Some evidence suggests that households with a disabled person have higher heating costs than average. No household-level data is available that could be factored into specifically targeting those with the highest heating costs through the Warm Home Discount.

Defra regularly engages supermarkets and discusses the cost-of-living issue, and we welcome the steps announced by some retailers to support both their workforce and customers. We will continue to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food, for example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures. However, it is not for the UK Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies.

We recognise that people are facing pressures with the increasing cost of living and that some people continue to require extra support. From this month, the Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1 billion.

Increases in international food commodity prices have been driven by a range of factors, including rising energy prices, increased demand, and trade disruption. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the ability of Ukraine to produce and export key agricultural commodities. This suggests that the main driver of the observed price changes is due to Ukraine’s inability to export. Previous assessments by Government economists have suggested there are good reasons to be sceptical that speculation in futures markets has been a significant cause of food price spikes. The department continues to monitor market developments closely alongside international partners like the Agricultural Market Information System.

Increases in international food commodity prices have been driven by a range of factors, including rising energy prices, increased demand, and trade disruption. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the ability of Ukraine to produce and export key agricultural commodities. This suggests that the main driver of the observed price changes is due to Ukraine’s inability to export. Previous assessments by Government economists have suggested there are good reasons to be sceptical that speculation in futures markets has been a significant cause of food price spikes. The department continues to monitor market developments closely alongside international partners like the Agricultural Market Information System.

The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, well equipped to deal with situations with the potential to cause disruption. Our high degree of food security is built on supply from diverse sources, strong domestic production as well as imports through stable trade routes.

As the global economy recovers from COVID-19, many economies are experiencing high inflation, in part due to pressures from rising energy and commodity prices, along with disruptions to global supply chains caused by a mismatch between elevated global demand and bottlenecks in supply as a result of the pandemic.

Our extensive work in this space has reinforced the long-standing view that the most effective response to food supply disruption is industry-led, with appropriate support and enablement from the Government. Consequently, Defra maintains a collaborative relationship with industry, and has for example recently expanded the membership of our longstanding UK Agricultural Market Monitoring Group. We have also supported industry through, for example, removing tariffs on imports of sensitive agri-food products from the US and removing other technical barriers to trade. We continue to engage with the sector regarding supply chain disruption.

Respondents to last year’s consultation raised concerns that the proposal, especially if contributions from energy suppliers were made mandatory, risks overlapping with the support that suppliers can already provide to people with disabilities and health conditions.

The Government will continue to work with interested industry partners and third-party organisations to explore options based on voluntary contributions from energy suppliers, similar to other measures currently delivered through Industry Initiatives.

Increases in international food commodity prices have been driven by a range of factors recently. The Government views the price changes to food have been caused primarily by market fundamentals rather than speculation on futures markets.

Fuel and gas prices are primarily driven by the underlying price in the global wholesale market of crude oil and natural gas. These are also influenced by exchange rates and a range of other supply and demand factors, including stock levels, logistics and distribution costs and seasonal demand variations.

Agricultural commodity prices are closely linked to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input costs, including for fertiliser, feed and fuel. We are monitoring the situation closely, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group. Defra is in regular contact with key industry figures including the National Farmers Union, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and key sector representatives.

The Government announced on 30 March a number of actions to help mitigate the current issues and support farmers and growers ahead of the next growing season. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs.

The announcement also included new infrastructure grants to help farmers improve slurry storage and management from Autumn 2022 under the Farming Investment Fund ; alongside measures in the Farming Innovation Programme to boost research, including on nutrient management; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of ammonia inhibitors rather than a complete ban.

We recognise that fertiliser pressures on the livestock and arable sectors may differ, particularly over the farming seasons. On 31 March, Minister Prentis hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Task Force with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further fertiliser round-table sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks.

Support in the form of guidance from fertiliser suppliers and agricultural organisations such as National Farmers Union can be found from various public sources. Defra is aware that AHDB have published many helpful public pieces of guidance, advice and webinar recordings on mitigating high fertiliser prices. They can be found on the AHDB website.

An innovative, productive and competitive agricultural sector is one of the Government’s key priorities, and we recognise the role greenhouse crop production has in ensuring a reliable and sustainable supply of fresh produce throughout the year.

The Government is working with the sector on a forward-thinking approach. It is looking at innovative ways of growing crops, such as increased use of greenhouse crop production and other state of the art farming technology which can help maximise crop growth and increase productivity.

We are aware of the challenges facing greenhouse growers and other farming sectors, as a result of the recent increase in the cost of a range of inputs including high gas prices, and the impact this is having on the production of food crops.

We continue to keep the market situation under review through UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group, which monitors UK agricultural markets including price, supply, inputs, trade and recent developments. We are increasing our engagement with industry to supplement our analysis with real time intelligence.

The Government announced on 30 March a number of actions to help mitigate the current issues and support farmers and growers ahead of the next growing season. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs.

