Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley 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 his Department is taking to establish an appropriate compensation scheme for the 555 subpostmasters involved in the Group Litigation Order.
Answered by Paul Scully
The 555 subposmasters involved in the Group Litigation Order (GLO) agreed a settlement of £42.75m plus costs. In bringing this case they performed a public service; I understand their frustration that they have received less compensation than others. My officials have recently met their representatives to understand the harms which they have experienced.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many miners were recipients of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme in November 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
As of November 2021, there are 127,876 Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme members, of whom 118,154 are in receipt of their pension.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many miners were recipients of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme in (a) May 2020, (b) November 2020 and (c) May 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In May 2020, there were 136,886 Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme members of whom 125,355 were in receipt of pension. Equivalent numbers in November 2020 were 134,391 and 123,516 and in May 2021, 131,534 and 121,262.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of households in England that will experience fuel poverty after the energy price cap raise has been enforced.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is committed to ensuring fair energy prices for consumers. We therefore introduced the energy price cap in 2019, which saves 15 million households on default tariffs up to £100 a year on average.
Alongside this support, eligible low income and vulnerable households will have access to energy bill support through the Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payment and Cold Weather Payment. Energy efficiency schemes are also available, including the Energy Company Obligation, the Local Authority Delivery scheme and the Home Upgrade Grant.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of households in Barnsley that will experience fuel poverty after the energy price cap raise has been enforced.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Under the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency fuel poverty metric, approximately 20,000 (18.6%) of households in the Barnsley Local Authority area are fuel poor, according to the latest data from 2019.
In order to tackle fuel poverty, the Government have committed £1.3 billion to improving the efficiency of fuel-poor and other low-income homes through stimulus schemes such as the Local Authority Delivery Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund and the Home Upgrade Grant. The energy price cap is set by Ofgem, the independent energy regulator.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley 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 his Department is taking to support businesses to become carbon neutral.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Achieving our net zero goal requires all businesses to take action. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has set out his Ten Point Plan for the UK to lead the world into a Green Industrial Revolution. This innovative programme sets out ambitious policies and £12 billion government investment to support up to 250,000 green jobs. It will accelerate our path to reaching net zero by 2050, and could unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030.
The Prime Minister has also appointed my Hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs as the UK’s Net Zero Business Champion ahead of COP26. My Hon. Friend’s role is to encourage UK business to sign up to climate action via the Race to Zero science-based targets initiative, to champion the actions that UK businesses are already taking and to help UK businesses exploit the many opportunities of the transition to a low carbon economy.
As a result of my Hon. Friend’s campaign, 30 of the UK’s FTSE 100 companies have signed up to Race to Zero, and he is about to launch a national small business mass mobilisation campaign.