Fuel Poverty

Chris Huhne Excerpts

Wednesday 15th December 2010 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)]

Today I am announcing that the budget for the Warm Front scheme in England is fully allocated for this financial year. The budget was set in the 2007 spending review and subsequently updated in last year’s pre-Budget report. From today the scheme is fully subscribed and will be unable to take new applications for the remainder of the current year. The scheme has a substantial order book of work that will take to at least March 2011 to complete. I am also announcing the publication of a consultation on the eligibility for Warm Front measures.

Refusal of new applications under the Warm Front Scheme for England

The Warm Front scheme provides a range of energy efficiency and heating measures to vulnerable private sector households in England who are in receipt of a qualifying benefit. Due to high demand for the Warm Front scheme throughout the year the available budget for 2010-11 has now been fully allocated and it is unable to take new applications.

All existing qualifying applications already taken by the scheme manager will be fully honoured and the 76,000 heating and insulation jobs awaiting installation will be completed as far as possible by the end of March 2011. This is only a temporary measure. The scheme will be able to approve new applications in the next financial year.

Warm Front Consultation

Warm Front is one of our key tools for tackling fuel poverty among private sector households in England. The scheme was introduced in 2000 and has helped more than 2 million households vulnerable to fuel poverty with a range of heating, insulation and other energy efficiency measures.

As part of the spending review 2010, the Government announced that we will continue to fund the Warm Front programme for the next two years. With a smaller programme budget it means that it is an appropriate time to consider whether the scope for Warm Front assistance should be revised to better focus support on those in fuel poverty or vulnerable to fuel poverty.

This is the purpose of plans set out today in our consultation. The aim is to improve the cost-effectiveness of the scheme by ensuring that Warm Front will be a better targeted programme to help the most vulnerable receive support in the form of free or subsidised heating and insulation measures.

The Warm Front consultation will run until 9 February 2011 and can be found at: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/warm front/warm front.aspx.

The consultation document will also be made available in the Libraries of both Houses.