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 effect on rural communities of changes in fuel prices.

The Government believes that it is essential that consumers get a fair deal and that a competitive market is the best way to keep prices low. At a national level most movements of average pump price are driven by global prices for oil and exchange rates.

The Rural Fuel Duty Relief scheme administered by HMRC provides support for rural motorists by compensating fuel retailers in specific rural areas with high road fuel prices. These areas were chosen because, before the scheme was introduced, pump prices in those areas were significantly higher than the UK average. Further information on this scheme is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/excise-notice-2001-rural-fuel-duty-relief-scheme/excise-notice-2001-rural-fuel-duty-relief-scheme.