Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions she has had with the Scottish Trades Union Congress on the effect of zero-hours contracts on the (a) income and (b) mental well-being of workers under the age of 18 in Scotland.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Ministers and officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy engage regularly with trade unions on all labour market issues, including zero hours contracts. We were also pleased that representatives from the Scottish Trades Union Congress attended discussions with BEIS on the Good Work Plan in Edinburgh on 26 September.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of (a) Royal Mail Group and (b) the Communication Workers Union on postal workers' vote in favour of strike action.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
Ministers have regular discussions with stakeholders on a number of issues.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps she is taking to raise awareness of the Warm Home Discount Scheme among people who are eligible to participate in it.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department for Work and Pensions engage with participating energy suppliers to match the name and address details of those who fall within the “Core Group” of people automatically eligible for the Warm Home Discount and will write to them, either confirming, in the large majority of cases, that the discount will be paid automatically, or explaining that they need to verify their details with the Warm Home Discount helpline.
Notice is also provided to the public through GOV.UK, the website for the UK Government. For the “Broader Group” (those who may be eligible subject to an application) participating energy suppliers notify their customers in a variety of ways, including on their websites and some also choose to write to them or use referral bodies. Some organisations, such as Citizens Advice, also signpost eligible individuals to the scheme.
Asked by: Hugh Gaffney (Labour - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill)
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 he has made of the effect of the Government's price cap for standard variable tariffs on trends in the level of the average household energy bill.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The price cap protects customers on standard variable and default tariffs from excessive charging. Ofgem estimates that the price cap saves the average customer £75-£100 each year, compared to what they would be paying without the price cap, and a total of £1 billion each year. Non-capped tariffs continue to be competitive, with Ofgem calculating the difference between the most expensive and the cheapest tariff in the market at £381 in May 2019.