Cold British homes that increase the risk of mental and physical illness in children and young people are unacceptable and avoidable, warns public health expert Professor Sir Michael Marmot in a new report by his UCL research team for Friends of the Earth launched today [Thursday 12 May 2011].

It comes as unpublished figures released by Friends of the Earth show at least 1.3million children in England are living in homes so cold they’re classed as health hazards.

The Marmot team’s comprehensive new review of the evidence showing how cold homes affect health highlights that living in a cold house more than doubles children’s chances of suffering respiratory problems like asthma and puts teenagers more at risk of developing multiple mental health problems. The findings also show that growing up in a cold home harms children’s educational achievement and emotional wellbeing, which can worsen their life chances and widen the gap between rich and poor.

Presenting the findings in Parliament today, Professor Marmot will warn that cold homes’ damage to people’s health and the stresses of living in fuel poverty could be avoided with the right policies and interventions.

Friends of the Earth is calling for the Government to protect people’s health and help slash the UK’s carbon footprint by leading a nationwide refurb of heat-leaking British houses through legislation in its new Energy Bill, currently being debated in Parliament.

 Professor Sir Michael Marmot said:

“The many physical and mental health problems linked to cold homes described in this report are distressing.

“People might be shocked to learn that living in a cold home doesn’t just affect older people – it also has a negative impact on the development and emotional wellbeing of babies, children and teenagers.

“It is unacceptable that some of our most vulnerable people are suffering in cold homes they often can’t afford to heat properly – this could be avoided with the right policies.

“Upgrading this country’s cold homes would be a double win – improving people’s health and protecting the environment. The evidence is certainly strong enough to recommend action.”

Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said:

“This report proves that stopping our homes leaking heat would protect many children and older people from serious illness and depression.

“The overwhelming medical evidence makes it even more shocking the Government has no proper strategy to insulate the nation’s cold and draughty homes – and is actually shutting down successful programmes like Warm Front.

“The Coalition should use its new Energy Bill to show how it will boost the energy efficiency of UK homes enough to meet our legal commitments to tackle climate change and wipe out fuel poverty – starting with rented homes, the most likely to be the worst insulated.

“The Government must listen to Sir Michael’s advice and do the right thing by some of society’s most vulnerable people, by leading a nationwide re-fit of the country’s coldest homes.”

Friends of the Earth is calling for a Warm Homes Amendment to the Energy Bill requiring the Government to produce a strategy to fully insulate enough homes to tackle fuel poverty and climate change. More than a quarter [27 per cent] of the UK’s carbon emissions come from our homes.

Almost 40 organisations, including Citizens Advice, National Childbirth Trust, Age UK, Crisis and Macmillan Cancer Support, are also calling for the Energy Bill to make it an offence for a landlord to re-let the worst rented properties until they’re improved to a basic level of energy efficiency.

Key evidence of the health impacts of cold homes in the report:

• More than 1 in 4 adolescents living in a cold house are at risk of multiple mental health problems, compared to 1 in 20 teens who’ve always lived in warm homes.

• Cold, poorly heated homes have a significant impact on children’s health, affecting infant’s weight gain and development and increasing the frequency and severity of asthmatic symptoms.

• Living in a cold home negatively affects children’s educational achievement, emotional well-being and resilience, which can worsen their life chances and increase health inequalities.

• Older people living in cold homes are at higher risk of death and illnesses like heart and respiratory disease.

• In 2009/2010 there were an estimated 25,400 excess winter deaths.

• 21.5% of all EWDs can be attributed to the coldest quarter of housing, due to it being cold, over and above the amount of deaths which would have occurred had these houses had the same winter excess as the warmest housing. This means that EWDs in the coldest quarter of housing are almost three times as high as in the warmest quarter.

• Living in a cold home worsens existing conditions like arthritis and rheumatism and increases the risk of colds and flu.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. The research was carried out for Friends of the Earth by the Marmot review team at University College London, led by Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health Sir Michael Marmot [www.marmotreview.org], who is also current President of the British Medical Association and the author of 2010’s major health inequalities review ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’. You can read the full report ‘The Health Impacts of Cold Homes and Fuel Poverty’ here: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/cold_homes_health.pdf

2. The report is also is sponsored by: Save the Children, National Children’s Bureau, National Energy Action, UK Public Health Association, Citizens Advice, Climate and Health Council, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

3. The report will be launched in the House of Commons, Committee Room 5 on Thursday 12 May from 11.30am -12.30pm. Speakers will be Professor Marmot, Andy Atkins (Executive Director, Friends of the Earth), Lord Best (President of the Local Government Association), Angela Mawle (Executive Director, UKPHA).

4. The 1.3m children in cold homes calculation comes from DCLG officials, based on PQ 35684 to Greg Barker MP, 25 Jan 2011. It’s a new statistic not previously published or reported. The 2008 English Housing Survey estimated that 785,000 families with children under 16 live in homes with a bottom of the scale energy efficiency rating F or G. The average number of children per household is 1.7, giving a total of 1.329m children living in these coldest homes (also 13.7% of all children.)

5. Cold homes fact-file here: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/media_briefing/cold_homes_facts.pdf

6. For more information on what Friends of the Earth is calling for in the Energy Bill, see: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/energy_bill_overview.pdf