Friday newspaper round-up: Energy bills, National Lottery owner, FCA

(Sharecast News) - An energy minister has told the bosses of Great Britain's biggest energy suppliers to do more to help households get on top of their unpaid energy bills this winter, before the government spends almost £2.5bn to help write off the country's record high debts. Energy bosses were summoned to a roundtable meeting on Thursday to discuss the government's plan to pay down the energy debts of about 2.4m of the hardest-hit households. - Guardian For years the "Christmas advert moment" has belonged to one brand. John Lewis's syrupy commercials featuring piano ballads and tearjerker storylines have given the 160-year-old department store a cultural head start in the dash for festive profits. This year, however, there's one high-street rival with a sackful of tricks to make up the ground. Marks & Spencer has brought out the big guns - in the form of a topless Santa, played by the small-screen heart-throb James Norton. - Guardian

The owner of the National Lottery has overhauled its senior team as it scrambles to halt a drop in ticket sales. Allwyn, which secured the licence in 2022, is parting ways with three of its top executives as part of a major restructuring. Mark Smith, the chief technology officer, will leave the business but remain an adviser until June next year. - Telegraph

The City regulator is under pressure to explain whether its chairman consulted the board properly over his handling of a contentious review into whistleblowing. An internal email from Ashley Alder, chairman of the Financial Conduct Authority, appears to show him informing the board that he had commissioned a review into the regulator's interactions with Simon Andriesz, a banker who died in September. - The Times

A building developer has been ordered to pay more than £45m to the government after fire safety defects were repaired in seven high-rise buildings. The buildings in Manchester, developed by Urban Splash between 2000 and 2008, were alleged to have serious defects discovered in inspections after the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017 which claimed the lives of 72 people. - The Times