Oral Answers to Questions

Rebecca Pow Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hammond]

Yes, thanks to this Government’s introduction of the national living wage.

[Rebecca Pow (Taunton Deane) (Con)]

14. What steps the Government are taking to ensure that the UK remains at the forefront of green finance.

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (John Glen)]

Green finance is a key Government priority. The Chancellor recently announced the creation of a new green finance institute to ensure that our world-leading green finance expertise is available to UK and international firms. This was the first recommendation of the green finance taskforce, and further responses from the Government will come in due course.

[Rebecca Pow]

I commend my hon. Friend for the action that the Government have already taken in this area, but does he agree that we should encourage green investment to support new technologies, especially in the energy sector, to help develop devices that can bring down household bills, make us more efficient, waste less energy and cut down on our greenhouse emissions? That is the subject of my ten-minute rule Bill tomorrow.

[John Glen]

I agree with my hon. Friend. It is absolutely the case that every household and small business will have those advantages by 2020 through the supply of smart meters. According to data from a leading energy supplier, we are already seeing energy efficiency savings of around 4% on annual consumption.