Fuel Poverty

Debate between Michael Fallon and Roger Williams

Tuesday 11th February 2014 Westminster Hall

[Michael Fallon]

No, I do not think that is the right figure. In any case, the hon. Lady would be advised to go a little bit further back and see the scale of the increase under the final years of her Government. This debate, so far, has been reasonably good natured. I am not sure how useful it is to tempt her back on to previous ground, but I will come to some remarks that she made.

I want finally to say something about off-grid and then deal with hon. Members’ individual points. Four million households are off the gas grid and face higher than average energy bills. Of course, winter is a particularly expensive time for them. One of my first duties as Energy Minister was to chair the off-grid gas round table, not least at the instigation of the all-party group on off-gas grid, which has been working on this issue. I launched, at the all-party group’s request, the Buy Oil Early campaign in September and promulgated a better code of practice for oil suppliers, so that people pay the price advertised, and so on.

The group meets every six months, and we will reconvene in May to learn the lessons of this winter. We will have the regulators, the advisory bodies, the charitable bodies, people who have worked in oil-buying clubs and representatives from Northern Ireland, where there have been real difficulties. We will learn the lessons of this winter again to see what more can be done to improve the security and affordability of the off-grid fuel supply and to share best practice. One of the things on which we are working is how we can better pool data between Government agencies to ensure that we better understand which off-grid households need the most help.

[Roger Williams]

I welcome the Minister’s insistence that people are sold, for instance, heating fuel at the price quoted by the supplier, but will he also try to insist that the supplier includes VAT in his quote? When the supplier trades with other wholesalers, he might do so at a price that is minus VAT, but VAT is included in the price that the consumer has to pay.

[Michael Fallon]

I will take up that point. It is important for those who are off-grid that there is as much transparency as possible, so that they understand what the costs are likely to be.

I will now address some of the individual points that have been raised. The hon. Gentleman drew our attention to harder-to-treat homes, which probably lie at the core of the long-term challenge. Getting energy efficiency measures into harder-to-treat homes lies at the heart of solving the problem and catching up with the progress that has been made elsewhere in Europe. I accept that those comparisons are not encouraging for us as one of the wealthier member states.

The hon. Gentleman asked about hypothecating some of the carbon taxes towards this objective. If that were to involve additional spending, the revenue from those taxes would have to be produced from elsewhere, or else we would become involved in additional borrowing. None of that is easy at a time when we still face a deficit of more than £100 billion. He asked specifically about extending the gas grid, and the grid is being extended in the current seven-year period that runs from 2013 to 2020. The aim is to connect some 75,000 off-grid homes each year. Those homes will be reasonably close to the existing grid, but that is expensive and a contribution has to be made by the householder, by some other agency or by the local authority. I do not want him to be under the impression that nothing is happening. I will take his points back to the transmission operators and the companies, including his view that more should be done. The aim is to connect more homes to the grid in each successive year.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Michael Fallon and Roger Williams

Thursday 21st March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) (LD)]

12. What plans he has to implement a share scheme for Royal Mail employees.

[The Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Michael Fallon)]

Parliament decided two years ago that employees of Royal Mail should share in its success. It would be wrong to deny employees this any longer. They should be sharing in the company’s success and dividends, and it is our intention to have such a scheme in place at the time that we conduct a sale of Royal Mail.

[Roger Williams]

I thank the Minister for that encouraging reply. The better financial performance of Royal Mail owes much to the loyalty of postmen and women getting the mail out to every address in the country, even in during these difficult weather conditions. Can the Minister give us a little more certainty about the timing of this scheme and how those loyal postmen and women will benefit?

[Michael Fallon]

It is our intention to conduct a sale during the forthcoming financial year, 2013-14, and I confirm that at the time of that sale we intend to make a share scheme available to the 130,000 employees of Royal Mail who, as my hon. Friend says, have worked so tirelessly to turn it into a successful and profitable business and should share in that success.