Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Tuesday 28th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I think it is always right that we keep what our regulators do under very close watch. My right hon. Friend the Minister of State has met the chief executive officer of Ofgem regularly, and I am meeting him shortly as well. We will continue to do that. I have called Ofgem out when I have been concerned and thought that it had had the wool pulled over its eyes by the energy companies, and I will continue to ensure that whatever happens will be appropriate for the future of this market. As my hon. Friend knows, we are undertaking a review of the way in which the energy markets operate at the moment.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Ind)]

What assessment has my right hon. Friend made of the potential for the Government’s new five-point plan to tackle bad behaviour by energy suppliers?

[Grant Shapps]

There is no space for the sort of approach that we have seen from energy suppliers, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for mentioning this. We have to have a situation where they respect their customers. Where there has not been the case, I am afraid that suppliers need to ensure, as one or two Labour Members have mentioned, that they recompense their customers for the way they have behaved—outrageously, in many cases, including entering people’s homes without their permission.

Post Office: GLO Compensation Scheme

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Wednesday 7th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I am just taking advice from my hon. Friend the small business Minister on the interim payments, and I think the answer is yes. On the scheduling of the SI, it will be done as quickly as possible in terms of parliamentary business, but that will not hold anything up because the payments have to be made first. They will be well in advance of that, and the commitment is in the statement today to lay the SI. Finally, I pay tribute to and thank the Chair of the BEIS Committee for all his and his members’ work on the subject.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement and I also thank his Department for allowing Back-Bench colleagues from across the House with a long-term interest in this topic to be involved in the formulation of the compensation scheme. Will he commit to keeping the House updated on the progress of the compensation scheme? Let us all hope that sometime in the near future he will be able to come to the Dispatch Box and tell us that all the compensation has been paid to the recipients.

[Grant Shapps]

I thank my hon. Friend, and yes, we will certainly keep the House fully informed. My hon. Friend the small business Minister will be providing updates as well. I want to pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Leicestershire (Andrew Bridgen) for his work on, I think, at least one case in his constituency, where he has helped to keep this subject high on the agenda.

Energy Security

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Tuesday 29th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

Private landlords are already under an obligation to ensure that their properties reach certain standards. However, as the hon. Member may well know, the Government are consulting on raising that standard in line with the improvements that we would expect over a period of time, and we have already signalled that that would be likely to be to an EPC rating of C.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

What is my right hon. Friend’s assessment of the risk to our country’s energy security this winter from possible disruption to the vital Norwegian gas pipeline, which will supply our country with approximately half of its gas needs this winter? Will he confirm that contingency plans are in place?

[Grant Shapps]

I am pleased to report that, notwithstanding things like terrorism or developments in the war in Ukraine, we have confidence about both our supply and European supply this winter. The weather has been better than might have been expected and gas supplies are full. I should also point out that the rough storage supply has been brought back online, which has increased our own storage by about 50%. I think that in all expected, imagined circumstances, we will be okay this winter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Tuesday 29th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

T2. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Grant Shapps)]

With Sizewell C, we are securing a cheap, clean and reliable supply of energy to supercharge growth—I will provide more details in my oral statement. We have recommitted to increasing public investment in research and development to £20 billion each year by 2024-25, which will supercharge science and innovation, and we are supporting local enterprises and increasing the national living wage by almost 10%, the largest ever cash-terms increase.

[Andrew Bridgen]

As well as renewables, it is clear that we need to add more baseload capacity, and nuclear is the favourite for that. Hundreds of my constituents work at Rolls-Royce, and many of them work on the development of small modular nuclear reactors. Will my right hon. Friend outline what support the Government are giving to Rolls-Royce to develop this technology, which will not only add to the UK’s energy security but deliver a technology that we will be able to export successfully around the globe?

[Grant Shapps]

Like my hon. Friend, I am very keen on small nuclear reactors as part of the solution. We will be launching Great British Nuclear early next year to assist both Rolls-Royce and its competitors. There are other brands out there, all of which have interesting ideas about modular production of nuclear power, which will provide sustainable energy even when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

The difficult decisions that need to be made have to be made by every Government, but I think what the hon. Lady was pointing out was just how generous the grant funding is, through the Barnett formula, for the Scottish Government.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State agree to an urgent meeting with me and representatives of the business community in North West Leicestershire impacted by the Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway route of HS2, to discuss the necessary changes to the route to enter Parkway station and any possible mitigations?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Monday 2nd July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving me the opportunity to explain to the House that that new guidance makes it clear to his and every other local authority that this nonsense of people returning, often without a base back in this country because of the amount of time they have served overseas, and then not being able to apply for housing in their area because of some trumped-up allegation that they have no locality—in other words, that they do not have a residency requirement —is to end. That is what the guidance makes absolutely clear.

[Andrew Bridgen]

I have a constituent in the village of Belton, Mrs Kirsty Pett, who is a mother of four and has served in the armed forces, whose husband, a former Warrant Officer, was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident last year. She is currently on the council housing list and has been given medium priority, but she will lose her privately rented home in the very near future. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that Mrs Pett’s family, and indeed widows and children of all armed forces personnel, will benefit from the new changes to enable her to remain resident in her home village?

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend raises an important point: when Army personnel return, that is one thing, but when they do not and their spouses are left to pick up the pieces, that is when this country owes them a real debt of gratitude. In the new statutory guidance, which was issued on Friday, I have ensured that the bereaved spouses of those who are serving and of reservists get top priority.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

T6. Has the Minister had a response from the UK Statistics Authority to the letter from the shadow Housing Minister, the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey), about net losses in social housing?

[Grant Shapps]

Yes, I can report to my hon. Friend and the House that I have had a response from the UKSA. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) pleaded in his letter for an answer on whether I was right to say that the reduction in affordable homes for rent under Labour was 45,000 or 200,000. I am pleased to say that the UKSA wrote back to both him and me and confirmed that the figures showed an overall reduction of 421,000 homes for social rent during Labour’s time in office—a disgrace, and in stark contrast to the 170,000 that we will be building over the next three years alone.

Housing Reform

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend is right that we must know what is going on with these sales, and I will set that out in more detail in a further document shortly, so she will be able to study the details and provide feedback. Broadly, we know where a house has been sold, so it is not too difficult to track that money and make sure that another property is built, and we will ensure that that happens.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

My constituency has a huge interest in there being a healthy house building industry, as we are home to not only many large and small construction companies, but many companies that supply materials to the house building sector, including the largest brick factories in the country. Does my right hon. Friend agree that our newly unveiled housing strategy will start to transform opportunities for hard-working people in North West Leicestershire and across the country?

[Grant Shapps]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question, because he is absolutely right. Lenders are not lending; builders are not building; people cannot buy; and the whole construction industry supply chain has effectively ground to a halt. This strategy is designed to deliver precisely what he has called for. We want to make sure that jobs are created again in those sectors to support more house building in this country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Bridgen

Monday 17th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Authorities such as Manchester city council, run by Labour, are publicising front-line job cuts while retaining their Twitter tsars. Meanwhile, other local authorities, such as Leicestershire county council and North West Leicestershire district council, are being diligent. They have cut their management, protected front-line services, and kept council tax low. Is it right for such diligent local authorities to be punished in the next spending round because of the profligacy of councils run by the Labour party?

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend is right. It is for local authorities to work out where to make their savings. I should add for the record that it is not clear whether the Twitter tsar was eventually employed, although the post was certainly advertised. I should also point out that when authorities talk of job reductions, we do not know whether they are including positions that were already vacant.