22:00 Fiona O'Donnell (East Lothian) (Lab)

The second Government response was the statement to the House by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change about the reduction—I refuse to call it a cut—in increases in energy bills to, on average, £50. In a response to me, he stated that prepayment meter users would benefit equally from that Government policy. Will the Minister explain to me exactly how people with prepayment meters will benefit, and what estimate he has made of the policy’s effectiveness for and impact on them?

My hon. Friend makes a brilliant contribution, as ever. She is exactly right. It was ironic to hear British Gas boasting to the Energy and Climate Change Committee that it had not made any disconnections in the past year. It is clear that there has not suddenly been a solution that means that people are able to pay their energy bills. We have to get a handle on the scale of the problem. I hope that the Minister will consider sitting down with the big six, or getting Ofgem to do so, to find a way to ensure that they monitor the problem effectively, because the implications for people’s health and well-being—children and vulnerable people in particular —are considerable. The matter merits his attention.

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