Speeches by Dixon.

“21. What fiscal steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce energy bills.”

“I warmly welcome the Chancellor’s announcement in the Budget on scrapping the energy company obligation scheme, which will bring down energy bills by £150 on average and support some 5,000 households living in fuel poverty in my constituency of Shipley. The disastrous Tory-designed scheme, ECO4, cost £1 billion per yea…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Lowestoft (Jess Asato) not only on securing the debate but on her fantastic opening speech, which really set the scene. Violence against women and girls, including sexual harassment and assault, affects millions of …”

“My hon. Friend is talking positively about the amazing contribution of our reservists, and I add to that the amazing contribution of our cadets in the Shipley constituency. We have air cadets and Army cadets in Shipley and Bingley. Will he join me in welcoming the proposals to bring together and unify the reserve force…”

“I am going to leave it there, because I am not an expert, but I fear that we do not have a very financially resilient sector. I fear it is not getting value for money for customers. I worry that we are going to keep paying above the odds for another five years, only to find these companies taking good returns for very …”

“I want to probe on this point because I have looked into Yorkshire Water and those nine holding companies. It is not that those companies are doing other businesses; they are all created for moving money around, for making money out of various debt and interest payments and—as we heard at the top of the session—for pay…”

“I will start by focusing on the current price review and then move on to how bringing a single regulator together will impact the next price review. The current price review is under some challenge because of the appeal to the CMA. I would like to focus on the role of the CMA—the Competition and Markets Authority, for …”

“In the CMA’s re-determination, it appears that it can open up and look at every aspect of your assumptions and modelling. One element that seems to have been reviewed in the customers’ favour is the way that Ofwat calculated energy costs and likely energy efficiency gains in their operating expenditure. How are you goi…”

“Briefly, I just want to follow up on that example. I represent Shipley, which is served by Yorkshire Water, where the situation is very similar—there are nine holding companies that make up the wider group of Kelda Holdings. The CEO of Yorkshire Water is Nicola Shaw. In addition to what to most people are very high lev…”

“Will all these changes come quick enough for you to implement them in the next price review? Can you give some sense of a timeline?”

“Will that need to have legislation? That sounds like a very ambitious timetable to get all that concluded in this year.”

“Final question. Briefly, David, are you confident that all the turmoil involved in creating a new single regulator will not impact the work of delivering PR29 under a new methodology?”

“I am sure colleagues will want to pick that up.”

“I want to come back to the financial resilience of water companies and particularly focus on issues around so-called “gearing”. I am not a financial expert, so I will try to ask my questions in as straightforward a way as possible. My understanding is that since privatisation, Yorkshire Water and its holding companies …”

“Are you expecting to see the gearing of companies like Yorkshire Water drop from 70% to 55% over this five-year period? Is that an expectation?”

“So it is a signal; they could choose not to. You say that it is at investors’ risk, but a lot of the risk seems to sit with customers. I have seen the breakdown for Yorkshire Water bills, and according to your own pricing methodology, over 50% of a bill is split between investor returns and capital repayment, with just…”

“In a way, customers are now paying for the fact that a lot of money—probably more than should have been—was taken out in the past. Some of the things we thought we had paid for were not actually delivered. It is only now that there is a clawback mechanism to ensure that if companies do not deliver, we do not pay. Have …”

“I have a final point. In the shift from debt to equity that you are signalling, there is, I think, an aspiration to move away from the short-term equity or hedge fund-type investor—I will not name any specific ones—to more long-term patient capital in the form of pension fund investors and other types. Is there any con…”

“There is much to welcome in the White Paper, including the MOT for assets, the increase in funding for community and catchment partnerships, and the greater say for communities in regional planning. However, my Shipley constituents have been let down by Yorkshire Water over many decades, through its blatant profiteerin…”

“I would like to thank the Secretary of State on behalf of the over 5,000 households in my constituency that experience fuel poverty. Constituents have also benefited from Saltaire Retrofit Reimagined, a community initiative focused on improving energy efficiency within the Saltaire world heritage site. Will the Secreta…”