Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, of the potential merits of providing increased support to people on low incomes who are not eligible for the Warm Homes Discount as a result of their property or accommodation not meeting the required energy cost score.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has expanded the Warm Home Discount scheme this year, providing the £150 rebate to over 3 million households, an increase of 800,000.
Energy suppliers can also provide additional support to households through the Industry Initiatives portion of the scheme, through measures such as financial assistance, debt write-off, benefit entitlement checks, energy advice and energy efficiency. This support can be provided to households, irrespective of whether they are eligible for a rebate.
The scheme comes on top of additional support the Government is providing this winter and next winter, including through the Energy Price Guarantee and Cost of Living Payments.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a targeted energy assistance payment for families that run lifesaving medical care equipment at home.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is delivering the Energy Bills Support Scheme, a £400 non-repayable grant to support all families with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will save a typical household in Great Britain £900 this Winter. In addition, families with disabled children are also entitled to a one-off £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment.
The Government is currently reviewing the EPG. This consultation will explore the best ways to ensure that vulnerable high energy users, such as those with medical requirements, are not put at risk of having to pay more.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the provision of financial assistance to British Steel.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government has frequent discussions about how to secure the best outcomes for the UK economy, including sectors such as steel, rail and automotive, to ensure high-quality, well-paid jobs are available across the four nations.
The Government’s Net Zero Strategy reaffirms our commitment to working with the steel industry on decarbonisation. Industrial sectors including steel can bid into Government competitive funds worth more than £1.5 billion to support them to go green, cut emissions and become more energy efficient.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what (a) support and (b) advice the Government provides to small businesses facing higher costs when importing from the EU as a result of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has provided extensive support to help businesses including guidance products, webinars, and ‘how to’ videos. Through the SME Brexit Support Fund and the Intermediaries Grant, the Government made over £100m available to help businesses adapt to new rules.
The Government has produced a useful step-by-step guide to help businesses understand the process for importing goods into the UK. The Government also created a customs intermediary register on GOV.UK to help businesses to find intermediary assistance appropriate to their needs. The Customs & International Trade helpline and webchat facility is also available to help businesses with customs queries.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the cost of energy for unpaid carers; and if he would take steps to provide additional assistance to unpaid carers to help fund their energy costs.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is delivering the Energy Bills Support Scheme, a £400 non-repayable grant to support all families with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will save a typical household in Great Britain £900 this Winter.
The Government is currently reviewing the EPG. This consultation will explore the best ways to ensure that vulnerable high energy users, such as those with medical requirements, are not put at risk of having to pay more. Households on means tested benefits, including Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Tax Credits, were also granted a payment of £650 this year between the summer and November paid automatically in two instalments to support with energy bills
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow 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 he has made of the potential merits of introducing an energy assistance payment to help families with the cost of running lifesaving medical equipment at home.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is delivering the Energy Bills Support Scheme, a £400 non-repayable grant to support all families with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) will save a typical household in Great Britain £900 this Winter. In addition, families with disabled children are entitled to a one-off £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment. The Government is currently reviewing the EPG. The consultation will explore the best ways to ensure that vulnerable high energy users, such as those with medical requirements, are not put at risk of having to pay more.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with energy suppliers on financial assistance and debt write-off for households not covered by the Warm Home Discount Scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Ministers and officials regularly meet with Ofgem and suppliers to discuss a range of issues relating to the energy market.
The Government introduced the ‘Breathing Space’ scheme which aims to address consumers’ ability to tackle debt and offers legal protections from creditors for 60 days. Under rules introduced by Ofgem, energy companies must set an appropriate repayment plan based on the customer’s ability to pay, for those at risk of or in debt.
Asked by: Baroness Bowles of Berkhamsted (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they provide SMEs seeking to obtain patent protection in (1) the UK, and (2) in other countries; whether they will extend the Enterprise Investment Scheme so that it includes support with patent costs; and whether they will amend the UK Innovate grant so that it supports international coverage for patents.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) provides guidance and support on protection for patents in the UK and abroad through free digital resources; webinars and events, alongside assistance through the network of Patent Libraries and Business and IP Centres. The IPO also partners with Innovate UK Edge to provide intensive, specialist-led support to help innovative SMEs identify, manage and protect their IP at home and abroad, including through financial grants. This complements other available Innovate UK grant funding of up to £7,500 for patenting costs supporting both UK and international coverage.
The knowledge intensive definition for the Enterprise Investment Scheme already includes intellectual property which covers patents.
Asked by: Stephen Doughty (Labour (Co-op) - Cardiff South and Penarth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he (a) has had and (b) plans to hold discussions with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on further steps that can be taken to support Ukraine with energy generation in the context of attacks on the Ukrainian energy grid.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The FCDO and BEIS are providing direct support to Ukraine including through regular engagements with Ukrainian counterparts.
To date, UK assistance includes £22 million of direct support to Ukraine's energy sector. On 14 November, the Foreign Secretary signed an agreement to disburse the first £5 million of the UK's £10 million commitment to the Energy Community Ukraine support fund. This will be used to procure high-priority specialised energy equipment for critical repairs. The BEIS Secretary of State has asked industry to consider donations of energy equipment.
In addition, the UK Government has delivered 856 mobile generators and provided £5 million for civil nuclear safety and security equipment and activities.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why they gave China £51.7 million in Official Development Assistance in the last year; and what assessment they have made of the continuing need to give China such assistance given that China has the second largest economy in the world.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government stopped direct government-to-government bilateral aid to the Chinese Government in 2011. The FCDO cut aid programming in China by 95 per cent from the 2021-22 financial year. All new FCDO ODA programming in 2021 was limited to supporting projects that furthered our open societies and human rights objectives in China, such as funding important research on the human rights violations occurring in Xinjiang. There was additional programme spend in 2021-22 to meet the exit costs of former programmes. In addition to programme spend, FCDO Official Development Assistance (ODA) to China in 2021 includes other types of spend that is counted as ODA, such as ODA eligible operational costs for UK diplomatic missions in China, Chevening scholarships, ODA-eligible British Council activity and funding for the Great Britain China Centre. It is not direct assistance to the Chinese government but is categorised as ODA in line with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Development Assistance Committee rules on ODA reporting. Total HMG ODA to China in 2021 also included spend by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy [£18.8 million], the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs [£30,000] and, in the first quarter of the year only, the Prosperity Fund [£2.8 million]. Details on all UK ODA projects for 2021, including those to China, can be found in the Statistics on International Development publication in 'Data Underlying the SID': https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1119764/data-underlying-SID-2021.ods