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WARM WORDS BUT COLD HOMES: FUEL POVERTY STRATEGY FALLS SHORT

23 Feb 2001

Friends of the Earth today expressed disappointment at the Government's draft Fuel Poverty strategy, launched today by Ministers, Michael Meacher and Peter Hain.

The strategy is required by the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act, drafted by FOE and introduced to Parliament by David Amess MP (Con: Southend West). It was at first opposed by the Government, but after a national FOE campaign received a Second Reading by 143 votes to 0.

But the draft strategy fails to meet the terms of the Act, breaks Labour's own policy pledges and would fail to assist over 1 million households because of its controversial definition of fuel poverty. Britain now has one of the worst records of excess winter deaths in Europe, because of a combination of low incomes and badly insulated homes. The elderly anbd very young children are particularly at risk.

The draft strategy commits the Government to removing 3 million households across the UK from fuel poverty by 2010, and promises that a further unspecified number of homes will benefit from warm homes schemes once this target has been met. There are few new schemes or details of new money contained in the document. Instead it pulls together existing schemes, such as the local authority housing schemes, the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme and others.

It falls short of FOE's demands because it:-

• fails to deliver the policy agreed at Labour's Conference in 2000 to eradicate fuel poverty by 2010. Instead it only "seeks an end to the blight of fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010." (para 4.1 _ our emphasis)
• fails to "specify a target date for achieving the objective of ensuring that as far as reasonably practicable persons in England or Wales do not live in fuel poverty" as required by the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 (subsection 2(2)(b) of the Act)
• uses a controversial definition of fuel poverty based on a household's gross income, rather than its disposable income _ i.e. that left after paying housing costs. This prevents at least 1 million households benefiting from the scheme (though Northern Ireland will still use the traditional definition of income after housing costs have been met.)

Martyn Williams, FOE's Senior Parliamentary Campaigner, commented

"The document doesn't live up to what Labour has promised. It doesn't even seem to do what's now required by law, which is a target for eradicating fuel poverty everywhere _ not just in vulnerable households. It looks like the Treasury has forced Ministers to do the bare minimum they can get away with. But this will leave an awful lot of people still shivering in winter.

This is a missed opportunity to save energy, create jobs and most important of all, save lives. The last two years have seen the highest number of excess winter deaths in over 10 years. FOE will be fighting to strengthen this draft stratgey so that it really can end this terrible social scourge"

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