Miatta Fahnbulleh MP: speeches

Speeches

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  Northern Ireland runs its own separate scheme. We are in very close contact with the Northern Irish Government—in fact, I was in Northern Ireland yesterday. We are making sure that our work to deliver clean power, which is our route to lowering bills, and, critically, our work through the warm homes plan is co-ordinated. The hon. Member is right that there are people across the country who are struggling at the moment, and it is absolutely our responsibility to take action to support them.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is right to mention debt relief and the huge burden of debt that we have seen. Over the course of the energy crisis, we saw debt increase to more than £3 billion. For many of those households in debt, there is no route to paying it off. We have been working with Ofgem to put in place a debt relief scheme, using a combination of write-offs of debt and repayment plans, so that we can ensure that more people are lifted out of energy debt and are in a position to afford their energy.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for a really good question. Park homes are currently supported through industry initiatives and the warm home discount. We will continue to make sure that park homes are supported. There is obviously work that we need to do, because we are conscious that there are some customers who are not receiving the discount, and we are working with industry to resolve that.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  With permission, I wish to make a statement on the action we are taking to cut energy bills for working families. Three years on from the Russian invasion of Ukraine which sent prices soaring, people up and down the country are still feeling the impacts. Everywhere I go in this job and from every person I speak to, I hear how the wages that used to support families are being swallowed up by sky-high energy bills month after month after month. The truth is that for as long as we remain dependent on gas and volatile global markets, British people will continue to pay the price and we will continue to be held back as a country. That is why we are finally ending our exposure and our vulnerability by sprinting to clean, affordable energy that is controlled by us. We know that in the meantime, we must do everything we can to support families who are under huge amounts of pressure with their energy bills. Today, we are setting out how we will help millions more households with their bills this winter by expanding the warm home discount. Previously, around 3 million people received the £150 rebate off their energy bills, but millions of people living in homes not classified as “hard to heat” were excluded as a result of criteria introduced by the previous Government in 2022. We believe those criteria were unnecessary and unreliable. We believe that it cannot be fair to have two families in almost exactly the same circumstances, with one receiving help and one not. That has been raised repeatedly by consumers and their advocates since the changes were made in 2022, and I absolutely understand their concerns. That is why we are abolishing this restriction. This winter, every single household where the bill payer receives a means-tested benefit will be eligible for the warm home discount, which means a further 2.7 million low-income households will get that vital support. In total, more than 6 million households—one in five families in Britain—will get the help they need this winter. This expansion will help us meet our goal of tackling fuel poverty, which is critical to the work of my Department. It will increase the number of fuel-poor households that receive support, with coverage improving from 30% under the current scheme to around 45%. In total, 1.6 million fuel-poor households will receive support. I have met people on the frontline of the energy bills crisis up and down the country, so I know for a fact that there are families out there right now breathing a sigh of relief because this measure will ease the huge amount of pressure they are under with the cost of living. One issue that is often raised with me is that families can miss out on the warm home discount because the person who receives the means-tested benefit is not named on the energy bill. To be eligible, the means-tested benefit recipient, their partner or their legal appointee needs to be named on the energy bill. I encourage all families who receive a means-tested benefit to check that and, if necessary, to contact their supplier. People need to ensure that the benefit recipient, their partner or their appointee is named on the bill before the warm home discount qualifying date, which is 24 August. At the same time, we are going further to put the energy market back in the service of working people, taking steps to restore confidence and faith in the energy market, which has been shaken. As it stands, too many complaints against energy companies go unresolved or take too long to fix—whether it is suppliers not responding quickly enough or failing to adjust direct debits when families use less energy—which leads to a situation where consumers often do not access the compensation they are entitled to due to an overly complex complaints system. This Government are absolutely committed