Speeches by Billington.

“David and Paul, would you add to what Verity has said on that?”

“It is thanks to the Secretary of State and, indeed, our Chancellor that we already anticipate a £10 million state-of-the-art health hub in Thanet, which is opening this autumn. That will have a community diagnostic centre, expanded GP services, podiatry, cardiac and respiratory teams, MRIs and support for mental health…”

“I thank the Secretary of State for the improvements she has made to the Bill, which are extremely reassuring for my constituents, 9,000 of whom are on personal independence payments and are now reassured. Some, however, are concerned about the number of adults who could be put into poverty, following the publication of…”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman, but may I remind him that although the Access to Work scheme may well be broken, measures in the Bill and the “Pathways to Work” Green Paper deal specifically with how we should improve it for our constituents, many of whom rely on it as a way of ensuring that they can become fully able peop…”

“Will the hon. Gentleman give way?”

“Do you think there is any merit in scaling network and policy costs in people’s bills based on their income levels?”

“I am suggesting that it is not actually that difficult.”

“Sorry, Dr Roy, but I have worked in call centres and followed scripts, and like most consumers, I have also been at the other end of those phone calls when you come to impasse. It seems to me that, at that point, it should be quite easy to say in the script, “Thank you very much, Ms Billington. I’m sorry we can’t resol…”

“It is quite a lot of error though, isn’t it?”

“You will be collecting data, won’t you? It will be interesting to see what Citizens Advice data starts to show. Dr Roy, in the last quarter of 2024 just over a quarter of the cases that Centrica was unable to resolve were correctly signposted to the Energy Ombudsman. Why do you think this is and what challenges do supp…”

“I take your point. Alex, thank you also for what Citizens Advice do. I need to declare an interest in that I worked for Citizens Advice for some time and know the value of what you do as well as valuing the bureau in my constituency. You have the statutory advocacy role for microbusinesses, which is particularly import…”

“On Dr Roy’s point about the Financial Ombudsman Service being on a statutory footing, and yet you do not always get a result, what does that say to you about the value of a statutory footing?”

“Katie, do you believe the remedial actions and financial awards available to the Energy Ombudsman are enough to drive up standards and give consumers the compensation they deserve?”

“Exit fees are about £2,000, which is quite a lot of money, particularly if you want to do this at scale. Otherwise you are leaving it for the people who will do it because it makes them feel good about themselves.”

“Do you think there is any merit in scaling network and policy costs in people’s bills based on their income levels?”

“Citizens Advice has warned that your proposal for a mandatory zero or low standing charge option—as you would have heard earlier—would have only small benefits for consumers while risking unfair outcomes. How do you respond to this assessment and how will you ensure that consumers can understand whether new tariffs wil…”

“This is on network and policy costs. We have heard that consumers who switch to electrified heating are required to keep their gas meter and continue paying the gas standing charge until they clear their energy debt. Do you agree that this presents a barrier to decarbonising homes and do you plan to change this?”

“I will follow up on that, therefore, and ask where your current thinking is—we have asked you this before, but it is important to regularly check in—and where your conversations with Government are on an energy social tariff.”

“You won’t be surprised by me asking you this. Do you agree that allowing more consumers in energy debt to switch to a cheaper tariff would help them better manage their finances while supporting the adoption of lower carbon heating options—combining those two things together?”

“Following up on dealing with the debt-related costs, you have been considering redistributing those costs between consumers—standard credit and direct debit—and your analysis suggests that that would mean a £200 million benefit for low-income consumers. Why was that work paused and are you considering resuming it?”