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Written Question
Postage Stamps
Tuesday 7th February 2023

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment the Department has made of the (a) feasibility and (b) contribution to the national heritage of continuing the use of stamps without barcodes after 31 July 2023.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The development of stamp products is an operational matter for Royal Mail. The Government is not involved in the operational decisions of Royal Mail, a private business.

Royal Mail is not barcoding special stamp issues, which are printed to commemorate a person or event.


Written Question
Public Sector: Strikes
Wednesday 21st December 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of trends in the data by the Office for National Statistics entitled (a) Working Days Lost due to strike action in the public sector and (b) Working Days Lost due to strike action in the private sector, published on 13 December 2022.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Strike action by its very nature is disruptive to the economy. That is why it should always be a last resort and the Government always encourages unions and employers to seek a resolution of disputes before strike action takes place.

While the Government recognises the importance of the right to strike, we need to balance this against the need to protect the public and keep them safe. The Government is therefore reviewing our industrial relations legal framework to ensure that it gets this balance right. More details will be given in due course.


Written Question
Consumers: Protection
Wednesday 14th December 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

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 plan to take to improve consumer protection for victims of rogue traders who are no longer able to make contact in order to gain redress.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government will bring forward the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in this session of Parliament. The legislation includes measures that will considerably strengthen the UK's consumer protection framework, such as introducing civil fines for traders that infringe consumer protection law.

Furthermore, the Department funds the Citizens Advice consumer service, which provides advice on general consumer issues, online or by phone. They can provide help and information on consumer rights, how to find trusted traders, using Alternate Dispute Resolution, and making a claim in the court. They provide referrals to partner consumer organisations for additional help or enforcement, such as Trading Standards.


Written Question
Electric Vehicles
Friday 11th November 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to incentivise uptake in the ownership of electric vehicles.

Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)

The Government has committed £2.5 billion since 2020 to support the transition to zero emission vehicles. This provides funding to offset the higher upfront cost of electric vehicles and more than £1.6 billion to be used to support charging infrastructure.

Plug-in Grants, to reduce the upfront cost of vehicles, will continue until at least 2024 for taxis and motorcycles, and 2025 for vans, trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles. In addition, generous tax incentives are in place, including zero road tax and favourable company car tax rates, which can save drivers over £2,000 a year.

We want to ensure drivers who make the switch to an electric vehicle can charge easily. In March the Department for Transport published the UK electric vehicle charging infrastructure strategy. The strategy sets out the Department’s vision and commitments to make electric vehicle charging cheaper and more convenient than refuelling at a petrol station so that drivers can make the switch to an electric vehicle wherever they live.


Written Question
Energy: Prices
Friday 11th November 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department is providing to families with the cost of energy bills.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is committed to supporting households with energy prices and the cost of living.

This winter the government is providing direct support to millions of households through the Energy Price Guarantee and Energy Bills Support Scheme. This is in addition to the Cost of Living Support Package, which is targeted at those greatest in need. It includes a one-off £300 payment, for over 8 million pensioner households to be paid alongside the Winter Fuel Payment.

For families needing additional support, the £421m Household Support Fund has been extended until March 2023, to help vulnerable households in England with the cost of essentials.


Written Question
Energy: Prices
Friday 11th November 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department is providing to pensioners with the cost of energy bills.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is committed to supporting households with energy prices and the cost of living.

This winter the government is providing direct support to millions of households through the Energy Price Guarantee and Energy Bills Support Scheme. This is in addition to the Cost of Living Support Package, which is targeted at those greatest in need. It includes a one-off £300 payment, for over 8 million pensioner households to be paid alongside the Winter Fuel Payment.

For families needing additional support, the £421m Household Support Fund has been extended until March 2023, to help vulnerable households in England with the cost of essentials.


Written Question
Post Offices: Cost of Living
Friday 11th November 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Department is taking to support (a) postmasters and (b) sub-postmasters with the rising cost of living.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Government has introduced the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which seeks to provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic consumers, including Post Offices. It will apply to energy usage from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, running for an initial 6-month period for non-domestic energy users. The savings will be first seen in October bills, which are typically received in November. The Government will publish a review of the scheme in 3 months. This review will consider how best to offer further support to customers who are the most vulnerable to energy price increases.


Written Question
Business: Energy
Friday 23rd September 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what additional steps his Department will take to assist businesses struggling with the cost of gas and electricity.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government announced a new six-month scheme – the Energy Price Guarantee for Businesses (EPGB) – to protect all businesses and other non-domestic energy users from soaring energy costs. The scheme will offer comparable support to that being provided for consumers and more details will follow shortly. After this initial six-month scheme, the Government will provide focused support for vulnerable sectors, targeted to make sure those most in need get support.


Written Question
OneWeb: Finance
Wednesday 29th June 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will take steps to ensure that OneWeb continues to receive funding and support.

Answered by George Freeman

The Government has successfully supported OneWeb to fully fund its business plan and continues to support OneWeb to become commercially successful. The Government does not intend to make any further investment in OneWeb.


Written Question
Cost of Living: Small Businesses
Tuesday 21st June 2022

Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)

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 trends in the level of consumer spending on small businesses across the UK as the cost of living increases.

Answered by Paul Scully

BEIS monitors a range of indicators across the economy, including consumer spending and business health. The most recent ONS data[i] indicate that most businesses, including small businesses, reported that April turnover increased or stayed the same, compared to March. When asked about expectations for turnover in June, most small businesses still expected their revenue to stay the same or increase.

Recognising the challenges facing businesses and consumers, Government measures include £15 billion to support struggling households, bringing total support to help manage the cost of living total to £37billion this year.

[i] ONS BICS Wave 57 – published 1 June 2022