Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill

Scott Benton Excerpts

3rd reading
Friday 3rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Angela Richardson (Guildford) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Orpington (Gareth Bacon) and to congratulate the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis) on bringing this incredibly important Bill all the way to Third Reading. I regularly receive emails from constituents who care as deeply as all of us in this place do about making sure that pregnant women and new parents are protected in the workplace. I pay tribute to campaign groups such as Pregnant Then Screwed and groups such as Mumsnet that help to shine a light on all the injustices that are faced.

It has taken a long time, but we have made progress in making sure that the rights of pregnant women and those who want to start families are protected. I remember in the early 2000s, having just been married and allowed for the first time to take up a permanent role in this country, I was asked at interviews what my hobbies were. I said that I enjoyed knitting and was asked, “Is that for babies?” Of course, that sort of thing is not allowed these days. I was able to say that no, I had not knitted any baby things at that point, although it was not long after that that I was knitting them.

As someone who has had six pregnancies, three of which resulted in live, successful births, I am delighted that this legislation is finally coming forward. It has been a long time coming. The hon. Member for Barnsley Central cited the 2016 research by the Equality and Human Rights Commission that found that approximately one in nine mothers—11% of them—reported that they were dismissed, made compulsorily redundant when others in the workplace were not, or treated so poorly that they had to leave their job. That is a huge indictment of the workplace in 2016, which is not that long ago. It is clear that work still needs to be done.

It was good that the Women and Equalities Committee followed up with an inquiry and report on pregnancy and maternity discrimination in August 2016. These things always seem to take time. The Government responded in 2017 and acknowledged the scale of the pregnancy and maternity discrimination that was experienced. It is important that the Government recognised that they needed to bring forward proposals to ensure that protections were in place. In January 2019, the Government published a consultation to seek views on extending the protections. It was good that, in the 2019 manifesto on which I stood for election, the Conservatives committed to addressing pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech highlighting the injustices that pregnant women and new mums face in the workplace. The Bill will go an awful long way towards addressing some of the challenges and injustices. Does she agree that the Government generally have a very good record on employment legislation since 2010? In 2019, Government Members stood on a manifesto commitment to further improve protections against pregnancy and maternity discrimination and to continue to ensure it is outlawed. Does she agree that the Bill is an important step towards achieving that?

[Angela Richardson]

I agree with my hon. Friend. That has been the case since 2010. Those of us who stood in 2019 participated in Zoom debates in early 2020, in the middle of covid, to discuss workers’ rights and maternity provisions, and talked about what the Government had been doing to protect women.

I draw attention to clause 1(4), which allows for the regulations to provide for the protected period of pregnancy to commence after the pregnancy has ended. It allows, for example, a woman who has miscarried before, in informing her employer of the pregnancy, to access the redundancy protection that she would have been entitled to had she first informed her employer.

It is incredibly important that we in this place recognise the effects of miscarriage. At the start of my speech, I talked about the fact that I had had three live births, but I also lost three babies. I do not think that people realise the impact that that has on a woman, in terms not just of her physical health—a drop-off in oestrogen after a pregnancy can have an impact on full-term pregnancy and on those who have miscarried—but of her mental health. There may also be issues in the second trimester—I faced the issue in one of my pregnancies—with the milk coming in. You might not be prepared for those sorts of things. There is also the delivery. Many people think that when you lose a baby, it is a clean operation—somebody goes in and sorts things out—but quite often, one delivers the lost baby. The recovery time for that is quite extended and important, especially if you have other small children to care for at the time.

All the protections in the Bill are incredibly important. I know from my own personal experience how important it is to recognise what women go through when they are trying to start a family or have more children in their family. I will be watching carefully how the Bill is implemented. Employers must take the protections incredibly seriously. I hope that when surveys are done—as they were in 2016—we see not just that the numbers have come down under the legislation, but that zero women face this sort of discrimination in the workplace.

Carer’s Leave Bill

Scott Benton Excerpts

Friday 3rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

I thank the hon. Member for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain) for bringing the Bill back to the House for its remaining stages. In Blackpool, over 16,000 people provide unpaid care to somebody else. As a consequence of our ageing population, more and more people are now acting as carers for a loved one. That obviously puts pressure on hard-working families, many of whom struggle with balancing their work commitments and other obligations with providing that care. Indeed, according to figures from Carers UK, one in seven people in the UK are finding it difficult at present to juggle work and care responsibilities.

