Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made a recent assessment of the affordability of water bills in Wigan constituency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to a water sector that delivers for customers, the environment and wider society. We recognise that some households may struggle to pay their water bill in full.
Ofwat assesses affordability for each water company through a five-yearly Price Review process, in which water companies must set out how they will address affordability for households that are struggling to pay their bills in their business plans. The next period for this process is 2025-30, with the determinations of Price Review 2024 currently underway.
The appointed water provider in Wigan, United Utilities, provides help for customers who struggle to pay their bills through measures such as WaterSure, Social Tariffs, payment breaks and debt management support. We expect all companies to ensure households are aware of the support schemes available to them.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to provide additional support to help vulnerable customers with water and sewerage bills from April 2024.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is mindful that consumers are concerned about their bills. For this reason, Defra expects all water companies to help consumers who struggle to pay their bills through measures such as WaterSure, social tariffs, payment breaks and holidays, and debt management support. We expect all companies to ensure households are aware of the support schemes available to them.
We continue to work with industry and consumer groups to explore options to improve present social tariff arrangements and broader customer support, focusing on improving consistency and fairness.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing additional financial support to help businesses, organisations and individuals in Greater Manchester to move to cleaner, compliant vehicles under the plans for the introduction of a Greater Manchester Clean Air Zone.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has provided £132 million to Greater Manchester through the Clean Air Fund to support individuals and businesses to upgrade vehicles, together with £36 million for the implementation of measures to improve local air quality including the Clean Air Zone.
The HGV support scheme supported by this funding has recently opened for applications. Schemes for those vehicles that will initially be exempted from the CAZ are due to launch later in the year. Therefore, most of the funding already provided to the relevant local authorities is yet to be allocated.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is her Department's policy that the UK should comply with the air pollution limits set out in the EU Industrial Emissions Directive.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government takes air pollution seriously and is committed to improving the UK’s air quality, reducing health impacts, and fulfilling our legal obligations.
As a full member of the European Union (EU), the UK aims to comply with all the rights and obligations of EU membership, including the air pollution limits set out in the Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU.
Asked by: Lisa Nandy (Labour - Wigan)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of changes in food prices on household budgets.
Answered by George Eustice
The Family Food Survey shows that the proportion of income spent on food by the poorest 20% of households has remained relatively static over the last ten years, 16.8% in 2008 to 16.6% in 2012. The average price of food remains lower than some other European countries including France, Germany and Ireland. The annual rate of food price inflation was 0.0% in the year to June 2014, compared to an overall rate of 1.9%.