Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will require all utility companies to provide the Warm Homes Discount to both the (a) core group and (b) broader group.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Currently, energy suppliers with over 150,000 domestic customer accounts are obligated to deliver the Warm Home Discount Core Group, and those with over 250,000 are obligated to deliver both the Core and Broader Groups. These thresholds are in place following a consultation in 2020, and are set out in Regulations. Energy suppliers below these thresholds are able to voluntarily participate in the delivery of rebates.
The Government consulted last summer on the future of the scheme, which included proposals to reduce the energy supplier participation thresholds to 50,000 domestic customer accounts in 2022/23, and 1,000 domestic customer accounts from 2023/24 onwards. These balances are increasing access to the scheme, while ensuring costs are not prohibitive for new market entrants. The Government has also proposed to reform the scheme and replace the Broader Group in order to better target households in fuel poverty. The Government will be publishing its response to the consultation in Spring 2022.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will commission a public information campaign to raise awareness of the Warm Homes Discount Scheme.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the 2021/22 scheme year, all low-income pensioners who are potentially eligible for a rebate under the Warm Home Discount Core Group will have received a letter from the Government by mid-December 2021. Most will receive the rebate automatically; in 2020/21, around 95% of Core Group recipients received their rebates automatically. In addition, the Warm Home Discount website is widely signposted and used by consumer groups, charities, and energy comparison websites to maximise uptake.
Energy suppliers are responsible for administering their Broader Group rebates, including setting their eligibility criteria and providing the rebates to eligible households. Suppliers make their customers aware of the scheme and are usually over-subscribed with applications.
Last summer, the Government consulted on extending, expanding, and reforming the scheme such that from winter 2022/23 the vast majority of all Warm Home Discount rebates would be provided automatically.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will standardise the eligibility criteria for the Warm Homes Discount.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government consulted last summer on the future of the Warm Home Discount scheme. While the Core Group of low-income pensioners would be maintained, the Government has proposed to replace the Broader Group and instead identify households on low incomes with the highest energy costs through data matching. Eligibility would be the same across all participating energy suppliers and this would enable most rebates to be provided automatically without customers having to apply, including working-age households for the first time.
The Government will be publishing its response to the consultation in Spring 2022, with the reforms coming into force from the 2022/23 scheme year.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will remove the limits on the number of Warm Home Discounts a supplier can issue.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government sets the overall spending target for each Warm Home Discount scheme year. For 2021/22, the spending target is £354 million, and around 2.2 million households will receive a rebate worth £140. However, the Warm Home Discount is not funded by the Government – it is paid for by energy suppliers, who generally recoup the costs from customers’ energy bills. This is currently estimated to be around £14 per customer bill.
Having a spending target is therefore necessary to balance providing significant numbers of rebates to as many households as possible, while minimising the impact on consumers’ bills. Energy suppliers can also support their customers through other means, such as through Industry Initiatives under the Warm Home Discount, or measures outside of the scheme.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the compliance of his Department's staff working from home with the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Answered by George Freeman
Line managers and individuals have joint responsibility for ensuring that staff work their agreed hours and take breaks in accordance with the Working Time Regulations 1998, and to manage any issues if they arise. This applies to both where the employee is attending the workplace and where they are working from home.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make representations to Northern Powergrid on creating a fast-track streamlined compensation system for residents left without power as a result of Storm Arwen.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ofgem, the independent regulator for the UK’s energy networks, sets service levels which Distribution Network Operators must meet, with rules on how quickly compensation payments are issued to consumers if the standards are not met. This is set out in the Quality of Service Guaranteed Standards.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, once power has been restored, if he will commission an independent public inquiry into the national and local response to Storm Arwen.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has commissioned a post-incident review into Storm Arwen to identify lessons and best practice for communications, resourcing and system resilience.
As the independent regulator for energy, Ofgem has also announced a review into the impact of Storm Arwen. This will focus on the role of the network companies in maintaining resilience of the system and their emergency response.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to climate proof basic infrastructure, such as utility cabling, from extreme weather conditions by encouraging the use of underground ducting in preference to overhead cabling.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Great Britain has one of the most robust energy systems in the world, however, we recognise that risks from climate-related hazards will become more common as our dependence on electricity grows and the variability of our weather increases.
BEIS is working with the energy industry, regulators and other stakeholders to reduce vulnerabilities and ensure an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents to ensure security of supply.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will maintain the existing ban on animal testing for cosmetics and the sale of newly tested cosmetics ingredients.
Answered by Paul Scully
Animal testing of cosmetics for the purposes of meeting the Cosmetics Regulation has been banned in the United Kingdom since 1998. No animal testing on finished cosmetic products, or ingredients or combinations of ingredients may take place in the United Kingdom. There are no plans to change this position.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing grants to support the transition of the GKN Driveline factory in Birmingham to produce components for electric vehicles.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government has no role in setting the strategic direction or priorities of private sector businesses. As part of the mandatory consultation process on the future of the GKN Driveline factory in Birmingham, the government secured assurances from GKN Automotive that they would consider viable alternatives to closure, including repurposing the plant to produce components for electric vehicles.
Alternative proposals were submitted as part of the consultation. After careful consideration, GKN regrettably concluded there were no viable alternatives to closure.
The government is maintaining a dialogue about the site’s future, actively marketing the site and is working with GKN and local partners to provide support and guidance to the GKN employees. Any potential future commercial propositions for the Birmingham site will be assessed on their own merits.
The Government remains fully committed to working in partnership with industry to support the automotive sector’s transition to zero emission vehicles. Nearly £500m has been made available through the Automotive Transformation Fund to build an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain as part of my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s 10 Point Plan. This will create thousands of well-paid green jobs in our industrial heartlands, including the West Midlands.