The most significant aspect of the Bill is enabling those with elderly or disabled loved ones to take time away from work when unforeseen circumstances arise that necessitate them stepping in and providing that care. Many constituents have told me of the frustration they often feel when the local authority or the NHS care provider cancels existing arrangements at quite short notice. Such a situation leaves families frantically attempting to find alternative care or face the repercussions of not attending work. This Bill, among other things, helps to address that situation. It would mitigate the anxiety for those receiving care and for their families.

As the time off would be without reimbursement, it would leave employers at a minimal disadvantage. It is for those reasons that I believe that the Bill strikes a reasonable compromise to both employers and employees. Proposed new section 80J in part 5 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 recommends that such leave should not be taken continuously. I hope that the Minister will look carefully at the section and consider how to mitigate the risks of employees potentially abusing the goodwill of their employers by taking large amounts of unexpected leave for any reason. I look forward to his comments when he sums up.

The Bill is a positive step forward to support carers and to allow them to juggle their responsibilities, allowing them to stay in the workplace but also provide care, which relieves the pressure on stakeholders such as the NHS and local authorities. But it will also have an impact on businesses, particularly small businesses that may operate only with a few members staff at any one time and may find it difficult to bring in other staff to cover a leave of absence, especially at short notice.

During the passage of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill, the Minister mentioned his own experience from business, saying that a business’s reputation is not only how it treats its customers but how it treats its staff. I think that is very much the case. Although I am sure that the vast majority of businesses would stand by their staff and make sure that they can balance their respective work, personal and care responsibilities, there could be a small minority of people who try to take advantage of those arrangements. We have to appreciate the additional costs that the Bill could entail to businesses, while bringing in positive steps to make sure that carers have the flexibility to look after their loved ones.

In our 2019 manifesto, this Government promised that they would

“extend the entitlement to leave for unpaid carers, the majority of whom are women, to one week.”

The Queen’s Speech in December 2019 set out about how we would fulfil that important manifesto commitment. A subsequent consultation was launched on 16 March 2020, which sought views on the Government’s proposals for an entitlement to carers leave. Responses to that consultation were published 18 months later.

The Government remain committed to ensuring that they extend workers’ rights—we have just seen that in their support for the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill and, once again, in their support for this Bill. In his comments on that Bill, the Minister alluded to the fact that it is often this party that advances workers’ rights. We have a long and proud history of doing that. Despite some of the ridiculous comments from the commentariat and Members in this House, not least on Monday during the passage of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, once again it is this Government who lead the way on protecting working people and ensuring that they have rights at work, while delivering economic growth. That is why I am proud to support not only this Bill but this Government.

Workers (Predictable Terms and Conditions) Bill

Scott Benton Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 3rd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

I am pleased that we have time to debate this important issue in the Chamber. I know that many hon. Members in the Chamber will have a personal interest in this area and am grateful for their participation. Zero-hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, both for employers when there is not a constant demand for staff and for individuals who need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study. However, the 2017 Taylor review of modern working practices found that workers on zero-hours contracts, as well as agency workers and temporary workers, struggle where flexibility is “one-sided” in an employer’s favour. Some employers misuse flexible working arrangements to create unpredictability and insecurity of income, and there is a reluctance among some workers to assert basic employment rights. That one-sided flexibility means that workers need to be available to their employer with absolutely no guarantee of work. Employers can also schedule or cancel shifts with little notice, leading to insecurity of hours and income for workers—or, in the case of temporary workers, dismissal altogether at short notice.

To address one-sided flexibility, the Taylor review recommended that the Government should create a new right to request a contract with guaranteed hours for zero-hours contract workers. The successful passage of my Bill would create a new right for eligible workers to request a more predictable working pattern.

[Nickie Aiken (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con)]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s private Member’s Bill, because it is incredibly important to give people on zero-hours contracts the security of knowing that they will have protected hours. Does he agree that, as we are trying to encourage the over-50s back into the workplace, the Bill may go some way to giving them security over their hours and pay for the work that they do?

