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Written Question
Light Goods Vehicles: Shortages
Thursday 20th January 2022

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

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 impact of supply shortages in the used light goods vehicle market on inflation; and if he will publish projections of that impact for the next two years.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility set out its forecasts for inflation in the October 2021 Economic and Fiscal Outlook.


Written Question
Environment Protection: Vans
Tuesday 18th January 2022

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

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 correlation between supply and demand in the (a) secondhand van and (b) greener vehicles market.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The latest industry statistics show that demand for electric vehicles is stronger than ever, with about as many fully electric car registrations in 2021 as in the five years of 2016 to 2020 combined. In 2021 as a whole, 11.6% of all new cars registered were fully electric, trending upwards throughout the year, with over 1 in 4 new cars sold being fully electric in the month of December.


Written Question
Cooperatives
Wednesday 16th December 2020

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to extend the provisions made under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 to cover (a) the holding of AGMs and (b) other aspects co-operative society governance.

Answered by Paul Scully

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 introduced temporary measures to provide companies and other qualifying bodies - including co-operative societies - with flexibilities in the manner in which they conducted general meetings (including annual general meetings) in the light of coronavirus restrictions. Originally due to expire on 30 September 2020, these flexibilities were extended first to 30 December and then again, by regulations laid before Parliament on 25 November, to 30 March 2021.


Written Question
Renewable Energy
Tuesday 11th June 2019

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

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 has taken to support communities that wish to invest in renewable community energy.

Answered by Chris Skidmore

BEIS supports communities that wish to invest in renewable community energy. At the end of May, the Rural Community Energy Fund re-opened to support communities seeking to develop a wide range of low carbon activities. The £10m fund provides grants to communities for feasibility studies to scope out ideas, and where projects are viable, another grant to help develop the project to investment readiness.

The Rural Community Energy Fund will be delivered through the Local Energy Hubs which were created as part of the BEIS Local Energy Programme. There are five Hubs across England, including one in the North West which is managed by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The Hubs also provide wider commercial, technical and project management support to enable communities and Local Authorities to develop low carbon energy projects.

BEIS acknowledge the importance of a route to market for small-scale low-carbon generation for communities. On 10 June we launched the Smart Export Guarantee, which will ensure that small-scale low-carbon generators are paid for the power they export to the grid. The SEG provides space for innovative market solutions to come forward, and supports the uptake of flexible technologies such as batteries - reinforcing our smart energy agenda.

Eligible community projects will be able to benefit from the SEG, however we recognise that it may be more suitable for some projects than others. We are continuing to consider what measures we could take to support the efforts of communities that wish to invest in low-carbon community energy.


Written Question
Energy: New Businesses
Wednesday 31st October 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

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 promote (a) co-operative and (b) mutual energy start-up businesses.

Answered by Claire Perry

The Government wants a fully working, competitive market that is innovative, adaptive and flourishing and continues to promote competition as the best driver of value and service for customers.

Ofgem’s approach to licensing aims to enable entry into the retail market of new companies with innovative offers or business models, whilst ensuring all firms provide consumers with a robust and reliable service. Where regulation prevents the launch of a product, Ofgem’s Regulatory Sandbox can enable trials, without some of the usual rules applying.

Ofgem’s approach applies equally to privately owned, co-operative and mutual energy start-up businesses.


Written Question
Post Offices: Closures
Thursday 18th October 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

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 stop the closure of post offices and their relocation to WHSmith branches.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The Government recognises the important role that post offices play in communities across the country. That is why we made a Manifesto commitment to safeguard the Post Office network and have invested over £2 billion since 2010. As a result, the post office network is at its most stable in decades at over 11,500 branches and 99.7% of the national population lives within three miles of their nearest branch.

The vast majority of Post Office branches are run on a franchise or agency basis with almost 98% already operating successfully. This business model has helped securing key services on high streets whilst reducing need for taxpayer subsidy.


Written Question
Energy: Cooperatives
Wednesday 23rd May 2018

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support his Department makes available for new community energy co-operatives.

Answered by Claire Perry

This Government is committed to empowering communities and these projects, which put local people in the driving seat, are an important part of a clean, secure and affordable energy system.

