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 under the age of (a) one and (b) five have been placed on pre-payment meters in each of the last five years.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not collect data on the number of households with children on pre-payment meters. Ofgem, the independent regulator, does not collect data at this level. Ofgem License Conditions restrict the installation of pre-payment meters for debt, specifying that a pre-payment meter has to be safe and practical. Under Ofgem guidance safety considerations include having a child under the age of five.