5. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: The Warm Homes Programme

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:57 pm on 19 February 2019.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 4:57, 19 February 2019

Thank you, Joyce Watson, for those questions and observations. I think you're quite right: a decade of austerity of course has an impact on the number of people living in fuel poverty here in Wales. You talk about Brexit, and I am concerned, particularly about the impact of a 'no deal' Brexit on energy prices in particular, again in the context of other economic factors that also could come into play if we have a 'no deal' scenario. So, we've just started having—. You'll be aware of the quadrilaterals I have at an agricultural level with Michael Gove. So, we've just started the same engagement with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. I and Ken Skates have been trying to get it up and running for a couple of years. We've just had the first meeting. That was chaired by Claire Perry, and I think it was really important that we highlighted our concerns, particularly around a 'no deal' Brexit. The UK Government informed us that they have done some assessment around the likely scale of price increases. They haven't shared that information with us. We need to have sight of that detail so that we can work out any potential impacts on the people of Wales, and also businesses. I think it's absolutely urgently needed if we are to understand and plan for any potential impacts on fuel poverty levels here in Wales as we come out of the European Union. I think there's also a need to consider energy prices in the context of cumulative impacts, and consider the interrelationships between energy prices and the other economic impacts we could have post Brexit. So, in relation to your question around EPCs, I'll be certainly very happy to take that forward with Claire Perry—if not at the next BEIS quadrilateral, I'll be very happy to write to her.