Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will take steps to ensure that no child living in poverty grows up in a cold home.

Our new fuel poverty target will focus on improving the energy efficiency of all fuel poor households, including children in poor households. We will be starting with the most inefficient and coldest homes first.

We have a strong package of policies already delivering assistance and making steps to help those in need. Under our current plans from April 2018, domestic and non-domestic privately rented property will need to meet a minimum standard, which we have proposed to be an E EPC rating.

Meanwhile, we continue to provide help to the most vulnerable by supporting over 2 million households a year with the Warm Home Discount as well as providing Winter Fuel Payments of up to £300.

We also have in place the Big Energy Saving Network which is providing outreach to consumers, helping them understand tariffs and switching options as well as how they could benefit from energy efficiency programmes available to them.

Our Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funds efficient boilers and insulation measures to low income and vulnerable households is now guaranteed until at least 2017. This has contributed to Government’s target of improving the energy efficiency of 1million homes from January 2013 to March 2015.

We have already made significant progress towards achieving this with around 797,000 homes improved through a combination of ECO, Green Deal Cashback, Green Deal finance and the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund to the end of August 2014.