Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Miatta Fahnbulleh and Christine Jardine

Tuesday 15th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

15. What steps he is taking to manage the radio teleswitch service switch-off.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Miatta Fahnbulleh)]

The Government have stepped in to ensure a more controlled and carefully managed phase-out of the radio teleswitch service. I have been engaging directly on this and meeting Energy UK and Ofgem fortnightly to discuss progress and the suppliers’ phase-out plan. My focus and priority is absolutely clear: to ensure that there is no impact on consumers and that we minimise any consumer detriment.

[Christine Jardine]

I welcome the Government’s change in course, because the previous hard deadline would have left many people, including people in my constituency of Edinburgh West, vulnerable and, indeed, unaware that there was any need to change their meter, but there is still a big problem in Scotland, as 100,000 people are still waiting on meters, and may be unaware of this issue. On engaging with the community, will the Minister please tell us what she is doing in Scotland to ensure that rural communities are approached about this, and vulnerable people get protection?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

We have been working closely with the Scottish Government and engaging with Scottish MPs. We know that about 97,000 meters needs to be replaced in Scotland. All those households have been contacted multiple times. In addition, because we know that there are particular challenges in some rural communities, we have done a sprint, in which suppliers are working in collaboration with the local authority to bring down the number of replacements needed. I can reassure the hon. Member that no area will be switched off without us contacting consumers to inform them, without us allowing them to book in emergency appointments, and, critically, without us informing MPs and local authorities, so that we do this in the best possible way.

ECO4 and Insulation Schemes

Debate between Miatta Fahnbulleh and Christine Jardine

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

I thank my hon. Friend, and we are absolutely committed to upgrading people’s homes. We believe that that is the route to delivering warmer homes that are cheaper to run, and that commitment stands for all communities. We want to move at pace with our warm homes plan because we want to deliver upgrades in people’s homes. However, we are very clear that part of that has to be an overhaul of the system, because if consumers want to go on this journey, they need to be confident that the work done will be of the utmost quality and standard, and that if things go wrong, we have proper redress systems in place. That is not what we inherited, but it is absolutely what we must deliver.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

I welcome what the Government are saying about the need to address this issue, and it will be reassuring for the very many people who have raised the problem with their MPs. However, are they also going to look at whether there is a wider problem with insulation generally, as has been mentioned, and have they had discussions with the devolved Administrations about schemes in the wider UK?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

I thank the hon. Member, and yes, we have spoken to the devolved Administrations. We have spoken to the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government, and we are working closely and collaborating with them. It is important to stress that schemes operate in slightly different ways. In the case of the Welsh Administration, we think greater checks and balances are in place in the schemes with local authorities and social housing providers. I think there is a collective appetite and desire to work together, because everyone agrees that home upgrades are fundamental to delivering warmer homes and cheaper bills. We need to get the delivery right to make sure we deliver at the scale and pace of our ambition, but do so with quality at the heart of it.