Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect the proposed ban on burning coal in domestic settings on fuel poverty.

As stated in the Government Response published on 21 February, we want to see a move from bituminous coal to less polluting fuels in the domestic setting. We will facilitate this transition by only allowing the sale of smokeless coal (or anthracite) and low sulphur manufactured solid fuels for the purpose of domestic combustion.