Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to introduce a right for unpaid carers to take up to one week of unpaid leave per year; and when he intends to introduce this right.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government remains committed to supporting unpaid carers in work. Legislation to deliver our commitment to introduce one week of leave for unpaid carers will be brought forward when Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households with children using pre-payment meters are in arrears.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State has set out to the House that protecting customers, particularly the most vulnerable, has been the Government’s priority during the peak in wholesale gas prices.
Households with prepayment meters continue to be protected by the CMA Prepayment Meter Price (PPM) Cap, which was extended in April 2021.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households with children use pre-payment meters.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State has set out to the House that protecting customers, particularly the most vulnerable, has been the Government’s priority during the peak in wholesale gas prices.
As Ofgem notes in its Autumn 2021 Consumer Protection report, the use of Prepayment Meters has continued to decrease for both gas and electricity customers, representing the lowest recorded proportions since 2012 for electricity customers and a steady decline for gas customers since 2017.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of households in the UK that use prepayment meters.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Secretary of State has set out to the House that protecting customers, particularly the most vulnerable, has been the Government’s priority during the peak in wholesale gas prices.
As Ofgem notes in its Autumn 2021 Consumer Protection report, the use of Prepayment Meters has continued to decrease for both gas and electricity customers, representing the lowest recorded proportions since 2012 for electricity customers and a steady decline for gas customers since 2017.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the potential change in the number of households experiencing fuel poverty over winter 2021-22.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has made these estimates which are available in the annual fuel poverty statistics projections report.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of anticipated increases in domestic energy bills over the next 12 months on child poverty.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The energy price cap will save 15 million families up to £100 on their energy bills this winter. The Government supports low-income and fuel poor households with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments.
In addition, the Government has announced an extra £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to provide help to millions of the most in need.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of increases in energy bills in 2021 on child poverty.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The energy price cap will save 15 million families up to £100 on their energy bills this winter. The Government supports low-income and fuel poor households with their energy bills through the Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments.
In addition, the Government has announced an extra £500 million for local authorities through the new Household Support Fund to provide help to millions of the most in need.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by his Department are apprentices.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (excluding its Executive Agencies) currently has 97 apprentices. The proportion of apprentices employed by the Department is 1.78%.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the amount of money fraudulently obtained from the Bounce Back Loan Scheme to date.
Answered by Paul Scully
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 1 October 2020, to Question 96132.