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 (a) tackle the disparity in the proportion of the weekly budget a household in the East Midlands spends on heating their home compared to London and (b) support affordable domestic production of oil and gas.

The Government is seeking to reduce the energy bills of low income and vulnerable households across England through energy efficiency measures. Schemes such as the Sustainable Warmth Competition and the Energy Company Obligation are delivering such measures through engagement with local authorities to ensure targeted delivery.

The upstream oil and gas production sector is well placed to deliver as much domestic production as possible during the winter period. There has been strong resilience in production and most of the maintenance delayed due to COVID-19 has now been completed.