The announcement also included new infrastructure grants to help farmers improve slurry storage and management from Autumn 2022 under the Farming Investment Fund; alongside measures in the Farming Innovation Programme to boost research, including on nutrient management; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of urease inhibitors and timings of application rather than a complete ban.

Given current fertiliser prices, our priority must be to pioneer new technologies to manufacture more organic-based fertiliser products in future and we will support the development of these through the Farming Innovation Programme.

We must also look at alternatives to fertiliser, using techniques like nitrogen fixing legumes and clovers. We have therefore announced that the Government will pay farmers, through the Sustainable Farming Incentive, to help them with the costs of sowing nitrogen fixing plants and green manures in their crops – or in advance of their crops – to substitute some of their fertiliser requirements.

We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools and that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the government continues to encourage Local Authorities to invest in swimming facilities.

We recognise the impact rising energy prices will have on businesses of all sizes. Ofgem and the government are in regular contact with business groups and suppliers to understand the challenges they face and explore ways to protect consumers and businesses.

The prices offered by energy suppliers are commercial decisions based mainly on the wholesale prices of gas and electricity in the UK’s energy markets. The Government does not set these prices. The current increase in wholesale gas and electricity prices reflect movements in global commodity markets, driven by the rapid and substantial recovery of global energy demand since the beginning of the pandemic.

Sport England continues to support swimming and diving, investing over £24,575,700 since January 2017, including £16,119,002 of funding directly to Swim England. This is in addition to the £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund which supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country after the pandemic, with 1,176 separate pools supported across 701 sites.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuels poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030. Its aim is to target energy efficiency support to low-income households.

The 2030 target does not include estimates of energy costs including what the energy costs will be for disabled people.

Progress against the target is reported on in the annual fuel poverty statistics, which can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics.

The Government believes it is essential that consumers of domestic fuels get a fair deal. There is an open market for the supply of heating oil in the UK as we believe this provides the best long-term guarantee of competitive prices. Changes in the price of heating oil are mainly driven by those in the underlying price of crude oil. The Department publishes regular price data at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/oil-and-petroleum-products-monthly-statistics.

The supply of domestic bulk domestic heating oil is also subject to UK competition law and consumer protection through a regulatory scheme under the Competition and Markets Authority.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets with industry leaders and discusses a range of issues. Heating oil issues have been raised in recent meetings with leading industry representatives.

As part of the REMA programme we intend to consider a full spectrum of policy options, including locational marginal pricing. We look forward to receiving evidence from stakeholders following the publication of our consultation in the summer which will help us evaluate them, as well as bring other policy options to our attention.

Agricultural commodity prices are closely linked to global gas prices. Farmers are facing increased input costs, including for fertiliser, feed and fuel. We are monitoring the situation closely, including through the UK Agriculture Market Monitoring Group. Defra is in regular contact with key industry figures including the National Farmers Union, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board and key sector representatives.

The Government announced on 30 March a number of actions to help mitigate the current issues and support farmers and growers ahead of the next growing season. These included changes to statutory guidance to the Environment Agency on how they should implement the "Farming Rules for Water" to provide clarity to farmers on how they can use slurry and other manures during autumn and winter to meet agronomic needs; increased grants funding to help farmers and growers boost research and development; and a delay to changes to the use of urea by at least a year. When the urea restrictions are introduced, they will be related to the use of ammonia inhibitors rather than a complete ban.

We recognise that fertiliser pressures on the livestock and arable sectors may differ, particularly over the farming seasons. On 31 March, Minister Prentis hosted the first meeting of the Fertiliser Taskforce with key industry bodies to discuss potential mitigations to the challenges which global supply pressures are causing. Ministers will continue to meet with key industry bodies for further Fertiliser Taskforce sessions in the coming months, to help identify and mitigate potential risks.

Support in the form of guidance from fertiliser suppliers and agricultural organisations such as National Farmers Union can be found from various public sources. Defra is aware that AHDB have published many helpful public pieces of guidance, advice and webinar recordings on mitigating high fertiliser prices. They can be found on the AHDB website.

Some evidence suggests that households with a disability have higher heating costs than average.

BEIS does not determine the price of gas or electricity as these are set by global market conditions however Ofgem’s price cap ensures that the price of tariffs is fair and that customers do not experience a loyalty penalty.

The Government is aware of the impact that high global wholesale energy prices are having on consumers and has put in place additional support worth £9.1bn on top of existing measures to support vulnerable households.

The fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuel poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band C, by 2030. Its aim is to target energy efficiency support to low income households.

The 2030 target does not include estimates of energy costs, including estimates for any specific groups.

Progress against the target is reported on in the annual fuel poverty statistics, which can be found https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics.

Some evidence suggests that households with a disability have higher heating costs than average. However, no household-level data is available that could be factored into specifically targeting those with the highest heating costs.

The Warm Home Discount reforms will better target automatic rebates to fuel poor households on the lowest incomes. Our analysis models an increase in the number of recipients who declare they have a long-term illness or disability by 160,000. The proportion of rebates received by households with a disability or long-term illness will remain higher than the proportion of the fuel poor population or overall population with a disability.