Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households were eligible for the Warm Home Discount in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Energy suppliers were able to expand their eligibility criteria for the Broader Group in previous scheme years, therefore it is not possible to determine how many households were eligible to apply for a rebate.
In 2020/21, 2.26 million households received a rebate. In 2021/22, nearly 2.32 million households received a rebate. These figures were confirmed in Ofgem’s annual reports for scheme years 10 and 11.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of incorporating Hydrogen Village trials into new housing developments.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has committed to ensuring that all new buildings in England are ready for Net Zero from 2025 to future-proof new homes and avoid the need for later retrofitting. The Government expects heat pumps will become the primary heating technology for new homes under the Future Homes Standard and, for this reason, the number of new housing developments in the trial areas was not a criterion used during the village trial design and selection process.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 effectiveness of an energy price cap for businesses.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Applying a price cap in the non-domestic market is impractical given the number of different contractual arrangements, the range of prices offered and the risk of market distortion. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme has been designed to offer a comparable level of support to the domestic Energy Price Guarantee by applying a discount to the wholesale element of non-domestic customers’ bills. Legislation came into force on 1 November, shielding businesses across the United Kingdom from soaring energy prices and saving some around half of their wholesale energy costs.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with stakeholders on the safety aspects of the Hydrogen Village trials.
Answered by Graham Stuart
BEIS officials hold regular discussions with the Health and Safety Executive and with the gas network operators to ensure appropriate safety arrangements will be in place before any community trials of hydrogen heating.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with energy suppliers on financial assistance and debt write-off for households not covered by the Warm Home Discount Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ministers and officials regularly meet with Ofgem and suppliers to discuss a range of issues relating to the energy market.
The Government introduced the ‘Breathing Space’ scheme which aims to address consumers’ ability to tackle debt and offers legal protections from creditors for 60 days. Under rules introduced by Ofgem, energy companies must set an appropriate repayment plan based on the customer’s ability to pay, for those at risk of or in debt.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 take steps to strengthen protections for workers on zero-hour contracts to ensure that they have the ability to decline offered shifts without incurring a risk that they will not be offered suitable shifts in future.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Zero hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, for both employers to manage changing demand and for individuals who may need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study.
The Government has made good progress in bringing forward measures that add flexibility for workers while ensuring the protection of employment rights including banning exclusivity clauses in Zero Hours Contracts in 2015. In 2020, the Government introduced the right for all workers to receive a day one written statement of rights, setting out leave entitlements and pay. This ensures all workers have transparent information about their employment relationship.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 make an estimate of the number people on zero-hour contracts who have taken up second jobs since the introduction of the Exclusivity Terms in Zero Hours Contracts (Redress) Regulations 2015.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
BEIS published a post-implementation review for the regulations. The review includes analysis of the Labour Force Survey of people on zero-hour contracts in their main job who have a second job.
The review concluded that the objective of the regulations - to provide redress for individuals affected by employer non-compliance with the ban on exclusivity clauses - had been achieved, with stakeholders viewing the regulations as an important deterrent and effective and proportionate means of realising the policy objective.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 make an estimate of the number of cases which have been brought to the employment tribunal service for people seeking redress under the Exclusivity Terms in Zero Hours Contracts (Redress) Regulations 2015 in the period since those regulations came into force.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The post-implementation review for these regulations states that there had been very few claims based on HM Courts & Tribunal Service data. Based on the information collected for the review, it was considered reasonable to assume that there was a maximum of between 5 and 10 employment tribunal claims a year related to the regulations.
The review concluded that the objective of the regulations - to provide redress for individuals affected by employer non-compliance with the ban on exclusivity clauses - had been achieved, with stakeholders viewing the regulations as an important deterrent and effective and proportionate means of realising the policy objective.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 17 October 2022 to Question 54579 on Employment Tribunal Service: Costs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the median cost of seeking advice or representation for an employment tribunal claim on access to justice for people earning below the Lower Earnings Level.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
With reference to my answer of 17 October to question 54579 the data used to estimate the median cost is already published and can be found in the Survey of employment tribunal applications 2018 survey at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/survey-of-employment-tribunal-applications-2018.
The Government is committed to supporting people to resolve their disputes without the need for costly litigation. Before an individual makes a claim to an Employment Tribunal they need to contact Acas first where they will be offered the option of free early conciliation to attempt to resolve disputes without needing a judicial determination. The Government also continues to invest in state enforcement and has more than doubled the National Minimum wage budget for compliance and enforcement to £27.8 million for 2022/23, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 17 October 2022 to Question 54579 on Employment Tribunal Service: Costs, if he will publish the data he used to estimate the median cost.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
With reference to my answer of 17 October to question 54579 the data used to estimate the median cost is already published and can be found in the Survey of employment tribunal applications 2018 survey at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/survey-of-employment-tribunal-applications-2018.
The Government is committed to supporting people to resolve their disputes without the need for costly litigation. Before an individual makes a claim to an Employment Tribunal they need to contact Acas first where they will be offered the option of free early conciliation to attempt to resolve disputes without needing a judicial determination. The Government also continues to invest in state enforcement and has more than doubled the National Minimum wage budget for compliance and enforcement to £27.8 million for 2022/23, up from £13.2 million in 2015/16.