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 merits of providing payments through the Energy Bills Support Scheme to people living in (a) bedsits within another dwelling and (b) houses of multiple occupancy that have a shared energy bill.

The Energy Bills Support Scheme is delivering a £400 non-repayable government discount to British households with a domestic electricity meter over six months from October to March to help 29 million households with energy bills over the winter.

On 29 July, the Government announced funding for alternative support to help households which are ineligible for this scheme. The details for this will be announced later. The Energy Price Guarantee has also been recently introduced by the government. It is automatic and applies to all households and provides further help in dealing with the challenges of high energy bills over the next two years.