[Scott Benton]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention. She is a brilliant champion for her constituents in the Cities of London and Westminster. Of course, the nature of the economy in central London means that, often, people will be in the retail, hospitality and the tourism industry with insecure work. I thank her for championing the Bill. The point that she makes regarding older people in employment is important. The Government are actively looking at that. I hope that they continue to press the issue to ensure that we can address labour shortages by widening the pool of potential people to take those vacancies.

The new right would give workers who would like more certainty the ability to request a more predictable work pattern that reflects the hours or times that they work. A qualifying worker would be able to make an application to change their existing work pattern if it lacked predictability in terms of the hours or times they worked, or if they have a fixed-term contract for less than 12 months. The Bill would ensure that workers and employers retain the benefits of zero-hours contracts and other forms of atypical work. Of course, workers who are content to work more varied hours will continue to be able to do so.

Many individuals who work unpredictable patterns often experience an imbalance of power with their employers, which leaves them afraid to ask for more fixed conditions out of fear of being dismissed or denied future shifts. The Bill would address that unfair imbalance of power, empowering and encouraging workers to talk to their employer about their contract, safe in the knowledge that starting the conversation would not result in any detriment whatsoever to the worker. Workers will be better able to secure employment that suits their individual circumstances, helping them to be more satisfied at work and less stressed around the lack of predictability of their hours and income.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

It is good that we have cross-party support on this issue as well. It is one thing for an employee to have a right, but as we have seen, quite often employers who do not want to give their employees those rights and treat them well have ways of getting around that; they will find an excuse to dismiss the employee and take on somebody who might be prepared to be more flexible. How does the hon. Gentleman envisage that the safeguards and rights under this Bill will be genuinely enforced? I would suggest trade union membership as a pretty good start.

[Scott Benton]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention and I will get to that section of my speech in a couple of minutes. She does great justice to the people in her constituency who work on zero-hours contracts by raising that important point. The Bill introduces a right to request a more predictable working pattern and the process employers have to follow is clearly outlined to ensure that there is some certainty when employees request that their contract is changed and that their employer deals with them seriously and appropriately.

The Bill helps to support the income security of workers at a time when many are feeling increased cost of living pressures. It will not only benefit workers; businesses will reap the rewards of having a more engaged and happier workforce. The rights introduced through my Bill will apply to all eligible workers, including agency workers, not only those employed on zero-hours contracts; it will apply to the wide range of workers who have unpredictable working conditions, including temporary workers, agency workers and workers with non-guaranteed hours.

Workers must have worked for their employer for a set period of time before an application can be made. This period will be set out in regulations; I am sure the Minister will expand on that in his remarks, but it is expected to be 26 weeks. The worker only needs to have been employed with their employer at some point during the month before that period and to be working again for the employer when the application is made. Given that the Bill targets workers with unpredictable working patterns, they are not required to have worked for their employer continuously.

The same criteria will apply to agency workers applying to temporary work agencies. Agency workers who make applications directly to hirers will be required to have worked for their hirer for at least 12 weeks continuously during the 26-week period. This replicates the provision in the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 which states that after 12 weeks’ continuous service an agency worker will gain entitlement to the same set of employment rights as if they had been recruited directly. It ensures that workers cannot use the right to request a more predictable contract to circumvent the agency workers regulations and gain entitlement to additional employment rights before they have worked those 12 continuous weeks.

Once a worker has made their request, the employer will be required to notify them of their decision within one month. An employer will be able to turn down a request for more predictable conditions on specific statutory grounds, similar to those established for the existing right to request flexible working. That will help to ensure that businesses are not unfairly burdened by the new right, for example if the costs of providing a worker with a more predictable pattern would be too burdensome at the time.

Workers will have the option to complain to an employment tribunal if their employer does not handle the request in a reasonable manner, wrongly treats the request as withdrawn, dismisses or treats the worker poorly because of their request, or rejects the application on the basis of incorrect facts. We assume, however, that most declined requests will be handled informally and will not give rise to an employment tribunal claim.

I thank officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy for their assistance with drafting the Bill and the arrangements for today. This area has broad cross-party support: indeed, it was included in the manifesto I stood on and the Liberal Democrats and Labour made similar commitments on zero-hours contracts in their manifestos. I hope that Members on both sides of the House share my desire to ensure that the Bill succeeds. As you will know, Mr Deputy Speaker, there is a certain fragility, to say the least, that accompanies the passage of private Members’ Bills through the House, and I would therefore like to navigate this process with the support of Members on a cross-party basis.

