Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Jonathan Reynolds

Thursday 5th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am sure all hon. Members will join the hon. Lady in paying tribute to the former Member who has died. I did not know him but I am sure he was a doughty campaigner for alternative energy.

The hon. Lady asks what my Department can do with BIS to assist in the deployment of technologies such as CHP. I assure her that I work closely with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on those issues, particularly to ensure that energy-intensive industries have support with the high costs that they face.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

Earlier this week, the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners predicted that the death toll from this year’s winter cold weather could be 40,000 people, the highest for 15 years. With figures such as those, how can the Government defend not spending the majority of the funds that they raise for energy efficiency on tackling fuel poverty?

[Mr Davey]

Fuel poverty increased significantly under the previous Government and it has fallen, albeit not as much as I would like, under this Government. When we publish the fuel poverty strategy shortly, the hon. Gentleman will see not only that we have managed in this Parliament to focus scarce resources on the problem, with significant success, but that we plan, through the private rented sector regulations and other measures, to bear down on fuel poverty even further and faster.

[Jonathan Reynolds]

The Secretary of State is too complacent and I do not agree with his assessment at all. The fact is we have the means to tackle fuel poverty. What is lacking is the political will. His Government know that. Is it not a fact that the technical annexe to the Government’s own fuel poverty strategy admits not only that the Government will not eradicate fuel poverty by 2030 but that it will rise?

[Mr Davey]

Since we have not published the final fuel poverty strategy it is interesting that the hon. Gentleman makes those points.

[Jonathan Reynolds]

It is on the website.

[Mr Davey]

He is probably talking about the draft strategy. He needs to see the final one before he makes such points. The fuel poverty regulations that we have introduced are radical and have not received the attention they deserve. Under the regulations, by 2030 any person who is in fuel poverty must be in a house of at least EPC rating C. That is a major step forward and we have the policies, set out in the fuel poverty strategy, to deliver that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Jonathan Reynolds

Thursday 18th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

Indeed, one danger of the regulatory approach is not only that it discourages investment and reduces competition, but that one can freeze prices at a high level. The benefits of competition and falling wholesale prices will mean that bills will come down—indeed, people can save on their bills through the competition we have stimulated.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

Members on both sides of the House recognise that some of the households with the highest bills are in the private rented sector, where we simply have to raise standards. We want to go further than the coalition, but the Secretary of State has repeatedly assured us that the coalition Government will act to improve the very worst homes by 2018. May I therefore ask him, straightforwardly, whether this Government will introduce the regulations on the private rented sector before the end of this Parliament? If not, why not?

[Mr Davey]

I share the hon. Gentleman’s view that it is very important to get energy-efficiency in the private rented sector—something that the previous Government failed to act on. We have legislated in the Energy Act 2011, we have consulted on this and we will be making proposals.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Jonathan Reynolds

Thursday 6th November 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

That is a very important point that the ministerial round table discussed in some detail. The issue is not just price but resilience of supply of heating oil over the winter months, particularly when there is bad weather. That is one of the reasons why we have the Buy Oil Early campaign. My hon. Friend is right: we need to work with the industry to make sure that customers who are off the gas grid and could be vulnerable are registered.

[Jonathan Reynolds (Stalybridge and Hyde) (Lab/Co-op)]

Nearly 1 million measures have been installed under ECO to date, but fewer than 1,500 of those were installed under the rural sub-obligation—just 0.1%. That means that off-grid customers who have contributed £153 million towards ECO from their energy bills have received measures worth just £600,000. Do the Government agree that they have failed those people and that ECO is not fit for purpose?

[Mr Davey]

No. In fact, the Government have reformed ECO to address that issue. As I would have thought the hon. Gentleman would know, analysis of our ECO reforms, particularly in relation to the affordable warmth scheme to tackle the issue of the fuel poor in off-gas grid areas, shows that we expect to see a 30% delivery of affordable warmth measures in off-gas grid areas compared with just 2% previously.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Jonathan Reynolds

Thursday 27th February 2014 Commons Chamber

[Jonathan Reynolds]

This time last year, work under the affordable warmth component of the ECO—the element that helps low-income households—was trading on the brokerage at between 25p and 30p in the pound. Today it is trading at just 6p, which means that a maximum of £840 is available for each job, whereas last year £3,500 would have been available. Given that the Government’s figures on the boiler scrappage scheme show that 96% of boiler replacements cost more than £1,000, what assurances can the Secretary of State give that such work is being done legitimately, safely and responsibly, or even at all?

[Mr Davey]

It is certainly being done in great numbers, and we can contrast the situation with that under the Warm Front scheme that the previous Government introduced. In 2010-11, about 80,000 households received help under that scheme at a cost of £366 million, but in the first year of affordable warmth, 130,000 households benefited at a cost of £350 million.

The hon. Lady—the hon. Gentleman; I am making the same mistake as you, Mr Speaker, so I do not know what it is about the hon. Gentleman today. However, I am surprised that he complains about costs coming down, because I would have thought that he would welcome that. He knows that there is regulation to ensure that standards are met.