HC Deb 09 December 1987 vol 124 cc189-90W
Mr. Pike

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many homes occupied by(a) pensioners and (b) other high-risk groups have been given financial grants for insulation of their homes by year since 1979.

Mr. Peter Morrison

The information is not available in the precise form requested.

Financial assistance for insulation is provided through the homes insulation scheme (HIS), which provides a general grant at 66 per cent. and a means-tested grant at 90 per cent.: and the community insulation projects, which provide a free or low-cost basic insulation service for low-income households. The 90 per cent. grant under the HIS has been available to the elderly and severely disabled on supplementary benefit or housing benefit, and will be extended to all householders on those benefits. Separate figures are not available for the take-up of HIS grants by pensioner households. It is estimated that pensioner households account for some 60 per cent. of the homes insulated by the community insulation projects, but, again, firm figures are not available.

The following data therefore relate to the vulnerable low-income groups assisted through the HIS 90 per cent. grant and the community insulation projects.

Government assistance for low income households in Great Britain
(a) Number of 90 per cent. HIS grants paid12 (b) Number of households insulated by community insulation projects12
1979 —2 410,000
1980 26,000
1981 94,000 55,000
1982 110,000 510,000
1983 94,000 520,000
1984 72,000 44,000

I announced financial targets for the industry for the next two years in my statement of 3 November 1987 in the House of Commons. It will be for the boards to earn sufficient profits to ensure that the targets are met.

(a) Number of 90 per cent. HIS grants paid12 (b) Number of households insulated by community insulation projects12
1985 78,000 83,000
1986 68,000 120,000
Total 6542,000 6292,000
1 Rounded.
2 Homes insulation scheme statistics for England are compiled on a calendar year basis; for Scotland and Wales, on a financial year basis.
3 Financial year basis.
4 Estimate: very few projects were operating and statistics were not collected at the time.
5 Estimates: statistics were only collected on a sampling basis.
6 In addition to their draught-proofing work, some community insulation projects also do loft insulation using HIS grants claimed on behalf of their clients. For this reason simple addition of columns (a) and (b) would involve a limited degree of double counting.