Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2022 to Question 98848 on Energy Bills Rebate: Meters, what discussions his Department has had with energy companies to help ensure that those customers entitled to the Energy Bills Support Scheme, who has not received the October 2022 prepayment voucher on time, will be able to claim and receive that payment.
Answered by Graham Stuart
On 4th December, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to all energy suppliers with customers on traditional prepayment meters, who I subsequently met with, reiterating the importance of ensuring these customers receive their vouchers.
As of 1st December, energy suppliers had issued 4,044,554 vouchers to customers with traditional prepayment meters, of which 2,659,344 had so far been redeemed. The Government will continue to publish this data on a monthly basis during the scheme.
Vouchers are valid for three months from the date of issue and can be extended.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what percentage of pre-payment electricity customers have received the first payment, from October 2022, of the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Customers with traditional prepayment meters should have received their first and second Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) discount vouchers. These have been sent by SMS text, email or post. Data for October indicates all vouchers have been dispatched by suppliers and take up so far is over 60%.
EBSS credit has been applied automatically to smart prepayment meters. As of 1 November, 97% of Smart prepayment customers had their credit applied.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
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 his Department has had with the utility companies on the paying of the Energy Bills Support Scheme to pre-payment customers.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Officials in this Department and in Ofgem, the industry regulator, speak to all suppliers on progress and monitoring of the scheme regularly. Additionally, suppliers are required to report every month on how they have provided the discount to their customers.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the £100 payment to support people who are not served by the gas grid with their energy bills will be given to people who receive energy through their landlord's windmill.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government will provide an additional payment of £100 to households across the UK who are not able to receive support for their heating costs through the Energy Price Guarantee. For those who do not have a contract with an electricity supplier this will be delivered through a discretionary fund.
In addition, the Energy Prices Bill introduced on 12th October includes the provision to require landlords to pass benefits they receive from energy price support, as appropriate, onto end users. Further details of the requirements under this legislation will be set out in regulations.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made on launching the Innovation Accelerator in the Glasgow city region, as announced in the Levelling Up White Paper; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Glasgow city region Innovation Accelerator on Inverclyde constituency.
Answered by George Freeman
Innovation Accelerators are a pilot approach to supporting three UK city regions, including Glasgow, to become major, globally competitive centres for research and innovation.
In Glasgow, a locally led partnership convened by the Glasgow City Region, involving leaders in local government, business and R&D institutions, supported by UK Government and R&D funders, is making good progress in developing a plan to boost innovation and attract new R&D investment.
Funding for Innovation Accelerators will run for the duration of the Spending Review and we will put in place a monitoring and evaluation framework to assess their impact
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with industry stakeholders on funding for an equitable and affordable switch to greener and cleaner heating ahead of the upcoming Spending review.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government has been engaging with a range of industry and consumer groups on funding options to enable an equitable and affordable switch to greener and cleaning heating. Further details of these policies are set out in the Heat and Building Strategy.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) steps his Department is taking to ensure effective provision of post office services across the UK and (b) funding his Department has provided to support that provision in each of the last five years.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government protects the branch network by setting minimum access criteria and protects services by setting minimum services to be provided at post offices across the UK. These criteria ensure that 90% of the population are within one mile of the nearest post office branch and that 99% of the population are within three miles of the nearest post office branch.
The Government invested £640 million in the Post Office between 2015 and 2018, £370 million from 2018 to 2021 and £227 million in 2021/22. This funding allows Post Office Ltd to safeguard services in the uncommercial parts of the network and invest for the future.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
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 made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward regulations to restrict the (a) sale of fireworks and (b) times when they can be set off by the public; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Paul Scully
There is a comprehensive regulatory framework already in place for fireworks that aims to reduce the risks and disturbances to people and animals. Existing legislation controls the sale, availability and use of fireworks, as well as setting a curfew and noise limit.
In its 2019 inquiry into fireworks, the House of Commons Petitions Committee concluded it could not support banning public sales and use of fireworks. The potential for unintended consequences would be counterproductive for public safety, including individuals sourcing illegal and unsafe products online.
The Government remains committed to promoting the safe and considerate use of fireworks through an effective legislative framework and through non-legislative measures.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the selling of cosmetics products in the UK will require a non-UK EU Responsible Person during the transition period of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
It is the intention that those placing cosmetic products on the UK market during the transition period will require a responsible person based in the UK or EU.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the timeframe is for the UK cosmetics portal to go live.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The timeframe for whether the UK Cosmetics Portal needs to go live is dependent on the outcome of negotiations on the future economic relationship between the UK and the EU. The Government has made preparations so that the UK cosmetics portal can go live as soon as it is needed.