Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the audit reform bill will help support small businesses resolve late payment issues.
Answered by Dean Russell
The Government already has a range of measures in place to help small businesses resolve late payment issues. The Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives businesses a right to statutory interest and debt recovery costs if not paid on time. The office of the Small Business Commissioner addresses complaints by small business suppliers about payment related issues with larger businesses. The Commissioner also provides general advice and information to assist small business in their supply relationships with larger business, including advice or information that will help them to resolve and avoid disputes.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 help ensure that the Post Office Community Network is able to handle increased demands for over the counter banking services.
Answered by Dean Russell
Over the past ten years, the Government has provided over £2.5 billion in funding to support the Post Office network. Government is providing a further £335 million for the Post Office over the next three years. We are confident that with this funding, Post Office can continue to meet the core requirements for the network and ensure post office services will remain available to communities across the country.
Post Office is a commercial business that operates independently of Government. How post offices are responding to increased demand for banking services is a matter for Post Office Ltd.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 his Department has made of the (a) potential impact of the standing charges on consumers and (b) the adequacy of efforts by energy companies to ensure standing charges are kept to a minimum cost.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Standing charges are capped under the price cap and ensure millions of households pay a fair price for their energy.
The standing charge is a fixed charge that suppliers pass on to their customers to cover the cost of providing a live supply. If the standing charge was removed, these costs would be added to the unit price of energy. Otherwise, suppliers would not be able to recover the legitimate costs of serving customers. The setting of the standing charge is a commercial matter for individual suppliers.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress he is has made in discussions with representatives of online platforms on counterfeit goods on those platforms.
Answered by Jane Hunt
The Government takes the issue of IP infringement seriously, including the sale of counterfeit goods, and is working with industry and law enforcement agencies on several initiatives to tackle this issue.
Officials at the Intellectual Property Office meet regularly with representatives from online platforms to discuss the availability of counterfeits on their services and to help co-ordinate law enforcement action against sellers. The filtering and takedown processes provided by online platforms are continually evolving, and discussions with government play a part in that development.
The recently published IP Counter Infringement Strategy sets out the Government’s approach to this issue.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 effectiveness of the work of (a) the Financial Conduct Authority and (b) Ofcom in improving customer service standards in their respective industrial sectors.
Answered by Paul Scully
Neither of the two regulators referred to are the responsibility of my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 is having with industry leaders to help ensure price competitiveness of the domestic heating oil market.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets with industry leaders and discusses a range of issues. Heating oil issues have been raised in recent meetings with leading industry representatives.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 adequacy price competitiveness in the domestic heating oil market.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government believes it is essential that consumers of domestic fuels get a fair deal. There is an open market for the supply of heating oil in the UK as we believe this provides the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices. Changes in the price of heating oil are mainly driven by those in the underlying price of crude oil. The Department publishes regular price data at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/oil-and-petroleum-products-monthly-statistics.
The supply of domestic bulk domestic heating oil is also subject to UK competition law and consumer protection through a regulatory scheme under the Competition and Markets Authority.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what guidance his Department is providing to private rented tenants wishing to encourage their landlords to apply for Government home energy efficiency schemes to improve the energy efficiency of rented properties.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government committed in the Clean Growth Strategy to look at a trajectory to improve as many privately rented homes as possible to Energy Performance Band C by 2030, where practical, cost-effective, and affordable.
The £500m Sustainable Warmth Competition, which brings together two fuel poverty schemes; Local Authority Delivery and the Home Upgrade Grant, will deliver energy efficiency upgrades by March 2023 to eligible households living on and off the gas grid. BEIS is working with local authorities across England to promote energy efficient measures to all residents. BEIS encourages interested private tenants to discuss the benefits of the schemes and their eligibility with their landlord before contacting their local authority.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
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 competitiveness of the fuel industry in (a) urban and (b) rural areas to ensure consumers benefit from lower prices.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The retail fuels market is subject to UK competition law under the Competition and Markets Authority. A competitive market ensures that road fuel prices stay as low as possible. The Government and its regulatory bodies periodically conduct in-depth reviews to explore issues such as differences in local and regional price. This framework delivers below the European average for pre-tax prices for both petrol and diesel in the UK.
The Government is therefore confident that, for the UK road fuels sector, competitive markets ensure that consumers get a fair deal and that road fuel prices stay as low as possible.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that recent decreases in the cost of oil are reflected in prices offered to consumers.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Petrol and diesel prices are mainly driven by the price of crude oil (priced in US$) and exchange rates. But are also influenced by a range of factors, which can create small price differences in the short term. This includes balance of demand and refinery capacity, levels of oil stocks, changes to the costs of biofuels and distribution, and retail margins.
BEIS publishes weekly national average pump prices: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/oil-and-petroleum-products-weekly-statistics. BEIS analysis shows that both rises and falls in crude oil prices are passed through to consumers over the course of 6-7 weeks and found no evidence to suggest that, for given changes in crude oil prices, retail prices rise faster than they fall; and fuel prices will be driven by crude prices over the previous few weeks.