Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
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 plans to take to withdraw evergreen tariffs in the domestic energy market.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Government has published the draft Domestic Gas & Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill which would require Ofgem to impose a tariff cap on domestic standard variable and default tariffs with limited exemptions. This will ensure that customers on these tariffs do not pay unjustifiably high prices. A number of suppliers are working to reduce the number of their customers on these types of tariffs through better engagement.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of its proposal for an energy price cap on levels of customer switching.
Answered by Claire Perry
As set out in the draft Domestic Gas and Electricity (Tariff Cap) Bill, Ofgem would be required to set the level of the price cap in a way such that, amongst other things, it would maintain incentives for switching and enable effective competition. The price cap would be lifted once the conditions for effective competition are in place in accordance with the process in draft clause 6.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on trends in switching of the implementation of the price cap for pre-payment meter energy customers; and if he will publish switching rates among these customers for each of the last twelve months for which figures are available.
Answered by Claire Perry
Ofgem’s safeguard tariff includes a degree of ‘headroom’, to allow suppliers to offer competitive deals beneath the level of the cap and incentivise switching. BEIS publish quarterly domestic energy switching statistics provided by Ofgem. The latest data published in December 2017 shows 1,284,000 electricity meters and 1,110,000 gas meters switched energy supplier in Q3 of 2017. We do not hold data that provides a breakdown of the number of switches by payment type.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what his Department's most recent estimate is of the proportion of an average domestic energy bill which results from the cost of adherence to a Government policy; and if his Department will publish figures on such costs in each of the past ten years.
Answered by Claire Perry
BEIS published analysis of the impact of energy and climate change policies on average household energy bills in 2012 and 2016 as part of the Clean Growth Strategy on 12 October 2017. This information is presented in table 1.
In summary, the cost of policies (including carbon costs) delivering cleaner energy, support for vulnerable households and investing in upgrading our buildings accounted for around 12% of an average household dual fuel bill in 2016. However, these costs were on average estimated to be more than offset by savings from improvements to the energy efficiency of people’s homes, delivering a net saving of £14 on average in 2016.
Table 1: Average impact of energy and climate change policies on household dual fuel bills
Real 2016 £ | Policy costs (as share of bill) | Policy energy efficiency savings | Net impact of policies |
2012 | £126 (10%) | -£128 | -£2 |
2016 | £147 (12%) | -£161 | -£14 |
Source: Data from figure 11 of the Clean Growth Strategy https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/651916/BEIS_The_Clean_Growth_online_12.10.17.pdf.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what allowance it made for the average cost to suppliers of installing a smart meter when setting the pre-payment meter price cap.
Answered by Claire Perry
Ofgem are responsible for setting the safeguard tariff (or ‘price cap’) for pre-payment meter customers. The methodology used for setting the level of the cap is based on calculations of wholesale costs, network costs, policy costs, operating costs, and costs specifically associated with prepayment meters. This includes the costs and benefits of smart metering.
Further details are available on Ofgem’s website:
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
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 the UK leaving the EU on the role and work of the Government Chemist.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The main work of the Government Chemist is the resolution of measurement science disputes in the food and feed control system and associated capability-building research. The demand-led nature of this work makes prediction of future trends difficult. Where EU law has an influence, such as on official controls and import controls, this is not expected to change in the short to medium term as it will be transposed into UK law as part of the UK’s exit arrangements from the EU.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what funding from the public purse has been allocated to the Government Chemist in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Government Chemist fulfils statutory and advisory functions, both of which are funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The budget allocated to the Government Chemist programme between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2018 is as follows:
2007/8 | 2008/9 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2017/18 |
£1m | £1.1m | £1.1m | £1.1m | £1.1m | £1.1m | £1.1m | £1.1m | £1.1m | £1.12m |
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to set out the (a) volume, (b) isotopic content and (c) origin of the wastes stored at each licensed nuclear site.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Information regarding the volume, content and origin of radioactive wastes stored at each licensed nuclear site is made available in the UK Radioactive Waste Inventory (UKRWI), which is jointly published by the Department and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The UKRWI report and all supporting documentation are published at http://ukinventory.nda.gov.uk/.
The UKRWI lists over 1,300 waste streams. Each has a supporting Waste Stream Data sheet, which includes detailed information on its origin and physical, chemical and radiological properties. This includes information on the presence of 114 key radionuclides (radioisotopes) that are particularly important for radioactive waste management and disposal.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people in his Department with responsibility for social media are employed on an (a) full and (b) part-time basis.
Answered by Margot James
BEIS has seven staff members whose responsibilities include the management of the department’s online communities and channels, including web management and publishing, social media management, consultation support, data analysis and digital advertising. No staff work full time on social media management.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
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 bring forward legislative proposals to expand the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 which apply to consumers to (a) sole traders and (b) small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Margot James
Currently there are no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to expand the provision of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 to sole traders or small and medium-sized enterprises.