Oral Answers to Questions

Stuart Andrew Excerpts

Thursday 10th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to mitigate the effects of high oil prices on energy consumers.

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to mitigate the effects of high oil prices on energy consumers.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

12. What steps he is taking to mitigate the effects of high oil prices on energy consumers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Huhne]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; this is a key issue in rural areas to which the ministerial team have given a lot of attention. The Energy Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), has suffered the effects of this in his own home and feels strongly, as we all do, that we need to get a grip on this. That is precisely why we asked the Office of Fair Trading to look at the heating oil market. We want to be absolutely assured that there is no exploitation and that the market is open and fair, which in the long run is the best guarantee. But we are also concerned about these off-gas-grid homes, and in the longer term we want to ensure that they have the best benefits from the green deal.

[Stuart Andrew]

Back in December, Age UK expressed concern about the rise in heating fuel cost. What response has my right hon. Friend had to his announcement on the investigation into the heating oil and liquefied petroleum gas market?

[Chris Huhne]

There has been cross-party support for the investigation and we await the outcome with interest. There is a genuine concern throughout the House that we need to be confident that people in this position can secure the best possible deal in the marketplace.