Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
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 residents in flats with communal boilers who are not covered by the energy price cap.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Energy suppliers to communal heat networks use commercial contracts. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) provides a price reduction to eligible Heat Suppliers. The EBRS Pass-through Requirement (Heat Suppliers) Regulations 2022 requires eligible heat suppliers to pass on the benefits of the discount to heat customers in a just and reasonable way.
Support provided via the EBRS is in addition to other help available, such as the Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) which gives all domestic electricity customers in Great Britain £400 off their bills.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
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 implications for his Departments position on the UK's membership of the Energy Charter Treaty of the withdrawal of (a) Germany, (b) France, (c) the Netherlands, (d) Spain, (e) Poland, (f) Slovenia and (g) from that treaty.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is monitoring developments closely in the Energy Charter Treaty as part of its engagement with the Treaty’s modernisation process.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to consult (a) civil society organisations representing people (i) with disabilities, (ii) by age groups and (iii) with other protected characteristics and (b) the public in the preparation of the equalities impact assessment for the heat and buildings strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government considers the equalities impacts of all its individual policies, including preparing an equalities impact assessment wherever appropriate, once those policies reach a suitable point in their development. That is the case for the policies set out in the Heat and Buildings Strategy.
Engagement with industry and civil society groups was undertaken during the development of the Heat and Buildings Strategy, including through the process of policy consultation.
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
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 provide details of the equalities impact assessment which will be undertaken for the heat and buildings strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands
We consider the equalities impacts of all our individual policies, including preparing an equalities impact assessment wherever appropriate, once those policies reach a suitable point in their development. Equality analyses to fulfil the requirements of the Public Sector Equalities Duty are living documents that are updated as policies develop, and therefore, it is not common practice that these are shared publicly. However, as individual policies develop, impact assessments, which include consideration of public sector equalities duties, are published at an appropriate time in the policy lifecycle (for example, during a consultation).
Asked by: Olivia Blake (Labour - Sheffield Hallam)
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 representatives of energy providers on sharing smart meter data with local and central government.
Answered by Greg Hands
The smart metering Data Access and Privacy Framework permits proportionate access to energy consumption data from smart meters by authorised parties while safeguarding consumers’ privacy.
As the smart meter rollout progresses, the Government will continue working with industry and consumer groups to assess further potential benefits of sharing smart metering data to address policy challenges, subject to appropriate privacy safeguards. The Framework ensures that consumers have control over who can access their energy consumption data and for what purposes, except where this is required for regulated purposes (for example, billing).