Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing legal protections for consumers facing excessive call hold times when contacting businesses' customer services.
Answered by Paul Scully
High quality customer service makes commercial sense and the Government expects all businesses to treat consumers fairly. However, the Government does not seek to intervene in the detail of how businesses conduct their activities, which are essentially commercial matters. For free advice on consumer rights and how to make complaints, consumers may contact the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133 (https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/) or Advice Direct Scotland on 0808 164 6000 (www.consumeradvice.scot) for consumers living in Scotland.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 and the Minister for Brexit Opportunities and Government Efficiency are taking to ensure the UK Emissions Trading System supports the UK’s energy resilience.
Answered by Greg Hands
Since the UK ETS was launched on 1 January 2021 (replacing the UK’s participation in the EU ETS), a consultation has been launched (on 25 March 2022) fulfilling the Government’s commitment to align the scheme with the UK’s net zero ambitions and consulting on options to introduce the necessary changes to the scheme predictably and smoothly over the coming decade. In doing so, businesses will be given the confidence to invest in the transition to cheap, clean homegrown energy that is significantly reducing reliance on fossil fuels and exposure to volatile oil and gas prices on global markets.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 issues relating to Emissions Trading System free allowances do not adversely impact decarbonisation projects.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK is committed to protecting industry from carbon leakage as our economy decarbonises. Therefore, a proportion of allowances under the UK ETS, worth several billion pounds a year at current prices, are allocated for free to businesses at risk of carbon leakage.
The Government is conducting a review into free allocation policy. The review will be conducted in two phases. The first is looking at aligning the share of free allocation under the industry cap, with proposed changes to the overall UK ETS cap. Proposals on this are included in the “Developing the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS)” consultation, published on 25 March 2022 which will run until 17 June.
The second phase of the review will focus on better targeting free allocations for those with a greater risk of carbon leakage, whilst also taking into consideration the availability and affordability of decarbonisation technologies.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when he plans to publish the Government's Biomass Strategy.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government intends to publish the Biomass Strategy later this year.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has plans to delay the compliance deadline for the 2021 UK ETS scheme, to allow the proposed consultation on free allowances time to conclude.
Answered by Greg Hands
UK Emissions Trading Scheme legislation establishes the legal requirement that the annual deadline for surrendering allowances is 30 April. This deadline is not discretionary and will not be delayed. Through both free allocation and auctions, a total of 194m allowances will have been released before the compliance deadline on 30 April, meaning that the UK ETS is well supplied to meet compliance demand.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 help ensure that energy companies provide timely responses to consumer complaints.
Answered by Greg Hands
Energy suppliers must have a complaints process. They must reply to complaints within eight weeks. Domestic and microbusiness customers can take their complaint to the Energy Ombudsman after eight weeks if they are not satisfied with the supplier’s response. A complaint can go to the Ombudsman sooner if neither side can reach an agreement and the supplier issues a deadlock letter.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the role of trade remedies in protecting the UK steel industry.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and I have discussed this on several occasions. Trade remedies are an important mechanism to protect UK industry from unfair international competition and I support her plans to review whether the UK's trade remedies framework should be strengthened.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on monitoring of the difference in industrial energy prices between the UK and other countries.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular meetings with Cabinet colleagues on a variety of issues.
The Government is committed to minimising energy costs for businesses to ensure our economy remains strong and competitive. The ability for our industries to be able to compete across Europe and globally is a priority for this Government.
Our aim is to work with the steel sector and help them to reduce carbon emissions. We will continue to support the steel sector in achieving these aims through the various funds available such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund and Clean Steel Fund.
We estimate that reduction in the various renewable costs for eligible energy intensive industries, including steel, will save them around £400m a year in electricity costs. We have also extended the schemes to compensate certain energy intensive industries for indirect emission costs to the end of the next financial year in order to minimise disruption to existing recipients whilst we conduct a review. Between 2013 and 2019, total compensation paid to the steel sector was over £480m.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 effect of uncompetitive electricity prices on the UK steel sector’s ability to compete internationally.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is committed to minimising energy costs for businesses to ensure our economy remains strong and competitive. The ability for our industries to be able to compete across Europe and globally is a priority for this Government.
The Government has put moving to a cleaner, greener economy at the heart of its Industrial Strategy, especially with our commitment to Net Zero. Our aim is to work with the steel sector and help them to reduce carbon emissions. We will continue to support the steel sector in achieving these aims through the various funds available such as the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund and Clean Steel Fund.
We estimate that reduction in the various renewable costs for eligible energy intensive industries, including steel, will save them around £400m a year in electricity costs. We have also extended the schemes to compensate certain energy intensive industries for indirect emission cost to the end of the next financial year in order to minimise disruption to existing recipients whilst we conduct a review. Between 2013 and 2019, total compensation paid to the steel sector was over £480m.
We welcome the recent report by UK Steel - “Closing the Gap” - regarding electricity prices and will give its recommendations careful consideration.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
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 Government is taking to support hospitality businesses in Tier 3 covid-19 lockdown areas.
Answered by Paul Scully
We are providing the hospitality sector with a wide package of support. This includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Government-backed loans, Local Restrictions Support Grants and additional funding provided to Local Authorities to support businesses.
On 5 January when the new National Lockdown began, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a one-off top up grant for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property to help businesses through to the spring. A £594 million discretionary fund has also been made available to support other impacted businesses.