Lilian Greenwood
Main Page: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)(10 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Gregory Barker
I take my hon. Friend’s points extremely seriously, not least because he did a great deal for this group of people when he was an energy Minister. Speaking as someone who is off the gas grid, I am delighted to say that I recently joined my local community’s syndicate for buying heating oil, and it has delivered a very good price. I encourage others to do the same. The good point that my hon. Friend raises is under review. We are looking at more effective data matching to identify those in fuel poverty in rural areas who are often much harder to find than those in similar circumstances in urban areas. We are absolutely on it; I can assure my hon. Friend of that.
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)
There was anger and deep disappointment in my constituency this week when British Gas announced that, as a direct result of the Minister’s changes to the ECO, it is pulling out of the scheme that was due to deliver external wall insulation to up to 4,700 concrete houses in Clifton by March 2015. Will the right hon. Gentleman agree to meet me and local partners urgently to discuss whether there is a possible future for this scheme?
Gregory Barker
I will certainly meet the hon. Lady, and I shall be happy to look at the matter in more detail. It is primarily a matter for British Gas, which has an obligation to deliver, at scale, measures to help the fuel poor, but we are determined to ensure that those measures are enforced.
The ECO is now in good health, and we have extended it to 2017. Unlike the programmes introduced by the last Government, which were very stop-go and hand-to-mouth—for instance, the carbon emissions reduction target was initially scheduled to apply to one year but was then extended for another year and then another—the ECO will provide investor certainty until 2017, which is good news for the fuel poor.