Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Pippa Heylings and Miatta Fahnbulleh(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
As we have been hearing, Dickensian conditions of cold, damp and mouldy homes are shamefully on the increase. In my constituency, more than 4,000 households are having to make that difficult decision between eating and heating because of the previous Government’s dither and delay on insulation. However, even now, local authorities and families are in limbo, anxiously awaiting confirmation of the 2025-26 funding for ECO4 and the Great British Insulation scheme through a ministerial statement. Will the Minister act with the urgency that is needed to bring those schemes and the warm home scheme forward to tackle fuel poverty?
Miatta Fahnbulleh
I thank the hon. Member for pointing out the inheritance and the legacy. That is material, because it is the backdrop to everything we are trying to do. We are clear that we need to drive forward with momentum and pace. That is why we are already upgrading up to 300,000 homes this year alone. It is also why we are working with local authorities and social housing providers to deliver warm homes that are cheaper to run for communities across the country. We are absolutely moving at pace with our warm homes plan. We will be setting out that plan, and at its heart is an ambition to ramp up the number of upgrades massively, so that more families across the country can benefit from what we know works: warm homes and lower bills.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Pippa Heylings and Miatta Fahnbulleh(2 months ago)
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Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
After the Conservative Government’s failure to tackle insulation, fuel poverty is on the rise. In my constituency, almost 20% of households with young family members—those between five and 10 years—are fuel poor, living in cold, damp houses and choosing between eating and heating. While we await the warm homes plan that will deal with upgrading current housing stock, will the Minister meet the Minister for Housing and Planning to ensure that all future homes will come forward with an energy rating that is a minimum of C or higher, but not beyond 2025 for the future homes standard?
Miatta Fahnbulleh
We are working very closely with Housing, Communities and Local Government Ministers to deal with the future homes standard. We recognise that the fact we are building homes that are not up to the standard is a problem, and we are getting on with fixing it.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Pippa Heylings and Miatta Fahnbulleh(3 months, 1 week ago)
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Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
Homes in the UK are among the least energy-efficient in Europe, with unparalleled health, productivity and carbon emission costs to society, as a result of the last Government’s failure to act. I agree with the Minister: it is a disgrace that this is happening in one of the largest economies in the G7. We welcome the news of the warm homes plan coming next year, but does the Minister agree that an emergency home insulation programme this winter, with free insulation for people on low incomes, is necessary so that people in South Cambridgeshire do not have to face the choice between heating and eating?
Miatta Fahnbulleh
Let me assure the hon. Member that we are hitting the ground running with home insulations. We are rolling out our warm homes local grant and our warm homes social housing fund, to target people this winter—this year—because we need to deliver the biggest ever upgrade.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Pippa Heylings and Miatta Fahnbulleh(4 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Pippa Heylings (South Cambridgeshire) (LD)
Keeping vulnerable people warm and lowering their energy bills is, I am sure, something we can all agree on across the House. Insulating homes is a key part of that puzzle. We welcome the news that we will see the warm homes plan in spring. However, does the Minister agree that ahead of this winter we need an emergency home insulation plan, particularly for the vulnerable, along with allocated funding? Does she have any idea of the amount and allocation of funding in this Parliament that there will be for insulating homes?
Miatta Fahnbulleh
We are really clear that as we develop our plans we absolutely need to get on with the job of upgrading homes. We have announced our warm homes local grant and our warm homes social housing fund, which are targeted at low-income families, because we know there is a job of work to do. We are committed to an additional £6.6 billion to invest in our warm homes plan over the course of this Parliament.