HC Deb 09 September 2004 vol 424 cc1333-4W
Ms. Drown

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will change the Warm Front scheme by(a) not time-limiting a second application where it is for heating which had not previously been claimed for and (b) allowing old and inefficient boilers to be replaced before they break down. [186062]

Mr. Morley

The Department is currently developing a Fuel Poverty Implementation Plan which will consider options for better targeting and will review the eligibility criteria and effectiveness of current measures offered under Warm Front.

In response to the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office we have introduced a pilot to establish how best households with intermittently and ineffective working boilers can be assisted by the scheme. The results of this pilot will be assessed later in the year.