To deliver this ambition, we announced a new Local Energy Programme in the Clean Growth Strategy and to date have committed £7m with a further £1m allocated for this year. This will support communities in all their forms, alongside Local Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships, to design and develop low carbon projects locally.

Since 2013, the UK Government has committed over £16 million to support community energy, including:

  • the £15m Rural Community Energy Fund, which continues to offer support and development finance for community-scale renewable energy projects in England;
  • a local authority best practice community energy programme with Bristol City, supporting Greater Manchester through their Devolution deal and working with London on their community energy funds; and
  • supporting the Community Energy Hub, a digital platform owned and run by the community energy sector to enable peer networking and knowledge transfer.

Written Question
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Telephone Services
Wednesday 18th October 2017

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many 0345 telephone numbers are in use by his Department; and how much revenue has been generated by each such telephone number in each year since 2010.

Answered by Margot James

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has two 0345 numbers in operation: 0345 015 0010 which is the BEIS publications order line and 0345 001 2222 which is an Internal IT Service Desk helpline. No revenue is generated for either number.


Written Question
Energy: Meters
Wednesday 30th November 2016

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what change there has been in the number of households using pre-payment meters in the last 10 years.

Answered by Jesse Norman

Ofgem closely monitors domestic energy supplies’ performance and publishes information on prepayment meters customer accounts in Great Britain. Ofgem does not monitor the gas and electricity supply market in Northern Ireland, as it is devolved matter.

The table below shows either the number or proportion of domestic customers paying by prepayment meters in Great Britain in 2006 to 2015. Smart meters operating in pay-as-you-go mode are also classified as PPM for these statistics. Ofgem has changed the way it presents the data on the number of households using pre-payment meters in its Domestic Suppliers Social Obligations annual reports, and this is accounted for in the table below.

2006

2007

2008

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

Gas

2.3

--

2.3

--

2.4

--

Electricity

3.6

--

3.6

--

3.6

--

2009

2010

2011

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

Gas

2.6

--

2.7

--

2.91

--

Electricity

3.8

--

4.0

--

4.09

--

2012

2013

2014

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

Gas

3.09

--

3.28

--

3.39

15%

Electricity

4.25

--

4.42

--

4.49

17%

2015

No. of PPMs customers (millions)

Proportion of PPMs customers

Gas

--

15.3%

Electricity

--

16.6%


Written Question
Business: Oldham
Monday 28th November 2016

Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what access to finance support is available to businesses in Oldham.

Answered by Margot James

The British Business Bank is working to make it easier for businesses across the UK, including Oldham, to access the finance they need to start and grow. British Business Bank programmes are currently supporting almost £3.2 billion of finance to more than 51,000 smaller businesses and are participating in a further £4.6 billion of finance to small mid-cap businesses right across the UK, including Oldham. The Bank’s Business Finance Guide provides a comprehensive overview of the financing options available to businesses, from start-up to growth.

At Autumn Statement 2015, my right hon. Friend the then Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an agreement between the British Business Bank and Local Enterprise Partnerships in the North, which also covers Oldham, to create a Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund of over £400m. This Fund will produce greater levels of investment, increase the focus on the potential opportunities across the Northern Powerhouse regions and provide increased flexibility in the type of funding provided across the North. The Fund is expected to go live in early February 2017.

Businesses in Oldham have access to export finance advice. UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s export credit agency, offers finance and insurance to help UK-based exporters of all sizes and across all sectors win, fulfil and get paid for overseas sales, ensuring that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance. UKEF’s North West based-Export Finance Advisers can help introduce Oldham businesses with who export or who have export potential to finance providers, credit insurers, insurance brokers, trade support bodies and sources of government support.

Businesses in Oldham also have access to one of thirty nine growth hubs across England that provide local access to business advice, support and sources of finance. The Greater Manchester Growth Hub provides free and impartial advice to help local businesses wanting to raise funds. The GOV.UK website hosts a Business Finance & Support Finder Tool which helps local businesses find sources of finance and the Business Support Helpline also provides help and support to businesses.