Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 130102 on Energy: Meters, if he will make it his policy to set reduction targets on forced prepayment meter installations.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Discussions with stakeholders regarding forced prepayment meter installations are ongoing.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 will respond to the correspondence of 8 December 2022 from the hon. Member for Liverpool Walton on fossil fuels lobbying.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I apologise for the delay in responding to the hon. Member. I have received the correspondence and will issue a reply shortly.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 level of compliance with the Register of Overseas Entities; and what compliance action will be taken with firms who do not meet the deadline.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In July 2022, an estimated 32,000 overseas entities were required to register. At the end of 31 January 2023, 19,665 had registered with Companies House and more than 5,000 applications were received but not yet processed.
Where there is continued non-compliance these entities can be liable for criminal offences and financial penalties and will find it difficult to sell, lease or raise charges over their land until they are compliant. Companies House will accept applications received after the deadline to achieve greater transparency
Companies House will work with partners, including land registries and law enforcement, to prepare cases for enforcement.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 effect of his proposed Scale-Up Britain initiative on distributive tax reform for UK corporations.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Scale-up Britain is about harnessing and building on our existing strengths – our world class universities, the second most start-ups in the world, the biggest venture capital market in Europe – to make sure Britain leads in the emerging markets of the future. The world is changing rapidly, and Scale-up Britain is about making sure our country seizes that opportunity. Tax policy is a matter for my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2023 to Question 126776, whether his Department will publish the minutes of the roundtable discussion.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Ministers will keep the House updated as this work progresses.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 details of the meetings he had at the World Economic Forum.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations are published quarterly and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beis-ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings. Details of my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s meetings at the World Economic Forum will be published in due course.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he had discussions at the World Economic Forum in Davos on international tax reform.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State had discussions at the World Economic Forum with a large number of businesses, some of whom commented on UK tax reforms. He did not discuss international tax reform.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2023 to Question 127884 on Energy: Meters, if he will publish on the Government website any data his Department holds on the number of (a) warrant applications energy suppliers have made for forced prepayment meter switching and (b) households energy suppliers have remotely switched to prepayment mode.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As part of the Government’s 5-point plan regarding prepayment meters (PPMs), energy suppliers have been asked to self-publish the number of warrants for which they have applied.
The independent regulator Ofgem collects and publishes a range of data on PPMs, including the numbers of households that have been remotely switched to PPMs. I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave the Hon. Member for Newport East on 9th November 2022 to Question 75843.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 his Oral contribution to the Urgent Question on Forced installation of prepayment meters in homes by energy companies on 23 January 2023, what reduction targets his Department has set for energy suppliers to end the practice of forced prepayment meter installations.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Several energy suppliers have already paused forced installations of prepayment meters by warrant this winter, and my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has called on more suppliers to stop voluntarily the practice and make greater effort to help the most vulnerable as part of the 5-point plan to tackle supplier bad behaviour.
Reduction targets on forced prepayment meter installations have not been made but the Department will be discussing these matters further with stakeholders including energy suppliers.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2023 to Question 126777 Energy: Meters, when he plans to publish those letters on the Government website.
Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State’s letter to Ofgem has been published on the GOV.UK website and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/business-secretary-warns-energy-suppliers-to-end-mistreatment-of-customers.
Ofgem has outlined how it intends to tackle inappropriate energy supplier prepayment meter practices online: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/news-and-views/blog/tackling-inappropriate-energy-supplier-prepayment-meter-practices.