This Bill is a golden opportunity to bring about real change on the pressing issues of atypical contracts and one-sided flexibility, at a time when insecurity of pay and hours is particularly pressing. I hope that Members will be able to support it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Scott Benton]

With the leave of the House, I thank Members for their contributions today. In particular, my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes (Danny Kruger) as ever made a thoughtful contribution, and I agree wholeheartedly with his comments about the need to utilise the experience, skills and potential of British workers, rather than automatically reaching for this lever of unskilled immigration and workers from overseas. I thank the hon. Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) for signalling the support of the official Opposition for my Bill. There is also the brilliant support from the Government, particularly the Minister and his private team, who have been incredibly helpful over the past few weeks and alleviated some of my stress with their technical guidance on some of the finer points of the Bill. That has been greatly appreciated.

I know that my fellow Thatcherite, my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), is keen to introduce his Bill, so I will keep my remarks short. Suffice it to say, I hope that Members on both sides of the House can agree that this important piece of legislation will give workers struggling with unpredictability in their working lives a way of addressing that, by empowering them to discuss their working conditions with their employer to see whether they can gain more predictability in their hours and income. I commend the Bill to the House.

Question put and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time; to stand committed to a Public Bill Committee (Standing Order No. 63).

British Steel: Negotiations

Scott Benton Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Ms Ghani]

I fear that the hon. Member would rather have coal imported and not worry about the cost or the emissions impact of that. The Secretary of State’s decision on the Cumbrian coalmine was made following a comprehensive planning inquiry that heard from over 40 different witnesses and considered matters such as demand for coking coal, climate change and the impact on the local economy. What is really important is that we have a resilient UK steel sector, and I will never apologise for that.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

To safeguard our national strategic interest, it is imperative that this country maintains a capacity for steel production. The Minister has outlined the considerable package of support that the Government have already provided, not least the £800 million for energy costs over the last few years. Can she reassure the House that this Government will do everything they can to support this key industry?

[Ms Ghani]

Absolutely. That is why we are working so closely with the companies and the unions. I have met with the unions, most recently last week. Hopefully I am not divulging too much information, but they also claimed that they struggled to have good levels of communication with Jingye and British Steel, so it is not lost on all of us. We are very committed to the sector.

We have also been buying more British steel. In 2021-22, the Government procured £268 million of UK-produced steel for major projects, which was an increase of £160 million on the figure from the previous year—this is based on departmental reports. I have been the HS2 Minister, and I have always been concerned about why we could not procure more UK steel in our rail and road projects, and in all others, including those for shipping—I have also been maritime Minister. So there is even a greater future ahead. As I mentioned, the UK’s steel demand is going to rise by 20%; this is a good space to be in. We are just in a peculiar situation while we are having ongoing negotiations, and the decision was taken to have this meeting with the unions yesterday.

Ban on Fracking for Shale Gas Bill

Scott Benton Excerpts

Wednesday 19th October 2022 Commons Chamber

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

Fracking is an issue that ignites very strong feelings among my constituents. Since the Government announced a change in direction on this issue, I have been very much looking forward to a genuinely free and fair debate in this place, where I could go on the record and outline my concerns, and those of thousands of my constituents, about fracking returning to the Fylde coast.

However, this is most certainly not the free and fair debate I have been hoping for. This Opposition day debate is a very different beast. The motion is not about fracking at all; it is an attempt by the Labour party to take over the functions of Government. It would overturn the Standing Orders and procedures of this House that say only the elected Government of the day get to decide parliamentary business. It would allow Labour to legislate against the wishes of my constituents, who elected a Conservative Government at the last general election. We will not and cannot allow the Labour party to seize control of the Order Paper. If they want to do so, they should do something they have not done in 17 long years and win a general election. The Opposition know full well that Conservative Members who share their legitimate concerns about fracking cannot vote for their motion today. Instead of engineering a constructive and fair debate, Labour has contrived to weaponise this issue. Truly shameful behaviour.

