Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Amber Rudd and Kelvin Hopkins

Thursday 22nd February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Ind)]

T5. What discussions have Ministers had with minority communities women’s groups, and how do the Government propose to address their specific concerns?

[Amber Rudd]

I have had a number of conversations with minority communities women’s groups. When I go out to discuss issues to do with integration, I always make a special point of engaging with women’s groups and finding out what else we can do to help them. Their concerns are often those that the hon. Gentleman and I might have about our own families—access to jobs, language courses and general public services—and my right hon. Friend the Housing, Communities and Local Government Secretary will shortly bring forward an integration strategy that will address some of those concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Amber Rudd and Kelvin Hopkins

Thursday 11th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

The hon. Gentleman says one. That is, of course, more than the zero to which his hon. Friend referred. This is exactly why we will be looking at the capacity market again, to ensure it delivers new gas.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

4. What plans she has to support the development of electricity storage.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Amber Rudd and Kelvin Hopkins

Thursday 19th March 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Amber Rudd)]

Making households more energy efficient is the surest and safest way to reduce energy bills. Thanks to the energy companies obligation and green deal schemes, more than 1 million homes have been made more energy efficient, helping households stay permanently warmer for less. In Luton North, more than 2,726 households have been helped by ECO alone, which is nearly the twice the national average in respect of households.

[Kelvin Hopkins]

The truth is that millions of low-income families are still living in poorly insulated and cold homes, and paying very high fuel bills. Cuts to the energy companies obligation have meant that nearly half a million fewer households will receive vital upgrades to make their homes warmer and cheaper to heat, and, in any case, half of that budget goes to households that are not in poverty. Have this Government’s policies not been a failure, leaving millions of families too cold in their homes, struggling to pay heating bills and in need of a Labour Government to make their lives better?

[Amber Rudd]

I do not share the hon. Gentleman’s interpretation. Fuel poverty under this Government has gone down. The changes to the ECO specifically took £50 off the bill, but reserved the amount that was to help the vulnerable and those on low incomes. So we have continued to focus on low-income and vulnerable people, to ensure that they are the first households to be made warmer for less.