Baroness Boycott debates involving the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy during the 2019 Parliament

Housing Insulation

Baroness Boycott Excerpts
Tuesday 25th February 2020

(4 years, 2 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan
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I notice that my noble friend Lord Duncan is watching the performance today. I will certainly not disagree with what he told the House. As I said, there will be a number of upcoming announcements in this field. I cannot at this stage predict what they will be, but I am sure that the noble Lord will be pleased when he hears them.

Baroness Boycott Portrait Baroness Boycott (CB)
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My Lords, I congratulate the Minister on his new post. Can he share with the House any thinking in the forthcoming White Paper that will ensure that the cost of cutting carbon and retrofitting will not fall unevenly on the poorer people in our society, who are already suffering from fuel poverty and will need all the help they can get?

Lord Callanan Portrait Lord Callanan
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The noble Baroness makes an extremely good point. As she will be aware, the ECO scheme is funded from fuel bills. If we increase funding for the ECO scheme for poorer households, that puts up the cost of bills for all customers. That is one of the points we need to address; her point is well made.