While I have the opportunity, I state once again that the vast majority of my constituents do not support the return of fracking to the Fylde coast. The environmental and safety thresholds and protections were breached when fracking previously took place at the Preston New Road site, only a few miles outside my constituency. As a result, fracking stopped in 2019.

The war in Ukraine has woken up the west and demonstrated that we cannot rely on authoritarian foreign regimes for our energy supplies. As such, I support the Government in striving to maximise more of our domestic energy reserves, particularly North sea oil and gas, and nuclear power. Although I can see why the Government have put fracking back on the table, it should only take place where it is safe and where it is supported by local communities, as the Government have reiterated time and again, and as the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has made clear once again today. I wholeheartedly support that position.

I welcome the steps the Government are taking to determine how local consent can be established, and I look forward—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Eleanor Laing)]

Order. I call Rebecca Long Bailey.

Shale Gas Extraction

Scott Benton Excerpts

Thursday 22nd September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

The Secretary of State will be aware of the strong objections many of my constituents have to fracking. The Prime Minister has been quite clear in saying that it will take place only if there is strong local support. However, that poses many questions. What is the local community and how do we define it? How do we ascertain whether it can command local support? What incentives, if any, will be provided to local communities that have fracking imposed upon them? My constituents are understandably anxious about fracking returning to the Fylde coast. When will they receive an answer to some of those questions?

[Mr Rees-Mogg]

My hon. Friend asks a very important question. It is important for the national interest that we have secure supplies of gas—that is important across the House to all constituents—but this will affect some residents much, much more than others. Therefore, it is only right that they are compensated and receive some financial benefit for the inconvenience. The majority of the inconvenience comes not from the extraction of shale gas, but from the building of the shale gas well in the first place and the associated lorry movements. It is important that people benefit and are rewarded for doing something that is in the national interest.

Energy Update

Scott Benton Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I am not quite sure about Labour’s position. On the one hand, it says that we copied its windfall tax proposal, but it also says that what we have done is somehow inadequate. The energy profits levy is projected to raise twice what Labour’s proposal was ever projected to generate.

When it comes to Bradford, that is exactly why we are ensuring that the assistance is as targeted as possible and goes to the most vulnerable and in-need households. That is why we have offered the one-off payment of £650 to more than 8 million households on means-tested benefits, the cost of living payment to 8 million pensioner households, and the £150 disability cost of living payment to 6 million households. In addition, we have the £144 million discretionary local authority fund for distribution to those identified as being in need. A huge amount of Government action has already taken place, and more is to come.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware of Blackpool residents’ strong objections to fracking, which has already been explored at the Preston New Road site a few miles outside my constituency. Fracking should take place only where it is supported by local communities and only if people can feel the benefit directly in their pockets. Does he agree that a few thousand pounds off energy bills would be quite an inducement for people living close to a fracking site?

[Greg Hands]

My hon. Friend, as ever, makes a telling contribution on Blackpool’s behalf that I am sure the Government will study closely. We are also studying the British Geological Survey report into this matter, to which the Government will respond in due course. Over the past year that I have been Energy Minister, I have heard my hon. Friend stick up for and make a strong case for Blackpool on several occasions in relation to fracking.

Home Energy Efficiency: North of England

Scott Benton Excerpts

Wednesday 6th July 2022 Westminster Hall

[Peter Gibson]

It is as though the hon. Member has read a paragraph later in my speech. It would, indeed, be a win-win if we tackle this issue. Can we afford to not tackle the issue? Can we afford to not reap those health benefits, the energy cost savings, the wasted energy usage savings, and the preservation of our built environment?

I must acknowledge the work that the Government have done so far to tackle this issue. The heat and buildings strategy was published in October 2021, setting out the Government’s planned approach to reducing emissions from heating buildings. The social housing decarbonisation fund has awarded £179 million to 69 projects.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is articulating well the need for further measures to improve our housing stock. I am sure he will agree that now is an opportune moment to move ahead with this, given the pressure on household budgets. Blackpool received £1.4 million from the social housing decarbon-isation fund, and I am sure his constituency has benefited, too. Will he welcome those grants already given and support the need for further action to drive down those household bills?

