§ Mr. Alan SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will publish a report on the improvements resulting from work carried out under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995, showing for each energy conservation authority(a) expenditure on energy efficiency improvement, (b) percentage improvement in residential energy efficiency, (c) estimated reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and (d) estimated reduction in levels of fuel poverty. [145763]
§ Mr. MeacherThe Secretary of State presented a report to Parliament on 13 April 1999 covering activity by energy conservation authorities over the period from 28 June 1995 to 31 March 1998, and other developments up to the end of 1998. Copies of the report were placed in the Libraries of the House. Alternatively, a copy is available on DETR's website at:www.environment.detr.gov.uk/energy/heca95/index.htm
Details of reported percentage energy efficiency improvements in England in the period 1 April 1996 to 31 March 2000 were given in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton (Mrs. Gilroy) on 30 November 2000, Official Report, columns 757–58W. That information and details of expenditure by authority, overall expenditure and carbon dioxide reductions in each energy conservation authority area is included in four summary reports, copies of which have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
The information sought on the estimated reduction in levels of fuel poverty is not available centrally and, to my knowledge, is not collected by any other organisation. Information on the incidence of fuel poverty by Government Office region is contained in the 1996 English House Condition Survey Energy Report and some energy conservation authorities may have more specific fuel poverty data for their own purposes. Although authorities in England have been asked to report on their policies voluntarily, strategies and achievements in tackling fuel poverty alongside their Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 progress reports, they have not been required to identify fuel poor households or to report changes in the number of such households.