As we continue to experience freezing weather it’s appalling that some haven’t received their prepayment vouchers which are vital to help them meet eye-wateringly high energy costs.

Energy companies must ensure they have the right support in place to ensure customers with traditional prepayment meters do not lose the value of their vouchers, which expire after 3 months if not redeemed.

I asked the Minister what he was planning to do about it, and his response was pitiful. I’ll be writing to him.

Stephen Kinnock: I thank the Minister for giving way; he is being very generous.

My constituency office is being contacted by a great many people who have still not received their prepayment vouchers from the energy suppliers, but are receiving letters from the suppliers telling them that if they do not use the vouchers by January they will be cancelled, which would of course push those people further into debt. What are the Government doing to ensure that they receive the vouchers and do not lose the money to which they are entitled?

Kevin Hollinrake: Other Members have made that important point, and I will come to it, but I had better make some progress, because you asked me to finish in about four minutes, Madam Deputy Speaker, which I shall endeavour to do.

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I will conclude by talking about the vouchers. There is a problem in terms of vouchers. About 60% of people have managed to gain support through vouchers. We have written to suppliers on this particular matter. We need to improve the communication between suppliers and customers to ensure that take-up is higher. We believe that the take-up will improve over future weeks, but we are definitely keeping that under review and are keen to ensure all that support reaches households where it is intended to do so.