Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 efficacy of the smart meter programme in reducing fuel poverty.
Answered by Greg Hands
Households are achieving sustained savings using their smart meters and In-Home Displays. These provide accurate, near real-time information about energy consumption in pounds and pence so consumers can easily understand how to use less and save money on their bills. Evidence collected throughout the rollout to date shows that these savings are being realised, with prepayment customers seeing an estimated reduction in electricity consumption of 3% and gas consumption of 0.5%. The Government continues to actively monitor the impact of smart metering on consumers, including on those in vulnerable circumstances, through large-scale consumer research.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 had any discussions with the Welsh Government on tackling the ethnicity pay gap.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy talks regularly with the Welsh Government on a wide range of labour market issues.
The recent Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report contained specific recommendations on pay gap reporting. We are considering our response to the Commission’s report and will discuss this with the Welsh Government in due course.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 impact of rising energy costs on the weekly budgets of people in Newport West constituency.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is committed to protecting energy customers, especially the most vulnerable. The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter. Low income and fuel poor households will continue to be supported with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes through the winter. The Government also announced an additional £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as utility bills.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 has taken to mitigate the impact of rising energy costs on families in Newport West constituency.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government is committed to protecting energy customers, especially the most vulnerable. The Energy Price Cap will continue to protect consumers, ensuring they pay a fair price for their energy this winter. Low income and fuel poor households will continue to be supported with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount. Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments will ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes through the winter. The Government also announced an additional £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households meet daily needs such as utility bills.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 23 November 2021 to Question 75126 on UN Climate Conference 2021: Government, how many Ministers in his Department travelled to COP26 by airplane.
Answered by George Freeman
None.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 deforestation situation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government welcome the Brazilian government’s recent commitments made at COP26 to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, formalising the 2050 net-zero pledge and importantly, to eliminate illegal deforestation by 2028. The Government is also pleased to see Brazil’s commitment, as part of the Glasgow Leaders Declaration at COP26, to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030. Therefore, the Government is developing a strong cross-government integrated plan that builds on the established partnership HMG has developed with federal and subnational governments in Brazil.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help support energy efficiency measures at homes in Newport West constituency.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) requires larger suppliers to deliver energy efficiency and heating measures to achieve bill savings for low income and vulnerable household. In summer 2021 the Government consulted on a successor ECO which will run until 2026, with the value boosted from £640 million to £1 billion a year.
In addition, as outlined in the Government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme will launch in England and Wales from Spring 2022, and will provide capital grants to support the installation of low carbon heat technologies. Grants of £5,000 will be offered for air source heat pumps and biomass boilers, and £6,000 for ground source heat pumps. Homeowners, small businesses, and private landlords will be eligible for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 effect on staff health and wellbeing of policies on holiday similar to that offered by FinnCap.
Answered by Paul Scully
Almost all workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday a year and employers should do everything reasonably practicable to ensure that they are able to take as much of their leave as possible in the year to which it relates. Employers can offer more holiday than the statutory minimum, which would be agreed as part of individual contracts.
The Government is also exploring additional ways that employers can offer flexibility to workers to balance work and other responsibilities. We are consulting on a series of measures to change the existing legislative framework so that it is more effective at supporting flexible working.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how he travelled to COP26 in Glasgow.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, travelled by train to COP26.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the £10 million of annual funding provided to NC3Rs has been spent on (a) replacing the use of animals, (b) refining the use of animals and (c) reducing the number of animals used.
Answered by George Freeman
The National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs) works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of replacement, reduction and refinement of animal use technologies and ensure that advances in them are reflected in policy, practice and regulations on animal research.
As funding is committed to projects that may involve more than one of the 3Rs, it is not possible to provide exact proportions. However, a searchable database with details of every NC3R funded project is available at NC3Rs .