Speeches by Downie.

“My hon. Friend is being incredibly generous with giving way. Oddly, I was told by a Scottish Education Minister on the BBC recently that a diagnosis was not required in Scotland either to get the right support—we all know from our experiences that that is not the case. In Fife, we have more than 40,000 children waiting…”

“Last week, I was delighted to lead a debate on the very topic of the High North and Arctic security, highlighting that, because of our geography, the UK should be considered a frontline nation in the ongoing war with Vladimir Putin and that we cannot afford to sleepwalk unprepared into a geopolitical High North and Arc…”

“The risk is that by calling it an agenda, we have made it a target and you can shoot it down. It is something you can use to undermine, as we have seen politically recently. The consensus around the need to tackle climate change and a warming planet has become—because it encompasses so many things, anything that is bad…”

“Do you have a role in that as well? Do you have a role in working with the companies but also working with consumers to tell them, “This is the level of transparency that you should expect from your energy supplier as to what makes up the bills”? Is that part of your role?”

“The risk is that by calling it an agenda, we have made it a target and you can shoot it down. It is something you can use to undermine, as we have seen politically recently. The consensus around the need to tackle climate change and a warming planet has become—because it encompasses so many things, anything that is bad…”

“On matters like this where we are asking for data to be published, has it been considered at any level inside Ofcom that, “Actually, we should be publishing this data regularly. We are a regulator. We should be telling people what it is we are regulating and how we are doing it”? Has that even been considered by Ofcom?”

“Very briefly, you said that many broadcasters want to comply. Which ones do not want to comply and what do you do about them? Laughing implies that you know that some do not.”

“Do we need to stop talking about one overarching thing, net zero? Should we now just say, “We are making your energy bills cheaper”? Do the public care how we are doing it? Do we need to get beyond the climate idea? That is one of the purposes, obviously, but do the public just need to know we are doing a good thing an…”

“To pick up on some of what Melanie Onn was saying, there are certain words and terms that the Government use that mean absolutely nothing to anybody else or through repetition—“innovation”, “sustainability”—at some point they lose all meaning. They are defined as a good thing but no one knows what they mean. Is the ter…”

“Do we need to stop talking about one overarching thing, net zero? Should we now just say, “We are making your energy bills cheaper”? Do the public care how we are doing it? Do we need to get beyond the climate idea? That is one of the purposes, obviously, but do the public just need to know we are doing a good thing an…”

“Consumers will not read that. They will see the price cap moving and changing. Again, this is about helping people to understand how the price cap is got to. They will just see their energy bill going up or down.”

“You say you are very good at that and that is fine. How do you make sure that the companies are communicating that? As you say, that is where people will go for their information.”

“Looking again at the changes coming down the line and the long-term transition investments that are being made, how does Ofgem quantify that investment in benefits? Is that something that could be made available to consumers in a more accessible form? Again, we might talk about it here and say that it is great that we …”

“To pick up on some of what Melanie Onn was saying, there are certain words and terms that the Government use that mean absolutely nothing to anybody else or through repetition—“innovation”, “sustainability”—at some point they lose all meaning. They are defined as a good thing but no one knows what they mean. Is the ter…”

“What you are describing is almost verging on an ombudsman role, where you are saying that you will act more collectively. I am not saying that is a bad thing but it does again feel that there is a gap there where consumers cannot fully understand a complex energy market and where Ofgem, along with Ofcom, would have a r…”

“I understand that it is difficult being a regulator, but do you feel you are proactive enough with the energy companies to make sure that they are being very clear about what they are doing, and that when something changes—if the Government makes a policy change—that must be reflected on energy bills and their componen…”

“Consumers will not read that. They will see the price cap moving and changing. Again, this is about helping people to understand how the price cap is got to. They will just see their energy bill going up or down.”

“Do you do any work to help consumers specifically understand the different components that make up their energy bills? I am not sure about everybody else, but quite often you just look at the bit at the bottom and it has gone up or it has gone down. You do not necessarily know why or who to blame. Is there work that yo…”

“Do you have a role in that as well? Do you have a role in working with the companies but also working with consumers to tell them, “This is the level of transparency that you should expect from your energy supplier as to what makes up the bills”? Is that part of your role?”

“You say you are very good at that and that is fine. How do you make sure that the companies are communicating that? As you say, that is where people will go for their information.”