Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises are receiving the correct level of support from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme in the Denton and Reddish constituency.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme is set out in legislation. It will be applied in a uniform way by all licensed suppliers. The regulations include a robust compliance and enforcement regime to ensure requirements are being met. Suppliers are also required to inform customers about the details of support, including the amount of the discount and discounted supply price.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on in which wards in Denton and Reddish constituency external wall insulation has been fitted.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Homes Grant (GHG) schemes, external wall insulation measures have been installed in the following wards in Denton and Reddish: Reddish North, Audenshaw and Denton South.
The ward in Denton and Reddish with the highest number of energy efficient measures installed is Dukinfield. The order from highest to lowest is as follows:
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of businesses in Denton and Reddish constituency that are BME owned.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not hold regional information on the proportion of BME-owned businesses in Denton and Reddish. The Government is aware of the challenges faced by ethnic minority businesses and is taking action to support them and working with stakeholders to agree interventions to improve access to finance. Since its launch (2012) the Start Up Loans programme has issued around 20% of its loans to Black, Asian, and Ethnic-minority business.
We are also delivering actions set out in the Inclusive Britain report (2022), which aim to support ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Ministers regularly engage with ethnic minority business leaders and networks to better understand the issues facing them.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on the number of homes that have been retrofitted through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in Denton and Reddish constituency since the introduction of that fund.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The 2019 Conservative Manifesto committed to a £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) over a 10-year period. SHDF Wave 1 awarded around £179m of grant funding, delivering from 2022 into 2023, of which £10.4m was awarded to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to retrofit 1,280 homes, including homes in Denton and Reddish. The SHDF Wave 2.1 competition, which closed on 18th November 2022, will allocate up to £800m of grant funding, with successful projects likely to be notified in March 2023.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what information his Department holds on which wards in Denton and Reddish constituency have the highest number of homes with retrofitting measures installed.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government estimates that under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) and Green Homes Grant (GHG) schemes, external wall insulation measures have been installed in the following wards in Denton and Reddish: Reddish North, Audenshaw and Denton South.
The ward in Denton and Reddish with the highest number of energy efficient measures installed is Dukinfield. The order from highest to lowest is as follows:
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate his Department has made of the rise in energy standing charges; and what steps he plans to take to prevent further rises.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The standing charge is a daily flat rate that suppliers charge their customers to cover the cost of providing a live supply regardless how much energy they use. It includes charges from network companies for using pipes and power lines to carry gas and electricity supplies, the maintenance and installation of meters and billing and accounting. A small proportion of the standing charge also goes towards Government initiatives that help vulnerable households and reduce carbon emissions. Ofgem requires energy suppliers to separate out the standing charge from a tariff’s energy unit rate so consumers can see what the different charges amount to.
For millions of households the level of standing charge is protected by the energy price cap rate set by Ofgem. While the setting of tariffs is a commercial matter for individual supply companies, the energy unit rate and the standing charge together for a supplier’s default and standard variable tariffs must not exceed the level of the price cap. For consumers looking for a new fixed deal for their energy, suppliers can offer a range of tariffs including some with a low or even a zero standing charge and a higher energy unit rate to attract low energy users.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
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 mitigate the effect of the increase in the energy price cap on domestic consumers.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We have announced a package of support worth £9.1 billion, which will help over 28 million households. This includes a £150 Council Tax rebate for bands A-D, £144 million discretionary funding for local authorities and £200 energy bill reduction for every household.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the price cap increase on the level of demand for support from household customers with dual fuel energy.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
Our Energy Price Cap remains in place, protecting millions of households from sudden price spikes. We are also supporting the most vulnerable and low-income households with the cost of fuel bills through initiatives such as the Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the level of accessibility to Covid Recovery Scheme loans for small and medium-sized businesses that are requesting amounts of less than £50,000.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) is open to businesses requesting amounts of less than £50,000. The minimum facility size varies in the RLS, starting at £1,000 for asset and invoice finance, and £25,001 for term loans and overdrafts. As of 7 December 2021, the British Business Bank’s RLS portal showed that 29% of businesses had applied for a facility of less than £50,000. Note that the portal is continually updated and some lender data is still to be captured.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support he is providing to increase the UK’s green shipbuilding capabilities.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Department is supporting the Government’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, as well as a range of research and innovation programmes to develop technologies that will have spill-over benefits in various markets, including the shipbuilding sector.
The Department is also supporting several green shipping projects, including hydrogen ferry trials in Orkney and a hydrogen refuelling port on Teesside,. Innovate UK is also facilitating the delivery of the Department for Transport’s £20 million Clean Maritime Demonstration Programme to bring forward green propulsion solutions for the maritime sector.
In addition, the Department is working closely with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to ensure that UK shipyards are aware of the organisation’s funded programmes and facilities, so that they have the opportunity to access these.