[Peter Gibson]

Being familiar with my hon. Friend’s constituency, I well understand the situation and issues that his constituents face, as they are similar to those in my own. I was about to say that the Tees Valley Combined Authority has secured £2.6million from the social housing decarbonisation fund, from which homes in Darlington will benefit. I am grateful for that, and I welcome the contribution that my hon. Friend has secured for his constituency.

The local authority delivery scheme is also helping to improve energy efficiency: it is expected to save households across the country more than £2 million on energy bills every year. It is welcome that nearly 40% of the households that have been upgraded under the scheme are in the north. I also welcome the decision of the former Chancellor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak), to cut VAT on home upgrades in the spring statement, encouraging people to invest in wall and loft insulation. I know that the Minister will agree that we must continue this good work, and I ask what the Government can do to roll out the schemes more widely.

Although progress is under way on decarbonisation and retrofitting, we still have a long way to go, but I want to focus on the need to tackle the huge cost currently associated with making our homes more energy efficient. We cannot achieve decarbonisation while it remains financially unviable for homeowners, private landlords and housing associations to pay for the work. We also need to ensure that we bring communities with us as we embark on this challenge. Recent research by Onward found that people think that the invasion of Ukraine means we should be moving more quickly on net zero, but retrofitting a home is intrusive work, and many people do not see it as a priority for them. We need to be clear what the benefit of this work is to our communities, and the connection between home heating and reaching net zero must be emphasised. How can the Government make it clear to communities how they stand to benefit from more energy efficient homes? That is a challenge that I hope the Minister can respond to.

As part of my preparation for the debate, I have been in contact with Angela Lockwood and Emma Speight at North Star Housing to discuss the difficulties faced by housing associations when it comes to decarbonisation and retrofitting their properties. In short, they are fully supportive of moves to decarbonise homes, but the costs involved are prohibitive. To illustrate this, they made me aware of a pilot decarbonisation project that they are carrying out on a two-bedroom, late-Victorian terraced house in Middlesbrough that they are aiming to get to EPC level A, so that they can then monitor the performance of the building.

I have the figures in front of me. North Star Housing calculates that the cost of decarbonisation work will be £45,500, with £12,000 going on solid wall insulation alone. While the work is being carried out, the property must sit empty for around 20 weeks, resulting in a void period and a loss of rental income. Given that other houses on the same street are valued at around £70,000, North Star Housing is looking at spending well over half of the value of a property in order to decarbonise it. It is simply not viable for housing associations to be spending that much to decarbonise their stock without targeted support and assistance.

Equally, private owners of those properties will face similar costs. However, although the up-front costs may be high, investing in the region’s homes now is, as the hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) said, a win-win scenario for northern communities, because it will lead to warmer, healthier homes. Upgrading a home from EPC E to EPC C would reduce bills by an average of £595 a year, whereas upgrading from EPC F to EPC G would reduce bills by £1,339 a year. These are not short-term cuts to energy bills, but permanent reductions in household energy consumption, meaning that more of people’s money will be spent in our local economy.

The Government have seen that their retrofitting schemes can and do work. Data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy shows that the total estimated annual bill saving for the 12,143 households upgraded in phase 1 of the local authority delivery scheme is £1.2 million. I therefore ask my right hon. Friend the Minister to outline what more the Government can do to ensure that we continue to deliver these schemes.

Retrofitting homes in the north will also play a huge part in delivering on our levelling-up agenda, with the north having the best chance to reap the economic benefits of our transition to a low-carbon economy compared with other regions of the UK. The large-scale retrofitting of homes in the north has the potential to deliver new skilled jobs in the green industries of the future—again, as the hon. Member for Sheffield Central said, a win-win.

The Northern Housing Consortium’s “Northern Powerhomes” report showed that a large-scale programme of social housing retrofitting could lead to the creation of 77,000 jobs in the north by 2035, 15,000 of which could be in the north-east. However, we have only around 1,200 qualified heat pump installers across the UK, so we clearly have a skills gap. I urge the Minister to do all he can to plug that skills gap and attract new entrants to the good green jobs that a focus on northern housing can deliver.

I also ask the Minister when the new energy company obligation scheme will begin. In the north, a high proportion of homes are fitted with insulation measures through ECO, and the support the scheme gives to low-income households is highly valuable. I understood that ECO4 was expected to begin in April. I would welcome any clarity the Minister can provide on the potential expansion of the scheme and when we might expect it.

