem, the independent regulator, does not collect data at this level. Ofgem License Conditions restrict the installation of pre-payment meters for debt, specifying that a pre-payment meter has to be safe and practical. Under Ofgem guidance safety considerations include having a disability.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 take steps to ban the use of pre-payment meters.
Answered by Graham Stuart
There are no plans to ban pre-payment meters. Pre-payment meters provide an important option that consumers can choose to assist with managing their energy payments. The independent regulator Ofgem has strict rules governing when suppliers can require a pre-payment meter to be installed and for protecting consumers who have one.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 introduce a specific minimum wage for care workers.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is incredibly proud of all our health and social care staff and recognise their extraordinary commitment. The staff who make up the paid social care workforce provide an invaluable service to the nation. Regarding a specific minimum wage for care workers, a single national rate is clear and simple for employers to understand that all workers must be paid the National Minimum Wage. The Government is on track to achieve its manifesto commitment for the NLW to equal two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. This Government has always and will continue to encourage employers to pay their workers more than the statutory minimum when they can afford to do so.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many warrants have been granted to energy companies (a) nationally, (b) in York and (c) in York, Central constituency to move a customer to a pre-payment meter in each month of the last two years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Neither the Government nor Ofgem, the independent regulator, collect this data at the constituency level.
Ofgem's latest data shows that the number of warrants exercised in Great Britain to install a pre-payment meter was 49,552 over 2021. Ofgem do not collect data on this in Northern Ireland.