Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether park home residents who pay for their energy usage through an intermediary such as a park home owner will be eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount where the intermediary has benefited from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will provide £400 support to those households who do not have a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales, with the application portal due to open by 27 February. Park home residents, where the park home owner procures their electricity through a commercial contract and is therefore eligible for the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, are likely to be eligible for the EBSS AF.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) park home residents who pay for their energy usage through the park home owner and (b) other domestic energy users who do not have a domestic electricity meter or direct contract with an electricity supplier will receive support through the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount when applications open at the end of February.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will provide £400 support to those households that do not have a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales, with the application portal due to open by 27 February. However, where a park home site manager or landlord has a domestic energy contract, they will already be receiving EBSS support automatically, and this support needs to be passed on to the end user in a just and reasonable way.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether domestic energy users who pay for their energy usage through an intermediary such as a park home manager are eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme discount when applications open at the end of February.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) will provide £400 support to those households that do not have a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier in England, Scotland, and Wales, with the application portal due to open by 27 February. However, in cases where a park home site manager has a domestic energy contract, they will already be receiving EBSS support automatically, and this support needs to be passed on to the end user in a just and reasonable way.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress his Department has made on delivering energy support payments for people (a) living in park homes, (b) who are off-grid and (c) with no direct relationship with an energy supplier.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding will provide support of £400 for energy bills for around 900,000 households without a direct relationship with a domestic electricity supplier. This is expected to include park home residents and off-grid homes. On 19th December 2022, the Government announced that the application portal for the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding is due to open later in January, with a dedicated customer helpline available to assist customers without online access.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of extending the Energy Bill Relief Scheme for charities.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Over the course of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme review, the Government has held discussions cross-Whitehall, as well as with businesses and trade associations, to understand those most in need of support. Charities will receive support for their energy bills. There is also wider support to help them with costs including a reduction in VAT, from 20% to 5%, and exclusion from the main rates of the Climate Change Levy on some of the energy they use.
Final outcomes of the EBRS review can be found on GOV.UK:
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning's decision on decommissioning facilities at the Hunterston Port.
Answered by Graham Stuart
I can confirm that I have held no discussions regarding the decision to decommission facilities at the Hunterston Port.
Oil and gas operators are required to submit a Decommissioning Programme to the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning for approval. Any site selected for the works must be appropriately licensed and able to demonstrate a proven disposal track record.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to help post offices maintain their role within local communities.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
The Government has provided over £2.5 billion in funding to support the Post Office network over the past 10 years and is further providing £335 million for the Post Office over the next three years.
Furthermore, the Government protects the Post Office network by setting minimum access criteria to ensure that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a Post Office.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues about the potential merits of providing further support for businesses with energy costs after April 2023.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has committed to carrying out a review of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme by the end of the year to inform decisions on future support. The Government cannot confirm which sectors will receive further support after 31st March 2023 until the review has concluded.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when people who live in park homes will receive the proposed £400 under the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As announced on 29 July, the EBSS Alternative Funding will be available to provide equivalent support of £400 for energy bills for the households who will not be reached through the EBSS. This includes those who do not have a domestic electricity meter or a direct relationship with an energy supplier, such as park home residents.
The Government is working to make the support available to applicants as soon as possible and is working with a range of organisations, such as local authorities, Devolved Administrations and across the UK Government, to finalise the details of the Alternative Funding and have the process up and running for applications this winter.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled £400 energy bills discount to support households this winter, published on 29 July 2022, what his timescale is for setting out details of the equivalent support that will be available for people who are not eligible for the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is working urgently with a range of organisations, such as local authorities, as well as Devolved Administrations and across UK Government, to finalise the details and have the process up and running for applications this winter.