to standing up for consumers who have had a bad experience of the energy system, and we are working hard to ensure that the system works in the interests of consumers. We have already made real strides in improving conditions for customers. Following the Secretary of State’s intervention and months of Government work with the sector, Ofgem announced £18.6 million of compensation for victims of forced prepayment meters in May, and we will continue to go further. This is a Government willing to use every tool in our arsenal to fight for working people. By moving at speed to deliver clean power, and with the spending review setting out the biggest investment in the domestic clean energy industry in history, we will take back control of our energy system and do the job of protecting consumers. That is why we have wasted absolutely no time in driving forward our clean energy mission in our first year, ending the onshore wind ban, consenting more than 4 GW of renewable energy, launching Great British Energy, funding a new golden era for nuclear, kick-starting carbon capture and hydrogen industries, and investing £1 billion already to upgrade up to 300,000 homes, with £13.2 billion committed in the spending review to upgrade millions more. This is how we will rebuild our energy network and protect families across the country: by supporting more people who need our help this winter; by restoring confidence in a reformed energy market; and by bringing bills down for good with secure, reliable, clean energy. We will ensure that every family in this country has the security of a home they can afford to heat now and in the future. I commend this statement to the House.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  I can commit to that. The Conservatives tell us that our fight to deliver clean power and our work to upgrade people’s homes is ideological. It is not ideological; it is down to bread and butter issues. We know that there are families struggling across the country. We were not willing to accept what we inherited as the status quo, so we are getting on with the job of reducing energy bills, because improving living standards and delivering the change we were elected to deliver is a core priority for this Government.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is spot on. Members on the Conservative Front Bench are chuckling away in front of me, but it is no joke. We inherited an absolutely atrocious set of circumstances. Families across the country are paying for their failure, with the cost of living at a record high level. I go across the country to speak to people, and I see the impact of the Conservatives’ failure on people’s lives. We were not willing to accept that what we inherited was the status quo. That is why we are taking decisive action. Whether it is the expansions to the warm home discount and free school meals, the increase in the national minimum wage or our record investment in social housing, this Government are getting on with the job of lifting living standards in order to fix the mess we inherited from that lot.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  I thank the right hon. Member for a very good question. We know that families are struggling with the cost of living. We know that families are in poverty, and that many are having to make the choice between heating and eating. We are trying to put in place a range of measures, and the warm home discount —this £150—is part of it. We have extended free school meals to families on means-tested benefits. We are rolling out breakfast clubs. There is a range of things that we are trying to do as a Government to ensure that people who are struggling and who have been struggling for a long time are lifted out of poverty. We are very clear about our ambition. Every time Labour comes to power, our record is that we lift people out of poverty, and we will continue to do that.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  Rural consumers who are on means-tested benefits and linked to an energy supplier should be supported in the right way. We know that there are some off-grid rural households that are not with a particular energy supplier and that that is more difficult. This is why we are working with industry. There is a discretionary amount within the warm home discount that allows industry to find and target those people to provide support.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  Fuel poverty is an absolute scourge that we must work hard to eliminate. There are two things we must do to achieve that. On the one hand, we must deliver bills support. The expansion of the warm home discount is so important, because more households in fuel poverty will receive it. On the other hand, we must make sure that we are doing the job of upgrading homes. This year we have invested £1 billion to deliver 300,000 upgrades, but that is not enough. We have to massively increase the number of upgrades so that we are delivering millions over the course of this Parliament. We have committed to £13.2 billion, and we are now doing the work of setting out how we will drive the shift and change that we need to see across the country. We must ensure that the households that need it have insulation, solar panels, batteries and heat pumps so that their homes are warmer, and ultimately so that we can lower bills by up to £600.

