Lee Dillon

Ofcom is the independent regulator for the postal sector. The government does not have a role in Ofcom’s regulatory decisions.

Ofcom last reviewed postal regulation in 2022 and considered extending the requirement on Royal Mail to publish complaints handling reports to the wider parcels sector. It concluded the market, then, was working well.

Following recent market developments, Ofcom is gathering evidence of operator’s compliance levels with their applicable Consumer Protection Conditions.

Ministers have regular discussions with Ofcom in its capacity as the independent regulator for the postal sector with the responsibility and powers to regulate postal services. The government does not have a role in Ofcom’s regulatory decisions.

Following market developments, Ofcom are gathering evidence of operator’s compliance levels with their applicable Consumer Protection Conditions.

Ministers have regular discussions with Ofcom in its capacity as the independent regulator for the postal sector with the responsibility and powers to regulate postal services.

The government wants to see all operators provide a good level of service, including during peak seasons. However, parcel delivery companies are independent businesses, and the government has no role in their operational decisions.

All businesses must comply with relevant laws and employers must comply with their legal obligations to ensure that their workforce receive the rights and protections to which they are entitled.

Evri, and other parcel delivery operators, are independent businesses and the government does not have a role in their operational decisions.

Ofcom, the independent regulator for postal services, does not regulate the employment or remuneration models of Evri or other parcel delivery companies.

As a frontier Industrial Strategy sector, the government has committed to targeted support to boost exports of hydrogen sector goods and services by showcasing UK capabilities through our global network, providing greater access to international supply chains and — as outlined in the Trade Strategy — by expanding clean energy sector agreements, like the UK-Germany Hydrogen Partnership.

To support these opportunities, the UK’s export credit agency, UK Export Finance aims to deliver £10bn in clean growth financing by 2029, alongside options to support overseas sales, including loan guarantees for foreign buyers, and working capital, insurance and bond support products to assist UK suppliers.

The government does not collect or hold this information. Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, has a duty to secure the provision of a financially sustainable and efficient universal postal service. It monitors Royal Mail’s provision of the universal service and has powers to investigate and take enforcement action if Royal Mail fails to achieve its performance targets as appropriate, taking account of all relevant factors.

Ofcom, as the independent regulator of postal services, is responsible for monitoring Royal Mail’s performance and ensuring that Royal Mail complies with its legal obligations.  Ofcom takes compliance with its regulatory targets seriously and this involves conducting thorough investigations where failures have been identified.

In October, Ofcom fined Royal Mail £21 million for failing to meet its quality-of-service targets and has told Royal Mail it must urgently publish and deliver a credible plan that delivers major and continuous improvement.

The Government launched a review in the Trade Strategy, into the UK’s approach to responsible business conduct, focused on tackling human rights and labour abuses and environmental harms in global supply chains.

The review is still progressing and is considering the effectiveness of the UK’s current regime and standards, and the merits of alternative measures to support responsible business practices, including mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence. We shall update the House when the review is complete.

The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards.

We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.

The Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards.

We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.

The insolvency framework is designed to ensure that those affected by any business failure receive as much of their money back as possible, and with as much fairness as possible. There are no plans to provide additional support to individuals affected by the failure of construction businesses.

The Small Business Plan outlines how we will make thriving small businesses a reality across the UK, whether across towns or countryside. Rural areas offer significant growth potential and fulfilling the needs of people and businesses in rural areas is at the heart of our policymaking.

The Plan was developed through engagement with a large number of key stakeholders and trade associations including roundtables with farms and community-based businesses.

The Government has made a commitment that all policy decision-making should be rural proofed, ensuring that all intended outcomes are deliverable in rural areas and include community-owned businesses.

The Department’s flagship plan for Small and Medium Sized Business is giving rural businesses the tools they need to grow and diversify. Our plan will help businesses to tackle late payments, improve access to finance, and streamline licensing. Targeted funding and Growth Hubs will provide tailored advice alongside sector-specific schemes to encourage innovation and local investment. DBT also provides advice and support for businesses via business.gov.uk, including access to the Business Academy and international market teams. These measures help rural businesses to thrive, create jobs, and strengthen local economies.

My department has a dedicated exports promotion programme for the film and high-end TV industry, which includes providing export support for businesses at major international film festivals and markets. We work with the UK film and TV sectors to remove market access barriers to enable businesses to increase their exports and use free trade agreements to grow exports.

In September 2024 we announced a package of measures to help ensure small businesses are paid promptly by the large businesses they supply.

