Fuel Poverty

Debate between Lord Prior of Brampton and Lord Hylton

Thursday 19th October 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

I assure the noble Baroness that we take fuel poverty extremely seriously. Interestingly, there are 835,000 fewer fuel-poor homes within bands E, F and G than there were in 2010, so there are signs that targeting the energy company obligation more specifically at lower-income families is having an effect. With the Digital Economy Bill having gone through the House of Commons, I hope that we can target our resources more accurately to ensure that we meet the obligations set out in the sustainable growth paper that came out last week.

[Lord Hylton (CB)]

My Lords, will the Minister confirm that the delay in paying universal credit when it has been approved will be cut from six weeks to four weeks? What are the prospects of further reductions in that time delay?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

My Lords, I am not able to answer that question. It is not specifically related to the Question in front of us, but it is none the less extremely important and I will write to the noble Lord later.

NHS: Food Banks

Debate between Lord Prior of Brampton and Lord Hylton

Thursday 26th November 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

It is interesting that the use of food banks is increasing not just in England but in America, Canada, Germany and across Europe. The policy response of this Government is that we should focus on a strong economy, more jobs and the national living wage.

[Lord Hylton (CB)]

My Lords, is it not paradoxical that, seven years after the world economic crisis, more and more people in this country are needing food banks? Will the Government look much more carefully than they have done up to now into the connection between benefit sanctions and food poverty?

[Lord Prior of Brampton]

It is interesting that the previous Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey, said that there was no statistical link between the Government’s benefit reforms and the provision of food banks—so I am not sure that there is that link. It is also a paradox that we have this issue with food banks at a time when obesity is one of the biggest threats to the future. It is a strange situation around the world when we have both a problem of obesity and an issue of nutrition.