Speeches by Downie.

“Specifically on some of the loan conditions, would you say it is important that the loans have things like security against job loss or other elements built in to build that confidence up as well?”

“You have just touched on some of the questions I wanted to ask about loan structures. Specifically, let me ask Peter and probably Brenda the first question: what lessons could we learn from the Green Deal and the Green Homes Grant about how to structure loans properly? How do you start going about building consumer con…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for his very clear and measured statement. May I ask him about two points? First, if we see rises in bills in forthcoming months, can we ensure that the blame is placed firmly where it should be—on the actions of the Iranian Government in attacking and threatening the strait of Hormuz? Se…”

“A more general question to Fintan and Claire: Energy UK has suggested that a small investment in modernising NESO systems would deliver billions of pounds in efficiencies, although, to be honest, it was not able to provide details. However, when it comes to NESO systems, what modernisation can be conducted, and how muc…”

“I am keen to understand how often you run tests of that. Is that externally monitored? I do understand the difficulty of giving away how you protect, but could you give as much detail as you can to provide reassurance?”

“That is where the savings should happen.”

“Will the thermal constraint costs remain the biggest opportunity to reduce overall balancing costs?”

“Very briefly, as someone who spent quite a large part of their life trying to get renewables projects consented in Scotland, one of the biggest barriers we had with the public was complaints around constraint costs and wind farms being paid to be turned off. It was a recurring theme everywhere we went, which was frustr…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for leading a debate on one of the most important security and defence issues that we face. I was in Estonia at the start of January, in my role as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Estonia. I met members of its military, as well as the British troops in Estonia, to talk about the imp…”

“I did not mean to put you on the spot. I mentioned it because it has come out and I referred to it earlier on. On balancing costs, the overwhelming majority of that, about £1.7 billion in 2024-25, came from thermal constraint costs and physical infrastructure. Can you outline why that has happened? Will the increase in…”

“Jonathan, Ofgem has said that targeted cyber-resilience requirements will be needed for the most significant operators. What determination have you made about who fits under the “most significant operator” category? Is it just the big six, or are you looking more widely?”

“On costs, Ofgem has said that calculations show the average cost of a cyber-attack to utilities is about £210,000, with cyber ranking among the top risks across utilities. Who meets those costs, or who would meet those costs in the instance of a cyber-attack?”

“We have seen similar cyber-attacks in the UK where the Government had to step in—I am sure you are aware of what I am referring to. At what point would you have conversations with utilities and with the Government to determine who meets a large cost? Would that be Ofgem’s role? I guess that is the question.”

“I want to ask a couple of questions around balancing costs, which you touched on earlier. But, Jonathan, I just want briefly to go back to your initial statement around increasing intensity of market research. While we have been meeting, there has been a report that energy firms are pulling all their fixed deals off th…”

“Who knew that Scottish weather would be helpful. Thank you.”

“Will that be thermal restraint costs that are likely to rise? Is the idea then that, by 2030, the infrastructure will be better and that will fall?”

“That is fine, thank you.”

“I want to pick up on some issues about modernisation of NESO systems, but also particularly around cyber-security as well. IBM has found that energy is one of the most highly targeted sectors in the UK for cyber-attack. We had the European Union Institute for Security Studies note that some Chinese hackers have shown t…”

“It is increasing the contact with suppliers?”

“Jonathan, just to go back to your statement at the beginning, there were a couple of “in due course”-type phrases that I want to gently explore. First of all, in terms of the strait of Hormuz being closed for “a prolonged period of time”, I have read analysis suggesting that two weeks would be manageable, but that anyt…”