We are now free of the bounds of Europe, and we can be bold, imaginative, creative and entrepreneurial. If we can lead the way in the north-east with carbon capture technology or hydrogen production, with vision our region can lead the way in innovating the retrofitting our old homes.

The north-east already has some innovative solutions. The Coal Authority in Gateshead is using mine water to generate heat for local homes and businesses. Will the Minister look closely at that project to see how it can be exploited at scale? Many gas boilers can already be made hydrogen-ready. As we transition away from fossil fuels, will the Minister look at what steps he can take to make every new boiler installed hydrogen-ready as soon as possible, rather than waiting for some date way off in the future?

Millions of homes across the country are just like those in the north, so the Government need both the carrot and the stick to drive this forward. We have no time to lose. I am proud of our built environment and want it to be preserved and protected for future generations, but I want my constituents’ homes to be warm and efficient too. There should not be a binary choice between two ambitions. There is a range of imaginative policy solutions and ideas to accelerate this process, including changes to stamp duty, incentives for home buyers to carry out these works at the beginning of their ownership, and creative financing through green mortgages, whereby the lender provides an initial sum on the original drawdown to fund the works, with the necessary conditions in place to ensure that the funds are not diverted elsewhere. We can even use the taxation system, through salary sacrifice. If it is good enough to fund car hire, the purchase of a bike or childcare, it should be good enough to provide improvements to our homes.

It is clear that improving the energy efficiency of homes in the north is a huge challenge. However, it can bring huge benefits to communities such as mine in Darlington. We can permanently bring down heating costs for millions of households, improve health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable in our society and level up communities that have been left behind by getting behind new, innovative green industries and delivering highly skilled jobs for our constituencies. I hope the Minister will give serious thought to all the points I have raised, and I look forward to hearing the rest of the contributions from across the Chamber.

Post Office: Horizon Compensation Arrangements

Scott Benton Excerpts

Thursday 24th February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Paul Scully]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his kind words and for his ongoing interest. I am pleased to say that, as the first week of evidence to his inquiry finishes, Sir Wyn will be travelling around the country. He will go to Cardiff, and also to Belfast. It is important for him to hear from people close to where they live, so that they can feel comfortable and confident about giving evidence. However, the hon. Gentleman is right: we need to crack on with this and secure the equality that he seeks.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

Sadly, some of those who have suffered so much are no longer alive to see justice served. Will the Minister do all in his power to ensure that the full inquiry reports back as soon as possible, so that those who are accountable can finally be held to account?

[Paul Scully]

I can assure my hon. Friend of that. People have died because this has taken so long, and other people have died because they have committed suicide. It has been horrendous, and that is why we are determined to ensure that we can get this sorted out as soon as possible.

Oral Answers to Questions

Scott Benton Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

The hon. Gentleman and I know that Northern Ireland has an incredible capability and tradition in bus making. He is absolutely right that hydrogen-powered buses have a big future. I mentioned Glasgow City Council’s commitment to move to hydrogen buses, thanks to the Whitelee wind farm; I imagine that we will want to do something similar in Northern Ireland. I look forward to further engagement with the Northern Ireland Executive on the topic.

[Scott Benton (Blackpool South) (Con)]

5. What steps he is taking to deliver new nuclear power.

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to deliver new nuclear power.

[The Minister for Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change (Greg Hands)]

The Government have announced a £120 million future nuclear enabling fund to support new nuclear and are aiming for a final investment decision on at least one more large-scale nuclear project in this Parliament, subject to value for money and relevant approvals.

[Scott Benton]

Springfields nuclear fuel manufacturing facility employs hundreds of people on the Fylde coast. I thank the Minister for recently visiting the facility and for his personal interest in protecting the operations there. Will he commit to continuing to work with colleagues to explore the opportunities for developing operations at the site and protecting the hundreds of jobs that it sustains?

[Greg Hands]

My hon. Friend is a passionate supporter of local jobs in Blackpool. He is right: in December, I visited Springfields, which is just outside his constituency. It reminded me of the strategic national importance of our fuel industry, which is why we secured £75 million in the spending review to preserve and develop the UK’s nuclear fuel production capability. That funding will support the UK supply chain to power the reactors of today and advanced nuclear in the future.