Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 will take steps to ensure that Government support with energy bills is passed on to tenants when their energy costs are included in their rental charges.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government recognises the importance of tenants seeing the benefits of the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Support Scheme being passed on to them by their landlords.
The Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12 October 2022 includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support small businesses in Havering.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government provides a range of support that all small businesses can access. These include information on starting up and running a business on GOV.UK, one to one advice via our free Business Support Helpline and through 38 Growth Hubs across England,
Small businesses will also benefit from the £15 billion of targeted government support to help with the rising cost of living.
The Government has also acted to reverse the National Insurance rise, which will save small businesses £4,200 on average and brought in the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which will protect small businesses from high energy bills over the winter.
In addition, during Covid, the Government provided nearly £27 billion to local authorities across England through a package of business support including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, business rates relief, grants and loans. The London Borough of Havering received £92m of business grant support and reported making over 16,000 payments worth nearly £80m to their businesses.
The Start Up Loans Company, part of the Government-owned British Business Bank, provides support to new entrepreneurs. Since the Start Up Loans programme was launched in 2012, it has provided 355 loans to businesses in Havering, totalling £3,200,447.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to help increase investment in the energy sector.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government’s clear focus on fixing the UK’s long term energy supply is creating major opportunities for private sector investment, in the North Sea following the 33rd licensing round, in nuclear given our ambition to progress two projects to FID next Parliament, and in renewables where we are moving to annual CfD auction rounds from 2023.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to introduce a new price cap for dual fuel heated homes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Dual fuel heated homes will benefit from the support offered through the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) which limits the price households pay per unit of gas and electricity they use, and the Energy Bills Support (EBSS) scheme which provides a £400 non-repayable government discount to help 29 million households with energy bills over the winter. No support beyond EPG and EBSS is planned for dual fuel heated homes.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to provide additional support for dual fuel heated homes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Dual fuel heated homes will benefit from the support offered through the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) which limits the price households pay per unit of gas and electricity they use, and the Energy Bills Support (EBSS) scheme which provides a £400 non-repayable Government discount to help 29 million households with energy bills over the winter. No support beyond EPG and EBSS is planned for dual fuel heated homes.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 encourage high street shopping.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government recognises that the rising cost of living has presented additional financial challenges to many consumers, reducing their spending power and impacting retail sales. Retailers have been working to help households cope with the cost of living crisis, including supporting the Cost of Living Business Tsar and Government is providing over £15 billion in Cost of Living support, bringing the total support measures announced to £37 billion this year.
The Retail Sector Council continues to work on the strategic issues facing the sector and has identified the importance of high streets and place as a priority area.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he expects the construction of Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station to be completed; if he will provide an update on the funding of that power station; and what recent discussions his Department has had about the construction of other new nuclear power stations.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is in commercial negotiations on Sizewell C, which are commercially sensitive. The Growth Plan 2022 states Government is targeting a Final Investment Decision for Sizewell C by the end of 2023, subject to all relevant approvals. The Government has also announced its intention to provide up to £700m of funding to the project, subject to the outcome of the current negotiations.
The Government has launched the Future Nuclear Enabling Fund and will set up Great British Nuclear to help develop projects beyond Sizewell C. Discussions with developers are commercially sensitive.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 help educate the public on ways to alleviate the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In the British Energy Security Strategy, the Government committed to launching a comprehensive energy advice service on GOV.UK. The ‘Find ways to save energy in your home’ page launched on the 28th of July. The Government will also provide additional support through a telephone service and local advice provision in due course.
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced details of the scheme on Wednesday 21st September. The press release and guidance has been circulated widely across business sectors and trade bodies as well as though social media.
Press Release: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-outlines-plans-to-help-cut-energy-bills-for-businesses.
Explainer document: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/energy-bill-relief-scheme-help-for-businesses-and-other-non-domestic-customers, which now includes the maximum discount.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of basing the Energy Performance Certificate System on the carbon output of a boiler.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) use Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) as their headline metric, to score the energy performance of buildings based on their estimated running costs. EPCs also produce an Environmental Impact Rating (EIR) based on the estimated CO2e emissions of the building.
Recent consultations on policies that use EPCs, eg Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in the private rented sector, sought views on alternative metric options, such as using EIR alongside the EER, to encourage property owners to decarbonise their buildings. The Government is considering a response and will publish in due course.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 (a) continuing need for green levies on energy bills and (b) the financial impact of green levies on consumers.
Answered by Greg Hands
According to Ofgem, environmental and social policy costs have totalled 25.48 percent on electricity bills and 2.46 percent on gas bills in 2020. However, over the past 10 years their net effect has been to reduce consumer energy bills.
These levies fund vital support schemes and energy efficiency measures which benefit low income and vulnerable households, as well as investing in the UK’s home-grown renewable energy sector.