Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 impact of The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill on workplace (a) rights and (b) adjustments for people with disabilities.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill and the powers within it are not intended to remove workers’ rights and protections. The Bill is an enabling Act. The key measures, including the powers to preserve, revoke or replace, will provide UK (and devolved) ministers with the tools to review, amend or repeal their retained EU law in a way that is right for the UK and reflects the UK’s new regulatory freedoms.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department’s fuel poverty target numbers take into account the higher average energy costs and usage incurred by disabled people.
Answered by Greg Hands
The fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuels poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030. Its aim is to target energy efficiency support to low-income households.
The 2030 target does not include estimates of energy costs including what the energy costs will be for disabled people.
Progress against the target is reported on in the annual fuel poverty statistics, which can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
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 level of support provided by energy suppliers to disabled customers through programmes such as benefit entitlement checks and debt write-off.
Answered by Greg Hands
Ofgem require energy suppliers to support disabled customers. This includes protection from disconnection during the winter, and the provision of additional support through a Priority Services Register. Ofgem monitors compliance with their rules protecting vulnerable consumers. Their most recent report is available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2021-10/Ofgem%20Consumer%20Protection%20Report%20Autumn%202021_Final.pdf.
Under the Warm Home Discount scheme, Ofgem provides a breakdown in their annual reports of the Industry Initiatives supporting fuel poor and vulnerable households through measures that include benefit entitlement checks and debt write-off. The 2020-2021 report is available at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/warm-home-discount-annual-report-scheme-year-10.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the decision to reduce support for disabled people through the Energy Company Obligation scheme, whether an assessment has been made of the impact on the finances of disabled people affected by that change.
Answered by Greg Hands
The current Energy Company Obligation scheme, ECO4, has been designed to focus support on households with the lowest incomes and alleviate fuel poverty. This will include households with disabled people on the lowest incomes. The scheme is designed to improve the energy efficiency of homes, through the installation of insulation or heating measures. Households benefitting from improvements could save an average of £300 per annum.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason the Post Office Ltd Annual Reports and Accounts 2020-21 have not yet been published.
Answered by Paul Scully
Post Office secured an extension for the filing of its Annual Report and Accounts for FY20/21 to 31 March 2022. I understand Post Office expect to publish their Accounts shortly.
Asked by: Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party - Motherwell and Wishaw)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Post Office Annual Reports and Accounts for 2020-21 will be published.
Answered by Paul Scully
Post Office secured an extension for the filing of its Annual Report and Accounts for FY20/21 to 31 March 2022. I understand Post Office expect to publish their Accounts shortly.