The Government recognises the challenges many are facing with pressures on household budgets. We are providing support worth over £20 billion across this financial year and next that will help families with the cost of living. This includes cutting the Universal Credit taper rate and increasing work allowances to make sure work pays, freezing alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down, as well as the £9.1 billion package announced in February 2022 to help households with rising energy bills.

The Government places additional taxes on the extraction of oil and gas, with companies engaged in the production of oil and gas on the UK Continental Shelf subject to headline tax rates on their profits that are currently more than double those paid by other businesses. To date, the sector has paid more than £375 billion in production taxes.

All taxes are kept under review and any changes are considered and announced by the Chancellor.

We have so far invested over £2.5bn to support both low-income households and public sector organisations to install energy efficiency measures, while also expanding the Energy Company Obligation to £1bn per year. This is significantly above the £1.28bn originally included in the 2019 manifesto covering the first two years of this Parliament.

The recent spending review committed further funding to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. This included £950 million for the Home Upgrade Grant, £800 million for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund £1.4 billion to help decarbonise the public sector estate.

We are also introducting important non-spending policies to support the uptake of energy efficiency, as set out in the Heat and Building Strategy.