Olivia is celebrating a recent move by the Government to introduce a consolidated Priority Services Register. This follows a long-standing campaign spearheaded by the MP, which she launched in the aftermath of the Stannington gas floods.
During the Stannington crisis, where thousands of Stannington households were left without heating in the middle of December, Olivia Blake MP was stationed with members of her team at Lomas Hall to help coordinate support for residents. From conversations with energy and water companies, she realised that each different utility company held their own priority list, meaning that there was no one unified list of all vulnerable people. This led her to organise teams of volunteers to knock on people’s doors during the major incident, to ensure no vulnerable people were left without support.
In the aftermath of the crisis, Blake brought together key stakeholders—including water and energy companies, OfGem and OfWat—to coordinate a campaign for a single register shared between utility companies and local authorities.
On the first anniversary of the gas floods, Blake submitted a series Parliamentary questions to the Conservative Government asking what lessons have been learnt in its aftermath.
One of these, submitted to the Cabinet Office, asked the Government to assess ‘the impactions of the Stannington gas flood in Sheffield Hallam’ and ‘make an assessment of the potential merits of creating a single consolidated priority register for all utility providers.’
The answer from Alex Burghart, Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, stated ‘the Government will consult on strengthening the economic regulation of the energy, water and telecommunications sectors, with proposals that include a consolidated Priority Services Register so that vulnerable people can be confident their status is recognised by all their utilities providers and support will be provided when needed.’
Olivia welcomed the announcement, saying that it was great the ‘Government has recognised the benefit of a consolidated Priority Register in supporting vulnerable households.’ She said:
‘Just over a year ago, my constituents experienced one of the most worrying events in Sheffield’s recent history. It was thanks to the tireless work of Cadent gas engineers, Sheffield City Council officers, Yorkshire Water’s teams, and an army of volunteers, that the emergency was handled as well as it was.’
‘Stannington’s gas floods made clear that there needed to be a united priority register, with all vulnerable households on it, rather than each utility company working off a completely different list, and some vulnerable people getting left behind.
‘I’m really pleased that the Government has recognised the benefit of a consolidated priority register in supporting vulnerable households, and is beginning to learn the lessons of Stannington’s gas crisis.’