Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 with Cabinet colleagues of the impact of the cost of living crisis on levels of fuel poverty.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The official fuel poverty statistics, including the impact of high energy prices on fuel poor households, are due to be published next month.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 a recent assessment of the adequacy of the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
The Government published its response to the 2021 ‘Reforming Competition and Consumer Policy’ consultation in Spring 2022. This exercise set out the many benefits of consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution and collected evidence on how it might be improved.
The Government has committed to bring forward the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill in the third Parliamentary session. Building on the evidence collected in the consultation, the Bill will contain measures to improve the consistency and quality of Alternative Dispute Resolution services in consumer markets by strengthening the accreditation and monitoring framework.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 is taking to increase the number of heat pump installers registered under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government's £6 million Home Decarbonisation Skills Training competition in 2020 and 2021 supported almost 7,000 training opportunities, including training for over 2,000 heat pump installers. On 20 September the Government launched the next phase of the competition with a further £10 million to fund training for people working in the energy efficiency, retrofit and low carbon heating sectors in England. It is expected that many of these installers will seek to register with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) or equivalent schemes.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) air source and (b) ground source heat pumps installed in households in Lewisham East constituency in each year since 2018.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database shows that between 01 January 2018 and 31 October 2022, eight air source heat pump and no ground source heat pump installations were registered in the Lewisham East constituency.
The database does not include all heat pump installations. Those installed without Government funding support, such as in new buildings, are not typically recorded in the Microgeneration Certification Scheme Installations Database.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 potential merits of electric vehicle use for decreasing air pollution in cities.
Answered by George Freeman
The transition to electric vehicles is expected to bring air quality, emissions, and economic benefits. The UK was the first G7 country to commit to phasing out the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 potential environmental effects of Cambo drilling for oil near Shetland, Scotland.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Projections of future supply of oil and gas from the UK, as used by BEIS and the Climate Change Committee, factor in assumed production from fields that have been licensed to date (including Cambo).
All development proposals for oil and gas fields with existing licences are subject to a robust regulatory process before a decision on approval is made by the Oil and Gas Authority.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 (a) the ability of Ofgem to effectively regulate prices of energy providers and (b) the potential merits of bringing all energy providers into public ownership.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The prices charged by energy providers are set by the market and are largely determined by the cost of internationally-traded electricity and gas. For default tariffs, where competition has less of an effect on price, Ofgem sets a price cap on suppliers, based on the efficient costs of supply. During its first year the default tariff price cap was estimated to have saved households £1 billion and continues to save consumers £75- £100 a year on average.
The Government sees competition as the best way of securing value and quality service for consumers. The number of domestic gas and electricity suppliers has increased from 10 in 2010 to around 50 now, and customers who switch can save up to £150 a year.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential implications for national security of (a) Amazon and (b) other companies based in the UK using technology from the Chinese-state linked company, Beijing Genomics Institute, to test their workforces; and whether the Government has had discussions with representatives of (i) Amazon and (ii) other companies on the potential risks of DNA harvesting by state-linked companies associated with such testing.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government takes the importance of public trust and security in the handling on genomic data seriously.
When an individual is swabbed for a Covid-19 test that specimen will contain human DNA. Any analysis of that DNA without consent from the individual would contravene the provisions of the Human Tissue Act 2004 and the individuals and companies, or agencies would be liable to criminal prosecution.
We are not aware of any discussions with Amazon or other companies on the potential risks of DNA harvesting by state linked companies.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 equality impact assessment of hair care products for Black hair being classed as non-essential items during the covid-19 lockdown; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that matter on (a) closure levels of businesses selling Black hair care products during covid-19 lockdowns and (b) the extent to which those products are stocked in major retailers.
Answered by Paul Scully
Throughout the national restrictions, we have sought to keep as much of the retail sector open as possible, whilst balancing the need to reduce our day-to-day contact. In doing so, we have taken evidence from SAGE into account when making decisions.
Retailers have been permitted to sell their goods online and for click-and-collect (where possible) throughout the pandemic and, as of Monday 12th April, the retail sector is now open in its entirety. There has never been a defined list of essential and non-essential goods.
We continually review the impacts of the pandemic on all groups with protected characteristics.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
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 introducing a work visa that professionals can use to travel to the 27 EU states with one document.
Answered by Paul Scully
There is no precedent in a Free Trade Agreement for EU Member States offering a single visa for work.
However, in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), the UK and EU did agree a range of facilitations for those travelling temporarily for work (Mode 4). The commitments agreed between the UK and the EU guarantee market access to business travellers in a wide number of sectors, waive work-permits for a range of short-term business visits, and provide for a minimum standard for how service providers should be treated when working in the other Party. We have also agreed commitments that will make it easier for professionals engaged in cross-border trade to apply for visas.
Commitments in the Mode 4 chapter are in addition to the EU already having legislated to allow UK nationals to travel visa-free for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. This will allow UK nationals travelling to, and within, the Schengen Area to undertake a limited range of activities, such as tourism, or attending business meetings, or cultural and sports events.