Oral Answers to Questions

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Tuesday 25th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

One of the things that we are doing in the Bill that is receiving Royal Assent pretty much as we speak, is ensuring that there are powers to deal with any inefficiencies in the market. I am very concerned that the wholesale price cuts provided by the taxpayer feed through to the retail market, and there are powers in the Bill to ensure that that happens.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to support UK forestry production, which supports companies such as Egger in my constituency, and that the best way to do that is to ensure a minimum of 1% forestry planting on public sector land?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

Forestry is not one of the Department’s many responsibilities, but I will certainly take up my hon. Friend’s excellent point with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Energy Prices Bill

Guy Opperman Excerpts

Committee stage
Monday 17th October 2022 Commons Chamber

On that point, I will draw my remarks to a close. We will be pushing new clause 18 to a vote, and hopefully I have said enough to make the Labour party change its mind and come forward in support of it. Let us demand proper support for this Government and hold them to account on what they are doing about fuel poverty.

[Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)]

We—both this country and the entirety of Europe—are in an energy price war. It is an honour and a privilege to speak in support of this Bill and to make my first speech from the Back Benches in, I think, about seven and a half years.

It is unquestionably the case that I support the key measures. It is quite right that we support households up and down this great country, who are facing such difficulties over the next year. The measures come on top of the £37 billion package brought forward by the previous Chancellor bar one in spring this year, which offered £400 in support to every household in October, and the £1,200-plus support for the most vulnerable, including pensioners, who are particularly supported by that.

I have three points. First, I urge the Government, as I urged the Prime Minister and the then Chancellor of the Exchequer last week in questions on the Floor of the House, to conduct a communications campaign to send a message out to households and businesses about the nature of the support and how they could save money on an ongoing basis.

That is not the nanny state; it is outlining the support that people can take advantage of, and I urge the Secretary of State and the esteemed Minister to take that forward. Doing so will save the state money, because the state is subsidising the energy consumption of people up and down this country. If there is less usage, the state needs to provide less subsidy, providing savings to the Chancellor. Surely that is both self-evident and a self-fulfilling prophecy of reduction in expenditure.

Secondly, there is genuine concern about the proposed contracts for difference for biomass, given that there is already a renewables obligation subsidy that expires in 2027. I hope that the Minister will address the question of a severely subsidised biomass sector competing for timber and forestry with a non-subsidised sector that struggles to compete in those particular circumstances. I hope he will give some assurances on that.

Finally, I urge the state to follow the precedent enjoyed by Germany, Italy, France and other countries that have embraced energy saving on a much wider basis than we have here. You will be aware, Mr Evans, that in the House of Commons some rooms are heated to 30°. That is utterly ridiculous. In Germany and France, they do not heat their buildings to more than 19° and they have proper localism to drive forward energy reduction. They do not light buildings at night and they turn off hot water on a regular basis. Why does that matter? It matters because potentially they can save 2% of their energy consumption. We need that sort of leadership from the Government on energy consumption. I hope that as this matter progresses, the Minister and the Secretary of State will go away and consider how we can have either direction by the state or empowerment of localism so that our local public sector institutions, which are paying the most on energy, can be encouraged to reduce their expenditure—which, after all, is in all our interests.

[Helen Morgan]

I will not speak for too long, but I want to draw attention to the amendments tabled in my name, which I would have liked to see incorporated into the Bill.

One of my greatest concerns about the support available is for non-domestic users, which have only been given six months of certainty. As I alluded to on Second Reading, businesses need certainty to be able to plan ahead and invest. We also have local authorities raising distress calls about their budgets. To enable them to plan for the future, I would have hoped to see two years of support. That is why I tabled amendment 5. For the same reason, I support new clause 18, which provides support for non-domestic users.

Non-domestic users who signed a fixed-tariff agreement between December 2021 and April 2022 have also been left high and dry by the Bill. Amendment 7 would ensure that they also benefit from capped energy charges. Again, I draw Members’ attention to the plight of local authorities, many of which are struggling to balance their budgets for the remainder of the year.

Many businesses in my constituency are off grid, as everyone will be aware, and some of them are not covered by the energy bill relief scheme, so amendment 6 would provide them with support that has parity with that given to other non-domestic users. I urge the Government to consider that because rural businesses are up against it and struggling to see a way forward.

That brings me to off-grid homes, which have been hardest hit, but the Bill provides only £100 of support for them. People living in rural areas are hit hardest by the cost of living crisis. Not only might they be off grid and living in an older, poorly insulated home, but they face higher fuel costs to move around and higher food costs at supermarkets, so £100 of support is not enough. As I have mentioned, their heating bills have risen by about £1,200, so new clause 12 would ensure that those off-grid homes received energy cost support equivalent to those who are on grid, and amendment 9 would ensure that such payments were made directly to their bank accounts, making it easier for them to access that support. These changes would support the rural areas hit hardest by the cost of living crisis and would stop people being penalised for the misfortune of being off grid.

Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Bill

Guy Opperman Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 15th July 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Jane Hunt)]

I thank the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East (Stuart C. McDonald) for bringing forward this important Bill, and I thank all hon. Members who have spoken on this important matter today. I am pleased to confirm that the Government will support the Bill.

As a mother myself, I know exactly how incredible that moment is when your baby is born. It is a time that should be full of joy and excitement. It must be devastating to see your baby whisked away and in need of urgent medical care, yet feel unable to do anything about it except be there. I can only offer my full support to all those who have experienced that.

That is why I am pleased to be here today and pleased to have taken on this important portfolio. I am deeply committed to ensuring that the UK is the best place in the world to work and grow a business. We need a strong and flexible labour market that supports participation and economic growth. I take this opportunity to thank my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Sutton and Cheam (Paul Scully)—

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Guy Opperman)]

Top man.

[Jane Hunt]

Absolutely, and he is now a Minister of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. I think hon. Members will agree that he is a committed and compassionate Minister, and I am pleased to be following him and moving this agenda forward—I will have to work very hard indeed to do so. I also thank the all-party parliamentary group on premature and sick babies, and in particular its chair, the hon. Member for Glasgow East (David Linden).

Neonatal care leave and pay will enable thousands of parents to care for and be with their children in neonatal care without worrying about whether their job is at risk. I am pleased to see that the Bill has support across the House, as has been reflected in the debate—I thank everybody very much. I will take time to address some of the points raised by hon. Members, but first let me put on the record why the Government support the Bill.

As the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East explained, every year in the UK, an estimated 100,000 babies are admitted to neonatal care following their birth, for a range of medical reasons. The United Kingdom has a range of generous entitlements and protections designed to support parents to balance their family and work commitments and maintain their place in the labour market while raising their children. However, for parents in the worrying position of having their newborn admitted to neonatal care, it is clear that the current leave and pay entitlements do not provide adequate support.

In an Adjournment debate on 9 February, my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate (Luke Hall) said:

“The current system is also a massive barrier for fathers and non-childbearing parents in particular. Earlier this week, 75% of parents who responded to a survey from Bliss, the incredible charity, said that they or their partner went back to work before their baby was home from hospital. Some of those children will still have been on ventilation and receiving critical care. Previous research suggests that the most common reason for that is they simply cannot afford to take more time off work. That is happening every single day, right around the country, to families of premature and sick children.”—[Official Report, 9 February 2022; Vol. 708, c. 1054.]

That is why we are here today and have been able to come to an agreement. The Government have previously consulted on the issue. In March 2020, we committed to introducing a new entitlement to neonatal leave and pay. We are pleased to support the Bill, which will bring that policy into effect.

I will address some of the specific points that hon. Members have made. First, I thank the hon. Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East for bringing forward the Bill, and my hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate for bringing his personal experience so emotionally and compassionately to the Chamber. My hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Jill Mortimer) talked particularly about fathers. I absolutely support what she said about giving extra time to both parents to be there for their child. I will refer to some of the points raised by the hon. Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Allan Dorans) later.

The hon. Member for Glasgow East also talked movingly about his personal experience. The hon. Member for West Ham (Ms Brown) mentioned a specific case. My hon. Friend the Member for Watford (Dean Russell) volunteered in his own Watford hospital—a legacy for all here today, hopefully, we will provide. The hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands) referred to his personal experience and his children, who are clearly taking after their father. On his behalf, I also thank Thomas and Steve, the employers who helped him and his wife and did all they could to support them as members of staff.

My hon. Friend the Member for Kensington (Felicity Buchan) said that the Bill is the right thing to do and talked about bonding time; we must agree that that is a vital relationship for parents at that time. She also said that good employers are already doing the right thing and helping with newborn children. This Bill is a floor, not a ceiling. I want to ensure that everybody gets a good level of care, and other businesses may be able to put something on top of that, as she said.

I will refer to the point made by the hon. Member for Newport West (Ruth Jones) later. Madam Deputy Speaker, who is no longer in her place, talked about what happened to her and the stressful time that she had in more ways than one. The hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) pointed out that the child is often not the only child in the family, which must be considered. There were also many helpful and supportive interventions from hon. Members on both sides of the Chamber.

My hon. Friend the Member for Thornbury and Yate raised concerns about the length of time that it would take for the Bill to be implemented. There is clearly cross-party support for the Bill and we hope that it will complete its parliamentary passage and receive Royal Assent as swiftly as possible. Setting up a new leave and pay entitlement takes time. It requires secondary legislation and changes to Government systems that administer statutory payments, and businesses need good notice in order to prepare. HMRC and commercial payroll providers require at least 18 months’ lead time to implement such changes following Royal Assent. I spoke with my officials this week, however, and we are looking at what we can do to speed that up. I note that the hon. Member for Glasgow East, my hon. Friend the Member for Charnwood (Edward Argar), the hon. Member for Newport West all requested that.