The Chancellor came to the House this week to give a statement on the economic impact of the conflict in the Middle East, which I chaired much of. There is an enormous amount of concern from all of us, especially those representing rural constituencies, about the impact on oil prices, and the specific effect on heating oil. Her big commitment was to send the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and the Energy Minister to a meeting with rural MPs on Wednesday, which I attended to hear what might be done.
The short answer to that question seems to be nothing, whilst all of us have inboxes filling up with examples from constituents of the price gouging by heating oil companies. I have constituents who can give real examples of oil ordered at less than 70p per litre, delivered just a fortnight later at 140p per litre. The Minister’s answer on Wednesday was that the Government is looking for more evidence to take to the CMA, but he was surrounded by colleagues giving him actual examples.
The “Crisis and Resilience Fund” which is the successor fund to the Housing Support Fund has only been allocated £100,000 for the coming year for the whole of Test Valley, and the Minister’s answer seemed to be that residents should apply to the local Council for support. With heating oil at that sort of price, £100,000 across the entire Borough will not go very far, and did not even acknowledge that people who live “off grid” for gas are more likely to be in older, less well insulated homes, and they themselves are more likely to be older. I am deeply worried that we will see pensioners too scared too keep their heating on, and again going cold. But it does not yet look like the assistance with heating bills that we saw with the last price shock, when Russia invaded Ukraine, will be forthcoming.
It was great to have some of my constituents in the House this week, specifically for a tour, but also to continue previous conversations about reforms to SEN that the Government is introducing. The White Paper is currently out for consultation and I know many parents of children with additional needs are deeply worried about what the proposals will mean for their child. The consultation is an opportunity for everyone with an interest to feed in their views and can be found on www.gov.uk. I know Government consultations can often be opaque and seem to ask leading questions designed to get the answers they want but it is important that the views of those with lived experience are included.