HC Deb 24 July 1989 vol 157 cc569-70W
29. Mr. Ray Powell

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the proposal by the Select Committee on Energy of a target of 250,000 low-income households to be insulated in a year.

Ms. Primarolo

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make it his policy to set a target of a minimum of 250,000 low-income households to be insulated in the current financial year.

Mr. Peter Morrison

I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Gateshead, East (Ms. Quin) earlier today.

38. Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what is his latest estimate of the number of low-income households which will be insulated under neighbourhood energy action programmes in the current financial year; and what are the resulting energy savings.

Mr. Peter Morrison

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Employment announced on 10 February a package of special measures to help boost the project network. The most recent quarterly monitoring returns relate to the period before those measures took effect, so we are not yet able to produce reliable estimates of the number of households which will be treated in the current financial year.

51. Dr. Moonie

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will hold urgent discussions on ways of stepping up the number of low-income households to be insulated over the next three years.

Mr. Peter Morrison

The Secretary of State for Employment announced on 10 February a special package of measures designed to boost the network of community insulation projects which provide practical help to low-income households. Officials from my Department and the Training Agency are now discussing ways of maintaining and building upon the improvement which stemmed from those measures.

52. Mr. Dykes

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement on the progress being made to date in insulation schemes for private dwellings in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Peter Morrison

Amendments to the Building Regulations were laid before the House on 11 July. These will require improvements in insulation standards for new housing (and other new buildings) which should achieve a saving of about 20 per cent. in heating requirements compared with standards under existing regulations. The amendments will come into operation on 1 April 1990.

Community insulation projects, which provide a low-cost insulation (mainly draughtproofing) service for low-income households, have so far insulated over 600,000 homes, about half of which are in the private sector. Over 3.5 million grants have been paid under the homes insulation scheme for loft, tank and pipe insulation. Over 90 per cent. of homes with accessible lofts now have some degree of loft insulation.