This included launching a new Fair Payment Code and a commitment to including payment performance information in large companies’ annual reports.

In the spring we will launch a public consultation on further measures to address late payments, including new powers for the Small Business Commissioner to tackle large businesses who pay late.

Businesses based in Newbury can take advantage of the range of products that UK Export Finance provides to facilitate exporting, including loan guarantee and insurance facilities.

In 2023/24 alone, UKEF provided £8.8 billion support to help UK businesses sell their goods and services overseas.

Businesses in Newbury and across the country may also want to consider other support for exporting that is available from the Department for Business and Trade, such as our network of International Trade Advisers and guidance on GREAT.GOV.UK.

To obtain further information about the range of support available, businesses in Newbury can reach out to their local Export Finance Manager, for whom contact details are available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/find-an-export-finance-manager.

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is supporting public sector organisations in England to install low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures across their estates up until 2028. The Department is also working with the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), which is leading cross-Whitehall work on the potential role for private finance to support public sector decarbonisation.

Through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, commercial, public and voluntary sector buildings can receive £7,500 for heat pumps and £5,000 for biomass boilers. The Department also helps fund the UK Business Climate Hub, an online resource supporting SMEs identify and implement changes to their energy use.

The department also consulted strengthening non-domestic minimum energy efficiency standards to EPC B and will publish its government response in due course.

The Government recognises that good retrofit design is essential to high-quality home upgrades. The Warm Homes Plan takes a whole-house approach, supporting packages of measures including clean heat, solar, batteries and insulation, according to what is most appropriate and cost-effective for each property.

Product designers and installers will take architecture into account. The Government is also supporting improved skills, standards, and oversight across the sector to drive better outcomes for households and reduce bills.

The goal of delivering a 75% reduction in emissions from public sector buildings by 2037 compared to a 2017 baseline was a target set by the previous Government.

Direct emissions from public sector buildings in the UK were 8.6 MtCO2e in 2017 and 8.8 MtCO2e in 2025 (provisional statistics).

Since 2020 the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme has supported, and continues to support, over 1,400 projects to help public sector organisations decarbonise their estates, with funding allocated up until 2028.

The Department has taken action to improve the oversight and quality of installations in the current system. This includes increased oversight of TrustMark, tighter certification rules limiting installers to one PAS 2030 certification per measure and updated PAS 2035/2030:2023 standards mandating site visits and higher professional qualifications.

We are committed to reforming the consumer protection system, as set out in the Warm Homes Plan. We will consult this year on options for bringing the oversight of energy efficiency and microgeneration installations for government schemes under closer government control.

Through our Clean Power 2030 mission, we are reducing dependency on volatile global fossil fuel markets and delivering a diverse, secure and clean energy system based on renewables and nuclear, backed by a supply of gas.

Our work to date - reforming the connections queue, taking a clear decision on REMA and publishing roadmaps for key technologies like Solar and Clean Flexibility - has given a clear signal to industry. And we have now delivered the most successful renewables auction in history, with AR7 securing a record-breaking 8.4 gigawatts of offshore wind, which will power the equivalent of around 12m homes.

The Warm Homes: Local Grant and Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund support eligible households– including in rural areas and off gas grid- to upgrade their homes, with measures including insulation, solar, batteries, and heat pumps.

All eligible households in England and Wales can benefit from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) to support low-carbon heating installations, funded with ?2.7 billion to 2030. There is a strong uptake of BUS grants in rural areas, with 49% of all grants given to rural properties to date.

Additionally, the government has consulted on alternative heating solutions to ensure every household has a suitable low-carbon option. The consultation is now closed. A government response will follow in due course.

Fuel markets are governed by competition and consumer protection law, overseen by the Competition Market Authority (CMA). The Government and the CMA are closely monitoring petrol and diesel prices in light of instability in the Middle East, and the Energy Minister and the Secretary of State recently met with the CMA who are considering what options they have available if there is evidence of unfair practices. We are also engaging regularly with refiners, importers and distributors to ensure any emerging risks are identified and managed promptly. The UK benefits from strong and diverse security of energy supplies, and there are no issues with fuel supply.

This government has also introduced the Fuel Finder scheme, which will increase price transparency so drivers can compare prices to find the best deal and incentivise greater competition.

The Secretary of State has written to the industry reminding heating oil distributors of their commitments under the UKIFDA Code of Practice, including the need for fair, transparent and justifiable pricing. Ministers have also spoken with the Competition and Markets Authority, who are considering their options available if there is evidence of unfair practices or anti-competitive behaviour.