• 19 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount · Hansard source

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  As always, my hon. Friend puts it perfectly. I will pick up his point on data sharing, which is critical. My Department and the Department for Work and Pensions have been working over the past few months on the sharing of means-tested benefit data so that this will be automatic; come this winter, all eligible consumers will receive a letter informing them that they will be getting the warm home discount. It will be transferred on to energy bills as a credit—a direct payment for consumers—because we have done the groundwork to put that in place. On my hon. Friend’s critical second point, the relative cost of gas and electricity is incredibly high, and we know that is a problem for both households and businesses, particularly as we try to make that transition to clean energy. We are continuing to do that work. I am very clear that we need to deal with that question in order, for example, for our plans to upgrade homes to have the bite and traction they need, and we are absolutely committed to doing so.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount: Extension · Hansard source

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  Happy birthday, Mr Speaker. We are extending the warm home discount to more than 6 million households, doubling the number of families that will get support this winter. That is the difference that a Labour Government make. We are providing support for those who need it while we sprint to clean power by 2030, so that we can get off the energy rollercoaster and bear down on bills for good.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount: Extension · Hansard source

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  We are working with Ofgem to put in place a debt support scheme to deal with the huge rise in energy debt that we saw during the energy crisis, which the Conservatives failed to deal with. That will provide much-needed support, whether through debt write-offs or debt repayment plans. It will mean that households that cannot afford their energy bills, are struggling, and will never pay that debt are provided with support.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount: Extension · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for raising that really important point. I can confirm that we will remove the hard-to-heat criterion, which means that support will go to low-income households that we know need help with their energy bills.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount: Extension · Hansard source

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  We are working across all nations to ensure that households get the support that they need. I will be in Northern Ireland next week, where I will talk to the devolved Administration about how we can work together to ensure that homes across the country are supported.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Warm Home Discount: Extension · Hansard source

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  We know there are parts of the country where homes are not up to standard and families are struggling with bills. That is why our warm homes plan is so important. We will target homes across the country and ensure that we provide a range of measures, from insulation through to solar and heat pumps, so we can ensure that homes are warmer and cheaper to run.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Yes.

• 10 Jun 2025 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We have had challenges with heat networks across the country. That is why we are bringing forward regulations to make sure both that there is a fair price for people on heat networks and that technical standards drive up the quality of heat networks, so that people can have cheaper bills.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations · Hansard source

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  I congratulate the hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne) on securing this debate and on his thoughtful and informed speech. I thank all Members for raising this incredibly important issue. Let me reassure them and this House that the Government appreciate all the concerns that have been raised. There is no complacency, and we are taking a responsible approach to the deployment of grid-scale batteries, which are an essential part of delivering clean energy. We are very clear that increasing the amount of clean, renewable electricity generated, stored and used in the UK will improve our energy security. It will bring down bills for consumers in the long term by reducing our reliance on fossil fuel markets, which are volatile. It will create jobs, and it will tackle the climate and nature crisis, which we must do for future generations. We are committed to delivering clean power by 2030, and it was reassuring to hear support for that ambition from Members across the House, with the disappointing exception of the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Nick Timothy), who has adopted a pretty impressive skill of rewriting history and forgetting his own Government’s shoddy legacy on this. In the clean power action plan, the Government outlined that 23 GW to 27 GW of grid-scale battery storage could be required by 2030. I understand that many Members here today are concerned that this comes at the expense of health and safety, but let me reassure them that that is absolutely not the case. I acknowledge that there have been a number of incidents at battery sites, in 2025 in particular, and this has raised legitimate concerns. We hear those concerns and understand them, and Members are right to raise them with Government. However, it is incredibly important for me to stress—and reiterate a point that has been made by other Members—that the risks associated with grid-scale batteries are relatively small and well understood, that there are robust measures in place for managing those risks, and that Government are already taking further steps to address some of the issues that have been raised.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations · Hansard source

