The setting of tariffs, including standing charges, in the non-domestic market is a commercial matter for suppliers. The Secretary of State and I have met suppliers and Ofgem multiple times over the past year to urge them to support businesses and keep bills down, and Ofgem has recently called for input and views on standing charges.

Whether she has had discussions with energy providers on reducing energy standing charges for charities and businesses.

Mr Speaker, I associate myself with your earlier remarks about the sad passing of my dear friend Ronnie Campbell, and indeed Lord Cormack.

For months now, East Durham Trust in my constituency has been in dispute with its supplier, TotalEnergies, after TotalEnergies raised its standing charge from 40p a day to £20 a day—an increase of over 4,000%. Remarkably, after making complaints to the Department, Ofgem, Northern Powergrid and TotalEnergies, I found out just yesterday that TotalEnergies has agreed to remotely reconfigure the meter in question. Can the Minister explain why energy companies and distributors do not seek to address customer issues sooner, and does she agree that we have a failing regulator and an energy system that seeks to maximise profits?

In the UK, electricity standing charges will balloon by 12%, meaning that people in Scotland who were paying £90 a year in 2021-22 will soon need to find £216 a year—a 138% increase under this Tory Government. That removes the incentive to curb excessive use, and presents a disincentive to economise on energy usage. If costs and charges were redistributed to the unit price, consumers would be empowered to pursue reduced usage, knowing that that would translate into lower bills. What assessment has the Minister made of the savings that would be made, in terms of both carbon emissions and the need for vast pieces of new energy infrastructure, if the standing charges were rolled into unit prices?

As part of the review of the Fuel Poverty Strategy, Government will assess how the vulnerability principle has been implemented since 2021 and whether any amendments are needed for an updated Fuel Poverty strategy including for households where an occupant has a disability. Government has a statutory duty to consult relevant stakeholders before publishing an updated version of the Fuel Poverty Strategy. Government intends to seek views from a range of stakeholders, including disabilities charities. I have previously met with Scope, among other organisations, as part of an initial roundtable on reviewing the strategy.

Ministers and Officials in the Department have had numerous discussions with a variety of stakeholders, including charities supporting disabled people, on this very important issue.

My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have had numerous discussions with a variety of stakeholders, including energy suppliers and charitable organisations, on this very important issue.

In July 2021, the Government published a cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere – at home, at work, online and on the streets. This was followed by the complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, published in March 2022.

In developing these strategies, we engaged closely with charities and organisations on the frontline supporting victims of VAWG, including domestic abuse. We also worked with police and other public agencies, as well as engaging victims with lived experience through the public Call for Evidence, which received an unprecedented 180,000 responses. We held stakeholder roundtables with representatives from both the charity and public sector, held focus groups with expert organisations and professionals and received written submissions from expert respondents which provided information on scope, scale, and prevalence of these crimes.

In November 2021, as part of wider Domestic Abuse Act 2021 implementation, the role of Domestic Abuse Commissioner was placed on a statutory footing to represent victims through engagement with the sector and promoting best practice in the response to domestic abuse. The Home Office also ran wide-reaching public consultations for the recently published Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance and draft Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance, inviting all interested stakeholders to respond.

We also hold regular VAWG stakeholder engagement meetings to keep the sector directly informed of upcoming work and developments in this area, respond to questions and invite stakeholder feedback.

In July 2021, the Government published a cross-Government Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy to help ensure that women and girls are safe everywhere – at home, at work, online and on the streets. This was followed by the complementary Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan, published in March 2022.

In developing these strategies, we engaged closely with charities and organisations on the frontline supporting victims of VAWG, including domestic abuse. We also worked with police and other public agencies, as well as engaging victims with lived experience through the public Call for Evidence, which received an unprecedented 180,000 responses. We held stakeholder roundtables with representatives from both the charity and public sector, held focus groups with expert organisations and professionals and received written submissions from expert respondents which provided information on scope, scale, and prevalence of these crimes.

In November 2021, as part of wider Domestic Abuse Act 2021 implementation, the role of Domestic Abuse Commissioner was placed on a statutory footing to represent victims through engagement with the sector and promoting best practice in the response to domestic abuse. The Home Office also ran wide-reaching public consultations for the recently published Domestic Abuse Statutory Guidance and draft Controlling or Coercive Behaviour Statutory Guidance, inviting all interested stakeholders to respond.

We also hold regular VAWG stakeholder engagement meetings to keep the sector directly informed of upcoming work and developments in this area, respond to questions and invite stakeholder feedback.

The Government recognise that this is a particularly difficult time for medical research charities, given the impact of COVID-19 on their fundraising activities. We appreciate the globally recognised expertise of these charities, and the substantial contributions they make to our world-leading life sciences sector.

