Mr. Robert AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many low-income households will have received assistance under the home energy efficiency scheme programme by 2000; and how many low-income households will remain unassisted at that date at the current level of funding.
§ Mr. AtkinsOn current plans the total number of households receiving grants under the home energy efficiency scheme—HEES—in the United Kingdom is expected to be almost half a million a year in the three years from 1 April 1994. Because Government expenditure plans for later years have yet to be agreed, it is not possible to make a firm estimate of the number of households which will receive assistance by the year 2000.
Nor can a realistic estimate be made of the number of households which will remain unassisted in the year 2000. The number will depend not only on the numbers of households eligible for and assisted under HEES. It will reflect the number of households which already have basic insulation measures and those which will be insulated by the year 2000, either by householders themselves or through the other schemes which are improving energy efficiency.