Diana Johnson
Main Page: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham)
Gregory Barker
As Chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, my hon. Friend is well known as an expert on the matter. She makes some very good points and I shall ensure that they are taken into account when we formulate policy on the way forward.
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)
10. What estimate he has made of the change in the number of homes in receipt of assistance with heating and insulation improvements consequent on the proposed reduction in expenditure on the Warm Front scheme.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)
The Warm Front scheme is expected to assist approximately 170,000 households in 2010-11. While we transition to the more ambitious green deal framework, DECC will fund a more targeted Warm Front scheme helping approximately 57,000 households in 2011-12 and a further 50,000 households in 2012-13.
Diana Johnson
Warm Front has helped more than 2,000 households in my constituency of Hull North, with energy efficiency measures that have reduced fuel bills and started to fight fuel poverty, but many more households still need help from Warm Front. What guarantee can the Minister give me and my constituents that the help, especially now that we have such severe winter weather, will be available over the next couple of years?
Gregory Barker
Over the next couple of years, we will be transitioning to the green deal. The fact of the matter is that Warm Front per se was not up to the scale of the challenge of renewing and refurbishing our homes in Britain. If we were to rely on Warm Front, at that rate of progress it would take 82 years to refurbish the 14 million homes we need to refurbish. We are going for a much more ambitious scheme—the green deal. It will be a real game changer and we shall introduce measures in legislation in the other place before Christmas.