Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
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 adequacy of guidance for measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions in the public sector.
Answered by George Freeman
There is detailed guidance available on public sector emissions measurement and reporting, as set out during the recent Public Accounts Committee hearing on this subject. Overall, the public sector has reduced its emissions by 44% between 1990 and 2020.
The Government will provide a full response to the Public Accounts Committee report shortly.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
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 is taking steps to help tackle unethical supply chains in the fashion industry.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UNGPs. In 2015 we introduced the Modern Slavery Act which requires businesses with a turnover of £36m or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement stating the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
The Government expects companies to report transparently about how they are mitigating modern slavery risks and to use their modern slavery statements to demonstrate year on year progress. This enables consumers, shareholders and civil society to scrutinise the efforts being made.
Since October 2020, a wide group of stakeholders comprising retailers, manufacturers and non-profit organisations have been working with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) under the Apparel and General Merchandise Public Private Protocol to address poor working, pay, and purchasing practices in the UK supply chain.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
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 support Post Offices after the end of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
HM Treasury is currently conducting a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and evidence from post offices is included in that which has been received. The Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the end of the review, which will report later this month.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
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 with Ofgem to help support residents with communal heating systems not subject to the energy price cap.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is aware of the steep increases that some consumers on communal networks are facing. For this reason, the Government is taking action worth more than £9.1billion supporting households through initiatives such as the Energy Bills Rebate, the Household Support Fund, Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments. These measures are intended to cover heat network consumers and the government is engaging closely with industry and consumer groups to understand the specific impacts in the heat network sector.
In order to further ensure that heat networks consumers continue to receive fair pricing in the future, the Government will appoint Ofgem as the regulator for heat networks on the introduction of market regulation, which the Government aims to introduce in this parliament. Regulation will provide Ofgem with powers to ensure fair pricing across all UK wide heat networks. This will enable equivalent protection for domestic heat network customers as well as ensuring heat network operators are securing good purchasing deals for their consumers. This will mean that consumers are charged a fair rate for heating whilst encouraging further investment in heat networks.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What steps his Department plans to take to learn from the findings of the National Audit Office report entitled Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme published on 8 September 2021.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
We are considering the National Audit Office report and its recommendations, which recognise the scheme was designed as a short-term economic stimulus. This will inform existing and future schemes, as part of our £9 billion commitment to improving energy efficiency.
Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the planned timescale is for allowing statutory wedding ceremonies to reconvene with a minimum number of participants during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has said, we intend to publish our plan for taking the country out of lockdown in the last week of February. That plan will depend on the continued success of our vaccination programme, and on deaths falling at the pace we would expect as more people are inoculated.