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  We recognise that there needs to be co-ordination, but first, let me take the framework that is in place. It is often claimed that there is no regulation in this sector because there is no specific law addressing battery safety. That is simply untrue. The safety and standards of batteries are assured throughout their life cycle. The Government are therefore confident that the safety risks posed by grid-scale batteries are relatively small and well managed. I will take each aspect of this matter in turn, beginning with the planning regime. Planning practice guidance encourages battery storage developers to engage with local fire and rescue services before submitting a planning application, so that the issues relating to siting and location that hon. Members have raised are dealt with before an application is made. I think there is scope to strengthen the process and build on it in order to address some of the issues that have been raised. Let me come to the crux of the regulatory regime for grid-scale batteries: the health and safety laws, overseen by the Health and Safety Executive. The fundamental principle of health and safety law is that those who create risk are best placed to control it. Operators of grid-scale battery sites are expected to assess the specific situation and implement the necessary control measures. Of particular relevance are the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002, the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Together, that framework puts in place protections against some of the issues that have been raised, but I take the point that the hon. Member for Aberdeen North (Kirsty Blackman) raised—that there is scope to think about how we bring this together in a way that is accessible and enforceable, and ensures that the underlying provision and protections that are baked into legislation are well understood by the sector. To complement the existing health and safety framework, the Government will consult later this month, to answer the question on the timescale, on whether to include batteries in the environmental permitting regulations, to provide further safeguards and assurances. Environmental permitting will provide for the ongoing inspection of battery sites, giving additional assurance that appropriate mitigations are maintained throughout the project’s life cycle. Critically, the environmental permitting regulations make it an offence to operate a regulated facility without a permit, or in breach of the conditions of that permit. We will consult on the principle and then work with industry, local government and key stakeholders in order to develop the detail. If we get it right, that should go a long way to addressing many of the concerns that have been raised.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations · Hansard source

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  We will consult, and work with a host of parties to ensure that we get this right. As my hon. Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (James Naish) said, we have an interest in ensuring that the public feel complete confidence as we put forward this technology, and as we agree sites across the country. Let me respond to the specific point that was raised by a number of hon. Members on the proximity to residential areas. It is true that there is no mandated minimum distance between BESS sites and occupied buildings, but the National Fire Chiefs Council guidance recommends a distance of at least 25 metres. We can look at how we can build on that going forward. The one thing that I hope everyone takes away is that the Government understand the concerns that have been raised, and that Members’ constituents are raising. We believe that there is a clear health and safety framework in place that we can build on, and we are intent on building on it. We will continue to work to strengthen the guidance and processes that are in place so that we can ensure that we have the confidence of the public. We believe that this is a crucial part of how we get to net zero, but as hon. Members have said, we must do it in a way that ensures the safety of the public. That is a priority for us, as it is for all Members of this House.

• 5 Jun 2025 · Battery Energy Storage Sites: Safety Regulations · Hansard source

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  I will absolutely reassure my hon. Friend. We understand that we must maintain public confidence and that we need a robust framework in place.

• 29 Apr 2025 · Domestic Energy Bills: Transparency · Hansard source

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  We are engaging with industry on this matter. The Confederation of British Industry and Energy UK are clear that they should support alignment, but we are looking at that. Ultimately, we are doing everything that we can to bear down on energy costs in this country. That is why we are sprinting to clean power. We inherited an absolutely atrocious legacy from the Conservative party, which allowed businesses and consumers to bear the price of a broken system. We will not make the same mistakes, which is why we are cracking on with the job.

• 29 Apr 2025 · Domestic Energy Bills: Transparency · Hansard source

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  We are very clear that every part of the country must benefit from this transition, so whether it is through our warm home scheme or the work that we are doing locally through Great British Energy, we are making sure that there is a solution for every single part of the country. In my Department, I am doing a lot of work to make sure that we have a set of propositions for households in rural areas, so that they can upgrade their homes and have bills that are cheaper and homes that are warmer, which is the central plank of our warm home scheme.

• 29 Apr 2025 · Domestic Energy Bills: Transparency · Hansard source

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  I am absolutely disappointed by the Conservatives. I should expect more, but maybe I need to get used to being disappointed. We saw the press release a week ago, and it has had no publicity because it is a Conservative party scare story. It is absolute nonsense. The Government are serious about bearing down on the cost of energy for businesses, and we are getting on with the serious work of doing that. I suggest that the Conservatives get a grip and join us in that task.

• 29 Apr 2025 · Domestic Energy Bills: Transparency · Hansard source

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  Under Ofgem’s current rules, suppliers must provide complete and accurate billing information. Critically, bills are required to be displayed in plain and accessible language. We will work with the regulator to ensure that suppliers abide by that. However, it is worth saying that we recognise that many consumers feel let down by a broken energy system that is not working on their behalf. That is why we are reviewing the role of Ofgem, to ensure that it has the powers necessary to be an effective consumer champion.