Energy Price Cap: Residential Buildings with Communal Heating Systems

Debate between Matthew Pennycook and Philip Hollobone

Wednesday 20th April 2022 Westminster Hall

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

The sitting is resumed. Our new finish time is no later than 9.10 pm.

[Matthew Pennycook]

Thank you, Mr Hollobone. As I was saying, I recall asking the Competition and Markets Authority to carry out an area of investigation study into this sector. As the Minister will know, the CMA eventually carried out a market study, which recommended statutory regulation. We then had the “Heat Networks: Building a Market Framework” consultation, which closed in June 2020. We had the Government response in December 2021, but no sign of any legislation.

All I will say to the Minister is that this is an issue that has become incredibly pressing as a result of the energy crisis but, as I have said before, it predates that. For a range of reasons, we need to see statutory regulation as a matter of some urgency and I hope that he can give us some sense that in the next parliamentary session time will be found for it.

This is a pressing issue now, as a result of the energy crisis and the pressures that households are consequently facing. It has already been mentioned by several speakers that, as commercial contracts, these heat networks are not covered by the default tariff Act. Therefore, customers who source their energy from heat networks are not protected by the energy price cap.

That is a serious problem because, as others have said, customers who get their heat from these networks are experiencing shockingly high price rises. I recently wrote to the Minister about one case that is illustrative of what is happening in numerous buildings in my constituency. I have a huge number of buildings that are affected, because of the number of new build properties constructed over recent years, whether that is the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, Enderby Wharf in east Greenwich or the Greenwich Millennium Village. All of them are facing the same problems.

I put to the Minister a case from the Paynes and Borthwick development in my constituency, where the unit energy charge on the development has gone up by 367%. I repeat: 367%, uncapped. Residents are really feeling those increases in their bills. We need the Government to step in and provide an immediate stop-gap solution for these customers, because they cannot handle the increases in the bills that they are experiencing.

Ultimately, I want to see the energy price cap extended to these customers. I realise the difficulties that would entail, in potentially driving more small energy suppliers out of the market, which we do not want to see. However, it is really for the Government to find a way to support those suppliers if they were to bring in such a price cap.

If the Government are not willing to go there, they need to look at targeted support for these consumers because, as things stand, the warm home discount, the energy bill rebate and the household support fund—where it applies—are not enough to help them to cope with rises of the magnitude that we are seeing. Minister, please ensure that we get legislation, so that the sector is put on a proper regulated footing as soon as possible. However, in the short term, please do something for these consumers, because they are really struggling with these increases and they need help now.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

We now come to the Front-Bench speeches.

Leaving the EU: Disabled People’s Services

Debate between Matthew Pennycook and Philip Hollobone

Tuesday 11th July 2017 Westminster Hall

[Matthew Pennycook (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship once again, Mr Hollobone. Can I start by congratulating the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron)—I hope I have pronounced that correctly—on securing this timely debate? I also thank the hon. Member for Glasgow East (David Linden) for contributing this afternoon.

During the referendum campaign relatively little was said about the impact that exiting the EU would have on disabled people, their rights and their services. With some notable exceptions, not a great deal more has been heard since. That is a big mission. It is crucial that this issue receives the attention it deserves, not only because Brexit is ultimately about people—the outcome of the negotiations will impact on every aspect of our national life and everyone living in this country—but because the outcome of the most difficult and complicated negotiations that this country has undertaken since the second world war could have serious implications for the more than 10 million disabled people in the UK and their families. That is why the Opposition have consistently called on the Government to ensure that the priorities of disabled people are at the heart of their approach to the Brexit negotiations.

Indeed, the fact that Brexit will affect disabled people in specific ways is precisely why we sought to amend the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill to ensure that the Government considered the impact of withdrawal on protected characteristics—including disability—by means of detailed equality impact assessments. Sadly, they used the majority they enjoyed at the time to vote down that amendment. Now that the article 50 negotiations are formally under way, it is more important than ever that the Government make it clear, to an extent that they have not done to date, that the voices of disabled people are being heard and that their interests will be championed throughout the Brexit debate.

The comprehensive Disability Rights UK consultation and manifesto clearly sets out the range of concerns felt by disabled people in relation to Brexit. There is far more in that report than I can hope to cover in the short time available to me, but I want to touch on a couple of the main issues that both the hon. Lady and the hon. Gentleman have raised, and put a series of questions to the Minister that add to theirs. They both spoke passionately about their concerns for the future of disability rights once the UK has left the EU. I know that the repeal Bill will not be published until Thursday, and the Minister will be limited in what she can say, but can she give some sense of how the Government intend to consult with disabled people and disability rights groups when it comes to converting EU disability law into UK law, particularly in terms of corrections undertaken by means of secondary legislation? What means of redress does she envisage being available to disabled people to enforce their rights once we have left the EU? Can she confirm whether the Government’s intention is to keep pace with any positive developments in EU disability law that occur after our exit? The European Accessibility Act, which is making its way through the European legislature, is a case in point.

Both the hon. Lady and the hon. Gentleman mentioned funding. Brexit clearly jeopardises the funding provided by the EU to disabled people’s organisations and to projects that directly benefit disabled people. Will funding be honoured for such projects signed before or after the autumn statement of last year, financed either under the social fund element of EU structural and investment funds or by means of the European regional development fund? Will the Minister offer some clarity about the funding prospects for these projects after 2020?

Both hon. Members touched on the potential impact of Brexit on our health and social care system. There is particular concern among disabled people that a sharp reduction in the number of EEA/EU personal assistants and carers could have a detrimental impact on independent living. Where that sort of support is reduced, disabled people could for forced to choose between residential care and living at home with inadequate support. We do not want to see either outcome.

Can the Minister clarify whether her Department, the Department of Health or the Department for Exiting the European Union have undertaken any assessment of the impact of exiting the EU on the health and social care workforce on whom disabled people rely? Will that impact assessment and that issue be taken fully into account during the drafting of the forthcoming Immigration Bill?

We have touched on the impact that exiting the EU will have on the rights of UK citizens abroad and EU nationals living here at home. It has the potential to become a serious concern and challenge for the Government, because many EEA/EU citizens either act as full-time carers for family members who are UK nationals or live here of their own accord but are unable to attain permanent residence because the Home Office does not consider them to be working persons exercising their treaty rights. The Government’s recent offer to UK nationals made no mention of disabled people or their carers, so there are understandable concerns that those individuals will not qualify for settled status. What assurances can the Minister give about safeguarding the position of EU citizens in the UK and UK nationals living in the EU, so that disabled people and their carers will not face unequal treatment?

To conclude, disabled people are worried about the risks that Brexit poses to their hard-won rights and the services that they value. I look forward to hearing from the Minister about those issues and others of concern not only to disabled people but to the disability rights groups, such as Disability Rights UK, that advocate on their behalf.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (in the Chair)]

I am sorry, but the Minister will have to tear up half her speech, because she has only 36 minutes of time available. Would she be kind enough to conclude her remarks no later than 5.27, to allow Dr Cameron three minutes for a winding-up speech?