Prepayment Meters: Code of Practice
Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Baroness Eaton
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)
The noble Baroness mentions some temporary conditions covered by the precautionary principle, which can include pregnancy and bereavement. But if a supplier concludes, taking into account the meter type, the aftercare support, and reasonable energy-saving assumptions, that the household will frequently or for prolonged periods self-disconnect and risk causing significant consumer harm, the supplier must consider the prepayment meter not to be safe or reasonably practical and must not install it.
Baroness Eaton (Con)
My Lords, there is understandably grave concern about the effect of prepayment meters on the vulnerable and disabled. Can my noble friend clarify whether the social tariffs are still an option? Additionally, what is being done to improve the energy bill support scheme voucher take-up?
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)
My noble friend refers to a number of policies that the Government have put in place to give financial support to consumers, and social tariffs are indeed still an option. Following the Government’s Autumn Statement commitment, we are working with consumer groups and industry to consider the best approach from April 2024 when the energy price guarantee comes to an end, and this could include social tariffs. As for the energy bill support scheme voucher take-up, we have a problem in that, as of 1 March, 97% of vouchers have been delivered since the scheme launched, but only 78% of these have been redeemed. This means that at this time 2.1 million vouchers have been issued to suppliers but not redeemed by households, so we are carrying out extensive communications, including through the Help for Households, to encourage people to redeem these vouchers. We are making announcements through local radio, charities, consumer groups and the media generally to encourage people to take up this support.
Women’s Refuges
Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Baroness Eaton
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
The Domestic Abuse Bill will focus on providing new money for refuges. We also provide significant funding for community-based services, because we recognise their importance, including perpetrator programmes and community-based independent domestic violence advocates. Support services for victims of domestic abuse are currently provided through a whole range of organisations, including police and crime commissioners, local authorities, direct government grants and voluntary and community sector organisations. I am very pleased that the designated domestic abuse commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, has agreed to lead an in-depth exploration of the current support landscape in 2021. The former CEO of the charity Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, she said she had no quarrels with this Bill at all.
Baroness Eaton (Con)
Can my noble friend tell us what we are doing to help men who are in abusive relationships? It is not only women, regrettably, who suffer on such occasions.
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist
My noble friend raises a very good point, because although in three-quarters of domestic abuse-related offences the victim was female, a significant 25% were male. Between April 2018 and March 2019 in England and Wales, 80 females and 16 males were killed by their partner or ex-partner.
There are refuges, or other forms of domestic abuse safe accommodations, dedicated to supporting male victims fleeing domestic abuse, a small number of which were funded under our recent £16.6 million emergency funding round. The new duty on safe accommodation will require authorities to conduct a needs assessment of all victims in their area, and to develop and publish a strategy based on this assessment.