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Bill to Combat Fuel Poverty Goes Before Parliament, Top NGOs Give Backing

11 March 1997

PRESS CONFERENCE:
Room C, 1 Parliament St.
London SW1
Tuesday 11th March at 11.00 am

Today (11/3/97) the Warm Homes Bill goes before Parliament in a radical move to end fuel poverty, combat climate change and save up to fifty thousand lives a year. The Bill will create a fifteen year programme to insulate seven and a half million homes in the UK and provide energy conservation measures. If the Bill became law, fifteen million people would benefit from warmer homes, thirty thousand jobs would be created and the national Exchequer would save over 3 billion.

The Bill is being promoted by a cross-party group of MPs lead by Alan Simpson(Labour), Harry Greenway (Conservative) and Peter Temple-Morris (Conservative),Matthew Taylor (Liberal Democrat), Cynog Dafis (Plaid Cymru) and Maggie Ewing(SNP). One hundred and ninety MPs have already registered their support.

Backing the Bill are: the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), Friends of the Earth, National Energy Action (NEA), Help the Aged, Age Concern, Child Poverty Action Group and the National Right to Fuel Campaign.

Alan Simpson MP (Labour), who is introducing the Bill to Parliament today, said:
"This Bill will end the continuing and growing problem of fuel poverty in the UK. The latest figures show a totally unacceptable death rate from 'cold weather conditions' which must be addressed. In that this Bill would also benefit the environment and create jobs it receives my wholehearted support".

Andrew Warren, Director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, said:
"This programme will generate almost 30,000 proper new jobs throughout the 15 years. Those involved will gain new skills in the construction and heating business, which will be valuable for life. It will also provide great job satisfaction for participants, knowing that they are helping kill off the scourge of fuel poverty for ever."

Charles Secrett, Executive Director of Friends of the Earth, said:
"We need practical programmes to combat the World's most serious environmental problem- climate change. By passing this measure the next Government can set an example to other countries in the climate change negotiations in Japan later this year. This Bill is a win-win-win solution which brings environmental, social and economic benefits."

Andrea Cook, Director of NEA, said:
"Successive governments have given too low a priority to resolving the problems of poverty,inadequate housing and energy efficiency. This Bill addresses these issues and will finally provide the poorest people with affordable warmth."

Mervyn Kohler, Head of Public Affairs for Help the Aged, said:

"It is a simple and obvious proposal, which makes economic sense, yields social benefits and saves lives. In the winter months, older people face poor health and a miserable quality of life - so many live in homes which are hard to heat or too inefficient to heat affordably"

Sally Greengross, Director General of Age Concern, said:
'Age Concern welcomes this move to improve the energy efficiency of the UK's housing stock. 75% of all people on the lowest incomes and occupying the poorest housing are pensioners, they rely on expensive and inefficient sources of energy, spending a higher proportion of their meagre income on fuel This bill could help end the vicious circle of fuel poverty among many older people"

Sally Witcher, Director of the Child Poverty Action Group, said:
"It will save heat, money and, most importantly, lives. The extra heating costs of poor families with children is often overlooked. At last there is a positive plan to prevent these households from having to suffer the bitter cold"

NOTES FOR EDITORS

[1] The Warm Homes and Energy Conservation (Fifteen Year Programme) Bill 1997.

[2] There are between 30,000 and 50,000 excess winter deaths every year in the UK. See Hansard 22/7/96 col.117 and 23/7/96 col.267.

[3] By providing 100% Government grants for all the work and labour the plan is to maximise the 'take-up' of insulation works by the fuel poor who will benefit by having works done free-of-charge which will thus enable them to live in warm homes and have lower fuel bills. By working on 500,000 homes per year, over 15 years, fuel poverty would be completely eradicated in the UK.

[4] It has been estimated by ACE (Newsletter No.33 Spring 1997) that the total savings in public sector spending would be: 7.51 billion to the health service; 10.8bn to management and maintenance of public sector housing; and 3.67bn to employment. Therefore, rather than the programme costing anything, the net savings would be 3.23 billion over the 15-year period (21.98 billion - 18.75 billion (cost of works) = 3.23 billion)

Contacts for the organisations backing the Warm Homes Bill are:

Age Concern - 020 8679 8000

Association for the Conservation of Energy - 020 7359 8000

Child Poverty Action Group - 020 7253 3406

Friends of the Earth - 020 7566 1649

Help the Aged - 020 7253 0253

National Right to Fuel Campaign - 020 7288 1213

National Energy Action - 020 7352 645

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust

Last modified: Dec 2008