Disclosure of State Pension Credit Information (Warm Home Discount) Regulations 2011

Lord Teverson Excerpts

Tuesday 12th July 2011 Grand Committee

The instrument is vital to allow legal data-sharing to take place between energy companies and the Government, and to enable supplier-funded rebates worth £580 million to be provided to low-income pensioners over the next four years. On that basis, I commend it to the Committee.

[Lord Teverson]

My Lords, I remember many discussions in the Moses Room about rationalising this system, and frustration on all sides of the Committee that people in need of help with their energy bills were not being able to take it because it was impossible to share information. This was for good reasons, but we knew that because information was not being shared, a number of the most vulnerable people in our society were not able to take the benefits that they needed in such a vital area of their lives. Therefore, I welcome the regulations, because at last we seem to have a solution that gets around the problem.

That is good, although I think that all of us in this information age are concerned about the sharing of data. Data security is always an area of difficulty, and the fact that this information will be held according to government standards is some reassurance. However, the key issue is what happens in practice and who leaves which laptop or USB where. There are always risks in this area.

The one area where I pricked up my ears was that of data matching. I am lucky enough to be going on holiday to the United States this year, and I almost worry that I will be data matched with an Iranian terrorist and will be unable to come back for the October Session. My Whip would be particularly unhappy about that.

[Noble Lords]

September.

[Lord Teverson]

I am not going until October—but let us move away from my domestic arrangements to those of the more vulnerable in society. Could the Minister clarify that, once the data-matching process has occurred, if there are “leftovers” the Government will ensure that everyone who is entitled receives their entitlement? How are we going to check that the matchings that have occurred are correct? A number of people may receive these discounts when they are not entitled to them. They will thank their lucky stars that the discounts have arrived and that will be that. The issue is not one of following up the data that have not matched but of ensuring that the matching that has taken place is effective, given that those who do not receive their entitlement are not likely to follow this up for the old reason that they did not know that they were eligible in the first place. However, I welcome this measure as a breakthrough for the more vulnerable in our society.

[Lord Whitty]

My Lords, I welcome this for the same reason as the noble Lord, Lord Teverson. This has been a long-running saga, but I hope that we will get the ability to match data in the nicest possible sense in order to ensure that the benefit goes to those for whom it is intended and to whom the provision of the warm homes discount applies.

My query arises from a wider concern about the Government’s strategy in relation to fuel poverty. There is no relationship between the warm homes discount and any improvement in the energy efficiency of the home itself. The Government have cut significantly the former direct payment through Warm Front and related schemes and are relying on a variation of the eco-mechanism to redirect money back into energy efficiency. This is distinct from the previous approach of a social tariff—which may have been flawed in many ways—in that there is no mechanism for ensuring that the bills next year, for those people who will benefit from the discount this year, will be any lower, because there has been no nudge in the direction of improving the energy efficiency of their homes.

However, the Minister encouraged me in his closing remarks when he referred to the possibility of using the data to identify those who may be targeted for advice on improving energy efficiency. As long as only a discount is provided, the problem of fuel poverty will continue, and the Government will have to continue to override the tariffs structure by providing discounts, rebates and special tariffs, with all the complexities and requirements to identify individuals that that implies. However, if the policy were linked to one of improving energy efficiency, perhaps through the same supply companies, that would be a more constructive way to go forward.

The question is: beyond the giving of advice, would it be possible to gear some of this discount—on the discretion of the recipient—to improvements through the Green Deal or other provisions fronted by the supply company, rather than providing a straight discount? If that is possible, could it be made apparent to the recipient that this is not just a cash saving this year, but a step towards reducing energy consumption and therefore towards reduced bills in future years? That would be a more coherent approach and would not require any greater disclosure of data or data matching than these regulations require.