Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of Royal Mail's plans to cut 10,000 full-time equivalent roles by August 2023 on the Government's levelling up agenda.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Decisions on organisational structure and staffing levels are operational business matters for Royal Mail. The Government is not involved in the operations of Royal Mail, a private business, but notes that the company has invested over £2 billion since privatisation including significant investment in new parcel super-hubs in the North West and the West Midlands.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 made an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the Royal Mail Group reducing the Univeral Service Obligation to five days with no Saturday deliveries.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s objective continues to be ensuring the provision of a sustainable, accessible, and affordable universal postal service. The Government has no current plans to change the statutory minimum requirements of the universal postal service which are set out in the Postal Services Act 2011.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 it his policy to launch an inquiry into the management of funds by Royal Mail Group Ltd.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Royal Mail is a private business and the management of its finances are matters for its Board and shareholders.
Company directors are scrutinised internally and externally by shareholders and the various government authorities that oversee companies within the UK, namely Companies House and HMRC.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to extend the protection of the energy price cap to housing tenants reliant on communal boilers such as older persons housing schemes that are classified as being a commercial supply.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has announced that it will effectively cap the price of heat sold by heat networks through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme this winter by reducing the commercial prices of energy used by networks and introducing Regulations requiring networks to pass on the benefit of the EBRS to end consumers.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take steps to prevent energy companies classifying houses with a communal heat network as a commercial supply when it is for residential use.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has announced that it will effectively cap the price of heat sold by heat networks through the Energy Bill Relief Scheme this winter by reducing the commercial prices of energy used by networks and introducing Regulations requiring networks to pass on the benefit of the EBRS to end consumers.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 an estimate of average annual household carbon equivalent emissions broken down by social class.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
BEIS publishes statistics on UK territorial carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, but these are not broken down by constituency, social class, or income.
Instead, statistics showing carbon dioxide emissions by local authority and average carbon dioxide emissions per capita by local authority up to 2019 are available:
Statistics showing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by local authority up to 2020 were published on 30 June 2022.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 an estimate of average annual household carbon equivalent emissions broken down by income.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
BEIS publishes statistics on UK territorial carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, but these are not broken down by constituency, social class, or income.
Instead, statistics showing carbon dioxide emissions by local authority and average carbon dioxide emissions per capita by local authority up to 2019 are available:
Statistics showing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by local authority up to 2020 were published on 30 June 2022.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 an estimate of average annual household carbon equivalent emissions broken down by constituency.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
BEIS publishes statistics on UK territorial carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, but these are not broken down by constituency, social class, or income.
Instead, statistics showing carbon dioxide emissions by local authority and average carbon dioxide emissions per capita by local authority up to 2019 are available:
Statistics showing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions by local authority up to 2020 were published on 30 June 2022.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 trends in the cost of fuel over the next 12 months.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department’s analysis shows that retail prices of petroleum products such as petrol and diesel are primarily driven by the underlying price in the global market of crude oil and by exchange rates. Departmental analysis shows that changes to the price of crude oil feed through to retail prices over the course of 6-7 weeks. The prices are also influenced by a range of other supply and demand factors, including refining capacity, stock levels, logistics and distribution costs and seasonal demand variations.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
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 potential merits of renewable energy for national security.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The crisis in Ukraine has shown the importance of the Government’s plans for a strong UK renewable energy sector to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. The Net Zero Strategy includes ambitious plans to support the deployment of renewable technologies such as offshore wind and solar. The forthcoming Energy Security Strategy will set out further detail on the Government’s plan for a strong, home-grown, low carbon economy to strengthen our future energy security.