The CMA will now gather evidence on the

situation in the market and look at whether consumers are being treated fairly. Conversations will continue in the coming days and the CMA have the power to launch an investigation into anything relating to unfair contract terms, misleading consumer practices or anti-competitive behaviour.

The Government is keeping under review whether any further support or action may be needed to protect consumers and we will work with Devolved Governments if any support is developed.

We have looked at proposals to move generation assets supported by the Renewables Obligation Scheme onto Contracts for Difference. We keep proposals under review and are open to considering measures that will help to lower consumer energy bills.

The Government is committed to support domestic households with a non-domestic energy supply with their energy costs, and are very clear that resellers such as landlords should not profit from the act of reselling energy to consumers.

Ofgem’s Maximum Resale Price (MRP) rules protect consumers from being overcharged by limiting the price of energy charged to consumers to the price paid by those procuring the energy. This includes tenants who pay their landlord for their energy.

To ensure that businesses, are not being overcharged for energy, Ofgem is monitoring contracts in the non-domestic energy market.

Government will ensure that the protection of nature is embedded into the delivery of clean power and we will be driving for nature to not only be protected but restored through clean power infrastructure.

In delivering our Clean Power Action Plan, we are considering how to use development to fund nature recovery unlocking a win-win outcome for the economy and for nature. We are working with Craig Bennett, CEO of The Wildlife Trust and one of our Clean Power Commissioners, nature delivery organisations and the sector to consider how we can better support the delivery of infrastructure whilst driving better environmental outcomes.

The Government has committed to additional grant funding of £1.5bn which will be directed towards upgrading low-income households, benefiting those in fuel poverty. Details of this will be included within the Government’s ambitious Warm Homes Plan.

The Government is also developing a new fuel poverty strategy for England to ensure that more households can afford to heat their home at a reasonable cost, slash fuel poverty and improve their quality of life. This will include funding energy efficiency upgrades and low-carbon heating for social housing residents, lower income households, and renters, via the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Warm Homes: Local Grant schemes.

We remain committed to delivering net zero and are clear this will require us to decarbonise virtually all heat in buildings. The previous Government planned to end the installation of new and replacement oil, LPG and coal heating systems in homes in England from 2035. This government has been clear on several occasions that we will not force anyone to rip out a working boiler, instead we will make use of all available data to inform future decisions on heat decarbonisation.

We will soon publish our Warm Homes Plan which represents the biggest ever public investment in home upgrades. This will include support for clean heating technologies like heat pumps and heat networks.

The sector is nascent but is expected to grow significantly; the global hydrogen market could exceed $1 trillion by 2050, with the UK well positioned to capture a substantial share.

We intend to publish a revised Hydrogen Strategy which will include the latest hydrogen jobs estimates and set out plans to optimise the job creation and economic benefits delivered by the UK hydrogen economy.

We will continue to engage with stakeholders across the hydrogen value chain; working together with industry and unions to identify actions that support the skills and workforce needs of the UK’s low carbon hydrogen economy.

Electricity price assumptions in the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) and Reduced Data SAP (RdSAP) are set when each methodology is published and are not updated between versions. This ensures consistency for Energy Performance Certificates and related regulations. Updating assumptions mid-cycle would require a full methodology review and could alter EPC ratings, affecting compliance and fuel poverty metrics.

The Department is maintaining stability ahead of planned 2026 reforms, when the Home Energy Model will replace SAP and EPC metrics will be reviewed. In the meantime, the “estimated yearly energy costs” shown on Energy Performance Certificates are periodically updated using the latest fuel price data, ensuring that indicative running cost information remains as current as possible for households.

Great British Energy (GBE) and the UK government will turbocharge support for local and community energy projects across the UK.

In 2025/26, Great British Energy have allocated £5 million to the Great British Energy Community Fund (GBECF), a grant scheme designed to help community groups develop local clean power projects.

£6.8 million has been allocated to maintain Local Net Zero Hubs located across England, which provide free expertise and resources to help local authorities deliver clear energy projects.

GBE is in the process of developing its longer-term funding offer and strategic support for working with Local Government and Community Energy Groups, as well as working with devolved governments. This includes commercial, technical and project planning assistance to increase capability and capacity to build a pipeline of successful projects in local areas.

As set out in their Strategic Plan, published on 4 December 2025, GBE aims to support over 1,000 local and community projects by 2030.