The Government already provides significant funding to charities’ research, for example through Research England’s Quality Related (QR) charity support funding. This year charity QR will amount to £204 million, to support charity funded research in universities in England and equivalent support is provided in Scotland through devolved funding arrangements.

The Government has demonstrated its ambitions for research by committing £14.9 billion to R&D in 2021/22. This funding will support the life sciences sector within which medical research charities operate alongside other research areas.

BEIS and DHSC regularly discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on charity-funded research with the Association of Medical Research Charities in order to review how we might provide support for medical research charities this financial year.

The Government recognise that this is a particularly difficult time for medical research charities, given the impact of COVID-19 on their fundraising activities. We appreciate the globally recognised expertise of these charities, and the substantial contributions they make to our world-leading life sciences sector.

The Government already provides significant funding to charities’ research, for example through Research England’s Quality Related (QR) charity support funding. This year charity QR will amount to £204m, to support charity funded research in universities in England and equivalent support is provided in Scotland through devolved funding arrangements.

The Government has demonstrated its ambitions for research by committing £14.9bn to R&D in 2021/22. This funding will support the life sciences sector within which medical research charities operate alongside other research areas.

BEIS and DHSC regularly discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on charity-funded research with the Association of Medical Research Charities in order to review how we might provide support for medical research charities this financial year.

The Government is monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on the work of medical research charities through regular discussions on charity-funded research with the Association of Medical Research Charities.

We know the pandemic has been a challenging time for fundraising and we will continue to engage with the Association of Medical Research Charities on the challenges they are facing.

The Government has demonstrated its ambitions for research by committing £14.6bn to R&D in 2021/22. This funding will support the life sciences sector within which medical research charities operate alongside other research areas.

The Government is aware of the challenges, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, that medical research charities are currently facing. We appreciate the globally recognised expertise of these charities, and the substantial contributions they make to our world-leading life sciences sector.

BEIS and DHSC regularly discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on charity-funded research with the Association of Medical Research Charities. We are continuing to engage with them and receive intelligence on the impacts facing the sector, such as the challenges facing fundraising activities.

The Government already provides significant funding to charities’ research, for example through Research England’s Quality Related (QR) charity support funding. This year charity QR will amount to £204m, to support charity funded research in universities in England and equivalent support is provided in Scotland through devolved funding arrangements.

The Government has demonstrated its ambitions for research by committing £14.6bn to R&D in 2021/22. This funding will support the life sciences sector within which Medical Research Charities operate alongside other research areas.

The Government is aware of the challenges, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, that medical research charities are currently facing. We appreciate the globally recognised expertise of these charities, and the substantial contributions they make to our world-leading life sciences sector.

BEIS and the Department of Health and Social Care regularly discuss the impacts of Covid-19 on charity-funded research with the Association of Medical Research Charities. We are continuing to engage with them and receive intelligence on the impacts facing the sector, such as the challenges facing fundraising activities.

The Government already provides significant funding to charities’ research, for example through Research England’s Quality Related (QR) charity support funding. This year charity QR will amount to £204m, to support charity funded research in universities in England and equivalent support is provided in Scotland through devolved funding arrangements. Government has demonstrated its ambitions for research by committing £14.6bn to R&D next year.  This funding will support the life sciences sector within which Medical Research Charities operate alongside other research areas.

I refer my hon Friend to the reply I gave to Question UIN 121276.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave the Hon. Member for Central Ayrshire on 1st December 2020 to Question 121276.

The Government is aware of the challenges, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, that medical research charities are currently facing.

The Government already provides significant funding to charities’ research, for example through Research England’s Quality Related (QR) charity support funding. This year charity QR will amount to £204m, to support charity funded research in universities in England and equivalent support is provided in Scotland through devolved funding arrangements.

Additionally, the Government supports this research through investments in the necessary infrastructure, through collaborations with UKRI and through the tax system. In 2018-19 over £1.3bn in tax relief on donations was received through Gift Aid benefitting all charities, including those carrying out vital medical research.

BEIS has been working with the Association of Medical Research Charities to develop an appropriate approach to supporting the important research that their members fund.

The Government is aware of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the funding of medical research charities.

The Government already provides significant direct funding to charities’ research through Research England’s Quality Related (QR) charity support funding. This year charity QR will amount to £204m, to support charity funded research in universities in England.

Additionally, the Government supports this research through investments in the necessary infrastructure, through collaborations with UKRI and through the tax system. In 2018-19 over £1.3bn in tax relief on donations was received through Gift Aid benefitting all charities, including those carrying out vital medical research.

BEIS officials have also been meeting regularly with the Association of Medical Research Charities to develop an appropriate approach to supporting the important research that their members fund through the challenges they are currently facing.

Ministers in BEIS and officials have met regularly with the Association of Medical Research Charities and their members over the last months to discuss how charity-funded research can best be supported and we have sought their input on the Government’s R&D Roadmap.