Oral Answers to Questions

Paul Waugh Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Martin McCluskey]

We will bring forward the warm homes plan this year. In March, we allocated around £1.8 billion to local authorities and social housing providers through the warm homes local grant. The hon. Member may want to direct his constituents to the Greater Manchester combined authority, which received a settlement of £134.9 million of devolved capital funding for buildings retrofit. They can access that through the retrofit portal, which has an eligibility checker, so that households can check whether they qualify for free or discounted home upgrades.

[Paul Waugh (Rochdale) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the warm home discount on levels of fuel poverty.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

7. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending the warm home discount on levels of fuel poverty.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero (Martin McCluskey)]

From this winter, an additional 2.7 million households across the UK will receive £150 off their energy bills, which makes a total of nearly 6 million low-income households receiving this vital support. That is the difference that this Government are making to our communities.

[Paul Waugh]

I am delighted that thanks to this Government and the warm home discount eligibility extension, thousands more Rochdale families will be eligible for £150 off their bills this winter. It will ensure that young and old alike get more help with their bills this winter. I would like to raise the case of my constituent Keith Gumbridge, who had his cavity wall insulation botched under the previous Government, and who was left with huge legal bills after so-called “no win, no fee” law firm Pure Legal went bust. Mr Gumbridge’s case has been with the Legal Ombudsman for nearly three years; does the Minister agree that that is far too long to wait for justice?