Found: and suppliers, as has long been proposed (though not yet fully delivered) for administration of the Warm

Found: involve using taxpayer funds (instead of customer standing charges) to implement an improved, expanded Warm

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 18 March 2024 to Question 17957 on Warm Home Discount Scheme, what steps she is able to take to ensure that the regional electricity areas with the highest levels of fuel poverty are adequately financially supported, in the context of no data being collated centrally on the number of households receiving Warm Home Discounts by regional electricity area.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Warm Home Discount scheme is targeted to low-income households at risk of fuel poverty, providing a £150 rebate to eligible households. In England and Wales, the government sets the eligibility criteria and identifies households through data matching. In Scotland, the government identifies eligible low-income pensioners through data matching, meanwhile other low-income households in Scotland must apply to their energy supplier who can set their own criteria, subject to approval by Ofgem.

The government published official statistics for winter 2022/23 last year which showed, that across England, the distribution of rebates across regions is roughly consistent with the fuel poverty statistics for rates of fuel poverty. The government does not produce equivalent statistics for Scotland as fuel poverty is devolved and measured differently.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the number of awards granted via the Warm Home Discount Scheme per regional electricity area since 2011.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Figures are not available for the number of households receiving Warm Home Discounts by regional electricity area. National level information on the number of households receiving Warm Home Discounts since 2011 can be found in Table 17 of the Warm Home Discount data tables (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/warm-home-discount-statistics-2022-to-2023).

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many Warm Home Discounts have been provided in Scotland in each year since 1 January 2022.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The number of households receiving Warm Home Discounts (WHD) for each devolved administration and regions of England from 2022 to 2023 can be found in Table 2 of the Warm Home Discount data tables (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/warm-home-discount-statistics-2022-to-2023 ).

Figures for Scotland only cover households receiving WHD through Core Group. These figures therefore only cover part of the WHD scheme in Scotland. Ofgem will publish figures for the Broader Group in due course.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many Warm Home Discounts were provided in each region in each year since 2022.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The number of households receiving Warm Home Discounts (WHD) for each devolved administration and regions of England from 2022 to 2023 can be found in Table 2 of the Warm Home Discount data tables (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/warm-home-discount-statistics-2022-to-2023 ).

Figures for Scotland only cover households receiving WHD through Core Group. These figures therefore only cover part of the WHD scheme in Scotland. Ofgem will publish figures for the Broader Group in due course.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for her policies of trends in the level of fuel poverty since 2018.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Fuel Poverty is a devolved matter and the Department has responsibility for England.

The share of households in fuel poverty in England has reduced from 22% in 2010 to 13% in 2023, with energy efficiency being the key driver.

Other support includes the Warm Home Discount scheme which provides low-income and vulnerable households with a £150 rebate off their winter energy bill, which it is estimated took 248,000 English households out of fuel poverty in 2023.

The department is currently reviewing the 2021 fuel poverty strategy and is engaging with key stakeholders as part of this process.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when she plans to issue a substantive written response to the correspondence of 15 January 2024 from the hon. Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, reference MCB2024/00632.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

I wrote to the hon. Member on 1 March about the constituent’s eligibility for the Warm Home Discount scheme.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will extend the Warm Home Discount to disabled households.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

I refer my Hon Friend to the answers I gave to him on 18 January 2024 to Question UIN 9113 and on 8 February 2024 to Question UIN 12381.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the impact of the withdrawal of the Warm Homes Discount on (a) people in receipt of disability benefits and (b) other vulnerable people.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

I refer the hon. Member to the answer my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance gave on 17 April 2023 to Question HL7050.

In addition, the Government produced impact assessments for the consultation in 2021 on expanding and reforming the Warm Home Discount scheme in England and Wales and for the publication of the Government Response in 2022, which are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/warm-home-discount-better-targeted-support-from-2022

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January to Question 9113, if she will take steps to further extend the eligibility for the warm home discount to cover more disabled households.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Government reformed the Warm Home Discount scheme in England and Wales to standardise the criteria, provide the majority of rebates automatically, and focus the support to households in fuel poverty.

As the scheme is funded by participating energy suppliers, we have struck a balance between supporting as many households as possible, providing meaningful support, and limiting the impact on wider consumer bills. This winter we expect over 3 million households to receive the rebate, around a million more households compared with the previous scheme prior to winter 2022.

We recognise the cost-of-living challenges families are facing, which is why we are spending £104 billion supporting households with bills.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she is taking steps to provide support for for households who no longer qualify for the Warm Homes Discount due to changing eligibility criteria.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

Following public consultation in the summer of 2021, the Government expanded and reformed the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales from 2022.

We reformed the scheme to standardise the criteria, provide the majority of rebates automatically, and focus the support on households in fuel poverty. We recognise the cost-of-living challenges families are facing, which is why we are spending £104 billion supporting households with bills.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many people qualified for the Warm Homes Discount in winter (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

For 2022/23, I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 7 September 2023 to Question UIN 195896.

For 2023/24, the Government will publish statistics on eligibility for a rebate under the core group of the Warm Home Discount scheme in the summer. The final figures on the support provided in the 2023/24 scheme year will be confirmed in Ofgem’s annual report in late 2024 or early 2025.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households have received funding from the Warm Home Discount Scheme in South Holland and The Deepings constituency in each year since 2019.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The number of households receiving warm home discount in 2022/23 under the core group is published for all parliamentary constituencies in Great Britain in Table 5 of the Warm Home Discount Statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/warm-home-discount-statistics-2022-to-2023). Figures for earlier years are only available at national level.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many households received the warm home discount rebate in (a) York Central constituency (b) City of York Council and (c) England in each year since 2015.

Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

In 2022/23, 2.22 million households received the warm home discount rebate in England. This includes 2,792 households in the York Central constituency and 4,780 in the York unitary authority. Local area statistics were not available prior to the reform of the scheme with national level figures available in table 17.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/warm-home-discount-statistics

We want the Government to make direct payments to energy customers who are eligible for the Warm Home Discount Scheme, rather than discounts being applied to the bills of eligible customers.

Found: some energy providers who have not yet applied discounts to bills of energy customers eligible for the Warm

Found: information -consumers/energy -advice- households/advice- park-home- residents 3 https://www.gov.uk/the- warm

Found: income and have high energy costs also received a one-off discount on their energy bill under the Warm